Page 139 - Marketing the Basics 2nd

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channel is the medium through which the message travels, and finally the message itself, which is the information the marketer wishes to transmit to the audience. Though this may seem like a simple process, even the best-designed messages face difficulties reaching the audience in the way the marketers intended. Your message has to compete against the thousands of other messages that are also trying to attract attention.
If the message manages to diffuse through the clutter and reach the intended audience, it faces another hurdle: studies estimate the average American adult receives in excess of 3,000 messages everyday. This is not to say that the average American is simply sitting around watching television all day! When a bus goes by, it has multiple messages on the side. A co-worker walks into a meeting wearing a Nike sweater and with a cup of Starbucks coffee, two more examples of exposure to additional messages. It is impossible for a person to absorb and respond to that much information. Rather than being overwhelmed by stimuli, most consumers in have learned to ignore most messages. This creates a huge challenge for marketers.
There are more issues to consider. Over the last two decades, significant changes have occurred in the media industry. Due mostly to technological innovation, the number of channels to reach potential and current customers has exploded. But while the total number of channels has increased, the size of the audience remains relatively stable. In other words, mass-media channels have fragmented into smaller, more focused markets catering to special-interest audiences. Today, there is much more than TV; there are hundreds of satellite radio stations, thousands of podcasts and millions of blogs.
For marketers, media fragmentation is both a boon and a curse. That is, it translates into an opportunity to craft targeted messages to different segments, but it also introduces the risk of introducing conflicting messages. One successful application of this concept is the ‘Malaysia, Truly Asia’ marketing campaign. Tourism Malaysia wanted to increase the number of gap-year backpackers and premier resort seekers visiting the country. Backpackers, believe it or not, are a highly sought after market. Though they might not spend a lot of money, since they tend to visit areas off the beaten