Meaning, Features, Types & Importance of Advertising

Meaning of Advertising

Advertising can be defined as a non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services paid by an identified sponsor. It is non-personal mass communication which has become a potent means of education and mass selling. It consists of all the achievements involved in presenting product information targeting audiences through media such as newspapers, magazines, catalogs, booklets, posters, radio, television, calendars, cards, transport, etc.

According to W.J. Stanton, “Advertising consists of all the activities involved in presenting to an audience a non-personal, sponsor- identified, paid for a message about a product or organization.”

According to American Marketing Association, “Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, and services of an identified sponsor.”

From the above definitions, we can conclude that advertising is the sales message directed to mass on behalf of the paying sponsor.

Features of Advertising

Following are the key features of advertising:

• Payment of money:

One of the features of advertising is to pay the money for advertising. Advertisements appear in newspapers, magazines, television or cinema screens because the advertiser has purchased some time to communicate information to the potential customers. The adviser must pay money for advertising activities. It is not free of cost.

• Non-personal:

In advertising, there is no face to face or direct contact with the customers. That is why it is described as non-personal salesmanship. It is a non-personal form of presenting products and promoting ideas. It simplifies the task of the sales force by creating awareness in the mind of potential customers.

• Promote products and services:

Advertising helps in the promotion of products and services.It is directed towards increasing the sale of the products and services of a business unit.Advertising is essential for the promotion of goods and services.

• Identified sponsor:

The advertisement should disclose or identify the sources of opinion and ideas it presents.It should identify the sponsor from where the advertisement can be occurred. Identifying the specific sponsor is very important in the advertising process.

Importance of Advertising

Advertising helps in providing various information about the advertising firm, its products, qualities and place of availability of its products and so on. It helps to create a non-personal link between the advertiser and the receiver of the message. The significance of advertising has increased in the modern era of large-scale production and tough competition in the market.The importance of advertising to different parties are discussed as follows:

• Information about a product
• Creation of permanent demand
• Service to existing customers
• Conversion of prospective buyers to actual buyers
• Support to personal selling
• Increase in sales and reduction in cost
• Minimization of middlemen
• Creation of image or goodwill
• Protection of people from imitation
• Reminder to the users
• Establishment of relationship

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One can also explain the importance of advertising in relations to major individual components of the market. They are as follows:

Importance to Manufacturers and Traders

Advertising has become indispensable for the manufacturers because of the following advantages:

• Introducing new product:

Advertising helps in introducing new products. A business organization can introduce itself and its products to the public through advertising.It is essential for the organization to introduce its product through advertising.

• Increase the sale:

Advertising leads to increase the sale of existing products by entering into new markets and attracting new customers. The increase in the selling activities helps in increment of sales in the market.

• Create steady demand:

Advertising helps to create the steady demand for the products. For example, a drink may be advertised during summer as a product necessary to fight tiredness caused by heat and during winter as essential things to resist cold.

• Help in meeting competition:

Advertising helps in meeting the forces of competition in the market place. If a product is not advertised continuously, the competitors may snatch its market through increased advertisements. Therefore, advertising is necessary to remain in the market and remind the customer about its reputation in the market.

• Increase the goodwill:

Advertising helps to increase the goodwill of a firm by promising improved quality to the customers. It is necessary for an organization to increase its goodwill to sustain in the market.

• Increase the morale:

Advertising helps to increase the morale of the employees of the firm. The salesmen feel happier because their task becomes easier if the product is advertised and known to the public.

• Facilitates mass production:

Advertising helps to facilitate mass production of goods in the market. It enables the manufacturer to achieve lower cost per unit of product. Distribution costs are also lowered when the manufacturer sells the product directly to the customers. Advertising encourages mass distribution of the product through the retailers. Retailers are encouraged to purchase and sell the advertised products.

Importance to Customers

Advertising offers the following importances to customers:

• To know about the existence of various products:

Advertising helps the customers to know about the existence of various products and their prices. They can choose from the various brands to satisfy their wants. It is very important for the customers to know about the existence of the products available there in the market.

• Educates customers:

Advertising educates the people about new products and its uses. It creates public awareness. With the help of advertisements, we can be aware of the products which are available in the market.

• Utility of existing products:

Advertising helps to increase the utility of existing products for many people. The utilization of the products is very necessary for the market. Without it, advertising will not get effective.

• Receive the quality product:

Advertising helps to receive the quality product in the market.It induces the manufacturers to improve the quality of their products through research and development. This ensures supply of the products of better quality to the consumers.

Importance to the Society

Advertising is important for the society because of the following advantages:

• Provides employment:

Advertising helps to provide employment to persons engaged in writing, designing and issuing advertisements. Increased employment brings additional income with the people. It increases more demand in the market. Employment is further generated to meet the increased demand.

• Promote the standard of living:

Advertising helps to promote the standard of living of the people by increasing the variety and quality in consumption. It raises the standard of the people. As a result, it helps in sustained research and development activities by manufacturers.

• Educate people:

Advertising helps to educate people about the various uses of different products. This increases their knowledge about the products. Advertising also helps in finding customers in the national as well as international market.

• Sustains the press and other media:

Advertising helps to sustain the press and other media by providing an important source of income to the press, radio and television network. The customers are also benefited because of increased circulation of their publications. It also encourages commercial art.

Types of Advertising

There are various types of advertising. They are mentioned below:

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Consumer-oriented advertising:

Consumer-oriented advertising is one of the types of the advertising process. It helps in creating and maintaining regular demand in the market. It also helps to attract the attention and preference of the customers. It informs the target audience about the various schemes of sales promotion. The objectives of consumer- oriented advertising are as follows:

• To inform consumers about new products.
• To hold consumer patronage against intensified campaign.
• To teach consumers how to use the product.
• To promote a contest or a premium offer.
• To establish a new trade character.

Informative advertising:

Informative advertising is another type of advertising process. Customers often purchase durable products once in a lifetime. These are often expensive. So the potential buyer requires detailed information about them e.g. TV sets, refrigerators, air- conditioners and washing machines. The manufacturers spend a lot on informative advertising.

Institutional advertising:

Institutional advertising is also important types of the advertising process.The main objectives of this type of advertising are to build a corporate image. This advertising helps to highlight the objectives and achievements of a company. Large companies such as Godrej, Jagadamba cement, telecom, etc. resort to this type of advertising. The institutional advertising companies have the following objectives:

• To create a corporate personality of the institutional image.
• To build a company prestige.
• To emphasize company services and facilities.
• To enable company salesman to see top executive of the various organization when making sales calls.

Financial advertising:

It refers to advertisements issued by financial institutions like Everest Bank, SBI bank and company’s sale of shares. These advertisements provide information about investment opportunities with its attendant risks and benefits.

Classified advertising:

This is also the type of the advertising process.Classified advertisement refers to the messages. They are placed under specific or particular headings and columns in newspapers and magazines e.g. situations vacant for sale and matrimonial. In it, the advertisements are classified into various headings.

Government advertising:

It is the type of advertising process in which there is involvement of government.It is conducted by government departments/ undertakings to promote public awareness with a view to overcome social problems like dowry, drinking water, AIDS, environmental pollution, and overpopulation. Such advertising has a social purpose, it is also known as social advertising.

References:

Koirala, Dr. Kundan Dutta. Elementary Marketing. Kathmandu: Buddha Academic Publishers and Distributors Pvt. Ltd, 2014.

Thapa, Gopal, Dipendra K. Neupane and Dilli Raj Mishra. Introduction to Marketing. Kathmandu: Asmita Books Publishers and Distributors (P) Ltd., 2014.