advertising is any paid form of nonpersonal presentation and promotion

What Is Advertising? – Examples, Objectives, & Importance

A 30-second spot, a catchy jingle, and a clever slogan. But there’s more to advertising. An average human is exposed to around 5000 advertising messages in a day .

Advertisements come in many shapes, sizes, and forms. But what exactly is advertising? Why is advertising important? What are its advantages and disadvantages?

What Is Advertising?

Advertising is the action of calling public attention to an offering through paid announcements by an identified sponsor.

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.

Simply, advertising is a process of developing a paid communication message intended to inform people about something or to influence them to buy, try, or do something.

Characteristics Of Advertising

• Paid Form:  Advertising requires the advertiser (also called sponsor) to pay to create an advertising message, buy advertising media slot, and monitor advertising efforts.
• Tool For Promotion:  Advertising is an element of the promotion mix of an organisation.
• One Way Communication:  Advertising is a one-way communication where brands communicate to the customers through different mediums.
• Personal Or Non-Personal:  Advertising can be non-personal as in the case of TV, radio, or newspaper advertisements, or highly personal as in the case of social media and other cookie-based advertisements.

Types Of Advertising

Advertising activities can be categorised into above-the-line, below-the-line, and through-the-line advertising according to their penetration level.

• Above-the-line advertising includes activities that are largely non-targeted and have a wide reach. Examples of above-the-line advertising are TV, radio, & newspaper advertisements.
• Below-the-line advertising includes conversion-focused activities which are directed toward a specific target group. Examples of below-the-line advertising are billboards , sponsorships, in-store advertising, etc.
• Through-the-line advertising includes activities which involve the use of both ATL & BTL strategies simultaneously. These are directed towards brand building and conversions and make use of targeted (personalised) advertisement strategies. Examples of through-the-line advertising are cookie-based advertising, digital marketing strategies, etc.

Advertising activities can also be categorised into 5 types based on the advertising medium used. These types of advertisements are:

• 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.

What Are The Objectives Of Advertising?

There are 3 main objectives of advertising – to inform about the brand or offering, to persuade to buy or perform a task and to remind and reinforce the brand message.

Advertisements are used to increase brand awareness and brand exposure in the target market . Informing potential customers about the brand and its products is the first step toward attaining business goals.

To Persuade

Persuading customers to perform a particular task is a prominent objective of advertising. The tasks may involve buying or trying the products and services offered, forming a brand image , developing a favourable attitude towards the brand etc.

Another objective of advertising is to reinforce the brand message and to reassure the existing and potential customers about the brand vision. Advertising helps the brand to maintain top-of-mind awareness and to avoid competitors stealing the customers. This also helps in the word of mouth marketing.

Other objectives of advertising are subsets of these three objectives. These subsets are:

• Brand building
• Increasing sales
• Creating demand
• Expanding customer base
• Changing customers’ attitudes, etc.

Importance Of Advertising

Advertising is important for all the parties involved – customers, business, and intermediaries (agencies, artists, etc.)

To The Customers

From a customer’s point of view, they get to know about a new product or an advertiser’s message majorly from advertisements. Besides this, ads provide them with –

• Convenience:  Targeted informative advertisements make the customer’s decision-making process easier as they get to know what suits their requirements and budget.
• Awareness:  Advertising educates the customers about different products available in the market and their features. This knowledge helps customers compare different products and choose the best product for them.
• Better Quality:  Only brands advertise themselves and their products. There are no advertisements for unbranded products. This ensures better customer quality and a good business model as no brand wants to waste money on false advertising.

To The Business

From an advertiser’s point of view, ad is the most important means to get their message to their target audience using ads. Besides this, ads provide them with –

• Increased Brand Awareness: Advertising increases brand and product awareness among the people belonging to the target market.
• Brand Image Building :  Clever advertising helps the business to form the desired brand image and brand personality in the minds of the customers.
• Product Differentiation:  Advertising helps the business differentiate its product from competitors’ and communicate its features and advantages to the target audience.
• Increased Goodwill : Advertising reiterates brand vision and increases the brand’s goodwill among its customers.
• Value For Money:  Advertising delivers the message to a wide audience and tends to be value for money when compared to other elements of the promotion mix .

Advantages Of Advertising

Advertising has several advantages of over other mediums of promotions. These include

• Reduces Per-Unit Cost: The wide appeal of advertisements increases the demand for the product which benefits the organisation as it capitalises on the economies of scale.
• Helps In Brand Building:  Advertisements work effectively in brand building. Brands that advertise are preferred over those which doesn’t.
• Helps In Launching New Product: Launching a new product is easy when it is backed by an advertisement.
• Boosts Up Existing Customers’ Confidence In The Brand: Advertisements boost existing customers’ confidence in the brand as they feel pride when they see an advertisement of the product or the brand they use.
• Helps In Reducing Customer Turnover: Strategic advertisements for new offers and better service help reduce customer turnover.
• Attracts New Customers: Attractive advertisements help the brand in gaining new customers and expanding the business.
• Educates The Customers: Advertisements inform the customers about different products existing in the market and also educate them on what they should look for in an apt product.

Disadvantages Of Advertising

Advertising comes up with its own set of disadvantages. These include –

• Increases The Costs: Advertising is an expense to the business and is added to the cost of the product. This cost is eventually borne by the end consumer.
• Confuses The Buyer: Too many advertisements with similar claims often confuse the buyer about what to buy and whether they should buy the product or not.
• Is Sometimes Misleading: Some advertisements use smart strategies to mislead the customers.
• Only For Big Businesses: Advertising is costly, and only big businesses can afford it. This puts small businesses out of competition with big businesses that get to enjoy a monopoly in the market.
• Encourages The Sale Of Inferior Products: Effective advertisements even lead to the sale of inferior products which aren’t good for the consumers.

Advertising Examples

We are surrounded by advertisements. From TV to our mobile phones, we encounter advertisements everywhere. Following are a few examples of advertising.

TV Advertisements Example

Coca-Cola’s ‘I’d like to buy the world a Coke’, aired in 1971, is the world’s most famous TV advertisement.

Print Advertisements Example

Jeep’s ‘See whatever you want to see’ is a perfect example of a great print advertisement .

Radio Advertisements Example

Radio advertisements get more attention among the target customers and are also played more often. Here’s an example of a radio ad by Dove.

Digital Advertisements Example

Digital advertisements are advertisements made especially for the internet and digital devices users. The primary objective of digital ads is to drive traffic to business’s URLs. These ads can be video, image, or text ads.

Digital video ads aren’t restricted to a 30-second or 50-second slot. An example of a digital video ad is this advertisement by Airbnb.

One might see digital image ads while visiting websites like Feedough, Facebook, and Twitter. Here is an example:

Outdoor Advertising Example

These include hoardings, banners, flags, wraps, etc. An example of an outdoor advertisement is this hoarding by Audi.

Advertising vs Public Relations

While both advertising and public relations are an essential part of the promotional mix, there are some key differences between them.

Go On, Tell Us What You Think!

Did we miss something? Come on! Tell us what you think about our article on what is advertising in the comments section.

A startup consultant, digital marketer, traveller, and philomath. Aashish has worked with over 20 startups and successfully helped them ideate, raise money, and succeed. When not working, he can be found hiking, camping, and stargazing.

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What is Advertising? Definition, Types, Objectives, Ethics, Features, Process

• Post last modified: 10 August 2023
• Reading time: 52 mins read
• Post category: Marketing Management / Marketing Essentials

What is Advertising?

Advertising is a paid form of communication in which the sponsor or the brand owner has made payments to the media to carry the message through their set of media vehicles.

Table of Content

• 1 What is Advertising?
• 2 Advertising Definition
• 3.1 To inform
• 3.2 To persuade
• 3.3 To remind
• 4.1 Press Advertising
• 4.2 Outdoor or Mural Advertising
• 4.3 Direct Mail Advertising
• 4.4 Other Media of Advertising
• 5 Features of Advertising
• 6.1 Brand Advertising
• 6.2 National Advertising
• 6.3 Local Advertising
• 6.4 Retail Advertising
• 6.5 Nation and Destination Advertising
• 6.6 Political Advertising
• 6.7 Social Advertising
• 6.8 Directory Advertising
• 6.9 Direct Response Advertising
• 6.10 Business to business Advertising
• 6.11 Institutional Advertising
• 6.12 Public Services Advertising
• 6.13 Interactive Advertising
• 6.14 Outdoor Advertising
• 6.15 Electronic Advertising
• 6.16 Film Advertising
• 6.17 Unconventional Media
• 7.1 Overall Promotional Goal
• 7.2 Setting Advertising Objective
• 7.3 Communication Objective
• 7.4 Sales Objective
• 7.5 Setting up Advertising Budget
• 7.6 Develop Advertising Campaign
• 7.7 Evaluate Campaign and Provide Feedback
• 8.1 Benefits to Manufacturers
• 8.2 Benefits to Wholesalers and Retailers
• 8.3 Benefits to Consumers
• 8.4 Benefits to Salesmen
• 8.5 Benefits to Community or Society
• 9.1 Does Not Make Fake or False Claims
• 9.2 Directly Related to the Purpose and Nature of Advertising
• 9.3 Ethics also Depend on what we Believe
• 9.4 Advertising is Often Criticized for being Offensive and in the Bad Taste
• 9.5 Pharmaceutical Advertising
• 9.6 Alcohol
• 9.7 Cigarettes and Tobacco
• 9.8 Ads for Social Causes
• 9.9 Children
• 10 Reference
• 11 Marketing Management Topics

Advertising Definition

Any paid down non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by business firms identified in the advertising message intended to lead to a sale immediately or eventually. – American Marketing Association

William J. Stanton , “ Advertising consists of all the activities involved in presenting to a group, a non-personal oral or visual, openly sponsored message regarding a product or service or idea, this message is called an advertisement, is disseminated through one or more media and is paid for by the identified sponsor “ .

Richard Buskirk , “ Advertising is a paid form of non-person presentation of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor “ .

Wheeler , “ Advertising is a paid form of non-person‘s presentation of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor “ .

According to Jermy Bullmore , Chairman of J. Walter Thompson, “ Advertising is any paid form of communication intended to inform and/or influence one or more people “ .

