Which Groups Do Each Form of Advertising Target?

Source: Wikimedia

The economic principle I’m exploring is “People generally respond to incentives in particular ways.” 

My research question to help me study the economic principle is “In what situations do advertisements in different forms of media have the most power?” 

The article published in marketingcareeredu.org titled “Marketing Mediums” demonstrates this economic principle by showing that different media forms, like in-print, radio, and TV have different effects on different populations.

First, we will address the different populations and audiences that are most affected by print advertisements. In-print ads include media like newspapers, magazines, and billboards. As one may expect, this form of advertising is on the decline, most likely as a result of the rise of online networking and technology. “Many groups of consumers including older, more tradition bound consumers continue to receive their daily news in a printed, hard copy format, but there is no doubt that the trend is for printed papers to reach fewer consumers,” The author explains. As more and more people are switching over to technology, some newspapers and magazines have followed suit, and begun to post their content online as well as in print. But nevertheless, print advertisement will continue to reach the older, traditional populations. However, one form of print advertising is not on the decline. “Billboard marketing has not seen the reduction in effectiveness that other print mediums have, primarily due to their limited marketing function of creating marketing impressions on drivers. This form of marketing has been effective for some types of brand awareness and local event promotion, which should continue in spite of the rising popularity of online marketing platforms,” the author says. So in the future, we will likely see a dropoff of all in print material, except perhaps billboards, interestingly enough.

Second, we must address the form of advertising that is arguably the most popular in this day and age: TV. Television advertising is the most popular, but the most tedious form of advertising. The author states that “Television remains the most powerful form of marketing despite the advent of the internet, with most Americans spending more than four hours a day viewing TV programs,” so there's no doubt that TV ads are reaching a good majority of the public. While TV ads stretch across a broad span of Americans, the author explains that “[TV] is one of the most expensive marketing platforms and requires considerable preparation in researching the peak times for reaching the target consumer.” It is difficult, one can imagine, with so many different groups watching TV, to create an ad that reaches all of them. But nevertheless, it maintains its popularity despite the rise of the Internet.

Third, and lastly, we will discuss how radio ads work. The author argues that this form of advertising is the most targeted and the most specialized, although not to one or two specific groups. The beauty of the radio advertising, the author explains, is that each station can target their advertisements to the exact population or group that listens to that station/genre of music. “Because most radio stations are limited to a particular genre of music like pop, classical, urban or country, their listeners often possess similar characteristics. In combination with accurate marketing research, a radio marketing campaign can communicate a promotional message to a target segment with a high degree of success,” they explain. So the stations you listen to cater ads directly to you and others like you. Cool, huh?

In my next blog post I will research the question: What are some of the most famous and successful advertising campaigns, and why were they successful?