Advertising media and appropriateness

Promotion is all the ways a business communicates with customers to encourage a sale. Advertising media are only one part of promotion: they are the channels that carry a paid or controlled message, such as a poster, a website banner or a radio advert. Promotion also includes sales promotion and public relations, which are separate promotional methods.

Sales promotion means short-term incentives to encourage a purchase. It gives customers a reason to buy now, such as a free gift with a purchase, a two-for-one offer or a limited-time price cut. A price reduction is a sales promotion, not an advertising medium, because it changes the price rather than using a channel to carry a message. For example, a garden centre selling hanging baskets for £12 instead of £15 during one weekend is using sales promotion.

Public relations (PR) is about managing the business's reputation and gaining publicity. PR includes publicity gained through third-party endorsement, such as a newspaper article, a review or a recommendation from someone outside the business, rather than paid advertising space or time. If a charity's annual report thanks a stationery shop for donating notebooks to its homework club, that is PR because the business has not paid for the message and someone else is saying it.

Classifying an example

To classify an example, ask what it is doing. If it carries a paid or controlled promotional message, it is advertising. If it is a short-term price or offer, it is sales promotion. If it is unpaid third-party publicity, it is public relations.

Leaflets are printed sheets used to give information or promote a product. They are a non-digital advertising medium, so they carry a message on paper rather than on a screen. A business writes what it wants, has the sheets printed, then hands them out or posts them through doors.

Why leaflets work

• Local targeting: a business can choose which households or locations receive its leaflets, so a small firm can concentrate on nearby streets, a shopping centre or a single event. A new roller-skating rink could hand out leaflets at the town's Saturday market and at a school summer fair, reaching people already out and about in the town rather than paying for a county-wide door drop.
• Something to keep: a leaflet is a physical copy the customer can hold, pin to the fridge and read later. People often glance at a screen and move on, but a leaflet stays in the house.
• Visual and readable: leaflets can be laid out to be easy to read, with photos, graphics and space for detailed information such as opening times, prices and directions.
• Relatively cheap: producing leaflets costs little compared with many other media, and the design can be adapted to fit the budget. A full-colour leaflet with several photos costs more, while a black-and-white version printed on one side is cheaper and still carries the same facts.

Limits of leaflets

• Many leaflets are thrown away or ignored before they are read, especially ones pushed through doors with junk mail.
• Paper and ink have environmental costs, and customers who care about waste may disapprove of heavy leaflet drops.
• Their impact is often short-term, because most people do not keep a leaflet for long before it is recycled.
• Handing out or delivering leaflets takes time and effort, and the number of people reached is small compared with mass media such as television.

Leaflets therefore suit a local business with a small budget that needs to give detailed information to customers close by, and they are weaker when a business wants wide national reach.

Newspaper advertising means paying for space in a local, regional or national newspaper. Your advert appears among the news and other adverts the paper's readers see, so the paper you choose decides who is targeted. A free weekly paper delivered to one town targets that town; a national daily targets readers across the whole country.

What newspapers do well

• Detailed information and images: a newspaper advert has room for a headline, a photo, prices, opening times and a phone number, so you can explain an offer properly instead of in a few words.
• Local focus: a local paper reaches households in the area it serves, which suits a business whose customers travel from nearby.
• Relatively cheap: space in a local paper costs far less than television or the national press, so it can fit a small budget.
• Reaching people you would otherwise miss: an advert can reach customers who cannot or will not use your existing sales channel. For example, a plant nursery that sells mainly through its website could take a half-page advert in the town's weekly paper to reach people who never buy online and would rather ring up or visit.

The drawbacks

• Read for a short time: most papers are read on the day they arrive and then thrown away, so an advert stops working quickly and has to be repeated.
• Declining readership: fewer people buy papers than in the past, so reach is limited and one advert may be seen by relatively few people. Readers are not only older people, though: free local papers are picked up by a wide mix of households.
• Readers may not match the target market: a paper goes to everyone in its area, so part of the cost pays to reach people who would never buy your product.
• Limited interactivity and response: a reader cannot click, share or reply instantly. Compared with digital media it is harder to count responses and slower to see whether the advert worked.

Newspapers suit a business that needs to give detail to a local or regional audience and can accept slower, less measurable responses, such as a hardware shop announcing a weekend tool sale with photos and prices.

