Adam Ferrier's book, The Advertising Effect: How to Change Behavior, is perhaps one of the best in the field of advertising. It describes 10 effective advertising strategies, each of which is accompanied by scientific evidence.
Ferrier is a fan of actionable advertising that influences people through actions rather than feelings. Since, as is known, it is not effective in direct persuasion, the author offers 10 ways to influence consumer actions. The logic is simple: the best way to convince someone is to let them convince themselves. This happens quite naturally if you encourage people to act in accordance with the desired behavior model. Why? Because we tend to coordinate our feelings and actions to avoid the discomfort of cognitive dissonance. In other words, if you influence actions, you influence sensations.
At the same time, changing feelings is only a means to achieve the final goal, the final goal is changing behavior (buy, buy more, spend more). Effective advertising focuses on what really matters - changing behavior. Ferrier believes that advertising should change behavior; if this does not happen, advertising has no value.
Structure of effective advertising
The advertising effect is based on the structure of effective advertising, which consists of motivation to perform an action and the ease of performing this action. Accordingly, the more motivated the consumer is, and the simpler the action, the more inclined he is to perform it. Therefore, in order to influence behavior, you need to influence the motivation and ease of performing the action.
What influences motivation
Individual incentives: What is my interest? Will I benefit from this, and to what extent?
Social norms: What will others think of me if I take this action?
What affects simplicity?
Ability: Do I have the necessary resources, competencies and skills to perform this action?
Opportunity: Do external conditions allow this action to be performed?
Based on this scheme, you can create advertising taking into account behavioral psychology (motivation, ability and opportunity are the main elements of the intention to perform an action). Ferrier presented this model in four simple steps that will help you create:
- Clearly state your business goal
- Determine what specific behavioral change is required to achieve this goal
- Choose one of ten strategies that will allow you to change behavior
- Develop a creative idea based on the chosen model
Motivational Strategies
"Modeling": involves using inspiring figures such as celebrities or experts to motivate consumers to take action. For example, Nespresso campaign with George Clooney:
"Possession": inviting the public to be part of the campaign so that they feel like they own it (the ownership effect). For example, the Share a Coke campaign:
"Collectivism": creating or reinforcing social norms for correct or desired behavior. For example, the Dove For Real Beauty Evolution Sketches campaign:
Simplification Strategies
"Troubleshooting": advertising that partially or completely removes barriers (real, fictitious or perceived) to taking an action, making it as simple and effortless as possible. For example, Westpac's Impulse Saver campaign:
Ferrier’s model has proven its effectiveness by solving two problems in the advertising world at once:
- Firstly, it is focused on business, not ideas, in an industry still ruled by the tyranny of creative directors. Ferrier's model turns the agency hierarchy back on its head: the creative director is subordinate to the business goal and chosen strategy.
- Secondly, Ferrier’s model is focused on behavior, not ideas, which turns the attention-interest-desire-action approach on its head. Instead of using an idea to influence minds to create interest and persuade, Ferrier's model directly influences behavior, simplifying the decision-making process.
Advertising strategy is rule number 2 for copywriters in expanded form. Globally, developing an advertising strategy is the most important stage of an advertising campaign. The essence of the advertising strategy is to convey to the consumer a specific benefit, solution to a problem or other advantage of a material or psychological property that the purchase of a product provides.
There are only two reasons why people buy products:
The product helps solve any utilitarian problem or problem that may arise;
Possession of a product allows you to psychologically join something that a person likes, that he considers important to himself.
The development of a creative advertising strategy consists precisely in determining what utilitarian and/or psychologically significant meaning the advertisement should give to the product so that the buyer d showed preference for “our” product rather than some other product from the same group. In other words, the advertiser must clearly determine what meaning should be put into the advertising message, what real (or imaginary) property of the product the advertisement should convey, and what target audience it should be addressed to.
INFORMATION - STRATEGY - CREATIVITY
Information:
At this stage, it is necessary to collect all available information about the product, and among all its advantages, select one unique selling advantage - the USP.
Strategy:
Define the product concept. Here it is necessary to determine what the advertised product is.
Decide - A specific “target” person.
Decide what impression we are going to make on the consumer
Creation:
Figure out how to convey the concept to the consumer through advertising. That is, come up with an idea expressed in a slogan.
Come up with a situation. After the essence, strategy, concept, USP of the product is finally expressed in the slogan, then you can begin to develop a specific situation for this slogan, or advertising text tied to this slogan.
received the name of rationalistic advertising, the second - emotional, or projection advertising. These two types of strategies are used as different message channels. In the first case, verbal information (advertising text) dominates, and in the second - non-verbal information (advertising images, music, show effects, and so on).
Practical part
What does the developed advertising strategy include? The main sections that the developed advertising strategy includes: Burtsev M. Advertising strategy Far Eastern information and advertising portal DV-Reclama http://www.dv-reclama.ru/others/articles/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=7794 05/06/2005 1) Analytical description of the target audience
* demographic and psychographic description,
* lifestyle and behavior,
2) Image of the company/product/service
* description of the philosophy of the product/service;
* determination of the main positions that are distinctive for the target audience, and which will run as a “red thread” through all advertising;
* description of the graphic and text representation of the selected image. 3) Media planning
Ultimately, your company will have instructions for advertising your product/service, which will be followed by every department and every employee of your company. It is this unity that creates the very “mechanism in which all parts work harmoniously.
