Brooklyndon said:
[Yeah arbitron gives you demographics and geographics. And even that data is somewhat suspect, because it’s biased by the (pseudo-random?) sample, i.e. it tells you something about who got the ppms as much as it tells you about station popularity.
If the sample is proportional to the universe you want to study, that's really all you need.
Can arbitron tell you if your audience likes blackberry over iPhone, if it reads the post or the news, where it goes on vacation, what kind of TV shows it likes, where they bank, what phone carrier they use, how many kids they have, what kind of car they drive (or at least want), who they're favorite celebrity is, if they like cats...etc, because the Internet can.
Custom research of any kind can tell you brand preferences. even what size cereal packages you buy. But as to ongoing consumer behavior, TAPSCAN is considerably better than most web pseudoresearch because the precise demographic characteristics of each person are known via personal interview... in the case of the PPM, dozens, if not hundreds of personal contacts over the time on the panel.
On the internet, I can be 18 or 80, male or female, Asian or European, Black or white. I can earn $1,000,000 a year or be on welfare. I can be in Keokuk and pretend to frequent The Ivey in LA.
With Tapscan, from Arbitron... as I mentioned... you can tell how a station or a format or a cluster indexes on going to LA Galaxy games in SoCal, to name a typical metric
Forget your small sample survey, that's throwing good money after bad. What are you going to do, spend $20,000 to interview 500 people?
The cost depends on the length of the questionnaire, the specifity of the recruit, the response rate of the target group.
And sample size vs. reliability is easily calculated to get the right number of responses for the acceptable margin of error.
How will you even construct a survey without knowing what you want to unlock?
People trained and experienced in the field know how to write questionnaires and trained interviewers are adept at taking respondents through various if / or gates and in following up or not based on verbatims, which often have the clue to information that can be unlocked only with a personal interview and not a pure questionnaire. THis is why more extensive projects often start with one on ones or stratified focus groups to get the "its what they mean, not what they say" out of consumers.
Push and pull media? My marketing management textbook may have misinformed me, but from what I understand, push marketing is getting product into your channels and hoping demand occurs.
Stay away from textbooks.
Broadcast and print and direct mail and billboards are push media. They do not have two-way communication (I'm not talking about people who call in requests or phone talkers) with their constituency. We measure them by separate process. THe internet is pull... the user selects things and brings them to their computer or smartphone; things like popups are push, marketing email is push... and all they are is a replication of the highway billboard and the direct mail piece.
Pull marketing is creating demand in your channels. Radio is extremely limited in its application to create demand. It excels at reminder ads. In my opinion, the only real marketing application for radio is the Dunkin Donuts ad at 8:00 AM, the McDonalds ad at 12:00PM, the Dunkin Donuts ad at 3:00PM, the ExxonMobil ad at 5:00PM, and the Bud Light ad at 5:30PM. I feel those are the only ads that can directly impact behavior.
You just named the quality that makes radio an excellent medium. It is close to point of purchase. If you are thinking about a new pickup truck, you pay attention to the sale at the Ford dealer. That one ad may tip the scales and sell multiple $30 k vehicles. It can make the difference in asking for a Coke or a Pepsi, in stocking up on sumer shirts at Old Navy, etc., etc.
Sharing computers = word of mouth marketing. Wouldn’t it be great if you could tell a wife to tell her husband what razor to buy, using the value proposition tailored specifically for that husband? Instant trust.
Instant failure The beer companies learned long ago that getting a woman to pick up the beer she was sold on was a guarantee for refusal and even family discord. Same for razors, tools, tires, motor oil, boots and jeans, etc. That's why beers use specific channels on radio and TV, and seldom, if ever, promote to women.
Some marketing truths are universal, and totally medium independent. You fit the medium to your message first, then tailor the presentation of the message to the media array you picked.
I just don’t see how radio can be used to build a brand? Even in the case of Disney. Mickey Mouse just doesn’t look the same on the radio.
And the Disney brand is not just Señor Mouse. It is the image of being family friendly, a trusted entertainment source, safety, security, warmth, tradition. If the usage of Radio Disney helps in the ongoing brand reinfocement and building, then it is of value. Remember, we are talking about a company whose headquarters building is "held up" by columns representing the seven dwarfs where making every day a trip to the Magic Castle is the goal.
It’s time to cut costs, keep only the board ops, the engineers, and a single account manager that handles mostly inbound. Between the pay-for-play tracks, let the dj’s play their own music, and save on MD and PD salaries. Run the entire operation out of one national office, no more clusters. Just milk the product for cash as it speeds down the highway to obsolescence. Use the cash to get Cognos and infoSphere integrated with the media player (which I believe will be, after amortization, cheaper than a ratings service subscription) for the sales staff and also to lock up any current talent for the online operation, and develop the core competency in Internet broadcasting before Viacom (which is doing a terrible job at it in my opinion) runs away with all the ad-share.
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