Advertising

Advertising is basically paid promotion. It is that form of promotion which is delivered through a set of selected media, which is most appropriate for the product according to placement and future feedback.  Modern advertising developed in the 19th and early 20th century. Advertising is always paid for; non-paid advertising is “publicity”. Advertising has long been viewed as a way to mass promote a single message, to reach a great number of audience or target market. Sometimes, the mass promotion approach tends to be a problem as most of the time the message is not exposed to the marketer’s target market which leads to excessive funding in the advertising campaign. However, with new means of advertising, the emergence of advanced technology and media outlets, as options for targeted advertising this problem has reduced. Advertising is used to persuade it’s viewers to take some action. Advertising is comprised of a product or service; it informs the consumers how that product/service could benefit them, or influences them to purchase the product for use or consumption. “Advertising also has a history of being considered a one-way form of marketing communication where the message receiver (i.e., target market) is not in position to immediately respond to the message (e.g., seek more information).”

Importance of Advertising

The amount spent on advertising is huge, the market research firm Zenith Optimedia quotes that, “worldwide spending on advertising is estimated to exceed (US) $400 billion.” This level of spending is said to support thousands of companies and provide millions of jobs worldwide, in-fact most media outlets would be out of business if not for the revenue generated through sale of advertising. Though advertising is an important contributor to economic growth worldwide it is a little differed in the role it plays to domestic advertising. Each organization has its own advertising needs, according to their budget and commercial requirements. Some companies do little advertising, and spend more money on other promotional options such as personal selling etc. then too, smaller companies advertise on a very small scale with the occasional placement of ads in the classified section of local newspapers and so on.

However most organizations rely on marketing to engage customer interest and gain consistent brand and product exposure. Advertising creates interest for consumers and helps marketers meet marketing objectives, but it requires developing eye-catching campaigns which involves a series of assessments for planning, creating, evaluating advertising attempts.

Types of Advertising

Types of advertising are usually confused with formats or mediums of advertising which may include the use of television, radio, print media etc. any how, on the whole type of advertising refers to the main focus of the message that is being sent, these fall in the following four categories:

•    Image Advertising

•    Advocacy Advertising

•    Product-Oriented Advertising

•    Public Service Advertising