Romat in his textbook offers a general scheme for planning advertising activities (Appendix A), which examines the position of the advertising strategy in the overall marketing strategy. Just as a marketing strategy is implemented through the formation of a marketing mix (4P functions), and a communication strategy through a communication mixture, so an advertising strategy has its own structure. The main components of the advertising strategy are:
a) a clearly defined target audience;
g) a clear definition of responsible managers and implementers of advertising strategy activities;
budget allocated for its implementation. At each stage of planning, an assessment of the results of planning at earlier stages is carried out. If possible, plans are quickly adjusted or measures are developed to improve marketing work. Romat E.V. Advertising: Textbook, - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2003.- P. 427
Vasiliev and Polyakov identify the following stages of strategy development:
1) The target audience for which the advertisement is intended.
The target audience of an advertising message is the main and most important category for the advertiser of recipients of the advertising message. The vast majority of the target audience are potential buyers of the advertised product. The target audience is the object of advertising influence.
The following types of target audiences are distinguished.
The potential audience is the entire population living in the territory where it is technically possible to distribute advertising.
Contact audience is any group that shows real or potential interest in advertising or influences its ability to achieve its goals. It can either facilitate or counteract the efforts of advertising agencies to serve markets and is divided into three groups.
Beneficial audience is a group whose interest in advertising is very beneficial (sponsors, consultants, researchers, advertising business specialists).
The target audience is the one whose interest the advertising agency looks for, but does not always find.
An undesirable audience is a group whose interests the company tries not to take into account, but is forced to take them into account (consumer advertising boycott groups, competitors, government tax and other services).
The target audience can be in one of six states:
c) Favor. In the case of a negative disposition, the company will have a certain advertising strategy aimed at changing the consumer's attitude towards the company or its services.
d) Preference. The target group may feel good about the product, but not give it preference over others. In this case, the advertiser must try to shape consumer preference.
The concept of a product in advertising is understood as the form of its positioning, represented by a set of unique advantages of the product from the point of view of consumer benefits and in accordance with the advertiser’s marketing strategy. It reveals to the consumer and advertising producer the distinctive advantages of the advertised product and the mechanism of its perception through advertising media. Consideration of the concept of a product in advertising is necessary to develop a strategy for managing consumer behavior through highlighting in advertising certain properties that are significant for the consumer. A correctly chosen advertising concept for a product provides its competitive advantage over analogues in the product category. Based on it, the advertising developer will be able to reproduce the shopping atmosphere in which the advertised product will be located and model the motives of consumer behavior. In addition, the product concept serves as the basis for the brief provided by marketers to the agency for the development of advertising.
The perception of the advertising image of a product by the consumer occurs at the individual level. Not all advertised attributes are able to satisfy the desired perception of the product in the target segment. But attributes are capable of influencing consumer leaders who, based on their own experience and collected information, can influence a segment with a different perception through personal advertising with their introduced attributes. Knowledge of the views and characters of consumers allows us to select appropriate advertising arguments based on dubious attributes to eliminate existing mistrust and create a new attitude towards the product. Properly positioned “unique attributes” in advertising will provide a strategic advantage.
When developing an advertising concept, you should be guided by the principle from the general to the specific: “unique attributes” are a selected group of product attributes, on the basis of which creative positioning will be developed. The advertiser’s task is to find and highlight these unique items, express their significance, which will enhance the motivation for the purchase and provide greater incentive to complete it. The most important function of advertising is to create a growing gap between the price of a product and the subjective value that consumers attribute to it through the consumption of advertising.
Currently, there are many concepts of product advertising, the main ones of which are the following types:
a) the concept of creativity in presenting product properties in advertising;
b) concept of brand image;
d) multi-brand concept for a group of products;
e) multiregional concept;
f) quasi-brand concept;
g) cross concept;
h) the concept of consumer involvement in the desired properties of the product;
i) the concept of core competence.
It should be noted that the concepts do not negate each other; their application depends on the level of development of the specific product and advertising markets, the level of the advertiser’s marketing strategies, as well as the level of consumer development.
The strategy for choosing advertising media (or media strategy) involves answering two important questions: “Where?” and “How often?” It involves determining which media will be used, how often each will be used, what the ratio will be between the media used, when they will be used, what the campaign coverage pattern will be and the effective advertising frequency rate, etc.
Depending on the time cycle, there are different strategies for conducting an advertising campaign:
1) monotonous, in which certain volumes and portions of television advertising, radio advertisements, publications, billboards pass at certain intervals, aimed at maintaining sales and the image of the enterprise;
2) intensive, with an increase in the reach of the target audience and the frequency of advertising influences, to actively stimulate demand and sales, promote a new company, a new brand, or in situations of sharp intensification of competition.
The strategy of advertising appeals is a strategy for contacting the consumer, according to which it is necessary to answer the question, how to effectively speak with the consumer? The appeal strategy is considered based on the marketing goals and objectives of the advertiser. It must attract the attention of the target audience through an emotional argument, novelty, frequency of repetition, and more. The statements on which the appeal strategy is based should be simple and accessible, emphasizing the advantages and distinctive features of the product positioning in the market, which the advertiser would like to emphasize.
There are two main types of creative advertising strategies. They differ in what advertising is based on: the real utilitarian properties of the product or its psychologically significant properties. The first type is called rationalistic advertising, the second - emotional. These strategies use both different (i.e., dissimilar) message channels. In the first case, verbal information (advertising text) dominates, and in the second case, non-verbal information (advertising images, music, show effects, etc.) dominates. There is also a mixed type of advertising, combining features of both types. By the way, the most successful advertising is considered to be one in which feelings and emotions are tightly connected with information and arguments. Vasiliev G.A., Polyakov V.A. Fundamentals of advertising activities: Textbook. manual for universities. - M.: UNITY-DANA, 2004. - P. 166.
