Kevin Watson asked:


Broadcasters, marketers and media buyers agree that, because we now live in a video-on-demand world in which consumers control what they watch and when, the broadcast advertising model is broken.  And while the media industry is still sorting through their predicament on television, perhaps the even more troubling news is that, due to the tough economic conditions the world faces going into 2009, all indications are that online ad spending will dip over the next year.  What can media companies and advertisers do in this floundering ad ecosystem?  The short answer: they will have to change the way advertising is bought and sold, measured and delivered.

Traditional television audiences are eroding.  In October, the four biggest broadcast networks reported declines in audiences between the ages of 18 and 49.   Many analysts believe that those eyeballs are moving from television to online.  Advertising Age, in a study on social networking and its impact on television, found that 25% of users of social networking sites like Facebook indicated they were spending less time watching TV because of the time they were spending online.  And more than a third of all 12 - 64 year olds online indicated they used social networking sites regularly.   With audiences being siphoned away from television, and using time-shifting digital video recorder (DVR) technology like TiVo to skip ads while they are watching TV, advertising dollars to be had in the broadcast medium are on the decline.

So media companies should simply follow their audiences online, right?  The picture is not that clear.  The current economic climate is eroding ad spending across the board.  TechCrunch indicates that in the third quarter, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL collectively eked out only a 0.6% increase in online advertising revenue quarter over quarter.  MediaPost.com reports that, while online ad revenue is up 11% year-to-date, compared to last year’s growth of 26%, growth has all but stalled in 2008.   They predict that 2009 will be the first flat year for online ad spending since 2003.  Others offer an even gloomier outlook.  In a survey of attendees at AdTech New York, private equity firm Halyard Capital found most predicted digital-marketing budgets would be down 10-20% in 2009.

And even worse news for media companies: rates that advertisers are paying for digital ad space, as traditionally measured by cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM), are trending downward.  According to research by Morgan Stanley, the average CPM for a banner ad has dropped from  $3 to $1 over the past decade.  Consensus seems to be this is because of the proliferation of available inventory (places on the internet to display these ads).  In China, advertisers are paying as little as $.05 CPM because of the rapid explosion of inventory.  And MediaPost predicts that this decline in the rates advertisers are paying will extend to online video advertising in 2009, which is an area that has been enjoying a two year spike in CPMs.

But what about those social networks to which television viewers are being drawn?  Do they offer hope?  Halyard Capital found that 68% of those surveyed believed social networks are in the “strongest position to expand” among the alternative marketing channels over the next two years.   Advertisers see vast potential in social networking as a channel in which to better target advertising to consumers because of all of the personal information being shared.  And content providers see opportunities to tie together traditional media and social networking.  Broadcasters are starting to incorporate community features into their online video players.  Companies like Joost are tapping into social networks like Facebook for social video sharing.

At first glance, then, social networks seem to offer promise as an advertising haven in an economic downturn.   Sites like Facebook, MySpace and YouTube boast a tremendous number of pageviews, a higher than average number of pageviews per user, and a longer average time-on-site.  In a CPM-driven world, this massive pool of pageviews represents a virtual treasure trove of “inventory,” because of the sheer number of eyeballs.  The problem, however, is that the data shows that the actual performance of ads on these social networks is absolutely dismal. Click-through rates on these sites are 10 to 100 times lower than the average for banner ads, which were already in the 0.1 percent to 1 percent range.

According to Dr. Augustine Fou, Senior VP of Digital Strategy at MRM Worldwide, a digital marketing agency, the very nature of social networking sites make them unsuitable for traditional advertising:

“While the largest Web 1.0 sites (Yahoo, CNET, New York Times, etc.) were content sites that aggregated massive audiences and supported large numbers of pageviews, the largest Web 2.0 sites are social networking sites. The nature of these two types of sites is very different. Users go to Web 1.0 sites and portals to read content or do e-mail by themselves. Users go to Web 2.0 social networks to interact with others and are usually so immersed in socializing they are even less likely to see, let alone act upon, ads, despite the large number of pageviews generated per session. This may partially explain the dramatically lower click rates for ads on social networking sites. “

Ted McConnell, general manager-interactive marketing and innovation at Procter & Gamble Co., postulates that social networks are not only ineffective channels for advertising, they are wholly inappropriate places to market in which attempts to do so alienate consumers.   McConnell poses the question to advertisers: “What in heaven’s name made you think you could monetize the real estate in which somebody is breaking up with their girlfriend?”   He makes the point that “social media” is not really “media” at all.  Media is a one-way communication that contains blank spaces that constitute inventory for advertising.  Social networking is a dialog between consumers, in which advertising becomes disruptive.  Consumers were not intending to create media, they were intending to talk to someone.