Magazine advertising means paying for an advert in a magazine that is printed and published regularly, such as a monthly photography title or a weekly gardening magazine. Each magazine is written for readers who share an interest or a lifestyle, so an advert can be aimed at a target audience that already cares about that subject.

Advantages

• Magazines have a much longer shelf life than newspapers. A copy may sit in a dentist's waiting room or on a coffee table for weeks, so an advert can be seen again and again, by the buyer and by other people who pick it up.
• Print quality is high, with glossy paper and vivid colour, so photographs look sharp. A product that sells on how it looks, such as a hand-painted bird table, benefits from this.
• There is space for detailed information that a reader will take time to read, such as sizes, materials or how a product works.

For example, a small business selling insulated dog coats could advertise in a monthly dog-owners magazine, because readers are likely to walk their dogs in cold weather and sharp photos would show the coats clearly.

Disadvantages

• It can be expensive, especially in national titles or specialist hobby magazines where a full page costs a lot, and producing the artwork adds to the bill.
• Magazines have long lead times. A monthly title may need the advert booked and finished many weeks before it appears, so a campaign must be planned well in advance and cannot react to a sudden opportunity.
• They are published less often, so the advert appears less frequently and awareness builds slowly compared with a daily newspaper.
• Reach can be limited because fewer copies are sold than newspapers or television, and the readers of a title may not match the business's target market.

When magazines suit a business

Magazines suit a business whose product needs attractive images and a detailed explanation for a specialist audience, when the campaign can be planned early and the budget covers the higher production and placement costs.

Radio advertising uses audio messages broadcast on radio stations to promote a product. A business pays for a short advert to be written, recorded and played between or during programmes.

Targeting listeners

Radio lets you target listeners by choosing the station, the programme and the time of day. Different stations attract different listeners, so a taxi firm wanting early-morning commuters could book slots during a breakfast show, while a garden centre might choose a weekend slot on a station its local customers tune into. Matching the station, programme and time to your target audience means less of your budget is spent on people who would never buy from you.

Advantages

• Relatively cheap to produce and broadcast compared with bigger media such as television.
• Broad reach — one station can put your message in front of a large audience.
• Repeated exposure — an advert played several times a day, with a catchy jingle, can stick in listeners' minds.

Drawbacks

• It is audio only, so you cannot show what the product looks like, its colours or how it is used.
• Listeners may ignore or miss adverts if they are talking, driving or tuned into another station.
• Adverts are short-lived, so they need repeating to be remembered — and that adds cost.
• They carry limited information: a short spoken message and maybe a website address.
• Even so, there are production and scheduling costs for studio recording, a voice artist and the slots themselves, with popular times costing more than quieter ones.

Posters and billboards are large outdoor adverts placed where many people will pass them, such as on a bus shelter, beside a main road or on the side of a shop. A billboard is a very large poster, often beside a main road, read from a distance.

Why a business might choose them

• High visibility: a big, bold advert is hard to miss, so it can build awareness quickly.
• Local targeting: you choose the site, so you can place the advert near the customers you want.
• Repeated viewing: the same poster stays up for weeks, so the same people see it again and again and the message starts to stick.
• Relatively cheap per view: one site fee can put the advert in front of thousands of passers-by, so the cost for each person can be low.
• They suit a short, simple message — a name, a picture and a few words.

Where they fall short

Viewers pass quickly, so there is often only brief exposure — a driver gets a few seconds at most. That means a poster cannot carry detailed information such as prices, opening times and terms. How well it works depends on location and footfall: a site on a busy route into town reaches far more people than a quiet side street. Posters can also be damaged by wind and rain or torn by vandalism, and because anyone can see them, targeting is limited to whoever happens to be in that place.

For example, a new climbing wall opens near a retail park. A large poster at the entrance to the car park is seen by families who already drive there each weekend, which is exactly the audience the owner wants. A poster in a distant village might cost just as much but reach almost none of them.

Posters and billboards suit a business with a simple, visual message that wants to build local awareness, such as a shop, an event or a local service. They are less suitable when customers need detailed information or are spread across the country rather than gathered in one area.

Cinema advertising shows adverts on the big screen before a film begins. Advertisers use large-screen visuals and surround sound to create impact, so a product can look dramatic and the message can be more memorable than in a quiet, static advert.

