Over the last while, I've been trying to wrap my head around how and why mass media how really works. Put simply, I think the key to successful advertising is communication. No matter which mass media you pick ie. Radio, TV, Internet, Print there is a very large group of individuals that your business can connect with on the other side of that dial, channel, site or page. I believe that those individuals are open to marketing messages when they enter the "consumer window" and are unknowingly conscious of the messages when they are not. This is a key point to why long term advertising is the most successful... only some people are buying now. Far more are planning to buy soon. The largest group of consumers are those who will buy, but haven't been triggered to do so.
As a client so eloquently put it yesterday, you'd never know there were any yellow cars on the road until you are about to buy one.
So in an effort to simplify marketing strategies, i found this article which make some great points.
http://db0898.com/the-five-most-important-things-you-need-to-know-about-successful-advertising/
1. establishing the exact message you are trying to put forward
Advertising needs to be planned and it needs to be simple.
Give them a reason to pick up the telephone or to drop into your business
If you can’t summarise what you want your message to say in one short sentence, go back to the drawing board until you can. Once this magic sentence has been determined, build your advertisement to portray this message clearly.
2. being clear about your target audience
Knowing exactly the type of person you want to see your advertisement is an essential component for planning your campaign
Different people watch television at different times (and of course they watch different shows). Different people read various sections of the paper, listen to particular radio stations and so on.
3. making your advertisement stand out from millions of others
The main reason advertising doesn’t work for a lot of businesses is because the advertisement or commercial fails to catch the attention of the targeted customers
It is very important to remember that consumers are bombarded with advertising from the minute they wake up until the minute they go to bed
Marc's Note: a unique selling proposition will at least help you stand out from your immediate competition
4. ensuring people see your advertising often
get as many people as possible to see your advertisement as often as possible and your advertising will bring much greater results.
The aim is to look at your whole campaign and make certain you are going to reach as many people as often as possible. Advertising in more than one area is a key to this, so it is wise to consider this strategy
5. giving your advertising time to work.
It is very rare for a potential customer to see your advertisement once, then race off to pick up the phone or jump in the car.
It will generally take a person seven visits to a website (including your own) before they will make a specific purchase
the response to an advertisement will generally increase the longer it is out there because more people will see the advertising more often
"I have monitored a lot of advertising campaigns where we have done the same amount of advertising for a specific product over a six-month period. Each month the response increased, with the last month being the most successful, illustrating the long-term benefits of advertising. Likewise it takes a while for advertising to stop working once the momentum is gained. For those campaigns we ran for six months and then stopped, new customers continued to flow for up to two months before finally slowing to a trickle or stopping."