If television ad revenue is on the decline, digital ad spending on the whole is trending downward, and social networks are failing to deliver on their promise to reach consumers, what can advertisers and media companies do to weather the storm?  Advertisers must ensure that they are getting the best return on investment they can on their remaining ad spending dollars.  Instead of paying for the biggest number of eyeballs they can, they should focus on advertising best positioned to make a conversion.  Online, this likely signals a needed shift from a CPM model, where advertisers pay for the number of folks who will see an ad, to performance-based measurements.  An ad model based on performance would have advertisers paying only for clicks or other targeted consumer actions.

McConnell predicts that as the economy worsens, the fortune of performance-based advertising will rise as impression-based models falter. “‘Spray and pray’ is a little harder to do when you’re under economic pressure,” he said. “So performance-based advertising will gain share over CPM.”

And according to Dr. Fou, “in the Web 2.0 advertising landscape, many advertisers have already moved beyond the cost-per-impression (CPM) model to a more measurable and accountable cost-per-click (CPC) model (e.g., Google Adwords) in which they only pay when users click through, no matter how many times the ad is displayed. Some have even moved to the next step of cost-per-action (CPA), where the advertiser does not pay until the user does the desired action-e.g., make a purchase. “

How can media companies respond to the demand for performance-based advertising?  It is no longer enough to simply make inventory available, now these companies must ensure that the advertisements will be effective.  This means that it will be more important than ever to target the right advertising to the right consumer at the right time.  And media companies will have to work directly with the advertisers to ensure that advertising is tightly integrated with the content in a way that provides the right context and timing for the message.

One channel that offers some interesting promise for targeting of content is mobile.  62% of AdTech’s attendees responding to the survey by Halyard cited mobile as the advertising platform that will grow the most in the next two years.   Mobile has the potential to target a consumer at exactly the right time and the right place.  Imagine walking into a drug store and receiving a coupon by text message on your mobile phone for an over-the-counter pain reliever.  That is the power of location-based advertising, made possible by the proliferation of global positioning system (GPS) technology on mobile phones, that allows providers to know exactly where you are.  This is not science fiction - companies like Loopt and NAVTEQ are already starting to serve up location-based ads on a handset near you.

And while social networks may not prove to be the holy grail in providing a channel for advertising, their vast potential for understanding and targeting consumers may still be the key to effective advertising in a performance-based world.  Dr. Fou explains that “By redefining social networks as ‘the collective conversations and actions of customers, evidenced online,’ marketers can instead use social networks as places to do research-e.g., test messages with real customers in a real environment, listen to how customers describe their products or services to peers, or get ideas for new products or how to improve current products. And finally, advertisers can identify influencers, mavens or ‘heavies’ on social networks (the ones who are most active in talking, posting or sharing) and let them beta-test and write about their product or service.”

Not only can social networks help advertisers better identify, understand and influence their targets, they have the potential to exponentially extend their reach.   According to Advertising Age, there is “emerging evidence that mapping the online relationships among consumers — creating so-called social graphs — can be just as valuable as traditional targeting and segmentation in predicting how people will respond to marketing messages.”  The idea is to not only market to your identified target consumer, but market to the other people in that consumer’s social network.  The theory is that advertisers should associate “consumers who are already connected and share values and beliefs, a concept called homophily.”  Yahoo and several small start-ups are starting to prove out this theory.

Finally, there may still be hope for television.  In early November, Dish Network struck a deal with advertising technology firm Invidi that involves the creation of “advanced receivers” capable of “targeted advertising delivery” and “dynamic commercial insertion.”  According to Advertising Age, what this means is “[r]ather than bombarding millions of TV viewers with the same ads for things many of them may not be looking to buy, marketers could in the next two to three years send different ads to different households — making certain, for example, that Procter & Gamble wouldn’t have to pay for Pampers ads watched by a couple with no wee tykes and General Motors wouldn’t have to show ads for its Hummer vehicles to a house full of Prius enthusiasts.”  Industry experts believe that if consumers are presented with highly relevant advertising, they are far less inclined to skip the ad on their DVR.



Gail

FreedomLoveHappiness asked:


I know in todays economy everyone is cutting back on spending, especially businesses by laying off employee’s. However there are still print and television advertising still being purchased. I know what it takes to start a business, however I would like to know what it takes actually start a grassroots advertising agency? What does it intel? Creating creative ads for clients, being familiar with places and cost to advertise? What would I need to do? Any information would be helpful.

Jacob

TETRegime asked:


I know advertising is in a subset of marketing; when you are advertising, you are marketing but you can be marketing when you are are not necessarily advertising. Is there any main difference between Advertising and Marketing?

