Advertising and its Objectives

 Advertising is an audio or visual form of marketing communication that employs an openly sponsored, non-personal message to promote or sell a product, service or idea.

In other words Advertising is the action of calling public attention to something, especially by paid announcements.

Advertising is paid communication by a company, organization (client/sponsor) or political candidate who wants their information disseminated.  It is mass mediated in that it is delivered through communication media designed to reach large numbers of people.  And it is an attempt to persuade, that is, to get someone to do something.  Even it the ad is purely informational, it is still designed to get consumers to like the brand/company/person.

An advertisement is a specific message while an advertising campaign is a series of coordinated advertisements that communicate a theme or idea.

An audience is a group of individuals who receive and interpret messages sent from advertisers.  A target audience is a particular group of consumers who are most intended to receive the message.

Advertising is differentiated from public relations in that an advertiser usually pays for and has control over the message. It is differentiated from personal selling in that the message is nonpersonal, i.e., not directed to a particular individual. Advertising is communicated through various mass media,including old media such as newspapers, magazines, Television, Radio, outdoor advertising or direct mail; or new media such as search results, blogs, websites or text messages. The actual presentation of the message in a medium is referred to as an advertisement or "ad".

An advertising plan consists of the following elements:

1.    Advertising goals stated in terms of marketing goals and objections (these goals are communication).

2.    Market segmentation (to define the market via demographic, geographic and psychographic factors).

3.    A budget.

4.    Product differentiation (emphasizes product differentiation based on consumer perception – these can be tangible or intangible such as style and image) but ultimately it is important that the customer can differentiate this product from others.

5.    The creative efforts; the media to be used for the campaign.

Advertisement main objective is to create Branding and Brand loyality of the company or prduct or services.

OBJECTIVES OF ADVERTISING

The fundamental purpose of advertising is to sell something - a product, a service or an idea. In addition to this general objective, advertising is also used by the modern business enterprises for certain specific objectives which are listed below :

1. To introduce a new product by creating interest for it among the prospective customers.

2. To support personal selling programme. Advertising maybe used to open customers' doors for salesman.

3. To reach people inaccessible to salesman.

4. To enter a new market or attract a new group of customers.

5. To light competition in the market and to increase the sales as seen in the fierce competition between Coke and Pepsi.

6. To enhance the goodwill of the enterprise by promising better quality products and services.

7. To improve dealer relations. Advertising supports the dealers in selling he product. Dealers are attracted towards a product which is advertised effectively.

8. To warn the public against imitation of an enterprise's products.

A brand name differentiates one seller from another.  It is the part of a trademark that is words (Nike).

Brand loyalty is when a consumer repeatedly busy the same brand and is therefore less sensitive to price increases.  This is important as it allows firms to have the flexibility to raise prices to increase their profit margins.

Three strategies used in branding:

1. Corporate branding – where the corporation is more important than the individual product (i.e., G.E., TATA, LIC)
2. A combination of corporate and product brand promotions – allows diversification from the parent company (i.e., Detol, and Colgate)
3. Product first – It is good when under the umbrella of company it sells multiple brands within a category (i.e., Proctor and Gamble, ITC)

Factors to use in deciding to use advertising:

a.     Volume of sales – as sales increase, the percentage of dollars spent on advertising decreases as the public has been reached.

b.     Competitive environment and profit margin – if there is a lot of competition within the category (i.e., soft drinks, beers) then a higher advertising budget is required (with beer, the companies not invest in events rather than ads)

c.      Philosophy of advertising – with some products a moving picture is needed (food)

d.     New product introductions – require heavy ad support

e.     Maintaining leadership position within the category