Advertisement as a Unique Type of Communication - Essay Example

Effective Advertising Literary review Ewen (1976) defines advertising as a type of marketing communication employed to persuade, encourage or manipulate the behavior of the audience thereby leading them to take specific actions or to continue taking the same actions. Advertisement is therefore a unique type of communication that requires specificity in the selection of the audience and the creation of the message. Advertising constitutes a fundamental aspect of the marketing mix since it plays a role in the process of increasing product of service awareness in the market. Effective advertising on the other hand refers to an advertisement that reaches the target audience specifically and succeeds in influencing them to take particular actions (Homburg, Sabine & Harley, 2009). The particular actions and the expected results of any advertising process are to influence the consumer behavior regarding increasing the sale of products or services. Political advertising as a contemporary type of advertising seeks to achieve the same results by influencing voters to appreciate either a particular candidate or an ideology. Effective advertising requires effective objectives and timelines. Some of the common objectives in advertising include positioning a new brand or product. Such a product requires dedicated advertisement that addresses particular interests of the target audience. Additionally, such an advert must explain the vital features of the product in order to explain the features elaborately including the products’ competitive advantages (Benkler, 2006). Increasing sales, creation of a brand and competitive relations are yet other primary objectives in different advertisements. The advertisers must develop appropriate messages and win particular appeals of the audience. Additionally, the objectives must influence the timing and channels of communication in order to reach a large group of the target audience. This way, the advertiser increases the chances of the messages influencing the consumer behaviors thereby achieving some of the objectives. Irrespective of the objectives of an advert, an effective advert must pursue three fundamental goals that include the presentation of information to both potential consumers and the rest of the public most of who may not be consumers, increasing the demand for the products and differentiating the product. The three are objectives that every advertiser must address when formulating an advert for a particular product. When developing an advert, an advertiser must consider the features of the product that will appeal to the consumers thereby developing a message that appeals to the target audience. While advertisement recognizes the role of the potential consumer, advertisers must consider the rest of the public who may not consume the product since they play a vital role in increasing the brand awareness in the product. The special group may not consume the products or services but some can influence the purchasing patterns for the consumers. This implies that the advertiser must seek to appeal to both the consumers and non-consumers (Gentle, 2012). Increasing the demand on a product or service is an accepted primary objective in any type of advertisement. By increasing the awareness of either a product or service, the advertisers seek to increase the demand for the same. The objective influences the packaging of information in order to appeal to the target audience and influence them to purchase the product. Additionally, advertisements seek to differentiate products from the myriad competitors in the market. An advertiser must therefore position the product strategically in a manner that differs from the competitors. Competition is a fundamental aspect of marketing, when carrying out market researches; marketers investigate the nature of competition in the market thereby developing a product that differs from the others in the market. This way, the uniqueness of the product coupled with its price among other features assist in creating a potential market despite the intense competition in some markets. The effectiveness of an advert arises from its reach to the target audience. An effective advert must reach a large audience a feature that influences the timing and types of media that advertisers use in advertising their products. Among the traditional media of advertising, include billboards, radios, televisions, newspapers and magazines among many others. The invention and the use of the internet as a new media revolutionized advertisement making it more cost effective and efficient especially with the use of the social media in advertising. After the selection of an appropriate media, the placement and timing of the advert on the media plays an integral role in achieving its effectiveness (Kurtz, 2010). The traditional media for example requires strategic placement of the advert in order to reach a large audience. The timing of adverts on televisions and radios is vital since the audience differs at different times of the day. During prime times, television audience increases as families gather to watch either news bulletins or favorite programs. The television audience increases at such times and remains lower during the rest of the day. An advertiser must therefore select a time to run an advert at prime times in order for the advert to reach a large target audience. However, most television networks demand higher pays at such times a feature that compels the advertiser to consider the cost of advertisement when developing a budget for the advert. Additionally, each of the traditional media has advantages and disadvantages that an advertiser must consider before selecting the appropriate media. Radios for example are preferred media during the day since people work while listening to their radios unlike televisions that require increased attention of the from the audience. Additionally, radios are cheaper than television are more common than televisions especially in the developing countries. This implies that advertisers must use different media depending on their strengths. Newspapers and magazines have their own advantages that the advertiser must consider before purchasing space. Magazines for example are special interest media that target specific audiences; this makes them more effective in advertising products that target such audiences. Additionally they are long lasting and unlike newspapers, readers always strive to read every page of a magazine. This eliminates the need to place adverts on the first page as is always with newspapers. As explained, an advert must consider the page in newspaper in order to guarantee the reach of the message. Newspapers always charge more for the first few pages since advert placed on such pages enjoy reach to a wide group of audience. The advertisers must therefore consider different features of both the media and the target group in order to reach the target group. The development of social media on the other hand has created more equally effective yet cheaper media for advertisements. Social networks are specific online virtual networks of friends who maintain communication and interactions. With the use of the internet throughout the world, the internet has successfully created a global village. This makes the social media some of the most effective platforms for advertisements. Such social networks as Facebook and Twitter have more than two billion users thereby providing marketers with an unparalleled access to the target market. The social networks therefore are