Kelly

slheeley asked:


What is the best way for me to advertise my Tax Preparation Business? I’m planning on sending out postcards locally next January…is there a better way? What kind of advertising do folks out there like to receive? Obviously I could hire someone, but I’m all about doing this myself. How can I get out there..what works, what doesn’t?

Lori

M. Bruce Abbott asked:


"How much should I spend on radio advertising?" "How do I know I am getting the best radio advertising rates?" "What radio stations should I advertise on?" "What are good and bad radio advertising prices?" "How many spots should I air on a radio station?"

Every day at Radio Lounge, we hear radio advertising questions such as these.

Honestly, there is so much confusion about radio advertising floating around – we can’t blame you for asking these questions. Why is advertising on the radio so mysterious? The answer is – radio advertising is not mysterious. It just helps to know how it works.

Effective radio advertising relies on two major components – the message (the radio commercial itself), and the media (that the radio spot airs on).

The Message

Let’s look first at the radio commercial itself. Before even thinking about which radio stations to air on, or how much to spend on radio advertising rates, you must think about what you are going to say in your radio ad. For this article, we are assuming that all call centers, fulfillments, websites, etc. lead generation, and sales closing processes have been put in place by you, the advertiser. Creating a radio commercial that helps drive traffic is extremely important to the advertising process.

The advertising industry is full of voice talents, radio personalities, DJ’s and others, all claiming to create radio commercials. Be careful here. When entering the arena of radio commercial production, look for a radio advertising agency that has experience and a track record of successful ad campaigns. Anyone can create a radio ad, but not everyone can create a radio ad that pulls traffic. Some radio stations provide free radio commercials if you advertise on their station. Most of these free commercials are never based on strategy and are just one of several dozen commercials that have to be created by an overworked radio production person in a five to fifteen minute window of time. Remember, you usually get what you pay for.

The most effective radio commercials are built on a solid, proven strategy. The copy is written using time tested formulas that maximize potential response. The talent is handpicked to best connect with the end user and the production is based upon clear, quality, and easy to absorb audio.

So…what does the radio commercial production process cost? The majority of radio commercials that work best usually fall into the $500 to $1000 price range. There are always exceptions to the rule (lots of revisions to copy or audio, additional voice talents, celebrity endorsements, etc.) but this figure generally covers development of a solid strategy, copy from experienced copywriters, performance by high caliber voice talents, and the highest quality production services.

The Media

For many with questions about radio advertising rates, and radio station prices, here is where the mystery begins. We will try to simplify the mystery of radio media buying as much as we can in this small amount of space.

A good radio advertising buy focuses on a few different things:

* Finding the best radio stations in a market that match your customer’s demographics (age, gender, income level, etc.) and psychographics (interests, beliefs, hobbies, personality traits, etc.).

* Finding the dayparts that best reach your target customer. Mornings? Middays? Afternoons?

* Selecting the top radio stations that most efficiently reach the highest potential customers, the right number of times (defined as frequency), for the least amount of money

Usually, when researching radio advertising costs, many potential radio advertisers have a pretty good idea of the first two points. However, when it comes down to finding the best station (or stations) at the best price, the radio advertising process becomes a little more challenging.

Here is how we tackle the process at Radio Lounge and determine how much to spend on radio advertising costs. Within the market you want to advertise in, we find the radio stations that have the best potential to reach your target customer. This is based on the formats of the radio stations. Urban Hip-hop stations will target different demographics than a News/Talk, or Soft Rock station. After we select a group of radio stations, we contact those stations to let them know we are thinking about advertising on their radio station. We ask for specific data from the radio stations called "rankers". This is ratings data that most radio stations can provide based on specific requirements we have requested. From this point, we have a good idea which stations perform the best in our target demographics.

Once we have narrowed down the radio stations to just a few that will effectively reach our target customer, we then request a proposal based on certain criteria – dayparts, frequency goals, etc. From these proposals, we can see who reaches the target audience most efficiently – using tools like Cost Per Point (ratio of spot rate to ratings percentage), Cost Per Thousand (ratio of spot rate to audience category totals), etc. If a radio station is not competitive, we will often ask the station to resubmit a more competitive proposal. But, how will we know if all of the station’s radio advertising rates are too high. Radio Lounge has access to data that allows us to compare proposals against historical figures to determine if radio station prices are in line with market averages. We negotiate, and help execute the purchase.

Great…but what does this cost? It depends on the size of the market you wish to advertise in as determined by Arbitron (the radio ratings services). Radio advertising rates can be as high as $800 per 60 spots in a top market like New York City, or as low as $3 per 60 spots in Kerrville, TX. How will you know what to spend?