Objectives of Advertising

Objectives of advertising are:

To persuade

• Telling the market about a new product.
• Suggesting new uses for a product.
• Informing the market for a price change.
• Explaining how the product works.
• Describing available services.
• Correcting false impressions reducing consumers fears.
• Building the company image to persuade.
• Building brand preference
• Encouraging switching to your brand
• Changing customers perception of the product attributes
• Persuading customers to purchase now
• Persuading customers to receive a sales call
• Reminding consumers that the product may be needed in the near future
• Reminding them where to buy it
• Keeping it in their minds during off-seasons
• Maintaining its top of mind awareness

Media of Advertising

Media of advertisement means any object or any device, which is used to communicate the message, either written or oral, to the potential consumers.

For the convenience of study, means of advertisement may broadly be divided into four parts :

• Press advertising
• Outdoor or mural advertising
• Advertisement by mail
• Other media

Press Advertising

Press is considered the most popular media of advertisement these days. It is also considered the cheapest and the best media because of its wide circulation.

Press advertising may be divided in two forms;

• Newspapers advertisement : All the advertisements made through newspapers are called Newspapers advertisements. A newspaper may be of national level, state level or district level. It may be daily, weekly or fortnightly and in any language.
• Magazines or journals advertisements : When an advertisement is published in a magazine or a journal, it is called magazine or journal advertisement.

Outdoor or Mural Advertising

Outdoor advertisements are the advertisements, which attract the customers when they are out of their home. These advertisements are displayed on roads or otherwise.

Direct Mail Advertising

Direct mail advertising means the form of advertising, in which the advertiser sends personal message in writing through post to some selected persons.

Salient features of direct mail advertising:

• The advertisement messages are prepared in writing.
• These messages are addressed directly to some selected persons.
• The message may be different for different persons

Other Media of Advertising

Some other forms of advertising may be explained as under:

• Fairs and exhibitions : In India, various fairs and exhibition are organised in different parts at different times. By taking part in this fairs and exhibitions, businessmen and manufacturers can display their goods.
• Cinema : Cinema is considered the cheapest and the most popular medium of entertainment these days. Advertisers get their cinema slides prepared and these slides are played in the beginning and during interval.
• Radio and television : Radio and television have become very common these days. Advertisement through radio and television is becoming more and more popular these days.
• Loudspeakers : Under this form of advertising, a rickshaw or a Tonga or a car, etc. is hired. A loudspeaker is placed on it and the message is announced in different localities of the city.
• Free samples : Under this method, some samples packing are prepared and distributed among consumers. These samples provide an opportunity to the consumers to use these samples and then adopt these products.
• Competition : Some producers announce a competition in it, consumers are required to reply to some questions and to give a slogan about the product. They are also required to send some wrappers or cartoons or cash memo that may prove that they have purchased the product. It increases the sales of the product.

Features of Advertising

Looking into the meaning and definition of advertising we can sum up the following features of advertising.

• Non-personal Presentation of Message : In advertising there is no face-to-face or direct contact with the customers. It is directed to the prospective buyers in general.
• Paid Form of Communication : In advertising the manufacturer communicates with prospective customers through different media like newspapers, hoardings, magazines, radio, television, etc. He has to pay certain amount for using some space or time in these media.
• Promotion of Product, Service or an Idea : Advertisement contains any message regarding any particular product, service or even an idea. It makes people aware of the product and induces them to buy it.
• Sponsor is Always Identified : The identity of the manufacturer, the trader or the service provider who issues an advertisement is always disclosed.
• Communicated through Some Media : Advertisements are always communicated through use of certain media. It is not necessary that there will be just one medium. All the media may also be used like print or electronic media.

Types of Advertising

Since advertising is one of the popular mediums of brand communication, it is used in many forms and for many purposes. It is possible to classify types of advertising into various forms as mentioned below.

Types of Advertising are:

Brand Advertising

National advertising, local advertising, retail advertising, nation and destination advertising, political advertising, social advertising, directory advertising, direct response advertising, business to business advertising, institutional advertising, public services advertising, interactive advertising, outdoor advertising, electronic advertising, film advertising, unconventional media.

This is the most popular form of advertising as all possible media including television is flooded with brand advertising. Brands like Surf Excel, Pepsi, and Coke in India are shown more frequently on Indian televisions. These kinds of advertisements are done to build brands and develop a unique brand identity for the firm.

These advertisements are uniform across the nation and are released through national media covering the nation.

These advertisements are carried out in local and vernacular media to promote the product in a local region.

These advertisements are brought to promote retail outlets and dealer points.

These advertisements are brought out to promote a nation as a tourism destination. These are also used for promoting states, cities and tourist attractions.

These are done for political parties, politicians and individual candidates during elections and referendums.

These advertisements are brought out for a social cause like against AIDS, sexual exploitation, women trafficking, child labour and other critical issues in a society.

These are the advertisements done in directories and yellow pages and followed by people while collecting a telephone number or a home address. People normally refer to these directories to buy products and services.

These advertisements are used in any medium, which tries to stimulate sales directly. The consumer can respond by mail, telephone or Internet.

These kinds of advertisements are carried out targeting business and organisational marketers. These messages are directed towards retailers, wholesalers and distributors. These advertisements are placed in professional journals and trade association publications.

Institutions like colleges, universities, missionary of charities and large corporates bring out these advertisements. When these are brought out by large corporates we call them corporate advertising.

The purpose of such advertising is to create positive goodwill, which will ultimately contribute towards achieving the overall marketing and brand-building goal of the organisation. Many companies use such advertisements to build a positive image in the eyes of the consumers and general audience at large.

Government and government sponsored institutions bring such advertisements for the benefit of general public. They communicate a message on behalf of some good cause. Advertising professionals create these advertisements for public relations department of large corporates, highlighting a social cause.

These are typical Internet-based advertisement, which is delivered to individual consumers who have access to the World Wide Web. Advertisers use web pages, banner ads, spots; pop-ups and email programs to reach the target audience.

These are forms of advertising in which the marketer uses out of the home media like wall paintings, hoardings, bulletins, kiosks and mobile vans for communicating with audience.

These forms of advertising use electronic media like television, radio, video and audiocassettes, electronic display boards, CDROMs for promotion of products and services.

These are new forms of advertising in which brands are placed inside the film and actors are shown using these products during the movie for increasing its usage among the audience.

These forms of advertising are of recent origin and use traditional art forms like jatraa, puppet dance and other local dance forms to communicate about products and services to the audience.

Advertising Management Process

As an advertising manager one needs to know how to decide on and design an effective advertising campaign.

Overall Promotional Goal

Setting advertising objective, communication objective, sales objective, setting up advertising budget, develop advertising campaign, evaluate campaign and provide feedback.

The advertising management process is shown in Figure

The most obvious objective marketers have for promotional activities is to convince customers to make a decision that benefits the marketer.

Promotion or brand manager should set objectives for an advertising campaign and also for each ad in each medium used.

Marketers strive to influence how prospective customers think. To do that, they need to understand how and when to guide them.

• First, they must be aware of to whom they are offering the solutions.
• Then they want to hook customers and engage them as they become interested.
• Next, they need to build understanding and become a credible source of information.
• Finally, should entice customers to take action and purchase the products and services.

A critical decision is to define the target market for the product or service. This would involve finding and precisely defining those variables that indicate who and where the best prospects are

Consumer research may be needed to find out:

• Who buys the product?
• What do they really buy?
• When do they buy?
• How do they use the product?

The objectives determine what is expected of advertising to accomplish in a defined period of time. The budget controls all proposed expenditures by fixing a limit.

• Affordable method : Promotion budget is set at the level management thinks the company can afford.
• Percentage-of-sales method : Promotion budget is set as a specified percentage of either past or forecasted sales.
• Fixed-sum-per-unit method : Promotion budget is set as a predetermined dollar amount for each unit sold or produced.
• Meeting competition method : Promotion budget is set to match a competitor’s promotion outlays on either an absolute or relative basis.
• Task-objective method : Once marketers determine their specific promotion objectives, the amount (and type) of promotional spending needed to achieve them

Media Decisions : Media planning is quite complex because of the nature of different kind of media. Media plan determines the best way to reach the audience with the advertiser’s message.

Message Decisions : An excellent advertising message is estimated to be ten times or more effective than an average message in influencing consumer attitudes , preferences and purchase decision for the product.

Post-testing is done to evaluate the final results of the campaign. These results are concerned with measuring the effectiveness of the ad.

Post-testing is done at the end of the campaign to determine to what extent the advertising campaign objectives have been accomplished and then to make any appropriate changes. It provides feedback to promotion managers and helps future planning.

Importance of Advertisement

Advertising broadens the knowledge of the consumers. With the aid of advertising, consumers find and buy necessary products without much waste of time. The main benefits of advertising may be narrated as follows:

Benefits to Manufacturers

Benefits to wholesalers and retailers, benefits to consumers, benefits to salesmen, benefits to community or society.

Advertising helps in creating and sustaining demand for existing and new products. It builds brand image and goodwill of the firm.

