Effective Advertising - Essay Example

? al Affiliation Advertising is one of the promotion tools that firms use to interact with the consumers. Known as above-the-line-promotion sometimes, it is a paid-for interaction with the customers to inform or persuade about the product the company is providing, e.g. TV or Magazine advertising. Advertisements are generally focused towards the right target market by opting for the right communication bridge i.e. Media. But it is also true that many people who are not willing or able to buy the product may see the advertisements too. Outstanding advertising operations can lead to increased consumer awareness and turnover for the product, thus positivity can be achieved such as brand loyalty. There are two types of advertising: Informative and Persuasive. Informative are adverts that give information to potential purchasers of a good, instead of just trying to create a name. Price or features of the product can be written on it, or to be more relevant, places where the product can be found. Firms use this type of advertising because it is effective when it is trying to stimulate introductory interest in consumers for the product that is not been known before, or trying to inform about the design or specifications. Another type of advertising is persuasive advertising. This is needed to create a distinctive notion of the product, although it doesn’t reveal all the information of the product i.e. price or place it can be found at, or materials used to create the product. It is rather done to ‘play’ with the minds of the consumers so that consumers can differentiate about the particular product and other products of the same kind available in the market. “The more informative your advertising, the more persuasive it will be.” (Shields, 2007). On the other hand, not all advertising is focused on the end user. One type of advertising is targeted at retailers to stock and sell products to consumers and, if possible, to provide a better image than rival products. This kind of product advertising is most used and printed in business journals and trade digests or business channels which mostly are not available to consumers but only to firms and businessmen. Advertising can be done in many ways. Advertising agencies can be there to provide these services. (Stimpson & Farquharson, 2010). Although it can prove to be expensive, these specialists can offer a complete effective advertising techniques and this can be precious to a business without its own marketing experts or to one that might have experiencing this for the first time. These agencies will charge substantial fees and do the job as: Researching the market, Use cost-effective advertising techniques, Using experts and creative heads to design, filming and printing the adverts, and assessing and monitoring the work done. Effective advertising is the targeting rightly at the right customers through the right media and the right time and marketing what the business has to offer using the most relevant and possible technique. Advertising can only be effective if the message has been received and inferred by the receiver (public), and the sender is satisfied that it has been conveyed properly. Key elements of effective advertising are: Transmitter or sender (Firm) Clear-cut delivery of the message Appropriate channel (way of advertising) Receiver (public) Feedback to assess the outcome Advertisements may be characterized into two categories “Branding” adverts or “Tactical” adverts for products specifically. This efficient method allows the company to promote a variety of products under its influence at the same time. “Tactical” advertisements – usually provide a solution to a particular problem. It gives the exact details of the product that is to be sold. Tactical advertisement usually leads to stiff competition from competitors in the industry. Recent researches have been conducted upon this notion whether advertising really increases the sales or brand value or not. According to the researches, NASCAR fans were greatly moved by its sponsors giving away free petrol (Shell) or coupons for gifts. The fans got aware of the brands that were closely associated with NASCAR. These complimentary goods’ demands also further increased as they now were jointly demanded with the NASCAR shows (e.g. Fans coming in for seeing the show buying a pack of Lays or Coke bottles). So the question is how is effective advertising achieved? It can only be achieved if the analyst (agency) and firm’s marketing department should carve an improved technique which is totally based on factual things and not misleading. The firm should inform what they have in mind and what role is this advertising going to play when entering or operating in the industry. The firm should also lay down its target as to what it has to achieve through advertising. What does the company want to convey through advertising should be clearly answered. It should be a permanent technique which is carved and should not always be changed, so a perfect plan will need perfect data which will be provided by the firm to the agencies. The pretesting stage comes after the information gathering stage. It is the testing of the advertising before it is aired or printed in the media. Responses would be collected from the people so outcome could be. The greater the times and execution is tested, the more likely it is that the advertising is successful. Client and the advertising agency should understand the fact that continuous improvement of the adverts are there and although each advertisements cannot generate huge revenues but an adequate amount would be guaranteed and apart from that, goodwill might appreciate too. Now the question is, which media to use in order to achieve effective advertising? Managers and agencies will look upon these key points before fixing the best communication method: The vitality of a written record that the message has been sent and received, for example a major new legal contract Speed – Electronic (very fast), but is it much important than to allow time to the viewers to discuss opinions or just make them aware of the brand and product. Cost – Some media can be very expensive, for example TV advertising, but it can provide huge returns too. Relatively cheap methods like written memos, emails, and radios will although cut costs, but will cater a limited number of audiences only. Size and geographical boundaries also affect the advertisements. It can be expensive as all the regions would not understand the same advertisements so a single advert cannot be globally launched or aired (Library.thinkquest.org, 2013) . The message is also really a backbone of the advertisement. It contains both verbal and unspoken symbols. The first task is to understand and consider what the message will be. It should be easy and understandable so that awareness is created. A complex advertisement will although create understandability to the more advanced or experienced viewer but usually there are more people which