Why cinema can work

• Cinema audiences are a captive audience: they are seated in a dark room waiting for the film, so they are likely to watch the adverts rather than walk past them.
• It can target by film, location and audience type. For example, a seller of walking boots could advertise before a mountain adventure film in cinemas near national parks: the film attracts people who enjoy the outdoors, and the cinemas are in places where those customers live or visit.
• It can allow longer adverts than some media, giving time to tell a short story or show several product features rather than one quick image.

Limits to consider

• Cost is high because the advert must be professionally produced for a big screen and the business must pay to place it before films.
• Reach is limited: only cinema-goers see the advert, and many people rarely visit a cinema.
• The advert is shown for a limited time, usually only while that film is popular. Cinema can target a town or region, but it may not suit very local targeting such as one small neighbourhood.
• Viewers may ignore adverts if they arrive late, talk through them, check their phones or leave the screen.

Cinema advertising is appropriate when a business has a visual, high-impact message for an audience that the film and the cinema's location will attract, and its budget can cover both production and placement. It is a poor fit for a small budget, or for a campaign that must reach a very large number of people quickly.

Television advertising broadcasts audio-visual adverts, with pictures, sound and movement, to a mass audience. Adverts appear in breaks during and between programmes on television channels and streaming services.

Why television works well

Television gives mass reach. One campaign can put a product in front of millions of people within days, so television can build brand awareness quickly, as viewers see the logo and hear the jingle again and again.

It can also target its audience to some extent. A business picks a channel, a programme and a time of day to match its target market, such as a toy advert in a Saturday morning children's slot or a savings advert during early evening family viewing.

Television adverts can be powerful and credible. Professional-looking adverts can make even a new business look established and trustworthy, which can persuade customers to buy.

Drawbacks

• Cost: making an advert is very expensive, and buying airtime costs a great deal too. Repeating it adds to the bill.
• Wasted budget: a mass audience contains many people who will never buy the product, so a lot of the spending reaches outside the target market.
• Short-lived: a typical advert lasts about 30 seconds, so it must be repeated often to be remembered.
• Easy to miss: viewers may fast-forward recorded adverts, leave the room or simply ignore them.

When television suits a business

Television suits a larger business with a broad target market and the budget for high-quality production and repeated broadcasts. For example, a company launching a range of family board games could advertise on a popular channel during weekend family viewing to reach parents and children at the same time. It is not usually suitable for a business with a small budget, such as a one-person bicycle repair workshop, or for a campaign that needs precise targeting at low cost, because a small budget cannot buy enough airtime and the audience is far wider than the nearby customers it needs.

Social media advertising uses social media platforms to promote a product. The content may be business-generated or third-party-generated.

Who creates the content?

Strengths

• It can be free or low cost, which suits a small budget.
• Posts can use video and audio to show a product in action; for example, a phone-case maker could post a clip of a case being fitted.
• Platform tools can target specific audiences, so the advert is more likely to reach people who might buy.
• It can be interactive: customers can give feedback, share posts and follow links.
• Results can be measured through likes, shares, clicks and views, showing whether people respond.
• It can reach customers internationally, not just locally.

Limitations

• Some customers do not use social media, so reach is limited. It may not suit a target audience that avoids those platforms.
• Adverts may be scrolled past or ignored. Many followers are already interested in the business, so posts may not win many new customers.
• Updating and monitoring posts takes time, and negative comments can damage the business's reputation.

A website is a digital advertising medium: a set of pages a business puts online to give customers information and promote its products. Customers visit whenever they choose, so it works like an advert that never closes.

What a website can do well

A website has far more room than a poster or a radio advert, so it can give detailed information such as sizes, materials, prices and delivery options, and it can use multimedia content like photos, video and sound. A customer can study every product without asking a member of staff. Because the business controls the pages, they are available all the time and can be updated quickly — a wrong price can be corrected in minutes rather than reprinted.

A website can reach a global audience: anyone with a connection can view it, wherever they live. It can also support online sales by letting customers order and pay straight away, so the advert and the till are in the same place. Website traffic and responses can be measured: the business sees how many people visited, which pages they opened and how many clicked to buy. For example, a business selling printed t-shirts could see that 400 people viewed its size guide but only 15 ordered, so it rewrites the guide.

Drawbacks

• It needs promotion. A new site is one of millions, so the business must tell people its web address through other promotion, or nobody visits.
• Design, hosting and maintenance cost money and time. The pages must be designed, a host paid to keep the site online, and products and prices kept up to date.
• Customers need internet access and a device, which some people lack or find awkward.
• It may be ignored amid competition, so it must be easy to find, for instance by appearing high in search results.

