Topic 1: Discuss on creative strategy and media tools
This topic will cover several communications tools that marketing students tend to forget to use in their IMC plans.
Q1. A sales promotion strategy is intended to produce a short-term change in customer behavior. One interesting web site is www.asicentral.com ( the Advertising Specialty Institute). Identify one sales promotion program on the site that was effective & what its results were.
Q2. Public relations is a very important tool for your plans. Check out one of the following PR sites and tell us one thing they provide & don't duplicate responses. www.prnewswire.com, www.service.prweb.com, www.newswire.com
D4-Topic 2: Social Media Articles in eReserves
Q3. Research one on social media on your own. Provide a concise overview of the article & how that information might help your Integrated marketing communication plan development (pls include the name of your plan's topic)
The topic of my integrated marketing communication plan is Microsoft lumia
D4-Topic 3: Ch. 10: Planning and Buying Media
Q4 Go to www.srds.com (the largest media database in the world) and tell us one topic on the site that you found useful for your plan. The topic for my plan is Microsoft Lumia
Q5. After reading the Overview Media Planning doc, please identify one new thing you learned and how it will be useful to you.
Here is the overview media planning doc below
Overview Media Planning
Actions for 'Overview Media Planning'
Word Document
MEDIA OVERVIEW
Written by Mary Ellen Kenner, Associate Professor, University of Maryland University College
Peter Drucker, the well-known management expert, has said that a business has only two functions: marketing and innovation.1 Extending Drucker's concept, we can say that marketing communications is the process of communicating to the firm's customers and prospects. Media is the network that facilitates communications with key target audiences.
There are two broad types of advertising communications: paid (TV, radio, print, digital media, sales promotion, sponsorships, etc.) and non-paid (public relations such as; news releases, web press materials, etc.). However, both types need to be budgeted for because they need to be planned, developed and executed. The marketer has control over the paid messages because the space is purchased, but the marketer has no control on whether their press release is used or used the way they distributed it.
The field of media is an increasingly complex part of marketing communications because the largest portion of every marketing communications budget is the cost of the media. In addition, the media field has experienced an incredible change as digital media and interactivity are changing the dynamics of how consumers see and pay attention to brand messages.
Control has shifted from marketers and the traditional media timing their messages and forcing consumers to see ads as a trade-off for the content they wanted to see to the consumer wielding remote control and a computer mouse. Traditional media finds itself scrambling to stay relevant as digital media wreaks havoc with the guarantee that consumers were likely to see ad messages. Free online information drew large audiences, but not ad dollars and hundreds of magazines and newspapers folded, while DVR's, podcasts, streaming video services, such as Netflix and Hulu, challenged the long standing TV and radio models.
Outbound marketing communications continues to be strong, such as using TV advertising to expose large audiences to brand messages. At the same time, expanded digital platforms, including mobile and social, provide more ways for consumers to interact with marketers and other consumers. Marketers can record and apply data from these interactions in the future. An increasingly greater portion of all the messages are initiated by consumers, not directly issued by marketers.
With tracking technologies such as web cookies able to collect browsing and behavioral data from individual computers (and their users), marketers can learn about consumers through the details of their online communications, time and place. Overall we have gone from broadcasting limited information and outbound-only communications to targeted, detailed and interactive communication.
Media Planning Considerations
Media planning and buying is an increasingly difficult process because key target audiences are growing harder and harder to reach efficiently. Some of the greater challenges include:
Audience fragmentation
Constantly emerging new media and technologies
Traditional media (TV, print, & radio) are declining in effectiveness
Globalization including the changing makeup of American audiences
Increased demand by marketers for media accountability and return on investment (ROI)
Accurate measurements methods to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of IMC plans.
Target Audiences & Messages Need to be Identified in IMC Plans
It is important to understand that after the key audiences and creative messages to reach them have been identified, the media planner needs to find the media to carry the message. The difficulty is once you buy the media (example: TV spot on American Idol show) you learn that the audience has switched their interests and now they are watching a new TV show.
In the 1970's media buyers knew if they bought a 30-second TV spot on the 6PM news show on NBC, CBS, and ABC; they would reach over 85% of the adult American audience with their message. Today the audience on those news shows would be less than 35% and they would be much more distracted.
