Communication Plan Advertising

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HOW TO CREATE AN ADVERTISING /COMMUNICATIONS P LAN

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Whether a marketer employs a professional advertisingagency to handle its advertising campaign or chooses to

undertake all advertising tasks on its own, a successfulcampaign requires a number of important decisions including:Setting the Advertising ObjectiveSetting the Advertising BudgetCreating a MessageSelecting Media for Message DeliveryEvaluating Campaign Results

For major consumer products companies that spend largesums to promote their products each of these decisions will beintensely evaluated.On the other hand, smaller companies with limited budgets

may be forced to focus what little money they have on onlyone key decision, such as selecting media, and give lessattention to other areas. In either case, knowledge of alladvertising campaign decisions is important and should bewell understood by all marketers.

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A strategic plan is comprehensive, covering everylikely advertising issue over the course of one ormore years.You can cut this strategic plan to a size that fits yourbudget and needs.

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THE THREE MAIN CATEGORIES OF AN ADVERTISING / COMMUNICATIONS PLAN ARE TYPICALLY:

1) What do we want to accomplish? Our objectives orgoals.

2) How will we reach those goals? What will we do, andwhat will it cost, to achieve our objectives.

3) How do we measure results? How do we determinewhether we have accomplished our objectives?

Beyond the big three categories common to most advertisingplans, the exact nature and details can very significantlydepending on the purpose of the plan.

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THE ADVERTISING PLAN YOU PREPARE WILL LIKELY BE INFLUENCED BY

SEVERAL BIG ISSUES :> Advertising strategy

> The Brand

> Positioning

> Direct response offers

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http://www.adcracker.com/strategy/Advertising_Strategy.htmhttp://www.adcracker.com/brand/index.htmhttp://www.adcracker.com/position/index.htmhttp://www.adcracker.com/direct/index.htmhttp://www.adcracker.com/direct/index.htmhttp://www.adcracker.com/position/index.htmhttp://www.adcracker.com/brand/index.htmhttp://www.adcracker.com/strategy/Advertising_Strategy.htmhttp://www.adcracker.com/strategy/Advertising_Strategy.htm


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CATEGORIES TO CONSIDER IN YOUR ADVERTISING /C OMMUNICATIONS P LAN.

Background / Overview:What is the history of advertising for this company leading up to thisplan?What are the chief challenges for this plan or advertising campaign?What are the big opportunities in the market?

Duration of the plan / Review dates:Is this a launch campaign that will last three months?Or is this an annual plan, with a review and recommendation every

three months?Competitive analysis:

What are the competitors up to?Is there a trend towards price cutting?How do competitor products or services compare?

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ADVERTISING /COMMUNICATIONS GOAL : Your advertising goal can be as simple as one clearly definedobjective Or you may wish to broaden your list to includeseveral objectives, and include marketing objectives:Achieve 50% brand recognition with target audience asdefined by the ability to:

1) recognize our logo2) describe at least one of our products, and3) associate quality products when prompted for brandcharacteristics.

Achieve a 2% response rate and sales of xxxx per 100 directmail packages within 30 days of drop.Achieve a lifetime value of xxxx on each customer within fiveyears. 7


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Building product awareness, creating interest, providinginformation, stimulating demand and reinforcing thebrand.To achieve one or more of these objectives, advertising isused to send a message containing information aboutsome element of the marketers offerings. For example:

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Message About Product Details about the product playa prominent role in advertising for new and existingproducts. In fact, a very large percentage of product-oriented advertising includes some mention of featuresand benefits offered by the marketers product. Advertising can be used to inform customers of changesthat take place in existing products. For instance, if abeverage company has purchased the brands of anothercompany resulting in a brand name change, an

advertising message may stress New Name but SameGreat Taste.

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Message About Price Companies that regularlyengage in price adjustments, such as runningshort term sales (i.e., price markdown), can useadvertising to let the market know of pricereductions.Alternatively, advertising can be used toencourage customers to purchase now before ascheduled price increase takes place.

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Message About Other Promotions Advertisingoften works hand-in-hand with other promotionalmix items. For instance, special sales promotions,such as contests, may be announced within anadvertisement.Also, advertising can help salespeople gain accessto new accounts if the advertising precedes thesalespersons attempt to gain an appointment witha prospective buyer. eg: Aquaguard, BajajAllianz.This may be especially effective for a

company entering a new market where advertisingmay help reduce the uncertainty a buyer has abouta new company.