Here’s a valuable system we have used from our history of working with radio advertising rates. The system is based on a solid branding schedule that may run one spot per day in the morning drive, one per day at midday, and one per day in the afternoon drive – Monday through to Friday, and two spots on Saturday and Sunday. That’s nineteen spots a week at sticker price. This type of schedule is good for achieving a desired frequency level of three (meaning the average listener to a station will hear the radio commercial at least three times). Under these broad assumptions, you can use the following chart as a rough guide to budgeting your radio advertising campaign.*

*Note, these are gross rates and do not include production costs or agency discounts. These are market averages for the standard radio schedule mentioned above, actual costs may vary. Different combinations of dayparts on different stations may cost much less.

* Markets 1 -5 (ex: New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, etc.)

Expect to pay from $4000 to $8000 per week/per station for a top performing station.

* Markets 6 – 20 (ex: Dallas/Ft.Worth, Houston, Phoenix, San Diego, etc.)

Expect to pay from $2000 to $5000 per week/per station for a top performing station.

* Markets 21 – 50 (ex: Denver, Cleveland, Kansas City, etc.)

Expect to pay from $1000 to $3000 per week/per station for a top performing station.

* Markets 51- 150 (ex: Akron, Syracuse, Baton Rouge, etc.)

Expect to pay from $800 to $2000 per week/per station for a top performing station.

* Markets 150+ (ex: Myrtle Beach SC, Green Bay, Topeka, etc.)

Expect to pay from $500 to $1500 per week/per station for a top performing station.

You may be saying, "Wow! That can be expensive". Relax, these are standards and radio advertising schedules come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes, schedules are smaller depending on advertising goals and objectives. However, we do recommend that you are able to commit to the range of minimums.

Leftovers?

Notice we have not mentioned remnant radio advertising here at all. Remnant advertising is the practice of buying unused inventory at deep discounts. Remnant advertising success exists more in theory than in practice. However, this is not to say that there are not advertisers who are having success with remnant advertising. If, and when, remnant advertising falls into your lap, we suggest you look into it. However, basing your entire radio ad campaign on remnant advertising may be shooting yourself in the foot. With the exception of a few times a year, most top performing radio stations do not have that much unsold inventory. Often, the largest advertisers have contracts that guarantee so many low cost/no cost spots that have to run. The reality is that if large advertisers (with the big dollar schedule) need their spots to run, or if another advertiser pays just one penny more than you did for your remnant spots – bump! You just got bumped off the air that day. You may pay for twenty spots and only get two that air. The stations will make it up to you, but what if you were counting on that advertising to drive sales. Or better yet, in the age of consolidated radio groups your remnant advertising might run on the third to the last rated station in the market. The result is NO RESULT and you have just wasted money for nothing. We really do believe that when it comes to radio advertising YOU TRULY DO GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.

Now that radio advertising rates have been explained, you may ask the question, how long should I advertise? The type of radio advertising helps define the length of a campaign. Advertising for an event? We recommend shorter, more compact schedules to create buzz leading up to the event or launch. Branding a product? Often, long term schedules with a bit of breathing room work best. Maybe even flighting could work (on two weeks, off two weeks). Most of the time, the two things that will determine how long to run a radio advertising campaign will be advertiser goals (traffic numbers), and external factors such as sales cycles. Oh yeah, and usually budget affects the length of the campaign. It is not desired, but that’s reality.

The Total Cost

You may be thinking, "So if I want to run a spot on three top Houston radio stations, I should expect to pay $1000 for a commercial, plus $3000 per week per station…that’s $10,000 for one week’s worth of advertising!" That’s true, and may be just what it takes to reach over half a million potential well targeted customers. The real question is, "How much money can you make off half a million potential targeted customers?" Is it more than $10,000 a week? $40,000 a month? These are questions to ask yourself, because in the world of advertising, that is pretty good traffic.

It works even better when you let Radio Lounge reduce that cost even further. What if Radio Lounge was able to get you a great radio advertising schedule by providing an instant discount ABOVE the negotiated lowest radio station price?

Launch Your Radio Advertising Campaign

You may still have many questions about radio advertising. That’s why we are here. We want to help you get the biggest bang for the radio advertising buck. Radio Lounge has worked with thousands of radio advertising campaigns. We know what works and what does not. Let Radio Lounge help you with all facets of strategic development, creative development, copywriting, production, media planning, media negotiation, and monitoring of your radio advertising campaign.

Call for a free consultation. Toll free 1-866-4-AUDIO-9…that’s 1-866-428-3469.

Let Radio Lounge help you drive traffic with powerful radio advertising solutions.

http://www.radioloungeusa.com



Darrell

Dr.Amit Kumar Chatterjee asked:


Banner advertisement is perhaps the oldest and most common mode of advertisement in the world wide web (www). In its simplest form - it acts like a billboard, spreading a promotional message and helping interested visitors to jump to relevant web-site.

