Kanicen asked:


Advertising is the key element of any business. If the advertisement thrives, it can mean immense traffic that generates thousands of dollars in income. Advertising requires original thinking because conventional advertising mediums are becoming very costly.

Advertising is the best method to make sure that customers learn about your products or services. But the real question is; are you getting the proper returns on investment on your advertising dollar? Do you feel that your promotion dollars and advertising overheads are giving you the results that you want? Probably you have been wondering where to advertise your business. Stop wondering, just look for a website that has the potential to draw thousands or millions in traffics and your business will surely benefit.

Most advertising sites offering only one of three main categories of directories, that is, classifieds, normal directory or jobs. If you find sites that offer all three probably the traffics generated is greater.

The common features integrated with classifieds directory advertising usually contains more than ten categories including houses for sale or rent, apartments for sale or rent, shops for sale or rent, and offices for sale or rent, cars for sale and business opportunities and son.

On the other hand business directory advertising normally associates more than 2,000 categories of listings to get wider circulation. Among the more popular categories are advertising, airlines, banks, beauty salons, bus lines, computers, charities, travel agencies, building contractors, renovators, consultants and interior designers, florists, hospitals, hotels, transportation, car rental, car accessories, office furniture, restaurants and photographs retail centers.

Recently, jobs advertising space has become widely demanded. Most college or university leavers are desperate looking for job. Most common fundamentals in job advertising usually contains more than 60 job categories under the main headings of accounting or finance, human resource and administrator, sales or marketing, arts or media or communication, services, hotels or restaurants, education and training, computer or information technology, engineering, sciences and health care.

Web Surfers from all over the world can search for and view products and services advertised and do business with the advertisers.

The importance of advertising in a directory is outlined as follows:

1. Supply necessary information

The customer may be looking for more information than just name, address and telephone number. They may need product or service details.

2. Complete directory representation

Sometimes a company may be known by two or more names. They may deal in two or more types of products or services. Therefore, an advertiser may want to advertise in different names and classifications.

3. Supply attention and value

Directory advertisements offer aggressive business a chance to secure a bigger ad space, thus showing itself to be more prominent than its competitors.

4. Trade mark and trade name identification

Customers may be just looking for a company trade name which is better known instead of its company name.

5. Focus attention on a specific product or service

If a product or service can be obtained from several sources an advertiser will benefit if he can point out the advantages of buying from him instead of his competitors. He can do so in a directory.

6. Maintain prestige

Directory advertising is special advertising which differentiates a prestigious business from an ordinary one.

Advertisers must understand the above functions of an online directory. They must be able to differentiate directory advertising from general advertising. When directory advertising is confused with general advertising sales executive from a directory company will face a very serious problem because he will meet with strong resistance and put into a class of media with fierce competition where magazines, television, newspaper, radio, exhibition and dozens of other types of salesmen battle for a place in the businessman advertising budget.

In most businesses all advertising is designed to build a desire for the company products or services. Directory advertising is used after the prospective buyer has already decided to buy. He is just looking for the seller. Therefore, general advertising is concerned with a product looking for a customer. Directory advertising is concerned with a customer looking for a product.

All in one directory are fast becoming popular and are expected to boost traffic to the site and thus improve an advertiser chance of doing more business.



Angela

F. Prida asked:


Based on statistics who claim that over eighty per cent of all website advertising budgets are practically lost, some online entrepreneurs doubt about the success of an online advertising campaign for their small internet business and consider it a waste of money.

Reality is that marketing a website business is a need ever present to its owners. To promote the business has to be attended to with the firmest of the dedications.

Website advertising can’t be considered an exact science but is definitely a very effective engine accomplishing the growth and expansion of any home based internet business.

Even so online entrepreneurs still and categorically declare that advertising a website is still a dangerous venture and at its best a speculation, even under the most favorable of conditions. Millions of dollars are spent yearly in website advertising budgets with no more realistic return on investment than would outcome from throwing away these advertising dollars into the vast ocean. They of course, are not suggesting that it is uncertain as to real efficiency of the right type of advertising, but that just about every online advertiser relates to the fact that sooner or later, sometimes constantly, costly mistakes are going to be committed.

