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An advertising campaign or marketing campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ideas, beliefs, and concepts into one large media base. Advertising campaigns utilize diverse media channels over a particular time frame and target identified audiences.
The campaign theme is the central message that will be received in the promotional activities and is the prime focus of the advertising campaign, as it sets the motif for the series of individual advertisements and other marketing communications that will be used. The campaign themes are usually produced with the objective of being used for a significant period but many of them are temporal due to factors like being not effective or market conditions, competition and marketing mix.
Advertising campaigns are built to accomplish a particular objective or a set of objectives. Such objectives usually include establishing a brand, raising brand awareness, and aggrandizing the rate of conversions/sales. The rate of success or failure in accomplishing these goals is reckoned via effectiveness measures. There are 5 key points that an advertising campaign must consider to ensure an effective campaign. These points are, integrated marketing communications, media channels, positioning, the communications process diagram and touch points.
Integrated marketing communication
Integrated marketing communication (IMC) is a conceptual approach used by the majority of organizations to develop a strategic plan on how they are going to broadcast their marketing and advertising campaigns. Recently there has been a shift in the way marketers and advertisers interact with their consumers and now see it as a conversation between marketing/advertising teams and consumers. IMC has emerged as a key strategy for organizations to manage customer experiences in the digital age, since organizations can communicate with people in more ways than those typically thought of as media. The more traditional advertising practices such as newspapers, billboards, and magazines are still used but fail to have the same effect now as they did in previous years. Current research shows that no other form of commercial communication shares the same essential elements as the mobile forms, making it unique in its advertising impact.
The importance of the IMC is to make the marketing process seamless for both the brand and the consumer. IMC attempts to meld all aspects of marketing into one cohesive piece. This includes sales promotion, advertising, public relations, direct marketing, and social media. The entire point of IMC is to have all of these aspects of marketing work together as a unified force. This can be done through methods, channels, and activities all while using a media platform. The end goal of IMC is to get the brand's message across to consumers in the most convenient way possible.
The advantage of using IMC is that it can communicate the same message through several channels to create brand awareness. IMC is the most cost-effective solution when compared to mass media advertising to interact with target consumers on a personal level. IMC also benefits small businesses, as they are able to submerge their consumers with communication of various kinds in a way that pushes them through the research and buying stages creating a relationship and dialogue with their new customer. Popular and obvious examples of IMC put into action are the likes of direct marketing to the consumer that the organization already has a knowledge that the person is interested in the brand by gathering personal information about them from when they previously shopped there and then sending mail, emails, texts and other direct communication with the person.
Media channels
Media channels, also known as, marketing communications channels, are used to create a connection with the target consumer and influence the behavior. Traditional methods of communication with the consumer include newspapers, magazines, radio, television, billboards, telephone, post, and door to door sales. These are just a few of the historically traditional methods.
Along with traditional media channels, comes new and upcoming media channels. Social media has begun to play a very large role in the way media and marketing intermingle to reach a consumer base. Social media has the power to reach a wider audience. Depending on the age group and demographic, social media can influence a company's overall image. Using social media as a marketing tool has become a widely popular branding method. A brand has the chance to create an entire social media presence based around its own specific targeted community.
With advancements in digital communications channels, marketing communications allow for the possibility of two-way communications where an immediate consumer response can be elicited. Digital communications tools include: websites, blogs, social media, email, mobile, and search engines as a few examples. It is important for an advertising campaign to carefully select channels based on where their target consumer spends time to ensure market and advertising efforts are maximized. Marketing professionals should also consider the cost of reaching its target audience and the time (i.e. advertising during the holiday season tends to be more expensive).
Modern day implications for the advantages & disadvantages of traditional media channels
In the rapidly changing marketing and advertising environment, exposure to certain consumer groups and target audiences through traditional media channels has blurred. These traditional media channels are defined as print, broadcast, out-of-home and direct mail. The introduction of various new modern-day media channels has altered their traditional advantages and disadvantages. It is imperative to the effectiveness of the Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) strategy that exposure to certain demographics, consumer groups and target audiences is anticipated to provide clarity, consistency, and maximum communications impact.
