Advertising and Marketing

When a company wishes to sell or improve the sales of its products or services, it may decide to advertise. Newspapers and magazines carry advertisements, as do billboards, television, and radio. Marketing is a wider process of creating a product or service, advertising it and selling it. advertising and marketing are vast industries that affect all our lives.

How Advertising works?

Advertising use humour and strong images to get our attention. Short, memorable catchphrases called slogans become associated with the product. An advertising campaign often combines posters and television advertisements so that repetition ensures people remember the product.

Image

Advertisers try to create a product image that will appeal to particular customers. An advertisement for perfume, for example may project an image of beauty and sophistication. Well known personalities may be shown endorsing a product to strengthen its image.

Marketing

A company’s marketing strategy includes market research, product development, publicity, advertising, and point of sale displays. The marketing department researches the product people want, and works with other departments to make sure that products meet the customers’ needs and expectations.

Market research

The purpose of market research is to find out what sorts of people are likely to buy a product, and what will make them buy one product rather than another. Researchers get this information from questionnaires, interviews and government statistics.

Point of sale

Shops use posters and display units to encourage people to buy products. Point of sale displays try to catch the customers’ eye where he or she can buy the product immediately. Shop window displays aim to draw customer into a shop.

Public relations

Many companies use public relations, or PR, to improve their standing with the people who buy their products. The two main branches of PR are research and communication. Research tries to find out what people think about the company with people through press coverage, advertising, and sponsorship.

Advertising agencies

Companies use advertising agencies to advise them on their advertising strategy. Advertising agencies conduct market research, plan which forms of media the clients’ advertisements should appear in, and finally prepare the clients’ advertisements.

Storyboard

The first stage of producing a television advertisement is to present a storyboard of ideas to the client, showing how the final advertisement will look. A storyboard rather looks like a comic strip, with a series of pictures showing how the action will run. If the client approves the storyboard, production can go ahead.

Production

The advertising agency hires a production team to film the advertisement. This will include a producer, who supervises the rehearsal schedule, and a director, who directs the action when the commercial is being filmed. Once the film has been shot, a sound track is added. The sound track may be a voice-over repeating the product name and a catchy tune called a jingle.

Advertisement

Once the advertisement has been completed, it is shown to the client. If the client approves the film, it is taken to the television stations to be aired. Television advertising is by far the most expensive form of advertising, but it is the most effective since it reaches people in their own homes.