Ovcharenko, unlike Vasiliev and Polyakov, highlights such important stages as formulating goals and creating a budget for promotion:
1) determination of the target audience;
2) formulation of goals. Depending on the “depth” of the goal setting stage, in the presence of the factors necessary to ensure it, the following increases:
b) science-intensive, labor-intensive, time and cost of preparation and implementation of an advertising campaign;
c) the degree of strategic partnership and trust in the work between the advertiser, on the one hand, and the agency, on the other.
a) rationalistic strategy, which is based on the real utilitarian, practical properties of the product. Basic strategies of this type:
· generic strategy;
· advantage strategy;
· unique selling proposition (USP);
· positioning strategy.
b) emotional (projection) strategy based on the imaginary properties of the product.
5) budget for promotion. This element of the advertising strategy involves “determining the total amount of funds allocated for advertising purposes and their distribution, that is, an item-by-item indication of how and in what volume they will be used. In particular, advertising specialists must determine the estimated cost of copying and reproducing advertising materials, their effectiveness for the advertising campaign as a whole, identify competitive organizations and services that will carry out this type of activity, characterize the required level of technology, and prepare appropriate orders.
Ivan Makarov suggests the following stages of developing an advertising strategy: Makarov I. How to develop an advertising strategy? Directory of advertising companies, goods and services MediaPilot Online http://www.mpilot.ru/analitics-view-2042.html 07/30/2008
b) market analysis. It is worth determining exactly what market volume the company currently occupies, what market volume it would like to occupy after the advertising campaign, what shares the competitors occupy and who the competitors are, what territory the market is located in and where activities will be carried out to attract customers and, most importantly, who will be the consumer of the promoted brand;
c) assessing opportunities to increase market share;
d) media planning;
f) after the budget is clear, you can plan more accurately the structure of advertising costs, promotion time, creativity, designs, layouts, videos.
g) Placement and monitoring.
h) Analysis of consumer reaction.
Krylov believes that strategy refers to the goal to which it serves, like a plan to the final result. A strategy is always subordinate to a set goal, distant in time, determines the path to achieve it and is a guide to current and planned actions. The structure of any strategy, in general, can be reflected as follows: Advertising strategy: setting the task and assessing effectiveness / A. Krylov, O. Zuenkova // Advertising technologies. - 2003. - No. 8. - P. 2-6.
The current situation and its analysis, determination of the current situation and past aspects, strengths and weaknesses, the situation in which you operate from the point of view of opportunities and threats; own resources (to achieve the goal), i.e. this part answers the question: where are we now, who are we?
Goals where we want to end up based on resources, the current situation and its changes, i.e. this part answers the question: where do we want to be, who do we want to be?
Actually, the strategy is how we can achieve the goal, move from the current situation to a new position, the answer to the question: how do we get there?
Control: comparison of plan and actual situation: measuring, tracking, making changes, i.e. this part answers the question: what have we achieved and how, who have we become?
Subsequently, the strategy itself turns into tactics, which offer private means of achieving the goal (what, where, when, how, how much); the tools used, their costs, sequence of actions, interactions of tools, and the like. According to Vesnin, a strategic plan should describe the main means that you use in your attack on the market. Just as not every battle requires the use of the full force of an army, not every company needs to use every possible means of advertising. In order to choose the right weapons for the upcoming battle, it is necessary to take into account the following parameters: Vesnin V. R. Advertising campaign strategy / V. R. Vesnin // Encyclopedia of Marketing
The target audience. The more clearly the target is indicated, the easier it will be to hit. It is necessary to identify such tactical and technical characteristics of the target audience as gender, age, income level, lifestyle, values, and criteria for choosing a product.
Product characteristics. Different products have different life cycles, seasonal demand peaks, and purchasing decision mechanisms. respectively. Completely different product characteristics will be important to you, and completely different factors will motivate you to choose one brand or another.
Goals and objectives. It is always worth clearly understanding what problem you are currently solving - whether you want to increase sales during a seasonal decline or create a company image in the eyes of the consumer that will work for you regardless of random or seasonal market fluctuations.
Ways and means:
Mass media: newspapers, radio, television. Mass media traditionally allow you to reach a fairly wide audience and convey your message to thousands of listeners, viewers and readers. In addition to the fact that the chosen medium should cover your target audience, it is necessary to take into account the specifics of the perception of information through different media.
Outdoor advertising media. The undoubted advantage of “outdoor” is that a person perceives it regardless of his desire, simply moving around the city. Outdoor advertising allows you to reach those audiences who “read nothing”, “listen to nothing” and switch the TV during advertising breaks.
1. Cheap contact. The cost of one consumer contact with your information is several times lower than when using any other means of advertising.
2. Opportunity to reach a federal audience.
3. The ability to influence an audience interested in your product.
4. The ability to provide any amount of information in any way that is interesting to you.
Special events: various events dedicated to any events, both citywide and corporate. A well-organized and correctly positioned event can strengthen consumer loyalty and create a positive impression of the brand, giving it emotional significance in the eyes of consumers. Events can be open or closed - for example, a party or presentation for corporate clients will help better convey your new offer and strengthen relationships with clients and partners.
Under the term "advertising campaign" refers to a set of interrelated advertising activities covering a certain period of time and aimed at achieving a specific marketing goal within the framework of the advertiser’s marketing strategy. This complex is developed in accordance with the marketing program and is aimed at solving the manufacturer’s strategic or tactical problems.