There has been for many years a rank skepticism as to the best methods of promoting, sustaining and building up a small internet business.

 In this day of sensation and accomplishment this skepticism is being overthrown and well established, demonstrable facts are taking its place. Previously most business entrepreneurs thought that advertising was of little value in the development of doing business. Perhaps the kind of advertising our fathers did was of little value but there is a vast difference between the advertising of twenty five years ago and that of today. Online business advertising has changed and advanced so quickly through its various modifications that even modern vocabulary has problems keeping up and terminology is almost out of date in its attempts to describe it. In no field of endeavor has there been such development as in the online advertising campaign field.

Website advertising is, perhaps, the most valuable factor in establishing, maintaining and building up a home based internet business.

Internet advertising is today the ideal of modern publicity. It has the endorsement of the leading merchants, manufacturers and internet entrepreneurs who are acquainted with its merits.

They are fast realizing from experience, that advertising their website online gives them the safest, least expensive and most productive of results. They have found that there is little of the speculative in online advertising campaigns when it’s well done. Within a short time it is alleged that internet advertising will even overtake TV advertising, and it will be regarded as indispensable for success of any small business enterprise as the invested capital itself.  

This conclusion has been arrived at after most critical tests. It is based on facts as they exist today. It follows, then:  

That website advertising makes you well and favorably known.

That it gives you a better and wider publicity in the area in which you are seeking to do business with superior return on investment than all other combined.

That it gives to the advertiser the confidence it has won from the people through long years of service.

That it affords the best and least expensive way of putting your advertisements into millions of monitors and screens worldwide.

This being true, it seems there is no logical reason why every home based internet business entrepreneur should not use an online advertising campaign for obtaining the results he desires. The time has come when the old and ineffective custom of doing business must be discarded.

There is no time today to wait for the “ducks to swim to the shore”.

You must wade in or sail out and get them. Website advertising is the one effective, unerring gun with which you can bag your game. Undoubtedly an online advertising campaign can be successfully accomplished.

Copyright © F. Prida. All Rights Reserved.





Ella

Michael Arnold asked:


It might not be an obvious choice for advertising, airplane advertising. We think of radio spots, newspaper advertisements, and – if our budget is large – billboards. We don’t often think of the plane advertising, but we should.

Airplane advertising has many advantages over more traditional advertising that makes it an ideal, if not obvious choice, for use of the advertising dollar. Let’s look at a few.

First, aerial advertising is relatively inexpensive compared to other forms of advertising. You can’t look just at the dollar spent, but the audience reached. That is, when you place a newspaper ad, you consider circulation. Well, you say, that newspaper has a circulation of 100,000, so that many people will see my advertisement.

Not so fast.

Unlike airplane advertising, not everyone who reads the paper will see your ad. That is, if the advertisement is placed in the local section of the paper, your advertisement will only be seen by those people who read that section (some might only read the front section and the sports page, while others might only read the classifieds).

Once people are reading “your” section, there’s no guarantee they will read the ad you want them to read. Many people don’t read the advertisements at all.

How is plane advertising different? It’s different in many ways. For example, you don’t ask potential customers to see your advertisement, you make sure they do. You don’t wonder if they read the airplane message; you know they do. You don’t even have to wonder if they remember the advertisement – studies show they do, when it’s sent to them via banner towing.

Airplane messages are the ideal form of advertising because advertisers don’t have to wonder if their ad was seen, they don’t have to worry that it wasn’t read and they certainly don’t have to wonder if it is remembered.

Aerial advertising has a nearly 100% “seen” rate, in that the majority of people will look to the sky when they are greeted with some plane advertising in the air. The majority of the people who see and read the advertisements will also remember them, so advertisers can be confident that their ads aren’t just seen, they are remembered.

