marketing
Eeny, meeny, miny, mo,
which one do I choose,
which way do I go?
available to a certain demographic profile,
income sector, profession etc? Are you
restricted geographically? What does your
customer ‘look like’?
Stephanie Dale
Managing Partner
DMC Advertising Group
Are you struggling to determine where
best to invest your marketing dollars
to gain the greatest return on your
investment? Today, there are so many
choices. Gone are the days of a choice
between TV, radio or press. Now there
are a myriad of media platforms to
choose from. The line is distinctly
blurred between above and below the
line advertising. How do you choose?
The Five Key Questions To
Determine Your Optimal
Marketing Medium
Before you make any decisions, step back
and ask yourself the following basic strategic
marketing questions. The answers will assist
you to select the optimal marketing media
for your business.
1. Who is my target market?
Sounds simple, however, this is one question
where many people fail to fully understand
or define a clear and accurate description
of their business’ true target market. Is your
product or service a top shelf item only
20 Australian Window Association Autumn 2016
To assist in developing your answer take a
good in-depth look at your existing database
of customers. Try to identify common traits
that appear in a greater percentage of them.
You may be surprised when you actually
analyse your data.
You may identify an area where you have
not gained sufficient market penetration but
believe that there is greater opportunity.
This too should form part of your target
market analysis.
2. What media in my local area
does my target market watch,
listen to, or read?
Having established a clear picture of your
target market, now ask yourself, where do
they obtain their information? What specific
media do they listen to, read, watch or
engage with?
It is important not to speculate or ‘second
guess’ the answer to this question. Often
the only way to determine this is by asking
them. A simple survey (with an incentive
built in to encourage involvement) will bring
you the answers you need. No more than six
or seven questions, keep it easy and simple.
Ask what publications they read, television
stations they watch, social media platforms
they engage in, radio stations they listen to.
You will be amazed at the results.
3. Which media gives me the
greatest penetration to my
target market, per dollar spent?
Perhaps the most important question of
all. The reason for this question is that you
need a method of comparing the relative
marketing investment of one medium to
another, a tool to measure what you get for
your marketing dollar. A commonly used
media buying measurement is the ‘CPM’
calculation. The CPM calculation allows you
to break down your media investment into
cost per 1,000 ‘exposures’. For example, if
your airtime for running a radio spot costs
$500, and the radio station’s data shows
45,000 people matching the age of your
target market audience are listening during
the time period you’re considering, then you
would compute CPM as follows:
CPM = $500 = $0.011
45,000
This means that you are paying one cent
for every person who is exposed to your
advertisement.
Use this tool to analyse each media package
under consideration.
4. Does this media achieve my
chosen objectives?
Using the CPM calculation helps you answer
which media can extend your message
to the most people per marketing dollar,
however, it does not answer the question of
effectiveness in relation to your marketing
and advertising objectives.
For example, if your objective is to build
a database of email addresses to perform
ongoing email marketing, then you want to
use a medium that relates to people who are