Phil Smith, Manging director of "Prospect :Lists" UK writes....
Direct Mail seems old fashi0ned today yet many businesses are using it successfully.
The reasons to still use direct mail… well,
a) it is a proven, tried and tested method.
b) You can deliver more information and the contact has a physical reference. And
c) it is cheaper than most other methods but remember to follow up your contacts for maximum opportunities.
Full article " Reasons to still use mail" is found at Articles Pro
Showing posts with label Media Planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Media Planning. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Monday, May 7, 2007
SmartAds:The Future of Advertising
It's becoming increasingly possible to target "smart ads" specifically to people who want them. And best of all, you can do this for a fraction of the price of mass-market.
Andrew Fano is showing off the living room. It's a plush, teaky, well-appointed affair, but what really catch the eye are several thin-screen video displays, including a few smaller ones that are embedded in furniture and picture frames. The displays are slowly cycling through what appear to be family digital photographs -- an appealing idea, considering many of us let our thousands of digital photos sit unwatched on a computer hard drive. "But would you want to see an ad stuck in there?" asks Fano, indicating one of the digital slide shows, apparently of a family vacation to a theme park. "No? Because you just saw one." One of the theme-park photos was a professional image designed to "enhance your memories" of the park, explains Fano, a senior researcher at consulting giant Accenture who is exploring new ways for advertisers to get their messages across. The tony living room is actually part of Accenture's technology laboratory, and the displays are an experimental prototype of a service that would arrange your photos into slide shows in exchange for the right to slip relevant sponsored pictures into the mix.
The world is awash in advertising clutter. For decades marketers have been spending more and more to try to get their message out -- only to find their pitches drowned out in a sea of noise generated by countless other marketers trying to do the same thing. In effect, companies have been paying big bucks to be ignored. Now, inspired by the Internet's ability to do a better job of targeting prospects and measuring results, advertisers are dreaming up new ways to break through the clutter and connect with potential customers at a lower cost.
The big advances in advertising technology once favored traditional giants like Procter & Gamble, which could afford to mass-market its message. The new techniques are affordable to smaller companies, too.Though the advertising revolution got started online, some of the new techniques are already finding their way onto streets and walls and even into clothing pockets around the world. Perhaps just five years from now, companies will be able to routinely and inexpensively embark on ad campaigns that hit exactly the right prospects -- and hardly anyone else -- with entertaining, hard-to-ignore messages that can follow people via new high-tech media into their cars, offices, living rooms, and bedrooms. For companies that master the new techniques, the payoff is potentially enormous: a big jump in customer mindshare while holding the line on marketing costs. And whereas the big advances in advertising technology once favored traditional giants like Procter & Gamble, which could afford to mass-market its message, the new techniques are affordable to smaller companies, too. "Over time," says Karen Breen Vogel, CEO of ClearGauge, one of hundreds of interactive ad agencies that have sprung up to focus on online advertising, "we can cut the cost of the advertising in half while maintaining customer response."
Fixed in an archipelago of art galleries and airy cafes at the periphery of Chicago's North Loop, the offices of ClearGauge have the hip, slightly subversive look you'd expect of a boutique advertising agency. Except that where the halls of other agencies regale visitors with blowups of their all-important creative, ClearGauge has proudly plopped a wicked-looking bank of servers front and center against the exposed concrete walls. It's a tip-off to the agency's sensibilities -- and to a sea change in the advertising industry.
Advertising has long been a sort of black art with a murky ROI, and for a simple reason: Clients rarely know for sure who sees their ads, let alone whether the ads influence anyone. Even though companies spend a third of a trillion dollars a year on advertising, those ads often end up being irrelevant to the people who see them. On average, Americans are subject to some 3,000 essentially random pitches per day. Two-thirds of people surveyed in a Yankelovich Partners study said they feel "constantly bombarded" by ads, and 59% said the ads they see have little or no relevance to them. No wonder so many people dislike and ignore advertising, and so many business owners feel gun-shy about investing in serious campaigns.