Also unique is that advertisers don’t have to worry they are invading on their potential customer’s spaces. That is, there are no advertisements to place on car windows (which just get thrown away), no living rooms to invade through the television and no billboard to distract driving. While lying on the beach or enjoying a music festival, the potential customer only has to look to the sky to get the message.

Best of all, they remember the ad because it’s novel and creative. They don’t feel as if their lives have been invaded. Certainly, if they want to ignore the banner advertising, they can roll over on the beach, or not look up from the music festival activities, but since most people report a positive response to banner advertising, it’s safe to assume the majority of people won’t do that.

Why do banner advertising? Because it works. Your aerial advertising has a greater chance of reaching the intended audience more than any other form of advertising.

Aerial Advertising services are available from companies that specialize in this type of advertising. The Internet is a good source of information when it comes to choosing aerial advertising services. Arnold Aerial Advertising is one of the companies that provide such services. Located in New York, Arnold Aerial Advertising provides nationwide service with affordable rates.



Ted

Marci Crane asked:


Like advertisers, marketers and business professionals from many states across the U.S. (and beyond), the amount of resources invested by online Utah advertisers in Internet advertising services are growing every year. After all, Utah has a large entrepreneurial base and a cache of business experts who have made offline business in Utah a rather fierce affair. As truculent as the war has been however it seems that the most cutthroat battle is still ahead: the battle of Utah Internet Advertising.

Leveraging Advertising Power for More Effective Utah Internet Advertising

If your business has been rated well by major search engines or if you have invested in a successful PPC or affiliate marketing campaign you’ve probably glimpsed the awesome power the World Wide Web can have on the success of your humble business. When it comes to advertising and a meagerly small budget however it is hard to know how can you invest in the palmy Utah Internet advertising campaign that every Utah business professional could benefit from.

Utah Internet Advertising that Works

The answer to the Utah Internet advertising question may not be the answer that business professionals want to hear and by no means is it the only one. There are a variety of ways to tackle advertising challenges but the obvious way to be successful in advertisement is to create associations between your products/services and the needs of your customers. Finding the best way to make these cagey connections isn’t easy (especially if you want to remain ethically impregnable) but a simple way to begin is to decide which advertising methodology you want to utilize by observing the current trends of popular and propitious advertisements. The observation of these trends doesn’t have to be expensive. Watching T.V. Commercials for instance can be an easy and inexpensive way of creating your own analysis for your next Utah Internet advertising campaign.

This remainder of this article will focus on one of the current (i.e. From about the 60’s or 70s until the present) advertising trends that is working (and working well) in the United States today. You of course do not have to implement this technique in your own Utah Internet advertising campaign (some Utah professionals might even consider it unethical) but this analysis may help you to observe additional advertising trends that would prove more beneficial to your own Utah Internet advertising campaign.

The Current Advertising Trend of Rights to Indulgence, Self-Importance and Superiority: Would it work for a Utah Internet Advertising Campaign?

Consumers know that advertisers (some advertisers that is) are quick to use the basics of self preservation such as material goods (i.e. greed) and physical intimacy (i.e. sex) greed and sex to attract the average consumer. After all, every person is “susceptible” to these self-preserving needs. However, an online article1 by Richard F. Taflinger, PhD also points out that the concepts of self-esteem or a sense of “self” can contribute to successful material accomplishments and sexual intimacy which makes advertising to the “self” a popular way to kill two birds with one advertising stone! Of course, you might think this type of advertisement might not be used in Utah but if those are your thoughts, think again! Arctic Circle, a Utah based company has already used the technique for television (see below) based advertising and it is very likely that Utah Internet advertising examples are also (or will soon be) made available.