• It increases sales volume by creating attraction towards the product.
• Retail price, maintenance is also possible by advertising where price appeal is the promotional strategy.
• It helps to establish a direct contact between manufacturers and consumers.
• It leads to smoothen the demand of the product. It saves the product from seasonal fluctuations by discovering new usage of the product.
• It creates a highly responsive market and thereby quickens the turnover that results in lower inventory.
• Selling cost per unit is reduced because of increased sale volume. Consequently, product overheads are also reduced due to mass production and sale.
• It helps easy introduction of new products into the markets by the same manufacturer.
• It helps to create an image and reputation not only of the products but also of the producer or advertiser. In this way, it creates goodwill for the manufacturer.
• Advertising gives the employees a feeling of pride in their jobs and to be in the service of such a concern of repute. It thus inspires the executives and workers to improve their efficiency.
• Advertising is necessary to meet the competition in the market and to survive.
• Easy sale of the products is possible since consumers are aware of the product and its quality.
• It increases the rate of the turnover of the stock because demand is already created by advertisement.
• It ensures more economical selling because selling overheads are reduced.
• It enables them to have product information.
• It supplements the selling activities.
• The reputation created is shared by the wholesalers and retailers alike because they need not spend anything for the advertising of a well advertised product.
• Advertising helps in eliminating the middlemen by establishing direct contacts between producers and consumers. It results in cheaper goods.
• It helps them to know where and when the products are available. This reduces their shopping time.
• Advertising stresses on quality and very often prices. This forms an indirect guarantee to the consumers of the quality and price. Further large scale production assumed by advertising enables the seller to sell a product at a lower cost.
• It provides an opportunity to the customers to compare the merits and demerits of various substitute products.
• This is perhaps the only medium through which consumers could know the varied and new uses of the product.
• Modern advertisements are highly informative.
• Introducing the product becomes quite easy and convenient because the manufacturer has already advertised the goods informing the consumers about the product and its quality.
• Advertising prepares necessary ground for a salesman to begin his work effectively. Hence sales efforts are reduced.
• The contact established with the customer by a salesman is made permanent through effective advertising because a customer is assured of the quality and price of the product.
• The salesman can weigh the effectiveness of advertising when he makes direct contact with the consumers.
• It helps artists by making available more job opportunities. It also supports the Press.
• Advertising leads to a large-scale production creating more employment opportunities to the public in various jobs directly or indirectly.
• It initiates a process of creating more wants and their satisfaction results in higher standard of living. For example, advertising has made more popular and universal the uses of such inventions as the automobiles, radios, and various household appliances.
• Newspapers would not have become so popular and so cheap if there had been no advertisements. The cheap production of newspapers is possible only through the publication of advertisements in them. It sustains the Press.
• It assures employment opportunities for the professional personnel and artists.
• Advertising does provide a glimpse of a country’s way of life. It is, in fact, a running commentary on the way of living and the behaviour of the people and is also an indicator of some of the future in this regard.

Ethics in Advertising

Ethics is the most important feature of the advertising industry. Though there are many benefits of advertising but then there are some points which do not match the ethical norms of advertising.

Does Not Make Fake or False Claims

Directly related to the purpose and nature of advertising, ethics also depend on what we believe, advertising is often criticized for being offensive and in the bad taste, pharmaceutical advertising, cigarettes and tobacco, ads for social causes.

An ethical ad is the one which does not lie, does not make fake or false claims and is in the limit of decency. The main area of interest for advertisers is to increase their sales, gain more and more customers, and increase the demand for the product by presenting a well decorated, puffed and colourful ad.

They claim that their product is the best, having unique qualities than the competitors, more cost-effective, and more beneficial. But most of these ads are found to be false, misleading customers and unethical.

Ethics in advertising is directly related to the purpose of advertising and the nature of advertising. Sometimes exaggerating the ad becomes necessary to prove the benefit of the product.

For example a sanitary napkin ad which shows that when the napkin was dropped in a river by some girls, the napkin soaked water of the entire river.

If the advertisers make the ads on the belief that the customers will understand, persuade them to think, and then act on their ads, then this will lead to positive results and the ad may not be called unethical.

There are several grounds for criticism. For example, TV ad of unpleasant products (haemorrhoid treatment, diarrhoea products) or sexual explicitness.

Such ads help in creating awareness, but one catchy point here is that the advertisers show what the medicine can cure but never talk about the side effects of that same thing or the risks involved in the intake of it.

Till today, there has not come any liquor ad which shows anyone drinking the original liquor. They use mineral water and sodas in their advertisements with their brand name. These types of ads are called surrogate ads. These types of ads are totally unethical when liquor ads are totally banned. Even if there are no advertisements for alcohol, people will continue drinking.

These products should never be advertised as consumption of these things is directly responsible for cancer and other severe health issues. Such ads are banned in countries like India, Norway, Thailand, Finland and Singapore.

These types of ads are ethical and are accepted by the people. But ads like condoms and contraceptive pills should be limited, as these are sometimes unethical, and are more likely to loose morality and decency at places where there is no educational knowledge about all these products.

Children are the major sellers of the ads and the product. They have the power to convince the buyers. But when advertisers are using children in their ad, they should remember not to show them alone doing work on their own like brushing teeth, playing with toys.

• V. S. Ramaswamy, S. Namakumari; 2009; Marketing Management; MacMillan Publishers Pvt Ltd.
• Kotler, Keller, Koshy, Jha; 2009; 13th Edition; Marketing Management: A South Asian Perspective.

Marketing Management Topics

• Market Segmentation
• Marketing Mix
• Marketing Concept
• Marketing Management Process
• Marketing Environment

Consumer Behaviour

• Business Buyer Behaviour
• Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning

Marketing Management

• Advertising
• Marketing Planning
• Public Relations
• Sales Promotion
• Types of Sales Promotion
• Techniques of Sales Promotion
• New Product Development Process
• What is Pricing
• Methods of Pricing & Strategies
• Market Entry Strategy
• Demand Forecasting
• Brand Building Process

Agricultural Cooperative Marketing

Classification of products.

• Types of Logistics
• Marketing Control
• Models of Communication
• Consumer Research
• DAGMAR Approach
• Consumer Behaviour Models
• Personal Selling
• Green Marketing
• Customer Relationship Management
• Electronic commerce
• Kotler Product Level
• Marketing Communication

Go On, Share & Tell Us What You Think!

Did we miss something in Marketing Management Tutorial or You want something More? Come on! Tell us what you think about our post on Advertising in the comments section and Share this post with your friends.

( Click on Topic to Read )

• What Is Market Segmentation?
• What Is Marketing Mix?
• What Is Marketing Environment?
• What Is Consumer Behaviour?
• 7 Stages Of New Product Development
• Methods Of Pricing
• What Is Public Relations?
• What Is Marketing Management?
• What Is Sales Promotion?
• Types Of Sales Promotion
• Techniques Of Sales Promotion
• What Is Personal Selling?
• What Is Advertising?
• What Is Marketing Planning?
• Segmentation Targeting And Positioning
• Kotler Five Product Level Model
• Classification Of Products
• Types Of Logistics
• What Is Consumer Research?
• What Is DAGMAR?
• What Is Green Marketing?
• What Is Electronic Commerce?
• What Is Marketing Control?
• What Is Marketing Communication?
• What Is Pricing?
• Models Of Communication

Sales Management

• What is Sales Management?
• Objectives of Sales Management
• Responsibilities and Skills of Sales Manager
• Theories of Personal Selling
• What is Sales Forecasting?
• Methods of Sales Forecasting
• Purpose of Sales Budgeting
• Methods of Sales Budgeting
• Types of Sales Budgeting
• Sales Budgeting Process
• What is Sales Quotas?
• What is Selling by Objectives (SBO) ?
• What is Sales Organisation?
• Types of Sales Force Structure
• Recruiting and Selecting Sales Personnel
• Training and Development of Salesforce
• Compensating the Sales Force
• Time and Territory Management
• What Is Logistics?
• What Is Logistics System?
• Technologies in Logistics
• What Is Distribution Management?
• What Is Marketing Intermediaries?
• Conventional Distribution System
• Functions of Distribution Channels
• What is Channel Design?
• Types of Wholesalers and Retailers
• What is Vertical Marketing Systems?

Marketing Essentials

• What i s Marketing?
• What i s A BCG Matrix?
• 5 M'S Of Advertising
• What i s Direct Marketing?
• Marketing Mix For Services
• What Market Intelligence System?
• What i s Trade Union?
• What Is International Marketing?
• World Trade Organization (WTO)
• What i s International Marketing Research?
• What is Exporting?
• What is Licensing?
• What is Franchising?
• What is Joint Venture?
• What is Turnkey Projects?
• What is Management Contracts?
• What is Foreign Direct Investment?
• Factors That Influence Entry Mode Choice In Foreign Markets
• What is Price Escalations?
• What is Transfer Pricing?
• Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)
• What is Promotion Mix?
• Factors Affecting Promotion Mix
• Functions & Role Of Advertising
• What is Database Marketing?
• What is Advertising Budget?
• What is Advertising Agency?
• What is Market Intelligence?
• What is Industrial Marketing?
• What is Customer Value
• What is Consumer Behaviour?
• What Is Personality?
• What Is Perception?
• What Is Learning?
• What Is Attitude?
• What Is Motivation?
• Consumer Imagery
• Consumer Attitude Formation
• What Is Culture?
• Consumer Decision Making Process
• Applications of Consumer Behaviour in Marketing
• Motivational Research
• Theoretical Approaches to Study of Consumer Behaviour
• Consumer Involvement
• Consumer Lifestyle
• Theories of Personality
• Outlet Selection
• Organizational Buying Behaviour
• Reference Groups
• Consumer Protection Act, 1986
• Diffusion of Innovation
• Opinion Leaders

Business Communication

• What is Business Communication?
• What is Communication?
• Types of Communication
• 7 C of Communication
• Barriers To Business Communication
• Oral Communication
• Types Of Non Verbal Communication
• What is Written Communication?
• What are Soft Skills?
• Interpersonal vs Intrapersonal communication
• Barriers to Communication
• Importance of Communication Skills
• Listening in Communication
• Causes of Miscommunication
• What is Johari Window?
• What is Presentation?
• Communication Styles
• Channels of Communication
• Hofstede’s Dimensions of Cultural Differences and Benett’s Stages of Intercultural Sensitivity
• Organisational Communication
• Horizontal C ommunication
• Grapevine Communication
• Downward Communication
• Verbal Communication Skills
• Upward Communication
• Flow of Communication
• What is Emotional Intelligence?
• What is Public Speaking?
• Upward vs Downward Communication
• Internal vs External Communication
• What is Group Discussion?
• What is Interview?
• What is Negotiation?
• What is Digital Communication?
• What is Letter Writing?
• Resume and Covering Letter
• What is Report Writing?
• What is Business Meeting?
• What is Public Relations?

