Page 491 - Foundations of Marketing

458 Part 6 | Promotion Decisions

Courtesy of Target Corporation Courtesy of Gap, Inc.

Targeting Different Markets Banana Republic targets a more affluent target audience than Target does.

advertiser knows about the target audience, the more likely the firm is to develop an effective
advertising campaign. When the advertising target is not precisely identified and properly
analyzed, the campaign may fail.

Defining the Advertising Objectives

The advertiser’s next step is to determine what the firm hopes to accomplish with the cam-
paign. Because advertising objectives guide campaign development, advertisers should define
objectives carefully. Advertising objectives should be stated clearly, precisely, and in measur-
able terms. Precision and measurability allow advertisers to evaluate advertising success at
the end of the campaign in terms of whether objectives have been met. To provide precision
and measurability, advertising objectives should contain benchmarks and indicate how far
the advertiser wishes to move from these standards. If the goal is to increase sales, the adver-
tiser should state the current sales level (the benchmark) and the amount of sales increase
sought through advertising. An advertising objective should also specify a time frame so that
advertisers know exactly how long they have to accomplish the objective. An advertiser with
average monthly sales of $ 450 , 000 (the benchmark) might set the following objective: “Our
primary advertising objective is to increase average monthly sales from $ 450 , 000 to $ 540 , 000
within 12 months.”
If an advertiser defines objectives on the basis of sales, the objectives focus on increas-
ing absolute dollar sales or unit sales, increasing sales by a certain percentage, or increasing
the firm’s market share. Even though an advertiser’s long-run goal is to increase sales, not all
campaigns are designed to produce immediate sales. Some campaigns aim to increase product
or brand awareness, make consumers’ attitudes more favorable, heighten consumers’ knowl-
edge of product features, or create awareness of positive, healthy consumer behavior, such as
nonsmoking. If the goal is to increase product awareness, the objectives are stated in terms of

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