Tag: customer experience

Experiential Marketing is a strategy that engages consumers through memorable and immersive experiences, allowing them to interact with a brand in a tangible way. Unlike traditional marketing, which often focuses on conveying messages, experiential marketing creates opportunities for consumers to engage with a brand directly, fostering emotional connections. This approach can take various forms, including events, pop-up shops, interactive installations, and virtual experiences. By involving consumers in unique and meaningful interactions, brands can enhance brand awareness, loyalty, and advocacy, ultimately driving sales and creating lasting impressions in the minds of their target audience.

Strategy of Experiential Marketing:

• Define Your Objectives:

Clearly outline the goals of your experiential marketing campaign, such as increasing brand awareness, generating leads, or fostering customer loyalty. This will guide your strategy and help measure success.

• Understand Your Audience:

Research your target audience’s preferences, behaviors, and pain points. Tailor your experiences to resonate with their interests and create emotional connections.

• Create Immersive Experiences:

Design experiences that fully engage the senses and provide hands-on interaction with your product or service. This could include pop-up events, virtual reality experiences, or interactive installations.

• Leverage Storytelling:

Use storytelling to convey your brand message and create a narrative around the experience. A compelling story can make the experience more relatable and memorable.

• Utilize Multi-Channel Approaches:

Integrate various channels (social media, email, and in-person events) to promote and enhance your experiential marketing campaigns. This can help reach a broader audience and create buzz.

• Encourage Participation:

Make the experience interactive by encouraging participants to engage with the brand actively. This could involve contests, workshops, or hands-on demonstrations.

• Incorporate Technology:

Use technology to enhance the experience, such as augmented reality, mobile apps, or interactive displays. Technology can create more dynamic and engaging environments.

• Create Shareable Moments:

Design experiences that encourage participants to share on social media. Provide photo opportunities or branded hashtags to increase visibility and reach.

• Gather Feedback:

Collect participant feedback through surveys or social media interactions. This information can help improve future experiences and gauge the campaign’s effectiveness.

• Measure Results:

Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to track the success of your experiential marketing efforts. Metrics might include attendance numbers, social media engagement, and sales conversions.

• Foster Community Engagement:

Build a sense of community around your brand by involving local influencers, partnering with relevant organizations, or supporting charitable causes.

• Follow Up:

After the experience, maintain engagement with participants through follow-up emails, exclusive offers, or invitations to future events. This helps nurture relationships and convert participants into loyal customers.

Benefits of Experiential Marketing:

• Enhanced Brand Awareness:

Experiential marketing campaigns are designed to be immersive and memorable, making them more likely to be shared on social media. This organic sharing boosts brand visibility and awareness as participants showcase their experiences, reaching new audiences beyond the campaign’s original target.

• Emotional Connection:

By creating immersive experiences, brands can forge deeper emotional connections with consumers. When individuals engage with a brand in a memorable way, they are more likely to develop positive feelings towards it. These emotional connections can lead to long-term loyalty, as consumers associate the brand with the enjoyable experience they had.

• Increased Customer Engagement:

Experiential marketing encourages active participation rather than passive consumption. By involving consumers in the experience, brands foster engagement and create a two-way interaction. This engagement can lead to more meaningful conversations, as consumers feel valued and heard, strengthening their relationship with the brand.

• Improved Brand Recall:

Experiences that engage multiple senses tend to be more memorable than traditional advertising. When consumers participate in an experiential marketing campaign, they are more likely to remember the brand associated with the experience. This improved recall can influence future purchasing decisions, making it easier for consumers to choose that brand over competitors.

• Valuable Consumer Insights:

Experiential marketing provides brands with the opportunity to gather real-time feedback and insights from participants. By observing consumer interactions and collecting feedback, brands can better understand their audience’s preferences, behaviors, and pain points. This data can inform future marketing strategies and product development.

• Differentiation from Competitors:

In a crowded marketplace, experiential marketing helps brands stand out. Unique and innovative experiences set a brand apart from competitors, allowing it to establish a distinctive identity. This differentiation can attract attention and drive interest in the brand, making it more appealing to consumers.

• Increased Sales and Conversions:

Experiential marketing can lead to increased sales by providing consumers with firsthand experience of a product or service. When participants can see, touch, and try a product, they are more likely to make a purchase. This immediate engagement can drive conversions and boost overall sales.

• Cultivation of Brand Advocates:

Positive experiences can turn consumers into brand advocates who willingly share their experiences with friends and family. This word-of-mouth marketing is powerful, as people often trust recommendations from those they know over traditional advertisements. Engaged consumers are more likely to promote the brand on social media and within their networks, amplifying the campaign’s reach.

Challenges of Experiential Marketing:

• High Costs:

One of the most significant challenges of experiential marketing is the financial investment required. Creating immersive experiences often involves substantial costs for venues, materials, staffing, and logistics. Smaller brands or those with limited budgets may find it difficult to allocate sufficient resources, making it challenging to compete with larger companies that can invest more in their campaigns.

• Measuring ROI:

Evaluating the effectiveness of experiential marketing campaigns can be complex. Unlike traditional marketing methods with clear metrics, experiential marketing success is often subjective and harder to quantify. Marketers need to establish metrics for measuring return on investment (ROI), which can include tracking engagement, brand awareness, and ultimately sales. This complexity may hinder decision-making and future investment in experiential strategies.

• Logistical Challenges:

Organizing experiential marketing events involves coordinating various logistics, including venue selection, equipment setup, and staffing. Managing these elements can be time-consuming and challenging, especially for larger events. Any misstep in logistics can lead to a subpar experience for attendees, damaging the brand’s reputation and effectiveness of the campaign.

• Target Audience Identification:

Identifying and reaching the right target audience for experiential marketing campaigns is crucial. Brands must conduct thorough research to understand their audience’s preferences, behaviors, and interests. If the target audience is not correctly identified, the experience may fail to resonate, leading to poor engagement and lower overall effectiveness.

• Creating Unique Experiences:

As experiential marketing becomes more popular, consumers are increasingly expecting unique and innovative experiences. Standing out in a crowded market requires creativity and originality. Brands must continually develop fresh ideas to capture consumers’ attention, making it challenging to maintain a competitive edge.

• Short-lived Impact:

Experiential marketing campaigns often create immediate excitement, but their effects can be short-lived. The challenge lies in sustaining consumer engagement and interest after the experience has concluded. Brands must develop strategies to keep the momentum going, whether through follow-up communications, social media engagement, or loyalty programs.

• Cultural Sensitivity:

Experiential marketing campaigns that fail to consider cultural differences can lead to backlash and negative publicity. Brands must be culturally aware and sensitive to the diverse backgrounds of their target audience. A misstep in this area can alienate consumers and harm the brand’s reputation.

• Technology Integration:

Many experiential marketing campaigns now incorporate technology, such as virtual reality or augmented reality. While these innovations can enhance experiences, they also come with challenges. Brands must ensure that the technology functions smoothly and is user-friendly. Technical issues can detract from the experience and leave participants frustrated.

Influencer Marketing is a modern digital marketing strategy in which brands collaborate with individuals who have a strong online presence and a loyal follower base to promote products or services. These individuals, known as influencers, shape consumer opinions through their content on platforms like Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, X (Twitter), and TikTok. Influencer marketing is based on trust, authenticity, and social influence rather than direct advertising. It has become one of the most effective tools for reaching targeted audiences, especially in the era of social media-driven consumer behaviour.

Influencer marketing refers to a marketing approach where businesses use individuals with high social influence to promote products and services and influence the purchasing decisions of their followers.