The campaign must be targeted
The campaign should target a wide audience
The campaign must have a time frame
The campaign must include an organized set of communication actions
1. Breadth of audience coverage (international, national, regional, local);
3. Main goals (introducing, persuasive, reminding);
4. Differentiation to potential consumers;
5. Focus on the audience (consumers; sellers; competitors; counterparties; external business environment);
6. Intensity of impact (even, increasing, descending);
7. Use of information dissemination channels (single-channel and multi-channel).
Each advertising campaign goes through three main stages: preparatory, culminating and final. At the first, preparatory stage, advertising campaign planning, which includes the following stages: situational analysis, determination of the goals of the advertising campaign, determination of the advertising strategy, budget formation, selection of advertising means and advertising media, development of advertising messages. Implementation of an advertising campaign composes the content of the second, culminating stage of the advertising campaign; assessment of its effectiveness– third, final.
When developing an advertising campaign plan, it is necessary to determine: target;strategy; tactics. Planning takes into account the situation surrounding the product on the market and predetermines advertising costs, which, on the one hand, are dictated by the optimal set of types and means of advertising distribution used, and on the other hand, by the volume of advertising. When planning advertising campaigns, it is taken into account that the success of market activity depends not only on successful advertising, but also on factors characterizing the product: its consumer properties, price and analogues on the market.
An important step in the process advertising campaign planning is a pre-plan (situational) analysis, since insufficient or incorrect information about various factors influencing the effectiveness of advertising activities can complicate the quality planning and implementation of advertising activities.
Situational analysis involves the collection of secondary information from internal and external sources (financial and accounting reports, statistical collections, periodicals, etc.). To obtain primary information, special research is carried out - marketing research of the advertising services market, as well as studying the advertising policies of competitors, which are carried out using survey and observation methods. Research of the local advertising services market allows businesses to: determine areas of activity to enhance their advertising efforts; choose the right set of different activities to achieve your goals; establish criteria for assessing the effectiveness of the company’s advertising and marketing actions, as well as predict the state of the advertising market in the future, in particular the direction of competitors’ advertising policies.
The actual planning of an advertising campaign begins with defining it goals. It must be consistent with the company's marketing and advertising strategy. The formulation of the goal should be specific and unambiguous, it is advisable to give it quantitative certainty (for example, achieve an awareness level of 25% of the target audience; increase sales by 15%, etc.). Goal setting is carried out jointly by the advertiser and the advertising agency. The tool for collaboration is a document called a brief.
Brief (English brief) is a brief technical specification, a guide to action, necessary for professionals - creators, account managers, media planners - to create media and creative strategies, conduct research, develop advertising materials, etc.
There are several types of briefs:
creative;
media brief for the development of media strategies;
assignment to develop a brand promotion strategy;
design/production assignment;
assignment to conduct marketing and media research;
brief for promotional events.
The brief specifies the main parameters of the future advertising campaign. The structure of the brief includes the following sections:
1.
General information about the organization
2.
Product/service information
3.
Product sales channels.
4.
The target audience
5.
Information about competitors
7.
Marketing goals (long-term, short-term) and advertising campaign goals. We can highlight the main, most frequently pursued goals of an advertising campaign:
introduction of new goods and services to the market;
stimulating the sale of goods or increasing the volume of sales of services;
formation of a certain level of knowledge about the product (service) among consumers;
creating a favorable image of the enterprise (company) and product;
switching demand from one product (service) to another;
increase and acceleration of trade turnover;
reminding consumers about the availability of some product in the retail chain, etc.
Advertising campaign - this is the result of joint coordinated actions of the advertiser, as the customer of the advertising campaign, the advertising agency, as the creator, organizer and coordinator of the campaign, and the means of advertising distribution, as the channel that brings the advertising message to the consumer. Having determined the goals and desired parameters of a future advertising campaign, the advertiser passes the brief to its organizers and in the future only participates in coordinating the advertising strategy, partially controlling the advertising campaign. Development of an advertising strategy; formation of cost estimates (budget) for the campaign; drawing up a detailed detailed plan for the main activities of the advertising campaign, indicating the timing of their implementation, the schedule for the use of advertising media; the development of advertising messages and the production of advertising media, the purchase of space and time in the media, the practical implementation of advertising campaign activities and the determination of its effectiveness are carried out by an advertising agency.
be feasible , i.e. the goals set in it must be achievable based on the current situation, available resources and a certain time;
interactive , should depend on goals and strategies that are higher in relation to it, and determine goals and strategies that are lower in relation to it, i.e. implement your part of achieving the main goal;
cyclical , i.e. it must be constantly adjusted and supplemented as the results of its implementation are obtained and the current situation changes, as well as higher-level goals and strategies.
Analysis of the current situation, setting goals and objectives for marketing and advertising activities;
Development of an advertising campaign strategy;
Conducting an advertising campaign;
Assessing the effectiveness of advertising communications and adjusting goals...
Developing an advertising strategy involves determining the following elements, its components structure: a) target audience; b) product concept; c) the concept of advertising appeal; d) advertising communication channels.
Thus, advertising strategy can be defined as a strategy for the optimal form, content, time and route of delivering an advertising message to a specific audience, which is part of the implementation of a communication marketing strategy. The goal of an advertising strategy is to achieve a certain communication effect among the audience in contact with the advertising message and encourage it to target behavior.
1. When determining the target audience, its regional, socio-demographic, psychographic and behavioral characteristics are studied.
2. Development of the concept of the advertised product or service determines the niche in the market that the proposed product can occupy. The search for a niche is carried out as follows: first, various characteristics of the advertised product are identified, then the identified characteristics are compared with the characteristics of competitors' products.
When filling out the table, it is necessary to establish quantitative values of the listed characteristics of the advertised product and competitors' products in points. The last group of columns indicates deviations for each of the products R1,..., RN from the values of the base product R0 for which the advertising campaign is planned. A competitive advantage is identified in the area in which the advertiser has the largest positive values for the specified deviations. These characteristics should be given the greatest attention when developing an advertising campaign, since they are the difference between the advertised product.