Business Law

• What is Business Law?
• Indian Contract Act 1872
• Essential Elements of a Valid Contract
• Types of Contract
• What is Discharge of Contract?
• Performance of Contract
• Sales of Goods Act 1930
• Goods & Price: Contract of Sale
• Conditions and Warranties
• Doctrine of Caveat Emptor
• Transfer of Property
• Rights of Unpaid Seller
• Negotiable Instruments Act 1881
• Types of Negotiable Instruments
• Types of Endorsement
• What is Promissory Note?
• What is Cheque?
• What is Crossing of Cheque?
• What is Bill of Exchange?
• What is Offer?
• Limited Liability Partnership Act 2008
• Memorandum of Association
• Articles of Association
• What is Director?
• Trade Unions Act, 1926
• Industrial Disputes Act 1947
• Employee State Insurance Act 1948
• Payment of Wages Act 1936
• Payment of Bonus Act 1965
• Labour Law in India

Brand Management

• What is Brand Management?
• 4 Steps of Strategic Brand Management Process
• Customer Based Brand Equity
• What is Brand Equity?

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Definitions of Advertising

Everything you need to know about the definitions of advertising. Advertising does not involve only presentation and promotion, but an element of persuasion too.

Any advertisement devoid of persuasion is not the part of advertising and will only be considered as a communication link disseminating some piece of information to the masses.

W.J. Stanton definition of advertising is – “Advertising consists of all the activities involved in presenting to a group a non-personal, oral or visual, openly sponsored message regarding a product, service or idea, this message, called an advertisement is disseminated through one or more media and is paid for by the identified sponsor”.

Learn about the definitions of advertising as given by different authors like Albert Lasker, Burt Manning, Wheeler opines, Robert W. Sarnoff, John J. Myers, Bay and Wheeler, R. H. Colley, William J Stanton, R. V. Zacher, John E. Kennedy, Henry Ford and a Few Others.

Definitions of Advertising as Provided by Different Authors and Institutions  

Definitions of advertising – provided by american marketing association.

American Marketing Association recognizes the term advertising as – any paid form of non- personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and services by an identified sponsor. This definition mainly explains what advertising is and helps in distinguishing advertising from other communication initiatives with which it is often confused. Advertising is not the same as publicity.

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Publicity is another form of communication like press releases or public relation {e.g. news conferences) that the media covers on their own. Advertising which make use of mass media, either in broadcast or in print form- as a vehicle to carry the advertising message to its audience involves some payment as a consideration by the advertiser for using media time and media space.

Moreover, advertiser (the one who wishes to initiate the advertising process) is a disclosed entity to the audience for his advertising initiatives. In the case of publicity the source of information is not disclosed to the audience and information spreads like news and not the promotional message.

This is an important point of difference between advertising and publicity as at times there are the instances of paid publicity also but without disclosing the identity of the sponsor. Advertising is a non-personal form of communication because it uses mass media forms. Personal selling, on the other hand, is a face-to-face communication with the target audience and is also referred as dyadic communication.

The AMA definition thus explains the typical characteristics of an advertisement rather than advertising as a promotional activity. An advertisement that we normally come across while watching television, reading newspaper or passing through the road is a form of announcement (a message) that has been paid for by an identified sponsor, has been sent through one or more mass media, and is directed to a specific group of individuals or organization (a market segment) with the explicit purpose of supporting the sale or purchase of a product, brand or service.

In nutshell, ‘advertisement’ is different from other forms of announcements and the message is actually the end result of the series of advertising related decisions. Thus, the AMA definition of the term advertising is limited in its scope as it does not suggests in any way the persuasive and creative aspects of advertising or indicate its functions and responsibilities.

As defined by Cohen, ‘Advertising is a business activity, employing creative techniques to design persuasive communications in mass media that promote ideas, goods and services in a manner consistent with the achievement of the advertiser’s objectives, the delivery of consumer satisfactions, and the development of social and economic welfare.’

Advertising does not involve only presentation and promotion, but an element of persuasion too. Any advertisement devoid of persuasion is not the part of advertising and will only be considered as a communication link disseminating some piece of information to the masses. Advertising as a persuasive activity is taken up around the knowledge of buyer’s needs and wants related to the product and creates favourable pre-dispositions in his mind.

It is expected that the product use will get translated into consumer satisfaction. Apart from referrals and good word of mouth, the parameter of consumer satisfaction is likely to be the immediate or future increase in sales volume. If the increase in sales volume is proportionate to the increase in advertising expenditure, the net outcome of advertising is generally profitability for an organization.

The reasons for the consumer and manufacturer to use advertising information are, therefore, compatible and mutually essential. Advertiser’s purpose for the use of advertising is to maximize profits and help consumers to maximize their satisfaction.

Advertising communication process-Advertising provides reassurances to consumers once they own or use the product and fits into pre to post purchase phases of consumer decision-making process. Advertising provides persuasive communications with intent to make the consumer aware, to create the feelings of familiarity, to generate the feelings for the brand, to create the image, or to provide reminder for trial purchase.

Due to such persuasions, it is expected that the consumer is likely to change both their attitude and actions. The advertising communication process as modeled by Batra, Myers and Aaker (1998). The model shows various effects of ad exposure leading to the formation of a brand attitude which is expected to result into favourable purchase behaviour.

Advertising decisions-Advertising, being a persuasive process requires planning and decision making for the development of an advertisement, i.e. an ad or an ad campaign. Some of the key decisions include ascertaining to whom the ad would be of interest (the potential buyer), what can be said in the ad and how can it be said, when the ad should be sent, and which mass media form among the many available would provide the best vehicle to carry the advertising message to the selected audience.

More precisely, concerning the development of an ad, the various decisions include:

1. The selection of advertising objectives.

2. The selection of target audience.

3. The determination of advertising budget.

5. 4. The designing of both message strategy and tactics.

6. The selection of media and determining the media use.

7. The evaluation of the outcome of ad exposure.

In short, these can be summarized as decisions about 5 M’s, i.e. mission, money, message, media, and measurement.

In consonance with overall marketing and business plans, advertising objectives provides clarity on the role of advertising and guide the strategic decisions on the media and message both.

These advertising decisions involve many people and activities, and are not merely restricted to inform or entertain. It must seek to change or reinforce the behaviour. The consumers, therefore, need to be aware enough of persuasive intent of the advertiser no matter how restrained and informative the message is.

In view of these discussions, advertising is more appropriately defined as, ‘Controlled, identifiable persuasion by means of mass communication media’ Advertising is a persuasive communication, which is controlled in terms of what to say, how to say, when to say, where to say and whom to say.

Unlike both publicity and personal selling advertising persuasion is identifiable to the recipient both for its source and purpose. The use of mass communication media allows advertising to have a simultaneous reach to multiple audiences, thus making it different from personal selling.

A participant of advertising process-Advertising is a complex phenomenon. It involves a number of activities that form the part of process and advertiser, media, advertising and other support organizations and audiences  are the various participants of the process. Since each of the participants has specific characteristics and role related to different advertising activities, they make specific contributions in determining the effectiveness of advertising process. We will now discuss each of the participants of the process in detail to understand their nature and role in the advertising process.

Advertiser is the one who initiates the advertising process and sends some kind of advertisement through mass media. Advertiser decides about the need of advertising for product promotion, the level and type of advertising and the level of ad spend. Advertiser may belong to various categories.

He may be a producer, wholesaler, retailers, service organization, distributor, school, hospital, politician, individual, a business or non-business organization. Any government organization at local. State or national level may also be the advertiser. Each of the advertisers takes up advertising activity for selling purpose or for public relation purpose.

Advertising agency is defined as ‘An intermediary offering specialized services to some advertisers, so that they may presumably better reach (and influence) their potential customers.’ ‘Advertising agency is an independent business composed of creative and business people who develop, prepare and place advertising in media for clients seeking to find customers for their goods and services.’

The two key services that most of the agencies tend to perform for advertisers as their clients, the advertisers, are- (i) creative services and development of ads and (ii) the selection and placement of ads in the media. Both the services are fundamental to the success of an ad and they require high quality of creativity. Advertisers hire independent agencies to plan and implement in part or all their advertising efforts.

Advertising agency works in a client-agent relationship with an advertiser. It offers to the potential client a collection of specialists, e.g. copywriters, art directors, television and radio producers, researchers advertising planners and many more as per the needs of the clients.

There are agencies of varied types. Some are large agencies offering full length services to its clients; the others are small in size offering only limited services or some specialized services like media buying only. The number and size of agencies tend to vary quite often as mergers and acquisitions are a regular feature of agency business.

Support Organizations or vendors provide specialized research and other services to an advertiser and agency. Their services facilitate advertising process. Examples include freelance copywriters, photographers, market researchers, and others.

AC Neilson Company, Org-Marg are some such independent research firms that attempt to measure audience size for various media vehicles like television programmes. Some of these organizations also attempt to measure the effects of advertising in terms of its recall, recognition or attitude change.

Media in its print or broadcast form provides the channel through which advertising message is delivered to the target audience. Media providers are significant participants of advertising process as they provide media space and/or time and also assist in the selection of media type and development of an ad.

The advertising message is gathered by non-advertising content of a particular media type like television, radio or newspaper. Other media like direct mail, billboards, posters, car cards and point of purchase, however, rely solely on the advertising message to attract the attention of the target audience. In a nutshell, advertising is a form of mass persuasion and mass media is advertisers’ conduit to reach.

Target Audience is the recipient of advertising communication who uses information for decision-making purpose. On receiving advertising information, audience may decide to act if information is found suitably appropriate. Otherwise, the information may be recalled at some later date.

Advertisers necessarily need to identify and understand who the recipients of advertising message are. Their needs, preferences, media habits have direct bearing on the overall advertising strategy especially the message and media strategy.

Definitions of Advertising by Prasoon Joshi and Burt Manning  

Advertising is defined as the paid, non-personal form of communication about products or ideas by an identified sponsor through the mass media so as to inform, persuade or influence the behaviour of the target audience.

Advertising is directed to a large number of people and not to one individual. That is why we call it non-personal. Advertising is communication about products or ideas. It may inform us about the features of iPod or new smart phone or spell out the need to have a cancer check-up.

An identified sponsor is the advertising company or an NGO soliciting donations. The mass media channels are the newspapers, magazines, radio, TV which carry the advertised message so that it reaches the people at once.

