Advertising 101

There’s a wonderful old discussion that goes on among advertising people as to whether advertising is an art or a science. The short answer to that question is yes.

There are two elements to any advertising effort. There is the message and there is the medium or media of delivering that message. The message obviously constitutes the art of advertising. The selection of which medium or media to use involves some science. Successful campaigns succeed at both of these elements.

Having the right message delivered on the wrong medium obviously diminishes the chances for success. By the same token, picking the correct medium but delivering an off-target message is just as wasteful. Here are some thoughts about how you can maximize your chances for success in this sometimes-iffy proposition.

MAKING THE MEDIA CHOICE. There are too many media choices available to most advertisers. Depending on where your business is, you could have several broadcast (over-the-air) television stations, dozens of cable channels, 20 radio signals, multiple daily newspapers and who knows how many weeklies and magazines. Then, mix in a few outdoor advertising companies, the Internet and the Yellow Page directories. How do you possibly decide where to invest your limited resources?

First, who best delivers "your customer?" Many media outlets structure their programming or printed content to attract the widest possible audience into broad demographic cells like adults, 18 to 49, or 25 to 54. (Personally, I’ve never understood what an 18-year-old and a 49-year-old have in common, but that’s another story.) If you truly know who your customer is in terms of gender and age, you can narrow your media choices. If, for example, your customer is a 35- to 64-year-old woman, you probably won’t want to consider some of the youth-oriented radio and television stations or cable channels such as MTV or Nickelodeon. You also might eliminate television and cable programming that targets men, such as sports.

Then, ask who delivers this customer most efficiently? Ask for delivery numbers in terms of cost per thousand listeners, viewers or readers, (or cost per ratings point) as it directly relates to your customer. It’s your hard-earned money we’re talking about investing here, so don’t relegate this stuff to the "too hard" pile.

Next, who best delivers your marketplace? Is yours a "neighborhood" business, confined mostly to a relatively small geographical area? Or, does your company cover an entire metropolitan area? The larger your marketplace, the more attractive radio stations and over-the-air television stations become. The smaller your market area, the more you might want to consider smaller radio stations and cable TV systems that cover those communities where your customers live. In suburban markets, where large metro-area broadcast media dominate, well-placed outdoor advertising and locally focused daily or weekly print advertising come into play.

WHAT’S YOUR MESSAGE? Now, you must consider your message. This involves a discussion of your overall strategy in terms of whether you seek a "direct-response" to your advertising or if you’re trying to create "awareness" of your organization so that customers will remember you when the need for service arises. Personally, I see our industry as "need based" and usually opt for an awareness strategy, but I’ll briefly address both.

If you’re seeking a direct-response to your advertising, you need to make a strong, attention-getting offer. A free inspection is not a strong, attention-getting offer. That’s not enough to get a direct response from a potential customer. A significant discount (40 percent off) or a great incentive (a free weekend getaway for two) is a strong, attention-getting offer. Granted, these things get clumsy and expensive, but they also get attention and they often motivate consumers to a direct response.

An awareness strategy requires consistency and patience. It should direct the customer to your Yellow Page directory ad and/or to your Internet website so that when they’re ready to buy they’ll have a way to get in touch with you. Your ad should focus NOT on features, but on benefits and it should attempt as much as possible to "brand" your business name on the mind of the customer. (Note: features are elements of your product or service while benefits are how they affect the customer. There’s a BIG difference! Sugar is a feature of Coca-Cola. The benefit is great taste. In our industry, nighttime and weekend service would be classified as a feature, while customer convenience and more choices constitute the benefit. It may be a small distinction to you, but it matters to consumers.)

Direct response advertising is a short-term strategy and can be measured fairly quickly. During the term of the offer you should see a clearly measurable increase in leads. If you don’t, chances are you’re not going to get much long-term benefit because the strategy was direct response. However, if your media selections were correct, if your offer was strong enough and if your timing was consistent with some biological or climatic event, you should see incremental increases during the offer.

Awareness advertising must be measured over a longer period of time. Track your leads each month and compare them to both the previous month and to the same month in the previous year. If you’re sticking with your awareness strategy, and if it’s working, you’ll see increases over the same period in the previous year. And, you’ll see consistent increases as your awareness gets cemented in the minds of consumers.

At the end of the day, and regardless of your strategy, your advertising succeeds when you select the right medium or media and you deliver a compelling message. Revenue growth, customer base growth and, of course, increased profits, are the deliverable results.

The author is vice president of marketing/public relations for Massey Services Inc., Maitland, Fla. He can be reached via e-mail at bbrewer@pctonline.com or 407/645-2500.