The Internet has begun to change all that. The ability to measure the impact of an ad simply by counting how many people click on it, and to link advertisements to search-engine results, in large part drove Internet advertising to $9.6 billion in 2004, a 33% jump from 2003, according to Interactive Advertising Bureau reports. (For a cautionary tale about counting clicks, see "So Many Clicks, So Few Sales," on page 29.) But the real advantage is going to companies that figure out how to use these tools to hunt down specific types of prospects and nail them with the right pitch. "We look for subsegments of Internet users who care about certain things," explains Breen Vogel. "We find them when they're online, we intercept their activities, and we start a relationship with them."
Source: Submit Articles at ArticlesBase.com
Andrew Fano is showing off the living room. It's a plush, teaky, well-appointed affair, but what really catch the eye are several thin-screen video displays, including a few smaller ones that are embedded in furniture and picture frames. The displays are slowly cycling through what appear to be family digital photographs -- an appealing idea, considering many of us let our thousands of digital photos sit unwatched on a computer hard drive. "But would you want to see an ad stuck in there?" asks Fano, indicating one of the digital slide shows, apparently of a family vacation to a theme park. "No? Because you just saw one." One of the theme-park photos was a professional image designed to "enhance your memories" of the park, explains Fano, a senior researcher at consulting giant Accenture who is exploring new ways for advertisers to get their messages across. The tony living room is actually part of Accenture's technology laboratory, and the displays are an experimental prototype of a service that would arrange your photos into slide shows in exchange for the right to slip relevant sponsored pictures into the mix.
The world is awash in advertising clutter. For decades marketers have been spending more and more to try to get their message out -- only to find their pitches drowned out in a sea of noise generated by countless other marketers trying to do the same thing. In effect, companies have been paying big bucks to be ignored. Now, inspired by the Internet's ability to do a better job of targeting prospects and measuring results, advertisers are dreaming up new ways to break through the clutter and connect with potential customers at a lower cost.
The big advances in advertising technology once favored traditional giants like Procter & Gamble, which could afford to mass-market its message. The new techniques are affordable to smaller companies, too.Though the advertising revolution got started online, some of the new techniques are already finding their way onto streets and walls and even into clothing pockets around the world. Perhaps just five years from now, companies will be able to routinely and inexpensively embark on ad campaigns that hit exactly the right prospects -- and hardly anyone else -- with entertaining, hard-to-ignore messages that can follow people via new high-tech media into their cars, offices, living rooms, and bedrooms. For companies that master the new techniques, the payoff is potentially enormous: a big jump in customer mindshare while holding the line on marketing costs. And whereas the big advances in advertising technology once favored traditional giants like Procter & Gamble, which could afford to mass-market its message, the new techniques are affordable to smaller companies, too. "Over time," says Karen Breen Vogel, CEO of ClearGauge, one of hundreds of interactive ad agencies that have sprung up to focus on online advertising, "we can cut the cost of the advertising in half while maintaining customer response."
Fixed in an archipelago of art galleries and airy cafes at the periphery of Chicago's North Loop, the offices of ClearGauge have the hip, slightly subversive look you'd expect of a boutique advertising agency. Except that where the halls of other agencies regale visitors with blowups of their all-important creative, ClearGauge has proudly plopped a wicked-looking bank of servers front and center against the exposed concrete walls. It's a tip-off to the agency's sensibilities -- and to a sea change in the advertising industry.
Advertising has long been a sort of black art with a murky ROI, and for a simple reason: Clients rarely know for sure who sees their ads, let alone whether the ads influence anyone. Even though companies spend a third of a trillion dollars a year on advertising, those ads often end up being irrelevant to the people who see them. On average, Americans are subject to some 3,000 essentially random pitches per day. Two-thirds of people surveyed in a Yankelovich Partners study said they feel "constantly bombarded" by ads, and 59% said the ads they see have little or no relevance to them. No wonder so many people dislike and ignore advertising, and so many business owners feel gun-shy about investing in serious campaigns.
The Internet has begun to change all that. The ability to measure the impact of an ad simply by counting how many people click on it, and to link advertisements to search-engine results, in large part drove Internet advertising to $9.6 billion in 2004, a 33% jump from 2003, according to Interactive Advertising Bureau reports. (For a cautionary tale about counting clicks, see "So Many Clicks, So Few Sales," on page 29.) But the real advantage is going to companies that figure out how to use these tools to hunt down specific types of prospects and nail them with the right pitch. "We look for subsegments of Internet users who care about certain things," explains Breen Vogel. "We find them when they're online, we intercept their activities, and we start a relationship with them."