3. Developing the concept of an advertising campaign involves forming it creative idea and style.“Advertising strategy” and “advertising idea” are two closely related concepts. The development of an advertising strategy is to determine what utilitarian and/or psychologically significant meaning advertising should give to a given product so that a potential buyer would give it preference over other competing brands in the market. An advertising idea sets an artistic way of implementing a strategy. Thus, the advertising strategy sets the informational essence of the advertising message, and the advertising idea puts it in an attractive form. Stylistics determines whether a given advertising campaign will be based on an emotional impact on a potential consumer or use rational argumentation.
rationalistic strategies based on the real utilitarian properties of the product;
emotional and projection strategies based on psychologically significant properties of the product.
In the first case, verbal information (advertising text) dominates, and in the second, non-verbal information (advertising images, show effects, general style decisions, etc.) dominates.
To strategies rationalist type relate:
1. Generic strategy – a straightforward statement about a product or the benefits of using it, without any explicit or implicit comparison with competitors.
The most suitable conditions for using this strategy is a monopoly or unconditional dominance of the advertised brand in the market in a certain product category. This strategy can also be effective when entering a market where the proposed product category is new.
2. Advantage strategy – it is based on the assertion of the superiority of the company’s product or trade offer compared to competitors (improved quality, more convenient packaging, lower price, etc.). It is believed that this strategy is most effective when market development has recently begun or is expanding, when competitors’ advertising is generic or absent altogether.
3. Unique selling proposition (USP) - this concept is based on the statement that an effective advertising strategy must satisfy three basic conditions:
Each advertisement must make an offer to the consumer: buy this particular product and get this specific benefit;
the offer must be unique;
the offer must be strong enough to attract new consumers.
R. Reeves distinguishes between true USPs - when advertising claims are based on a unique consumer characteristic of the product itself, and false ones - when a message about the uniqueness of the product is constructed through purely linguistic means, although its consumer properties are not unique. As a result of a series of experiments, he made an important conclusion that true and false USPs are almost identical in terms of impact, and are superior to other advertising statements, since they are better remembered and have greater propaganda power. The USP strategy is considered the most effective among rationalistic type strategies.
4. Positioning strategy . Brand positioning – This is the management of consumer opinion regarding the place of a particular brand among many different brands of a given or related product group. R. Batra, J. Myers and D. Aaker define a brand position as a set of associations that a consumer associates with it. They may cover physical attributes, lifestyle, usage situations, brand image, and stores where it is sold. There are the following techniques positioning.
1.
Use of product characteristics or consumer benefits.
2.
Positioning by price and quality.
3.
Positioning by use or application.
4.
Positioning by consumer.
5.
Positioning by corporate reputation.
In a narrower sense positioning is a strategy that can be successfully applied in conditions high market saturation with goods of one category. The positioning strategy now exists in two main versions: “ attack on the leader" and "search for an unoccupied position."
To strategies projection type relate:
1. Brand image strategy . Brand image is a strategy designed to psychologically differentiate people. When used, the product becomes a symbol of a certain psychological type of person; advertising symbolically assigns to a particular brand a certain style of behavior, manner of holding oneself and dressing, type of interior or natural environment, etc.
2. Resonance strategy, or strategy of empathy. Advertising seeks to awaken the consumer’s personal experience, to update his value system in order to endow the product with a psychologically significant meaning. This strategy is based on the theory of empathy, or compassion, whose proponents believe that only advertising can be effective, the creators of which conditionally put themselves in the consumer’s place and speak to different recipients of the advertising message in the language of their own needs or insufficiently conscious desires. In this case, purchasing a product turns into a way of becoming familiar with phenomena, events, and people that are subjectively important to a person.
3. Affective strategy . Using this strategy, advertisers strive, with the help of humor, unexpected twists in the advertising plot, and the ambiguity of words and images, to evoke a state of emotional involvement in the consumer and transfer the pleasant feelings associated with the perception of advertising to the product itself. Unlike the previous two types of advertising strategies, this advertising does not attach socially and psychologically significant value to the product and does not encourage the consumer to buy any intangible quality along with the product. As a rule, such advertising simply entertains the consumer and, by transferring favorable impressions from the advertisement to the product, makes its consumption more emotionally intense. Examples of this type of advertising include video advertising for the TV-Park magazine, the Twix and My Family brands.
The strategy of an advertising campaign depends not only on its goal and advertising idea, but also on the company’s ability to finance the advertising campaign. The theoretical basis for the decision-making mechanism on the size of the advertising budget is analysis of marginal economic indicators. Its essence can be formulated as follows: the company should continue to spend additional funds on advertising a brand (or on advertising within a limited geographic market, on advertising using a specific advertising medium) until the amount of these costs begins to exceed the amount of additional revenues the receipt of which is due to these costs.
1. Determination of the total amount of funds allocated for advertising.
The most important factors , defining amount of advertising costs , are:
specifics and stage of the life cycle of the advertised product;
sales volume and market geography;
financial capabilities of the organization;
the role of advertising in the advertiser's marketing strategy;
the level of competition in the market and the amount of advertising costs of the main competitors;
involvement of company managers in advertising activities;
the costs of various alternatives (for example, the price of television advertising compared to radio and magazine ads);
changes in advertising prices in distribution media;
level of differentiation of this product group;
the popularity of the company itself and other factors.
Let's look at some budgeting methods advertising campaign:
1. Cash calculation method. Many companies budget for advertising a certain amount that they can afford to spend. This method of determining the advertising budget completely ignores the impact of advertising on sales. As a result, the size of the budget remains uncertain from year to year, which makes it difficult to plan long-term advertising activities.
