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If you were head of marketing for company X & about to launch a new product, how would you distribute your resources between advertising channels?

Advertising channels include; Social media, online advertising, TV, billboards, radio and events.

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Question added by Salah Hamed , Web Video Producer , Android basha
Date Posted: 2013/09/18

In GENERAL, the category distribution mainly involves Online, Print, AVs, Outdoor and Influencers.

 

The expense distribution entirely depends on the product and the target audience and relevant grographies. So instead of assuming the imaginary product, let us work out which products work best with these channels.

 

Using your list:

 

Social Media: Social media is best if your target audience is social media centric (like young adults) or highly peer-review centric (like professionals) Important thing is your product should be an "engaging" product and not a commodity. In other words, it shoudl have a brand, a character and a human affinity. And channel should be well managed, in a disciplined and consistent way.

Expense wise, its one the cheapest with more bang for the buck. But social media can also destroy brands in hours, often irreparably. And is also an easy target for ambush marketing or competitor snides.

 

Online Advertising: Personally, I have never found online advertising useful i.e. putting up garish distrubing ads on webpages. It has certain demeaning quality to it, and is also very ineffective. Better way to do it is by using/ creating a good web presence using a range of influencers, events, contests, PRs, reviews, user-generated contents & reviews etc.

Best part is it can be applied to most products, if your product has a 'persona' and online target audience. [Few more points similar to Social media]

 

TV: TV is an excellent way to reach people but it is expensive and picking the right spots, geographies and viewer demographies is important. And it can be pretty ineffective too. TV however is very useful if you have a mass marketed product, almost generic in nature, and positioned for general public - either positively or negavtively. It is a good medium to set the expectations and consumer motivations. Important to know, TV does not close the sale. It almost never does for services. For Service industry, TV ads are more like an intro and image builder, and a sales weapon.

 

Billboards / Magazine:

IMO the best of the lot, permanent, attention catching with lots of eyeballs. The disadvantage is this is obviously very location centric and cannot be used in all instances or products. But if you have time and need to go wide market, this would be better option than TV or print.

Magazines are useful if you get your demographics right. Or if your selling to a niche segment or product portfolio.

 

Radio

Radio IMO is suited for only specific products, and I have not seen any great use of radio to create mass attention. Though cheaper, this will unfortunately always play second fiddle to other channels.

 

Events:

Definition of events is very varied and can be customised to suit any products. There is lot of loyalty attached to these events, though expensive in short term, is able to create a 'user community' over long run. This cannot be a mass marketing device, unless strategy explicitly wants so.

Advertising riding on the events are very profitable, but most of them translate into TV-expense. such sponsorships can be very helpful.

P Varma
by P Varma , Director - Business Development , Sanat Sankul Townships Pvt Limited

The product is not specified here. Let me consider that it is a FMCG Product. In that case I will have the following:

 

1. Social Media - It is not a great cost but can create good impact. So I will distribute around5% of budget here. In this5% I will plan some of the quiz etc with prize.

 

2. Oneline Marketing - There are many sites offering free services. However one can create his own website also. This is also not a great cost so I will allocate5% of budget.

 

3. Television - If it is country wide launch then the TV can create good impact. So I will allocate45% budget for this.

 

4. Billboards - It should be there is all big cities. I will allocate around10% in this segment.

 

5. Radio - Now the days people are listenting radio too much while travelling. So I will allocate15% of the budget for this.

 

6. Events - I will allocate10% on this activity. 

 

Balance10% will kept for contingency. 

amer jayyousi
by amer jayyousi , Business Development Consultant , freelance

i would agree with mr. varma,and mr.Brijesh Janardhanan on the approach.i feel they are really talking from a professional point of view.

 

Amarjeet Sharma
by Amarjeet Sharma , Chief Digital Officer , Karmasthal Healthtech P Ltd

I differ with @Brijesh Janardan and @P Varma.

Citing @Brijesh's comment on online media is probably a very bad experiance with an amateur digital marketer. And do let me tell you Online Media is currently the most growing sector in Marketing worldwide due to its cost effectiveness and more importantly  accountability. And @verma I would use more mone in Online/Mobile + Social for a FMCG brand

 

As for the question in hand :

According to recent studies Television is allocated40.2%, Newspapers is allocated18.9%, Internet is allocated18%, Magazines is allocated8.8%, Radio is allocated7%, Outdoor is allocated6.6% and Cinema is allocated0.6% of total adspend in2012 Globally

And if we see the change percentage from2011 vs2012 we can see that

Television grew from39.9 to40.2 i.e, Growth of0.75%Newspapers fell from20.3 to18.9 i.e, Decrease of-6.89%Internet grew from16.1 to18 i.e, Growth of11.8%Magazines fell from9.4 to8.8 i.e, Decrease of-6.38%Radio fell from7.1 to7 i.e, Decrease of-1.4%Outdoor fell from6.7 to6.6 i.e, Decrease of-1.49%Cinema grew from0.5 to0.6 i.e, Growth of20%

 

These are the statistics but if you ask me personally, for a typical FMCG Branding and Conversion exercise my advertising allocation :

  • Social media would be8%
  • Online/Mobile advertising would be15%
  • TV would be40%
  • Billboards would be10%
  • Radio would be7%
  • Events would be10%
  • Contingencies Fund would be10%

 

Refer : Zenith Optimedia Adspend by Media Forcast for2013 Report

alberto morales
by alberto morales , Marketing & Business Support Manager , SMH Industrial Services Co., Ltd.