Examples of Self Importance and Self Indulgence Advertisements

A very popular method of advertising today is to create a sense that every human being whether a man or a woman has a right to indulge a sense of self or a sense of self importance and superiority as long as he or she has the means to purchase certain objects (of course the purchase requirement is NOT usually explicit). Examples of this zeitgeist of indulgence and superiority include examples such as the L’Oreal campaign slogan, “Because you’re worth it,”2 which of course infers that every woman (regardless of how much she has to spend) has the innate right to purchase mascara, foundation, eye liner and sparkled lotions. Additional examples of the right to indulgence campaigns include the following examples:



Dove Chocolate– “My Moment, My Dove”3

Hummer– “Restore Your Manhood”4

McDonald’s– “Your Deserve a Break Today”5

Johnny Walker Black Whiskey– “Honor Thyself”6

Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Chocolate– “Award Yourself the CDM”7

Acura– “The True Definition of Luxury. Yours.”8

Braniff Airways– “When you’ve got it, flaunt it.”9



The right to indulgence or superiority doesn’t end with individuals however. Groups can be persuaded to superiority as well. Take for example the United States Army slogan that says, “Some of Our Best Men are Women.”10

Utah self importance advertising includes the Arctic Circle commercial where the young boy drags a trash bag from his home out to the garbage barrel. Once the trash is deposited he is awarded with an Arctic Circle milkshake. Essentially the slogan is “Reward yourself even for small accomplishments.”

What does this mean for Utah Internet Advertising?

For your Utah Internet advertising campaign, you might not choose to invest in the trendy right to self indulgence campaigns. However, it is important to notice what people need and what people respond to in advertisements.

Whatever you choose to focus your Utah Internet advertising campaign on, make sure to do your advertising research first!

1 wsu.edu:8080/~taflinge/esteem.html

2 commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/geoff_mulgan/2006/06/because_youre_worth_it.html

3 confectionerynews.com/news/ng.asp?id=64093-datamonitor-premium-occasions

4 autoblog.com/2006/08/07/restore-you-manhood-hummer-ad-revised/

5 youtube.com/watch?v=GyRLP3rHr7A

6 kristofcreative.com/learning/advertising/company-slogan-collection.shtml

7 scribd.com/doc/11748/Historyofbranding-com-Famous-Brand-Slogans

8 scribd.com/doc/11748/Historyofbranding-com-Famous-Brand-Slogans

9 scribd.com/doc/11748/Historyofbranding-com-Famous-Brand-Slogans

10 scribd.com/doc/11748/Historyofbranding-com-Famous-Brand-Slogans



Tonya

Michael Arnold asked:


Although business owners might not think of aerial advertising when planning their annual advertising budget, they should.

There are many distinct advantages to using airplane advertising. In many cases, the advantage of using plane advertising over more “traditional” advertising mediums is quite significant.

When planning an advertising budget, business owners should consider the distinct advantages of using aerial advertising as a medium to get a message across. The return on the initial investment could be significant.

Some of the benefits include:

Cost savings

First, aerial advertising is cost effective. You can easily reach thousands of people in a small period of time. You don’t have to assume they’ll watch the commercial and not flip the channel. You can be assured that when airplane messages appear, they will look skyward and pay attention to the advertisement that’s passing over.

That means there is no money wasted on advertising that won’t be read or paid attention to. In fact, it’s estimated that plane advertising costs about 50 cents per thousand people. No matter the deal offered by a radio station or a newspaper, it’s hard to beat the return on the aerial advertising dollar. Cost effective it is.

Novelty

It’s unusual and provides a break from the usual. People pay attention to aerial advertising, likely because it’s not something you see often. When they are laying in the sun on the beach on a lazy July day, they look skyward when airplane messages appear.

In addition, that novelty leads to memory. That is, people remember the aerial adds they see more than they remember other types of advertising. This is partly due to the novelty – they stop and say “hey, look at that plane and the banner!” – But it’s also the attention the banners garner. Studies show that people will generally watch the aerial advertising as is passes over and will continue to watch it until it disappears from sight. That’s a solid block of time where the intended audience is focusing on the advertiser’s message.

Non intrusive

To get the message across, advertisers who use banner towing aren’t intruding on people’s homes, their living room tables or their cars. They are simply providing a message that’s flown over the beach, or an event or other gathering.

People don’t feel as if their privacy, opinions or personal reading has been invaded. This advertising actually does something that most advertising can’t do – provide a welcome distraction, entertainment and a novel thing to talk about.

