FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR SELECTION OF MEDIA FOR ADVERTISING

Media of advertising are the vehicles that convey advertising messages to large groups of people. They bring consumers and producers closer to each other. Advertising media have different characteristics and are seen or heard by different segments of society differently. We cannot say that any one medium is superior to all others in absolute terms. However, one can say that a specific medium is more suitable for a specific purpose than the alternatives available[1]. Thus for some purposes one medium may show superiority but for others it may be entirely inappropriate.

 

SELECTION OF MEDIA

Advertising media selection is the process of choosing the most cost-effective media for advertising, to achieve the required coverage and number of exposures in a target audience. Advertising media are the channels through which a product’s advertising is carried to perspective consumers. A medium may contain a mixture of editorial or entertainment material and advertising. Media are usually classified either in terms of their editorial context or in terms of the way in which the message is delivered. These media could be in written text, symbols, icons, graphs, audio, pictures, video, live audio, live presentation or performance etc. These media requirements are derived from the objectives. The media requirements define what the media programme must contribute if the objectives are to be realized. These requirements are vary from product to product, because each product has a unique identity.

FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR SELECTION OF MEDIA

The problem of selection of the best medium or media for a particular advertiser will vary greatly, depending on the particular situation, circumstances and different other factors in which a person in conducting individual business. Media selection involves a number of major factors which influence the decision of the advertiser and therefore, the same must be considered while selecting the media. The most significant of these factors are:

ü    Objectives of the campaign.

ü    Budget available.

ü    Research concerning client.

ü    The product

ü    Type of message or selling appeal.

ü    Relative cost.

ü    Clutter.

ü    The potential market

ü    Miscellaneous Factors.

THE OBJECTIVES OF THE CAMPAIGN:        The objectives of the campaign influence media selection from a somewhat different standpoint. An institutional advertising campaign may be run in a different media than would a product advertising campaign for the same company. In the case of product for which the dealer is very important in the ultimate sale to the consumer, and far more significant than the influence of consumer advertising, the advertiser may select media primarily for the effect they will have on dealers. So, the objective of influencing dealers will be the prime factor in the selection of the medium to use.

THE BUDGET AVAILABLE:                                The advertising budget is concerned with two major decisions about how the advertising effort will be carried out. First, how much is to be spent for advertising in the coming period? Second, how much budget is to be allocated to different areas within the company’s total sales territory? And how much budget be allocated for media? Because the budget determines the weight of advertising effort which is an important variable in determining the effectiveness of the entire advertising effort the product might be one for which actual demonstration on TV would be highly desirable. Yet the advertiser would be unable to sponsor (or even cosponsor) such a programme because its cost would exceed the total advertising budget. The advertiser might believe it desirable to use a multi-color advertisement in a magazine not only to reach desired prospects, but also to influence the trade favourably. But if he still find that his budget does not permit even that type of ad in the magazine, then the advertiser must turn to a medium in which he can get sufficient participation or a sufficient schedule of insertions to achieve an effective programme. So the availability of funds must be considered in planning and selection of media.

RESEARCH CONCERNING THE CLIENTELE:        A factor that has become more significant is the number of people actually reached by a medium. More and more consideration is being given to the concept that the most significant aspect of coverage from the advertiser’s viewpoint is in terms of the total audience potential. This is indicated by the total number of readers of the print medium or total number of sets turned in the case of electronic media. Audience of different types of media cannot be compared directly because of the differences in the kind of advertising message reaching the consumer and somewhat different terms in which audience is measure.

THE PRODUCT:                 The characteristics of the product have an important influence on the decisions involving the selection of media which shall carry the advertising message. Most media are becoming extremely liberal in their criteria for accepting advertisements. Certain individual media will not take advertising for certain specific types of products. Restrictions also may prohibit use of certain media by advertisers of specific items. The general characteristics of the product may also strongly influence the type of media used. That is, if the product has a certain personality or image, certain media may be appropriate to maintain or develop the image; whereas other media may tend to diminish or distort this personality or image. After having the understanding of different types of product one can solve the problem of choosing the media best suited for the product. The types of product may generally be expressed as, consumer product, consumer-durable product, mass product, luxury product, industrial or technical product, ethical pharmaceutical product, service product, and public service product.

TYPE OF MESSAGE OR SELLING APPEAL:   The remarkable thing about advertising is that it can prompt people to buy a specific advertised product. Thus an appeal or advertising appeal is any statement designed to motivate a person to action. In seeking to move a person towards buying a product, the advertiser likewise must appeal to some of the manifold motives i.e., the functional needs and psychological needs of a person, that prompt a man to act as a desire to fulfill a hope, ambition, need, interest or goal. The central premise of the advertising appeal or message is its promise of a benefit the product will render to the buyer.

RELATIVE COST:               The relative cost is another factor which influences the selection of media. The total budget available and the ability to do an effective job of advertising within that budget in a particular type of medium is significant. When the type of media has been determined, then the cost factor becomes a matter of the relative cost of the individual media. In case of newspapers, this relationship is determined as per centimeter per column, and in the case of magazines, the cost per page is worked out.

In case of radio and television, when data is available, comparison can be made on the basis of cost per commercial minute per thousand listeners or viewers. However, it should be stressed that relative cost is only one factor to be considered and that usually many other factors will be more significant than this matter of relative cost. But in those cases where several media appear approximately equal on the basis of all other criteria used, then the advertiser probably would select the medium which is most economical on the cost comparison basis.

CLUTTER:                            In any medium, the advertiser’s message must compete with other advertisements for the consumer’s attention. Media in which the advertiser must expect a great number of competitive messages are termed as “cluttered”. Most newspapers are highly competitive cluttered media vehicles. In developed countries large departmental stores frequently purchase multiple full pages or, at least an advertisement size that dominants the page.

This competition for attention places a considerable burden on the creator of the advertisement to develop an approach that somehow stands apart from the clutter. The problem is particularly acute for the advertiser who cannot afford to purchase large space units, but somehow must avoid being buried by the advertisements of the large retailers.

POTENTIAL MARKET:    Market can be viewed as a group of people:

     who can be identified by some common characteristics, interests, or problems;

     who could use our product to advantage; and

     who could afford to buy it, i.e., potential market. And the marketing mix is referred to making plans for marketing a product. In which many elements are involved including brand policy, pricing, distribution, sales representatives and advertising etc. To seek and pursue the potential market one must have a clear idea of different types of public.

MISCELLANEOUS FACTORS:                Several other factors which sometimes enter into the selection of media, are not of enough significance to warrant lengthy discussion, although they may be of some importance in specific situation.

During the finalization process of media strategy for selecting the media these questions must be reviewed as finishing point, which are:

·        What are the available media which will serve our advertising needs best?

·        What would be the best combination of media for our total advertising?

• What would be the best specific schedule for the release of our ads in each of these media?

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[1] Egyptians used papyrus to make sales messages and wall posters. Commercial messages and political campaign displays have been found in the ruins of Pompeii and ancient Arabia