Developing an Advertising Campaign Generally speaking, four major steps are involved in the development of an advertising ca

Developing an Advertising Campaign
    Several steps are required to develop an advertising campaign. The number of steps and the exact order in which they are carried out may vary according to an organization’s resources, the nature of its product, and the types of audiences to be reached. However, the major steps in the creation of an advertising campaign are(1)identifying and analyzing the advertising target,(2)creating the advertising platform,(3)developing the media plan,(4)executing the campaign. These general guidelines for developing an advertising campaign are appropriate for all types of organizations.
A basic question that marketers must answer as they begin to develop an advertising campaign is: "Whom are we trying to reach with our message?" The advertising target is the group of people toward which advertisements are aimed. Identifying and analyzing the advertising target is critical because the other steps in developing the campaign are based on this. The advertising target often includes everyone in a firm’s target market. Marketers may, however, seize some opportunities to direct a campaign at only a portion of the target market.
    Advertisers analyze advertising targets to develop an information base for a campaign. Information that is commonly needed includes the location and geographic distribution of the target group; the distribution of age, income, race, sex, and education; and consumer attitudes regarding the purchase and use both of the advertiser’s products and of competing products. The exact kinds of information that an organization will find useful depend on the type of product being advertised, the characteristics of the advertising target, and the type and amount of competition.
    Generally, the more advertisers know about the advertising target, the more able they are to develop an effective advertising campaign. When the advertising target is not precisely identified and properly analyzed, the campaign has less chance of success.     Now let’s come to the second step: creating the advertising platform. By advertising platform, we mean the basic issues or selling points that an advertiser wishes to include in the advertising campaign. A marketer’s advertising platform should consist of issues that are important to consumers. One of the best ways to determine what those issues are is to survey consumers to learn what they consider most important in the selection and use of the product involved. The selling features must not only be important to consumers; if possible, they should also be features that competitive products do not have.
    A media plan sets forth the exact media to be used, specific magazines, television stations, newspapers, and so forth, and the dates and times that the advertisements will appear. To formulate a media plan, the planner selects the media for a campaign and draws up a time schedule for each medium. The media planner’s primary goal is to reach the largest number of persons in the advertising target per dollar spent on media.
    Media planners begin by making rather broad decisions; eventually, however, they must make very specific choices. A planner first must decide which kinds of media to use. The major kinds are radio, television, newspapers, magazines, direct mail, outdoor displays, and mass transit vehicles. After making the general media decision, the planner selects specific categories within each medium. A toothpaste marketer, for example, might decide to use television and magazines. The marketer then must consider whether to use children’s, women’s daytime, family, and/or late-night adult television programming and whether to use men’s, women’s, teen-agers’, children’s, and/or general audience magazines. Finally, the planner must select the specific media vehicles. Having chosen family television programs and women’s magazines, the toothpaste marketer, for instance, must select the exact television programs and stations as well as the specific women’s magazines to be used.
    Media planners take many factors into account as they prepare a media plan. They analyze the location and demographic characteristics of people in the advertising target, since the various media appeal to particular groups of people in particular locations. For example, there are radio stations especially for teenagers, magazines for men in the 18 to 34 age group, and television programs aimed at adults. Media planners also should consider the sizes and types of audiences reached by specific media. Several data services collect and periodically publish information about the circulation and audiences of various media.
    The cost of media is an important but troublesome consideration. Planners try to obtain the best coverage possible for each dollar spent. Yet there is no accurate way of comparing the cost and impact of a television commercial with the cost and impact of a newspaper advertisement.
    The content of the message sometimes affects the choice of media Print media can be used more effectively than broadcast media to present many issues or numerous details. If an advertiser wants to promote beautiful colors, patterns, or textures, then media that offer high-quality color reproduction magazines or television should be used instead of newspapers. For example, food can look extremely appetizing and delicious in a full-color magazine advertisement, but it might look far less so in black and white.
    The execution of an advertising campaign requires an extensive amount of planning and coordination. Regardless of whether an organization uses an advertising agency, a large number of people and firms are involved in the execution of a campaign. Production companies, research organizations, media firms, printers, and commercial artists are just a few examples of the types of people and organizations that contribute to a campaign.
    Implementation requires detailed schedules to ensure that various phases of the work are done on time. Advertising management personnel must evaluate the quality of the work and make improvements when necessary. In some instances, changes have to be made during the campaign to make it more effective in meeting campaign objectives.