effective contemporary advertisement media. The platforms provide advertisers with cost effective ways of positioning their products and services in the market. On Facebook for example, an advertiser creates dedicated pages through which to advertise the products or services. The collection of feedback is an important feature of effective advertisement. The advertiser must obtain response from the market since influence the future marketing endeavors of the company. The traditional media made the collection of feedback challenging since the media does not guarantee to the advertiser that the advert reaches the target audience. Additionally, the traditional media do not guarantee that the advert will influence the audience despite the fact that some of the media have high rates of effectiveness (Clow & Baack, 2007). The use of the social media in advertising on the other hand changed the ways of collecting feedback from the target audience. The social networks provide advertisers with dedicated interactivity since they hold personal communication with their audiences. Facebook and Twitter enable advertisers to hold interpersonal communication with their friends who constitute both their audience and target markets. The media provide effective ways for the two interact as the audience asks questions while the advertiser answers. Furthermore, such media as Facebook provide marketers with effective ways of evaluating the audience that their adverts receive on such media unlike on television that the advertiser have no way of determining the reach of the advert. Critical analysis Advertisements are expensive endeavors that marketers invest in with the view of obtaining an increase in the demand for either the product or service. This however requires that the advertiser have a way of measuring the reach and effect of the advert. The effectiveness of the advert arises from its ability to reach a wide audience and influence the behavior of the target grout. This explanation makes social networks more effective channels of advertisement than the traditional media since they provide for ways of measuring the effects of the advertiser process. Marketing as a management function mandated with the determination, anticipation and satisfaction of the customer demand must have a way of ensuring that the department carries out effective advertisement. The effectiveness of an advert arises from the type of message conveyed by the advert. This requires the advertiser to develop an appropriate message one that communicates specific features of either product or service and position the same strategically to the target audience. Emotional appeal is an important feature of adverts that enhances the reach and effects of such information thereby influencing the effectiveness of an advert. The advertiser must develop messages that have emotional appeal in order to influence the audience. Sex appeal is yet another form of appeal that advertisers have determine to increase effectiveness to the messages. Currently, most advertisers infuse sex to the advert messages by either portraying a woman or positioning the product seductively. Among the most conspicuous adverts have the sex appeal, from the advertisement of automobiles to detergents; advertisers have determined a way of achieving either the sex or emotional appeal in the adverts. This way, the adverts influence the target audience by increasing the demand for either a product or service. Additionally, an effective advert recognizes the size of the target market. Small brands target the local market while global brands such as Coca cola target the global market. An effective advert must therefore consider the size of the target market and position the product strategically in order to increase its awareness on the particular market. The size of the target market influences the type of media messages and the type of media to use in advertising. Coca cola for example uses both the local and international media including the CNN and BBC. The decision to use such arises from the ability of such television channels to reach a wide audience group. However, the company’s advertisers demystify their advertisements by employing the local media including local newspapers, radio station and televisions networks since such have a greater influence on the local markets. Each advertiser must therefore consider such since the size of the market influence the language and cultural aspects of the product to portray in the adverts. The advent of new media has increased the market and the advertisers’ access of the market. The new media has enable every company to develop a dedicated website that provides every vital information thereby provide an effective platform for advertisement. Companies use their websites to increase awareness for their products and services. Additionally, they hold interactive communication with their target markets through both the website and the social media that have further eased the process of advertisements. Through the social media, advertisers increase the awareness of the product as marketers chat with their audience while referring them to the website where the advertisers provide all the relevant information about the company and the products. Advertisers must maintain niche marketing as a way of focusing their messages to particular audiences. This way, they get an appropriate way of measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of the adverts they run on different media. Commentary In a summary, product promotion as an essential element in the marketing mix seeks to improve the sales of a product. The awareness of the product or service in a market enhances the sale of the product a feature that informs different advertisers. The process requires a degree of precision in order to communicate effectively and achieve the desired results. An effective advertisement should not only increase the product awareness but also increase the demand for a particular product or service. This implies that the advertisers must employs specific features in order to enhance the effectiveness of the communication process. The marketers must develop appropriate messages capable of influencing te behavior of the consumers who constitute the target audience. the messages in the adverts must have an emotional appeal in order to influence the behavior of the consumers. Most advertisers infuse sex appeal to the messages owing to the influence of such appeals in influencing behaviors. Additionally, the advert message must target the public. This includes everyone including both consumers and non-consumers since the two group influence each other. Children for example can influence their parents to buy articular products. An advert message must therefore appeal to the public. Additionally, the advertisers must use appropriate media to ensure that the information reaches the target audience. References Benkler, Y. (2006). The Wealth of Networks. New Haven: Yale University Press. Clow, K. & Baack, D. (2007). Integrated Advertising, Promotion, and Marketing Communications 3rd edition. New York: Pearson Education. Ewen, S. (1976). Captains of Consciousness: Advertising and the Social Roots of Consumer Culture. New York: McGraw-Hill. Gentle, A. (2012). Conversation and Community: The Social Web for Documentation (2nd ed.). Laguna Hills, CA: XML Press. Homburg, C. Sabine, K. & Harley, K. (2009). Marketing Management - A Contemporary Perspective (1st edition). New Jersey, U.S: John Wiley & Sons. Kurtz, D. (2010). Contemporary Marketing. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. Read More