Increase ad recall

People remember aerial advertising more than any other advertising medium. Studies have shown that when questioned, 77% of the people who had just seen airplane advertising remembered what was being advertised on the banner. Another 67% could remember what was being advertised.

These numbers are far greater than the response to other kinds of advertising like radio and print ads.

All of these benefits add up to one great benefit – better use of your advertising dollar and a better return on that dollar.

Aerial Advertising services are available from companies that specialize in this type of advertising. The Internet is a good source of information when it comes to choosing aerial advertising services. Arnold Aerial Advertising is one of the companies that provide such services. Located in New York, Arnold Aerial Advertising provides nationwide service with affordable rates.



Joyce

Dhiraj Bandurkar asked:


Advertising on the Internet

Any business requires promotion in order to flourish. This is evident from the fact that businesses depend a lot on advertising to reach the desired audience. With all the conventional media backing you, if you still feel that you are missing out the desired audience then it is the ripe time for you to consider website or Internet advertising. Internet advertising has been very useful in generating traffic to websites and in turn help them do more business. When the correct banners and advertisements of your product or service are placed on many websites on the internet, there are chances that many people go through those websites and visit your website. The basics of Internet advertising is all about creating a traffic flow towards your website. Proper efforts made towards Internet advertising will definitely help you in generating traffic towards your website.

One major advantage with Internet advertising is that it is much cheaper if compared to the conventional methods of advertising. With the growing popularity and usage of Internet, the significance of advertising on websites remains unchallenged. With the power and reach of Internet, you will have a huge target market out there that you can use by using Internet advertising techniques. If dealing with online business, advertising online becomes really important and is also very effective. You can use a combination of online advertising methods to get the desired result. For instance, you can place all your online advertisements in a website that has the maximum visitors a day. This is crucial because more visitors will ensure that you get good numbers of visitors to your website and business through the online advertising program.

To start with advertising on the Internet, you can create an advertisement that is attractive and interesting and delivers your message clearly. Make it attractive, as the chances of people clicking are more. The best designs are the ones that use fewer words and fewer images but are simple and thus more effective. The most common form is the banner ads for online advertising. PPC ads can also be another method of profitable advertising online. You have to use the space of the PPC ads effectively to get the maximum result. Use keywords in the ad and make the title and ads attractive. Email marketing can be another effective online advertising method. In case of email marketing, always create the email advertisement with care not to get it labeled as Spam. You can publish a newsletter, to make online advertising for you. If you want to use a newsletter, make it interesting with good content. Send repeatedly after a fixed time with new contents. You can use blog and RSS feed, forums for online advertising. In all of them you have to provide something interesting to the readers to make it effective.

With the increase in the use of internet all around the globe, the internet has become the most important medium of not only trade and commerce but also of advertising and promotions. Online advertising has changed the world of advertising for ever and it would be better for you to make the most from it.



Tyler

Michael Arnold asked:


Consumers are bombarded with advertising on a daily basis. It’s estimated that most of us see or hear more than 100 ads per day.

This isn’t aerial advertising we’re talking about. Nope, we’re talking about basic, run of the mill advertisements. We hear radio advertisements for car dealerships, energy drinks and local beauty salons. We see newspaper advertisements for pet and discount stores. We see television advertisements for soft drinks and the latest sugary cereal.

But how many of those advertisements would we consider unique, interesting and worth remembering? Few, that’s for sure.

If even one of those advertisements was brought to us via airplane advertising, it’s likely we’d remember. Plane advertising is a novel and unique concept and that uniqueness means people remember it.

Most of us can’t remember what ads we saw in the sports section this morning. We think there might have been an advertisement for a sporting goods store, and maybe a lingerie store, but that’s about it. The front section might have included an advertisement for a furniture or department store, but we’re not sure.

Do we remember the aerial advertising we saw at the beach or the festival last summer? Likely, the answer is yes. That’s because aerial advertising brings something to the table that traditional advertisements just can’t touch – novelty and uniqueness, which breeds remembrance. That is, we remember advertisements that come to us in a unique and novel way. We remember ads that, themselves, are unique and novel.