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Message About Distribution Within distributionchannels, advertising can help expand channeloptions for a marketer by making distributors awareof the marketers offerings. Also, advertising can beused to let customers know locations where aproduct can be purchased. Eg: Asian Paints ColourWorld

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RECOMMENDED ADVERTISING ACTIVITIES : This could be the longest, most detailed aspect of the plan.It might be divided by month.It could also be divided by target audience.

January:Launch TVC in top 10 urban markets to introduce our new brandcharacter.Email to current customers with upgrade offer, save 50%.Test direct mail with Order now or get more info offer to select list of

small business owners in Ahmedabad,Bangalore, Kolkatta,Delhi.Send video CD with 25% off promo letter to top 100 prospects in ourinternational contact database from Singapore, Shanghai andSydney.

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ON- DVERTISING , R FF - CREEN ACTIVITIES :

This category can include anything that will help achievegoals:

PR,Special events,Seminars,

Trade shows,Customer relations

Such activities as PR may or may not be within the scopeof your department, and therefore your plan. If they are,

then your plan becomes a Communications plan not anad plan.

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DESCRIPTION OF TARGET MARKETS : Business type, size and location.

Career stage. Think about the person who will receive yourmessage. Is this an owner who sees the big business picture andwould be more likely to consider a new software program to enhanceoverall company efficiency vs someone in purchasing or humanresources who is focused on their departments.Consumer location. Define, as best you can, where your targets live,work and play. Then put a little more effort into defining where youtarget live work and play.

Age.Gender.Marital status.

Income.Life stage. Are your prospects retired? Or is their a mix of say, 60%retirees 55 to 65, and 40% young urban professionals 30 to 45.Psychographics: How will the prospect approach the purchasedecision. Is it high or low involvement. Rational or emotional? Are

they looking for security? Or a thrill?

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P ERSUASIVE STRATEGY :

What is the main thing we going to say, to offer, toour target audience, to get them to think what wewant, to feel what we want, or do what we want?

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CREATIVE STRATEGY :

You dont want to dictate creative in the advertising plan.In fact, you may not want creative strategy included at all.But if you do, here are some of the things you would wantto cover:

How are we going to present the message? Through acelebrity? A brand character?Will the copy be friendly? Or dramatic?Should we use music to communicate emotion? If so, whatsongs?

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Research: Customer feedback:

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MEDIA PLAN :

Here are some choices:Direct Mail.Collateral: brochures, single sheet flyers, in-store take-onedisplays and brochures, posters.Broadcast: Radio, TV spots or infomercials.

Video on tape or CD / DVD.Print: magazines, newspaper, specialty publications, inserts.Outdoor: billboards.Internet Marketing : Web site optimization, pay per click search

engine listings, affiliate or associate relationships, paid bannerplacements, email.Digital communications: digital video on Web, multimedia CD.

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MEDIA S TRATEGY :

The simple answer to media strategy is to identify your targetaudience then find the best media, at the best time, to reachthem.For many advertisers the options will be obvious. If not,consider one of the large media buying services. MindShare,Carat, Zenith etc.Keep in mind that you will get the best return on youradvertising by getting your message in front of people duringthe decision making and buying cycle.That also means it costs more to buy customers during off

seasons or economic downturns.Divide your budget by 12 months if people buy all year long.Spend more to launch new products or compete for a largershare of a season cake.

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BUDGET :

Some budgeting methods:Task method of budgeting: spend what it takes to do the job, and do itright.Annual allocation. Start with a base, which could be anywhere from1,000 to 100 million, and increase it by x% each year.

Percent of sales. Aggressive marketers, especially in consumermarkets, can spend 20 to 30 % of sales on advertising andmarketing. Sometimes even more.What is Affordable Many smaller companies find spending of anykind to be constraining. In this situation, advertising may be just oneof several tightly allocated spending areas and, thus, the level spenton advertising may vary over time. For these companies, advertisingmay only occur when extra funds are available.

Best Guess Companies entering new markets often lackknowledge of how much advertising is needed to achieve theirobjectives. In cases where the market is not well understood,marketers may rely on their best judgment (i.e., executivesexperience) of what the advertising budget should be.

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EVALUATION :

How will you track sales?How will you link sales to advertising?Who, in your company or with the client, will do that?

Direct response and Internet advertising is easy to track.Branding focused campaigns may not be easy to link to sales.Have to coordinate with a research company if you want to dothat.

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Documents

Communication Plan Advertising