Definition of Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is a strategy that involves collaboration between brands and influential individuals on digital platforms to create content that promotes products, increases brand awareness, and influences consumer behaviour.

Examples of Influencer Marketing

• A beauty brand collaborating with a makeup influencer on Instagram.
• A tech company promoting gadgets through YouTube reviewers.
• A fitness influencer endorsing health supplements.
• A travel influencer promoting tourism destinations.

Features of Influencer Marketing

• Social Media Based Strategy

Influencer marketing primarily operates through social media platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, X, and TikTok. These platforms allow influencers to reach large audiences instantly through posts, videos, reels, and live sessions. Social media provides interactive features like comments, likes, shares, and messaging, which increase engagement between influencers and followers. Brands use these platforms to promote products in a visually appealing and relatable manner. The digital nature of social media makes campaigns fast, scalable, and cost-effective. Therefore, social media based strategy is a key feature that enables influencer marketing to reach and influence modern digital consumers effectively.

• Trust and Authenticity

Trust and authenticity are central features of influencer marketing. Influencers build strong relationships with their followers by sharing genuine opinions, experiences, and lifestyle content. When influencers recommend a product, audiences perceive it as more trustworthy than traditional advertisements. Authentic content creates emotional connections and reduces skepticism among consumers. Brands benefit from this trust as it increases credibility and acceptance of their products. Influencers who maintain honesty and transparency are more effective in shaping consumer behaviour. Therefore, trust and authenticity make influencer marketing a powerful tool for influencing purchase decisions in a highly competitive digital environment.

• Targeted Audience Reach

Influencer marketing enables businesses to reach highly specific target audiences. Influencers often focus on particular niches such as fashion, fitness, technology, travel, or food. This allows brands to collaborate with influencers whose followers match their ideal customer profile. Targeted reach ensures that marketing messages are delivered to relevant consumers who are more likely to engage and purchase. It reduces wastage of advertising efforts and improves return on investment. By selecting appropriate influencers, businesses can effectively penetrate niche markets. Therefore, targeted audience reach is an important feature that enhances the efficiency of influencer marketing campaigns.

• Content-Driven Marketing

Influencer marketing is highly dependent on creative and engaging content. Influencers produce various forms of content such as videos, images, blogs, reviews, and live demonstrations to promote products. This content is designed to be entertaining, informative, and relatable, making it more appealing to audiences. Unlike traditional advertising, influencer content blends naturally into everyday social media usage. This increases user engagement and reduces resistance to promotional messages. High-quality storytelling and visual presentation enhance brand perception. Therefore, content-driven marketing is a key feature that makes influencer marketing more impactful and effective in influencing consumer behaviour.

• High Engagement Rate

Influencer marketing generates high levels of engagement compared to traditional advertising methods. Followers actively interact with influencer content through likes, comments, shares, and direct messages. This engagement creates a two-way communication channel between influencers and audiences. High engagement indicates strong audience interest and trust in the influencer’s recommendations. Brands benefit from increased visibility and customer interaction. Engaged audiences are more likely to remember and act on marketing messages. Therefore, high engagement rate is an important feature that enhances the effectiveness and reach of influencer marketing campaigns.

• Personalization of Marketing Messages

Influencer marketing allows brands to deliver personalized marketing messages through influencers. Since influencers understand their audience’s preferences and behaviour, they can tailor content to match their followers’ interests. This personalization makes promotional messages more relevant and appealing. Consumers feel that recommendations are made specifically for them, which increases trust and engagement. Personalized content also improves conversion rates and customer satisfaction. Therefore, personalization is a significant feature that helps influencer marketing connect more effectively with target audiences.

• Cost-Effectiveness

Influencer marketing is often more cost-effective than traditional advertising methods such as television or print media. Brands can choose influencers based on budget, ranging from nano influencers to celebrity endorsements. Micro and nano influencers, in particular, offer affordable yet highly engaging marketing opportunities. Businesses can achieve strong results without spending large advertising budgets. Additionally, influencer campaigns often provide better return on investment due to targeted reach and high engagement. Therefore, cost-effectiveness is an important feature that makes influencer marketing accessible to both small and large businesses.

• Measurable Performance

Influencer marketing campaigns can be measured using various digital analytics tools. Businesses can track metrics such as reach, impressions, engagement rate, clicks, conversions, and sales. These performance indicators help organizations evaluate the effectiveness of campaigns. Data-driven insights allow marketers to optimize strategies and improve future campaigns. Measurable performance ensures transparency and accountability in marketing efforts. It also helps brands identify successful influencers and content types. Therefore, measurability is a key feature that enhances the efficiency and strategic value of influencer marketing.

Types of Influencers

1. Mega Influencers

Mega influencers are top-level social media personalities with millions of followers across platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. They often include celebrities, actors, athletes, and public figures. Their massive reach helps brands gain global visibility quickly. However, engagement rates may be lower compared to smaller influencers because of their broad audience base. Mega influencers are usually expensive to collaborate with, making them suitable for large brands with high marketing budgets. They are effective for creating brand awareness and launching major campaigns. Therefore, mega influencers play a key role in large-scale influencer marketing strategies.

2. Macro Influencers

Macro influencers have a large following, typically ranging from hundreds of thousands to a few million followers. They are often well-known content creators, industry experts, or established social media personalities. Macro influencers provide a balance between reach and engagement, making them suitable for brands seeking wide exposure with relatively better interaction than mega influencers. They are active across multiple platforms and produce professional-quality content. Brands prefer them for product promotions, awareness campaigns, and niche marketing. Therefore, macro influencers are important for businesses aiming for strong visibility and audience engagement.

3. Micro Influencers

Micro influencers have a smaller but highly engaged audience, usually between 10,000 and 100,000 followers. They focus on specific niches such as fashion, fitness, travel, technology, or food. Their followers trust their opinions because of their authenticity and relatability. Micro influencers often generate higher engagement rates compared to larger influencers. They are cost-effective and ideal for targeted marketing campaigns. Brands use them to reach specific customer segments and build stronger relationships. Therefore, micro influencers are highly valuable for businesses seeking meaningful engagement and niche market penetration.

4. Nano Influencers

Nano influencers are individuals with a small follower base, usually below 10,000 followers. Despite their limited reach, they have strong personal connections with their audience. Their recommendations are often perceived as highly genuine and trustworthy. Nano influencers are ideal for local marketing and community-based campaigns. They are very cost-effective and sometimes collaborate with brands in exchange for free products or small payments. Their influence is powerful in small groups where trust plays a major role. Therefore, nano influencers are important for grassroots-level marketing and highly personalized engagement.

5. Celebrity Influencers

Celebrity influencers include famous personalities from entertainment, sports, and media industries. They have a strong public image and massive fan following both online and offline. Their endorsements create instant brand recognition and credibility. However, their promotions may feel less personal compared to smaller influencers. Collaborations with celebrities are usually expensive and used by large companies for high-impact campaigns. They are effective in building brand prestige and mass awareness. Therefore, celebrity influencers are important for premium branding and large-scale promotional strategies.

6. Industry Experts and Thought Leaders

Industry experts and thought leaders are professionals with deep knowledge and authority in specific fields such as finance, technology, healthcare, or education. Their influence is based on expertise rather than popularity. Audiences trust their opinions because they provide valuable insights and accurate information. Brands collaborate with them to build credibility and educate consumers about complex products or services. They are especially useful in B2B marketing and professional industries. Therefore, expert influencers play a crucial role in building trust and authority in influencer marketing.

