The purpose of this final ad testing
The study was carried out by students to find out various aspects that contribute to effective marketing communication. These targeted various methods of communicating to customers and evaluated their efficiency and effectiveness. Effectiveness of marketing communication tools is extremely valuable because it helps marketers to pass the intended message to their customers without having to waste a lot of resources (Duncan 2002, p.98).
In fact, every organization has cost reduction and profit maximization as its main objectives. This means that if marketers are able to reach as many customers as possible by incurring minimal costs, then the organization remains on the right development track. Therefore, marketers should make sure that they come up with effective advertisements that reach customers in the most appropriate manner.
For instance, the message should be accompanied by various aspects that will attract the target audience hence influencing their decisions towards the products in subject. Advertisements should be designed in a way such that they catch the glimpse of target customers easily. For instance, if marketers want to communicate to females as their target consumers, they should know the colors that seem to appeal to them. In addition, they should include aspects aiming at specific age brackets in order to touch the hearts of their target consumers.
Final advertisements testing were carried to find out how effective they are in reaching customers. In the test, products mostly used by young people were used since the survey was carried in a university set up. This means that the survey wanted to establish whether marketers meet their target in posting advertisements in magazines. This is particularly beneficial because it may help in determining the number of youths who read magazines.
If the number is small, then marketers have to reconsider using magazines as a medium for communicating to their target market. If many youths read magazines, then marketers can take advantage of the situation to advertise their products in magazines. In addition, the final testing of advertisements sought to establish the impact of using colored advertisements to customers.
This is the reason why colored advertisements were tested along advertisements in black and white. These tests were conducted to establish how well customers understood messages in black and white advertisements. Marketers can find out the best way of presenting their advertisements through recommendations made after analyzing results obtained after these tests (Copley 2004, p.47).
A description of the sample of students
The sample of this study was selected from a population of university students. This means that the study targeted people within the age bracket of between 18 and 24 years. These are youths who use specific products targeted by the study. Since there were various products on study, students from both genders were used in the study. This was noteworthy because males and females have differed characteristics hence calling for inclusion of their diverse thoughts.
For instance, female youths may be excited by certain colors or creatures in the world which may seem not to impress their male counterparts. The sample selection was done in a way such that all aspects of gender will be considered. In addition, marketers need to know exactly how youths from different genders perceive their brands. For instance, if they need to market female shoes and other attires, males need to make their comments, as well.
This is terribly valuable because, in many cases, it is men who shop for their girlfriends. This means that marketers should understand what men look at when buying stuffs for their ladies. Therefore, marketers may be able to design advertisements in a way such that both genders are welcomed. The role played by the selected sample in this study is hugely significant because they represent youths in the society.
The sample was selected randomly to ensure that people from various departments participated in the study. This was aimed at ensuring that people from different schools of thoughts were considered. This is crucial because it eliminates chances of influencing outcomes. For instance, if the study targeted marketing students only, chances are high that the result will be manipulated. This is because marketing students may represent some predetermined aspects hence affecting the originality of responses given by participants.
A masterly study should involve participants who give their genuine feelings and responses regarding given questions. In addition, the sample size was relatively small to make sure that adequate time was given to each participant. This ensures that the accuracy of data collected remains high. A lot of information can be obtained by interviewing few participants hence leading to increased accuracy of the report and results obtained.
Testing procedure
The testing procedure was carried out in a way such that participants responded to the questions independently. This means that the setup of the testing room was in a way such that no one was allowed to discuss with each other. This was aimed at ensuring that respondents wrote down what they thought from the advertisements shown to them. First of all, a quiet classroom was set up with four tables arranged in a row.
This was to ensure that each respondent sat on their own table (Fill 2002, p. 56). In addition, there was a projector screen set in a way such that all respondents could view everything displayed on them. This is tremendously beneficial since all the four participants needed to view the images to be displayed onto the screens. Participants were given two booklets for the tests, and this was to make sure that the testing will run simultaneously.
