Choosing an advertising medium

Choosing an advertising medium means deciding where to place adverts so the right people see or hear them. The choice depends on the budget, how many people it reaches, how precisely it can target the people the business wants to reach, how long the advert lasts, and whether images, sound or interaction are needed.

Medium	Advantages	Disadvantages
Leaflets	Cheap to produce and distribute; can mix text, images and graphics.	Often seen as junk mail and ignored, so their effect is short-lived.
Newspapers	Can target a local area; allow longer advertorials (adverts that look like articles).	No animation, sound or video; read and thrown away quickly; readership is falling.
Magazines	Target a shared interest; last longer; often read by several people; glossy images.	Long planning, costly, limited reach, and the advert can be lost among others.
Radio	Affordable; wide audience; jingles grab attention and stay in memory; can be timed for audiences.	No visual appeal; listeners pay limited attention; limited research data; audiences split across stations.
Posters and billboards	Reach large audiences; big formats create impact and build brand awareness.	Can be unnoticed; poor for targeting a specific audience; usually short-term.
Cinema	Captive audience; large screen and sound for impact; can be targeted by film.	Very expensive to produce; audience may not be interested in the product.

A medium should be judged against the budget, target audience and the message that must be conveyed, not assumed to be best because it is expensive or modern. For example, a pottery painting studio with £150 to advertise to local families might choose leaflets or a local newspaper rather than cinema: cinema costs far more and its audience may not want a craft session. A magazine for craft hobbyists could target a shared interest well, but it costs more and needs booking well ahead.

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