Source: Submit Articles at ArticlesBase.com
7 Factors Of An Effective Advertising Campaign
You've probably heard the old saying - I know that half of my advertising dollars are wasted, if I only knew which half! Although it's not possible to know all the factors that go into effective advertising, there are a few elements that are crucial to an ad campaign that is profitable. If you strive to achieve as many of the following 7 factors as possible, you can be confident that you'll have a winning campaign.
1) Choose an appropriate medium to convey your message. This is so obvious, but you'd be amazed at how many people don't use common sense when buying media. If you're trying to reach a 14 year old, don't buy an ad in the daily paper - buy the radio station that plays hip hop music! Try to target your advertising as much as possible. Think about the person you're trying to reach with your message. The more you know about that person, the easier this will be.
If you're selling clothing to working women, buying TV is probably not a good idea. They're probably so busy doing household chores and taking kids to various activities, they probably don't have time to watch much TV. But billboards and radio are great because she's probably on the road a lot and those media fit for that audience.
2) Don't believe that everyone uses media the way you or your spouse does. Just because you don't like a certain program on TV doesn't mean that your potential customer doesn't like it - they may be big fans and never miss an episode.
Don't assume that everyone reads the newspaper because everyone you know does. Ask for information about the medium's audience - let your rep show you exactly who is watching/reading/listening/driving by/surfing their medium.
3) Don't judge the price of the ad by the dollar amount alone. Just because an ad is expensive doesn't mean it isn't a good buy - and the opposite is true also. If an ad is cheap, but no one reads or sees it, it's worthless to you. If an ad is reaching tens of thousands of people for $1,000, it might be a good buy if those are the people who are in the market for your product.
Try to gauge the real value of an ad by the cost per thousand or cost per rating point (for TV, radio & cable). If you're not familiar with those terms, ask your ad rep - they will be happy to fill you in. (And if they aren't, find a new rep.)
4) Develop a relationship with your customers and prospects. This is another thing that should be obvious, but very few companies actually do this. Proctor and Gamble has found that this is what makes them money. And it makes sense. If people trust your brand and feel that they know your company, they're far more likely to buy your products. This is actually easier to do as a smaller business than a large one - and many local businesses have done this for years.
It may be schmaltzy, but when the local furniture store owner is on camera for all his TV commercials, people develop a relationship of sorts with him or her. They feel like they know that business. Anytime you can link a personality - even if it's not a celebrity - to a business, that makes that business stand out. This is an important element that there's not nearly enough room to cover - so think this one through for your business and come up with ways (and they can be very simple) to develop a relationship with your customers and prospects. An email newsletter is a simple, cheap and very effective way to do this, by the way.
5) Have a hook. Give people something that makes them remember you. Big companies spend millions on this - and for a good reason - it sells stuff. Whatever you do, don't say "for the best in service and quality" - no one will believe you! If you want to convey that message, have one of your customers give a testimonial on camera - have them describe how you provided them with great service and quality. Give details.
A hook needs to be simple, memorable and if possible, fun or heartwarming. The Taco Bell Chihuahua is a good example - the Pillsbury Doughboy is another one. Do something different and let people know about it. Give them a reason to choose your company over your competitors.
6) Be relevant. Talk to your prospects in your advertising - let them know that you feel their pain and are going to help them make it go away. If you're talking about something they can't relate to, they'll ignore you. There are way too many advertising messages in the world today - and people have learned to tune them out unless they click with something that is important to them. You know how this works - you do the same thing.
If you're sick of how your car is nickel & dimming you lately, you suddenly are much more aware of ads for cars. Find out why people buy your product and talk about how you will give that to them. It's really pretty simple - but an overwhelming majority of businesses totally miss this.
7) Make sure you know what you're trying to get your prospect to do. Do you want them to come to your store and buy a specific product? Or do you want them to call your business to get an estimate on a project so your sales person can close the sale in person? The more specific you are in your call to action (please make sure to include one!), the more likely your audience will do what you want them to do.
All of the elements that go into your advertising - the media, the creative, the copywriting, the call to action - create a synergistic result. The more focused you are with any of those elements, the better your results will be. It's always crucial to measure your ad results. Determine what you want to achieve and include devices that will allow you to determine whether or not you achieved your goal. Then you can tweak results from there.
