DAGMAR Model

Introduction DAGMAR is Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results. It is basically an approach to advertising planning and a precise method for selecting and quantifying goals and for using those goals to measure performance. An advertising objective involves a communication task intended to create a!areness impart information develop attitudes or induce action. In the DAGMAR approach the communication task is based on a specific model of the communication process as sho!n belo!.

Communication Process in DAGMAR Approach "he model suggests that before the acceptance of a product by an individual there is a series of mental steps !hich the individual goes through. At some point of time the individual !ill be una!are of the product or offer in the market. "he initial communication task of the advertising activity is to increase consumer a!areness of the product or offer. "he second step of the communication process is comprehension of the product or offer and involves the target audience learning something about the product or offer. #hat are its specific characteristics and appeals including associatied imagery and feelings$ In !hat !ay does it differ from its competitors$ #hom is it supposed to benefit$

"he third step is the attitude %or conviction& step and intervenes bet!een comprenension and final action. "he action phase involves some overt move on the part of the buyer such as trying a brand for the first time visiting a sho!room or requesting information. "he !hole communication process is a bit more comple'. And under different circumstances it may differ slightly but the the basic concept revolves around !hat is mentioned in the paragraphs above. "he DAGMAR approach emphasises the communication task of advertising. "he second important concept of the approach is that the advertising goal be specific. It should be a !ritten measurable task involving a starting point a defined audience and a fi'ed time period. (o! that the basic theory is told ho! to apply in your specific situation$ #e are mainly traders dealing !ith products from other reputed and not so reputed companies and sitting here !e cannot dictate the company)s advertising strategy. *o !e look for!ard to developing a model !hich can reasonably applied in our case. +et)s build your scenario and have the advertising brief, -ou are a dealer or distributor and !ant to sell products of a reputed company. -ou don)t have to !orry about the image and perception of the brand. -ou are just !orried that customers might not !ant to buy from you. And instead buy from a competiting shop ne't to yours dealing !ith the same kinds of products. In such a case !hat should be done$ #hat should be your advertising objective$ *hould you have a advertising strategy$ #hat !ould be the ingredients of such an advertising plan$ #hat should be the budget$ +et)s discuss some of the issues related to your promotion.advertising related activity. -ou must first distinguish bet!een advertising from your marketing objectives. And DAGMAR is aimed at setting your advertising goals. plannings and not marketing goals. A Measurable Objective "he DAGMAR approach sounds impractical once !e talk of measurements surveys questionnaires and all that staff. After all !ho)d go for a survey/ 0ut as the approach emphasises the importance of objectives !e must have some form of measurement to indicate the effectiveness of the advertising. promotional campaign. *o if you are thinking of a promotional campaign it must have an objective . And an objective that is measurable.

1or a yello! page advertisement the measurement could be the number of phone calls received before and after the ad !as published or the number of referrals through yello! pages. Many of our advertisers are pleasantly surprised by orders. offers received through phone calls !hich !ere later found to be through advertisements in yello! pages. (o! the question is if they did not advertise in the yello! pages !ould they have received those orders. offers$ "hat)s another matter though. -our measurable objective must be !ritten clear and unambiguous. Goals like )Improve store image).Increase a!areness of our store) etc are too vague and do not lead to any!here. A good starting point to !ork on the goal !ould be, Increase awareness of our store by 10% (otice the missing fullstop$ #e still have to construct our campaign objective. A Conceivable Benchmark #hen !e talk of measurement its both current and future. #e must first kno! !here !e stand no! and kno! in quantitative terms. "he current position is your starting point !hich !ill help in establishing a goal and selecting a campaign to reach it. Getting more customer into your store might not be an optimal goal if you already receive a large number of visitors. *o have an objective analysis of !here you are and then start !orking on your objective. If you kno! that already many customers are visiting your store you may probably have some idea of their behaviour related to purchases. %If you don)t that)s a pity&. (o! you kno! that your advertising can be aimed at converting your visitors to customers. +et)s reconstruct our goal no!, Increase awarenes of our store from the current level of 20% to 30% Well-Defined Target Audience 2erhaps the first lession you should learn in marketing is target audience. (ot everyone is going to buy your product. (ot everyone needs your product its another matter that some needs are latent and needs to be aroused. *o identify your target audience to !hom you are going to aim your ad campaign. Most likely this is going to be your user segment as !ell. As an e'ample if you are selling premium car accessories you should target customers !ho are either stylish sophisticated or o!n premium cars. #orking further on the advertising goal !e no! have,

Increase awarenes of our store from the current level of 20% to 30% among the owner of product X Fixed time period -our advertising campaign should not run for eternity !ithout having milestones to achieve over the future time frame. -ou should have a fi'ed time period si' months or a year !ithin !hich you should aim at attaining certain goals. "here should also be some time allocated td to test the campaign make amendments if required to the campaign. A time should be fi'ed upon the arrival of !hich the campaign can be evaluated. *o !e finally have our advertising goal as follo!s, Increase awarenes of our store from the current level of 20% to 30% among the owner of product X before the launch of product Y which is expected within the next six months