Media planning is much more challenging because there are so many options including:
mass media (television, newspapers, radio, and magazines),
out-of-home media (outdoor , transit advertising, and electronic billboards,
direct marketing (direct mail, catalogs, promotional inserts in bills, telemarketing, etc.)
promotion strategies (sales promotion, in-store point-of-purchase (POP), slotting fees, etc.
Internet (banner ads, sponsorships, pop-ups & pop unders, paid search words, behavioral targeting, contextual ads, rich media (online ads, VOD (video-on-demand)), etc.
new media (branded entertainment, social media, interactive media, content marketing
sponsorships, testimonials, spokespeople, etc.
Part of the reason media planning and selection has become so involved resides in the nature of the media vehicles themselves. TV combines both sight and sound; an advantage not offered by other paid media. Magazines offer more information which enables the advertiser to focus on specific audiences, plus offer sponsored content. Long advance planning is also needed for some media, such as a Super Bowl ad, it requires an average of six to nine months to produce and buy the advertisement.
Considerations for Developing Effective Media Strategy and Plans
Once the marketing communications director determines what message needs to be communicated, the media planners consider how to reach the target audiences with their overall message. Media planners provide very valuable functions and are in high demand in the workplace. Media planning drives much of the strategic marketing planning and it follows a process:
The first step is to set brand priorities and objectives.
The next step is to agree on a media channel communications plan. The challenge for media buyers is to integrate marketing messages across a range of media, and sometimes the buyer will need to work with several of the client's communications agencies.
Frequently the next step is for the media planner to conduct research to help match the product with the target audiences and media. Careful research improves the chances of selecting appropriate media.
In selecting media, a review of the communications objectives established during the development of the IMC program occurs. These objectives guide media selection decisions as well as the message design. The criteria the media planners use as they develop a media plan are:
The Media Mix: the medium is the category of available delivery systems, which includes broadcast, print, direct marketing, social media, etc. The media vehicle is the specific carrier of the within the medium category. For example, if television is one of your chosen mediums, then "60 Minutes" might be one of the media vehicles on which you would buy a 30-second spot on because it meets your target audience goals.
The media strategy consists of four sets of interrelated activities:
Selecting the target audience
Specifying media objectives
Selecting media categories and vehicles
Buying media
By employing a media mix, advertisers can add more versatility to their media strategies, since each medium contributes its own distinct advantages. By combining media, marketers can increase coverage, reach, and frequency levels while improving the likelihood of achieving overall communications and marketing goals.
Target Market Coverage: coverage refers to the potential audience that you target to reach your message. Coverage relates to potential audience, reach refers to the actual audience delivered. The point here is that when a 30-second TV spot is purchased on "60 Minutes" the media buyer is buying ahead of the time the show actually airs and so they are looking at average audience that the show delivered. You only know how many of the actual audience was delivered when you review the research findings from Nielsen-an independent research firm that studies and verifies the actual audience who was watching at various times during the 60 minutes of the TV show.
Geographic Coverage: it is important for the media buyer to know whether the product has global, national, local or other distribution strategies because it does not make sense to advertise your product in an area where consumers can't find it.
Media Scheduling Methods Most firms would like to keep their advertising in front of consumers at all times. But this is not possible because marketers couldn't afford, and it is not really necessary because consumers can and do have product recall. The main objective of scheduling is to time promotional efforts so they coincide with the highest potential buying times (for example, fall months for holiday buying times). There are three main scheduling methods and some variations of them that are used by media buyers:
Continuity refers to a continuous pattern of advertising. This means that a regular pattern of ads is bought during a week, without gaps or skipped periods. Products that typically use this are laundry soaps, light bulbs and certain foods, etc. Basically there is no seasonality to their purchase.
Flighting is a second method that employs a less regular schedule, with intermittent periods of advertising and non-advertising. For example, snow skis and ski trips are heavily advertised between October and March and not at all in June or July.
Pulsing in this strategy, continuity is maintained, but at certain times ads are increased during the weeks leading up to special celebrations. For example, the beer industry ads are increased during holiday periods, such as; Memorial Day, 4th of July, weeks up to the Super Bowl, etc.
