Here goes

To create a successful radio ad you need more than just a radio salesperson writing the copy for your product or service. At http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/32057/how_to_write_an_effective_radio_commercial.html they let you know that if this is your approach then you are probably not getting very successful results for your advertising dollar. While most radio sales reps try to fill their ad with lists, phone numbers and hard to remember addresses or dialogue between actors, this is not what gets the consumers attention. To be effective a radio ad needs to be strong and uncomplicated, while delivering a repetitive message.The main thing is to keep the message as basic as possible, while stirring up emotions from the consumer as stated at http://www.radioproductionservices.com/copywriting.htm . This is what will bring the ad back to the consumers mind, sometimes months later. An effective ad will have the consumer using their imagination to create the images of the ad in his or her mind. This also ties in with the emotions. To end, you need to state what you need the consumer to do to respond to your suggestion whether it’s to buy a product or purchase a service.Too often a radio salesperson creates copy that has too much information or details and states too many prices for the consumer to remember. And too many ideas or themes in one commercial can be confusing also. It’s these commercials which have been written with bad copy that give radio advertising a bad reputation.But a clearly written copy that has been well thought of and laid out can sometimes make more of an impact than a television commercial. Radio also offers the perfect chance to reach specific audiences by being easily customized. Just remember, the key is to keep it short and simple.

What is a trademark? Many of us do not know what it means to have a trademark or a patent. At http://inventors.about.com/od/trademarks/a/Trademarks.htm they explain trademarks as any type of mark which can be registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office which protects words, names, symbols, sounds, or colors that distinguish goods and services. They can be renewed forever as long as they are being used in business. There are two primary types of trademarks that can be registered. These are Trademarks and Service marks. A trademark identifies goods sold or otherwise transported or distributed via interstate commerce. A Service mark is used by owners to identify services, or intangible activities, for pay or otherwise. There are also other types of marks which can be registered but there are other requirements for the registration of these.

Trademarks are believed to have been around since 5000 b.c.e. It’s believed that early humans used some form of mark to indicate their ownership of livestock and the practice moved up from there to indicating the creator of a product. For a historical time-line of trademarks go to: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/engin/trademark/timeline/tmindex.html .At http://www.infoplease.com/spot/trademarks1.html they state that Americans use countless products with brand names every day. This comes from the Middle Ages when the use of marks to show who made a specific product began. Bell makers were among the first only to be followed by other manufactures. In 1618 the first court case of actual trademark infringement between cloth makers occurred.In 1870 the Federal trademark legislation was passed and Averill Paints received the first modern trademark issued in the United States. Since then, the amount of trademarks have risen astronomically. At http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=tess&state=j49f18.1.1 they state that there are more than 4 million pending, registered and dead federal trademarks. That is astonishing to say the least.

Television may be a powerful media tool for advertising but it can also be detrimental. Especially to the younger viewers out there. At http://www.courierpress.com/news/2006/Dec/4/doctors-blame-tv-ads-for-childhood-problems/ they discuss how many of today’s adolescent problems may be attributed to television ads that are inappropriate. Problems such as childhood obesity, alcoholism, and sexual misbehavior have been linked to TV ads. The American Academy of Pediatrics wants commercials limited in amounts per hour, and making them less attractive to kids, such as fast food commercials and cartoon characters used in alcohol ads. And not only are television ads being considered bad for certain viewers, some people are wondering at the trend in television ads towards humor. An article at http://money.cnn.com/2007/03/21/commentary/mediabiz/index.htm believes that corporations may be wasting money on expensive advertising only to have the viewers remember the humorous part of the television ad but not the actual product being sold. Advertising on television may have lost it’s original purpose, which is to sell a product.An important thing to consider in creating a successful enjoyable ad seems to be a perfect mixture of entertaining and selling, and it needs to be relevant. If the ad is funny but not related to the product it’s selling then it’s not going to be a success. People will not remember the product after it is over.

Television has the ability to govern our lives and it does in many people’s cases. How many of us have programs that we schedule our lives around because we feel like we just can’t miss an episode, or in today’s technology we use TiVO or DVR that allows us to record it and watch it at a later time? In an article titled The Power of Television they discuss how Americans rely on television as a chief news source over newspapers, radio, and the Internet. Whenever anything major happens, we rush to the nearest television to see what is going on. Right now with the Presidential campaigns going on, we are watching the TV to see how the polls are going. And the power of TV is global, not just in our society.TV can be a good thing. When major disaster strikes anywhere in the world, news crews are immediately in action bringing us up to date on every aspect accessible. This brings help from all over the world in the form of donations of money, food, clothing, volunteers, and anything else that may be needed to help survive, rebuild, and replace in the face of diversity.TV can also teach us; not only children but adults also. Used in the right way the power of television can help society overcome many dilemmas that plague the world today. At Psychology Matters they show studies that have revealed the power of learning behaviors with children. They also believe that the power of TV used with social learning theories can also affect social problems such as AIDS, overpopulation, and discrimination, among others.