Difference between a physical billboard and on-line banner advertisement lies in ability of the later to measure campaign effectiveness. Unlike traditional ad media like TV or print where measuring audience response is difficult - its possible to obtain clear and accurate measurements of success or failure of on-line ads through web traffic analysis.

How good is banner advertisement for your business ? Should you adopt this known and trusted method or go for new ones like search engine based PPC ? The answer lies in your requirement and an understanding of what banner advertisement can deliver.

Let us discuss various concepts associated with on-line advertisement and analyze how banner advertisement works.

What Kind of On-Line Advertisement Suits my Business ?

There are three major reasons for creating online advertising campaign. These are:

*Building brand awareness

*Increasing website traffic

*Creating leads and sales

You need to analyze your precise requirements and prioritize the objectives of planned ad campaign. If the objective is brand building or pure promotion - banner advertisement is ideally suited. However, if you are more keen on leads and sales - targeted advertisements such as search engine marketing could be better option. In many cases - a mix of banner ad and search engine marketing could be the answer. One can find more information on Internet advertisement, specially in the context of export import trade and b2b portals here .

Key Concepts Associated with On-Line Advertisement:

Before proceeding any further, it is important to understand a few key concepts associated with on-line advertisements in general and banner advertisement in particular.

Impression:

Impression is a measure of how many times an ad has been viewed. How many people have viewed a banner ad or received an “impression” by seeing the ad - is a measurement of responses from the ad delivery system. Once a visitor has viewed a banner on a web page - an impression is recorded. Banner views are different from page views in the sense that there may be multiple banner views within one page view. There’s another distinction between page

view and banner view - some banner serving software do not count a banner view unless the visitor stays on the page long enough for the banner to be fully downloaded from ad server.

CPM:

CPM refers to cost per thousand (M here stands for ‘Mille’ - the Roman numeral used to represent 1000). CPM is commonly used by the advertising industry to describe how many people have viewed the banner ad (ad view) or received an “impression” by seeing the ad. In other words, this is the price an advertiser pays for displaying his/her banner 1,000 times.

For example, an advertising rate of $10 CPM, means the advertiser is paying $10 for every 1,000 impressions, or $0.01 for each banner impression.

CTR or Click-Through:

When a visitor gets interested in promotional message of a banner, he/she clicks on it to learn more and is automatically transported to advertiser’s website. Every time someone clicks on the banner, it is called a “click- through,” and the “click-through rate” is expressed in terms of percentage of users who click on an advertisement (i.e. ratio of ad clicks to ad impressions). In other words, click through ratio is an indication of a banner’s effectiveness.

How Advertiser Pays for Banner Advertisement Universally, there are two modes of payment for banner ad - CPM

Click-Through:

In India - there’s a third mode of payment based on duration of time a banner is hosted on a web-site. Typically, special server-based software called ‘ad-server’ rotates banner ads in specified places of a web-site. It also keep track of impressions, click-thorough and other vital statistics.

In CPM mode of payment - advertiser pays for number of impressions based on an agreed CPM. For example, if a site charges US$ 9 per CPM - for $450 the advertiser gets $450 / $9 CPM *

1000 = 50,000 impressions

If percentage of click thorough is 2 - 4%, advertiser may expect ~ 1000 - 2000 new customers visiting his/her web-site. This is apart from brand building based on number of impressions.

In Click-Through mode - Advertisers pays a fixed fee for every click, no matter what is the number of impressions.

In time-based banner advertisements (typical in India), advertiser pays a fixed fee based on monthly or quarterly rate, irrespective of the number of impression or click-thorough.

Types of Banners Advertisements:

Traditional banner ads were static in nature - usually a .gif or .jpeg image file. With technology advancing - new modes of banner ads appeared in ad scene. Following are some of the popular modes of non-static banner ads

Expanding - Banner gets bigger on clicking - often have a button labeled “Expand”. Rather than jumping to another website - these banners simply open up and reveal more information.

Animated - Common mode of banner ad these days. However, too many images/messages may render such banners hopelessly large in size, slow and downright irritating. Exercise caution on banner design.

Drop-Down Menu - These have embedded HTML and allow the user to choose options from a drop-down menu. This mode of banner is ideal for co-op advertising where several businesses can advertise together.

Interstitial - These appear in a separate window as the website loads. These ads often contain large graphics, animation, and streaming presentations.

Java, Flash, and Shockwave - These allow for rich media presentation including video and audio. Common browser toolbars such as Alexa, Google etc. suppress this type of banners Floating Ads and DHTML - These banners float over the content a website and generally perceived as intrusive, although they do get a high click-through rate.

Unicast - These are just like little TV ads that run in a separate window.

