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Advertising and the Industrial Decision Maker
For advertising to work, it must be noticed by the “decision maker”. A more
elusive character in terms of definition has yet to be found. The whole area
of decisions making has been the subject of various papers and books over the
years because there is no simple answer to what motivates an industrial decision
maker and who, in fact, he is.
It is generally accepted that; whereas, in a home the decision making unit
(DMU) usually comprises the husband and wife team but may also involve one
or two children; in other words, up to four people are generally involved –
in the industrial market the DMU can be up to seven or more individuals who
are continually changing their identities and job functions as they change
jobs; consequently, the DMU within any one company may change its shape and
identity between the appearances of advertising insertions.
For advertising to be optimised, the advertisement must be noticed by as many
of the DMU within the buyer organisation as possible. In practical terms,
it must have as high a “pass-on-readership” as can be achieved within as short
a period as possible. Pass-on-readership is, therefore, an important measure
of an advertisement’s potential effect.
The industrial sector, unlike the consumer sector, has two distinct types
of decision maker. One is the specifier who neither
buys nor uses the product but is vital to the seller because he advises the
buyer what to buy. The specifier is typically a professional person such as
an Architect, a Consulting Engineer or a Government Official. His opinion
matters a great deal and the advertiser must, therefore, take notice of his
presence in the decision making chain of people.
The other type of decision maker is in the form of the in-company buyer, engineer,
manager, director, etc.
An analysis of job titles of people we have interviewed in any of our market
research surveys defies description. There is no standardisation of what people
should be called. We have come across a “Human Resources Manager” who also
carried out important technical buying functions for his company. “Procurement
Directors” have been found who are so senior that they do no actual procurement.
Seniority of decision makers also varies widely from truck drivers and typists
through to Managing Directors and Group Chairmen. It all depends on the company
ethos and the personalities of the people involved regarding who does what
within companies.
No wonder the serious concern of advertisers who have really given the problem
some thought – in trying to identify who has, in fact, noticed their advertising.
Our market research surveys have also established that in some sectors of
the economy the target market hardly reads at all and yet large budgets are
being poured into advertising. The only audience that such advertising is
reaching is the advertiser’s own competitors who read the same industry journals.
As an example, our Readership Research has shown that the journals aimed at
the Food and Catering Industry are mainly read by the advertisers themselves
who scan the journal to see what their competitors are advertising. The people
who should, in fact, be reading the journals are the catering managers, hotel
managers, food and beverage managers, the restaurateurs, the dieticians, but
very few of these have the inclination to read anything – being far too busy
during their long working hours. Consequently, advertisers and their advertising
agencies are strongly advised to research their target audience so as to place
their meagre budgets in the media that is going to work best for them.
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