When a website suits a business

It suits a business whose customers are online, that can drive them to the site through other promotion, and that wants to give detail or sell online. It is less suitable when the target audience has little internet access, or when the business cannot afford to keep the site promoted.

Online banners are adverts that appear as strips or boxes on webpages. Pop-ups are adverts that open over the top of webpage content, sometimes in a smaller window. Both are digital advertising media and carry a short promotional message rather than a full explanation.

Why businesses use them

• They can be targeted by choosing websites or using browsing behaviour, so adverts reach people who have shown interest. A pet food seller could advertise on a dog-owners' website.
• They are usually low cost compared with television or cinema, and the business can often set a daily spending limit.
• They are measurable: the business can count views and clicks to judge whether the advert worked.
• They can include a link to the business website, taking an interested customer straight to the product page to buy.
• They can be visual and attention-grabbing, using bright colours, animation or a striking photo.

Drawbacks

• Online banners may be ignored, because users are so used to seeing them that they stop noticing them.
• Pop-ups can annoy users, and browsers or ad blockers may block them, so the message is never seen.
• Both carry limited information: there is only room for a short message, so a product that needs explaining needs another medium.
• Intrusive adverts, especially pop-ups that cover reading or are hard to close, can damage the business image.
• They may not work on all devices: a banner designed for a laptop may be cut off or hard to use on a phone.

When they suit a business

They suit a business that wants a low-cost, visual link to its website and can reach people through particular websites or browsing behaviour. For example, a small running clothing brand could place a banner on a running club's website with a bright jacket photo and a link to its checkout. They are less suitable when the message needs detail, or when annoying users would harm the brand.

SMS text advertising sends short text messages to customers' mobile phones. The advert arrives as a notification on a device that people check many times a day.

Why SMS works

• Targeted: a business can text the customers whose contact details it holds, so the message reaches people who have signed up or bought before.
• Low cost: each text costs only a few pence, so a small business can reach hundreds of customers for a fraction of the cost of a radio or newspaper advert.
• Read quickly: a text appears as a notification the moment it is sent, and many people check their phone within minutes, so the message is hard to miss — ideal for a spare appointment slot or a launch happening that day.
• A link to the website: the text can carry a link so the customer taps straight through to book or buy.

For example, a barber with a quiet afternoon texts regulars: "Hi Sam, a 4pm chair has freed up today — tap to book." Short, personal, and the customer can act immediately.

Limits and risks

• Very little detail: texts must be short, so there is no room for photos, specifications or terms — the website has to carry those.
• Annoying: a message that interrupts can irritate people, and many delete it unread, especially when the sender is unfamiliar.
• Blocked or opted out: a customer can block the number or reply STOP, and the business then loses that contact.
• Permission needed: a business may text only people whose numbers it holds and who have agreed to receive messages, so lists build slowly.
• Out-of-date lists: people change mobile numbers, so texts are wasted on phones that no longer belong to the customer.
• Spam and fraud fears: scam texts are common, so an unfamiliar sender lowers trust; naming the business clearly inside the message helps.

SMS suits a business with a database of consenting customers and a short, urgent message or link. It is weaker for building wide reach or explaining a product in detail.

A podcast is a digital audio programme that listeners can download or stream, often as episodes on a topic such as cooking or gaming. When a business pays for a promotional message in a podcast, or controls its own series, this is podcast advertising: a digital advertising medium, not a non-digital one like a poster.

Why a business might use podcast advertising

• Targeting by interest: podcasts are built around a subject, so a business can choose a show whose listeners share its customers' interests.
• Engaged audience: listeners choose to download or stream the episode, so they are likely to be interested in the subject.
• Detailed audio messages: an advert or a segment read by the host can talk through a product for 30 seconds or more, explaining how it works.
• Sponsorship: a business can pay to be named as a sponsor of a series, so its name is repeated in every episode.
• Relatively low cost: producing and placing a podcast advert is usually much cheaper than television or cinema advertising.

Drawbacks to weigh up

• Podcasts have a smaller audience than mass media, so reach is limited.
• They are audio only, so you cannot show what a product looks like or how it is used.
• Podcast adverts need production, and running your own series also needs hosting, which takes time and money.
• Listeners may skip adverts by fast-forwarding.
• Results can be difficult to measure, because it is hard to tell how many listeners heard an advert and then bought.

