Reaching the right people in the right place with the right message through advertising vehicles.
What it is: Paid advertising must be purchased for specific placement of content to reach the desired audience. Focusing the appropriate message on the target audience requires that an understanding of where they look for information and entertainment and what will gain their interest. Audiences are becoming more diverse and unique, and so finding the right message and promotional vehicle is more important than ever. Each person receives about 10,000 marketing messages a day, so finding the right aperture (like the clicking of a camera lens) where you can catch the person's attention with something that will interest them is critical. Accessing the different advertising vehicles can be complex and expensive, so finding the right skilled employee or media placement firm can be very beneficial.
What does it do: If you can place the right message in a place that your target audience is looking and it engages them, you can fulfill your advertising objectives.
Uses:
How is it used: Placement of advertising is the implementation of a promotional strategy once the content has been created. See the promotional strategy tool in this library for more information on what types of advertising will be placed: Promotional Strategies Page. Once the content has been created and the target vehicles of promotion identified through the strategy, the actual placement of the advertising is required. The process of placement is more simple for concepts like Google Adwords and other social media and internet advertising. An individual or small company can place these types of advertising and promotion on their own. But large media placement firms have obtained such bulk discounts that most advertising will be less expensive if placed through a media placement firm. Analytics is also important to measure the effectiveness of the advertising/promotion, see the tool in this library: Measuring the Effectiveness of Advertising.
Where: Advertising and promotion placement used to be about 80% traditional media (Newspaper, TV, Rado, Billboards, etc.), But today it may have flipped so that the internet and mobile devices may represent closer to 80%. Advertising placement is used in a wide variety of promotional vehicles:
Commercial advertisement on TV and Radio: Local and national networks have advertising plans that an ad agency or large placement firm can help you with. You can not buy most types of advertising and promotion as cheaply as the media placement firms can, so you are often best off using a professional firm to do the buying for you.
Outdoor advertising: Billboards, events, balloons, skywriting, etc. are just some of the outdoor advertising options. This can be placed through media placement or in some cases you can find the advertisers yourself.
Internet and apps: Spotify, mobile app, and others are all opportunities for advertising placement, and again a media placement firm is an option to consider
Google AdWords: Google AdWords are relatively simple to use for individuals and small businesses
Social Media Platforms: Most social media platforms have simple opportunities for individuals and small businesses to place their own advertising. But you may want to check what kind of pricing a media placement firm might be able to get for you.
Geo-Fencing: Geo-Fencing is advertising only to people who are in a specific location. This is like advertising to people in a mall that are using the local mall WiFi. Using GPS signals from a phone can also identify where users are and target advertising to them.
Why: Paid advertising must be placed in ways that your target audience will find it. Media placement firms can recommend appropriate promotional vehicles and get preferential pricing. It is recommended that you compare their options to doing it yourself.
Limitations:
Where it shouldn't be used: Using a media placement firm can often be your best option for media placement, but for small cost placements on Adwords, Facebook and others you may be able to have the best price by doing it yourself, but you should check to compare.
Any restrictions: None
Warnings: Placement of media where your audience is not looking is a waste of money. Be sure to do the measurements to know if your audience is receiving your message and if they respond to your promotions.
What is my Promotion Strategy: Be sure you have defined your strategy and that your planned media/promotion placement matches your strategy. See Promotional Strategies
Target Audience Identified: Be sure to define the target audience you want to advertise or promote your business to. What actions do you want the target audience to take (buy your product, like your site, etc.)? Learn as much as possible about the target audience. What are their interests, what do they watch or listen to, what do they read, where do they hang out, what do they buy, and from whom?
Promotional Media Content: Develop the media content to follow the promotional strategy to be unique, to be of interest to the target audience and will cause the audience to engage in the promotion
Promotional Media Channel: Define the media channels that will reach your target audience in a way they will respond to and engage with. Determine the most cost-effective channel to reach your desired outcome.
Purchase the media placement services: You can check with local advertising agencies if your needs are small. If you want a larger placement in dollars or national exposure consider a media placement firm. See the link below:
Utilize social media, AdWords, and other individual media placements.
Measure Effectiveness: With web analytics and sales data you can quickly identify the impact of your media placement. Use all of your data to find out which channels and content work best in engaging your target audience. Some of the resources available to measure effectiveness include:
