What Is Below-the-Line Advertising?
Below-the-line advertising is an advertising strategy where products are promoted in media other than mainstream radio, television, billboards, print, and film formats. The main types of below-the-line advertising systems include direct mail campaigns, social media marketing, trade shows, catalogs, and targeted search engine marketing. Below-the-line advertising methods tend to be less expensive and more focused versus above-the-line strategies.
Key Takeaways
- Below-the-line advertising is an advertising strategy where products are promoted in media other than mainstream radio or television.
- Below-the-line advertising campaigns include direct mail campaigns, trade shows, catalogs, and targeted search engine marketing.
- Above-the-line methods are ideal for general brand awareness, while below-the-line tactics are preferable for fostering direct relationships with potential customers.
Understanding Below-the-Line Advertising
Below-the-line advertising seeks to reach consumers directly, instead of casting a wide net to reach mass audiences. Rather than airing a national commercial during a hit network television show, a below-the-line campaign might instead focus on an in-store demonstration of a product, allowing consumers to investigate in person. This enables a high-touch experience, with salespeople available to answer questions and better explain products. Some examples of below-the-line advertising include:
Targeted Online Marketing
Companies can target specific demographics with their advertising campaigns, such as the age of a consumer or the industry of a company. LinkedIn, for instance, allows marketers to target specific people with sidebar advertisements based on their profession or membership in groups on the website.
Direct Mailing
Companies continue to engage in direct mail advertising, which is especially effective for older demographics that may not be online as much as younger generations. Catalogues and postcard mailings remain popular and effective marketing tools.
Trade Shows and Presentations
Businesses often present their products and services through local Chambers of Commerce. For example, banks may host mortgage seminars to answer questions about mortgages, interest rates, and home affordability with the goal of acquiring new loan customers.
Of course, there’s no one perfect marketing tool that works perfectly every time. Instead, companies often subscribe to multiple strategies. For instance, a company might send out a direct mailing of fliers advertising an upcoming event that it is hosting at the local convention center.
Above-the-Line vs. Below-the-Line Advertising
Above-the-line advertising is designed to reach mass audiences. The epitome of above-the-line marketing is a Super Bowl television ad, which costs millions for mere seconds of airtime but instantly reaches tens of millions of consumers globally. On the downside, many of those viewers may not align with a company’s target consumer.
Conversely, below-the-line advertising reaches fewer people but is more selective about its audience. Below-the-line advertisers often conduct extensive market research to identify a target niche of buyers more likely to purchase the products. Once the target demographic is identified, below-the-line advertising reaches consumers in a more personalized, direct manner.
Above-the-line advertising casts a wide net, while below-the-line approaches use a targeted touch through direct mailings, face-to-face contacts at trade shows, or paid search engine results that appear when specific queries are entered. The return on investment (ROI) from a below-the-line campaign can be higher since it is less costly and more easily monitored.
Advantages of Below-the-Line Advertising
Lower costs are arguably the biggest advantage of below-the-line advertising. While TV and radio ads are pricy, direct mailing and search engine marketing are far more economical. Additionally, below-the-line methods can be more cheaply and easily scaled up or down.
Below-the-line methods also make it easier to track conversions with intended consumers. Although there are multiple strategies for tracking the effectiveness of TV and radio ads, any measure of overall impact from these forms of advertising is often imprecise. Asking customers how they heard about a company, for example, can generate unreliable responses because people sometimes recall experiences inaccurately. On the other hand, email and search engine marketing precisely track the links consumers click, providing businesses better insights.
Below-the-line marketing fosters superior customer engagement, which is critical in today’s modern business landscape. While above-the-line methods are effective for spreading general brand awareness, below-the-line tactics are preferable for fostering more meaningful relationships with potential customers.
Related Terms: above-the-line advertising, target audience, marketing strategies, return on investment.
