TV and radio ads create memorable connections

Many marketing experts agree that the electronic mediums of radio and television are the best outlets to use when establishing memorable brands.

While a mix of advertising mediums, including print and Web, are essential when establishing your brand and awareness in the marketplace, brands that invest in television and radio stack the deck in becoming memorable.

Without looking too far down the page, see if you can connect the slogan with the brand:

It takes a licking and keeps on ticking.

Be all that you can be.

Melts in your mouth, not in your hands.

Good to the last drop.

The brands, connected to the above slogans, are as follows: Timex, United States Army, M&Ms and Maxwell House coffee. How do you recall first seeing or hearing these slogans? Most likely, you remember them from radio or TV advertisements.

Electronic not for everyone

Let's face it, radio and TV ads aren't for a lot of businesses. This is especially true for companies that sell business-to-business products or serve limited geographic areas. For many of those businesses, nothing beats the targeted circulation zones of newspapers or the captive audiences of trade magazines.

By way of example, a company selling restaurant equipment would best leverage its budget with direct mail to food venues, and an accounting firm would likely find its best dollar spent advertising in newspaper business sections or trade publications. While these broad generalizations of strategies have many exceptions, electronic media doesn't make sense for everyone.

But for many companies and products, electronic advertising that reaches the right groups can be an outstanding vehicle.

There is no denying the power of radio and TV and the compelling connections they can create with audiences.

Do you remember hearing a radio commercial that pulled on your heartstrings and brought a tear to your eye, but then you realized you were crying over a commercial for insurance?
How often have you felt patriotic while watching a TV ad for a politician where a narrator talks about the candidate while showing images like people in front of pickup trucks in a cornfield, a business owner standing proud in front of a Main Street shop and a fireman with a Dalmatian, washing a fire truck?

Don't feel gullible if ads like these ignited an emotion for you. Electronic media has the ability to touch your senses in the right places. Well-crafted radio and TV advertisements are designed to create an emotional connection between you and a product.

Evaluate if your business is a good candidate for radio or TV. Ask yourself: is it an efficient use of financial resources to cover your bases, or will it market to too broad of an audience for the narrow consumer group you are looking to attract?

If advertising on radio or TV can reach your targeted audiences, their power of creating emotional connections and memorable brands will serve you well.

Josh Sommers is president and CEO of Focus Media, a marketing and public relations firm serving the Hudson Valley. He can be reached at josh@advertisingandpr.com or 796-3342, ext. 303. Read his blog at focusonmarketing.blogspot.com, or visit www.advertisingandpr.com. His column appears Fridays.