The advertising message either informs about the product or persuades people to buy it. It may influence them to vote for a specific candidate. Sometimes, the message may influence us not do certain things, say drug abuse or wastage of fossil fuels.

The simplest definition of an advertisement is that it is a ‘public announcement’. In earlier times to ‘advertise’ was merely to announce or inform some ads such as the ‘classifieds’ still do the same – announce the birth, death, engagements with little or no intention to persuade. Gradually, advertising evolved as a form of persuasive communication with the public.

In a free market economy, such communication is required to make intelligent choices. John E Kennedy, Lord and Thomas Ad Agency, described advertising as ‘salesmanship in print’. Albert Lasker endorses the same definition. Till the term ‘salesman­ship in print’ was coined, advertising was, viewed as information dissemination.

Salesmanship added a new dimension to the advertising process – that of persuasive skills of a salesman. It introduced the art of persuasion and made advertising a force to reckon with. Sidney Bernstein (1990) reinforces Kennedy’s definition by describing ‘advertising as a substitute for the human salesman’. Chris Jacques, chairman, BBDO Asia-Pacific thinks that advertising is the business of creative thinking for commercial advantage.

The following two definitions of advertising are also interesting:

Prasoon Joshi, Creative Director, South and South-east Asia, McCann Erickson asserts that as advertisers, we are in the communication business. Clients come to advertising agencies, though they can give a technical brief, to communicate their message in a consumer-friendly manner. The crux of advertising is effective communication. People who cannot communi­cate should not get into this business.

“Advertising is one of the important forces which serve the public interest. It is a form of open communication between those who sell and those who buy. It is a form of advocacy – open to any company or cause that wants to argue its case. The jury is the public. Every purchase is a vote. “– Burt Manning, JWT

Definitions of Advertising   – Provided by Eminent Authors and Institutions

The term ‘advertising’ is derived from the Latin word ‘advertere’ which means ‘to turn the attention’. Every piece of advertising aims at turning the attention of the readers or the listeners or the viewers or the onlookers towards a product or a service or an idea. So, we can say anything that turns the attention to an article or a service or an idea might be well called as advertising.

Advertisement or commercial, often just advert, ad, or ad-film is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organisation that conveys a message, typically one intended to market a product. Advertisement revenue provides a significant portion of the funding for most privately owned television networks.

When aired on radio or television, an advertisement is called a commercial. Advertisements of this sort have been used to promote a wide variety of goods, services and ideas since the advent of television.

Wheeler opines, “Advertising is any form of paid non-personal presentation of ideas, goods or services for the purpose of inducing people to buy.”

Advertising is defined as ‘mass communication of information intended to persuade buyers so as to maximize profits.’ (Littlefield) Advertising is “Any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by business firms identified in the advertising message intended to lead to a sale immediately or eventually.”

Thus, advertising means any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor, intended to lead to a sale immediately or eventually. In short, ‘advertising is a paid form of impersonal, one-way mass communication for sales promotion.’

Salesmanship in print – Prof. Starch describes it as ‘selling in print’ i.e., presenting a commodity in print to the people in such a way that they may be induced to buy it.

Advertisement is a sort of ‘Machine made mass production method of selling.’

Definitions of Advertising by Several Authors

Advertising has been defined by several authors. Some of them are discussed here. “Advertising is paid, non-personal communication through various media by business firms.” It is always paid unlike the routine services of sales promotion, personal selling and publicity. Services for advertising are offered by advertising agencies which are experts in the areas of advertisement.

It is mass communication, for it informs and influences a large number of people. It is aimed at a big group of purchasers or potential purchasers. The medium of advertising is selected by the sponsor or the beneficiary.

Each medium of advertisement offers its own advantages, costs and drawbacks. Each is selected after due consideration of the potential market costs, expected benefits and availability. Adver­tising is aimed at a target group capable of purchasing the advertised goods.

The presentation of the sales message may be visual as well as oral. The sponsor has also been given importance under this definition. Advertising is an effective method of reaching people with product information. “Advertising is controlled, identifiable information and persuasion by means of mass communication media”.

It is considered controlled information because it has to use the time, space and content of the message effectively and economically. It is controlled because it is directed at a particular group. Advertising should not be haphazardly done to attract a number of persons without fruitful results.

It is identifiable because it identifies the product and the source of the product. The message should be definite and appealing to the target group. Persuasion is the main object of advertising. It is creative and information, and is designed to attract prospective buyers. It has been accepted by all the authors that advertising is mass communication.

Advertising management is different from mass communication by the producer. Advertising management is the main task of the advertiser who directs and controls the advertising activities. It covers analysis, and the planning, control and decision-making activities of the advertiser. Identification of markets and consumer behaviour are the vital parts of advertising management.

Definitions of Advertising   – By Famous Marketing Authors: W.J. Stanton, Robert W. Sarnoff, John J. Myers, Bay and Wheeler

The word advertising is derived from Latin root ‘Adverto’ meaning thereby ‘to turn to advertising’ i.e., anything employed to draw the attention of people towards any object or purpose. Definitions – It includes the whole process of promoting the sales. Personal selling and sales promotion get additional support only with pre-selling impact made by advertising.

It is the most common, deliberate and purposeful form of communication employed by an organization to inform, persuade and remind the target customers. A company’s message is carried by advertising media to reach the unknown group. It is a mass but paid form of communication through certain media to motivate people to make up their mind to buy the product or service to a number of potential buyers at a time. It is aimed at a group of persons and not an individual.

The communication of message may take the form of visual or oral messages for the purpose of informing and influencing the target group. The ultimate purpose underlying all advertising is increased awareness, which sooner or later turns the mind to buy the said product. It is a means of spreading the information.

This meaning is expressed by the scholars in their definitions as given below:

W.J. Stanton, “Advertising consists of all the activities involved in presenting to a group a non-personal, oral or visual, openly sponsored message regarding a product, service or idea, this message, called an advertisement is disseminated through one or more media and is paid for by the identified sponsor”.

Firstly, advertising is paid form, it is commercial transaction and it is this which distinguishes from publicity.

Secondly, it is non-personal in the sense that advertising messages, visual, spoken or written, are directed at a mass audience and not at the industrial users, (i.e., it is found in case of personal selling).

Finally, advertisements are identifiable with their sponsor or originator, which is not always the case with publicity or propaganda.

Robert W. Sarnoff interestingly says that an “Advertising is the foot on the accelerator, the hand on the throttle, the spur on the flank that keeps our economy surging a head”.

Bur Manning JWT flashes it as – “one of the important forces which serve the public interest. It is a form of open communication between those who sell and those who buy. It is a form of advocacy- open to any company or cause that wants to argue its case. The jury is the public. Every purchaser is a vote.”

According to John J. Myers, “Advertising is dissemination of information concerning an idea, service or product to compel the action in accordance with interest of advertiser”.

In the words of Bay and Wheeler , “Advertising is any form of paid, non-personal presentations of ideas, goods and services for the purpose of inducing people to buy them”.

Definitions of Advertising   – Provided by R. H. Colley and William J Stanton

Advertising is a major tool that a company uses to communicate with its target buyers. The communication is about the products and services of the company, the details being presented in a very attractive manner with the intention of selling these to the target customers. Advertising uses several media to communicate with the target customers.

Advertising is absolutely inevitable to sell goods, in the present scenario because of the intense competition. It is only through advertising that a manufacturer can inform the prospective buyers about his products, convince them and make them buy his products.

The word-advertise is a derivation of the Latin term “ad vertere” which means to draw the attention.

“Advertising is paid form of mass communication, the ultimate purpose of which is to impart information, develop attitudes and induce action, beneficial to the advertising in the sale of a product or service.” — R. H. Colley

“Advertising consists of all the activities involved in presenting to an audience a non- personal, sponsor-identified, paid for message about a product or organization.” – William J Stanton

Advertising is the form of paid, non-personal communication conducted to disseminate messages. These messages are usually persuasive in nature and are used to build a brand or create awareness about a product or service, or educate for a social cause. Advertisements are created in different ways as the writer can conceive, be written, modified and injected with every aspect that can appeal to customers.

Points to be kept in mind while developing an advertising programme:

(i) Mission – The objectives of the advertisements should be carefully and neatly framed.

(ii) Money – The budget that needs to be allocated across different media types should be determined.

(iii) Message – The message the company needs to send to the customers.

(iv) Media – The platform of media the company needs to select in order to target the right customers.

(v) Measurement – The Company must have an evaluation technique for the results.

Definitions of Advertising   – As Given by Marketing Experts: R.V. Zacher and William J. Stanton

Advertising is a combination of actions taken in order to draw public attention towards any particular product or service. It is a kind of ‘paid announcement’ which the company creates in order to inform, educate and tempt the public to purchase their products or services.

The word ‘advertising’ has been derived from the Latin term ‘advertere’ which means ‘turn to’ or turning the attention towards the product. Goods are always produced in anticipation of demand. Success of a business depends upon fast sales and repeated orders. Every businessman, therefore, tries to increase the sales. In order to obtain high turnover, business enterprises now use various methods of persuading the people to buy their products.

Advertisement is the art of making yourself and your product known to die world in such a way that a desire for buying that product is created in the hearts of the people. It has been rightly pointed out that in order to fly the aeroplane of sales, advertisement acts as fuel. Advertising in fact, is a salesmanship in print. It is inevitable for increasing the volume of sales.

“Advertising is a means of communicating information pertaining to product or ideas by other than direct personal contact and on an openly paid basis with intent to sell or otherwise obtain favourable consideration.” —R. V. ZACHER

“Advertising consists- of all the activities involved in presenting to a group, a non- personal, oral or visual, openly sponsored message regarding a product, service or idea; this message called an advertisement, is disseminated through one or more media and is paid for by the identified sponsor.” —WILLIAM J. STANTON

Definitions of Advertising by John E Kennedy  

The marketing communication mix consists of five major modes of communication—(i) Advertising, (ii) Sales Promotion, (iii) Public Relations, (iv) Personal Selling and (v) Direct Marketing.

Advertising is one of the functions of marketing. Thus, advertising management is a branch of marketing management, which plays an important role in the realisation of the organisation’s objectives. Through advertising, one can attain short term objectives such as increase in the sales of a product, as well as long term objectives such as bringing behavioural changes in the attitude of the present and prospective customers.