Strategies for Effective Influencer Marketing

• Clear Campaign Objectives

A successful influencer marketing strategy begins with clear campaign objectives. Businesses must define what they want to achieve, such as brand awareness, lead generation, engagement, or sales. Clear goals help in selecting the right influencers, designing content, and measuring performance. Without defined objectives, campaigns may become unfocused and ineffective. Objectives also guide budget allocation and timeline planning. When goals are specific and measurable, businesses can evaluate success more accurately. Therefore, setting clear campaign objectives is the foundation of an effective influencer marketing strategy and ensures alignment between brand expectations and influencer activities.

• Choosing the Right Influencers

Selecting the right influencer is crucial for campaign success. Brands must consider factors such as audience demographics, engagement rate, content style, and niche relevance. An influencer whose followers match the brand’s target market is more likely to generate positive results. Authenticity and credibility also play an important role in selection. Micro and nano influencers may be more effective for niche targeting, while macro influencers are suitable for wider reach. Careful selection ensures better engagement and return on investment. Therefore, choosing the right influencer is a key strategy in effective influencer marketing.

• Building Long-Term Relationships

Instead of one-time collaborations, businesses should focus on building long-term relationships with influencers. Continuous partnerships help create stronger trust and authenticity in promotional content. When influencers repeatedly promote a brand, their audience develops familiarity and confidence in the product. Long-term collaborations also allow influencers to understand the brand better and create more meaningful content. This consistency improves brand recall and customer loyalty. Therefore, maintaining long-term relationships with influencers is an important strategy for achieving sustained success in influencer marketing campaigns.

• Focus on Authentic Content Creation

Authentic content is essential for influencer marketing effectiveness. Audiences trust influencers who share honest experiences rather than overly promotional messages. Brands should allow influencers creative freedom to present products in their own style. This makes content more relatable and engaging for followers. Authentic storytelling helps build emotional connections between consumers and brands. Overly scripted or forced promotions can reduce trust and engagement. Therefore, focusing on authenticity in content creation is a key strategy for increasing credibility and effectiveness in influencer marketing.

• Platform Selection Strategy

Different social media platforms attract different audiences and content styles. Instagram is ideal for visual content, YouTube for detailed reviews, TikTok for short videos, and LinkedIn for professional marketing. Businesses must choose platforms based on their target audience and campaign goals. Using the right platform improves reach and engagement. Multi-platform strategies can also be used for broader impact. Therefore, selecting the appropriate social media platforms is an important strategy for maximizing the effectiveness of influencer marketing campaigns.

• Performance Tracking and Analytics

Measuring campaign performance is essential for improving influencer marketing strategies. Businesses should track key performance indicators such as reach, impressions, engagement, clicks, conversions, and return on investment. Analytics tools help evaluate which influencers and content types perform best. This data allows businesses to refine future campaigns and make informed decisions. Continuous monitoring ensures accountability and transparency in marketing efforts. Therefore, performance tracking and analytics are crucial strategies for optimizing influencer marketing success.

• Budget Planning and Cost Management

Effective influencer marketing requires proper budget planning. Businesses must allocate funds based on influencer type, campaign scope, and expected outcomes. Mega and macro influencers are more expensive, while micro and nano influencers are cost-effective. Budget planning ensures efficient use of resources and prevents overspending. It also helps in balancing multiple influencer collaborations. Proper financial management increases return on investment and campaign sustainability. Therefore, budget planning is an important strategy for running successful influencer marketing campaigns.

• Compliance and Transparency

Maintaining transparency and ethical standards is essential in influencer marketing. Influencers must clearly disclose paid partnerships and sponsored content to maintain trust with audiences. Compliance with advertising guidelines and regulations helps avoid legal issues. Transparent communication builds credibility and protects brand reputation. Consumers are more likely to trust honest and clearly labeled promotions. Therefore, ensuring compliance and transparency is a critical strategy for maintaining integrity in influencer marketing campaigns.

Benefits of Influencer Marketing

• Increases Brand Awareness

Influencer marketing significantly increases brand awareness by exposing products and services to large and engaged audiences. Influencers already have established followers who trust their content, making it easier for brands to reach potential customers quickly. When influencers share posts, videos, or stories about a brand, it gains visibility across social media platforms. This helps new or lesser-known brands enter the market more effectively. Repeated exposure through influencers strengthens brand recall in consumers’ minds. Therefore, influencer marketing is a powerful tool for increasing brand awareness and making businesses more recognizable in competitive markets.

• Builds Consumer Trust

Influencer marketing helps build strong consumer trust because influencers are seen as relatable and authentic individuals. Followers often believe their recommendations more than traditional advertisements. When influencers share genuine experiences with a product, it creates credibility and reduces consumer skepticism. Trust is further strengthened when influencers maintain honesty and transparency in their promotions. This emotional connection encourages consumers to try recommended products. Over time, consistent positive endorsements improve brand reputation. Therefore, influencer marketing is highly effective in building trust between consumers and brands in today’s digital environment.

• Improves Audience Engagement

Influencer marketing improves audience engagement through interactive and creative content such as videos, reels, live sessions, and stories. Followers actively like, comment, and share influencer posts, increasing brand visibility. Engagement creates two-way communication between influencers and audiences, making marketing more dynamic and effective. High engagement rates also indicate strong interest and trust in the content being shared. This helps brands understand consumer reactions and preferences better. Therefore, influencer marketing is valuable for improving audience engagement and creating meaningful interactions between brands and consumers.

• Drives Higher Sales Conversions

Influencer marketing directly contributes to higher sales conversions by influencing purchasing decisions. When trusted influencers recommend a product, followers are more likely to buy it based on their suggestions. Influencers provide demonstrations, reviews, and real-life usage experiences that help consumers make informed decisions. Promotional codes, affiliate links, and special offers further encourage purchases. This combination of trust and convenience increases conversion rates significantly. Therefore, influencer marketing is an effective strategy for boosting sales and improving overall business revenue.

• Cost-Effective Marketing Strategy

Influencer marketing can be cost-effective compared to traditional advertising methods such as television, print media, or large digital ad campaigns. Businesses can choose influencers based on their budget, ranging from nano influencers to celebrities. Micro and nano influencers often provide high engagement at lower costs. This allows small and medium-sized businesses to compete effectively in the market. The return on investment is often higher due to targeted reach and better audience engagement. Therefore, influencer marketing is a cost-efficient way to promote products and services.

• Targeted Marketing Reach

Influencer marketing enables businesses to reach specific and relevant target audiences. Influencers usually focus on particular niches such as fashion, fitness, technology, travel, or food. This allows brands to collaborate with influencers whose followers match their ideal customer profile. Targeted reach ensures that marketing messages are delivered to people who are more likely to be interested in the product. This reduces wasted advertising efforts and improves efficiency. Therefore, influencer marketing provides highly targeted marketing opportunities that increase effectiveness and relevance.

• Enhances Brand Credibility

Influencer marketing enhances brand credibility by associating products with trusted and respected personalities. When influencers endorse a brand, it gains social proof, which increases consumer confidence. Credibility is especially important in competitive markets where customers compare multiple options before purchasing. Influencer recommendations act as validation for product quality and reliability. Over time, consistent influencer partnerships strengthen brand reputation. Therefore, influencer marketing plays an important role in improving brand credibility and consumer confidence.

• Provides Measurable Results

Influencer marketing allows businesses to measure campaign performance using digital analytics tools. Metrics such as reach, impressions, engagement, clicks, and conversions help evaluate effectiveness. Brands can identify which influencers and content types perform best. This data-driven approach improves future marketing strategies and decision-making. Measurable results also ensure transparency and accountability in campaigns. Therefore, influencer marketing provides valuable insights that help businesses optimize performance and achieve better outcomes.