2. Calculation method "as a percentage of sales"– advertising costs are calculated as a certain percentage of either sales (current or expected), or the selling price of the product, or gross profit. This method is easy to use and can be improved by varying the percentages depending on various factors. The disadvantages of this method are that when forming an advertising budget, the need to advertise a specific product and a specific sales territory are not taken into account; the budget size does not fully take into account the financial capabilities of the advertiser; brand profitability is ignored because all attention is paid to overall sales.
3.
Competitive parity method implies the formation of an advertising campaign budget at the level of competitors’ costs.
4.
Calculation method “based on goals and objectives.” This method consists of looking at each task of an advertising campaign and determining the costs required to complete it. It requires that the advertising budget be based on:
precise formulation of advertising goals;
identifying the tasks to be solved to achieve the goals;
cost estimates for solving these problems;
accurately determining the audience for which this advertisement is intended;
choice of advertising style, nature (intensive or extensive) of the advertising campaign;
determining the nature and direction of advertising activities (a campaign to launch a product on the market; to increase the prestige of a company; to maintain the achieved sales volume, etc.);
assessing the means (information and advertising) that can convey this advertising message to the target audience;
calculating the cost of funds provided for the effective achievement of intended goals.
The sum of all these costs allows us to determine the volume of budget allocations for advertising.
5. Empirical method. The amount of spending on an advertising campaign is determined experimentally - a series of tests are carried out in different markets with different advertising budgets and the optimal amount of investment in advertising is determined.
Main advertising budget items depending on the functional purpose are: 1) Administrative expenses– wages of advertising service workers, overhead costs, etc.; 2) expenses for acquisition of advertising space– purchasing space on newspaper pages and pages, magazines, airtime on television and radio, space at special stands, space for posting leaflets and placing various advertising media on transport, etc.; 3) material costs for production of advertising media: videos, posters, other means of print advertising, outdoor advertising media, etc.; 4) fees advertising agencies; 5) other advertising costs (for the purchase of information databases, postage, transport, etc.)
1.
deciding on the breadth of coverage, frequency of repetition and strength of advertising impact;
2.
selection of specific types of advertising media;
4.
deciding on the schedule for using funds;
5.
drawing up a media plan.
A specialist planning the use of advertising media must know the breadth, frequency and impact of each of these media. For this purpose, media analysis is carried out according to the following criteria:
degree of coverage (the possible number of recipients to whom the advertising message can be conveyed);
availability of the media (whether the advertising company will be able to use this channel at any necessary time, and if not, how much the resulting limitation will reduce the effectiveness of advertising);
cost (total costs for one publication/transmission of an advertising message, discounts for multiple repetitions, cost of one advertising contact, taking into account the circulation or the number of viewers, listeners);
controllability (the ability to transmit an advertising message through this channel to the target group to which the impact should be directed);
credibility (the extent to which this means of advertising distribution is respected by potential and existing buyers);
serviceability (can we count on mass media employees to do some of the work to prepare an advertising message or is it necessary to provide an advertising message in an absolutely ready-made form);
targeting of impact (the ability of media carriers to specifically influence a specific target audience).
There are certain criteria for choosing media:
Media characteristics – cost of placement, speed of audience accumulation, reach potential and impact targeting
Advertising tasks
Campaign duration
Geography of the campaign
Legislation .
After choosing the means of distributing advertising information, it is necessary to decide how much advertising space (radio television, space in the press and on outdoor advertising media) needs to be purchased and in what period of time the resulting opportunities should be used, i.e. make a decision regarding advertising schedule. Currently, the most commonly used types of charts are:
sequential – Advertising runs once a week for 52 weeks or once a month for 12 months.
seasonal – advertising media are used most intensively during peak seasonal sales;
pulse feed – Media are used periodically, at regular intervals, regardless of the time of year;
uneven impulses - advertising is placed at irregular intervals in an attempt to disrupt traditional consumer demand cycles;
jerk – used to start a campaign strong;
directional impulse – This schedule is designed to support a manufacturer's special products so that purchases of that product during this promotional schedule will increase significantly compared to other periods.
Pulse delivery is the primary method for all but the simplest schedules, and the degree of continuity or periodicity is only one aspect of the strategy. Thus, when drawing up an actual schedule, it is necessary to carefully consider the strategic aspect of the advertising plan so that the schedule realistically reflects the originally intended goals.
The result of preparing an advertising campaign is drawing up media plan – a specific schedule for advertising of any type for a specific period of time, indicating prices, release dates, formats, addresses or duration of advertising, equipped with some additional statistical indicators. A final cost estimate is also prepared. In this case, it is necessary to compare the resulting amount of expenses with the amount allocated by the advertiser for the advertising campaign.
Advertising message can be defined as an element of advertising communication that is a direct carrier of the informational, emotional and pragmatic impact exerted by the communicator on the recipient. This message has a specific form (textual, visual, symbolic, etc.) and reaches the addressee using a specific communication channel.
The most important characteristic process of developing advertising messages is creative character, creativity(from the English creative - creative, creative). There are creative types:
1. Designer(aimed at creating a visual image);
2. Copywriting(text, for example “Vote or lose!”);
3. Mixed(containing elements of the first two types).
Creating an advertising message is a complex and multifaceted process, which, in addition to the creative component, includes elements of scientific research, logical analysis, and complex interpersonal relationships (customer and advertiser, creative workers and managers, employees of various departments of an advertising agency, etc.).
