PBL 10 (15.4.)

PROBLEM

Learning objectives

1. What is the process of creating a message?

• How do advertising agencies turn their ideas into a clear message?

According to bhavesads.com, you have to be able to absorb and digest a lot of different kind of information. You must also be able to relate to your customers.

The actual process starts with briefing in which the customer tells the agency what he or she wishes from the advertisement. After that you need to translate the communication concept into an idea and a communicable form.

Things like imagination and originality need to be integrated with psychology and behavior patterns. This should then be expressed through, e.g. designs or layouts. You should also consider that what you say is as important as how you say it.  

• What factors do you need to think of when creating a message?

According to Kate McFarlin, there are four factors that come up in every effective advertising campaign. These are common ground, fulfilling a need, offering a solution and clearing benefits.

In practice common ground means that the companies build trust as the customers usually have a perception that companies don't have their interest at heart. Fulfilling a need means that you need to make the customer think he or she needs to product that you are selling. You should also create the problem in consumer's minds and then offer a solution to customers' problems. Finally you should show the direct benefit of acquiring the product.

According to David Frey, there are five steps to a winning marketing message. These steps are:

1. Identify your target market
2. Identify the problems that your target market experiences
3. Present your solution to your market's problem
4. Present the results you've produced for other people in the same situation
5. Explain what makes you different from competitors

Frey says that the biggest mistake that companies make is that they communicate "what-we-do" instead of "what's-in-it-for-me."

2. How to make the message appealing?

• How to get through the "clutter" of advertising?

According to the article "Why you need a unique advertising message" differentiation is the key. They raise a point as each customer is unique, why should your company's advertising be similar to your competitor. You also need to have proper positioning. Making a personal connect with your customers is also important. Being creative also helps.

3. Examples, how do the key findings reflect on these examples?

• How to see the success of your message?

According to AllBusiness Editors the way you can measure the effectiveness of your campaign through monitoring sales, new customers, requests for information, phone inquiries, retail store traffic, website traffic or click-through rates.

In addition to that you can count your retail traffic by counting the people who enter your store. You should always compare sales before, during and after the campaign. Track phone orders and compare traffic on your website before and after the ad campaign. 

Sources:

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/effective-advertising-messages-10751.html

http://www.businessknowhow.com/marketing/mktgformula.htm

http://www.bhavesads.com/advertisement/creating-advertisements-page2.php

http://www.marketing91.com/unique-advertising-message/

PBL 9 (8.4.)

PROBLEM
How to benefit from social media?

Learning objectives

1. Social media channels

• How can we define social media and social media channel?

According to Tuten and Solomon (2013) social media "are the online means of communication, conveyance, collaboration and cultivation among interconnected and interdependent networks of people, communities and organizations enhances by technological capabilities and mobility."

According to Oxford dictionaries it is "websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking."

• What social media channels, platforms and tools do we have?

According to Tuten and Solomon (2013) there are media vehicles such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr and Instagram. 

Source: http://www.blackballonline.com/wordpress/wp-content/themes/defaultwide/images/Social-Media-Landscape.jpg

• What is important for selection?

According to Jenny Frances (2014) Ii is important to know your client. Some attributes that you should know are age, gender, income and buying habits.

1. Your budget

2. How much time do you have to invest in social media? Will you outsource it or do it in-house?

3. Quality over quantity

4. Have a clear social media strategy

5. Stay focused

6. Keep calm

2. Social media strategies

According to Tuten and Solomon (2013) when making a social media plan, you should ask the following questions:

1. What are the campaign goals and/or communication tasks?

2. How is the brand positioned? What is unique and special about its position in the marketplace?

3. Who is the target audience?

4. Is there another group of people who can persuade the target audience to follow them?

5. What are the existing creative assets? How can the brand's creative foster a social experience?

6. How can we integrate with other branded media being used by the organization, and how long do we have to execute?

7. What experiences are possible given target market needs and motives, the available channels and the creative assets? How can we design these experiences to maximize device portability and access?

8. What content will be needed?

9. How will experience engagement be extended and shared throughout the social channels?

According to Tuten and Solomon you can for example build your brand reputation and image, get more customers and involve them and build positive brand attributes which definitely makes it useful to get involved in social media.

Source: https://techknowtools.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/sm-strategy-image.jpg

3. Measurement of social media

According to Tuten and Solomon you can measure how effective messages sent through social media are. These can be measured by measuring reach, frequency, relative pull, clickthroughs, sales conversions and viewthroughs. 

Sources:

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/social-media

http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/how-do-you-choose-right-social-media-platform-your-business

Tuten, T.L, Solomon M.R. Social Media Marketing. 2013. Pearson Education.