Print media
Print media is mainly defined as newspapers and magazines. With the transition in around 2006 – 2016 to digital information on phones, computers and tablets, the main demographic that is still exposed to traditional print media is older. It is also estimated that there will be a reduction of print material in the coming years, as print media moves online. Advertisers need to consider this; in some cases, they could use this to their advantage. The advantages of newspaper advertising are that it is low cost, timely, the reader controls exposure, and it provides moderate coverage to the older generations in western society. Disadvantages are the aging demographic, short life, clutter and that it attracts less attention. Magazines are similar in some cases, but as they are a niche product they increase segmentation potential; they also have high information content and longevity. Disadvantages are that they are visual only, they lack flexibility and a long lead time for advertisement placement. As the world changes, there will always be new ways in which a campaign can revitalize this media channel. Its potential advantages are accessibility and reach, geographic flexibility and relatively low cost. Disadvantages to OOH media are that it has a short life, is difficult to measure/control and can convey a poor brand image. level of income and education. This process is called segmenting customers on the basis of demographics.
Target market
Defining the target market helps businesses and individuals design a marketing campaign. This in turn helps businesses and individuals avoid waste and get their advertisements to likely customers. While attempting to find the correct target market it is important to focus on specific groups of individuals that will benefit. By marketing to specific groups of individuals that specifically relate to the product, businesses and individuals will more quickly and efficiently find those who will purchase the product. Businesses and individuals that monitor their existing data (customer and sales data) will find it easier to define their target market, and surveying existing customers will assist in finding more customers. Avoiding inefficiencies when finding a target market is equally as important. Wasting time and money advertising to a large group of potential customers is inefficient if only a handful become customers. A focused plan that reaches a tiny audience can work out well if they're already interested in a product. Over time target markets can change. People interested today might not be interested tomorrow, and those not interested in the present time might become interested over time. Analysing sales data and customer information helps businesses and individuals understand when their target market is increasing or decreasing.
There are many advantages that are associated with finding a target market. One advantage is the "ability to offer the right product" (Suttle. R. 2016) through knowing the age and needs of the customer willing to purchase the item. Another advantage of target marketing assists businesses in understanding what price the customer will pay for the products or service. Businesses are also more efficient and effective at advertising their product, because they "reach the right consumers with messages that are more applicable" (Suttle. R. 2016).
However, there are several disadvantages that can be associated with target marketing. Firstly, finding a target market is expensive. Often businesses conduct primary research to find whom their target market is, which usually involves hiring a research agency, which can cost "tens of thousands of dollars" (Suttle, R. 2016). Finding one's target market is also time-consuming, as it often "requires a considerable amount of time to identify a target audience" (Suttle, R. 2016). Also focusing on finding a target market can make one overlook other customers that may be in a product. Businesses or individuals may find that their 'average customer' might not include those that fall just outside of the average customers "demographics" (Suttle, R. 2016), which will limit the sale of their products. The last disadvantage to note is the ethical ramifications that are associated with target marketing. An example of this would be a "beer company that may target less educated, poorer people with larger-sized bottles" (Suttle, R. 2016).
Positioning
In advertising various brands compete to the most important brand to the consumer. Everyday consumers view advertising and rank particular brands compared to their competitors. Individuals rank these specific brands in an order of what is most important to them. For example, a person may compare brands of cars based on how sporty they think they look, affordability, practicality and classiness. How one person perceives a brand is different from another but is largely left to the advertising campaign to manipulate and create the perception that they want a consumer to envision
Positioning is an important marketing concept that businesses implement to market their products or services. The positioning concept focuses on creating an image that will best attract the intended audience. Businesses that implement the positioning concept focus on promotion, price, placement and product. When the positioning concept is effective and productive it elevates the marketing efforts made by a business, and assists the buyer in purchasing the product.
The positioning process is imperative in marketing because of the specific level of consumer-based recognition is involved. A company must create a trademark brand for themselves in order to be recognizable by a broad range of consumers. For example, a fast food restaurant positions itself as fast, cheap, and delicious. They are playing upon their strengths and most visible characteristics. On the other hand, a luxury car brand will position its brand as a stylish and expensive platform because they want to target a specific brand very different from the fast food brand.
For the positioning concept to be effective one must focus on the concepts of promotion, price, place and product.
There are three basic objectives of promotion, which include: presenting product information to targeted business customers and consumers, increase demand among the target market, and differentiating a product and creating a brand identity. Tools that can be used to achieve these objectives are advertising, public relations, personal selling, direct marketing, and sales promotion.