Advertising management is made up of a system of interacting organiza­tions, with advertisers at the core of the system. Advertising management is heavily focused on the analysis, planning, control and decision-making activities of the core institution in achieving the marketing and organisation objectives. However, many other institutions are also involved in the process such as facilitating and control institutions—from advertising agency to research agencies, media, government and the competitors.

The word advertising has its origin from a Latin word ‘Advertise’ which means ‘turns on’. The dictionary meaning of the word is ‘to announce publicly or to give ‘public notice’. In the early days of advertising, people used to advertise simply to announce the availability of goods and services. It was in 1904 that John E. Kennedy dramatically changed the description of advertising to ‘salesmanship in print’.

For the first time, it was clearly stated that the ultimate win of advertising is to sell. “It is not good advertising unless it sells”. It was emphasised that advertising did not just denote thinking up with pictures or writing clear slogans, nor was the purpose of advertising to entertain. It was considered to be a serious business tool with the purpose of assisting the sales of a product.

Every advertiser pays the same tariff for a magazine or TV time. Yet a really good message can sell many times over a poor one. As an advertising professional one is expected to produce high return on investment, readership, action and sales.

According to John E. Kennedy – “Advertising is simply a way of selling something in the most effective method possible. Good advertising creates sales and not just attention”.

Definitions of Advertising   – As Defined by William J. Stanton, J. Thomas Russel and W. Roland Lane

Advertising is a form of communication. It is the presentation of an idea, image, message or information. It is objectively framed, addressing a target group to convey the theme desired to reach the specific objective and goal, designed by the advertiser. The idea behind any advertisement is to influence the target group, to generate interest and to act accordingly.

In other words, it is a process of developing an attitude and induced action, for selling goods or services. Advertisement plays the role of facilitator, to bridge the gap between the advertiser and the target group and to generate the brand image and loyalty.

According to William J. Stanton “Advertising consists of all the activities involved in presenting to a group, a non-personal, oral or visual, openly-sponsored message regarding a product, services or idea, this message is called an advertisement, is disseminated through one or more media and is paid for by an identified sponsor.”

J. Thomas Russel and W. Roland Lane defined advertising as follows:

“Advertising is a message paid for by an identified sponsor and delivered through some medium of mass communication. Advertising is persuasive communication. It is not neutral; it is not unbiased; it says- ‘I am going to sell you a product or an idea.’”

From the above discussions and definitions we may identify ‘advertising’ as:

1. Any paid form,

2. Non-personal presentation and promotion,

3. Sponsored by an identified individual or organisation,

4. The presentation of ideas, messages or information,

5. Communicated through mass media,

6. Developed for generation of awareness,

7. Repeatedly focussed for persuasion and conviction,

8. Generates brand image and brand loyalty.

In marketing there are four major elements known as four P’s. They are – Product, Price, Place (Distribution) and Promotion. The promotional aspects of the marketing activities are concerned with – Advertising; Sales promotion; Personal selling; Public Relations; Publicity etc.

The marketing activities can only be organised successfully, if all the components are integrated and co-ordinated effectively to achieve the organisational objectives.

Advertising is a part of promotional-mix. The other elements are sales promotion, personal selling, public relations and publicity. Any non-personal sponsored commu­nication designed with the objective to influence the buying behaviour is treated as advertising.

Definitions of Advertising   – According to Russel H. Colley, Samuel Johnson, Albert Lasher, Stanley Resor, Leo Burnett, Claude C. Hopkins and David Ogilvy

“Adverting has become the second largest item in our corporate budget. The chips are getting so blue that top management can no longer afford to be uninformed — naive, if you will — about advertising”. — Russel H. Colley

Advertising and promotions are the avenues for the marketers to communicate with the consumers in a meaningful manner. Now a days, with the generation of myriad media outlets, marketers are looking beyond the tradi­tional methods of exposures.

Advertising and promotions are considered fastest growing dynamic and fascinating subject, for the pur­pose of study and practice. It was stated by Samuel Johnson “The trade of advertising is now so near to perfection that it is not easy to propose any improvements.”

The advertising activities encompasses multi-disciplinary aspects, like product at­tributes, knowledge of the market, role of competition, segmenting the market for targeting the audience arid knowledge of media. Consumer’s behavioural pattern, socio­economic and regulatory framework impact of globalisation, changing national and international scenario govern the advertising planning and strategies.

In the field of advertising, the exponents developed different innovative strategies. In 1900, Albert Lasher a pioneer in the field of advertising, owned the renowned adver­tising agency Lord and Thomas. According to him ‘a good advertising person should possess a sense of detail combined with a gift of grasping the big picture, and should have the potential to predict the reactions of consumers.’

Stanley Resor the head of J. Walter Thomson advertising agency, believed that an ideal agency should act ‘University of Advertising’. He hired three professors – a psychologist, an economist and a historian. Another renowned person in the field of that period Raymond Rubicam of Young and Rubicam agency, believed in the research process associated with the creativity in advertising. He inducted Dr. Gallup from North Western University to measure the readership of advertisements. Rubicam used to say, ‘The way we sell is to get read first.’

Leo Burnett , being a pioneer generated immortal campaign for ‘Marlboro’.

His few suggestions regarding creative process are as follows:

“There is an inherent drama in every product. Our No. 1 job is to dig for it and capitalize on it.”

“Steep yourself in your subject, work, like hell, and love, honour and obey your hunches.”

Claude C. Hopkins joined Lord & Thomas as a copy writer, and created famous ad campaigns for Pepsodent, Palmolive etc.

A few of his viewpoints may be cited, as follows:

“In every ad. consider only new customers. People using your product are not going to read your ads.”

“Ad writers forget they are salesmen and try to be performers. Instead of sales, they seek applause.”

“Brief ads are never key ad. Every traced ad tells a complete Story.”

Hopkins perceived the importance of brand images, long before it was actually practiced by the industry. Another exponent in the field, Bill Bernbach developed wonderful ad campaign for Volkswagen. His headline for AVIS car rental company “Avis is only No. 2 in rent a cars. So why go with-us?” proved simply overwhelming. An approach of hard confession generated a strong positive appeal among the audience targeted.

David Ogilvy the founder of Ogilvy & Mather agency believed on creativity in ad­vertising, and generation of ‘Big Ideas’. According to him ‘no idea is big unless it works for atleast 30 years’. He stressed on positioning a product in an exclusive manner to create an impact. In the advertising of ‘DOVE’, he positioned the toilet soap for dry skin, and used a promise which had won the test ‘Dove creams your skin while you bathe’.

Regarding advertising business and profession, he believed in professionalism and considered that specialisation different activities can turn the business to perfection. In his book ‘Ogilvy on Advertising’ he expressed the different diversified activities involved in the profession like, the role of ‘Copy-writers’, ‘Art Directors’, ‘Account Executives’, ‘Researchers’ etc.

Analysation and Synthesis of the opinions and views of the scholars, if summed up throw light on the various work fields of advertising agencies.

In India the advertising business took the shape of a professional stream only during 1990s. The growth of the business was recorded around 50% from 1990 to 1995, due to economic boom of the country, liberalisation process and influx of media opportunities. Economic policies opened the opportunities of global entries.

Considering the economic environment, advertising and other promotional strategies have now become the integral part of our social and economic system. The innovation of new technologies have led to the scope of introduction of new media for effective reach and exposure of the messages which in turn is developed by the dynamic marketers.

The developments of the marketing strategies have widened the range and the scope of marketing, to encompass different groups and segments of consumers advertising as a systematic and dynamic process, has generated the interest of the marketers.

Related Articles:

• Shape of the Advertising Cost Curve (With Diagram)
• Advertising: Subject-Matter and Rule of Thumb (With Diagram)
• Effectiveness of Advertisement and Its Evaluation
• Determining an Advertising Budget: 5 Methods

Distributing and Promoting Products and Services

Promotion strategy.

• What is promotion, and what are the key elements of a promotional mix?

Promotion is an attempt by marketers to inform, persuade, or remind consumers and B2B users to influence their opinion or elicit a response. Most firms use some form of promotion. Because company goals vary widely, so do promotional strategies. The goal is to stimulate action from the people or organizations of a target market. In a profit-oriented firm, the desired action is for the consumer to buy the promoted item. Mrs. Smith’s, for instance, wants people to buy more frozen pies. Not-for-profit organizations seek a variety of actions with their promotions. They tell us not to litter, to buckle up, to join the military, or to attend the ballet. (These are examples of products that are ideas marketed to specific target markets.)

Promotional goals include creating awareness, getting people to try products, providing information, retaining loyal customers, increasing the use of products, and identifying potential customers, as well as teaching potential service clients what is needed to “co-create” the services provided. Any promotional campaign may seek to achieve one or more of these goals:

Creating awareness: All too often, firms go out of business because people don’t know they exist or what they do. Small restaurants often have this problem. Simply putting up a sign and opening the door is rarely enough. Promotion through ads on social media platforms and local radio or television, coupons in local papers, flyers, and so forth can create awareness of a new business or product.

Large companies often use catchy slogans to build brand awareness. For example, Dodge’s wildly successful ads where a guy in a truck yells over to another truck at a stoplight, “Hey, that thing got a Hemi?” has created a huge number of new customers for Dodge trucks. Hemi has become a brand within a brand. Now, Chrysler is extending the Hemi engine to the Jeep brand, hoping for the same success.

Getting consumers to try products: Promotion is almost always used to get people to try a new product or to get nonusers to try an existing product. Sometimes free samples are given away. Lever, for instance, mailed over two million free samples of its Lever 2000 soap to targeted households. Coupons and trial-size containers of products are also common tactics used to tempt people to try a product. Celebrities are also used to get people to try products. Oprah Winfrey, for example, recently partnered with Kraft Heinz to launch a new line of refrigerated soups and side dishes made with no artificial flavors or dyes. Kate Murphy, director of strategic partnerships at the social marketing platform Crowdtap, weighed in on the strategy. “Celebrity endorsements can provide immense value to a product/brand when done right,” Murphy said. “If a celebrity aligns with a product, they bring a level of trust and familiarity to the table.” [1]

Providing information: Informative promotion is more common in the early stages of the product life cycle. An informative promotion may explain what ingredients (for example, fiber) will do for a consumer’s health, describe why the product is better (for example, high-definition television versus regular television), inform the customer of a new low price, or explain where the item may be purchased.