In this day and age of so many products out there to chose from, effective advertising is the surest way to get your product seen, recognized, and sold. But there are many variables that come into play when you set about putting an ad campaign together.

At http://www.allbusiness.com/3780355-1.html they discuss how to effectively advertise your product or service for best results. To be successful, an ad has to convince the prospective customer that your product or service is what they need while not becoming stagnant over time with the same message. Your message needs to change and grow with the times. It definitely needs to trigger an emotion in the consumer and work with marketing and sales promotion to really be efficient.

This website http://www.decisionanalyst.com/publ_art/adeffectiveness.dai  says that advertising has the poorest quality-assurance systems and turns out the most inconsistent product (ads and commercials) of any industry in the world. This is because there are many barriers that advertising agencies face. Unreliable feedback and limitations on sales data among them. But with copy testing , a clear strategy, and consumer feedback a successful promotion can be developed. And once an advertising agency learns what it takes to create a winning campaign it can improve profit margins and even change the course of the market.

When I go to my mail box and open it up to find, among the junk mail and obligatory bills, a sample product such as a razor, dryer sheets, or deodorant, I’m reminded of the power of advertising. This is one method of sales promotion which http://www.marketingteacher.com/Lessons/lesson_sales_promotion.htm describes as any initiative undertaken by an organization to promote an increase in sales, usage or trial of a product or service. These promotions can be quite varied and are often imaginative. Some examples of sales promotions are coupons, free samples as I’ve already stated, and sampling at super markets of foods and beverages, bonus points, discounts, free products and so on.

As stated at http://www.management-hub.com/marketing-sales-promotions.html , sales promotions are only part of the promotion process. They act as a link between the ad and personal promotion. It is a tool to increase the sales of a product. These sales promotions are not only directed at consumers but at retailers and sales crews in the hopes of increasing orders for their product.

At http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/encyclopedia/Res-Sec/Sales-Promotion.html they believe that unplanned purchases can be directly related to some form of sales promotion and I have to agree. I know that there have been many times I’ve accompanied my wife to the grocery store and sampled various foods, such as pizza, and then convinced her to purchase that very product. Totally unplanned before going to the store, but achieving the very outcome that the companies are setting out to accomplish. An effective move by the company. Wouldn’t you agree? Just think about how many people have fallen for this same type of sales promotion.

I never would have guessed it but magazine advertising is one of the most expensive media per prospect to use for marketing. In http://www.gaebler.com/Magazine-Advertising.htm they discuss some of the pros and cons of magazine advertising. Smaller companies with limited budgets can offset the higher expenses however, by purchasing smaller ads, such as a half-page or quarter-page. Although direct-mail and newsprint may be cheaper, you are limited on the quality and color. In a magazine the possibilities are endless. You can have a full-color, glossy picture with a more complex layout than a newsprint ad. With magazines there is such a large number and range of specialized publications that it increases the opportunity for advertisers to reach a narrower targeted audience. The visuals in magazines leave a stronger, sharper image which can leave a more memorable impression on the reader and magazines are often passed along to other readers when the initial person is through with it, so the impact keeps going. On the down side of magazine advertising, the audience growth hasn’t kept up with the increase in rates for advertising. There is also a growing concern with numerous advertisers over the clutter in magazines, with many made up of up to fifty percent advertisements. This minimizes time spent with any single ad. With long lead times in publication this minimizes the flexibility to react to the changing market, and to be very effective, several magazines must be used or supplemented with other media methods.Nonetheless, if we didn’t have advertisements in magazines then our publications would falter and die. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-magazine-advertising.htm tells us that revenue is generated from the selling of ad spaces. And with the right ad placed it may increase sales of the magazine. Because of the amount of money spent in magazine advertising some brands being advertised can stipulate where they want their ad placed and what content the magazine has. This leads to magazines being an enormously influential tool in today’s advertising world.

