Type of Media Outlets

While just a few years ago marketers needed to be aware of only a few media outlets, today’s marketers must be well-versed in a wide range of media options. The reason for the growing number of media outlets lies with advances in communication technology, in particular, the Internet. As we discussed in the Advertising Trends section in Part 13, the number of media outlets will continue to grow as new technologies emerge.

Next we provide an overview of 10 leading media outlets:

1. Television
2. Radio
3. Print Publications
4. Internet
5. DirectMail
6. Signage
7. Product Placement
8. MobileDevices
9. Sponsorships
10. Others

Television Advertising

Television advertising offers the benefit of reaching large numbers in a single exposure. Yet because it is a mass medium capable of being seen by nearly anyone, television lacks the ability to deliver an advertisement to highly targeted customers compared to other media outlets. Television networks are attempting to improve their targeting efforts. In particular, networks operating in the pay-to-access arena, such as those with channels on cable and satellite television, are introducing more narrowly themed programming (i.e., TV shows geared to specific interest groups) designed to appeal to selective audiences. However, television remains an option that is best for products that targeted to a broad market. The geographic scope of television advertising ranges from advertising within a localized geographic area using fee-based services, such as cable and fiber optic services, to national coverage using broadcast programming. Television advertising, once viewed as the pillar of advertising media outlets, is facing numerous challenges from alternative media (e.g., Internet) and the invasion of technology devices, such as digital video recorders (see more in the Advertising Trends section in Part 13: Advertising), that have empowered customers to be more selective on the advertisements they view. Additionally, television lacks effective response tracking which has led many marketers to investigate other media that offer stronger tracking options.

Radio Advertising

Promotion through radio has been a viable advertising option for over 80 years. Radio advertising is mostly local to the broadcast range of a radio station, however, at least three options exist that offer national and potentially international coverage. First, in many countries there are radio networks that use many geographically distinct stations to broadcast simultaneously. In the United States such networks as Disney (children’s programming) and ESPN (sports programming) broadcast nationally either through a group of company-owned stations or through a syndication arrangement (i.e., business agreement) with partner stations. Second, within the last few years the emergence of radio programming delivered via satellite has become an option for national advertising. Finally, the potential for national and international advertising may become more attractive as radio stations allow their signals to be broadcast over the Internet.

In many ways radio suffers the same problems as television, namely, a mass medium that is not highly targeted and offers little opportunity to track responses. But unlike television, radio presents the additional disadvantage of limiting advertisers to audio-only advertising. For some products advertising without visual support is not effective.

Print Publication Advertising

Print publications such as magazines, newspapers and Special Issue publications offer advertising opportunities at all geographic levels. Magazines, especially those that target specific niche or specialized interest areas, are more narrowly targeted compared to broadcast media. Additionally, magazines offer the option of allowing marketers to present their message using high quality imagery (e.g., full color) and can also offer touch and scent experiences (e.g., perfume). Newspapers have also incorporated color advertisements, though their main advantage rests with their ability to target local markets. Special Issue publications can offer very selective targeting since these often focus on an extremely narrow topics (e.g., auto buying guide, tour guides, college and university ratings, etc.).

Internet Advertising

The fastest growing media outlet for advertising is the Internet. Compared to spending in other media, the rate of spending for Internet advertising is experiencing tremendous growth. However, total spending for Internet advertising remains relatively small compared to other media. Yet, while Internet advertising is still a small player, its influence continues to expand and each year more major marketers shift a larger portion of their promotional budget to this medium. Two key reasons for this shift rest with the Internet’s ability to: 1) narrowly target an advertising message and, 2) track user response to the advertiser’s message. The Internet offers many advertising options with messages delivered through websites or by email.

·Website Advertising - Advertising tied to a user’s visit to a website accounts for the largest spending on Internet advertising. For marketers, website advertising offers many options in terms of:

• Creative Types – Internet advertising allows for a large variety of creative types including text-only, image-only, multimedia (e.g., video) and advanced interactive (e.g., advertisement in the form of online games).
• Size – In addition to a large number of creative types, Internet advertisements can be delivered in a number of different sizes (measured in screen pixels) ranging from full screen to small square ads that are only a few pixels in size. The most popular Internet ad sizes include banner ads (468 x 60 pixels), leaderboard (728 x 90 pixels) and skyscraper (160 x 600 pixels).
• Placement – The delivery of an Internet advertisement can occur in many ways including fixed placement in a certain website location (e.g., top of page), processed placement where the ad is delivered based on user characteristics (e.g., entry of words in a search box, recognition of user via Internet tracking cookies), or on a separate webpage where the user may not see the ad until they leave a site or close their browser (e.g., pop-under).

• Delivery – When it comes to placing advertisements on websites marketers can, in some cases, negotiate with websites directly to place an ad on the site or marketers can place ads via a third-party advertising network, which has agreements to place ads on a large number of partner websites.

