Steps in advertising

The third step is to find the best way to advertise this selling point. They may choose some catchy name, like "pearls," or "beads," to describe the suds made by their soap. Or they may decide to use a certain kind of picture that will surely attract the attention of these women. Or they may decide to pay some famous person to "endorse" the soap, because experience has shown that the name and picture of a famous person will usually attract attention to an ad. Once they have decided, the produc­tion department will take over.

The pro­duction men will find the best writers, the best artists, the best layout men. They will plan ads that are very appealing in words and appearance. The next step is to select the media. Suppose the survey has shown that this particular kind of soapsuds appeals most to women whose husbands earn about $4,000 a year and live in medium-sized towns. The media expert will look for any magazine and newspaper that is read by women whose husbands earn about $4,000 and live in medium-sized towns. He will not spend the advertiser's money on magazines and newspapers that sell chiefly to richer women or to poorer women, or in bigger cities, or in smaller towns. At this point the media department of the agency will present to the client a "schedule." This will be a list of the newspapers and magazines in which the agency thinks the ad ought to appear, with the dates on which the agency thinks the ad should run, and with the price of each ad.

The cost of an ad depends partly on the circulation—number of readers— of the publication. It depends partly on the quality of this circulation. A publica­tion whose readers are rich can charge more than a publication whose readers are poor. Publications with rich readers are called "class" media. Their readers buy more, because they can afford to. The advertising business is so well organized that all kinds of information are available to every agency and adver­tiser.