Challenges of InfluencerMarketing

• Fake Followers and Engagement

One of the biggest challenges in influencer marketing is the presence of fake followers and artificial engagement. Some influencers use bots or paid services to increase follower counts, likes, and comments. This creates a misleading impression of popularity and reach. Brands may invest in such influencers expecting high performance but receive poor real-world results. Fake engagement reduces campaign effectiveness and wastes marketing budgets. It also damages trust between brands and audiences. Therefore, identifying genuine influencers and verifying audience authenticity is a major challenge in influencer marketing.

• Difficulty in Measuring ROI

Measuring return on investment (ROI) in influencer marketing is often complex. Unlike direct advertising, influencer campaigns involve multiple indirect factors such as brand awareness, engagement, and long-term influence on purchasing decisions. Tracking actual sales generated from influencer content can be difficult. Attribution across multiple platforms also adds complexity. Although analytics tools exist, they may not capture the full impact of campaigns. Therefore, evaluating the true financial effectiveness of influencer marketing remains a significant challenge for businesses.

• High Cost of Influencers

Popular influencers, especially mega and macro influencers, often charge very high fees for promotions. These costs can be unaffordable for small and medium-sized businesses. Even micro influencers may charge based on engagement rates and content quality. High costs increase marketing budgets and risk if campaigns do not perform well. Businesses must carefully balance cost and expected results. Therefore, the high cost of influencer partnerships is a major challenge in planning and executing effective influencer marketing campaigns.

• Lack of Content Control

In influencer marketing, brands often have limited control over how influencers present their products. Influencers create content in their own style to maintain authenticity with their audience. While this improves engagement, it may sometimes lead to inconsistent messaging or brand misrepresentation. If influencers communicate incorrect information or use inappropriate tone, it can negatively affect brand image. Therefore, lack of full control over content creation is a significant challenge in influencer marketing strategies.

• Risk of Negative Publicity

Influencers represent the brands they promote, so any negative actions or controversies involving them can harm brand reputation. If an influencer is involved in scandals, unethical behaviour, or public criticism, it may indirectly affect the associated brand. Even past actions of influencers can resurface and damage campaigns. Businesses face reputational risks when collaborating with individuals who may not maintain consistent public image. Therefore, managing reputation risk is an important challenge in influencer marketing.

• Short-Term Impact

Many influencer marketing campaigns generate short-term results rather than long-term impact. Once a promotional post is removed or loses visibility, its influence may decline quickly. Consumers may also forget campaigns after a short period. Without continuous collaboration, brand recall may weaken over time. Businesses often need repeated campaigns to maintain effectiveness, which increases costs. Therefore, limited long-term sustainability is a key challenge in influencer marketing.

• Choosing the Right Influencer

Selecting the right influencer is a complex process. Brands must evaluate factors such as audience relevance, engagement rate, content quality, and credibility. A wrong choice can lead to poor performance and wasted investment. Additionally, influencer audiences may not always match the brand’s target market. This mismatch reduces campaign effectiveness. Therefore, identifying suitable influencers is a critical and challenging aspect of influencer marketing.

• Lack of Standardization

Influencer marketing lacks standardized pricing, performance measurement, and evaluation methods. Different influencers charge differently based on subjective criteria. There is no universal system to measure engagement quality or audience authenticity. This makes it difficult for brands to compare options and plan budgets effectively. The absence of standard rules also creates inconsistency in campaign evaluation. Therefore, lack of standardization is a major challenge in influencer marketing.

Marketing

Customer Outreach

Customer outreach is one of the oldest and simplest marketing strategies for banks and financial institutions to adopt. However, it’s also one of the most effective. Customer outreach is quite simply the concept of reaching out to customers to fill existing needs surrounding education, awareness, and help. This scales to a small organization in the form of free consultations and webinars and to larger ones in the form of financial education such as debt management programs or financial education in schools.

Social Media

61% of the India population is on a social media account and many use social for up to 4-5 hours per day. Your smart and consistent use of one or more social media platforms is a valuable financial marketing strategy that you cannot afford to ignore. Millennials, Generation Z, and even Baby Boomers use social media platforms to connect with brands, learn from peers, and follow current events and news. Maintaining a steady presence on one or more sites with a strategy in place to offer value to followers will help you to build brand trust, create marketing opportunities, and grow your customer base.

Self-Service and Digitization

Where baby boomers and previous generations largely preferred to receive products through sales representatives who could advise them and set up personalized (or not) accounts for them, millennials and Generation Z often want to do everything themselves with as little contact with human representatives as possible. Setting up and promoting digitized financial products and customer service or experience portals that enable customers to sign up for services online, change products and services online, and view their information without going into a branch is an effective and increasingly necessary trend for financial organizations. However, it is not a marketing strategy that applies to every organization, as you may not sell products only services.

Digital Storytelling

Storytelling is still one of the most effective marketing mediums, whether on social media, video, ads, or cross-channel platforms extending into the real world. Here, your marketing strategy should encompass telling a story that captures interest and evokes emotion to interest, excite, and move the viewer. Here, your goal is to create relatable and shareable content which can educate, entertain, or help the reader in some way and hopefully manage all three at once.

Automation and Big Data

Most financial organizations have more data than they know what to do with, but that is quickly changing. Today, customer experience platforms and automation tools make it easier than ever to utilize and apply data as part of your marketing strategy for financial services. For example, big data can tell you who is saving up for a big purchase and most likely to need pre-approval for a loan, big data can help you identify and offer services before or after they are needed, it can help you to target specific customers for additional customer service or digital financial education, and can help you to cut down on needed customer service.

Insurance

CCI covers your payments in the event of death, permanent disability or loss of income due to injury, illness or involuntary unemployment. Your CCI policy may pay the outstanding balance owed in a lump sum or cover your repayments for a period of time.

If a claim is approved, the insurer pays the money to the lender, not to the consumer.

CCI may also include merchandise protection cover, which covers damage, loss or theft of merchandise purchased with the loan product. It can also include stolen credit card cover, which provides a lump sum benefit if your credit card is stolen.

Consumer credit insurance (CCI) covers you if something happens to you that affects your ability to meet your credit repayment.

You may be offered CCI cover by your lender when it approves your credit (such as a credit card, personal loan or mortgage). Check that the lender’s product suits your needs it is wise to get other quotes as you might find a CCI policy that suits you better through another insurer.

Types:

Credit Disability Insurance

This coverage pays your minimum payment to your credit card issuer if you become disabled. You may have to be disabled for a certain amount of time before the insurance will kick in. There may be a waiting period before the benefit pays out. You can’t add this insurance and make a claim on the same day.

Credit Life Insurance

Credit life insurance pays off your credit card balance if you die. This prevents your loved ones from having to pay your balance out of your estate.

Credit Unemployment Insurance

Credit unemployment insurance makes your minimum payment for you if you lose your job through no fault of your own. The benefit doesn’t kick in if you quit or you’re fired. You may have to be out of work for a certain amount of time before the insurance takes over your payments.

Trade Credit Insurance

Trade credit insurance protects businesses that sell goods and services on credit. It shields them against the risk that clients won’t pay what they owe due to insolvency. A few other events may also be covered. Most consumers won’t need this type of insurance.

Credit Property Insurance

This protects any personal property you’ve used to secure a loan if that property is destroyed or lost due to theft, accident, or a natural disaster.

Radio Buys

Radio offers both a massive audience and a complex and changing pricing system. Clients rely on Capitol Media Solutions because we help them access the former and navigate the latter.