There are advantages and disadvantages to each of these media scheduling methods. Bottom line is that if the advertiser has a significant budget, continuity is a better option because it keeps the product "top of mind" with the target audience. But the other two methods are definitely an option for firms who have smaller advertising budgets or have products that are seasonal.
Setting Measurable Media Objectives
Reach & Frequency: Reach represents the percentage of the target audience that is exposed at least once, during a specified time frame, to the media vehicles where the advertising message is.
Media buyers can increase the reach that is achieved with a specific media schedule by:
Using multiple types of media vehicles
Diversifying messages within each media vehicle
Varying the dayparts, if using television or radio
Frequency represents the number of times, on average, during the media-planning period that people in the target audience are exposed to the selected media vehicles that carry a brand's advertising message. It is important to note that seldom is the media buyer able to reach the full target audience because of the fragmentation of today's audiences.
The IMC Plan should spell out for the media buyers what media reach and frequency goals are for each product. Since advertisers have a variety of objectives and face budget constraints, they usually have to trade off reach and frequency goals. Where the product is in its product cycle helps define how broad the reach needs to be. For example, new brands/products need a very high level of reach, since the media objective is to make all potential buyers aware of the new entry into the market. High reach is also needed if there is a promotional strategy to get consumers to try a new product with cents-off, etc.
The problem is that there is no known way of determining how much reach is required to achieve levels of awareness, attitude change, or buying intentions. It is also difficult to know how many times a target audience needs to be exposed to an advertising message for action (purchase) to take place. But advertisers do know that higher reach and frequency goals are necessary for a new product than are necessary to "remind" consumers to buy an existing product.
Recency: The recency theory, is another way to set media objectives and it is built around the following concepts: 1. It is based on the consumers' first exposure to an advertising message for the product is the most powerful (just think in terms of when Apple first announces when their new Iphone is going to be on sale); 2. That advertising's primary role is to influence brand choice; and 3. That achieving a high level of weekly reach for a brand should be emphasized over acquiring heavy frequency
Creative Concepts and Mood to Deliver: The creative strategy of the brand or product may require certain kinds of media too. For example, since TV provides both sight and sound, it may be more effective for certain products or services. Also, if it is a complicated message that the advertiser needs to deliver, they might need to buy infomercials which are longer TV messages.
Some advertisers, especially those marketing luxury products, such as designer clothing or fine jewelry, frequently choose specific magazines such as Vogue or Architectural Digest to promote their products. They want to position their products in a high-end magazine where the editorial content supports their luxury image. Frequently, the magazine will also provide "free" articles supporting their product.
Flexibility: when a marketer is setting media objectives, they need to remember to set an objective that will take advantage of a media opportunity if it arises. For example, the marketer may want to sponsor the national news and weather show on CBS,, but all the current sponsorships are taken; so they need the flexibility to set an objective based on an opportunity arising.
Methods to Analyze your Market and Target Those Markets with the Most Potential
Media planner have access to a variety of research services, such as Experian Simmons "Experian National Consumer Study" that provides information regarding traditional media use, product & brands used, plus demographic and psychographic characteristics. Media planners can use this information plus internal research studies to determine who have this highest potential to buy your product if you advertise to them.
Media planners find several buying indexes are useful to determine what markets are the most effective to promote to; they are: 1. The survey of buying power index gives media planners insight into the relative value of a market. This information helps the marketer determine which geographic areas to target. 2. The brand development index helps marketers factor the rate of product use by geographic area into the decision process. For example:
BDI = Percent of brand to total U.S. sales in market \ Percent of total U.S. populations in the market 100. The higher the index number, the more market potential exists.
3. The category development index is computer in the same manner as the BDI, except it uses information regarding the product category, as opposed to the brand, in the numerator:
CDI= percent of product category total sales in market\percent of total U.S. population in market 100. The CDI provides information on the potential for development of the total product category rather than specific brands. When this information is combined with the BDI, a much more effective promotional strategy may be developed.
Measurements to Use when Setting Media Objectives for Traditional Media
Just to be clear, traditional media includes broadcast (TV, radio), Print (newspapers, magazines), and Direct Marketing (direct mail, database mailings, newsletters, etc).
