By Abiola Ayankunbi
Media informs, educates and entertains; this must however be done profitably because it is not a charity organization. Print media has tangible products- newspapers while electronic media has intangible products; just services. Satisfaction of the target audience will lead to repurchase and revenue generation. Information business must give considerable attention to marketing communications.
It must be known that contents drive the reach while the reach brings about the much needed advertising revenue. It is true that “reader service” increases the cost of operation but the growth may not be achieved without it.
Marketing communication includes both strategies and tactics but strategies must come before tactics. Strategies to sustain continuous inflow of income must therefore be in place.
According to Wikipedia, marketing communication includes advertising, promotions, sales, branding, campaigning, and online promotion. It can therefore be deduced that marketing communications mix is a set of tools that can be used to deliver a clear and consistent message to the target audiences thereby earning revenue. How much of this are media firms making use of?
For example, it attracts no cost to place an advert in one’s medium. There are many newspapers who have not advertised their menus in their newspapers in the last six months; they do whenever there is a need for filler.
Besides, majority of the media managers of the concerned firms cannot easily recollect the menus that are being served their readers on a daily basis i.e from Monday – Sunday. This is not good enough.
Most newspapers make their platforms available as advertising medium or vehicle of communication for other products to the detriment of theirs.
Promotion is any non-face-to-face activity, concerned with the promotion of sales or any below-the-line advertising expenditure. There are various ways open to a newspaper company to boost its sales efforts sales of which experts would be of immense assistance. The watchword is that once a news item is discovered, there is a need to celebrate it by informing the readers in the language appreciated by them.
Most media firms pay attention to sales but in a very wrong direction. A sale refers to a positive proposition expected to be adopted by the media managers in order to win a favourable response from the target markets. Study carried out by AbingMO3 Marketing Management Consultancy revealed that 80% of total sales are earned from the 5% of the total sales locations. For example, The Sun, The Punch, Vanguard and Daily Trust newspapers owned by an Igbo, a Yoruba, a Deltan and an Hausa in that order sell highest number of copies of their respective newspapers in South East, South West, South South and Northern areas respectively.
These newspapers could have seized the comparative advantages being enjoyed by them in their respective catchment areas by introducing differential pricing strategy. This would have led to an active support by readers in continuing purchasing of their newspapers in the face of competition by other branded substitutes; such loyalty is often subjective.
Implementation of the sales strategies especially mounting of a specific selling operation for a particular newspaper, a market segment, or a geographical area in isolation from the normal sales activity is highly and visibly lacking.
Branding is an established newspaper name, wholly of a proprietary nature, and usually listed within the Register of Patents. Newspapers name differentiates one from another while they are the same in the news and near sameness in the news presentations. Virtually, all the media firms are fishing in the same river. This has caused the brand share percentage to be fluctuating especially when percentage sales of a given newspaper is related to its total market.
Media firms are not giving the needed attention to campaign as a means of increasing both the copy and advert sales. This is a planned, organized, and continuing effort to gain a specific objective. To be sincere, there is an absence of campaign plans.
It is good to note that there is an encouragement in terms of online promotion; the tempo must be sustained and improved upon.
The biggest advertisers after governments are multi-national companies that are asking for circulation figures and demographic profile of readers.
Having known that contents drive circulation figure which in turn leads to influx of advertising revenue, consolidation and effectiveness of television have reduced advertisers in print advertising. Advertisers in many markets are spending less on print advertising than on other media. Media managers need to bear this in their minds in any decision making process.
Since media firms allow its apparatus to be used in reaching target groups of people, they should make use of the same facility for their own good. The firms should combine marketing mix (product, price, place and promotion) appropriately in such a way as to achieve the greatest effect at minimum cost and to reach predetermined target audiences accordingly.
…Ayankunbi is MD/CEO at AbingMO3 Marketing Management Consultancy.
0802 305 1315
abiolaayankunbi@yahoo.com
