14.2 Major Decisions in Developing an Advertising Plan

Crafting an effective advertising plan is crucial for marketing success. It involves a systematic approach, from analyzing the current situation to evaluating campaign effectiveness. Key steps include setting objectives, determining budgets, and developing strategies that resonate with the target audience.

Advertisers must make critical decisions about objectives, budgets, and strategies. This includes choosing between informative, persuasive, or reminder advertising, selecting appropriate media channels, and crafting compelling messages. Measuring effectiveness through pre-testing, post-testing, and ongoing optimization ensures continuous improvement and maximizes return on advertising spend.

Developing an Advertising Plan

Steps in advertising plan creation

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• Conduct a situation analysis
  • Assess the current marketing situation including market trends, consumer preferences, and brand positioning
  • Identify target audience based on demographic, psychographic, and behavioral characteristics
  • Evaluate competitors' advertising strategies to identify gaps and opportunities for differentiation
• Set advertising objectives
  • Determine the desired response from the target audience such as increased brand awareness, improved brand perception, or higher purchase intent
  • Align objectives with overall marketing goals to ensure a cohesive and integrated approach
• Determine advertising budget
  • Consider the stage in the product life cycle as products in the introduction stage may require higher advertising spend compared to mature products
  • Evaluate market share and consumer base to allocate resources effectively based on the brand's position and growth potential
  • Assess competitors' advertising spending to ensure the budget is competitive and sufficient to achieve the desired objectives
  • Develop a campaign budget that aligns with overall financial goals and expected return on investment
• Develop advertising strategy
  • Define the target audience precisely using demographic (age, gender, income), psychographic (lifestyle, values, personality), and behavioral (purchase behavior, brand loyalty) segmentation
  • Determine the advertising message by crafting a unique selling proposition (USP) and deciding between emotional appeals (humor, nostalgia) and rational appeals (product features, benefits)
  • Select appropriate media channels such as traditional media (TV, radio, print), digital media (social media, search engine marketing, email marketing), and out-of-home media (billboards, transit ads)
  • Create a creative brief to guide the development of advertising content and ensure consistency with the overall strategy
• Create advertising executions
  • Design ad layouts and content that effectively communicate the advertising message and resonate with the target audience
  • Produce the advertisements ensuring high quality and consistency across all selected media channels
• Implement the advertising campaign
  • Schedule ad placements based on the media plan and budget allocation
  • Monitor and adjust as needed based on real-time performance data and audience feedback
• Evaluate advertising effectiveness
  • Measure results against objectives using key performance indicators (KPIs) such as reach, engagement, and conversion rates
  • Gather feedback from the target audience and make improvements to optimize the advertising campaign for better results

Key decisions for advertising strategy

• Setting advertising objectives
  • Informative advertising aims to increase brand awareness and knowledge among the target audience (Coca-Cola's "Share a Coke" campaign)
  • Persuasive advertising focuses on encouraging brand preference and purchase by highlighting unique selling points and benefits (Apple's "Shot on iPhone" campaign)
  • Reminder advertising seeks to maintain customer relationships and loyalty by reinforcing the brand's presence and value (McDonald's "I'm lovin' it" campaign)
• Determining advertising budgets
  • Affordable method allocates funds based on available resources, which may limit the campaign's scope and effectiveness
  • Percentage of sales method budgets a fixed percentage of sales revenue, ensuring a consistent investment in advertising (10% of annual sales)
  • Competitive parity method matches competitors' advertising spending to maintain a similar share of voice in the market
  • Objective and task method budgets based on specific objectives and tasks, allowing for a more targeted and efficient allocation of resources
• Developing advertising strategies
  • Target audience selection
    • Demographic segmentation based on age (millennials), gender (women), income (high-income earners), etc.
    • Psychographic segmentation based on lifestyle (health-conscious), values (environmentally friendly), personality (adventurous), etc.
    • Behavioral segmentation based on purchase behavior (frequent buyers), brand loyalty (loyal customers), etc.
  • Advertising message decisions
    • Unique selling proposition (USP) that differentiates the brand from competitors (Domino's Pizza's "30 minutes or it's free" guarantee)
    • Emotional appeals vs. rational appeals depending on the product category and target audience (emotional appeal for perfumes, rational appeal for cleaning products)
    • Creative execution using various techniques such as humor (Old Spice's "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like"), fear (anti-smoking campaigns), or testimonials (celebrity endorsements)
    • Develop a message strategy that aligns with the brand identity and resonates with the target audience
  • Media channel selection
    • Traditional media such as TV (Super Bowl commercials), radio (Spotify ads), and print (magazine ads)
    • Digital media including social media (Instagram influencer partnerships), search engine marketing (Google Ads), and email marketing (promotional newsletters)
    • Out-of-home media like billboards (Times Square billboards), transit ads (bus wraps), and point-of-purchase displays (in-store promotions)
    • Implement media planning to optimize reach and frequency across chosen channels

Methods of advertising effectiveness measurement

• Measuring advertising effectiveness
  • Pre-testing evaluates ad concepts before full implementation
    • Focus groups and surveys to gauge audience reactions and gather qualitative feedback on ad concepts and creative executions
    • Physiological measures such as eye tracking (heat maps) and brain activity (EEG) to assess attention and emotional response to ads
  • Post-testing assesses the impact of the advertising campaign after it has been launched
    • Recall and recognition tests to measure the target audience's ability to remember and identify the ad and its key messages
    • Attitude and preference changes to evaluate the impact of the ad on the target audience's perceptions and feelings towards the brand
    • Sales and market share analysis to quantify the ad's effectiveness in driving business results and achieving marketing objectives
• Improving advertising effectiveness
  • A/B testing compares the performance of different ad variations (ad copy, visuals, call-to-action) to identify the most effective elements and optimize future campaigns
  • Conversion tracking measures the number of desired actions taken by the audience (purchases, sign-ups, downloads) as a result of the ad exposure
  • Return on advertising spend (ROAS) evaluates the revenue generated per dollar spent on advertising to assess the campaign's profitability and efficiency
    • $ROAS = (Revenue from advertising) / (Advertising spend)$
    • Example: If a company spends $10,000 on advertising and generates$50,000 in revenue, the ROAS is 5:1 or 500%
  • Ongoing optimization involves continuously monitoring, analyzing, and adjusting the advertising campaign based on performance data and insights to improve results over time