smARTstart

Advertising regroups any paid form of non-personal communication about an organization, good, service, or idea. It is the biggest communication tool of all: roughly $250 billions are spent each year on advertising. It has the biggest reach and is a cost effective way to reach lots of people. Even with a very limited budget, it is possible to inform the organization's audience about performances and events.

If you decide to use this tool, you will first have to choose the right media in which to advertise.

Mass Media Advantages and Disadvantages

• Television: Reaches more people than any other medium; costs the most.
• Cable TV: Better equipped to target a specific audience both psychographically and geographically; more cost efficient. Chicago Access Network (CAN-TV) offers nonprofits the opportunity to connect with the public through this key medium.
• Radio: Able to target specific audiences with higher frequency of the message; need to buy 2-3 stations for good reach; not as expensive as television.
• Newspaper: Communicates details about arts organization's events; can geographically target a city/communities; lots of ad clutter, especially in the entertainment section; expensive for a "page-dominant" ad.
• Magazines: Reach upscale audiences; higher quality graphics and environment; based on a weekly or monthly publishing cycle, it is difficult to develop an adequate frequency level; costly, especially since a color ad is necessary for impact.
• Outdoor Billboards and Transit:Good image or reminder medium; can't communicate many details.
• Internet: Good support medium; communicates lots of information events; open 24/7; need to promote website address; must keep information current.

Where to Begin?

• Create a media plan based on specific objectives. Example: Increase ticket purchases for a particular event by African-American women by 25%.
• Ask your current audience how they heard about your offering and where they typically look for or hear about entertainment options.
• The plan should include placement designed to reach that audience with your message several times during a critical decision-making period.
• Analyze the cost per inquiry to determine which media produced the most for the least money.
• Don't rely on just one medium to carry the message. People need to see/hear the message several times. Target audience and budget are the most important factors.
• Repetition and consistency are keys. Deliver the message through several forms of media. Don't include a medium just because it's cheap. A bargain can actually cost more per sale than a higher-priced, more effective medium.

Avoid Common Mistakes with Paid Media:

• Don't dribble. Pulse your advertising in short, intense bursts when it counts the most. Don't spread over too much media or too much time.
• Don't target "everyone." If you're not specific about the target audience, you will fail to generate sufficient return from any segment.
• Don't respond to "deals." If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
• Don't be cheap. A cheap media buy is more expensive if it fails to deliver inquiries. Paying more may get you more in return.
• Don't track too broad an area or fail to track. Then you can't tell what's working and what's not.

Get Help:

• Buying media is a complicated and technical job. Everyone thinks they're an expert because they watch, listen, read.
• May be worthwhile to get help with this task. The Arts & Business Council can assist.
• Ad agencies will help nonprofit organizations plan and place media for a small fee or pro bono.

Limitations
Advertising was developed to promote fast moving consumer goods and have proven less efficient for cultural organizations. In the field of culture, targets are usually too small, products too complex and budgets too limited to fully take advantage of mass communication techniques. Moreover, the impact of advertising is undeniable but difficult to precisely measure. One can never be sure that an advertisement has been seen, understood and remembered, since communication is one way: from the organization to its target. Separating the effect of advertisement from other factors influencing consumers is particularly arduous.

Last, promotional spending for consumer goods has been growing steadily, and tends to overpower products with smaller budgets. Because of this constant growth, the multiplication of media and the resulting advertising omnipresence, consumers tend to develop a type of immunization to this type of marketing and shield themselves from this communication avalanche by ignoring most advertising messages.

Direct Marketing can address all of these concerns.

Links

1. The American Advertising Federation: www.aaf.org
2. Ad Forum (impartial, advanced and up-to-date source of information on the advertising industry): www.adforum.com