“Too many business are fitted up with a bad deal”

MARKETING TIPS

by Ken Mitchell

3 may 2003

Following last weeks article, I got a call from a small business owner who had committed to a radio campaign for about $8,000 without considering the facts. They had grabbed an offer for “radio exposure”. They had not considered who their target market was (younger upwardly mobile professional couples with good disposable income) but knew that they should do something.

People are loyal to their radio station and will leave the home and car radio on the one station all the time. Radio stations, like any media, can give excellent exposure well targeted demographics, etc – but advertising must be on a “horses for courses” basis. As it so happens their target audience had a very low match with the radio station they had committed to. What this means is that they are paying a lot of money to broadcast to an audience which in the main is not relevant or necessarily interested in the business. This will translate into few sales and a waste of money.

Unfortunately too many businesses are fitted up with a bad deal – one which is not in their best interest and is destined to show little value for money.

Advertising is about return on investment. Please, before you commit to significant expenditure ask yourself:

1 What is the purpose of the campaign (unit sales, turnover, etc )?

2 What is my target market (who is the ad aimed at)?

3 How can I best reach them (which specific media – ie specific newspaper, TV station, radio station, etc)

4 What is the right message?

5 How can I measure the campaigns success (put in place a process to record feedback, enquiries, sales etc)?

After a good campaign it should then be about how can I best follow up on the campaign (you should have more spare dollars to invest in advertising).

Ken Mitchell is the CEO of Australian Marketing & Research Services and can be contacted on 62576677w, or ken@AMRSonline.com.au

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