There are so many ways in which companies do research on product usage, product trends, what’s hot, and what’s not that I don’t really know where to begin. I started out thinking I was going to blog about the public attitude on survey research but we all pretty much know how the general public feels about that. The annoying phone calls that happen just when you’re sitting down to dinner, the written surveys that come in the mail, of which usually get thrown in the trash , and of course the people that stand in the mall waiting, like vultures about to pounce on a field mouse, while we pass through trying hard not to make eye contact, hoping we can slip on by them. No offense intended, I now realize they are just doing their job; and what a tough job it is.  Honestly, I had never put a lot of thought into how companies do their homework, so to speak, on what products people want and what helps them sell successfully; or even what products need to be developed. I found out that surveys, much as we all dislike them and try to avoid them, are very important and useful tools to us, as well as the companies that develop them and administer them. Little do we think about the fact that these surveys are actually a way for us to tell companies exactly what products we like or dislike, what products are important to us and which ones we would buy. These are our way of having our say.I read at http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/survtype.php that there are two ways in which you can be approached. There’s the questionnaire, and the interview. The questionnaire is usually a paper and pencil type survey that the respondent completes. The interview is usually completed by the interviewer after you have given your response. Surveys can be done by automated telephones using random dialing methods, computerized kiosks in public places, hotels will usually leave a survey on your in-room desk, even your waiter may hand you a survey with your check. Some repair services are even calling back after repairs are made to ask how your service was. The problem with surveys is that very little response is given to them. At http://www.wadsworth.com/psychology_d/templates/student_resources/workshops/res_methd/surveys_11.html I realized a few things that I hadn’t thought of before. This website takes you through the steps of building a survey and also gives you some key insights on aspects that you may need to consider. In face to face surveys you have a chance to build a rapport with the respondent but this can also bias the interview. Another aspect to think about is if there are any sensitive questions being asked, they may be reluctant to answer at all and if they do, may not answer truthfully. Written surveys are easy and cheap, however the response rate will be low and the illiterate can’t complete them. It can be the same with computer surveys, they are consistent and save on personnel costs but the computer illiterate or people scared of using a computer will not respond. And then there’s the telephone survey, it’s cheap, can be rapid to deliver, they can use a centralized location but again the interviewer can bias the respondents answers and also if the respondent has caller id, that can bias the answers given. Much as we may dislike them, I’ve come to realize that surveys are vital to our economy. A products progress can be monitored, products can be developed with our input on what we want and others that aren’t working out for us can be dropped for others to take it’s place. Surveys are also essential in our politics but that’s another story for another day. So who knows? Maybe now I will be more willing to complete surveys when approached.

Superbowl advertising at it’s best,

Puts great ideas to the test.

To be the one above it all,

And capture minds above the ball.

Must be funny, witty, and wise,

Not too long or short in size.

Filling time and filling space,

Takes big money in this race.

So if your product is the best,

Let’s put it to the ultimate test.

Contact Tim in Vargas’ class,

And do it soon because slots won’t last!

Internet advertising can be a tricky thing. I’m not really familiar with how Internet search engines work so I did some reading. And though I’m no expert, this is what I’ve learned. Apparently there are paid search engines and organic search engines. What are the differences? Well, paid search engines are where you are paying to have your website placed at the utmost possible position on the listing when certain keywords are typed in the search box. How high it’s placed is according to the highest bidder in most instances. And if managed correctly you can recoup this cost through the increased sales you bring in. And since you are paying for this service you have a greater flexibility in the keywords used for your site to be approached. http://www.bfarrell.com/ppc-vs-seo.shtml  This offers immediate results. The downfall on this, is it can create a bidding environment where companies that are operating on a limited advertising budget can be forced out of the market. Recent studies have shown however, that paid search engines are looked on as a nuisance by some searchers. Organic search engines can be a great tool if used correctly and can result in positive long-term results. Studies have shown that searchers are more likely to trust organic over paid results and six times more likely to click on the first few organic results over the paid results with searchers seeing them as non-biased. http://www.mediumblue.com/newsletters/organic-search.html  They are more cost effective, ranging from free to minimal, depending on if there are changes needing to be made to the website. Such changes could vary from focusing on key words for the products, services, and information making them more appealing. This results in more repeat visitors and customers. The downside of organic search optimization is it requires more time; time to construct the pages to attract the search engines, time to find the website, and time for search engines to trust your website. This could take up to 3 months. Other fall-backs are no guarantees can be made and they do usually require a contract. Some people question whether the paid search engines are ethical? I believe it’s a matter of opinion. If you look at it as a form of advertising, you must realize advertising isn’t free, so in order to get your product, or service out there to be seen and recognized you have to pay. On the other hand there’s the moral issue of whether it’s right to be forcing out the smaller businesses operating on diminutive budgets making them unable to compete with the larger businesses with substantial budgets. An effective advertising strategy would be to use both paid and organic search engines. That way you get your name out there and seen faster, then rely on the long term effects of the organic for repeat visitors and customers. But if you are unable to do this you have to look at what strategy would work best for you. Every situation is unique.