Chapter 3 - 5

05 Business

Listen to a discussion in a business class. Fill in the diagram with the information that you hear.

M: I’m glad to see you all recovered from the test in our last class enough to show up today. Um, as you know, in advertising there are a number of diff… different mediums to consider when devising an advertising plan.

And they can be pretty effective or not very effective at all. To give you an idea of the positive and negative points a certain method might have, I decided to focus on advertising in magazines.

All right. Let’s start with some of the more appealing aspects of magazine advertising.

First off, there are a ton of specialized magazines out there, which means you can reach your target audience very easily.

They attract certain people to read them, and the readers often spend a lot of time interacting with the magazine.

That means that if you can get the right kinds of advertisements in the right magazine, the readers will probably be interested in what you’re selling. Does anyone know what I mean? Yes? Kayla?

W: You know, the subject material is obviously interesting to them if they subscribe to the magazine. Um… like a flower seed company advertising in a gardening magazine, for example.

M: Right. Another thing to factor in is that magazines are generally established businesses with a long-term customer base. These people subscribe to the magazine every year, and there is, uh, high customer loyalty.

There is a kind of a, um, a trust built up between the magazine and the customer.

So, for example, if you are able to advertise your kitchen gadget in a cooking magazine, it’s almost like the magazine is recommending the product to its customers.

Another advantage to advertising in magazines is that you can be very creative with your advertisements.

W: What do you mean? I mean, how do magazines allow you to be any more creative with your advertisements… than any other way of advertising?

M: Well, you could do full-page ads, ad spreads−like across several pages−or angled ads. For example, on that creativity thing, have you ever seen an ad that is sideways from the way the rest of the magazine reads?

Or that includes a perfume sample? These are the kinds of things customers like. Let’s move on to the… the um, the disadvantages.

Because magazines are so specialized, a lot of times, you may not be able to reach the customer base that you would like to for large-scale advertisements. If that’s the case, and you have to move up to a more widespread magazine, your advertising cost will skyrocket.

W: Plus, most magazines only come out monthly or even less than that.

M: That’s a good point. Since they do come out sporadically, you may not be able to have that constant advertising presence that you would get with another medium.

I just have one more disadvantage you should consider with magazine ads. Lots of companies pay money to have magazine advertisements, and often, all the ads are located around the same areas of the magazine.

This means you are competing with other companies for visibility.

1) Listen again to part of the discussion. Then answer the question. I’m glad to see you all recovered from the test in our last class enough to show up today. Um, as you know, in advertising there are a number of diff… different mediums to consider when devising an advertising plan.

What does the professor mean when he says this: I’m glad to see you all recovered from the test in our last class enough to show up today.

2) Listen again to part of the discussion. Then answer the question.

There is a kind of a, um, a trust built up between the magazine and the customer. So, for example, if you are able to advertise your kitchen gadget in a cooking magazine, it’s almost like the magazine is recommending the product to its customers.

What does the professor mean when he says this: So, for example, if you are able to advertise your kitchen gadget in a cooking magazine, it’s almost like the magazine is recommending the product to its customers.

3) Listen again to part of the discussion. Then answer the question.

What do you mean? I mean, how do magazines allow you to be any more creative with your advertisements… than any other way of advertising?

Why does the student say this: than any other way of advertising?