There are many differences between census and sample advertising. The U.S. government hires temporary workers to take the census, which measures the number of people in the population, where they live, age distribution, average income and other statistics. Sample advertising is done by marketing professionals or agencies. Small companies conduct sample advertising as part of a market test. The tests allow company marketers to know how well their advertising is working.
A census covers the entire population. For example, the 2010 census indicated that there were 308,745,538 people living in the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Sample advertising usually covers only small segments of populations in several cities simultaneously. People watch different television shows. Therefore, the only portion of the population that sees a sample advertisement is the audience that watches the particular program where the ad runs.
A census usually is taken every 10 years. The census information may be used to determine where population shifts are occurring. For example, people may be moving away from the Northeast region into warmer regions such as Florida, Arizona and Texas. Small companies conduct sample advertising periodically to measure the effectiveness of their advertising or the potential success of a new product. Business owners may do sample testing every six months or year or whichever time frame they choose. Whatever the case, sample advertising typically is conducted much more frequently than a census.
One of the key objectives of the census is to determine how many congressman should represent each state. Hence, areas that lose population may also lose seats in the government. The objective of sample advertising is to project how effective ads are in various markets. The information then can be projected to represent entire populations, especially if a small company conducted an ample number of surveys to adequately represent the population. For example, a small restaurant company that plans on opening new restaurants in 10 markets may conduct sample advertising in two of the markets. The ads may run for 12 weeks. However, the success of ads along with marketing surveys in the two markets may be sufficient to project success in all markets.
A census and sample advertising are dramatically different in size, but a small company does take a population census into consideration when conducting sample advertising. For example, a small consumer products company may want to test some new television ads in three markets. Therefore, the company may find three markets with an equal population to test various aspects of its television commercial, such as reach, recall and the effectiveness of the message in getting people to buy a new product. Reach pertains to the number of people who saw the ad. Recall is the number of people who remember seeing the ad or remember the slogan. Business owners usually conduct marketing research surveys to determine the effectiveness of their advertising.
- U.S Census Bureau: Census Bureau Blog
- U.S Census 2010: 2010 Census Data
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- Entrepreneur: Market Testing
- Power Decisions Group: Concept Testing: Branding Concepts, Price & Value Concepts, Positioning Concept Testing
- U.S Census 2010: U.S. Census Bureau Announces 2010 Census Population Counts -- Apportionment Counts Delivered to President
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