Post 11: Effectiveness of Pre-testing Advertisements

Pre-testing ads is important to make changes to an advertisement before it is publicly viewed. A viewer's perception can be altered based on what the ad represents and what changes can be made to it before the world is exposed to it. Marketers pre-test ads to measure reactions about a product or service. A type of pre-testing is called portfolio tests where people respond with what they remember or "recall" from the ads that are presented to them (Belch 615). Portfolio testing incorporates advertisements that can be compared and contrasted from one another based on creativity and other factors. Marketers may not want to use portfolio testing as a pre-testing method because viewers may recall various aspects of an ad and it would not yield sufficient results. There is also an issue of "low involvement" that is associated with advertisements that lack the same features as another ad.

Another type of pre-testing is measuring physiological features in advertisements and commercials. This pre-testing focuses on "involuntary responses" to an ad which is a driving force behind many impulsive buying behavior choices (Belch 618). Different types of physiological measuring include: pupil dilation, galvanic skin responses, eye tracking, and brain waves. Pupil dilation shows if the viewer likes or dislikes a product/service in an ad by how big or small the pupils shift. Galvanic skin responses focus on a person's skin resisting currents that pass throughout the body. Eye tracking is when a person's eyes advert towards or away from an image. Brain waves determine frequencies in the brain while looking at an image. All of these physiological measurements have advantages of conducting data about whether people respond to specific advertisements. However, each aspect of tracking and measuring also have disadvantages on what type of people to test, how many to test, and if the tests are effective or ineffective.

Pre-testing has the purpose of improving advertisements and commercials to the best level they can be before showing them to the world and potentially gaining or losing advertising funds. It is the fundamental type of testing that can start when rough ideas are still being passed around and it can be a testing tool right before a final idea is executed to the public. The main advantage is that "feedback is inexpensive" but the main disadvantage is that when an idea is still in a rough draft phase, it may not communicate the same message as it would if it were final and complete.

Post 10: Hands up for blogging!

Blogging is an important advertising platform that many demographic-ranged groups are interested in. Blogs can re-define a brand's image and they can also help define personal images. As Dr. Chung mentioned during her Google Analytics and Buzz Words discussion, a blog is your own personal website. It defines the consumer and advertiser and student's main intention. As all three of those categories currently identify me. I support the interactive media tool of blogging because it follows the trends of integrated marketing communications tools and it can relate easily to any online-user.

An important aspect about blogging is that the personal brand of the blog can be centered around virtually any subject known to mind. My personal blog revolves around a business college course, advertising and promotion tactics, and young adult opinions regarding the outside (and virtual) world. Other blogs may be subjected towards a target audience that enjoys sports, feminism, or horseback riding. The expansion of subjects is what makes a blog so universal and diverse from other forms of interactive media.

Blogging is also a free, fast, and fun way to get a message across. In an advertiser's mind, the cheaper, the better. If I am trying to advertise a certain message on a blog, I am free to do so without paying a fortune for ad-space (ex: on a paid website). For cost purposes, blogs are a great outlet to sell a message or persuade a specific audience into purchasing a product or service. It is also effective for advertisers due to the wide range of subjects people blog about. For example, if an artist on Pinterest is interested in advertising her cupcake designing kits, she can utilize the many blogs out there that revolve around baking/cupcakes/decorating pastries. Pinterest (link provided above) is a new type of blogging that centers around picture blogging vs. words. It has a newer online presence that redefines the way people make projects, look at the world, and follow certain trends. Although it is not based off of factual information, it has been popular in the online world.

Another example of cheap blogging opportunities may be a New York fashion student maintaining a blog about her latest clothing trends in the city. A start up business who just opened a boutique in a completely different city may be interested in placing her ad's on the student's blog because the subject matter is similar and wealthy New York customers may read the student's blog and then shop at the start up business's store. This often happens on Blogger or on Tumblr. Both websites are infamous for utilizing images and words to create a personalized brand.