• Determine formats and top stations to target in each market.
• Explore native advertising in news, traffic, and weather reports (live-read or recorded.)
• Recommend spot lengths for promotional, branding, and informational messages.
• Establish target rating point (TRP) ranges for different types of spots.

The first step in effective radio media buying is understanding a client and a client’s marketing, advertising and overall business goals. Why do they want to advertise on radio and is it the best fit for their business goals? A media buyer will walk them through the process, and may compare the benefits of different types of strategies so that clients have a better idea of what they are working with.

If a client is committed to doing radio to start, a media buyer will do research based on the client’s target audience and demographic. It’s essential to find out which types of listeners are most likely to convert on radio advertising. This process helps narrow the field of opportunities for clients so that buyers can focus on negotiating with certain channels and networks only.

There are many different metrics that can be used to measure a campaign’s effectiveness. An essential part of a radio media-planning process is understanding the metrics that will be used to determine success. What should be measured and how does it relate to overall business goals? Once this metric or metrics have been established, it will be used as a success determiner throughout the life of the campaign. It will be used during the testing process and eventually the roll out.

Messaging and Radio Media Buying

The web copy (or ad copy) is another part of the buying process. Messaging is everything to the effectiveness of a campaign, so copy review is a must. Media buyers can put an advertiser on all of the right shows and in front of the right markets but they won’t take action without strong copy. If the messaging is convoluted or ambiguous at all, it will fall on deaf ears.

The copy for the ad(s) and for the website needs to be tweaked, tested and refined so that the client can get the best level of success for the investment. There may also need to be several different versions of the same messaging. It’s important to remember that 15-second, 30-second and 60-second spots need their own unique spin so that the messaging gets through without any important pieces missing.

Outdoor Buys

Out-of-home (OOH) advertising, also called outdoor advertising, outdoor media, and out-of-home media, is advertising experienced outside of the home. This includes billboards, wallscapes, and posters seen while “on the go;” it also includes place-based media seen in places such as convenience stores, medical centers, salons, and other brick-and-mortar venues.

OOH advertising formats fall into four main categories: billboards, street furniture, transit, and alternative.

The OOH advertising industry in the United States includes more than 2,100 operators in 50 states representing the major out of home format categories. These OOH media companies range from public, multinational media corporations to small, independent, family owned businesses.

• A lower cost per impression than other mass media.
• Targeted geographic reach.
• A constant broadcast of your message.
• High-impact, low-competition advertising.

Cinema Buys

Cinema advertising shouldn’t be confused with movie trailers the “coming attractions” that immediately precede the main feature. Movie ads come before the trailers, and they have been a presence in theaters since the first one opened in 1902.

This means that your parents or grandparents probably have fond memories of movie ads, too, if only for their comedic value. In the early days, movie ad montages were put together somewhat haphazardly, sometimes with slides appearing upside down or with sketchy lines blocking an advertiser’s phone number.

If you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting with someone who sells cinema ads, you may want to prepare yourself for the distinct possibility of hearing how Americans love movies and, perhaps even more intensely, the movie going experience.

They have a point. Aside from newly released movies that you can see only in a theater, there is no doubt that watching a movie in a theater offers some distinct advantages over watching the same movie on even a jumbo screen at home. A theater offers:

There are several advantages:

• Huge cinema screens give a ‘larger than life’ impact to the message.
• The audience is a captive audience since they cannot switch channels/flip pages of a print advertisement and are unlikely to walk out during advertisements.
• In-cinema advertising is viewed by an audience which is likely to be paying close attention to the screen or the cinema hall area.
• In-cinema advertising guarantees better attention span for the message to be communicated convincingly.
• Cinema, with its huge localized reach pan India, makes it suitable to reach out to a small geography as well as the entire country.

Internet Buys

Online advertising, also known as online marketing, Internet advertising, digital advertising or web advertising, is a form of marketing and advertising which uses the Internet to deliver promotional marketing messages to consumers. Many consumers find online advertising disruptive and have increasingly turned to ad blocking for a variety of reasons.

When software is used to do the purchasing, it is known as programmatic advertising.

Online advertising includes email marketing, search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing, many types of display advertising (including web banner advertising), and mobile advertising. Like other advertising media, online advertising frequently involves a publisher, who integrates advertisements into its online content, and an advertiser, who provides the advertisements to be displayed on the publisher’s content. Other potential participants include advertising agencies who help generate and place the ad copy, an ad server which technologically delivers the ad and tracks statistics, and advertising affiliates who do independent promotional work for the advertiser.

Display advertising conveys its advertising message visually using text, logos, animations, videos, photographs, or other graphics. Display advertising is commonly used on social media, websites with slots for advertisements, and in real life. In real life, display advertising can be a sign in front of a building or a billboard alongside a highway. The goal of display advertising is to obtain more traffic, clicks, or popularity for the advertising brand or organization. Display advertisers frequently target users with particular traits to increase the ads’ effect. Online advertisers (typically through their ad servers) often use cookies, which are unique identifiers of specific computers, to decide which ads to serve to a particular consumer. Cookies can track whether a user left a page without buying anything, so the advertiser can later retarget the user with ads from the site the user visited.

As advertisers collect data across multiple external websites about a user’s online activity, they can create a detailed profile of the user’s interests to deliver even more targeted advertising. This aggregation of data is called behavioral targeting. Advertisers can also target their audience by using contextual to deliver display ads related to the content of the web page where the ads appear.  Retargeting, behavioral targeting, and contextual advertising all are designed to increase an advertiser’s return on investment, or ROI, over untargeted ads.

Impression Types:

CPM (cost per mille)

Cost per mille, often abbreviated to CPM, means that advertisers pay for every thousand displays of their message to potential customers (mille is the Latin word for thousand). In the online context, ad displays are usually called “impressions.” Definitions of an “impression” vary among publishers, and some impressions may not be charged because they don’t represent a new exposure to an actual customer. Advertisers can use technologies such as web bugs to verify if an impression is actually delivered.  Similarly, revenue generated can be measured in Revenue per mille (RPM).

Publishers use a variety of techniques to increase page views, such as dividing content across multiple pages, repurposing someone else’s content, using sensational titles, or publishing tabloid or sexual content.

CPM advertising is susceptible to “impression fraud,” and advertisers who want visitors to their sites may not find per-impression payments a good proxy for the results they desire.

CPC (cost per click)

CPC (Cost Per Click) or PPC (Pay per click) means advertisers pay each time a user clicks on the ad. CPC advertising works well when advertisers want visitors to their sites, but it’s a less accurate measurement for advertisers looking to build brand awareness. CPC’s market share has grown each year since its introduction, eclipsing CPM to dominate two-thirds of all online advertising compensation methods.

Like impressions, not all recorded clicks are valuable to advertisers. GoldSpot Media reported that up to 50% of clicks on static mobile banner ads are accidental and resulted in redirected visitors leaving the new site immediately.

CPE (cost per engagement)

Cost per engagement aims to track not just that an ad unit loaded on the page (i.e., an impression was served), but also that the viewer actually saw and/or interacted with the ad.

CPV (cost per view)

Cost per view video advertising. Both Google and TubeMogul endorsed this standardized CPV metric to the IAB’s (Interactive Advertising Bureau) Digital Video Committee, and it’s garnering a notable amount of industry support. CPV is the primary benchmark used in YouTube Advertising Campaigns, as part of Google’s AdWords platform.

CPI (cost per install)

The CPI compensation method is specific to mobile applications and mobile advertising. In CPI ad campaigns brands are charged a fixed of bid rate only when the application was installed.