Marketing experts will tell you that the key to creating memorable advertising is making it memorable. That is, no matter the product, present it in a way that’s interesting and memorable. Even ads for housecleaning can be exciting if presented in a unique way.

Advertisers, then, should look toward airplane messages as a way to get their advertising remembered. You could spend hours coming up with the right slogan and the best looking advertisement, or advertisers can spend a short period of time working with a representative from an aerial advertising company.

Because airplane advertising makes use of short messages, it is important that vital information is conveyed quickly, but creating a novel advertisement is much easier. As far as advertising goes, there’s little that’s more novel and unique than airplane advertising. When people hear that plan overhead, they naturally look skyward. They pay attention to the banner towing and they remember what they read on the banner that’s being towed.

Consumers report very positive responses to aerial advertising and that’s largely due to its novelty, its unique way of presenting an advertisement.

When advertisers are looking for the right medium for their advertising dollar, they are well served to look toward airplane advertising. It offers the uniqueness that people remember and an opportunity to get a message out to potentially thousands of people at once. There are few other advertising mediums that can boast of that.

Aerial Advertising services are available from companies that specialize in this type of advertising. The Internet is a good source of information when it comes to choosing aerial advertising services. Arnold Aerial Advertising is one of the companies that provide such services. Located in New York, Arnold Aerial Advertising provides nationwide service with affordable rates.



Agnes

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.

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Darrell

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

indiabizclub asked:


Advertising

Advertising is a non-personal form of promotion that is delivered through selected media outlets that, under most circumstances, require the marketer to pay for message placement. Advertising has long been viewed as a method of mass promotion in that a single message can reach a large number of people. But, this mass promotion approach presents problems since many exposed to an advertising message may not be within the marketer’s target market, and thus, may be an inefficient use of promotional funds. However, this is changing as new advertising technologies and the emergence of new media outlets offer more options for targeted advertising.

Advertising also has a history of being considered a one-way form of marketing communication where the message receiver (i.e., target market) is not in position to immediately respond to the message (e.g., seek more information). This too is changing. For example, in the next few years technologies will be readily available to enable a television viewer to click a button to request more details on a product seen on their favorite TV program. In fact, it is expected that over the next 10-20 years advertising will move away from a one-way communication model and become one that is highly interactive.

Another characteristic that may change as advertising evolves is the view that advertising does not stimulate immediate demand for the product advertised. That is, customers cannot quickly purchase a product they see advertised. But as more media outlets allow customers to interact with the messages being delivered the ability of advertising to quickly stimulate demand will improve.

Advertising

With the amount of people from home buying online expanding to now the billions and purchasing computers for their home, advertising online has grown to be one of the most cost effective forms of advertising. Stats show that the amount of users on the internet is growing at such a rapid rate that it is predicted that in five years time, eighty percent of the population in the United Kingdom alone, will have a computer in their home that is connected to the internet. With this in mind one can only imagine how crucial it is to prepare yourself now in the advertising world online for that period when the web will be the number one place to get people buying from your company. Advertising online is predicted to be the most cost effective form of advertising. Have a look at the way the world is evolving where the consumer does not have to leave their home to buy anything. All forms of advertising are crucial if you are out to corner your market in the business place.

Could either make or break your business. There are various forms of advertising such as magazine advertising, newspaper advertising, internet advertising and advertising via mail order just to mention a few. Advertising via magazines or newspapers are affective but extremely costly. Companies invest large amounts for advertising in the anticipation of large rewards and therefore far greater risks. It is obvious that companies are willing to spend large amounts on advertising if the advertising that they are paying for makes them a profit. To find the advertising that is right for you can be a troublesome period of test and trial. Most importantly you need to find the form of advertising that brings profits to the business in the form of sales to balance out cost paid for the initial payment on your advertising campaign.

For More information log on to http://www.indiabizclub.com or http://advertising.indiabizclub.com/



Tina