What is Broadcast Marketing?

The broadcasting industry has changed over the years, from a system of only a few television and radio networks and affiliates to an ever-increasing variety of specialty stations. All of these options have given broadcast marketing professionals more opportunities to promote products and services. If you're interested in learning more about broadcast marketing, keep reading.

Industry Overview

Broadcast marketing is a form of advertisement of services or products utilizing television and/or radio broadcasts in order to gain viewers' and listeners' attention. Differing from print advertisements and marketing tactics through the mail or Internet, broadcast marketing techniques include not only traditional commercials, but also product placement in television shows and endorsements by radio personalities, based on demographic information collected by broadcast and marketing companies.

Important Facts About Broadcast Marketing

Median Salary (2021)	$135,030* (for all marketing managers)
Job Outlook (2021-2031)	10%* (for all advertising, promotions and marketing managers)
Key Skills	Originality, confidence, effectiveness under pressure, and communication skills
Required Education	None is required, but a degree in marketing, communications, or business management is suggested
Work Environment	Typically in a team/office setting, size varying depending on the size of the company

*Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Research Viewership and Listenership

Determining television and radio demographics and their corresponding viewing habits is a necessary element to successful marketing. Organizations such as the Nielsen Company use a number of different research methods to find out about traditional television habits, radio habits, or demographics pertaining to newer broadcasting venues. Viewership and consumer motivation can be broken up in a number of ways, including gender, economics, race, geographic areas, and age.

This information is gleaned through focus groups, telephone surveys, and Internet interviews. These help you as a marketing professional to create a buyer behavior model to determine where your product or service would be best served by a specific medium. The information can further help you with brand design and product placement options.

Product Placement

Television producers know that they can offset production costs by having products integrated into their programming. You work with writers, directors, producers, and network executives to incorporate products as props into a story line, or simply as incidental props on a set. This marketing strategy has become popular, due to the fact that options like the Internet and on demand programming often allow the viewer the opportunity to browse past commercials.

Commercial Productions

Commercial advertising for television and radio is still the primary form of marketing used by clients. You also work closely with advertising professionals in order to present creative options for commercials. Whether this is done nationally or locally, the process is the same. The purpose is to correctly market your product according to viewership or listenership. You are also responsible for buying commercial time with networks and production companies.

New Media Solutions

New media venues such as Netflix and Hulu are popular viewing destinations for a new generation of potential customers. Add into the equation mobile applications like Twitter, and there now exists a whole new way to market products to a wider audience. Options such as video blogs, TAG technology, and even text messaging can bring customers into the process, providing instant feedback to marketing strategies.