Glossary of Terms & Concepts.
Actual Frequency
Taking into account that not every person who 'reportedly' was listening to a radio station or watching a TV station was physically present when acommercial aired, the 'actual' number of times a person was exposed to a commercial is always less that the theoretical estimate, i.e., "Average Frequency."
Advertising Strategy
Interchangeable with Marketing Strategy/Plan. The critical third step in the Multi-Step Marketing Method we use to position a client's business,formulate the USP/PAS, and obtain the business' advertising objectives.
Advertising Impression
An advertising impression is registered when an advertisement is seen or heard by a person.
Blitz
A commercial scheduling tactic where an advertiser schedules as many commercials per hour as the station permits for a relatively short term, e.g.,one day, two days, a weekend.
Buying Power
The amount of money a certain age group can spend on a particular product or service category. Also called "Retail Spending Power." There is qualitative research that credits dollar expenditures to individual age groups for a wide variety of products and services.
Column-Inch
A unit of measurement for sizing newspaper ads; based on the width of onecolumn in the newspaper and the depth of one ruler inch. Most newspapershave six columns (of editorial) across the page and each column is 2.16inches wide. If an ad spans three columns in width and is six (ruler) inches deep, it would be a 18 column-inch ad [number of columns times theinches deep].
Column-Inch Rate
Also referred to as the 'line rate,' this is the unit price for each column inch. For example, if the column-inch rate is $50, an18 column-inch ad would cost $900.
Commercial Effectiveness
The degree to which a commercial is heard and responded. Some radio formats, for example, require closer listening (TALK, NEWS...). Also, radio stations can employ certain techniques designed to make commercials less obtrusive or conversely, more noticeable. These are the kinds of things that determine the degree of commercial effectiveness attributable to a station. It is largely subjective.
Commercials
A unit of program time filled by an advertiser's message. Standard timesare 60 seconds (:60), 30 seconds (:30), and 10 seconds (:10).
Co-op (Advertising)
Advertising for a particular product, the payment of which is shared by the manufacturer and the retailer.
Copy Writer
A person who writes commercial copy.
Demographic
An age/sex grouping, e.g., men between the ages of 18 and 49 years old.
Direct Response Advertising
Advertising designed to have the consumer respond immediately to an offer by telephoning the company or contacting them in some other specified way, e.g., the Internet. Direct Mail Advertising that encourages aconsumer to call a phone number or return a reply card is a pure form of Direct Response Advertising. Radio or TV commercials that say, 'call now' are pure forms of Direct Response Advertising.
Efficiency
A term used to describe the amount or number of advertising impressions generated at a certain expense. A schedule that has a low Cost Per Thousand is said to be "efficient."
Effective Reach
The number of people a schedule of announcements reaches at least three times.
Effectiveness
The extent to which an advertising plan works.
Equity Position
The degree to which a business, product or service is both known and well thought of in a marketplace. Think of 'equity' as the amount of a home thatis owned because it is paid off. If a business is known, understood and appreciated by 35% of the population, that's its equity position in the marketplace.
Event Advertising
Advertising designed to promote a certain product(s) or service(s) at a specified price - often a 'sale' price. Event Advertising takes place within alimited period of time, e.g., a ten-day sale period. The advertiser wants the consumer to take a specified action within a specified period of time. Event Advertising can literally promote an event such as an in-store promotion, a remote broadcast, a celebrity appearance. Event Advertising is different from Institutional Advertising, although both kinds of things can be presented in the same advertisement. Event Advertising is similar to Direct Response Advertising where a very definite action is required of the consumer (phone the business) immediately or shortly after being exposed to the ad.
Follow-up Report
A report to the client based on the PCMNA prior to beginning the Advertising Strategy.
Format
The type of programming a radio station does, e.g., Top 40, Easy Listening, Country, News/Talk, etc.
Free-Standing Mailer
A term used in Direct Mail Advertising. A mailing that goes out by itself asopposed to being one of several packaged together (i.e., 'marriage mail). A brochure or a letter in an envelope is an example.