CPL (cost per lead)

Cost per lead compensation method implies that the advertiser pays for an explicit sign-up from a consumer interested in the advertiser’s offer.

Mobile Buys

At a data first agency, the emphasis on mobile media buying deserves its own section on our site, despite being just one of the many media buying services we offer.  While consumer’s attention is grabbed by their mobile devices, it is our job to guide their attention to your mobile app or mobile services, all the while, understanding their cross-device interactions.

The audience available on the mobile Web is growing rapidly. Consequently, the interest in mobile advertising is growing rapidly. When an agency or advertiser asks about buying advertising on the mobile Web, they typically ask questions about media buying and questions about creative.

Advertising on the mobile Web is very similar to Web advertising. Many people try and make it complex, but it really isn’t. The primary ad units are very similar to the ad units you are used to buying on the Web: Graphical banner ads and text link ads.

The mobile industry varies from the add on subscription product services, to the free-to-download and hope we land a pod of whales making in-app purchases (while frantically trying to keep competitors off your in-app ads so you can still monetize without steering people elsewhere!).  We get it.  It’s fast-paced, and it’s important that you work with a fast-paced media agency.

Media Two offers just as wide a variety of media buying services to meet whatever need you might have.  We have campaigns that purely run on a cost per install basis.  We manage the self-serve Goliath’s of Facebook and Google’s Universal App.  But it’s how we approach the data that sets us apart.

A media buy is the purchase of advertising from a media company such as a television station, newspaper, magazine, blog or website. It also entails the negotiation for price and placement of ads, as well as research into the best new venues for ad placement.

Media buying is a process used in paid marketing efforts. The goal is to identify and purchase ad space on channels that are relevant to the target audience at the optimal time, for the least amount of money. Media buying is a process relevant to both traditional marketing channels (television, radio, print) and digital channels (websites, social media, streaming). When done effectively, media buyers achieve maximum exposure among their target market for the least amount of spend.

Media buying is the act of acquiring real estate or inventory where advertisements may be placed. In television buying, a variety of factors must be considered, such as time, space, rates, lead demand, and more. The price of a television media buy will depend on the specifics of the advertising campaign, such as whether it will appear in a single city, regionally, or nationwide. On a website, the price for media buys would be determined by factors such as where the ad will be placed on the page, how many pages of the website the ad will appear on, how large the ad will be, how many days the ad will run for, how much traffic the website receives, and the website’s user demographics. The more exposure the advertiser is expected to receive, the more expensive the media buy will usually be. A media buy is different from earned media and owned media in that it is purchased.

Tools used

Online Advertising Research Tools: Alexa, comScore, Nielsen Online, Quantcast, SimilarWeb, Thalamus, SpyFu, SRDS, and Compete.

Online Advertising Competitive Intelligence Tools: comScore, Integral Ad Science, MOAT, Adbeat, Whatrunswhere, Keywordspy.

Demand-side Platforms: Doubleclick Bid Manager, Turn, AppNexus, Adobe Media Optimizer, Rubicon Project.

Offline Advertising Research Tools: comScore TV, Nielsen Media Research for TV Audience Measurement GRPs, Nielsen Audio for Radio Measurement (previously known as Arbitron), SRDS by Kantar Media for Print Advertising Ratecards.

Media buyers often use the following tactics to execute on media plans:

• Programmatic buys: AI and algorithm enabled real-time bidding on ad space that matches consumer profiles (e.g. fashion designers leveraging a platform that will automatically bid on and place ads on fashion-oriented channels).
• Manual bidding: Bidding on ad space and managing bids directly through an ad platform such as AdWords.
• Direct buys: When a media buyer negotiates ad rates and run times with a specific advertiser (e.g. fashion designers working directly with the Vogue team to place ads on their site / magazine).

Role of Media Buyer

A media buyer is a person who places and negotiates the price of all the ads on different media. This media can be television, print, radio, or digital.

They ensure that the ads are placed on relevant and favorite sites. They have to consider the length and size of the placement of the ad on the website.

They are also responsible for ensuring that the budget does not exceed the budget for the advertising either while preparing the ad or while placing the ad on the website. They ensure that the advertisement reaches the maximum number of the target audience and is within budget.

The media buyer may work individually or with the advertising agencies. These days freelancing media buyer has become a popular trend in the advertising industry.

Having knowledge of digital marketing is essential for media buyers because media in digital marketing is not only economic compared to other forms of media but also has a wider and specific targeted reach.

A media buyer is expected to have exceptionally good communication skills in both verbal as well as written communication. Graduation in marketing and or communications is required to be eligible for the role of a media buyer.

Apart from communication, a media buyer is expected to have good negotiation skills, and networking skills are mandatory for this role.

Different Roles:

Negotiations

The media buyer is also responsible for contacting the media representative to establish a base price for the advertisements and negotiate for them. The media buyer has to have contacts in all of the media space where advertising can be done.

Media management

Planning the media for the customer and managing everything related to it is one of the most important roles of a media buyer. The media buyer makes a plan related to the ad placement, along with the estimated target audience and the reach of the media.

This is planned within the budget sanctioned by the client. Necessary changes may be made to fit the requirement of the client. The media buyer should prepare a detailed estimate giving delivery prices and the final budget required by the client.

Business Partnership

Media buyers establish business partnership with their media representatives and pull an extensive amount of business. There may be a mutual understanding between the representative and the media buyer, and some commission might be passed on to him, but the fact remains that media buyer is the primary business generator for the representative.

Revenue generator

A media buyer who is associated with an organization has the primary job of revenue generation. More often than not, the media buyer associated with an advertising firm or a media planning firm.

Their job is to bring different clients to utilize their advertising media and sell the advertising space in order to generate revenue. The media buyer also generates revenue for the client indirectly.

Mediator

Media buyer should have contacts everywhere in the industry right from market research to market planner. There are times when media buyer has to analyze market information and get the demographics data or other relevant data which is required for an advertiser to planners advertising.

The media buyer may have important inputs for the client regarding the advertising demand and the reach to the customers. This information can be collected from the market research team, which is why the media buyer has to remain in contact with them.

Campaigning

In some cases, media buyer helps in campaign preparation of the marketeers by providing technical information and being the missing link between the advertisement department and the market.

In the case of the inhouse advertising department, the media buyer, along with other teams of advertising and marketing plan as well as execute the campaign.

Objectives of Media Buying

Best slots assured

Media buyers understand how to achieve the highest level of engagement. Several events, such as the Olympics, political affairs, are held throughout the world, and as a result, ad impressions might be influenced.

Media buying guarantees that the ad receives the exact engagement and conversion that the company desires. While these events are receiving the most incredible attention, the transaction can be impacted little. But media buying doesn’t let the profit be influenced.

Ensure Best deals

Experts in media purchasing can assure excellent negotiating and the ultimate price of ad space. This undoubtedly leads to higher conversion rates for the company. These experts may promote their ad as a value-added procedure to media outlets.

At its finest, it may result in an impression tacked on a contract, which is a less fee agreement. This is portrayed as a win-win situation for both the company and the media outlet.

Higher ROI

When it comes to media buying, it involves more than just exchanging money for advertising space. Firms’ relationships with media houses improve when they maintain ties with them for outlets.

This makes it easier to reach out to media companies in the future and to receive the best prices for posting advertising. As a result, the ROI is projected to rise with time.

Yardstick Method

Yardstick method is an approach in which the company or business entities use in estimating the new operation challenges or damages, mainly through performance comparable guidelines for example the damages experienced in an agreement breaching.