To launch a new product...The goal is to generate massive awareness among users of target market. There is no established rule to follow in terms of allocating resources. Each and every channel has its own reach and limitation which should be considered before engaging them. Also your resources will dictate on you how far you can really go for your launch campaign. In all new product campaigns, budget has always been the constrain in achieving a marketing head's ideal product launch because no matter how extensive and expansive coverage we want it to have...we can only work on an allocated budget for it. The answer therefore lies on the product concept itself.All products are conceptualized with specific target audience in mind. Knowing their profile therefore allows you to select the appropriate ad media for the product. Allocation of resources per channel will depend on the cost per insertion or placement in relation to the desired exposure that you need to achieve the desired awareness level. Finally... you have to choose your media wisely. Not all of them may be good to launch your product.

Ehab Essawy
by Ehab Essawy , TVC Director & Producer , freelancer

First, you should make a propaganda campaign for the product by enough time before the descent of the product in the markets in newspapers and printings without disclosure of the product and the work of television advertising campaign when the descent of the product in the markets

Ahmed ElHaddad
by Ahmed ElHaddad , Marketing Director , AMRG

It depends on the product or service ,the target audiance and budget

Yogesh Murarka
by Yogesh Murarka , Marketing Consultant , Cyquent Technologies- Top 100 SME Company in Dubai

It all depends on who your target segment is and your product. If it is an FMCG product then the ideal mix would be through the Line Advertising. However, if it is specific to a selected audience, then Direct Marketing would  be the appropriate channel. Again the target segment and the product determnines the channel of communication to be used.

Nasir Shahbaz
by Nasir Shahbaz , Customer Sales Officer , Captain PQ Chemical Industries

For me Four steps are very important for launching your New Product.

1- Research Your Target Consumers. 

Before you begin planning your product launch, you need to understand your audience. Conduct through market research to gain valuable insights into who your targets customers are, what they want.

2- Delevop Your Product Messaging.

Your product messaging ans positioning will play huge roles who you present your new product to your target customers.

3- Plan your Product Launch Promotion Strategy.

 Start a blog, and create posts that educate readers about the product's features.

Submit guest posts to, or get featured in industry publications.

4- Plan your Post Launch Strategy.

Make sure your post-launch plan includes tactics to keep your customers and target audience engaged through social media, content marketing, and influencer marketing.

For me these are common types of markerting channel.

1-Direct Marketing.

This is very impactive type of marketing i will distribute 15% budget here.

2- Agents or Disrtributors.

This is also a good type of marketing i will distribute 10% here.

3- Social Media.

Social Media is very common use is these days but not much impactful i will distribute 5% here.

4- Online Marketing.

here are many sites offering free services. However one can create his own website also. This is also not a great cost so I will allocate5% of budget.

5- Events Management.

One of the bigger and affective type of marketing is event management i will give 12% of budget for this activity.

6- Billboards.

 It should be there is all big cities. I will allocate around10% in this segment.

 

 

 

Nouman Qureshi
by Nouman Qureshi , Brand Complaince Manager , Jamaica Blue Cafe's UAE

It depends on your budget and it depends on your target audience and product. if its a FMCG i would start with.

Social Media - Its a21th century advertisement platform where people from all around the globe have access to it i would make a strong social media strategy with a involvement of public my potential customers by organizing different kind interactive activities to show case my product and to make sure my potential customers should feel like a part of the game.  

 

Online marketing - It comes second in my marketing strategy and the reason is same people day by day people are increasing on online flat forms and its on of the most cost effective way of reaching thousands of people from around the world to show case my product.

 

Billboards - I personally believe that billboards are not for FMCG products if i may be doing advertisement for a car  then it would be easy and effective to put it on billboard for FMCG it a bit of over kill to show to the world but if my budget allow me yes indeed billboards would be on3rd platform in my marketing strategy

 

Events - Events are great for deep interaction with your possible customers but it depends on budget if you are marketing for a FMCG product then events i believe wont be that effective because of limitations of audience attendance. But for luxury item i believe events are more successful because when you talk about luxury item means it involve some good amount of money and to spend that money my customer need deep information and understand of the product which i can give it to them in events face to face interactions. 

Susan mahdy
by Susan mahdy , Brand Activation Manager , Johnson & johnson

we all know that above the line media is more expensive than social media. However, we also know that budgets have shifted to social media. but of course budget allocation depends heavily on the message and on the target audience I wish to reach. on, budget allocation will depend heavily on product, message, target audience.  so if I am launching new brand, I need to focus on brand awareness , positioning the brand where it belongs in the market and reach the right audience. I need to invest in Prime outdoor location where my target is, Radio to communicate the message to customers, Use social media(FB, Instagram) to engage with customers and to get their feedback about the new brand. The plan must be fully integrated to deliver the message and to have significant reach. I will also think about PR event where I will invite the media to get closer look at the brand and have media coverage.

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