In: Root » Business » Advertising » How to Select Media for advertising
There is a multiplicity of advertising media in Britain. Selecting the right media for a particular job can sometimes be simple and a matter of routine and sometimes be difficult and shrouded in unknowns. The key fact behind media planning and media selection is that this is the way in which the bulk of the advertising money is spent. The choice of media will determine how well that money is spent and how far the advertiser receives value. There is an enormous responsibility to plan effectively and to justify the choices made. The media plan represents a financial investment just as much as any other commercial expenditure and needs to be subject to the same disciplines as other similar investments. Media planning covers two stages: 1. planning, and developing an effective media selection 2. buying the media selected. Media selection itself follows three main elements: 1. identifying those media which best reach the target audience 2. getting the optimum use out of them 3. ensuring that the budget is deployed to best advantage and that fullest value is obtained. THE RANGE OF OPTIONS Selection will depend on the product and its advertising requirements. The key question in media selection is: which are the most effective media in which to advertise this product at this time? It is, of course, necessary to define what is meant by ‘the most effective’. Efficient advertising requires those advertising media which: - can reach the target audience as completely as possible - can deliver a message with maximum visibility - can deliver messages economically, and within the budget set - can communicate within an environment which is suitable to the product and its audience. One of the features of media selection for many products (perhaps not all: some impose their own limitations) is that there is a wide range of possible media available. Indeed, the quantity of potential media has extended rapidly over the last few years. We have seen, for example, the enormous growth of the Internet. We have been living through a period of intensive media expansion, and looking to the future it is probable that the proliferation of media will continue, both nationally and internationally. Selecting media is, therefore, a matter of considering the range of options available, and deciding which offer the most effective possibilities. It is, indeed, a process of elimination. There are a number of key stages in this process: 1. developing a brief, and setting the objectives for the media 2. examining the options and then developing an overall media plan which can meet the objectives 3. agreeing the media shortlist 4. developing a final schedule of those media to be used 5. purchasing the necessary space or time 6. checking that the advertising has actually appeared, and then evaluating what audience size it has delivered 7. paying for the space and time. The present article will deal with the planning aspects and the next article will cover the process of media purchasing. At the centre of planning is the vital question of examining the various options available and comparing the relative merits of each. The task is to reach an audience. There are, in general terms, two main groups of media which can be used: 1. advertisement space available in the wider media of communications; those produced to inform or entertain the public 2. media which are purely a form of advertising in themselves. It should be noted here that the World Wide Web is a system that allows the transmission of both pure information and direct advertising, or graduations between the two. These are often classified as ‘above and below the line’ - a term originally borrowed from the terminology of government statistics and accountancy. Another way of grouping them is again as two main groups: 1. messages delivered via the other media of communications 2. messages which are delivered direct from the originator to the audience. The main categories of traditional advertising media now available to the advertiser are the following: 1. Press or print media. These have two main sub-categories: - press and newspapers - magazines. 2. Television, in a variety of forms. 3. Outdoor - posters or transportation advertising. 4. Radio. 5. Cinema. Direct forms of delivering messages include: 6. exhibitions 7. direct mail, ie mailing the message 8. telemarketing, ie telephoning the message. Another category which is much used, and which is separate from the press category of newspapers and magazines, is: 9. directories. |
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