Advertising is more than just a means of disseminating product information. It is a primary communication tool of our economic system and our culture. In other words it could be defined as " a purposive communication to a target market, which assists in selling by drawing attention to the characteristics of a product which will appeal to the buying motives of customers in the target segment of the market".
Advertising is mainly used for the following purposes:
To support sales increase;
To encourage trial;
To create awareness;
To inform about a feature or benefit;
To create an image;
To modify attitudes;
To gain trade and sales staff support.
There are three different kinds of advertisements:
(1) Informative advertisement: This advertisement conveys information and raises consumer awareness of the product. These are common in early stages of the product life cycle.
(2) Persuasive advertising: This advertisement is concerned with creating a desire for the product and stimulating actual purchase. This is mostly used for well-established products, which are in growth/maturity stages of the product life cycle.
(3) Reminding advertising: It is to remind consumers about the product or organization, or the benefits they (consumers) are receiving from buying the product.
Advertising has an ethical and moral responsibility to deal honestly with its portrayal of society. Individual companies are judged by their own advertising, and the effectiveness of advertising is dependent on the overall attitude of customers towards advertising generally.
(Q) What does advertising do for consumers?
One of the most important roles of advertising is showing people how to solve problems. Effective advertising must start from premises, "Does my product help people?" The major trend in modern advertising is making the consumer the focus of the marketing process.