Aim adverts to hit audience bullseye

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PROBLEM

I run Skylark Tours, a small company offering escorted tours. How do we make sure our advertising reaches its intended market? We are running a tour to the Norfolk Island Country Music Festival. How can we make sure country music fans see our ads?

SOLUTION

Michael Kiernan, media strategy manager at Diamond Media, says the company is off to a strong start because it understands its target market.

"Assuming that your ad content and overall creative is targeted towards this audience (country music fans) then your challenge is to execute your campaign in order to get measurable, cost-effective results," he says.

Advertising online would be a strong option. "There are over 17,000 people on Facebook in New Zealand who have a stated interest in country music and you can set up advertising which is only viewed by that audience, and which you only pay for when it is clicked upon.

"It is important to note, however, that online advertising is most successful through a combination of reach and frequency, therefore other options such as keyword-banner advertising (where your ad is shown based on keywords in articles or searches such as 'country music', 'music festival', 'Norfolk Island') and direct search advertising (Google AdWords) are utilised."

He also recommends advertising via the New Zealand Country Music network.

Fleur Revell, managing director of Impact PR, says the company should look for low-cost or even free methods of marketing to minimise wastage. She agrees that Google AdWords would help, because potential customers can be targeted based on their region. She also suggests sending out a press release to relevant media.

Bloggers could also present an opportunity. "Use [country-music bloggers] as a starting point, there are a large number of social-media communities based around music."