The crucial role of Advertising in Marketing

When a person starts a company, how do you think he/she can make people aware of his offerings?

By advertising. Yes, it is one of the most effective tools to inform people, to make them aware. There are also other benefits but this is the most potent one.

Let’s dig deeper to understand advertising in this article.

Definition of Advertising

So advertising is nothing but the action of grabbing public attention with the help of one or more sponsors.

According to Kotler –

Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation & promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor.

 

According to the Advertising Association of the UK –

 Advertising is any communication, usually paid-for, specifically intended to inform and/or influence one or more people.

Webster’s dictionary defines “the action of calling something to the attention of the public, especially by paid announcements”

In summary, advertising as a process is about creating a paid communication with the intention of informing people about products or services offered. And most importantly, influence them to try or buy them.

What are the features of Advertising

Tool for promotion

Under the 4Ps of the marketing mix advertising is an element of  “promotion” for the organization.

Paid form

In advertising the advertiser (also known as sponsors) need to pay to have the advertising message created. They also buy media slots and monitor their advertising efforts.

One way communication

Advertising is unilateral in nature. Here brands will have one-way communication with customers. For that, they deploy different mediums. However, these days brands are also interested in getting feedback from people on social media.

Personal or not?

Advertising can be open and non-personal as we observe on TV, radio, or in newspapers.

They can be highly personal as seen on social media and other cookie-based advertisements.

What are the objectives of Advertising?

Broadly, there are 3 main objectives –

to inform about the brand or offering,

to persuade to buy or perform a task

to remind and reinforce the brand message.

To Inform

Advertisements are an excellent tool to increase brand awareness and exposure targeted toward the intended market. They Inform prospecting buyers about the nature of the brand’s work and the products. This is considered to be a fundamental step in the direction of attaining desired business goals.

To Persuade

Getting customers to carry out a particular task is a distinguished feature of advertising. The tasks generally involve buying or trying the products and services offered.

These things overall, form a brand image, establishing a positive notion of the brand.

To Remind

Another objective of advertising is to reinforce the brand message and to reassure the existing and potential customers about the brand vision. Advertising also helps the brand in maintaining awareness of its products.

At the same time surpass competitors of the same domain. This also benefits in WOM (word of mouth) marketing.

Categories of Advertising

Advertising activities can be categorized into these three – “above the line”, “below the line”, and “through the line” advertising depending on the level of penetration.

Above the line (ATL)

This includes activities that are mostly non-targeted and have a wide reach. Examples of this type of advertising are TV, radio, & newspaper.

Below the Line (BTL)

Advertising basically covers conversion-focused activities. It is crucial that they are directed towards a specific target group.

Examples of “below the line” advertising are billboards, sponsorships, in-store advertising, etc.

Through the line (TTL)

In this strategy, a combination of both ATL and BTL activities will be used together.

They all have one common goal. To build brand image and increase conversion rate, this again makes use of targeted (personalized) advertisement strategies.

Examples of TTL advertising – are cookie-based advertising, digital marketing strategies and the likes.

Advertising based on mediums used

Print Advertising – Newspaper, magazines, & brochure advertisements, etc.

Broadcast Advertising – Television and radio advertisements.

Outdoor Advertising – Hoardings, banners, flags, wraps, etc.

Digital Advertising – Advertisements displayed over the internet and digital devices.

Product/Brand Integration – Product placements in entertainment media like TV shows, YouTube videos, etc.

Components of Advertising

Advertising can be broadly broken down into four major components:

Strategic

Targeting through customer segmentation, a focused message to the intended audience, integrated marketing communication (IMC) channels. And most importantly, the budget (which is always in shortage) for the advertising campaign should be spent judiciously. The alignment of product strategy should be with the advertising messages and appropriate channels.

Media channel

Choosing the most appropriate channel or the media to reach out to the customers is very important. It should be based on the target audience’s demography and geography.

Trying to reach customers where they are readily available should be the chosen path and not on a channel where they are not present actively.

Creativity

This is the key. Messages, themes or visuals are developed to attract customers. Generally, straightforward informational advertising works but invariably, they need to be creative. They also should have a theme around which the entire message would be centered upon.

Precise execution

The final advertisement was created based on the creative idea. Without proper execution of the strategy, media and the idea, the campaign would not be able to fulfill its purpose and will lead to losses. The execution needs to be done in a planned manner so that the idea is presented well to the customer.

What are common types of Advertising?