Define criteria by which to choose a solution. This may mean including or excluding aspects of a solution. The criteria must be specific enough to narrow down the solutions. For example, the criteria for choosing an advertising method might include limited funds, broad appeal, and a desire to direct people to a website where they are able to purchase the specified product.

Compare each solution to the criteria. It is important that the analysis of each option be thorough and clearly explained. For example, television advertising would be expensive, but targets a wide range of people. Newspaper ads would target only a specific region of people, but would cost less. Internet ads would target a wide range of people and the budget can be adjusted as needed. Internet ads can also send people directly to website. Radio ads can reach a wide variety of people, but only in a specific geographic area and can cost a good deal of money. Billboard ads can be made cheaply with small roadside signs, but the size is limited and people driving by may not remember the web address.

Decide on a solution and make a recommendation. At this point, the facts should make the recommendation clear.

Effective Frequency

In advertising, the effective frequency is the number of times a person must be exposed to an advertising message before a response is made and before exposure is considered wasteful.

The subject on effective frequency is quite controversial. Many people have their own definition on what this phrase means. There are also numerous studies with their own theories or models as to what the correct number is for effective frequency.

The following are some key examples:

• Advertising Glossary defines effective frequency as “Exposures to an advertising message required to achieve effective communication. Generally expressed as a range below which the exposure is inadequate and above which the exposure is considered wastage.”
• Business Dictionary defines it as “Advertising the theory that a consumer has to be exposed to an ad at least three times within a purchasing cycle (time between two consecutive purchases) to buy that product.”
• Marketing Power defines it as “An advertiser’s determination of the optimum number of exposure opportunities required to effectively convey the advertising message to the desired audience or target market.”
• John Philip Jones says “Effective frequency can mean that a single advertising exposure is able to influence the purchase of a brand. However, as all experienced advertising people know, the phrase was really coined to communicate the idea that there must be enough concentration of media weight to cross a threshold. Repetition was considered necessary, and there had to be enough of it within the period before a consumer buys a product to influence his or her choice of brand.”

Reach Method

In the application of statistics to advertising and media analysis, reach refers to the total number of different people or households exposed, at least once, to a medium during a given period. Reach should not be confused with the number of people who will actually be exposed to and consume the advertising, though. It is just the number of people who are exposed to the medium and therefore have an opportunity to see or hear the ad or commercial. Reach may be stated either as an absolute number, or as a fraction of a given population (for instance ‘TV households’, ‘men’ or ‘those aged 25–35’).

For any given viewer, they have been “reached” by the work if they have viewed it at all (or a specified amount) during the specified period. Multiple viewings by a single member of the audience in the cited period do not increase reach; however, media people use the term effective reach to describe the quality of exposure. Effective reach and reach are two different measurements for a target audience who receive a given message or ad.

Since reach is a time-dependent summary of aggregate audience behavior, reach figures are meaningless without a period associated with them: an example of a valid reach figure would be to state that “[example website] had a one-day reach of 1565 per million on 21 March 2004” (though unique users, an equivalent measure, would be a more typical metric for a website).

Reach of television channels is often expressed in the form of “x minute weekly reach” that is, the number (or percentage) of viewers who watched the channel for at least x minutes in a given week.

Reach can be calculated indirectly as:

Reach = GRPs / Average frequency

Margin Analysis

The marketing margin, characterized as some function of the difference between retail and farm price of a given farm product, is intended to measure the cost of providiing marketing services. The margin is influenced primarily by shifts in retail demand, farm supply, and marketing input prices. But other factors also can be important, including time lags in supply and demand, market power, risk, technical change, quality, and spatial considerations. Topics for future research include improved specifications for margins and demand and supply shifters, retail-to-farm price transmission of retail demand changes, and impacts of vertical integration and policy interventions.

The limitations of the market share method are:

• The conversion of industry forecast to the company specific sales forecast is quite tedious and hence requires the expertise.
• It is a complex process as the entire business environment is scrutinized before reaching to the final forecast.
• The wrong information about the marketing environment may result into a wrong sales forecast.

ROI Based Approach

In the percentage-of-sales method, advertising budget depends on the level of sales. But advertising causes sales. In the marginal analysis and S-shaped curve approaches increase in advertisement budgets may lead to increases in sales. In other words the advertisement budget can be considered as an investment.

In the ROI budgeting method, advertising and promotions are considered investments, like plant and equipment. In other words investments in advertisements lead to certain returns. Like other aspects of the firm’s efforts, advertising and promotion are expected to earn a certain return.

To many the ROI method is an ideal method of setting advertisement budget. But in reality it is rarely possible to assess the returns provided by the promotional effort-at least as long as sales continue to be the basis for evaluation.

Experimental Approach

Traditional marketing was designed to create a message and distribute that message as efficiently and effectively as possible. Experiential advertising uses modern forms of communication and interactivity to approach marketing from a different, more personal angle. It combines salesmanship with the ability to connect with consumers and give them something to encounter and interact with, rather than just see or listen to. “Experiential marketing reaches out to the consumer prior to the actual purchase event in a retail store and gives them enough information about the product to motivate them to go to the retail store to make the purchase,” according to Augustine Fou of Marketing Science Consulting Group.

Experiential advertising became possible in the 1990s and began to develop in the 2000s as businesses sought new ways to reach out to consumers in meaningful ways. Too often, consumers ignored traditional ads, commercials, radio spots and other marketing techniques that had oversaturated the market and become easy to dismiss or forget. To make marketing memorable again, companies began to seek innovate ways of displaying messages to customers so that their engagement or direct involvement was a necessary part of the experience.

Break Even Planning

Marketers need to understand break-even analysis because it helps them choose the best pricing strategy and make smart decisions about the short- and long-term profitability of the product.

The break-even price is the price that will produce enough revenue to cover all costs at a given level of production. At the break-even point, there is neither profit nor loss. A company may choose to price its product below the break-even point, but we’ll discuss the different pricing strategies that might favor this option later in the module.

Break-Even Price = Costs / Units

Break-Even Quantity (in terms of units) = Costs / Price

Components

Fixed Costs

Fixed costs can be defined as the business costs, which are directly related to the business but not directly associated with the level of production. Therefore, whether your production level is zero or at its highest capacity, the fixed costs are going to be there. For example, you are supposed to pay the rent of your factory building, whether there is no production going on for about a month.

The followings are examples of fixed costs.

• Taxes
• Salaries and wages
• Rent of the building or lease charges
• Energy cost
• Depreciation cost
• Marketing costs
• Research and development expenses
• Administration cost

Variable Costs:

Variable costs are the costs that are directly associated with the level of production. That means the variable cost will reduce with the reduction in the production and will become zero when you cease the production process. For example, the cost of raw material required for the production of goods is directly related to the number of units produced in the production process.

The examples of direct variable costs.

• Cost of raw material
• Cost of wages of workers hired, especially for production work.
• Fuel consumed
• Packaging cost

Indirect Variable cost

Direct variable costs are the costs that are directly associated with the production of goods but does not get affected by the level of production. For example, depreciation cost, machine maintenance cost, and Labour cost.

Semi Variable cost

Semi variable costs are the costs that have characteristics of both variables as well as fixed costs.

Initially, these costs are fixed, but later these costs vary with the expansion of business or with the complex nature of the business.

Online

Online advertising, also known as online marketing, Internet advertising, digital advertising or web advertising, is a form of marketing and advertising which uses the Internet to deliver promotional marketing messages to consumers. Many consumers find online advertising disruptive and have increasingly turned to ad blocking for a variety of reasons.

When software is used to do the purchasing, it is known as programmatic advertising.

