Choosing Where to Advertise

Of course cost will be a critical factor in deciding where to advertise. You might find that some media are too expensive. Once you have determined which media are available to you based on your budget, it is important to weigh the costs versus coverage each outlet provides. The ultimate goal is to develop a media mix that provides maximum exposure to your target audience with the money you have available.

Media owners will happily provide detailed information about their businesses. The information they provide is likely to be biased, though, which makes comparison with other media difficult. For unbiased information, consider consulting with an experienced advertising agency or media specialist.

The medium you choose will depend on your goals. No one outlet is right for everyone. For instance, you might advertise in a trade journal if you are seeking to attract a small group of business buyers. National media would make more sense if you want to impress potential customers with your scale and influence.

Here are five, most important questions to consider when choosing advertising media:

• Does the medium's audience closely match my target audience?
• How does the cost of this medium compare with others?
• Will the frequency offered by this medium match the timing of my campaign?
• What creative opportunities does this medium offer—will it effectively communicate my message?
• What is the editorial stature of this medium?

No one advertising solution is right for everyone. You need to compare and balance these factors to develop a solution appropriate for your product and budget.

Media owners will provide you with information about their businesses, but it is likely to be biased in their favor. For an objective view of the comparative performance of various media, you can consult with specialists who work within advertising agencies or media independents.

Media specialists at advertising agencies research and plan media strategies to support advertising campaigns. Their responsibilities include the following:

• establish goals and develop media strategy for advertising campaigns
• use media research to support and evaluate media proposals
• develop media schedules
• negotiate with media to obtain good positions and rates
• book space and coordinate media administration
• monitor and measure campaign effectiveness

Media independents are a type of agency that focus solely on media planning and buying. One advantage of working with an independent is they often can often negotiate better deals with media than full-service agencies. Some small advertising agencies use media independents for their own media buying.

The three categories of national press are daily newspapers, evening newspapers, and weekly newspapers. Some benefits of national newspaper advertising include:

• Cost-effective—you can reach a large target audience for minimal cost.
• Selective—most newspapers have clear customer demographics, so you can select an appropriate paper for reaching your targeted groups.
• Quick—in daily newspapers, an ad can appear within one to four days after you buy it.
• Prestigious—though readership for many newspapers is declining, newspapers still carry a note of authority difficult to match.
• Responsive—you can include easy-to-use response mechanisms in a newspaper ad.
• Measurable—it is easy to measure newspaper advertising results, in terms of cost per contact, cost per response, cost per sale, or other appropriate measures.

Some disadvantages of national newspaper advertising include:

• Wastage—your target audience may represent only a small proportion of the readership.
• Cost—many newspaper's rates are high compared with regional or specialist media, so advertising may not be worthwhile for a small target audience.
• Competition—national consumer brands often dominate the national press with large, full-page ads. Readers may overlook small ads.
• Short life—the life of a newspaper is just one day; you may need to buy multiple ads to achieve sufficient impact.
• Reproduction quality—color ads are limited and expensive; many advertisers will only be able to afford black-and-white advertisements.

When considering various national newspapers, think about the following:

• its coverage of your target market
• the cost of achieving that coverage
• the composition of the readership
• the newspaper's editorial stature
• current advertisers

You can also find morning, evening, and weekly editions of local or regional newspapers. Some benefits to advertising in regional papers include:

• Familiarity—regional and local newspapers focus on matters of local interest; this could mean that readers are more likely to trust advertisers' products.
• Geographical selectivity—you can easily reach readers in a specific geographic area.

The three types of consumer magazines are: general interest magazines, local interest magazines, and special interest magazines. The four types of business magazines are: general business management magazines, local business magazines, trade or industry magazines, and current affairs magazines.

There are many advantages to advertising in magazines. They offer a cost-effective way to selectively reach specific target groups. People keep magazines longer than newspapers, offering more chances for them to see your advertisement, and they often pass them on to others to read. Reproduction quality is usually high. One challenge to magazine advertising is picking the right one—some markets have a large number of magazines covering similar topics.

Commercial television stations offer traditional advertising opportunities and program sponsorship. Some programs are broadcast across the nation; others only in specific geographic regions. Cable and satellite television have increased in importance in recent years and include a range of special interest channels, including cooking, home improvement, sports, children's programming, classic movies, and more. Local cable television offers a good way for advertisers to reach local markets.

Television offers a number of benefits over print-based media, especially for advertisers in broad-based consumer or business markets:

• Cost-effective—television advertising offers a low cost per contact for mass-market audiences.
• Quick—advertising an be booked and broadcast within a short period of time and sometimes will play around the clock.
• Impact—audio, video, and graphics combine to create advertisements with powerful impact.

The main disadvantage to television advertising is cost. For this reason, it is not recommended for reaching small target audiences. In addition, the brevity of most television ads minimizes the time people have to absorb your message. You therefore may need to run your ad multiple times.

Commercial radio offers both national and local advertising opportunities. Advantages of radio include its familiarity and focus on matters of local interest. People may be more likely to trust your product if one of their favorite radio personalities promotes it. It is also quick to get an ad broadcast on the radio, and you can reach people while they are driving. There are some limitations to radio: ads are usually brief, and limited to sound. To maximize impact, you will need to run your ad multiple times.

Opportunities to advertise using the Internet have proliferated in recent years. Banner ads, search ads, and classifies are just a few of the ways you can advertise. Internet advertising offers many advantages, including the ability to immediately measure your results using click-through rates (CTRs) or other mechanisms. In addition, the proliferation of Web sites and search engines offers innumerable ways to target your ad to selected audiences.

Media sales representatives often approach advertisers offering special deals on ad space. Though it's possible you'll save money by taking advantage of these offers, you may not end up with the most effective advertising strategy for achieving your goals. Be sure to stay focused on your objectives when deciding whether to purchase ads. In addition, an advertising agency may be able to help you get discounts with media outlets, while also ensuring a solid advertising strategy.

Depending on your product, local media may reach your target audience more effectively than national media. Local radio, for example, is a great way to reach a regional audience. Likewise, business or trade publications may be the best medium for reaching members of a specific industry or profession.

If possible, include a response mechanism in your advertisement, so that you can measure its effectiveness. This will help you in planning future campaigns.

Sissors, Jack Z., and Roger Baron. Advertising Media Planning. 6th Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002.

American Marketing Association: www.ama.org