[Marketing & Advertising] Developing Your Marketing Mix

Consider these statistics about advertising:

• Internet advertising revenues jumped 33 percent in the third quarter of 2006 compared to 2005, totaling $4 billion. — Interactive Advertising Bureau/PricewaterhouseCoopers, November 2006

• Telephone and e-mail produce the highest response rate at 2.6 percent and 2.45 percent for direct marketing media channels for generating leads. — Direct Marketing Association, November 2006

• Ad skipping and on-demand viewing could cost the TV industry $27 billion in lost ad revenue over the next five years, according to new research released by Accenture. — Advertising Age magazine, April 2005

• E-mail marketing consultants consider an open rate of about 20 percent and a click-through rate of 4 percent to 5 percent to be a highly effective e-mail campaign. — WebSurveyor Corp, October 2006

• Total advertiser spending on mobile messaging and display ads will grow from $1.4 billion in 2006 to $2.9 billion in 2011. — JuniperResearch, October 2006

• 52 percent of consumers would be "much more" or "somewhat more" likely to purchase a product seen in a commercial vs. one featured in a product placement (23 percent). — FIND/ SVP, August 2005

Feeling overwhelmed? You’re not alone!

Just as consumers are overwhelmed and bombarded by marketing messages from every direction, companies large and small are overwhelmed with the decisions they make each year on where and when to spend their marketing budget. Keeping up with trends, understanding marketing jargon and developing a campaign that reaches a target audience and ultimately persuades them to purchase professional services is challenging. But you don’t have to do it alone!

At the national level, the Professional Pest Management Alliance (PPMA) works year round to promote the pest management industry as protectors of public health and property as well as to educate consumers about the value of hiring a pest professional. (See related story at right.)

Although the vast majority of PPMA dollars are invested in public relations, the Alliance conducts a strategic, national radio advertising campaign every year. This article was developed to assist large and small companies in their efforts to direct marketing dollars into paid advertising. There are fundamental factors that go into the decision-making process that companies can use in their own local markets.

DETERMINE OBJECTIVE. Do you want to drive traffic to your Web site, sell a new service or raise awareness of your company? By planning with the desired end result in mind, every marketing tactic should be a stepping-stone to the objectives outlined from the beginning. Often companies get lost in the glitz and glamour of television advertisements and realize, in the end, they were not reaching their target audience and may have been able to spread their budget further to reach their objectives through different mediums.

DETERMINE TARGET AUDIENCE. Would you send your cable bill to your provider without an address and just hope that it gets to the right person? Hopefully not! So why would you invest in advertising without knowing who your message will be reaching?

Many times a representative from the medium where you are interested in advertising (i.e., radio, television, print, online) will provide information about their audience. Sometimes they provide more information than you may know what to do with, but it is crucial in determining whether or not the outlet is a right fit for the type of message you are distributing.

Let’s break it down:

• Geographics: Characterized by the geographical regions where your target niche lives, shops and/or works.

• Demographics: Characterized by age, income, sex, education, occupation, etc., that defines your target niche.

• Psychographics: Characterized by lifestyle choices and behaviors of your target niche.

COST-EFFECTIVE CHOICES. Consumers are surrounded by media everyday and in many different places: at home, in the car, at work, etc. By including a mix of media in your campaign you may be able to increase your reach to target audiences and build frequency of the message. On average, consumers need to hear a message at least three times before it registers in their mind. However, evaluating the most cost-effective choices to reach consumers multiple times can be confusing.

One of the industry standards for evaluating return on investment is "cost per thousand" (CPM). ("M" is the Roman numeral for 1,000). CPM is another advertising buzz word that is used in analyzing your investment. It is a way to evaluate the different types of media that are available to see which is most cost effective to meet the objectives. For example, if a quarter page ad in a newspaper costs $700 and the circulation of the paper is 45,000, the cost to reach 1,000 people is $15.55.

TAKEAWAYS. So what’s the bottom line for a pest management firm weighing its advertising and public relations options?

• Weigh the pros and cons of each medium in which you are investing.

• Consider investing in a mix of different mediums rather than putting your entire budget into one medium.

• Evaluate the most cost-effective choices at your disposal.

• In television advertising, research the cost of airing locally prior to shelling out the cost of production.

• Complement paid advertising with public relations tactics to strengthen your message.

• Piggyback off of PPMA’s national campaign from April through June to help strengthen your message.

The author is vice president of public affairs, National Pest Management Association/executive director, Professional Pest Management Alliance. She can be reached at cmannes@giemedia.com or at 703/352-6762.