Once marketers decide the geographic markets that have the highest potential, they need to determine what percent of the target audience they want to reach and how often (known as reach & frequency media objectives) to move the customers through the decision purchase process. Since setting these media objectives have budget consequences, there are specific terms, measurements, and research firms that track the reliable results for the media purchases. The media terms and math are:
Gross Rating Point (GRP's) GRP = Reach & Frequency
This is the measure of potential reach in the broadcast industry. It is a rating used for public TV and radio programs. This number is expressed as a percentage to determine how much advertising volume or weight is necessary to accomplish the advertising objectives. Marketers rely on ratings reach(number of people reached) and frequency (average number of times exposed to the message).
Target Ratings Points (TRPs)
This measure refers to the number of people in the primary target audience the media buy will reach - and the number of times. The TRP measure does not include waste coverage.
Households Using Television (HUTS)
Buying television and radio time always requires that you forecast future ratings for the programs that a media planner might be considering; so they use the following formula for budgeting purposes:
Rating = 60% (HUTS) x 30% (Share of Tv market)
The term "ratings", as used in the advertising industry, refers to the percentage of an audience that has an opportunity to see an advertisement placed on a certain TV program. A single rating point represents 1% of the U.S. households that own a television. There are different measurements for the mobile and TV programs viewed later and it is a challenge for the media planners to assess how to value them.
Reliable Broadcast Research Measures - the sole source of television network audiences are measured by Nielsen Media Research. These measures are important to media planners because they weigh the value of buying TV time on a specific program. The Nielsen Television Index provides daily and weekly estimates of the size and composition of the national viewing audiences for programs aired on the broadcast and major cable networks. The Nielsen Station Index measures viewing audiences in 210 local U.S. markets called designated market areas (DMAs).
These measurements are very important to media planners because it documents what your media dollars actually delivers. Because marketers set their reach and frequency media objectives months ahead of when the media buys are actually made. In addition, the media buyers buy TV spots on shows ahead of when they actually know who and how many viewers are going to be watching. The bottom line is that media purchase contracts require a "Make-good" or rebate if the research shows that the audience wasn't actually what the program estimated it would be. However, if a program delivers a higher number of viewers than promised the media buyers are not charged more.
Arbitron Research provides audience research data for the larger markets in the U.S. However, radio audience research is often limited relative to other media choices. Media buyers can choose to buy national, spot or local buys, but do not have much reliable audience research data to support their buys.
Additional Ways to Measure Media Costs for Traditional Media
One of the more important decisions in the development of media strategy is accurate cost estimating. The value of any strategy can be determined by how well it delivers the message to the audience with the lowest cost and the least waste; so media planners and marketers seek to determine the relative cost of media. To evaluate alternatives, advertisers must compare the relative costs of media as well as vehicles within this media. Some of the measurements they use are:
Determining Relative Costs of Media
Cost per thousand (CPM). The magazine industry provides cost breakdowns on the basis of the cost per thousand people reached. Advertisers assume that the more targeted the magazine audience is, the more expensive the ad will be. The formula they use is:
CPM = cost of ad space (absolute cost)/circulation of magazine Cost of ad space x 1,000
Cost per ratings point (CPRP)
The broadcast media provide a different comparative cost figure that they call cost per ratings point and their formula is:
CPRP = cost of commercial TV time (30-seccond)/program rating. This formula helps the media planner compare TV programs on a cost basis.
Daily inch rate
Newspaper ads cost effectiveness is based on the daily inch rate, which is the cost per column inch of the paper. The placement of the ad also affects cost, for example, an ad in the front section costs more than the other sections and ads on the right-hand side of page cost more than the left. Display ads, classified and special newspaper inserts are priced differently. Like magazines, newspapers use a cost-per-thousand formula per this example:
CPM = Page cost X 1000/circulation
Reliable Print Research Outlets
Circulation figures for many newspapers and magazines are verified by the Alliance for Audited Media (AAM) and companies like Experian Simmons and GtK MRI provide syndicated research studies on audience media behavior, lifestyles, product/brand preferences, etc. These studies can be valuable when planners are comparing newspapers with other media vehicles.
