Adverting is only one element of the promotion mix, but it often considered prominent in the overall marketing mix design. Its high visibility and pervasiveness made it as an important social and encomia topic in Indian society.
Advertising is a powerful communication force, highly visible, and one of the most important tools of marketing communications that helps to sell products, services, ideas and images etc. Many believe that advertising reflects the needs of the times. One may like it or not but play advertisements are everywhere. Advertisements are seen in newspapers, magazines, on television and internet and are heard on radio. The average consumer is exposed to a very large number of advertisements everyday, particularly the urban and semi-urban population.
Promotion may be defined as "the co-ordination of all seller initiated efforts to set up channels of information and persuasion to facilitate the scale of a good or service." Promotion is most often intended to be a supporting component in a marketing mix.
Promotion decision must be integrated and co-ordinated with the rest of the marketing mix, particularly product/ brand decisions, so that it may effectively support an entire marketing mix strategy.
The promotion mix consists of four basic elements. They are:
1. Advertising 2. Personal Selling
3. Sales Promotion and 4. Publicity.
1. Advertising is the dissemination of information by non-personal means through any
media where the source is the sponsoring organization.
2. Personal selling is the dissemination of information by non-personal methods, like face - to - face contacts.
3. Sales promotion is the dissemination of information through a wide variety of activities other than personal selling, advertising and publicity which stimulate consumer purchasing and dealer effectiveness.
4. Publicity is the disseminating of information by personal or non-personal means and is not directly paid by the organization and the organization is not the source.
ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF ADVERTISING
It has been wrongly assumed that the advertising function is of recent origin. Evidences suggest that the Romans practiced advertising; but the earliest indication of its use in this country dates back to the Middle Ages, when the use of the surname indicated a man’s occupation.
The next stage in the evolution of advertising was the use of signs as a visual expression of the tradesman's function and a means of locating the source of goods. This method is still in common use.
The seller in primitive times relied upon his loud voice to attract attention and inform consumers of the availability of his services. If there were many competitors, he relied upon his own personal magnetism to attract attention to his merchandise. Often it became necessary for him to resort to persuasion to pinpoint the advantages of his products. Thus, the seller was doing the complete promotion job himself.
Development of retail stores, made the traders to be more concerned about attracting business. Informing customers of the availability of supplies was highly important. Some types of outsidem promotion were necessary.
Signs on stores and in prominent places around the city and notices in printed matters were sometimes used.
What is Advertisement?
Advertisement is a mass communicating of information intended to persuade buyers to buy products with a view to maximizing a company's profits. The elements of advertising are:
i) It is a mass communication reaching a large group of consumers.
ii) It makes mass production possible.
iii) It is non-personal communication, for it is not delivered by an actual person, nor is it addressed to a specific person.
iv) It is a commercial communication because it is used to help assure the advertiser of a long business life with profitable sales.
v) Advertising can be economical, for it reaches large groups of people. This keeps the cost per message low.
vi) The communication is speedy, permitting an advertiser to speak to millions of buyers in a matter of a few hours.
vii) Advertising is identified communication. The advertiser signs his name to his advertisement for the purpose of publicizing his identity.
Advertising includes the following forms of messages:
The messages carried in -
* Newspapers and magazines
* On radio and television broadcasts
* Window display and counter - display materials and efforts
* Store signs, motion pictures used for advertising
* Novelties bearing advertising messages and Signature of the advertiser
* Label stags and other literature accompanying the merchandise.
Business ethics should be followed while advertising. A company can advertise any number of its special features but should not talk about other Company’ Features.
CLASSIFICATION AND TYPES OF ADVERTISING
1. Product Related Advertising
2. Public Service Advertising
3. Functional Classification - Informative Product Advertising
4. Advertising based on Product Life Cycle
5. Trade Advertising – Retail and Wholesale
6. Advertising Based on Area of operation
7. Advertising According to Medium Utilized Out of these seven types of advertising,
Product related advertisement plays vital role which again consists of three types:
A. Pioneering Advertising
B. Competitive Advertising
C. Retentive Advertising
Pioneering Advertising: This type of advertising is used in the introductory stages in the life cycle of a product. It is concerned with developing a "primary" demand. It conveys information about, and selling a product category rather than a specific brand. For example, the initial advertisement for black – and – white television and colour television. Such advertisements appeal to the consumer’s emotions and rational motives.
Competitive Advertising: It is useful when the product has reached the market-growth and especially the market-maturity stage. It stimulates "selective" demand. It seeks to sell a specific brand rather than a general product category. It is of two types:
i) Direct Type: It seeks to stimulate immediate buying action.
ii) Indirect Type: It attempts to pinpoint the virtues of the product in the expectation that the consumer’s action will be affected by it when he is ready to buy.
Example: Airline advertising.
Retentive Advertising: This may be useful when the product has achieved a favourable status in the market. Generally in such times, the advertiser wants to keep his product’s name before the public. A much softer selling approach is used or only the name may be mentioned in "reminder" type advertising.
CREATIVITY IN ADVERTISING
The creative part of advertising involves the process of selecting and presenting the messages. The business of conceiving, writing, designing and producing these messages is called "advertising creativity" and the key wordsmith is called a copywriter or copy chief or copy supervisor.
The success of advertising depends to a great extent on the quality of the message or copy of advertisement rather than the money spent on advertising.
The conventional theory of advertising includes the concept of AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire and Action).
Most of the advertisers believe that the message in advertisement copy must attract the attention and interest of the consumer if buying is to result. But they forget that only good advertisement copy or good message can attract the attention and interest of the receiver until and unless the much advertise product attributes have a strong impact on consumers. The consumers come to know the existence of the product only through the advertisement. Advertising tries to persuade the consumers that they need the product. But if the product attributes fail to satisfy the need of buyers, good creativity will not pay.
Creativity is an art. An artist, writer, poet, novelists, play writer takes well known ideas, words and phrases and relates them in a fresh, often brilliant manner while preparing an advertising copy. They combine the product attributes and the ideas, words and phrases in such a manner that persuades the consumers to buy the product. This combination really represents and art or a creativity. A child can draw a smiling picture of an animal, but it does not carry a creative message of some worth.
