For broadcast advertising, it may mean writing dialogue and composing music,
hiring actors and recording voices, filming in a studio or on location.
Throughout all three of these stages, research plays an active role. Market
research provides the information on which the strategy is based. Copy research
may test the relative strength of several ideas on small groups of consumers or
larger national samples. Focus groups may uncover communications problems in
various headlines, photographs, actors, or musical compositions along the way.
Research remains active after the advertisement has been executed. Often a
finished print ad or broadcast commercial is tested before it appears in print
or on the air, and it is not unusual to track the effect of advertising in the
marketplace during the course of a campaign. The objective of any advertisement
is to convince people that it is in their best interests to take an action the
advertiser is recommending.
The action may be to purchase a product, go to a
showroom to try the product, use a service, vote for a political candidate, make
a contribution, or even to join the Army. Like any personal salesperson, the
advertisement tries to persuade. Advertising companies are keeping the pulse on
contemporary culture, surging with new innovative marketing techniques that are
imputed through promotion. Currently, consumers “expectations need to be
exceeded for commercial success so that customers are delighted with the
outcome.” (Jobber 1998: 13) Companies take pride in developing advertising that
breaks through the media clutter and creates lasting impressions on potential
buyers minds. It is essential to be seen on TV, magazines, and other media in
order to show potential buyers that your product is worth investing in. Today,
media is so integrated into the society that it dominates the culture.
Therefore, media presence is crucial in influencing consumers. The worlds’
cultures are growing increasingly visual. People spend less time reading and
more time watching. Advertisers want to engage the viewer using highly
simplified concepts that are a fusion of visuals and words. They want their
ideas to communicate linguistically in seconds, yet stay imprinted on the mind
of the buyer. “Companies need to avoid the mistake of setting customer
expectations too high through exaggerated promotional claim since this can lead
to dissatisfaction if performance falls short of expectations”. (Jobber 1998:
12)
Finding out what the customer wants is one of the problems marketing
research tries to solve. Marketing research has been defined as trying to
analyze marketing problems scientifically. It studies people as buyers and
sellers, examining their habits, attitudes, preferences, dislikes, and
purchasing power. It often studies specific segments of a population, such as
teenagers, high-income groups, or senior citizens. Marketing research also
investigates distribution systems, pricing, promotion, product design,
packaging, brand names, and almost every aspect of the seller-buyer
relationship. Marketing research is divided into a number of sub areas.
Advertising research attempts to find out the effectiveness of advertising. It
also seeks to learn the best media for advertising specific products:
television, newspapers, radio, magazines, billboards, and others. Market
analysis tries to identify and measure markets for specific products and to
estimate sales potential. Markets may be differentiated by population groups or
by geography. Some types of clothing are more likely to sell in Florida and
California than in the northern Midwest. Some cosmetics will appeal more to
black customers than to white customers. Marketing research is an expensive
undertaking, and its costs are built into the prices of products. Almost every
company in the United States that manufactures a product, that provides a
service, or that sells products or services through retail outlets uses
advertising. Those that use it most are companies that must create a demand for
several products or services among many people residing in a large area. While
advertising brings the economies of mass selling to the manufacturer, it
produces benefits for the consumer as well. Some of those economies are passed
along to the purchaser so that the cost of a product sold primarily through
advertising is usually far less than one sold through personal salespeople.
Advertising brings people immediate news about products that have just come on
the market. Finally, advertising pays for the programs on commercial television
and radio and for about two thirds of the cost of publishing magazines and
newspapers. Consumer goods are those that are sold to final users, the
customers. These goods include food, clothing, automobiles, television sets,
appliances, and all those things people go to stores to purchase. To sell a
product or good successfully you must appeal to the consumer.