Measurements to Use when Budgeting for Internet, Mobile, and Social Advertising
The 2015 CMO Survey by the Duke University's Fuqua School of Business states that "marketers are allocating more of their budgets to social, mobile, and marketing analytics, but they still face challenges using these capabilities and proving ROI (return on investment)". Spending on digital marketing is expected to increase 12.2% over 2015, with some of the largest growth being seen in social, mobile and data analytics.
Social media spending now makes up an average 10.7% of marketing budgets, and it is projected to grow to 23.8% over five years. Interestingly, despite increasing their spending on social media, marketers say they are having a hard time proving the return on investment on this area. The marketers surveyed "were asked to rank on a scale of 1 to 7 (with 1 being not at all and 7 being excellent) how effective they were in different social media. The highest score was social media strategies (4.1). Lower on the list was managing external social media partners and agencies (3.3)".
In addition, in new research, media analyst Michael Nathanson of Moffett Nathanson Research wrote to investment clients that the growth of online ads are definitely coming at the expense of traditional TV and other media. He said that he predicts that by 2017, online advertising, led by Google and Facebook, will surpass spending on TV ads. "It is clear that TV is losing and will continue to lose share to digital media", he said. Not only is digital claiming the youngest adults, it is also claiming a disproportionate share of the most affluent and educated consumers as well, which leaves non-digital media for the poorer and older segments of the population.
Definitions used in Internet and Social Media
Clicks - Number of times people "clicked" on links taking them to a web site that the advertiser wants them to visit.
Visitors - Number of people who visited web site 1+ times within a time frame.
Unique Visitors - Number of different visitors (not counting duplication)
Traffic - Number of visitors (usually unique) who visit a web site.
Hits - Total number of times visitors click on something on the site (text, link, graphics)
Conversion - Rate at which visitors take some action such as purchase, request information, etc.
Botnet - It is a network of commandeered computers, each directed to visit sites, scroll around, and click on Internet ads, just like a human would. By one estimate, more than half of all purchased visitors come from botnets.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - It is the process of improving the quantity and quality of the traffic to a website from search engines (example, Google) via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic) search results for targeted keywords - which are built into the text and graphics on the web site. Usually the objective of SEO is to get the web site ranked as high as possible in search engine results, making it easier for people to find and click on the link.
The Most Common Methods of Paying for Internet Advertising
CPM Impressions - The advertiser pays an agreed upon cost per thousand impressions to a web page on which the advertiser has a link, ad/banner, etc. There is no guarantee of click-throughs, inquires, or sales.
Cost per Click (CPC) - The advertiser pays an agreed upon cost per click to the advertiser web site. Clicks may come from display ads or banners on another site or from text ads. For example, Google Adwords, the #1 CPC search engine, the advertiser bids on key words (search words) which, when searched, will trigger display of the advertiser's ad. If a searcher clicks on the ad, the advertiser pays Google the bid amount for the click (ex. from $.05 to several dollars). The advantage of CPC is that the advertiser pays only for a degree of performance (click). The web site, product, pricing, etc. determine consumer response.
Cost per Action (CPA) - The third type of internet pricing, gaining in popularity, is for the advertiser to say only for conversions. If a clicker goes to a web site and takes action, such as requesting more information or purchasing something, the advertiser would pay an agreed amount per action. The advantage to advertisers is that they pay only for results. The dilemma for the seller is that conversions are affected by many more variables than the quality of the clicker, so the CPA will vary widely by advertiser.
Internet Research Measures. Reliable Internet and social media traffic measurements have been very slow in developing. Advertising executives rely on independent measurement to help them allocate marketing dollars and to validate that the millions they are spending online is valid and actually being seen by the audiences they are targeting.
September, 2015 ComScore, known for its Internet-traffic measurement capabilities, and Rentrak which uses TV set-top data to gauge television viewing, together create a very formidable competitor to Nielsen NV, the reigning research firm in audience measurement in the U.S.
