| Hello class, and welcome back to Marketing Strategies. |
| This week I will expand upon last week's lecture by talking about factors you should consider |
| when creating advertising materials and the effects they can have on your product sales. |
| Lesson one: limit your advertising to the geographic area of your target market. |
| Though you may have a product that people want in a large area, |
| the distance that customers are willing to travel is a significant factor in their choice of where to purchase that product. |
| Take this example: |
| if you are really hungry and decide you want a burrito, |
| would you choose the restaurant that is a block from your apartment, |
| or the one that is just as good - or even slightly better - across town? |
| Of course you'll pick the closer restaurant. |
| Next, there's the method of communication to your target market. |
| How do you decide among radio ads, TV commercials, fliers, |
| or even word of mouth? |
| While we often think of the visual presentation of ads, |
| there is much more to advertising than the look. |
| Studies show that consumers are much more likely to remember advertising slogans |
| if there is also a sound played. |
| Did you know that your sense of smell is closely linked with memory? |
| Think about Mandy's Candy Store up the road. |
| Every time you walk past it, you can just smell the chocolate, right? |
| I bet you can almost smell it now. |
| Just mentioning the name brings about the smell memory, |
| and in turn a chocolate craving. |
| What better way to sell chocolate bars? |
| Obviously sometimes appealing to the senses isn't the most practical way to advertise. |
| For example, it is a good idea to come up with a marketing strategy that adapts to the product, |
| especially digital products. |
| The flexibility of this kind of products is extremely important, |
| so it is very common for advertisers to form one single layout for all of their ads - |
| the visual, the medium, even the majority of the content - |
| and simply update the ad each time they come out with a new version. |
| Remember, advertising is all about stirring up the right feeling in your potential customers, |
| whether by stimulating the senses, appealing to the intellect, and so on. |
| Once the customer experiences the ad, |
| the important thing is his or her reaction. |
| Someone could love the ad you made, |
| but unless he or she considers buying the product, |
| you have failed to get the reaction you were looking for. |
| So once you have successfully reached your target customer |
| and you have his or her business, |
| often you will want to expand to a larger market. |
| More often than not, the same marketing strategies you used in your small campaign |
| may not work for a larger audience. |
| The larger you scale your product, the more factors you must consider. |
| For instance, Apple operates worldwide, |
| so they must tailor their advertising for each market they enter. |
| Often you'll see Apple ads on international flights that appear not only in English, |
| which is the lingua franca of most regions, |
| but also in the native language of the majority of passengers. |
| I traveled to Russia last week, |
| and it was really interesting to see the same Nike ad that I have seen a hundred times - |
| except this time it was in Russian! |
| Okay, going back to the medium of the advertisement, |
| even after choosing to create print ads |
| (instead of radio announcements, television commercials, etc) |
| there is more to consider. |
| If you print your ad in a newspaper, |
| it will be read by a far different audience than if you print your ad in a popular magazine. |
| Would you put an ad for the new Justin Bieber album in a newspaper? |
| Probably not, because that product is most suitable for youths. |
| Let's face it - do you know anyone under the age of 25 that buys a newspaper? |
| Now let's try a few strategy exercises. |
| Imagine you are a company that is aiming to improve the environment by making products that reduce human waste. |
| How would you advertise your product? |
| Clearly it would send the wrong message if you put up fliers or other materials that cause lots of waste paper. |
| Consider instead putting commercials on the Health Channel, or buying ad space on websites like UNESCO. |
| Or here's another example: What is one great place to advertise suntan lotion? |
| How about a swimming pool? |
| It has the exact group of people that need the product. |
| Alright, one last thing. |
| Let's say you're filming a commercial for a water filter pitcher. |
| What would be good scenery to use for the background? |
| Think about somewhere calm and relaxing with clean, fresh water. |
| Can't you see how much more effective a commercial with the beautiful scenery and flowing rivers of a national park would be |
| than, say, water dripping from a tap? |
| So to wrap things up today, |
| think about the geography of your target market, |
| the type of marketing material you should use, |
| and the most effective way to appeal to the customer in order to make a successful ad campaign. |
| That is all I have for you today. |
| Make sure to read through chapter 8 for Monday if you have not done so already. |
| OK, now I'd be happy to answer... |