Worked example: a small business selling beekeeping starter kits sponsors a beekeeping podcast. The host reads a minute-long message describing each kit, which suits hobbyists who are already interested and costs far less than a television campaign. However, the show has only a few thousand listeners, the kits cannot be shown, and the owner cannot easily count how many sales came from the message.

Podcast advertising suits a business with an audio message for a specialist or engaged audience, where detailed talk or sponsorship can build interest. It is less suitable when a product needs to be shown visually or the campaign needs mass reach.

A vlog is a video blog: a series of short videos posted online, often on a video-sharing site. A blog is written online content, usually made up of articles or posts. Both are digital media a business can use to promote itself and its products.

Why they are useful

Vlogs and blogs can give detailed information that a short advert cannot fit, such as how a product works, who it is for or what happens behind the scenes. Showing that detail over time helps build trust, because customers see the business explaining things openly and consistently. Posts can be shared by customers or other people, and they usually remain online for a long time, so someone can find an old post months later. They can also be low cost to produce: a phone camera, a free blogging platform and some time may be enough. They can mix video, audio and text: a blog can set out written steps with photos and video, while a vlog can show a product in use with spoken and on-screen explanation.

Limitations

Both need regular content and time to maintain. A blog not updated for months looks neglected and a vlog channel with no new videos loses viewers, and filming and editing take effort. Posts may be ignored or seen as biased, because the business is promoting itself and readers know that. They may have limited reach and depend on an audience: without followers, shares or good search results, few people see them. They can also attract negative comments, which other customers can read.

For example, a board game café could publish a weekly blog explaining game rules and a monthly vlog of a game night. This gives fans detailed, useful content and builds trust, but the café must keep posting and replying to comments. A business that can commit to regular content and wants to give detail to an interested audience is a good fit; one that cannot keep updating, or needs immediate mass reach, may find vlogs and blogs less suitable.

Reach, targeting and measurability are three criteria you can use to judge an advertising medium. They help you compare media by how many people they can expose your message to, how precisely they can aim it at your customers, and how easily you can tell whether the advert has been seen and has worked.

Reach is the number or range of people a medium can expose to the message. A medium with high reach can put your advert in front of a large audience, but that audience may include many people outside your target market. Those extra views can waste part of the budget, so high reach is not automatically efficient.

Targeting is how well a medium can focus the message on a particular audience. Precise targeting means fewer wasted views, but it may also mean limited reach because only a small group is being aimed at. For example, an advert in a specialist climbing magazine targets climbers well, but far fewer people will see it than a poster at a busy train station.

Measurability is how easily a business can judge whether advertising has been seen and has worked. A medium that gives clear responses, such as clicks or codes, is easier to measure than one where you cannot tell who noticed the advert.

These criteria involve trade-offs. A cheap medium may still be inappropriate if it does not reach the target audience. When comparing media, weigh how well each one balances reach, targeting and measurability for the campaign, rather than assuming more reach or lower cost is always better.

An advertising medium is appropriate when it reaches the intended customers effectively and efficiently for the budget and campaign aims. Efficiently means it does not waste money on people outside your target market. A cheaper medium is not automatically more appropriate if it misses your target audience. The right choice matches your target audience and their media habits: a medium your customers already use is more appropriate than one they ignore.

Matching the audience and the message

Think about who you want to reach. If you run a board game café aimed at families, social media posts and local posters may reach them, while a national radio campaign would waste money on people too far away. The medium should also suit the product, the message and the level of detail needed. A product that needs to be seen may suit a medium with strong images, while a service may need space to explain what is included. A simple “game night every Friday” message works on a poster, but a detailed explanation of membership benefits needs a website or a leaflet.

Location, reach and timescale

The medium must suit the location of your target market and the reach you need. A local business can use local newspapers or posters; a national business needs media that covers the whole country. Consider the timescale of the campaign and how quickly you need a response. A short campaign to fill a weekend event might use SMS texts to existing customers or social media adverts, while a longer brand-building campaign could use magazines.

Context and justifying a recommendation

The same medium can be appropriate for one business and inappropriate for another. Television advertising suits a large business with a big budget and a mass audience, but it is inappropriate for a small café with a local customer base. When you recommend a medium, compare the advantages and disadvantages of each option and justify your choice using the business context. A decision on its own is not enough: explain why the advantages matter for this business and why the disadvantages are acceptable or outweighed.