The following can be distinguished stages of the creative advertising process :
1. Orientation– problem definition;
2. Preparation– collection of relevant information;
3. Analysis– classification of collected material;
4. Formation of an idea– collection of various ideas;
5. Incubation– waiting, during which insight comes;
6. Synthesis – solution development;
7. Grade– consideration of received ideas.
It would be wrong to reduce the entire process of developing an advertising message only to his creative side. Creative workers of advertising agencies (creators, copywriters, designers, artists, etc.) must create not only a small piece of advertising art, How many business offer target audience to buy something that would be difficult for the recipient to refuse. In this regard, it is important to take into account the marketing goals of the communicator in the process of developing an advertising message (including the expected economic effect of the advertising being developed, his wishes regarding production time, the budget of the advertising campaign, etc., etc.). The content and form of the advertising message, as well as the channels for its distribution, depend to a certain extent on the characteristics of its target audience.
In the process of developing advertising messages, technologies such as TRIZ (the theory of inventive problem solving), “mythdesign”(formation of symbolic value and myths about the product), neurolinguistic programming (NLP). NLP is based on the idea that human experience consists of sights, sounds and sensations. Depending on which type of perception predominates, people are divided into types: visual, auditory, kinesthetic. Effective communication involves dialogue with the recipient in his “language”. Moreover, the very concept of “communication” in this technology is understood much more broadly than the set of words that are pronounced. Thus, according to research, 55% of a person’s impact on an interlocutor is determined by the language of his body movements: postures, gestures, eye contacts; 38% is determined by the tone of his voice, and only 7% by the content of what he is talking about. The practical application of NLP is also associated with the double action of the word - emotional-figurative and rational-logical. This allows, through manipulation with words, to form in a person a positive or negative attitude towards something that he himself does not realize.
The style of communication is also determined by the goals of the advertising campaign, the type of advertising medium, the characteristics of the advertised product and, of course, the target audience. Here are some options style solutions:
Message O specific event(categorized advertising).
Creation atmosphere of mystery and intrigue(teaser advertisement).
Creation fantasy, exotic, romantic setting.
Consultation with a specialist.
Accenting lifestyle.
Compositions on historical themes that play with loyalty to tradition.
Creation a certain mood subsequently becoming a pleasant association of the advertised product.
Musical. This technique is often used in radio advertising.
Animation Techniques(For example, anthropomorphism: goods take on the characteristics of people).
Focus on professional experience.
Hyperbole illustration.
Interesting story.
Confessional story. A buyer's monologue, frankly telling about complex problems and the exceptional properties of the advertised product, allowing them to be resolved (or avoided).
When developing an advertising message, it is important to consider psychological patterns of message perception recipients - associations, which can arise during the process of decoding a message; perception of color and shape; perception of images, text, etc.
The desire of some advertisers to make the impact of advertising effective by any means has led to the fact that recently the problem has become increasingly urgent psychological safety of advertising. Moreover, certain advertising messages pose a danger not only to moral health, but also to the mental health of others. In some of the most extreme cases, the consequences of exposure to advertising can become such mental pathologies as psychophysiological maladaptation and neurosis
Once decisions have been made regarding the content and form of the advertising message, it is necessary to pay attention to developing its optimal structures or compositions . It may include the following parts:
A slogan is one of the main means of attracting the attention and interest of the audience, especially if there are no illustrations or colors. Its main tasks are: involvement(the ability of a slogan to evoke a rational positive attitude towards the advertised product) and memorability(the ability to easily remember and reproduce from memory).
There are six main types of slogans: news; question; narration; team; "solutions 1-2-3"; “what, how, why.” The main requirements for a slogan are its brevity and the promise of meeting the needs of recipients.
IN title contains the essence and main argument of the advertising message. The importance of the headline is also due to the fact that approximately 80% of readers skim only the headlines, without bothering to read the main advertising text.
Headings can be combined into two large groups - direct and indirect. Headings direct action informative and appealing to the target audience. Indirect Headings – These are provocative, ambiguous headlines, their main task is to intrigue and lure the reader.
Initiation – part of the appeal that reveals the slogan and precedes the information block. In this part, it is effective to indicate the problem that the product is aimed at solving.
Information block (main text) bears the main burden of motivating the recipient and providing him with the necessary information.
Background information contain the advertiser’s address, communication channels with him, and conditions for making a purchase.
The call can end echo phrase , repeating verbatim or in meaning the slogan (main motive) of the message. Its use is especially effective if the circulation is large enough in volume
Related information.
Enterprise advertising strategies
Strategy in a general sense refers to the overall planning of activities that covers a long period of time. The main objective of the strategy is to effectively use available resources to achieve the goal.
An advertising strategy is an element of an enterprise's overall strategy, showing how it should use available resources to increase sales and profitability in the long term.
The strategy creates general directions of development that should help improve the efficiency of the enterprise;
The difference between strategic planning and operational management decision-making is that in developing a strategy, as a rule, there is less reliable information;
The strategy may change depending on the emergence of new information;
Strategic planning differs from operational management in that it is difficult to find the digital usefulness of decisions made, which requires adjustments to the assessment system based on a combination of digital characteristics (for example, costs in currency terms) and high-quality assessments.
Analysis of market conditions;
Assessment of the current state of the enterprise;
Analysis of competitors and assessment of the competitiveness of the enterprise;
Market segmentation and consumer analysis;
Analysis of strategic alternatives and choice of advertising strategy;
Let's look at each of the stages in more detail.
Market analysis includes:
Establishing market boundaries;
Calculation of market capacity;
Determination of the current market share of the enterprise;
Assessment of the level of competition;
Determining market development trends.
The main tool for market analysis is advertising research.
When assessing the current state of the enterprise, the following is analyzed:
Economic activity of the enterprise: financial results, cost structure, availability of resources;
Production capabilities: technological capabilities, enterprise potential;
Marketing activities: effectiveness of marketing costs, systems for collecting and analyzing information, distribution channels used.
