By: Liam Datwani, Account Associate
Almost every company around the world is advertising in some way. This means that there are millions of different messages being pushed onto audiences around the world via TV, radio, paper, posters, social media, internet, and more. This huge amount of clutter has come to define the advertising and public relations industry. So, the question becomes: how do you reach the audience you desire as accurately and impactful as possible? This is where research and data analysis comes in.
Many individuals inside and outside of the advertising industry do not understand the importance of research and data for insights. Beyond the historiographical research into the companies and competitors, deeper research into consumer attitudes, values, and activities is extremely important. There are entire books dedicated to this topic, including the Advertising Education Foundations book. Ironically, the clutter of the advertising marketplace is perfect for collecting data and research into this field. There are many different measurements and tracking programs on the internet that can be used to collect data and research consumers to be more accurate.
This is the main reason that companies like Facebook and Google are secretive about their data collection- because it is sold to a number of different clients including advertisers. However, buying the data is not always necessary. A number of studies have found that social media has allowed companies to simply talk with clients and understand their value systems more easily. In fact, my friends and I have used social media to do surveys and interviews into the attitudes of different consumers. Along with the traditional tracking of product sales and historiographical research into companies, social media research refines the consumer model.
Advertising is extremely complicated at times. It requires a bit of creativity, a bit of practicality, a bit of finance, and a bit of luck. The advertisers have to always be looking into things and trying to understand the consumer as much as they understand the products they are going to sell.