Do you know how to reach your audience?

Advertising is an art and how to deliver this art to your potential buyers is specific process. You must understand the different characteristics of both the physical and digital media. Understanding what you want to accomplish as a company is the start, do you want to get the name out to the masses, reach smaller groups, or work on a more direct individual approach? Knowing the difference between these types of communications can help you reach your target.

Broadcast media is a way to reach large audiences at one time. If you want to get the brand name out there and stuck in the minds of consumers, use this approach, but it comes at a cost. Although 98% of consumers own a TV and usually three of them, the cost to advertise is $100,000 to $550,000 per 30 second commercial. Radio can also reach a fairly large audience for a much lower rate of $20 to $200 for 60 seconds of air time, but can largely be used for the local markets.

Print media is exactly what you think, magazines and newspapers. The one thing this type of media can do that TV doesn’t; gives the viewer the ability to stop, read, digest, and re-read if they want. There can be much more information in print media that cannot be included in a 30 second commercial. You can also reach some specialized targets by paying a little more to advertise in magazines.

Narrowcast media pertains to reaching out to a smaller focused group. The use of cable TV is a prime example; although it’s not broadcasted to a wide audience it is shared to special-interest groups that are a larger audience then the internet audience.  ESPN or Lifetime are examples of this as they are specialty channels and the broadcast only reaches those interested in those specific channels. Normally the cost per advertisement is lower based on this criteria, but some instances this may not be true.

Pointcast media is a type of media which is aimed at a party of one. There are various ways to distribute this: email; personalized Web pages; and cell phone. This type of marketing essentially sends out bulk messages to individuals in different formats and expects returned messages in the same format. Remember though that unsolicited messages via phone, fax and email are illegal.

Direct postal mail, yes some people may say what is postal mail? It is the same as email and can target specific audiences, can be personalized, gives good information and time to read, and gives good tracking information of responses. Only problem is many see postal male as junk mail anymore and the print can be quite costly.

So as you can see, there are pluses and minuses to each type of delivery, let the HELM group help you determine which is the best way to deliver your message!