An Introduction To The Various Marketing Channels

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There are many different ways to market a product. In order to determine which one is best for your product, service, or event, it is important to have a good understanding of each channel—how it works, whom it reaches, and how cost effective it is. Keep in mind that marketing is a media that is rapidly changing. A medium that worked well several years ago may now be in decline, while a medium that did not exist several years ago may be on the rise. While all of these mediums will be addressed in greater depth later, some basic principles of each are below.

Television
Advertising on TV enables one to reach many niche markets through premium channels on satellite or cable. It also enables one to reach perhaps the largest slice of the public at one time—with primetime television shows such as American Idol reaching over 20 million viewers at a given time.

Radio
Radio advertising can be a very helpful way to reach a localized market at a cost-effective price. Specialized programming can also help to target niche audiences.

Print
Print advertising can take on many forms. ...
... It can include anything from ads in The New York Times to ads in Sports Illustrated to ads in the local newspaper. Cost depends on how large the ad is and how large the readership is. However, in certain industries, especially the health care industry, print is seen as a great way to communicate a lot of information to a carefully targeted viewer (since one can determine who is reading a magazine, and there are magazines on nearly any given topic).

Collateral
Collateral is the term used for all marketing materials that are printed/produced but do not fall in the other categories. Brochures are great examples of collateral. Postcards are another good example.

Outdoor
Outdoor advertisements refers to advertisements on billboards and other outdoor signage seen by a perspective buyer. While billboards are the most common form, a sign or window card might also serve the same purpose (though many would consider the window card to be collateral).

Internet
The Internet is the fastest growing area for advertising, providing many different opportunities and payment structures. It enables advertising on carefully targeted sites, search engines, and sites that reach a larger audience, such as cnn.com.

Promotional Items
Promotional items provide a more individualized approach to marketing a given product. Promotional items enable the individual to have something to take away with them that reminds them of a given product. If the promotional product is a product that they use in their everyday life, they may be reminded of the sponsor every time they look at it, such as hotel shampoo bottles. Other promotional products, such as t-shirts and pens, can have an exponential effect, by exposing those who see it to the product, event, or service as well.

Other opportunities
There are many other opportunities for marketing. Brand placement is becoming increasingly popular, as are advertisements in video games. New opportunities are emerging daily.

An important thing to consider when evaluating the different marketing opportunities available is the cost overhead for each. For example, it can be very expensive to produce a television ad—especially if there is a large star involved. Internet and print ads are generally easier and cheaper to make. However, in all cases, there are exceptions.