Checklist for Banner Designers:

Here’s a few things to keep in mind while creating banner ad Make it smaller in size: preferably under 12K. This way - the banner will be quick to load.

Keep it Simple: Stay simple. Don’t get too complicated with heavy text and confusing colors.

Make it Easy-to-read:

Always use ALT tags for text display on those surfing without images Verify that the banner clicks-through to the appropriate page on your website Limit your use of animation Include a call to action (e.g. Order Now, Visit Web-Site etc.) Test your banners in different browsers at different screen resolutions.

Get your web designer to make your banner ads for you in a variety of standard sizes if you are not experienced in advertising.

Conclusion:

Lack of targeting and visitor apathy are two major drawbacks of banner ad campaigns. Because of large scale use or misuse - visitors today treat banners as necessary evil and pay little attention. Click through rate of banner ads are much lower compared to other forms of on-line advertisement such as targeted search engine marketing. However, banner ads are more effective in brand building and work very well when the creative is attractive and ad delivery systems can do some targeting.



Kelly

Philip Yaffe asked:


by Philip Yaffe

“I know that half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The problem is, I don’t know which half.”

This succinct resume of the advertiser’s dilemma is often attributed to John Wanamaker, the department store pioneer. Some people prefer to give the credit to Henry Ford, the automobile pioneer, or other favorite business giants. Whoever said it first, it is certain that it has been said thousand and thousand of times since.

The significance of the observation is nothing short of astounding. These are people whose business is investing and harvesting financial assets, yet when it comes to advertising, they freely admit to wasting at least half of their money!

But the observation can be turned on its head. Viewed from this perspective, it means that these same extremely clever and resourceful marketers believe that the power of advertising is so great, even at only 50% effectiveness they still get their money’s worth. This is equally astounding!

The value of advertising can most easily be seen with mass marketed products. For example, a breakfast cereal launches a major advertising campaign; within a few days to weeks the sales figures will reflect the impact of the campaign. With technical and industrial products, the picture is not quite so clear. Few people buy a car or a piece of industrial equipment on impulse. They build up to it over a long period of time, so that the cause-and-effect relationship between advertising and sales is virtually impossible to evaluate.

Nevertheless, advertising is indispensable. So the question is, can you construct advertising campaigns that will assure the best return on investment (ROI), even when that return cannot be directly measured?

The answer is both yes and no. It is “no” if you believe that advertising by nature is more of an art than a science. It is “yes” if you believe that advertising is a combination of both art and science.

It is certainly true that advertising has a major “art” component, i.e. that people who have a “feel” for it are likely to produce better, more effective advertising than people who don’t. Unfortunately, this verity has led to the false conclusion that advertising is predominantly art, i.e. a matter of taste.

When advertising is viewed as largely a question of personal preference, the rational component of the exercise takes second importance. Worse, it often degenerates into a kind of pseudoscience of rules and regulations with no scientific justification:

– Be positive: no one likes negative advertising

– Avoid simple, straightforward headlines; headlines should “tease” readers into the advert

– Use big, bold visuals; people are impressed by pictures

– Show the solution, not the problem: this is reassuring to potential buyers

– Never write more than 15 - 20 words of body copy; no one reads body copy anyhow

– Make payoff lines (slogans) clever and memorable, not explicit and to the point

The summation seems to be: Advertising is entertainment. If you can attract attention and give a show, then you will sell.

One writer on the subject bluntly stated: “Advertising consists of first hitting people in the face with a pie, then delivering your message.” It is of course true that you must attract attention before you can deliver your message. But just how seriously is anyone like to take your message while he is wiping whipped cream off his face?

Advertising may have elements of show business. But if it is only show business, it will fail. On the other hand, if we are more detached in our analysis — i.e. if we put the art of advertising and the science of advertising into better balance — we many learn some valuable lesions. And gain some valuable commercial leverage.

I have done considerably work in pharmaceutical marketing. Doctors are perhaps the most difficult targets in the world, because what you “sell” them is ideas and information, which later on they may or may not turn into prescriptions for their patients. Thus, while the following examples relate specifically to doctors and medicines, the underlying principles are universally valid. Throughout this article, wherever you see the word “doctor”, mentally substitute the name of your potential technical and/or industrial customer and see how well these ideas fit.

Facing the Facts

David Ogilvy, one of the most highly regarded gurus of consumer advertising, asserts: “Very few advertisements contain enough factual information to sell the product. There is a ludicrous tradition among copywriters that consumers aren’t interested in facts. Northing could be farther from the truth.”

If this contention is valid for housewives, how much more valid must it be for doctors!

Medicine is a serious business. When a doctor reads a medical journal, he is looking for medical information. Otherwise, he would be reading something else. It therefore follows: Advertising in medical journals that gives real medical information is likely to attract more attention and achieve better results than advertising which doesn’t.