In addition, most enterprises use portfolio analysis methods, such as ABC analysis, BCG matrix, ICC matrix, GE/McKinsey matrix, SWOT analysis and others.
Competitor analysis includes:
Identification of the company's competitors;
Assessing the market share of competitors;
Determining the goals of competitors;
Determining competitors' strategies;
Assessing the strengths and weaknesses of competitors;
Analysis of possible reactions of competitors to changes in the enterprise strategy;
Identifying the main competitors of the enterprise and determining strategic actions in relation to them.
Determining an enterprise's competitors should involve identifying not only direct, but also indirect competitors. The following levels of competition are distinguished:
Competition in the market sector is the narrowest circle of competitors. In this case, the enterprise focuses its attention on competitors who offer their products, similar to the enterprise's goods, in the same market and at the same prices. The limitation of the advertising strategy to only this level makes the enterprise extremely vulnerable;
Competition in the industry. In this situation, competitors are considered to be both enterprises offering similar products in the same markets and analogue products (substitute products);
Competition for satisfying similar needs - enterprises offering goods that are able to satisfy the same needs as the product being offered are considered competitors. For example, producers of juices and mineral water can be considered competitors of sparkling water, since all of them are able to satisfy thirst;
General competition - competition for consumer funds. As the market develops, situations arise when certain industries cease to exist. An example is video cassettes, which gradually ceased to be used with the advent of other, more advanced storage media.
When analyzing competition, it is necessary to find a certain balance between the importance of such analysis and the amount of information required. Identification and analysis of a large range of competitors requires the same amount of information, huge financial and time costs, which makes the analysis ineffective from an economic point of view.
An important stage in developing an advertising strategy is setting goals, during which the desired future state of the enterprise and its position in the market are formulated. This becomes the goal of the advertising strategy. The main tasks of this stage are:
Identification of problems to be solved;
Determining the need to solve problems;
Definition of the hierarchy of goals.
The goals of any advertising strategy must be related to the main goals of the enterprise and its mission. They must be built in the form of a hierarchy: the achievement of lower-level goals must be followed by the achievement of higher-level goals. Defining goals is an important step in any planning, including developing an advertising strategy.
Market segmentation is the division of consumers into groups that are similar in certain characteristics;
Determining the time and method of influencing selected segments.
Market segmentation is a process of market structuring, which is based on the heterogeneity of future buyers and their consumer behavior. Market segmentation is an important precondition for implementing differentiated marketing.
Buyers may differ from each other according to various characteristics: preferences, needs, financial capabilities, habits, etc. Based on the division of buyers into groups according to certain characteristics, an enterprise can determine what kind of product this or that group needs, and what sales promotion means should be used.
Since each person's needs are unique, each consumer can already be considered a separate market sector, but from an economic point of view it is not practical to isolate too small groups of consumers in the market, since this will lead to a significant increase in marketing costs. Instead, the enterprise must identify relatively large groups of consumers who differ from each other in their requirements for the product and in their response to advertising messages. For example, a business might divide customers into groups based on their income level, age, or both. The more characteristics that underlie segmentation, the higher the number of allocated groups will be, and the size of each segment will decrease. It is important in this process to determine the balance between all the characteristics that form the basis for segmentation and segment sizes.
After segmenting the market, it is necessary to analyze each selected segment in order to determine their market potential and make a choice in favor of some of them. To do this, the enterprise needs to determine the optimal number of segments and the requirements for them.
Assessment and forecast of resource intensity and profitability of future goods of the enterprise;
Forecast of competitiveness of enterprise goods;
Forecasting sales volumes and establishing market prices for goods;
Forecast of revenue and profit;
Selection of means and time intervals of control.
One of the important features of an advertising strategy is the need to consider each specific advertisement included in it. An advertising strategy should be based on one main theme. Thus, all advertising is designed to constantly remind consumers about the product or enterprise. With this, the main goal of any advertising campaign is achieved - gaining or maintaining market share.
Today, the term “unique selling proposition” (USP) is actively used in practice, the meaning of which is that with the help of advertising, a specific offer is made to a potential consumer: “Buy this product and you will get such and such a benefit.” For a LLP to work, two conditions must be met:
Correct positioning of the product is also important in the advertising strategy. A consumer, having seen or heard an advertisement for a new product, finds a place in his mind among other similar products. In this case, the product may be among the necessary ones, or, on the contrary, unnecessary for him. In such situations, the effectiveness of the advertising strategy will depend on the following factors:
The correctness of the enterprise’s determination of the place of the product in the perception of the potential consumer;
An alternative in the advertising strategy of an enterprise can be the choice of types of advertising. Advertising can be of two types: argumentative or emotional. Argumentative advertising provides the consumer with information about the product by presenting substantiated conclusions as to why he should purchase this product. The basis of such advertising is the understanding of advertising as the art of selling a product using words.
Today, another type of advertising is gaining more and more popularity - emotional. Emotional advertising is an effective means of influencing mainly the youth audience. The main tools of this advertising are artistic means and effects. Emotional advertising is based on the fact that most products are similar to each other, and, accordingly, the consumer’s choice depends on the feelings they have for a particular brand. These feelings rarely become the result of rational reasoning alone.
Today, most large enterprises are revising their advertising strategies, constantly changing the artistic means of their implementation, as well as the main theme and idea. Often, the basis of an advertising strategy is the task of changing negative opinions about a brand. For example, it took Japanese enterprises after World War II about 30 years to prove to the world that their products were of high quality, which they certainly succeeded in doing. Through effective advertising strategies, Japanese manufacturers have communicated information about their products to consumers around the world.
