Marketing in a traditional sense strikes certain key imagery into our minds as the viewer, such as television adverts, or radio adverts. TV and radio are some of the most widely accessed forms of media in the modern world. 26 million households have a television in their household, and whilst it definitely wouldn't be near that number in the Yorkshire area alone, that is still a considerably large number. Same goes for radios. It is a way of pushing the local markets and business onto the individual whilst they are in the comfort of their own home, or their car. But in recent years, smartphones, have seen a drastic increase in users, with 55.5 million people being recorded in 2016 as having a smart phone. This much larger pool of people to profit off of, means that many companies and properties looking to expand their business often reach to social media and mobile apps as a way of pushing their product onto the general public.
To make sure that the advertising of the GROWTH Project was reaching as many people as it possibly could without trying to pay our way into selling promotional content to each and every social media app, would be to find the most widely accessed apps and websites and pooling our resources into promoting on their. There would need to be a heavy emphasis on promoting the project through free apps, or at least apps that start off free at a base level. By using these apps, we are making sure that it is reaching the widest amount of people that it possibly can. The most widely used, Facebook, would be the cheapest by far, as there are free pages which you can join, which can lead to free marketing and advertising to the masses. It would simply be a case of having someone maintain the promotion to keep a general interest in the project. As well as this, there is also the opportunity to pay for prioritised spots on the market board on Facebook, which would place a higher priority on our product. Luckily, as the app is catered for anyone to be able to do this, the rates of buying advertising spots is considerably cheaper than most other places. To add upon this, there are also local town pages, as well as the university Facebook pages.
I think that the group was in general agreement of making sure that we implemented both Facebook and Spotify, as they both have varying demographics within their userbase. Whilst Facebook is used by nearly everyone, ranging from 16+ to 40+, something that I have always noticed, especially when asking within my own social groups is that Facebook does now present itself as an app that older age groups tend to use more now, resulting in a decrease in the amount of young people that actually use the app. By also using apps like Spotify, it is maintaining that desired coverage of every selected age group by making sure that the youth of Huddersfield (which is the prioritised age demographic) is staying informed on the project.
To continue, apps like Spotify are also owned by Facebook, also have the ability to rent out advert slots to customers, which once again allows for pools of people to be brought in to the attraction of the project all in one go. The only downside to Spotify is that the adverts only show to users who are without Spotify Premium, their subscription service. Paying for Spotify adverts to only reach a reduced group might not be entirely cost effect. It will reach more people than simply leaving it, just not at the same rate the team might hope for.
This is the way in which the previously aforementioned point of discussion 'maintaining public interest' comes in to play. Obviously word of mouth and general interest will be big parts in maintaining an influx of viewers, but by using Spotify and apps like Facebook, then it is making sure that the GROWTH Project is constantly staying in the minds of the people who are listening to and using these apps on a daily basis.