admineasy for a product or a brand to reach this stage. It takes years to build such household brands.
One famous speaker once said that companies do not advertise because they are big but because they want to be big.
These household brands started from the grassroots level and were built through vigorous processes.
It is similar to a seed that is planted in the ground, germinates and grows to produce the fruit or vegetable that we all love. Advertising is handled differently by organisations, in small companies the sales and marketing manager often sets up advertising initiatives. Big companies often prefer working with an advertising agency that sets up the creative work.
These ad agencies charge their clients on the basis of ad hoc or retainer fees per month depending on the frequency and budget dedicated to advertising. The latter often does a better job in terms of creative and pace of delivery. There is absolutely no way you can carry out an advertising campaign without knowing who your target audience is.
The marketing manager must be able to give direction to the ad agency who the primary and secondary market is.
Similarly, you would be lost if you had no knowledge of individual/buyer motives. Use the 5Ms which are major decisions that a manager must always be cognisant of.
- Mission – What are the advertising objectives?
- Money – How much can be spent?
- Message – What message should be sent?
- Media – What media should be used?
- Measurement – How should the results be evaluated?
I have seen many marketing personnel struggle on which media to use for effectiveness.
It’s simpler to acknowledge that previous trends will help for effectiveness. Some market surveys are also useful pointers towards the direction you could take, for me the ZAMPS survey has been somewhat effective save for the instances where their sample size seems too small. Be reminded that anything in marketing always has goals otherwise it would be direction-less advertising.
You can classify your objectives under three categories – informative, persuasive and reminder advertising.
If you know that your product is at entry stage, or pioneer stage you would rather concentrate on an informative angle.
For instance, the seller must convince the customer the benefits of using their type of vanishing cream as compared to the other one – would it add suppleness to sagging skin?
Then if you know that you are right in the thick of things and your product is facing massive competitive, you must use persuasive advertising as you are looking for customers to select your product than the competitors.
Whisky maker Chivas Regal once tried to persuade consumers that it delivers more taste and status than other brands of Scotch whisky.
Now at this stage make sure your product is up to scratch and can withstand any backlash from your competition. Reminder advertising is effective only for the products that have matured like wine. I often laugh at little brands that come out with little teasers — I always exclaim and say, gosh, do not confuse us. Avoid wasting full advertising pages if your brand has not matured. Often companies have not been able to determine money to be used for advertising efforts. Advertising has a carry-over effect that lasts beyond the current period. Avoid presenting it as a once off expense it is an investment that builds up an intangible asset. My advice is to treat it as a depreciable expense which should be written off over a period of time just like capital equipment. Till next week . . . Remember don’t advertise because you are big, advertise because you want to be big.
The Shona proverb says “akuruma nzeve ndewako” (he who has given you advice is on your side). May God richly bless you.
Shelter Chieza is an advisor in management issues. She can be contacted at [email protected]
Online Reporter