·Email Advertising – Using email to deliver an advertisement affords marketers the advantage of low distribution cost and potentially high reach. In situations where the marketer possesses a highly targeted list, response rates to email advertisements may be quite high. This is especially true if those on the list have agreed to receive email, a process known as “opt-in” marketing. Email advertisement can take the form of a regular email message or be presented within the context of more detailed content, such as an electronic newsletter. Delivery to a user’s email address can be viewed as either plain text or can look more like a website using web coding (i.e., HTML). However, as most people are aware, there is significant downside to email advertising due to highly publicized issues related to abuse (i.e., spam).

Direct Mail

This method of advertising uses postal and other delivery services to ship advertising materials, including postcards, letters, brochures, catalogs and flyers, to a physical address of targeted customers. Direct mail is most effective when it is designed in a way that makes it appear to be special to the customer. For instance, a marketer using direct mail can personalize mailings by including a message recipient’s name on the address label or by inserting their name within the content of marketer’s message.

Direct mail can be a very cost-effective method of advertising, especially if mailings contain printed material. This is due to cost advantages obtained by printing in high volume since the majority of printing costs are realized when a printing machine is initially setup to run a print job and not the because of the quantity of material printed. Consequently, the total cost of printing 50,000 postcards is only slightly higher than printing 20,000 postcards but when the total cost is divided by the number of cards printed the cost per-card drops dramatically as more pieces are printed. Obviously there are other costs involved in direct mail, primarily postage expense.

While direct mail can be seen as offering the benefit of a low cost-per-contact, the actual cost-per-impression can be quite high as large numbers of customers may discard the mailing before reading. This has led many to refer to direct mail as“junk mail” and due to the name some marketers view the approach as ineffective.  However, direct mail, when well-targeted, can be an extremly effective promotional tool.

Signage and Billboards

The use of signs to communicate a marketer’s message places advertising in geographically identified areas in order to capture customer attention. The most obvious method of using signs is through billboards, which are generally located in high traffic areas. Outdoor billboards come in many sizes, though the most wellknown are large structures located near transportation points intending to attract the interest of people traveling on roads or public transportation. Indoor billboards are often smaller than outdoor billboards and are designed to attract the attention of foot traffic (i.e., those moving past the sign). For example, smaller signage in airports, train terminals and large commercial office space fit this category.

While billboards are the most obvious example of signage advertising, there are many other forms of signage advertising include: ·Sky writing where airplanes use special chemicals to form words ·Plane banners where large signs are pulled behind an airplane

1. Mobile billboards where signs are placed on vehicles, such as buses and cars, or even carried by people 
2. Plastic bags used to protect newspapers delivered to homes
3. Advertisements attached to grocery carts

Product Placement Advertising

Product placement is an advertising approach that intentionally inserts products into entertainment programs such as movies, TV programs and video games.

Placement can take several forms including:

1. ·visual imagery in which the product appears within the entertainment program
2. ·actual product use by an actor in the program
3. ·words spoken by an actor that include the product name

Product placement is gaining acceptance among a growing number of marketers for two main reasons. First, in most cases the placement is subtle so as not to divert significant attention from the main content of the program or media outlet. This approach may lead the audience to believe the product was selected for inclusion by program producers and not by the marketer. This may heighten the credibility of the product in the minds of the audience since their perception, whether accurate or not, is that product was selected by an unbiased third-party. Second, as we discuss in Part 13: Advertising, entertainment programming, such as television, is converging with other media, particularly the Internet. In the future a viewer of a television program may be able to easily request information for products that appear in a program by simply pointing to the product on the screen. With the information they may get the option to purchase the product. As this technology emerges it is expected that product placement opportunities will become a powerful promotional option for many marketers.

Mobile Device Advertising

Handheld devices, such as cellphones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and other wireless devices, make up the growing mobile device market. Such devices allow customers to stay informed, gather information and communicate with others without being tied to a physical location. While the mobile device market is only beginning to become a viable advertising medium, it may soon offer significant opportunity for marketers to reach customers at anytime and anyplace.

Also, with geographic positioning features included in newer mobile devices, the medium has the potential to provide marketers with the ability to target customers based on their geographic location. Currently, the most popular advertising delivery method to mobile devices is through plain text messaging, however, over the next few years multimedia advertisements are expected to become the dominant message format.

Sponsorships

A subtle method of advertising is an approach in which marketers pay, or offer resources and services, for the purpose of being seen as a supporter of an organization’s event, program or product offering (e.g., section of a website). Sponsorships are intended not to be viewed a blatant advertisement and in this way may be appealing for marketers looking to establish credibility with a particular target market. However, many sponsorship options lack the ability to tie spending directly to customer response. Additionally, the visibility of the sponsorship may be limited to relatively small mentions especially if the marketer is sharing sponsorship with many other organizations.

Others

While the nine media outlets discussed above represent the overwhelming majority of advertising methods, there are several more including:

• advertising using telephone recordings (e.g., political candidate’s messages)
• advertising via fax machine (though there may be certain legal issues with this method)
• advertising through inserted material in product packaging (e.g., inside credit card bill)
• advertising imprinted on retail receipts (e.g., grocery store, cash machine)