We all know, like “marketing”, the advertising industry, on the whole, has evolved substantially in this millennium.

The digital channel has opened new vistas of advertising. For companies, this has become a gold mine. And they are eager to take advantage of the same.

We can see, from search engines to social media and websites of all kinds are showing ads. This new reality has shown that businesses can achieve advertising goals and reach potential customers in a much better way than before.

Moreover, the mobile technology has contributed and made things possible that we hadn’t dreamt of earlier

Within the realm of common advertising techniques, many businesses prioritize one or a combination of the following methods.

Traditional Advertising

This attributes to ad placement in traditional print and broadcast media. Common examples of this type are newspaper ads, TV commercials and radio infomercials.

Retail Advertising

This refers to ad placement in retail stores. This helps in maximizing sales. Common examples of retail advertising are product placement on shelves within stores, ads on shopping carts and featured product displays.

Online Advertising

Ad placement on the internet in social media and other websites. Examples are search engines ads (contextual ads), banners on websites, promotional content and sponsored videos.

One great tool is “banner” advertising.

It is a type of advertising that is composed of small digital billboards also known as digital banners. They are then placed in or around the blog posts, also on keyword search pages, webpages, etc.

Display ads can be any of the still images or animated ones. At the top of the webpage they usually tend to take the form of horizontal banners

Another great tool is video advertisements. They are eye-catching, interesting, and a great way of telling a complex idea. This is often not possible with display ads.

Mobile Advertising

Placing ads on mobile devices like tablets and smartphones. They are the kind of ads that are optimized for mobile consumption.

Mobile ads in themselves are quite broad in nature.

They can include video, app, display, search, or social ads.

These days brands like to place visual ads on social media, optimized for mobiles. They are considered to be a great place to start as the number of visitors is much higher. For brands, it is imperative that they make their presence felt on platforms like Instagram, Tik Tok and the likes.

Outdoor Advertising

This type refers to ad placement on the outside. Generally in heavily trafficked areas to grab the eyeballs the most. For examples billboards, banners on the outside of buildings and public transport vehicles.

Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising

An online ad placement which is designed to drive traffic to a company’s website. Companies get exhaustive customer data, but only pay when users click on the link or button, known as CTA(Call to Action)

As we know most advertising involves promoting products or services that we intend to sell.

However similar methods are used for public welfare purposes, like safe driving, tobacco cessation, etc.

They also support various charities or campaigns for political candidates, among many others.

Advertising is a significant source of income. The media channels (e.g., newspapers, magazines, or television stations) through which it is being conducted generate tangible and intangible benefits to the brand.

What are the similarities between Marketing and Advertising?

When differentiating marketing and advertising, it’s important to understand that advertising is actually a component of marketing itself.

The nature of marketing is to prepare a product for the intended marketplace. Moreover, advertising is making the product or service “known” to people.

Within the marketplace, we can safely say advertising is a step forward in the marketing process.

It is the one that uses the data. And data collected from market research will be used by marketing strategists to create compelling ad promotions.

So, broadly speaking, marketing is a controlled process but it is indeed a wide-reaching tool. Advertisers focus on creating attractive communications.

Additionally, marketers study consumer behavior(CB) well. It is crucial that advertisers engage CB in design, production, and circulating on different channels. The more creative endeavor it is, the easier it is to convince consumers to act accordingly.

Great examples of Advertising

Nike: Just Do It

There was a time when Reebok was selling more shoes than Nike. Because Nike was considered only for sportspersons. But then “Just Do It” changed everything. Signaling even common people to go and achieve.

(wikipedia.org)

Volkswagen: Think Small

In the 60s Volkswagen was trying to set foot by producing small cars. But the US is more about big cars. They initiated a campaign like the below. People liked the honesty. The rest is history with the Beetle.

(designshack.net)

 California Milk Processor Board: Got Milk?

In the year 1993, a very unique and creative ad campaign was created for CMPB. The awesomeness was in targeting. Not targeted towards non-milk drinkers. But the target was consumers who are already consuming milk.

(thinglink.com)

Conclusion

As we have seen advertising is using techniques and best practices that are helpful in bringing products, services, opinions and feedback to public attention.

It is a win-win situation for both advertisers and consumers. As consumers also come to know that there is a new product in the market that can be tried.

The purpose eventually is to influence the consumers so that they respond in a precise way with respect to the advertisement.

Advertising is a powerful tool, if implemented perfectly, a brand stands a chance to gain a competitive advantage.