Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

There's a link that follows that might help.

Be aware that with billboards and press advertising, although the media company you're buying from might tell you that XYZ media offers a bajillion impressions a day, your question needs to be "A bajillion impressions from whom?" If you're marketing to a group that's never going to see your ads, or that's not seeing your ads and seeing the benefits and offers you're presenting, you're spending money on impressions simply for the sake of spending money on impressions.

It's not always the impressions that count, it's the actions taken as a result of those impressions that drive your sales, NOT the impressions.

Radio, TV, billboards are all great in terms of visibility IF you're selling the billboard space ... but they're less great if you're the one buying the space and spending the money on those impressions when the impressions themselves are doing you less than a piece of targeted direct mail could do, or that a direct response TV spot could do.

It's sometimes less about the media than it is about when and how and how regularly the media is being viewed and just what the message that's delivered THROUGH the media is, what it say, who it's aimed at, and what action the message recipient is being asked to take.

Effectiveness and frequency in terms of relationships work better when ads in one medium point people to ads in another medium. So a radio spot could remind people to "Look for our brochure in the mail starting December 1st". Or a toll free number mentioned in an ad could be answered by an agent with a scripted list of questions in which appears "Are you responding to our ad in the LA Times from yesterday?" ... and so on.

Here's the link I mentioned, which I hope offers you additional avenues of information.

https://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/?s=impressions&x=0&y=0

The choice of medium depends on a few things ... like the product category, the target audience, your geography, and the message/creative.

Remember that advertising effectiveness is always driven by the creative, and the costs are usually weighted toward the medium. (And local advertising often costs more per impression than the same advertising nationally. Further, this can vary by medium and geography.)

I'd be happy to consult with you on this if you feel you need outside expertise. I have all the necessary qualifications and experience -- including involvement in insurance products on a regional basis.

In the end, your decisions will probably be driven most by your target audience definition, your message and any offer you make -- not by the specific medium.

All of the answers above offer excellent advice, but they generally make some unstated assumptions about your business that need to clarified, in your or your company's mind before taking straight.

The main assumption is that you're looking to book sales from your ads. For example, Gary (adding to what others said) says every dollar out must bring in 3-4x ROI.

However, perhaps your company isn't looking for a direct response. I happen to like direct response advertising, because you really can do the arithmetic on the value easily. But it's possible your company does not have the direct response model (or you have a perfectly good one via direct mail/email/phone), or that for this particular project, you really want to focus on letting people know your new branding (new name? new brand promise? new logo?) -- without expecting sales directly from it. After you've established awareness and some (new) brand affection, then you'll start your new sales campaign.

If my assumption is right, then the media mix can change. Billboards may be helpful, especially if you sell auto insurance, or sell home insurance and your billboards are positioned along commuter routes.

Radio is generally well listened to during drive time, so again commuters are your target.

Once again, though, the key question is what you want consumers to do after seeing/hearing/experiencing your ad.

Another assumption, mentioned in the other comments, and implied in my discussion so far: that your audience considers insurance the same wherever and whenever they consume media. Who starts the consideration? Men or women? Young, old? Anything in the outside environment that triggers consideration?

And finally: I don't think any of the other commenters have discussed the web. Display ads (aka banner ads) have changed dramatically in the last couple of years -- people can take action right on the page, they can watch videos, comment, answer polls that direct them to the appropriate landing pages...they can discuss, recommend, etc. So maybe there's a whole range of actions beyond just get on the phone with an agent that you might want people to go through (or more importantly, that the public insists on going through) first.