Page 216 - DMGT507_SALES AND PROMOTIONS MANAGEMENT

Sales and Promotions Management

Notes advertisements might occasionally include samples of certain products, such as fragrances, or
deodorants whose scent is important. All these techniques in magazine advertising are attempts
to breakthrough the advertising clutter and grab the attention of readers.

Permanence

As mentioned earlier, a limitation of newspapers is that they are generally dumped or thrown
after being read. Similarly, TV and radio ads typically deliver fleeting messages that have a very
short span of life; only magazines are an exception in this regard.
People generally read magazines over several days and retain them at home for reference
longer than any other medium. Many readers refer to magazines on several occasions and can
be exposed to ads on multiple occasions. Often more than one family member reads a magazine
and these are also passed on to friends and acquaintances. Magazine reading is less hurried and
offers an opportunity to examine any ad more thoroughly. For ads of expensive, complex, risky,
or ego-intensive products or services, which are categorised as high-involvement informational
or transformational, advertising can use long and detailed copy to communicate effectively
with consumers.

Reader Involvement

Readers generally purchase magazines for their information value. The ads furnish additional
information about products and services that may prove to be valuable in making purchase
decision. The more highly educated a reader, the more thorough is the reading of magazine.
Reader involvement is related to the credibility and content relationship readers develop with
their preferred magazines. Unlike ads in broadcast media, magazine ads are non-intrusive and
the reader can always ignore any of them without effort. Magazines are considered as a more
reliable source of information and consumers read ads with interest.

Limitations

As an advertising medium, magazines offer many valuable advantages to advertisers, but despite
many advantages there are problems that must be considered by media planners. These problems
include high costs of advertising, their limited reach and frequency, long lead-time for placing
the ads, and the problem of increasingly heavy advertising competition and clutter.

High Costs

Magazines are among the most expensive media on CPM basis and in a valued mass-circulation
magazine, such as India Today or Reader's Digest, advertising can be quite expensive. Many
advertisers use quality magazines as a niche supplement in their media schedule. The cost of ad
space in magazines varies according to the size of audience they reach and the degree of selectivity.
Advertisers with limited budgets may be interested in the absolute costs of ad space and costs of
producing quality advertisements for such publications.

Limited Reach and Frequency

Quite a few magazines in India (both Hindi and English) have higher circulation figures than
English dailies. Magazines published in English have their reach in all the regions. Hindi and
some regional-language magazines have large circulation but their readership is confined to
certain regions only. To reach a broad market area, media planners must make media buys in a
number of magazines. If media strategy is based on broad reach, magazines are used in
combination with other media. A large number of magazines are either monthly or fortnightly

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