Marketing exercise

Solution Preview

Hi there,

Here is what you need to know about developing an advertising program:

How do you build an advertising strategy?

The first four questions you want to ask yourself are:

* Who are you trying to reach?
* What do you want to say to them?
* How, when and where are you going to reach them?
* Why have you chosen the steps you have selected?

Who are you trying to reach?

The audience you want to reach is your target market. In order to determine your target market, you will need to do a little research. You will want to know what the consumer thinks about your city, resort, or product and your competition. It is extremely important to know who your audience is, so you can create the right message for the right person. There are several ways to discover your audience, which is detailed in the research portion of the educational series. It may be helpful to categorize your consumer in order to market to the correct group. Some questions to ask yourself during the research process are:

* Location - where does your consumer live? Urban or rural environment? Out of State? In a specific city? Far away or close by?
* Age - Is your consumer between the ages of 25-54 or 34-54? Are they younger or older?
* Marital/Family Status - Are they married? Single? Do they have kids? How many? What ages?
* Income - Does your consumer make $30,000 per year or $100,000?
* Lifestage - At what stage of life are they? Are they newlyweds just beginning their life together, empty nesters (children are grown and gone), retired?
* Travel Patterns - How many times a year do they visit and during what season?

What do you want to say?

Now that you've narrowed your target audience, you can begin the process of deciding what it is you want the consumer to know or think about you. This is called the creative process or strategy. While there may be many ways to position your product or service, you should always try to appeal to the needs and wants of your target consumer, which again you will find from your research. Once you understand their needs, you can then create a message inviting them to visit your area or resort. Some questions you may want to ask yourself during this process are:

* Why would the consumer visit/stay here? Is it a special event? A great deal? A chance to relax? Lots of activities?
* What does the consumer need to know about you? A historical place? A new place? You have something no one else has?
* What does the consumer want to do when they stay here? Research has shown that certain people like to do similar activities. Can you put a package together that groups these activities?
* When might they be more likely to visit?
* It is important not to focus on too many things, because then your message gets too ...