Advantages and disadvantages of billboards, banners and signs

¶ … Print ads brochures popular forms marketing communications billboards, banners signs overlooked. Briefly discuss advantages disadvantages billboards, banners signs. Question 2-5 Finding good sales reps a difficult time-consuming task.

Advantages and disadvantages of billboards, banners and signs

One advantage is that they usually attract attention since they are placed where they can be seen by many people. In most situations, whether the people like it or not, they will be forced to view the advertisement. This creates some impact of the advertisement Schmit & Kaiser, 2004()

The second advantage is that they can reach a larger population of people as a result of the advertisement being viewed by many people who regularly use the routes where the advertisement has been placed.

One disadvantage of using billboards, banners and signs is that it is extremely difficult to measure the effectiveness since even though they can reach a large audience, it does not translate to the people being influenced by the message in the advert.

The second disadvantage is that the initial costs of the advertisement are quite high. The cost of making the billboard, banner or sign is quite high as compared to the printing costs in magazine and newspaper ads or video or radio commercial creation costs.

Another disadvantage is that the creativity of the creators of the advertisement is often inhibited by space limitations. The last disadvantage is that the advertisement cannot be designed to target a particular group only.

Ways of finding good sales reps

One of the ways of finding good sales reps is to use recruitment agencies who can help match the skillset of individuals with your company's needs. The second way is through the company's clients. Since customers work with salesmen, it can be easy to poach someone from a competitor who is good for the job Maxwell, Reed, Saker, & Story, 2005.

The third way is to use the internet to post the job advertisement on sites such as Craigslist and Monster. Another good way is to get referrals from other sales reps who are already working for the company.

Predatory pricing

Predatory pricing is when a company sets the pricing extremely low in order to create barriers to entry of new competitors and drive away existing ones. Predatory pricing should be avoided for various reasons. One is that predatory pricing may lead to antitrust claims of monopolization against the business. The second reason is that predatory pricing can lead to the bankruptcy of the company which is instituting this measure especially when its competitors decide to match the price Shankar & Bolton, 2004()

Stopping power

Stopping power literally refers to the ability of a firearm or weapon to incapacitate a target where it stands by causing an injury to the target. In advertising terms, stopping power means that the advertisement captures the attention of the viewer or listener and intrigues them to want to know more Millar & Choi, 2003()

The first principle of Y&R is that great solutions need great problems. This simply means that the team that is involved in the creation of the advert should give due attention to the great problems in order to come up with great solutions.

The second principle is that of saying one thing only. This simply means that the advertisement should pass one message only. This will be more effective than trying to pass several messages in one advert

The third principle is that of the good being the enemy of the great. This is where something good is often taken to be satisfactory while in essence only the great ideas should be applauded.