People typically will not buy a product or support a not-for-profit organization until they know what it will do and how it may benefit them. Thus, an informative ad may stimulate interest in a product. Consumer watchdogs and social critics applaud the informative function of promotion because it helps consumers make more intelligent purchase decisions. StarKist , for instance, lets customers know that its tuna is caught in dolphin-safe nets.

Keeping loyal customers: Promotion is also used to keep people from switching brands. Slogans such as Campbell’s soups are “M’m! M’m! Good!” and “ Intel Inside” remind consumers about the brand. Marketers also remind users that the brand is better than the competition. For years, Pepsi has claimed it has the taste that consumers prefer. Southwest Airlines brags that customers’ bags fly free. Such advertising reminds customers about the quality of the product or service.

Firms can also help keep customers loyal by telling them when a product or service is improved. Domino’s recently aired candid advertisements about the quality of their product and completely revamped their delivery operations to improve their service. This included advertisements highlighting a Domino’s pizza being delivered by reindeer in Japan and by drone in New Zealand. According to University of Maryland marketing professor Roland Rust, “delivery” stands out in how Domino’s has broadly improved its quality, and “the customized delivery vehicles are a competitive advantage.” [2]

Increasing the amount and frequency of use: Promotion is often used to get people to use more of a product and to use it more often. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association reminds Americans to “Eat More Beef.” The most popular promotion to increase the use of a product may be frequent-flyer or -user programs. The Marriott Rewards program awards points for each dollar spent at a Marriott property. At the Platinum level, members receive a guaranteed room, an upgrade to the property’s finest available accommodations, access to the concierge lounge, a free breakfast, free local phone calls, and a variety of other goodies. [3]

Identifying target customers: Promotion helps find customers. One way to do this is to list a website as part of the promotion. For instance, promotions in The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg Businessweek regularly include web addresses for more information on computer systems, corporate jets, color copiers, and other types of business equipment to help target those who are truly interested. Fidelity Investments ads trumpet, “Solid investment opportunities are out there,” and then direct consumers to go to http://www.fidelity.com. A full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal for Sprint unlimited wireless service invites potential customers to visit http://www.sprint.com. These websites typically will ask for your e-mail address when you seek additional information.

Teaching the customer: For service products, it is often imperative to actually teach the potential client the reasons for certain parts of a service. In services, the service providers work with customers to perform the service. This is called “co-creation.” For example, an engineer will need to spend extensive time with team members from a client company and actually teach the team members what the design process will be, how the interaction of getting information for the design will work, and at what points each part of the service will be delivered so that ongoing changes can be made to the design. For services products, this is more involved than just providing information—it is actually teaching the client.

The Promotional Mix

The combination of traditional advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations, social media, and e-commerce used to promote a product is called the promotional mix . Each firm creates a unique promotional mix for each product. But the goal is always to deliver the firm’s message efficiently and effectively to the target audience. These are the elements of the promotional mix:

• Traditional advertising: Any paid form of nonpersonal promotion by an identified sponsor that is delivered through traditional media channels.
• Personal selling: A face-to-face presentation to a prospective buyer.
• Sales promotion: Marketing activities (other than personal selling, traditional advertising, public relations, social media, and e-commerce) that stimulate consumer buying, including coupons and samples, displays, shows and exhibitions, demonstrations, and other types of selling efforts.
• Public relations: The linking of organizational goals with key aspects of the public interest and the development of programs designed to earn public understanding and acceptance. Public relations can include lobbying, publicity, special events, internal publications, and media such as a company’s internal television channel.
• Social media: The use of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and various blogs to generate “buzz” about a product or company. The skills and knowledge needed to generate information as well as to defend the company against problems (such as incriminating videos “going viral”) are separate skills from those related to traditional advertising. Even promotional strategies such as paying celebrities to wear a specific line of clothing and posting these images on Twitter or Instagram (a form of advertising) requires different types of planning and expertise than traditional advertising.
• E-commerce: The use of a company’s website to generate sales through online ordering, information, interactive components such as games, and other elements of the website. Website development is mandatory is today’s business world. Understanding how to develop and utilize a website to generate sales is imperative for any marketer.

Ideally, marketing communications from each promotional-mix element (personal selling, traditional advertising, sales promotion, public relations, social media, and e-commerce) should be integrated. That is, the message reaching the consumer should be the same regardless of whether it comes from an advertisement, a salesperson in the field, a magazine article, a blog, a Facebook posting, or a coupon in a newspaper insert.

Integrated Marketing Communications

This disjointed approach to promotion has propelled many companies to adopt the concept of integrated marketing communications (IMC) . IMC involves carefully coordinating all promotional activities—traditional advertising (including direct marketing), sales promotion, personal selling, public relations, social media and e-commerce, packaging, and other forms of promotion—to produce a consistent, unified message that is customer focused. Following the concept of IMC, marketing managers carefully work out the roles the various promotional elements will play in the marketing mix. Timing of promotional activities is coordinated, and the results of each campaign are carefully monitored to improve future use of the promotional mix tools. Typically, a company appoints a marketing communications director who has overall responsibility for integrating the company’s marketing communications.

Exhibit 12.7  When Weight Watchers signed up DJ Khaled to be one of its celebrity endorsers, many were surprised by the choice. Khaled will broadcast his quest to slim down across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat in a bid to attract more men to sign up for the program. Khaled is not the usual choice for a Weight Watchers spokesperson, but once you scratch below the surface, he’s actually a great brand fit. Authenticity and relevance are words bandied about like the gospel in influencer marketing, but they are the most important ingredients when it comes to working with any level of influencer. What challenges and payoffs are associated with integrated marketing communications? (Credit: megran.roberts/ Flickr/ Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0))

Southwest Airlines relied on IMC to launch its “Transfarency” campaign. The campaign integrated and promoted the concept on its website, as well as through advertising and airport signage. The campaign has resonated with consumers because most competitors add extra fees for baggage and premium seats. One of the taglines Southwest uses is “Reward seats only on days ending with the letter ‘y.’” The integrated marketing campaign was created in collaboration with Southwest’s advertising agency, GSD&M, based in Dallas, Texas. [4]

The sections that follow examine the elements of the promotional mix in more detail.

concept check

• What is the objective of a promotional campaign?
• What is the promotional mix?
• What are the features of an integrated marketing communications campaign?

Summary of Learning Outcomes

Promotion aims to stimulate demand for a company’s goods or services. Promotional strategy is designed to inform, persuade, or remind target audiences about those products. The goals of promotion are to create awareness, get people to try products, provide information, keep loyal customers, increase use of a product, identify potential customers, and even teach clients about potential services.

The unique combination of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations, social media, and e-commerce used to promote a product is called the promotional mix. Advertising is any paid form of nonpersonal promotion by an identified sponsor. Personal selling consists of a face-to-face presentation in a conversation with a prospective purchaser. Sales promotion consists of marketing activities—other than personal selling, advertising, and public relations—that stimulate consumers to buy. These activities include coupons and samples, displays, shows and exhibitions, demonstrations, and other selling efforts. Public relations is the marketing function that links the policies of the organization with the public interest and develops programs designed to earn public understanding and acceptance. IMC is being used by more and more organizations. It is the careful coordination of all of the elements of the promotional mix to produce a consistent, unified message that is customer focused.

• Dan Orlando, “Kraft Heinz, Oprah Announce Retail Food Line,” Supermarket News, http://www.supermarketnews.com , August 11, 2017. ↵
• “Stunt Marketing or No, Dominos Has Refurbished Their Brand,” University of Maryland website, December 1, 2016, https://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/news/stunt-marketing-or-no-dominos-has-refurbished-its-brand ↵
• Edmundas Jasinskas et al, “Impact of Hotel Service Quality on the Loyalty of Customers,” Economic Research, 29(1): 559–572, 2016. ↵
• “Low fares. Nothing to hide: Transfarency,” http://www.southwest.com , accessed March 21, 2018; S. Carey, “Southwest Airlines Launches ‘Transfarency’ Campaign,” The Wall Street Journal, https://www.wsj.com , October 8, 2015. ↵
• Intro to Business. Authored by : Gitman, et. al. Provided by : OpenStax. Located at : http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected] . License : CC BY: Attribution . License Terms : Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]

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Advertising: Definitions, Functions, Features, Objectives, Importance, Role

What is advertising.

Advertising is a communication process that promotes a product , service, or event. According to American Marketing Association (AMA) advertising is “any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of goods, ideas or services by an identified sponsor”.

Advertising is said to be a paid form of communication because here an advertiser pays mass media like newspapers, radio, TV, internet for advertising space or time slots.

Definitions of Advertising

AMA defined advertising as any paid form of non-personal presentation of ideas, goods, and services by an identified sponsor American Marketing Association

Advertising is to give public notice or to announce publicity. According to Webstar

Advertising is the means of mass selling that has grown up parallel with and has been made necessary to mass production. According to Gardner

Functions of Advertising

Advertising is a form of communication that deals with people’s feelings and emotions. It is shaped by the psychology of the buyer, especially in relation to his/her motives and attitudes.

Advertisements may carry messages intended for consumer education. They sometimes sell or popularise certain concepts. Government agencies educate the masses with campaigns on a variety of topics like consumer rights, safe driving, literacy, child rights, etc.

Creates Demand

Enhances competition, establishes brand identity.

Thus, brand loyalty helps to build emotional relationships between the audience and the products of such brands. This increases the chances of some consumers preferring a particular brand. Hence the advertising message finds success in winning the minds through brand identity.

Promotes Action

Improves customer base, features of advertising, communication.

Advertising is means of mass communication reaching the masses. It is a non-personal communication because it is addressed to the masses.

Information

Profit maximisation.

True advertising does not attempt at maximising profits by increasing the cost but by promoting the sales. This way It won‟t lead to an increase in the price of the product. Thus, it has a higher sales approach rather than the higher-cost approach.

