Have you been thinking about how best to reach your customers? As a business owner, it is important to understand the best options to match your marketing needs. How you advertise effects your customer reach and marketing budget. We will introduce you to the differences and benefits of radio, television, and digital marketing to help you find the right fit.
First let’s discuss needs vs awareness marketing.
Think about what your business offers, who your target consumers are, and the solution your customers are looking for. Answer the following questions to determine the type of marketing you will use.
A.) Do your target customers already know what the solution is to their problem?
B.) Do your target customers only know what the problem is but not the solution?
C.) Are your target customers not yet aware of their problem or does their problem not exist yet?
If you are A or B, you will be marketing on a needs basis. If you are C, then you are going to be marketing awareness of your business/ solution offering. Once you discover what you are trying to accomplish with your marketing message, you can start planning your marketing campaign.
Before jumping into a marketing campaign, understanding what kind of media you will use will determine your campaign requirements and budget. For example, if you decide that television is the best way to reach your audience, you are going to need to put together a team that can create a quality commercial or outsource to marketing professionals. We have put together a brief guide to give insight on what you can expect from each media platform.
Radio: Radio marketing is great for reaching commuters, select local areas, and small marketing budgets. If you are considering this route, you will need a good script writer, vocal talent, and a sound technician who can string together music/sound effects for your commercial. If that sounds like to much bother, most marketing firms will have the capabilities to tackle this for you. Relative to television, radio marketing is cheaper and allows for rate negotiating. If you are a restaurant owner looking to tell your local community about a special you are running Tuesday nights, a radio commercial would be an excellent way to accomplish your goals. Understand that with radio, you buy the station. You have to pick the segment your ad will run on.
Read more on radio marketing here.
Television: Television marketing has always been the benchmark for which all other marketing value is derived. Television, despite common rumors, is not yet completely dead. In fact, cost per 1000 views is decently cheap thanks to a vast number of daytime watchers, along with news and sports viewers. TV marketing excels in demographic targeting, catching a broad market presence. The math tells us marketers that television is still a good investment, in some cases. Going the television route has a few more requirements than radio. TV commercial’s require a set, actors, video/sound equipment, a director, a script writer, and props. The upfront cost of television marketing is higher than radio but can certainly pay off in a big way. Of course, outsourcing the commercial process can lighten your load, but it will still come with significant expense. You buy the program, that program determines the demographic being reached.
Read more on TV marketing here.
Digital: Digital marketing refers to any marketing type that is connected to the internet. This can be Facebook ads, Google ads, Instagram Stories, YouTube Commercials, etc. Video production can prove to be a great asset when marketing your business digitally. In the e-world, people are receiving a lot of information via video, so running a video ad attached to their viewing content will help your message to be seen. Digital marketing gets in front of the right customer looking the for solution you are offering. For example, let’s pretend I am a 25 year old female, who happens to have a love for the Golden Girls, that denture adhesive commercial on TV does not solve any of my problems, but the targeted ad that just popped up on my social media page for a deal on a pair of shoes I recently searched for does. Digital marketing can narrow down who sees your marketing campaign and gets your business in front of people who find your message relevant. There are many forms of digital marketing, if you are wanting to go this route the next step is finding where your online presence should be.
Read more on digital marketing here.
To recap, you should first determine if you are marketing:
1.) Needs vs. Awareness
2.) Local vs. Broad
Have an idea of your marketing budget and goals before searching for media platforms. Know the location of your customers. Keep in mind the reach each platform offers. Each of these points will bring you closer to potential customers and sales.
