How To Choose The Right Advertising Medium
For Your Business, Product Or Service
By Tom Egelhoff
 Advertising is by far the most difficult
and most costly part of any business operation. So before I discuss
how to choose the right media for you, I have to tell you my
two iron clad rules for any advertising effort.
1.) Advertising can never be an expense, it must always
be an investment. There must be at least a 75% expectation that
the advertising will reach and produce more in sales than it
will cost to place. If you don't have that 75% expectation then
you should not place the advertising.
2.) When emotion and logic come into conflict, emotion will
always win. If you don't believe that -- you can
take me down to your local grocery store and show me the mouse
or sparrow flavored cat food. That would be logical. Instead
what I'll see is turkey giblets with gravy sauce. We have a lot
of wild turkeys here in Montana but I've never seen my cats lick
their lips in anticipation when one walks by. Small birds yes.
Mice yes. The marketing effort isn't to the cats it's to the
humans.
What forms
of advertising are available?
There are many differences between advertising options in
small towns as opposed to large cities. Your small town may not
have a newspaper, TV station or even radio. So your options to
choose the media of advertising that will reach your target market
may be limited in many respects because it has to come from outside
sources. In spite of these restrictions here are some amazing
facts. In America today there are:
- Six major television networks
- Over 12,000 magazines
- 15,000 newsletters
- 2,000 newspapers
- 6,000 radio stations
- Over 7,000 cable systems
- Your fax machine receives 10 ads a week
- 5,000 prime web sites (Fortune 500 & others) and millions
more being added each day.
- If you aren't already, you will be receiving about 100-120
advertising emails each week.
- Your dinner will be interrupted at least twice a week by
a telemarketer.
- And, the average American will receive about 3 pieces of
"junk mail" every day of the year.
With all of the above sources the average person receives
about 3-5,000 advertising messages per day. That translates into
about $3,500 for every man, woman and child.
As you can see, even though the various medias may not be
available to you locally your customers are still receiving these
messages from all sorts of competing products and services. All
you have to do is make yours stand out from all the rest.
What to
know before you buy?
In order to determine the right media to purchase there are
a few questions you need to ask yourself:
- What is your true message?
- What exactly do you want customers to know and how is your
advertising going to make them react? Is your advertising designed
to promote your business name or is it designed to bring customers
to your place of business? Remember point two in the first section
above. Is your message emotional or logical? Are you selling
a car with four doors? (A logical feature) Or are you selling
the convenience of getting the kids and dogs in and out of the
car easier? (An emotional benefit.)
- Who and where is your
target market? - If you are selling farm equipment
are your customers in town or on the farm? Right. On the farm.
So why waste advertising dollars that reach towns people who
are not your target market even though that media may also reach
your target market? See the next point for more on this.
- Cost per thousand?
- Remember point one from above? Advertising must always be an
investment never an expense. Media sales people are going to
talk to you in terms of cost per thousand. This is the per person
cost it takes to reach their audience. Notice I said "their
audience" not your target market. So how does
my farm analogy from above fit in here? What you should be concerned
with is cost per customer. How much does advertising
cost to bring a target market customer into your place of business?
Cost per thousand is immaterial if most of the audience is not
your target market. The cost per customer would probably make
this advertising too costly for a satisfactory return on your
advertising investment.
Are you beginning to see why it's easy to waste money by advertising
in the wrong place? It's easy to place a newspaper ad, TV commercial
or radio ad and hope it reaches the right people. In most cases
if you haven't done your homework it won't.
This isn't rocket science but it does require some thought
and study to work effectively. For more on this, See: How To Plan Your Advertising Strategy
and How To Create A Small Town Advertising
Plan
Which forms
of media are best in small towns?
These will of course vary depending on the size of the town
and media that are available to you. It will also vary depending
on the size of your target market within your sales area. In
many cases the size of your town will have a lot to do with the
forms of media you choose.
For example, if we use the farm equipment analogy from above,
you don't want to advertise to the people of the town who are
not your customers. You want to reach rural customers who farm
for a living. So in this case I would recommend direct mail.
I can target rural routes with fliers or postcard mailers just
for that market for much less than a newspaper
ad or radio spots. See: Direct
Mail: Why It Works And How To Use It.
If I had a restaurant or retail store where both the rural
and local community are my customer base then I'm going to have
to go with media that reaches the most people at the lowest cost
per customer. With newspaper or radio there is still going to
be a percentage of their audience who are not my customers. But,
the number is usually small enough that it still makes economic
sense to use them.
The most important part of media selections comes down to
the percentage of your target market
in the total population of your town. Any funds you spend to
reach non-customers is money wasted. First, identify your target
market and then use the most effective media(s) that reaches
the majority of that target market. For more on this: See: How To Do Market Research In A Small
Town and How To Use Niche Marketing
In A Small Town.
The last
word on choosing the right advertising media.
Remember that no media sales person knows your business as
well as you do. In order for your advertising to be successful
the most important part will be the message. Don't blame your
media sales person for poor response to your advertising if your
message is off target.
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This article may be reproduced for your non-profit
group or organization provided it is not altered in any way and
the following is attached:
©1998 - 2004 Eagle Marketing PO Box 271 Bozeman, MT
59771-0271
http://www.smalltownmarketing.com - (406) 585-0219 - Toll FREE
(888) 550-6100
email: tommail@smalltownmarketing.com
Based in Bozeman, MT, Tom Egelhoff is the author of How To Market, Advertise & Promote Your
Business Or Service In A Small Town, and The
Small Town Advertising Handbook: How To Say More And Spend Less.
He is also a seminar and workshop presenter
and trainer. He may be reached at 888-550-6100 or PO Box
271 Bozeman, MT 59771-0271
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