Non-Personal Presentation

Identified sponsor, consumer choice, art, science and profession, element of marking mix, element of creativity, objectives of advertising.

In addition to this general objective, advertising is also used by modern business enterprises for certain specific objectives which are listed below:

Importance of Advertising

Promotion of sales, introduction of new product, creation of good public image, mass production.

Advertising facilitates large-scale production. Advertising encourages the production of goods on a large scale because the business firm knows that it will be able to sell on a large scale with the help of advertising. Mass production reduces the cost of production per unit by the economical use of various factors of production.

Education of People

Support to press, role of advertising, role of advertising in marketing mix.

The marketing mix consists of four important variables of marketing, i.e. 4Ps-Product, Price, Promotion, and Place. Apart from the traditional 4 Ps, there are also other variables, i.e. Packaging, Position, and Pace.

Role of Advertising in Society

Without advertising modern society cannot survive. Advertising is useful to society in the following ways:

FAQ Related to Advertising

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Kotler Summary – Chapter 21: Managing Advertising, Sales Promotion, & Public Relations

ABOUT THIS CONTENT

Advertising.

Any paid form of non-personal presentation & promotion or ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor. To develop advertising program, need to start with identifying the target market & buyer motives. Consider these 5 decisions:

• Objectives : Can be classified according to whether their aim is to inform (good to build primary demand), persuade (tool to build selective demand for a particular brand) or remind (to purchase or that they made a right choice -reinforcement ad.-). 
• Budget: Consumer-packaged-goods firms tend to overspend to insure against not expending enough, & industrial co. underestimate the power of the co. therefore under spend on advertising. Need to consider:
• Stage in the product life cycle (established brands have lower ratio)
• Market share & consumer base (high share, less ratio)
• Competition & clutter (more competitors, more ad./sales ratio)
• Advertising frequency & product substitutability.
• Message: 4 steps to develop a creative strategy:
• Message generation : The message should be decided as part of developing the product concept. In generating advertising messages, agencies use inductive (talking to customers, dealers, experts & competitors) & deductive (buyers expect one of these types of reward from a product: rational, sensory, social or ego satisfaction).
• Message evaluation & selection : Advertiser evaluates the alternative messages, good ad need to be rated on desirability, exclusiveness & believability.
• Message execution : Not only what you say is important, but also how it is said. Some ads aim to rational positioning & others for emotional positioning. In preparing an ad campaign, a copy strategy statement should be prepared, describing the objective, content, support & tone of the desired ad. Creative people must find a style (lifestyle, fantasy, image, musical, personality symbol, etc.), tone (positive, humor, emotions, etc.), words -memorable-(news, question, narrative, command, etc.), format (size, color, illustration, etc. People see in order: picture, headline & last the copy. Many ads aren’t creative because many companies want comfort (risk averse), not creativity). 
• Media Selection : involves finding the most cost-effective media to deliver the desired number of exposures to the target audience. The effect of exposures on audience awareness depends on the exposures’ reach (# of persons or households exposed to a particular media schedule at least once), frequency (# of times that the average household is exposed to the message in a specified period) & impact (the qualitative value of an exposure through a given medium).

Total # of exposures (gross rating points) = reach * frequency Weighted # of exposures = reach * frequency * impact

• Media types : Have to consider several variables like: target-audience media habits, product, message & cost (what counts is the cost-per-thousand exposures rather than the total cost). New media: Outdoor ad (excellent way to reach important local consumer segments), the store itself (displays & price tags supplemented by talking shelves), best-selling paperback books, movie theaters, movie videotapes, monthly bills, etc.
• Media vehicles (programs): Media planners calculate the cost-per-thousand persons reached by a vehicle & rank them. Also need to consider: audience quality, audience attention probability & editorial quality.
• Media timing : In deciding which types of media to use, the advertiser faces a macro-scheduling problem (calls for deciding how to schedule the advertising in relation to seasonal & business-cycle trends) & micro-scheduling problem (calls for allocating advertising expenditures within a short period to obtain the maximum impact). Timing pattern should consider 3 factors: buyer turnover, purchase frequency & forgetting rate; the higher this rate, the more continuous the ad should be. In launching a new product, advertiser has to choose among ad continuity (scheduling exposures evenly), concentration (expending all in a single period), flighting (seasonal) & pulsing (continuous ad at low-weight levels reinforced periodically by waves of heavier activity).
• Advertising effectiveness : Most of the money is spent by agencies on pre-testing ads, & much less on post-evaluating their effects. Better to first limit the campaign to one or a few cities, instead of nationally, to test the ad.
• Communication-effect research : Seeks to determine whether an ad is communicating effectively, also called copy testing. Pre-testing ad methods: direct rating (asks consumers to rate alternative ads), portfolio tests (ask consumers to view or listen to several ads, then asked to recall them) & laboratory tests (use equipment to measure consumers’ physiological reactions). Post-testing ads: To what extent did the ad increase brand awareness, brand comprehension, stated brand preference, & so on.
• Sales-effect research : Harder to measure than communication effect. A way to measure it: share of market / share of voice; one is OK, less than one means they are overspending, more than one mans money is spent super efficiently & should probably increase its expenditures. Researchers try to measure the sales impact through analyzing either historical (correlating past sales to past advertising expenditures using advanced statistical techniques) or experimental data (company spends more in some territories & less in others). 

Sales Promotion

A diverse collection of incentive tools, mostly short term, designed to stimulate quicker &/or grater purchase of particular products/services by consumers or the trade. Where advertising offers a reason to buy, sales promotion offers an incentive to buy. It includes tools for consumer promotion, trade promotion & business & sales force promotion.

• Rapid growth: A decade ago, ad-to-sales promotion ratio was about 40:60, now is like 25:75 & growing. This is due to managers need to increase sales (internal) & some external causes like: the # of brands has increased (seen as similar), competitors use prom frequently, consumers are more price oriented, etc.
• Purpose of Sales promotion: Sellers use incentive-type promotions to attract new triers, to reward loyal customers, & to increase the repurchase rates of occasional users. Price promotions usually build short-term volume that is not maintained, but it enables manufacturers to adjust to short-term variations in supply & demand.
• Sales promotion objectives: Encouraging purchase, building trial for nonusers, attracting switchers from competitors, increase inventory in retailers, encourage off-season buying, support of a new product, etc.
• Sales promotion tools: Distinguished between manufacturer promotions & retailer promotions to consumers. Sales prom seems most effective when used together with advertising, & even more with point-of-purchase display.
• Trade-promotion tools : A higher proportion pie is devoted to trade-promotion tools than to consumer promotion, with media advertising capturing the rest. This is because trade promotion can persuade the retailer or wholesaler to carry the brand (shelf space), can persuade the retailer or wholesaler to carry more units, can induce the retailers to promote the brand by featuring, display, & price reductions, also can stimulate retailers & their sales clerks to push the product.
• Developing the sales- promotion program : In deciding to use a particular incentive, marketers have several factors to consider: size of the incentive, conditions for participation, duration of the prom, distribution vehicle, timing of prom & finally the total sales-promotion budget.
• Pre-testing the sales-promotion program : To see if the tools are appropriate, the incentive size optimal, & the presentation method efficient.
• Evaluating the sales-prom results : Manufactures can use 3 methods to measure sales-promotion effectiveness: sales data (using scanner sales data), consumer surveys (who recalled the prom, what they thought about it, how many took advantage of it, & how the prom affected subsequent brand-choice behavior) & experiments (vary attributes as incentive value, duration, & distribution media).
• There are other potential costs & problems : Promotions might decrease long-run brand loyalty, can be more expensive than they appear, there are costs of special production runs, & certain promotions irritate retailers.

Public Relations (PR)

Involves a variety of programs designed to promote &/or protect a company’s image or its individual products. Marketing managers & PR do not always talk the same language, bottom-line oriented vs. preparing & disseminating communications. Many companies are turning to marketing public relations (MPR), playing a role in: Assisting I the launch of new products, assisting in repositioning a mature product, building interest in a product category, influencing specific target groups, defending products that have encountered public problems, & building e.g. corporate image in a way that projects favorably on its products. MPR is found to be effective in building awareness & brand knowledge for both new & established products.

Major decisions in PR In considering when an how to use MPR, management must:

• Establish the marketing objectives: MPR can contribute to build awareness, build credibility, stimulate the sales force & dealers, & hold down promotion costs.
• Chose the PR messages & vehicles: The manager. must identify or develop interesting stories to tell about the product. Here the challenge is to create news rather than find news. Event creation is used by profit & non-profit organizations to develop a multitude of stories directed at different audiences.
• Implementing the MPR: A great story is easy to place, but most stories are less than great & might not get past busy editors. Publicity requires extra care when it involves staging special events.
• Evaluating the MPR results: It is difficult to measure because it is used along with other promotional tools. The 3 most commonly used measures of MPR effectiveness are number of exposures (all the media that carried news about the product & a summary statement), awareness/comprehension/attitude change (how many people recall hearing the news item? How many told others about it? How many changed their minds after hearing it?) & sales-&-profit contribution (the most satisfactory measure, if obtainable)

In years ahead, we can expect marketing public relations to play a larger role in the company’s communication efforts; also MPR might join forces with other parts of the promotion mix, including direct mail.

More Related Posts

• Market Segmentation
• Marketing Plan Outline
• Kotler Summary – Chapter 22: Managing the Sales Force
• Marketing Notes – Customer Intimacy
• Pricing: The Strategy and Process

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• Authors: Lawrence J. Gitman, Carl McDaniel, Amit Shah, Monique Reece, Linda Koffel, Bethann Talsma, James C. Hyatt
• Publisher/website: OpenStax
• Book title: Introduction to Business
• Publication date: Sep 19, 2018
• Location: Houston, Texas
• Book URL: https://openstax.org/books/introduction-business/pages/1-introduction
• Section URL: https://openstax.org/books/introduction-business/pages/12-key-terms

© Apr 5, 2023 OpenStax. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License . The OpenStax name, OpenStax logo, OpenStax book covers, OpenStax CNX name, and OpenStax CNX logo are not subject to the Creative Commons license and may not be reproduced without the prior and express written consent of Rice University.