In September, 2015 Bloomberg Business magazine published an in-depth cover article titled "How Much of Your Audience Is Fake?" In the article, they discuss a study done in 2014 by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), where they embedded billions of digital ads with a code designed to determine who or what was seeking them. Shockingly, 11% of Internet display ads and almost a quarter of video ad were "viewed' by software, not people, but the advertisers were paying for all of it. According to the ANA study, which was conducted by the security firm White Ops and is titled "The Bot Baseline: Fraud in Digital Advertising", fake Internet traffic will cost advertisers $6.3 billion in 2015.
The study goes on to say, "Programmatic advertising has become such a tangle of data firms, marketing firms, strategy firms, and ad tech companies that it can be hard even for the biggest companies with well-known brands to keep track of all the fraud.
The article concludes with "Ad fraud may eventually turn into a manageable nuisance like shoplifting, something that companies learn to control without ever eradicating. Advertisers generally see lower levels of fraudulent traffic by dealing directly with publishers rather than using programmatic exchanges. Sites, such as Facebook, with its billion-plus users, are relatively bot-free, but expensive places to run ads."
Research Measurement Started on Cross-Platform Measurement
The ANA has issued a directive from the largest advertisers to address the shortcomings of media measurement. Industry groups include: The Advertising Research Foundation, the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the Media Rating Council and Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement. They agreed that the following points were needed: comparable metric such as gross rating points across all medial taking advertising creativity quality into account; and doing analytics timed to when decisions are made rather than months or quarters later. Interestingly, research shows TV is often a bigger driver of online sales---proving that integrated marketing communications program really are the most effective.
Media Buying Responsibilities
There are a variety of organizations that plan and negotiate media buys for companies depending on the needs of the client (firm). For example:
Full Service Advertising Agency: an outside firm that specializes in the creating, production, and placement (media buying) of communications messages. AT&T, General Motors, etc. use this type of company, but they frequently use multiple agencies for mass communications, Public Relations, digital media, sales promotion, etc. Part of the advertising agency's compensation comes from commissions earned from 15+% of the media bought which sets up a conflict of interest because they are responsible for recommending the media that pays them.
In-house Agency: is an advertising agency that is set up and operated by the client company with their own employees. Some organizations go this route to maintain greater control over their communications strategies or to save money or both. They buy their own media or work through a media buying agency. Many firms such as; Under Armour and Fidelity Investments choose this method. When the company sets itself up as an agency, it too receives the 15+% media commission so it helps defray the cost of an in-house agency.
Media Specialists Agency: is a company that specializes in buying media. Agencies and in-house agencies develop their own target analysis and media strategies and hire these agencies to buy and track the media buys. As media buying gets more complicated, many companies have been consolidating media buying to get better positioning in the media and more clout from their advertising budgets.
Small Company Management: some companies don't have a large enough budget to hire an advertising agency. So the owner or marketing director does all the marketing duties including buying media.
The media resource that most of the agencies use to identify what media vehicles are available by location, the costs, the requirements, etc. it called the "Standard Rate and Date Service (SRDS). The HYPERLINK "https://www.srds.com" www.srds.com is a subscription service that is a current database of all media.
Bibliography
2009 Thumbnail Media Planner (2009). Media in the Future, Prentice Hall Publishing
Association of National Advertisers (2015). The Bot Baseline: Fraud in Digital Advertising conducted by White Ops security firm.
American Marketing Association. (1995) Dictionary of Marketing Terms - 2nd Edition, NTC Business Books.
Belch, George E and Michael, (2015). Advertising and Promotion-An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective, McGraw-Hill Education.
Clow, Kenneth and Baack, Donald (2010). Integrated Advertising, Promotion, and Marketing Communications, Prentice Hall.
CMO Survey. (2015) Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. Published by Advertising Age, August 25, 2015.
Engel, James, Martin R. Warshaw, Thomas C. Kinnear, Bonnie B. Reece. (2000) Promotional Strategy- An Integrated Marketing Communication Approach - 9th Edition. Pinnaflex Educational Services.
Kotler, Philip and Gary Armstrong. (2014). Principles of Marketing-15th Edition. Pearson
Zikmund, Willaim G. and Barry J. Babin. (2010) Essentials of Marketing Research- 4th Edition. South-Western Cengage Learning.