If this seems self-evident, medical journals bear witness to the opposite. The majority of adverts tend to fall into two categories:

1. Lots of words, but little real information (lack of a focused message).

2. A clever headline, a pleasing picture—and no information at all.

The excuse for the first kind of advert is often: “It is a new product; we need to create a personality for it.” It is hard to imagine how an empty personality, based solely on errant prose, will result in positive promotion.

The excuse for the second category of adverts often is: “It is a well known product; this is simply a reminder advert.” Certainly it makes sense to remind the doctor that a medicine exists. But it makes even more sense to remind him of why he is using it, if he is already using it. Or why he should be using it, if he isn’t.

The 80/20 Rule

The objection will now be raised: Doesn’t this “art + science” concept of advertising necessitate long body copy? Does it make sense to write long body copy when no one reads it anyhow?

Let’s examine this contention in reverse order.

For every 100 doctors who read the headline and look at the visual of an advert, let’s say only 20 will actually read the body. Does this represent an 80% wastage? Emphatically no.

The 80/20 rule is a fundamental tenet of technical and industrial marketing, i.e. in general 80% of sales come from 20% of customers. The same principle applies to advertising.

Readers who just look at the headline and visual, then turn the page, at that moment are not the real customers for the product. Those who remain to read the body copy are the real customers for the product. This is the ideal moment to tell them bout it, because this is when they want to know about it. Otherwise, they too are likely to turn the page and an excellent selling opportunity will be lost.

Body is important, in fact vital, because it is your only real chance to make the sale. But how long should that body copy be?

This is like asking how long is a piece of string. You don’t answer this question by counting the number of words. Rather, you consider the value of the words. The best guide is: If the body copy contains one word more than needed to deliver the message, it is probably too long; if it contains one word less than need to deliver the message, it is definitely too short, regardless of how many words are used!



Of course, it makes no sense to simply print the prescribing information. As Bill Bernbach, a legendary practitioner of consumer advertising, has written: “Be certain that your advertisement says something to the consumer; that it informs and renders a service. Then be certain that it says what it has to say in a way no one has ever said it before.”

Notice the balance in this advice.

First: “Be certain that your advertisement says something to the consumer.” This is advertising as a science. Determining what you want to say about your product and what you ought to say about it are two different things. This is why most good advertising starts with market research. And never lets anything go to press before it has been thoroughly tested.

Second: “Be certain that your advertisement says what it has to say in a way that no one has ever said it before.” This is advertising as an art.

How the advert expresses its message, both visually and verbally, can vary dramatically depending on who is saying it. The total impact the advert will achieve intimately depends on the talents of the art director and the copywriter, the so-called “creates” of the business.

The Use and Abuse of Creativity

Introducing the copywriter and art director into the discussion raises the vexing question of creativity in advertising.

“Creativity” is probably one of the most abused and misused words in English or any other language. As we have seen, some people think it means hitting people in the face with a pie. We have also seen the dangers of this approach. Surprising and shocking people in order to gain their attention can:

– Undermine the credibility of the serious message you are trying to deliver.

– Lead to rapid advertising “wear-out”. You can surprise and shock people only once; after that, you are likely to have no effect. Worse, you may have a negative effect!

Stripped of mythology, saying what you have to say in a way that it has never before been said simply means: Putting forward the essentials of the message in such a way that they cannot be ignored — on the first exposure and on subsequent exposures.

So much emphasis is placed on attracting attention and conveying a message on the first exposure (“pie in the face”), very little thought seems to be given to what will happen, if anything, on the second, third and subsequent exposures. This is the concept of “wear-out”; after how many exposures does the advert stop having any useful impact?

The concept of wear-out is closely allied to the idea of repetition. Unlike supermarket adverts, adverts for prescription pharmaceuticals seldom appear only once (“Buy now before supplies run out; Special discount prices, stock up now”). Instead, they usually run for at least several months, and often a year or longer.

True, few doctors read the same advert more than once, but they cannot help seeing it more than once. They will certainly see it much more often than they will see the pharmaceutical representative who visits them. Advertising is the most frequent and most consistent point of contact between the doctor and the company.

A truly efficient advert should have impact each and every time it is seen — whether it is read each time or not. This is why the fundamental structure is so important. And why it is well worth spending the time and energy to get it right, i.e. concept development not only for journal adverts, but also for brochures, mailings, oral presentations, symposia, etc.

How do you create advertising with such power and longevity?

In general, any advert that communicates the product name and main sell proposition in a flash should continue to work as long as the underlying strategy remains the same. The assumption is, each exposure — even if it is only as long as it takes to turn the page — reinforces previous impressions of the message in the journals, mailings, etc. Adverts that rely on “teaser” headlines or other indirect approaches are more problematical. It is far more likely that the doctor will perceive this kind of advertising as promotion rather than information, and will turn the page with no reinforcement of the selling message.

