CRITERIA FOR SELECTING ADVERTISING MEDIA

 Advertising media are the channels of communication through which advertising messages are conveyed.(Contemporary Advertising). 

When  selecting  a media for advertising you have to first critically analyze the type of product and the various channels such as the television, radio, internet, newspaper etc. and  select the one  that would provide more benefits, looking at what each would provide for the proposed objectives of the campaign, or for the product or service you want to advertise. Considering your target audience, you would find out that some media lend themselves  better to certain messages and creative approaches as compared to others.

If efforts aren’t made to acquire and utilize the right media channels that would adequately expose and sell the campaign to the right people.(target audience) then it would be like ‘proposing to a girl in the dark’ a wasted effort., target audience, in this context comprises of people within a specific income, educational, occupational, social, or ethic group.  

Most at times employing the services of two or more media will massively carry your messages across. Satisfying either consumer.

Based on this, you must first consider the media Reach and Coverage area, the media you would select would cover. Since the main aim of advertising is to create awareness.You must plan your campaign, selecting the media, time, and space to disseminate your advertising messages.(www. Admedia.org), considering the total number of people you want to reach or expose your campaign to, within a stipulated period of time. You have to measure the media you would select, by the quality and effectiveness of it’s coverage.

The next thing to consider is Frequency, that is the number of times the advert would be heard, and viewed  by the target audience. Looking at the fleeting nature of adverts and other distractive variables that might take the viewer or listeners attention off your advert. You have to select a media through which you can  keep repeating your adverts, because the more people are exposed to a message(your advert), the more likely they are to remember it.

The Nature and Type of the product must also be taken into consideration before selecting a medium for advertising the product. For example if you want to advertise perfume or a car which has distinct qualities. You must choose a media which would portray these qualities, and reinforce the image of the product. You have to check the product and its compatibility with the media and position it in such a way that it would not look out of place. For example it would be advisable to advertise cars and perfumes, on the television or in magazines, sports and fashion magazines respectfully.

The next factor to consider would be the Cost Of The Media, you have to analyze and compare the cost that would be involved, you must evaluate how much each medium satisfies the needs of the product, and how much each medium measures up in attention and exposure. For example before buying an advert space in a magazine, you evaluate the readership scope of the magazine, as compared to the Advert space on another medium such as the television, drawing conclusions from the inferences you would generate from it within a period of time. Through this you would know which medium is low in cost but effective, expensive but worth while and not worthy.

Next is the Interest of your audience, for example if you want to advertise cars and your target audience are sports enthusiast, and your selected medium: magazine, you must advertise in a sports magazine not a cook book to gain their interest and achieve the desired result.

The last criteria for selection would be based on the Objectives of the Company or the advertiser, for example if the objective of your marketing and advertising campaign is on Product Distribution, the media you would choose must influence both consumers and potential dealers.

If it’s to stimulate the sales of products in local isolated communities in the hinter lands, then your adverts should circulate on their local media, that would penetrate those markets, rather than in the national media.

 

When these factors are considered,  the aim of creating awareness would be achieved.

References.

Contemporary Advertising.(The Irwin Series in Marketing: 4^th Edition) Courtland L.Bovee  and William F.Arens. 1992.

www.admedia.org

DCSM2012006


Written by: Daphne Addison