Online advertising includes email marketing, search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing, many types of display advertising (including web banner advertising), and mobile advertising. Like other advertising media, online advertising frequently involves a publisher, who integrates advertisements into its online content, and an advertiser, who provides the advertisements to be displayed on the publisher’s content. Other potential participants include advertising agencies who help generate and place the ad copy, an ad server which technologically delivers the ad and tracks statistics, and advertising affiliates who do independent promotional work for the advertiser.

In 2016, Internet advertising revenues in the United States surpassed those of cable television and broadcast television.  In 2017, Internet advertising revenues in the United States totaled $83.0 billion, a 14% increase over the $72.50 billion in revenues in 2016. And research estimates from 2019’s online advertising spend puts it at $125.2 billion in the United States, some $54.8 billion higher than the spend on television ($70.4 billion).

Many common online advertising practices are controversial and, as a result, have been increasingly subject to regulation. Online ad revenues also may not adequately replace other publishers’ revenue streams. Declining ad revenue has led some publishers to place their content behind paywalls.

Mobile Advertising

Mobile advertising is a form of advertising via mobile (wireless) phones or other mobile devices. It is a subset of mobile marketing, mobile advertising can take place as text ads via SMS, or banner advertisements that appear embedded in a mobile web site.

It is estimated that U.S. mobile app-installed ads accounted for 30% of all mobile advertising revenue in 2014, and will top $4.6bn in 2016, and over $6.8bn by the end of 2019. Other ways mobile advertising can be purchased include working with a Mobile Demand Side Platform, in which ad impressions are bought in real-time on an Ad exchange. Another report has indicated that worldwide mobile digital advertising spend would reach $184.91 bn in 2018, $217.42 bn in 2019 and $247.36 bn in 2020 and $500 bn in 2025.

Types of mobile ads

• Click-to-download ads: The user will be directed to the Appstore or Google Play
• Click-to-call ads: The user will call to a phone number after clicking the button.
• Click-to-message ads: The user will be directed to an SMS application to message the advertiser.
• Image text and banner ads: A click opens your browser and re-directs you to a page
• Push notification
• Pin pull ads: Mostly common in Playrix ads

Gaming Advertising

Advertising in video games is the integration of advertising into video games to promote products, organizations, or viewpoints.

There are two major categories of advertising in video games: in-game advertising and advergames. In-game advertising shows the player advertisements while playing the game, whereas advergames are a type of game created to serve as an advertisement for a brand or product.

Other methods of advertising in video games include in-game product placement and sponsorship of commercial games or other game-related content.

In-game advertising is similar to product placement in films and television, where the advertising content exists within the universe of the characters. These forms of product placement are common, which led to the advertisement technique being applied to video games to match evolving media consumption habits. According to the Entertainment Software Association in 2010, 42% of gamers said they play online games one or more hours per week. Game playing is considered active media consumption, which provides a unique opportunity for advertisers. The principal advantages of product placement in gaming are visibility and notoriety. A single in-game advertisement may be encountered by the player multiple times, and advertisers have an opportunity to ally a brand’s image with that of a well-received game.

In flight Advertising

In-flight advertising is advertising that targets potential consumers aboard an airline. It includes commercials during in-flight entertainment programming, advertisements in in-flight magazines or on Boarding Passes, ads on seatback tray tables and overhead storage bins, and sales pitches by flight attendants. Ads can be tailored to the traveler’s destination, or several of the airlines destinations, promoting local restaurants, hotels, businesses and shopping.

Boarding passes advertising

Boarding pass advertising relies on the use of targeted advertising technologies. When the passenger checks on-line he has the possibility to click on the various ads and suggestions suggested on the boarding pass. When travelers print their boarding passes, the ads will automatically be printed, too. Fliers can, however, click a box to prevent the ads from being printed if the company is so compassionate as to allow it.

The ads are used by airlines to increase revenue and for advertisers to target travelers down to their departure city and destination. Sojern was one of the first companies to partner with such airlines as Delta Air Lines to offer boarding pass advertising technology.

Evolution

Inflight advertising began in onboard magazines as a way to increase ancillary revenue for airlines and pay for inflight content. Today, inflight advertising is set to increase as airlines are investing heavily in content and connectivity and utilizing media sales to offset costs.

In Store Advertising

In-store adverting is the act of marketing to customers while they are inside of a brick-and-mortar business or commercial property. It actively promotes products and services at the point-of-purchase when customers are highly interested and engaged.

Usually, when retailers plan their marketing, they focus on how they can use outside messaging to bring customers into a store. But in-store advertising is a strategy that focuses on using on-property messaging to engage customers that are already in the store.

Brands can create custom animations, videos, and interactive in-store advertising content and display it on:

• Digital wait-boards
• Digital menu boards
• Video walls
• Interactive kiosks
• Wayfinding screens
• Personal devices (through the use of WiFi marketing)

In-store advertising effectively:

• Encourages impulse buys by highlighting cross-sells, up-sells, and related products.
• Introduces new products and effectively explains their features and benefits to customers.
• Promotes sales by making it easy for customers to notice current promotions.
• Supports cross-promotions by showcasing similar or related products and services.
• Informs customers by helping them find information they need to guide their purchasing decisions.
• Reminds customers about information and promotions they saw on your digital platforms before they arrived to your store.
• Captures customer contact information by encouraging shoppers to enter their email address or phone number.

Interactive Media

Interactive media normally refers to products and services on digital computer-based systems which respond to the user’s actions by presenting content such as text, moving image, animation, video and audio.

Development

The analogue videodisc developed by NV Philips was the pioneering technology for interactive media. Additionally, there are several elements that encouraged the development of interactive media including the following:

• The laser disc technology was first invented in 1958. It enabled the user to access high-quality analogue images on the computer screen. This increased the ability of interactive video systems.
• The concept of the graphical user interface (GUI), which was developed in the 1970s, popularized by Apple Computer, Inc. was essentially about visual metaphors, intuitive feel and sharing information on the virtual desktop. Additional power was the only thing needed to move into multimedia.
• The sharp fall in hardware costs and the unprecedented rise in the computer speed and memory transformed the personal computer into an affordable machine capable of combining audio and color video in advanced ways.
• Another element is the release of Windows 3.0 in 1990 by Microsoft into the mainstream IBM clone world. It accelerated the acceptance of GUI as the standard mechanism for communicating with small computer systems.
• The development by NV Philips of optical digital technologies built around the compact disk (CD) in 1979 is also another leading element in the interactive media development as it raised the issue of developing interactive media.

All of the prior elements contributed in the development of the main hardware and software systems used in interactive media.

Advantages

Intuitive understanding

Interactive media makes technology more intuitive to use. Interactive products such as smartphones, iPad’s/iPod’s, interactive whiteboards and websites are all easy to use. The easy usage of these products encourages consumers to experiment with their products rather than reading instruction manuals.

Effects on learning

Interactive media is helpful in the four development dimensions in which young children learn; Social and emotional, language development, cognitive and general knowledge, and approaches toward learning. Using computers and educational computer software in a learning environment helps children increase communication skills and their attitudes about learning. Children who use educational computer software are often found using more complex speech patterns and higher levels of verbal communication. A study found that basic interactive books that simply read a story aloud and highlighted words and phrases as they were spoken were beneficial for children with lower reading abilities. Children have different styles of learning, and interactive media helps children with visual, verbal, auditory, and tactile learning styles.

Relationships

Interactive media promotes dialogic communication. This form of communication allows senders and receivers to build long term trust and cooperation. This plays a critical role in building relationships. Organizations also use interactive media to go further than basic marketing and develop more positive behavioral relationships.