Advertising is bringing a product (or service) to the attention of potential and current customers. Advertising is focused on one particular product or service. Thus, an advertising plan for one product might be very different than that for another product. Advertising is typically done with signs, brochures, commercials, direct mailings or e-mail messages, personal contact, etc.
Advertising is a paid form of non personal communication about an organization or its products that is transmitted to a target audience through a mass/broadcast medium.
ADVERTISING IS BIG BUSINESS
As an economy grows, advertising becomes more important—because more consumers have income and advertising can get results. But good advertising results cost money. And spending on advertising is significant. While total advertising expenditures are large, the advertising industry itself employs relatively few people. The major expense is for media time and space. Many students hope for a glamorous job in advertising, but there are fewer jobs in advertising than one might think.
Advertising Objectives
Every ad and every advertising campaign should have clearly defined objectives. These should grow out of the firm’s overall marketing strategy and the promotion jobs assigned to advertising. It isn’t enough for the marketing manager to say, “Promote the product.”
The marketing manager must decide exactly what advertising should do. Advertising objectives should be more specific than personal selling objectives.
One of the advantages of personal selling is that a salesperson can shift the presentation for a specific customer. Each ad, however, must be effective not just for one customer but for thousands, or millions, of them.
The marketing manager might give the advertising manager one or more of the following specific objectives, along with the budget to accomplish them:
1. Help position the firm’s brand or marketing mix by informing and persuading