Pens were provided, as well. Then they were instructed not to do anything until they are instructed to do so. The aim of advising them in this dimension was to ensure that they do not get what is expected to be done prior to instructions. This may influence end results since respondents may have more time that which is specified in the study guide.
Respondents were requested to read the first page on their booklet, which introduced them to the entire procedure. Then they were told not to open any other page until they are advised to do so. This was hugely valuable because it ensures that they do not learn about questions to be answered before viewing the images.
Then the students were shown some advertisements through the projector screen. Students were expected to view images and wait until they finish viewing all of them before stating their evaluation. Participants were required to answer questions in their booklets after viewing advertisements on the screen and these questions aided in their evaluations.
The test was completed after involved students answered the set questions which helped in the study (Black 2004, p 101). These questions helped in evaluation of customer perception towards advertisements in magazines. In addition, answers obtained reflected exactly what youths think about advertisements.
Analysis/findings
During analysis of the data obtained it was found that most of students involved in the study found these advertisements particularly appealing. This means that they enjoyed viewing images contained in advertisements displayed on the projector screen. It was also found that students do not read advertisements in magazines. In fact, out of the four participants no one confessed that they read advertisements in magazines.
This means that this would be an exceedingly poor platform to market products targeting youths. It can be a waste of resources since they do not have time to read advertisements in magazines and this may end up into losses. Furthermore, youths do not buy magazines and those who buy are guided by their own interests such as entertainment. This means that youths rarely buy magazines that may contain advertisements of brands that concern them.
After viewed several advertisements and then asked to list advertisements that they can remember from the display, they all remembered given advertisements such as mountain dew and SkyDrive (Adcock 2000, p. 73). This means that, among all advertisements displayed to the students, they remembered those concerning brands they need in their lives.
The rest was not relevant to them, and this means that marketers need to understand what consumer tastes and preferences are before coming up with advertisements. Half of the students involved in the study did not remember an advertisement on data storage. This means that according to them, they may not be in need of data storage devices or have little information about such devices.
All participants said that they were familiar with SkyDrive. This means that they might have learnt about it in their lives. Therefore, the terminology was not a new one to them. However, they denied having any experience with SkyDrive and further they said that they were quite unknowledgeable about the device.
In addition, all participants said that they had never seen an advertisement on SkyDrive before the study. This means that young people do not take time to see what is in magazines. Marketers of SkyDrive should look for other medium of communicating to university students since it is evident from the study that students do not read advertisements on magazines.
The four participants thought that the advertisements were displayed to test whether they were enjoyable to viewers. In addition, they though that displayed advertisements were to show whether they were well written (Conrad 2004, p.26). This means that these students had no idea about any message being communicated in those advertisements.
The advertisement in black and white was ruled out by most of the participants. In fact, they liked the advertisement in color and confessed that it was more relevant to university students since it contained various gadgets that are used by university students.
Recommendations/conclusions
From findings and results of the study, marketers can be recommended to carryout market research exceedingly well to identify other modes of communicating to their target groups. This means that they should consider platforms where youths spend most of their time such as televisions sets and entertainment joints. In addition, they should make sure that their advertisements comprise of attractive colors and contain clear messages for customers to decode.
Other marketing communication tools should be administered in reaching the target market, as well. For instance, SkyDrive marketers should consider having promotions in universities to enable more youth to learn about the product.
Finally, marketers should make sure that they convey intelligible messages that customers can understand. It was worrying to learn that participants in this study could hardly decode messages contained in the advertisements. Instead, they just acknowledged the entertainment element in those advertisements.
References
Adcock, D 2000, Marketing Strategies for Competitive Advantage, John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey.
Black, J 2004, Integrated Marketing Communications, College and University, Vol. 80, PP 56-69.
Conrad, M. J 2004, Resource Economics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Copley, P 2004, Marketing Communications Management: Concepts and Theories, Cases and Practices, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford.
Duncan, T. 2002, IMC; Using Advertising and Promotion to Build Brands, 1st Ed, McGraw Hill, New York.
Fill C. 2002, Marketing Communications; Contexts, Strategies and Applications, 3ed, Prentice Hall, New Jersey.