Courage and Conviction

A truly effective long-life advert may not always appear smashingly striking at first sight; however, if it is well constructed it will grow and gain strength over time. By contrast, an advert that is extremely striking at first sight — this being its major attribute — may in fact lose power over time. Sometimes overnight.

Developing advertisements that sell on first and subsequent exposures admits of no hard and fast rules. Some times it may mean an extremely factual advert that looks almost like editorial copy; other time it may be an advert with a highly emotional content. It all depends on the nature of the product; the nature of the market, and what ideas, true or false, are already in the doctor’s mind.

There is more to good technical and industrial advertising than meets the eye. Indeed, a superficial analysis is likely to be very misleading, with very expensive consequences. To properly evaluate an advertising campaign, it is necessary to know the underlying strategy and the objectives that strategy is designed to achieve.

By way of example, here are the descriptions of three advertising campaigns I produced when I was creative director of a specialized medical advertising agency. You may not fully understand the products, but look closely at the description of each advert.

1. Product: Vasodilator

Objective: Increase prescriptions by repositioning it as the first product of a new, more effective therapeutic class

Headline: “6 Actions on the Blood and the Vessels to Combat Claudication and its Premonitory Symptoms”

Visual: 6 symbols in the form of a rectangle representing the 6 modes of action

Body copy: factual, moderate length

2. Product: Benzodiazepine

Objective: Stabilize leadership position/market share in an anti-benzodiazepine marketing environment

Headline: “My Conditions for Prescribing an Anxiolytic to My Patients”

Visual: Intelligent, serious-looking general practitioner speaking the headline

Body copy: factual, short

3. Beta-2 mimetic bronchodilator

Objective: Maximize sales potential by overcoming market prejudice to using oral beta-2 mimetics in the treatment of nocturnal asthma

Headline: “Asthma: Night Is the Enemy”

Visual: Artist’s impression of the experience of a night-time asthma attack, painted by an asthmatic artist who actually suffers such attacks.

Body copy: factual; extremely short

At first glance the vasodilator and benzodiazepine adverts might appear uninspired, even banal. They are unlikely to win any awards for advertising “creativity”. On the other hand, the asthma advert is exactly the type that could win a creativity award.

Despite their superficial differences, fundamentally they are quire similar. All three adverts had very high awareness and credibility scores. One of the so-called “banal” adverts was so well received — and had such an impact on sales — that when we proposed a more “imaginative” version, the product manager, originally unconvinced by it, growled: “If you touch my advert, I will break your arm.”

Conclusion: All three adverts were extremely creative in the real sense of the word, because they:

1. Clearly reflected the nature of the product

2. Precisely addressed the needs of the market

3. Elicited the desired response (won prescriptions)

The serious advertiser would do well to bear this functional definition of creativity uppermost in mind.

It takes courage to reject an advertising campaign proposal that is striking, cute, funny, artistic, etc., in favor of one that doesn’t seem to possess these desirable characteristics. A so-called “unimaginative” campaign that clearly responds to the needs of the market and has the innate capacity to grow and develop (i.e. continue generating sales) is considerably more creative, in the true sense of the word, than one that flashes like a meteor, then dissipates its energy and loses impact before it has had a chance to do its job.

Philip Yaffe is a former writer with The Wall Street Journal and international marketing communication consultant. He now teaches courses in persuasive communication in Brussels, Belgium. Because his clients use English as a second or third language, his approach to writing and public speaking is somewhat different from other communication coaches. He is the author of In the “I” of the Storm: the Simple Secrets of Writing & Speaking (Almost) like a Professional, available from the publisher (storypublishers.be) and Amazon (amazon.com). Contact: phil.yaffe@yahoo.com, phil.yaffe@gmail.com



Ray

akram_rah asked:


I am starting a detergents factory. And I am confussed, should I start advertising before selling, or do I present my products to the supermarkets and wait for awhile and then advertise?

Jean

akaroky asked:


I am a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant and need ideas of effective ways of advertising on the Internet.
I have a website that I can lead people to.
I do not need to make a website. I already have a great one. I just want to know how I can either get people to the website I already have or how I can get leads over the Internet of people that would like facials.

Evelyn

Cheryl D asked:


We are all influenced by the media and advertising. What types of advertising campaigns are most effective on you personally? Cite specific examples. What rhetorical devices do they use, and why do you think they are so effective?
We are all influenced by the media and advertising. What types of advertising campaigns are most effective on you personally? Cite specific examples. What rhetorical devices do they use, and why do you think they are so effective? It does not have to be just TV.. we are talking all Advertising.

Marjorie