Many people distrust blogging because it is not a "legitimate" source of information (Belch 508). Although there are some blogs out there that do not infuse factual information with educated opinion, blogging is also an emotional outlet tool that consumers can follow for pleasure or fun. These types of blogs cater to consumers who may also enjoy watching certain TV programs for fun or who just like to browse the internet for new information. A blog that used to have a popular online presence was Xanga but they recently experienced a funding problem. In order to use that website, a subscription must be paid for, which may encourage advertisers to seek out opportunities on that website.

Post 9: nonprofit work and direct marketing

Direct marketing is defined as “organizations communicate directly with target customers to generate a response or transaction” (Belch 474). Regarding nonprofit organizations, employers or advocates of nonprofit sectors must communicate with the community as their customers. Nonprofits must use the cause they are advocating to be the message that they want to portray through direct marketing.

This past weekend I visited Washington D.C. for an Unlocking Nonprofits: Careers and Innovations seminar sponsored by the Public Leadership Education Network (PLEN). As a nonprofit organization, PLEN conveys the message of offering college-aged women the opportunity of education around various topics including nonprofit work, science and engineering fields, and other forms of advocacy. PLEN uses integral aspects of direct marketing such as direct mail, print, and the online sphere (474). I found out about this opportunity through the internet and through Chatham which attributes to the technological advances that direct marketing has endured.

Regarding the specific nonprofit organizations that took part of the seminar, each organization had employers represent their cause by reaching out to the audience through promotional strategies. For example, Jennifer Lockwood Shabat spoke on behalf of her organization, Washington Area Women’s Foundation. She focuses on reproductive health rights for women specifically in D.C. During her talk to the seminar participants, she combined direct marketing with public relations by discussing “direct-response techniques” that are incorporated within her nonprofit (476). Her talk consisted of a lot of research that she has been conducting around the subjects of women’s health. She also participates in the grant-writing process where she is able to write grants to get money for her organization as well as rewarding grants to other nonprofits that need start-up funds. She gave the audience promotional materials such as her business card and other print media filled with information about her organization. 

One of direct marketing’s objectives is to “stimulate repeat purchases” (479). Although this does not correlate as much with nonprofit work, it does hold some weight in the decisions consumers can make about which nonprofit organizations they will donate to, work for, or volunteer with. Nonprofit organizations work like businesses: they have to make profits. Although volunteer work has a nonmonetary value, it is an important aspect to keeping nonprofits up and running and making a difference.

Post 7/8: publicity.

"Any publicity is good publicity."

This phrase brings many things to mind: Miley Cyrus's publicity antics, celebrities endorsing potato chips, and loads of sexist advertisements displayed throughout popular women's fashion magazines. i also think about my business textbook's advantages and disadvantages of publicity. It's important to remember that publicity has no control or no filter as to what is published in the media and to what extent. Belch describes publicity as "sources that are not confined by standards" which means that social networks can get a hold of all information and spin it to have many positive/negative meanings (589). For example, Miley Cyrus's recent displays of using drugs or wearing drug related paraphernalia can dissuade consumers from listening to her music. Even if she may be doing illegal activities in her personal spare time, her celebrity status signifies that anything she does is public information.

Good or bad publicity also relies on timing. Belch describes publicity's time issue as being "completely under the control of the marketer" (589). Relating to a specific celebrity's status, good advertising should depend on the celebrity's current or recent status in the media. For example, if Katy Perry had just done something illegal and it showed up in the press, companies would not want Perry endorsing or marketing new products under the market's name. McCracken's meaning transfer process is described through the various stages a celebrity's meaning is transferred onto the product and vice versa. Katy Perry's status, class, gender, age, personality, and lifestyle would be included in a consumer's choice of whether or not to purchase the product she is endorsing (190).

Despite timing and lack of control, Belch also mentions publicity needing to have accuracy when being generated. A lot of publicity's messages could get "lost in translation" due to the person advertising it or the message not being clear enough. This could constitute as bad publicity if the consumer does not understand the product or service's purpose. For example, Target Corporation recently experienced a data breach with their credit card services. To make up for the bad publicity that they dealt with as a company, they began offering 1-year free credit monitoring for all customers who felt betrayed by the company. This action began generating new (and positive) publicity so that their stocks could increase and customers would become brand loyal again.