Price of an object is crucial in the concept of positioning. Adjusting or decreasing the product price has a profound impact on the sales of the product, and should complement the other parts of the positioning concept. The price needs to ensure survival, increase profit, generate survival, gain market shares, and establish an appropriate image.
Promoting a product is essential in the positioning concept. It is the process marketers use to communicate their products' attributes to the intended target market. In order for products to be successful businesses must focus on the customer needs, competitive pressures, available communication channels and carefully crafted key messages.
Product Positioning presents several advantages in the advertising campaign, and to the businesses/ individuals that implement it. Positioning connects with superior aspects of a product and matches "them with consumers more effectively than competitors" (Jaideep, S. 2016). Positioning can also help businesses or individuals realise the consumer's expectations of the product/s they are willing to purchase from them. Positioning a product reinforces the companies name, product and brand. It also makes the brand popular and strengthens customer loyalty. Product benefits to customers are better advertised through positioning the product, which results in more interest and attention of consumers. This also attracts different types of consumers as products posse's different benefits that attract different groups of consumers, for example: a shoe that is advertised for playing sports, going for walks, hiking and casual wear will attract different groups of consumers. Another advantage of positioning is the competitive strength it gives to businesses/ individuals and their products, introducing new products successfully to the market and communicating new and varied features that are added to a product later on.
Communication process diagram
The Communication of processes diagram refers to the order of operation an advertising campaign pieces together the flow of communication between a given organisation and the consumer. The diagram usually flows left to right (unless shown in a circular array) starting with the source. An advertising campaign uses the communication process diagram to ensure all the appropriate steps of communication are being taken in order.
The <u>source</u> is the person or organisation that has a message they want to share with potential consumers. An example of this is Vodafone wanting to tell their consumers and new consumers of a new monthly plan.
The diagram then moves on to <u>encoding</u> which consists of the organisation putting messages, thoughts and ideas into a symbolic form that be interpreted by the target consumer using symbols or words. Common examples of touch points include social media links, QR codes, person handing out flyers about a particular brand, billboards, web sites and various other methods that connect the brand and consumer. The most effective touch points, as found in Effie Award- winning campaigns, are: interactive (91%), followed by TV (63%), print (52%) and consumer involvement (51%).
Multi sensory touch points are subconscious yet helps use to recognise brands through characteristic identified through human sensors. These characteristics could be shape, colour, textures, sounds, smell or tastes associated with a given brand.
Guerrilla marketing is the term used for several types of marketing categories including street marketing, ambient marketing, presence marketing, alternative marketing, experimental marketing, grassroots marketing, flyposting, guerrilla projection advertising, undercover marketing and astroturfing.
Jay Conrad Levinson coined the term Guerrilla Marketing with his 1984 book of the same name. Through the enhancement of technology and common use of internet and mobile phones, marketing communication has become more affordable and guerrilla marketing is on the rise, allowing the spread of newsworthy guerrilla campaigns.
When establishing a guerrilla marketing strategy, there are seven elements to a clear and logical approach. Firstly, write a statement that identifies the purpose of the strategy. Secondly define how the purpose will be achieved concentrating on the key advantages. Next Levinson (1989) suggests writing a descriptive summary on the target market or consumers. The fourth element is to establish a statement that itemizes the marketing tools and methods planning to be used in the strategy (for example, radio advertising during 6.30am – 9am on weekday mornings or window displays that are regularly updated). The fifth step is to create a statement which positions the brand/product/company in the market. Define the brands characteristics and give it an identity is the sixth element. Lastly, clearly identify a budget which will be put solely towards marketing going forward. These seven principles are commitment – stick to the marketing plan without changing it; investment – appreciate that marketing is an investment, consistency – ensure the marketing message and strategy remains consistent across all forms of, confidence – show confidence in the commitment to the guerrilla marketing strategy, patience – time and dedication to the strategy, assortment – incorporate different methods of advertising and marketing for optimum results, and subsequent – build customer loyalty and retention though follow up marketing post-sale.
Non-traditional, unconventional and shocking campaigns are highly successful in obtaining media coverage and therefore brand awareness, albeit good or bad media attention. However, like most marketing strategies a bad campaign can backfire and damage profits and sales. Undercover marketing and astroturfing are two type of guerrilla marketing that are deemed as risky and can be detrimental to the company.
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