Without the many forms of advertising available, everything would be sold to the same people with the same needs. Marketing strategies have existed and adapted through the ages.
Every person who has become even a little familiar with the Internet has seen some form of advertising on their computer. It may have come as an email, seen as a banner ad, a pop-up, pop-under, or rotation ads placed by companies on your browser. Advertising, businesses, and the brilliant people who create the kinds of marketing choices available have been around in some form or another ever since there were humans around to trade with. And the power of color, size, placement, style, and medium used; or the impact of season, timing, viewers available, and customers needing the product or service offered creates staggering variables in statistics. The possibilities are endless when it comes to advertising.
Research and development teams across the globe spend millions of dollars on testing particular advertising methods each year. Internet Marketing is a relatively new concept compared to news print, radio, and even television. To get a handle on the challenges of the new marketing strategists and their approach to eye catching, innovative marketing techniques, we first need to venture back and take a look at how the article writer became a television commercial entertainer.
In the early 1900's, RCA, Westinghouse, and others were in the running to produce a working television for every home in America. The print media was in a frenzy reporting every claim, patent, and testing model rumored or reality. DuMont, GE, RCA, and Andrea were some of the American versions of the television available around the late 1930's to 40's. People were starting to own televisions but what was showing? What were they watching?
Around 1945, wartime viewing was limited to only a few days a week and a couple of shows a day. Interesting and genius was Macy's Wednesday night slot called "Macy's Teleshopping". I credit Macy's with being the leader and guru of advertising brilliance. They took the ball and ran with it and the whole viewing world ran with them. The DuMont television station WABD channel 4 even sent out customer survey cards for market testing to see which shows the audience liked best. An entire marketing industry was born out of the new media. TV Guide was at a circulation of 92,112 by December 1949, yet another way to get the marketing gurus jumping for ad ideas. Well jump they did, with a reader base so large and a viewer base even larger with the reported number of television sets in operation then being 2,000,000, advertising was the way to fortunes.
Now the problem of what motivated people to buy came into focus. Johnny Olsen? Howdy Doody? Or the sex appeal of Joan Kemp, Miss Electronics of 1949? Better yet, a 20 second song and dance by the cartoon BVD's? The use of animation, sex appeal, honesty, and trustworthiness came into play and used correctly created wealth and released buying power. Speckled among the regular showings of "I Love Lucy" , "The Lone Ranger", The John Daly News", "Wagon Train", "Perry Mason", and "Mystery Theatre", all having their sales spots in place, were "Kraft Theatre", "Campbell Sound Stage", "Lux Video Theatre", and "Pabst Blue Ribbon Fights". They all designed selling without the sale.
Everything was surveyed, tested, and tweaked and they did all this without the use of the home computer. Imagine that. Today, we have the luxury of that technology right at our fingertips. Now, what do we do with this knowledge, where do we begin? Do we advertise with real people in our ads, animated figures, or do we use the old standby sex appeal? The initial sale was never the real problem for marketers, it was the long term customer. The product has to eventually speak for itself. I believe anyone has the possibility of marketing anything and selling it once, but if the product does not do what it says in the advertisement, there will be a demise shortly after the first sale. A salesman without a product or service is left then to find another one.
Entertainment, information, need, and curiosity spark a potential client's interest. Start with what first got your attention, what is the one point that sold you. This is the attention grabber. Then, to keep their focus long enough to peak their interest, you need a product or service that people actually need or want. Something that will offer them a healthier, easier, or less stressful future, whether that future is 5 or 20 years, or in an hour or so. Look at your products strong points. What is different, special, or extraordinary about it? Evaluate your products weak points as well, what you think is not a big deal may be the best selling tool you have.
No advertising is the only wrong advertising. Glean ideas from your product or service. People like to be informed of what a product does and is useful for. Let them know and put your own spin on it.
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