Business Marketing Strategies: Know How to Sift through the Message

You’re bombarded by advertising messages many times every day. So, how do you make sense of what you’re seeing and use it to inform your purchases? Marketing expert Monica Brubaker explores.

Marketing and advertising are tools, and they should be able to offer pertinent information that helps consumers to make an informed decision.

But there are so many marketing and advertising platforms these days, and the messages come so quickly. Sifting through the promotional maze can be confusing, time-consuming and exhausting for the consumer.

As a marketing and advertising professional, I routinely help my clients to achieve a competitive edge when seeking the consumer’s attention. This time I’m going to offer a few tips on how you, the consumer, can cut to the chase and truly understand the message that’s in front of you.

First, you should know that most consumers have a priority in mind when they’re seeking a product or service. Some will want to satisfy a particular budget. Some need to fill a certain need, a timeframe or a convenience. Others hold a certain expectation of product performance or customer service fulfillment.

When it comes to experiencing advertising, each media form has an angle. Print advertising offers total recall at your fingertips. Television and radio target our visual and auditory senses. Social media and other internet platforms use an interactive strategy. Outdoor advertising provides a geographical reminder, and there’s often an underlying subliminal message so potential consumers can better remember that product or service.

If your consumer purchase is not sudden but an anticipated one, then it is likely you have been thinking about this product or service for a while. If that’s the case, the advertising message has already been speaking to you.

Most consumers will subconsciously and consciously prioritize a budget first, with other priorities falling into place behind. How the advertiser’s message most affects you will depend upon your strongest priority:


• Budget. If your choice is primarily based on price, then print media will be most important to you. Collect a few print advertising pieces that promote your product or service of interest. Use them to compare pricing, descriptions and total offerings.


• Need, Timeframe, Convenience. If your choice is primarily based on these criteria, then check online sources because they offer a strong ease of transaction and delivery.


• Performance and Customer Service. These are the most difficult to determine through marketing and advertising promotions – unless you have an inside source. Television, radio, print, online and outdoor messages can give you a quick overview of how this product or service may meet your consumer expectations, but the reality is that only your personal experience or a trusted referral can solidify your opinion and verify that you are making the correct decision.

It’s important to remember that advertising media’s strongest advantage is that it can help you to educate yourself. You do, after all, want to make the best personal purchase. Those suppliers of products and services that are the most transparent in their advertising can provide you the competitive edge when making your decision. These suppliers get high marks for their transparent approach. They can quickly and concisely identify why their product or service is second to none.

Avoid buyer’s remorse and use marketing messages educationally before your next big purchase. You will be pleased you did.

Monica Brubaker

Monica Brubaker is the principal of Eloquent Media Communications, an advertising and marketing firm. Monica previously was President of New Life Printing & SERVICES.

She spent more than two decades in the printing, advertising, marketing and publishing business. Monica headed up the Business Connector Radio Talk Show, authored thousands of articles for several magazines and for a decade hosted The Business Connector Magazine business symposium and networking events.

A former critical care nurse with vast experience in health care marketing, she has assisted clients in many industries in connecting with their target markets and increasing their bottom line. Contact Monica at [email protected].