Frequency
The most important word in electronic media vocabulary: The number of times a commercial is heard or seen by a consumer through the course of one week's worth of the schedule.
Image Campaign (institutional campaign, positioning campaign)
An advertising approach where the business tries to project a certain image or reputation, e.g., the lowest prices in town, the most contemporary furniture, the newest fashions.
Imagery Transfer
The process by which television images are transferred into the consumer's mind by Radio commercials. By incorporating similar audio tracks in both Radio and TV spots, advertisers are able to get television pictures in the minds of Radio listeners, reinforce consumer awareness, and get more bang for the buck.
Inbound Marketing
The method of generating ROI based on bringing warm, qualified leads into the sales funnel versus traditional marketing efforts directed outward to general, "cold" prospects. Inbound marketing allows your business to get found by people who are already familiar with your service, product or industry. As a result, they are more liable to trust you and convert more readily to being a customer. Examples of inbound marketing: blogging, social media, search engine optimization, webinars. Examples of outbound (traditional) marketing: cold calls, print, tv and radio ads, attending tradeshows.
Institutional Advertising-Advertising for Equity
Advertising that is designed to sell the business as a whole (the 'institution') as opposed to specific products and services produced by thebusiness at a stipulated price. Institutional Advertising accomplishes the following types of objectives:
1) introduces a business to a marketplace
2) educates the consumer
3) gives the business a certain image|
4) positions or repositions the business in the market relative to the competition
5) keeps the business 'top of mind' and builds on the businesses' 'equity position' in the market
6) conveys such things as 'Unique Selling Propositions and 'Preemptive Advantages'
7) creates goodwill in thecommunity
Institutional Advertising differs from Event advertising, Price Point advertising, and Direct Response advertising.
Lifestyle
A classification category. People are defined and grouped by their socioeconomic status, interests, education level, activities, buying habits,entertainment preferences etc, e.g., yuppie, genX, genY, babyboomers.
Marriage Mail
A Direct Mail Advertising term. When several printed ads for several different advertisers are packaged together and are mailed in the same envelope as opposed to 'free-standing' mailer.
Measurable Growth Objective (MGO)
The amount that effective advertising is responsible for producing, over and above historic growth. The MGO allows the advertiser to know how many additional prospects he'll need on a daily basis to achieve the growth objective and provides a means to hold the advertising absolutely accountable.
Media Director
The person one step above a Media Buyer and the person to whom a Media Buyer reports. The Media Director makes decisions on which media to use to convey the advertiser's message. This person should be an expert on all of the media choices and know how each compares to the other.
Media Recommendation
The suggested medium or media to use based specifically on the objectives of the client and how they are best reached. This recommendation results from an in-depth study of how each medium works, what it delivers, and what ROI can be expected.
Media Mix
Using more than one medium for a particular advertising campaign.
Merchandising
The way in which a product is presented to the consumer. More specific to the radio business, 'merchandising' can mean that the station is providing something of value in addition to the commercial spots it is airing for the business. Anything from tickets to a concert to conducting a full-blown promotion can come under the heading of merchandising.
Message Design
This is the final step in the HMG Multi-Step Marketing Method. It is the architecture used to design a correct and effective commercial. It contains the essential ingredients that should be included in commercial messages, e.g., an attention-getting opener, a unique selling proposition, a call to action, etc. It is the 'recipe' for the commercial, not the final copy. The final copy will have a creative approach applied much the way icing is applied to a cake. We believe that the design of the advertising message is extremely important. A message must be formatted so that it contains all the essential ingredients in basically the right order. The words of the message are paramount. The picture is subordinate although supportive. Divining the 'creative' before designing the message and formulating the words is backwards and incorrect.