only view advertisements in order to learn more about what’s in and what’s outdated. So they will not get to understand the complex advertisements therefore the advertisements could turn ineffective. The message should be clear even if the advertisement is an informative one. For example, a government-run anti-smoking agency advertising informatively about the hazardous effects of smoking. If it is rightly published, many will look into it and hence quit smoking as well. Carefully planned communication strategies should be drafted. Some media used could be: TV, Internet, Newspapers, Radios, Memos, Short messaging service (SMS), Billboards etc. The media should be carefully selected based upon the following factors: The main factor is the cost. The method should be cost-effective and the budget should not exceed. The size of the advertisements and the company should also be kept in mind. Of course, it is rather senseless to use the idea of advertising using the Bill boards and other road advertising techniques for a small clothing company, or an interior decoration firm. If the amount of information is not so much, the company could set up advertising stalls in any shopping malls or business conventions so that the feedback is immediately taken. Moreover, Interpersonal relations can be developed, with a more colloquial approach and language. Imperative and exclamatory sentences could be used to enhance the consumer interests. (Library.thinkquest.org, 2013) But if the audience is internationally based, TV or Internet should be used, where there is more chance of formal conversations and feedbacks. The content should be focused greatly and complex constructions would be made. There could also be a delay in action but it could be reviewed time-to-time. Some examples can be taken from a country such as Pakistan. These adverts include Milk Pak targeting mostly children (Milk-e-teers) and Women (Nesvita) or Telecommunication giants such as Ufone mostly targeting youths of the nation. Bacteria soaps such as Safe guard also produce some animations to stimulate interests for the children, such as Commander Safeguard informing about healthcare and germs. Although the company claims to generate an informative advert, there aim is to generate more income and being more persuasive by informing the children. Now we have passed the strategy, media and message stage and only the execution or implementation remains. This is the most crucial stage in my point of view. It should always be ethical, the product should not vary when consumers buy from that what they see in the advertisements or it will only guarantee a one-time sale if the consumers are not satisfied with the product. Appealing studios, colors, models, props and music should be used so that the consumer is attracted to the object as they say that the first impression is the viewer’s last one too. Not only this, but the companies could also target the cultural events such as Eid or Ramadan, for example Olpers ( Full cream milk) used Ramadhan as the key feature and showing their all-Islamic ads during the Ramadan days. There packaging of the cartons were also according to the mood set (religious). Cultural artworks could be used too. If the mood is rather a sporty one, different cricket sportsmen could be used in ads in promoting the brand like Pepsi does whenever there is a cricket season. This could create more demand as viewers think that their favorite players also drink the same drink so why not them? There is not only product advertising but nowadays there is recruitment advertising as well. Firms wanting to hire specific people for any specific jobs post ads (also called classifieds) in newspapers so that the desired person with desired qualifications can be reached. The receiver of the ads (person looking for the job) purchases the medium (newspaper) and then searches and that’s how the communication and advertising becomes effective so it can be referred to as a type of effective advertising too. Advertising can also be executed by promoting a new talent or a unique idea that is never seen before and then collaborating the idea with the product’s line so that an amazing fusion is created. Sometimes brands need free publicity which is given by the media. Positive image could be created by the journalists in the press conferences when launching a new product. Sponsorship in any major cultural or sports events also offer wide range of publicity when there is media coverage. This is called Public Relations (PR). Recent survey showed that television commercials outweighed the other media of advertising by a large margin, as it is the most effective in selling the products to the customers. The least effective were the cheap techniques that were posters, emails, spam adverts, pop-ups and adware that weren’t even noticed or seen by the consumers and rather were deleted or closed in an annoyed manner. Websites and website banners were the second least effective ones. Websites like Youtube.com, which were not a powerful tool to advertise as people usually viewed the videos after they already have known about it. So conclusively, after discussing what actually is effective advertising and the most possible techniques within reach that is; we can say that there is no absolute or any universal technique for an advertising which will create the most effective and persuasive outcome. A clear-cut objective and a message clearly delivered, together with a witty tagline or a slogan that could be the most hyped tagline or a pumping status could be much more effective. Background music and colors would also prove to be a vital inclusion, which should be eye-catching so that sales are guaranteed. There is no one hard and fast way to advertise but it should be more appealing each time it is aired and not monotonous. The idea should be different and unique each time the product is aired and the elements should be divided so that there should not be any complexity created. (Stimpson and Farquharson, 2010). References List: Basekit.com. 2013. Effective Advertising: How to Make a Great Advertisement - BaseKit. [online] Available at: http://www.basekit.com/how-to-make-a-great-advertisement [Accessed: 30 Oct 2013]. Knowledge@Wharton. 2013. An Equation for Effective Ads: Connecting Emotions to Sales - Knowledge@Wharton. [online] Available at: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/an-equation-for-effective-ads-connecting-emotions-to-sales/ [Accessed: 30 Oct 2013]. Library.thinkquest.org. 2013. Effective Advertising. [online] Available at: http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/02403/english/good_advert.html [Accessed: 30 Oct 2013]Top of Form STIMPSON, P., & FARQUHARSON, A. (2010). Business studies. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Top of Form SHIELDS, V. R. (2007). The Less Space We Take, the More Powerful We'll Be: How Advertising Uses Gender to Invert Signs of Empowerment and Social Equality. 247-271. Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Read More