Source: Submit Articles at ArticlesBase.com
About the Author:
Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of besuccessfulnews.com , a site that provides information and articles on how to succeed in your own home or small business.
1) Choose an appropriate medium to convey your message. This is so obvious, but you'd be amazed at how many people don't use common sense when buying media. If you're trying to reach a 14 year old, don't buy an ad in the daily paper - buy the radio station that plays hip hop music! Try to target your advertising as much as possible. Think about the person you're trying to reach with your message. The more you know about that person, the easier this will be.
If you're selling clothing to working women, buying TV is probably not a good idea. They're probably so busy doing household chores and taking kids to various activities, they probably don't have time to watch much TV. But billboards and radio are great because she's probably on the road a lot and those media fit for that audience.
2) Don't believe that everyone uses media the way you or your spouse does. Just because you don't like a certain program on TV doesn't mean that your potential customer doesn't like it - they may be big fans and never miss an episode.
Don't assume that everyone reads the newspaper because everyone you know does. Ask for information about the medium's audience - let your rep show you exactly who is watching/reading/listening/driving by/surfing their medium.
3) Don't judge the price of the ad by the dollar amount alone. Just because an ad is expensive doesn't mean it isn't a good buy - and the opposite is true also. If an ad is cheap, but no one reads or sees it, it's worthless to you. If an ad is reaching tens of thousands of people for $1,000, it might be a good buy if those are the people who are in the market for your product.
Try to gauge the real value of an ad by the cost per thousand or cost per rating point (for TV, radio & cable). If you're not familiar with those terms, ask your ad rep - they will be happy to fill you in. (And if they aren't, find a new rep.)
4) Develop a relationship with your customers and prospects. This is another thing that should be obvious, but very few companies actually do this. Proctor and Gamble has found that this is what makes them money. And it makes sense. If people trust your brand and feel that they know your company, they're far more likely to buy your products. This is actually easier to do as a smaller business than a large one - and many local businesses have done this for years.
It may be schmaltzy, but when the local furniture store owner is on camera for all his TV commercials, people develop a relationship of sorts with him or her. They feel like they know that business. Anytime you can link a personality - even if it's not a celebrity - to a business, that makes that business stand out. This is an important element that there's not nearly enough room to cover - so think this one through for your business and come up with ways (and they can be very simple) to develop a relationship with your customers and prospects. An email newsletter is a simple, cheap and very effective way to do this, by the way.
5) Have a hook. Give people something that makes them remember you. Big companies spend millions on this - and for a good reason - it sells stuff. Whatever you do, don't say "for the best in service and quality" - no one will believe you! If you want to convey that message, have one of your customers give a testimonial on camera - have them describe how you provided them with great service and quality. Give details.
A hook needs to be simple, memorable and if possible, fun or heartwarming. The Taco Bell Chihuahua is a good example - the Pillsbury Doughboy is another one. Do something different and let people know about it. Give them a reason to choose your company over your competitors.
6) Be relevant. Talk to your prospects in your advertising - let them know that you feel their pain and are going to help them make it go away. If you're talking about something they can't relate to, they'll ignore you. There are way too many advertising messages in the world today - and people have learned to tune them out unless they click with something that is important to them. You know how this works - you do the same thing.
If you're sick of how your car is nickel & dimming you lately, you suddenly are much more aware of ads for cars. Find out why people buy your product and talk about how you will give that to them. It's really pretty simple - but an overwhelming majority of businesses totally miss this.
7) Make sure you know what you're trying to get your prospect to do. Do you want them to come to your store and buy a specific product? Or do you want them to call your business to get an estimate on a project so your sales person can close the sale in person? The more specific you are in your call to action (please make sure to include one!), the more likely your audience will do what you want them to do.
All of the elements that go into your advertising - the media, the creative, the copywriting, the call to action - create a synergistic result. The more focused you are with any of those elements, the better your results will be. It's always crucial to measure your ad results. Determine what you want to achieve and include devices that will allow you to determine whether or not you achieved your goal. Then you can tweak results from there.
Source: Submit Articles at ArticlesBase.com
About the Author:
Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of besuccessfulnews.com , a site that provides information and articles on how to succeed in your own home or small business.
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