To save advertising dollars, you should try one medium at a time. What works for one product or service may not work for the next. There are many different variables that can affect the results of an advertising campaign. You will have to test the effectiveness of your message in each medium to find the best vehicle for promoting your product.
Relative impact of different advertising media
• Newspapers are generally the cheapest way to reach a mass audience. However, newspapers carry many ads. It is easy for all but the largest display ads to get lost in the visual clutter. In any case, remember that newspapers are typically scanned by the reader. If an ad is seen at all, the headline will be glimpsed and the copy usually ignored.
• Magazines offer a slightly better opportunity to catch the reader's attention. Readers tend to read magazines more carefully than they do newspapers, and because magazine ads are placed fewer per page, the competition for the reader's eye is reduced. But magazine ads cost more than newspaper ads.
• Outdoor and transit advertisements are hard to avoid viewing. But, despite the high visibility factor, no one spends any great amount of time reading them. They are appropriate for very simple messages.
• Radio offers a dramatic improvement over print advertisements. The listener is captive to the message unless they switch stations or turn the radio off. The cost to reach the same amount of people that a print ad would reach, however, is significantly higher.
• Television offers the advertiser an opportunity to speak to a captive audience. Television viewers are even more apt to fully “tune into” an advertisement. The cost, though, of purchasing a television spot is even greater than that of radio.
• Direct mail has the highest impact of any medium. Your message reaches each recipient in a personalized way and at a moment they have chosen to consider your message. The cost of reaching an individual through direct mail can be greater than television, making it the most expensive advertising medium per person reached.