Multi-Step Marketing Method
The process Hersh Marketing Group uses to move from understanding aclient's business to creating effective ads. The steps are:
1) Preliminary Client Market Needs Analysis
2) Follow-Up Report
3) Creating an Advertising Strategy
4) Media Recommendation
5) Message Design
Net Reach
The number of different persons reached in a given schedule..
Network
A broadcast company that provides programming to affiliate stations, e.g.,NBC, CBS, Rush Limbaugh's EIB.
Preemptive Advantage Statement (PAS)
In a highly competitive environment, a preemptive advantage is a solid reason to buy from you. It puts the competition at a disadvantage and literally preempts them from consideration. When Walmart advertises that the consumer can "Save money. Live Better.", it is preempting the competition. When the electronics store tells the consumer that they will match the price of any store in town or give you that price plus a 10% rebate for your trouble, they are giving you a reason to trust that they won't be beat on price.
Preliminary Client Market Needs Analysis (PCMNA)
The needs analysis is a formal interview of a business owner, using a pre-planned interview questionnaire, to learn about the business. It is the first step in the Multi-Step Marketing Method.
Position
Positioning your business is one of the most critical elements in strategic advertising. Your position determines how you present your product or service to the consumer and how they will remember you. Think Geico.Coke. BMW. Each has a strong, individual position (cute; everyman; envy). Position ties into the PAS.
Psychographic
Categorizing people by the mindset they might have and the way they perceive of themselves. These things affect their buying behavior. For example, two people may make the same annual income and therefore be in the same 'demographic' but the one buys more because of how he sees himself, vis a vis, future potential,status, etc. Like-minded people are members of the same 'psychographic' group.
Qualitative Research
Research into characteristics of a person other than age and sex, e.g., incomelevel, education level, job status, media usage, number of children, etc.
Quantitative Research
Research into how many people of certain ages and sex use a medium, e.g.,station WXXX has 14,000 listeners, 12,000 are between 25 and 54 years old,and 43% are females.
Rate
The cost of one commercial on Radio or TV, the cost per column inch for newspaper.
Reach
The number of different people exposed to a commercial or a schedule of commercials.
Reach & Frequency Analysis
An analysis of how many different people were reached at least one time with a commercial schedule and the average number of times each different person heard a commercial. For example, the schedule of 20 commercials reached 114,000 different people and each of these people heard an average of 3 commercials. Note: the term 'Effective Reach' is the number of people who heard at least three commercials... so Frequency is factored into the concept of 'effective reach.'
ROI or Return on Investment
The amount of return an advertiser receives relative to the investment indollars or the units of advertising purchased. For example, in direct mail advertising: 10,000 pieces of mail were sent out and 1,000 business replycards were returned. Therefore, the 'rate of return' is one in ten or 10%.
Schedule
The way commercials air in terms of time period and days of the week.
Selling Frequency
The number of times a consumer must hear a commercial within limited period of time before he will take the requested action. The electronic industry benchmark is a three (3) frequency. Print mediums have no frequency.
Schedule
A program that indexes documents, then attempts to match documents relevant to a user's search requests.
Search Engine Optimization
The process of choosing targeted keyword phrases related to a site and ensuring that the site ranks well with search engines when those keyword phrases are searched on the Web.
Search Engine Marketing
Focuses on return on investment (ROI) management instead of relevant traffic building (SEO). SEM involves pay-per-click and/or cost-per-click. SEO is free search. In SEM, you decide the landing page your visitors see. In SEO, a search engine spider decides on the landing page visitors see.
Socio-Economic Status
A combination of a person's social and economic status. These two determinants are most often related. Pedigree and/or wealth determine a person's social status.
Spots
Commercials
Target Demographic
A designated age group that a client wishes to reach and sell his product to
Target Market
A designated age group, geographic area, lifestyle group etc. that an advertiser wishes to reach.
Unique Selling Proposition ("USP")
The unique selling proposition for a business is the thing that distinguishes the business, product, service or particular offer from the competition. Tobe effective as an inducement to shop the business, it should be extraordinary and unavailable elsewhere.