Marketing Aptitude Study Material – Advertising

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Advertising is the most commonly used tool of promotion. It is a form of marketing communication used to encourage, persuade or manipulate the audience i.e., viewers, readers, listeners or a specific group to take or continue to take some action. The word ‘advertisement’ comes from the latin word ad vertere which means ‘to turn toward’.
Advertising that promotes organisational images, ideas and political issues is institutional advertising.

Characteristics of Advertising

The characteristics of advertising may be stated as follows

• Impersonal : It involves sending messages through one or more media such as television, radio, newspapers and magazines, etc. It is called impersonal because the message is conveyed through some media rather than a person.
• The Idea is to Promote Goods or Services : Advertising is done with a specific objective of promoting a product or service and increase their sale. The message generally, contains information regarding products characteristics, prices, uses and important needs that may be satisfied by use of the product.
• Sponsorship : The message is sent by manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers who are called sponsors of the advertisement.
• Paid Form of Communication : Advertisements appearing in the newspapers, television, cinema halls, etc are duly paid for. The sponsors pay huge amounts for use of space in newspaper or time slot in television and radio, etc.
• Facilitates Consumer Choice : It helps the consumer to purchase the right product as per their requirement and budget.
• Element of Creativity : A good advertising campaign involves lot of creativity and imagination. A campaign becomes successful only when the message satisfies the expectation of the consumer. Thus, creativity plays a big role here.

Objectives of Advertising

An advertising objective is a specific communication task and achievement level to be accomplished with a specific audience in a specific period of time.

The main objectives of advertising are

• Introduction of New Product
  Companies keep on introducing new products in the market and need to inform the prospective customers about its features, price, usage, availability, etc. Advertising not only attracts their attention but also helps them in making an opinion about the product and taking the best purchase decisions.
• Increase in Sale
  Advertising helps in increasing the sale of company’s products. It also helps in turning non-users of products to users of products and also in attracting the users of competitors products.
• Maintain Existing Buyers
  Now-a-days new products keep on entering the market at a fast pace and consumers tend to switch over to the new products. Advertising is used to remind the consumers about how good their products or services are and that they are still in the market as old and reliable ones.
• Create and Enhance Goodwill of the Firm
  Advertising helps in building reputation of the company. Through advertisement, the firms can communicate their achievements to the consumers and clear any misconceptions or doubts in the mind of the public about themselves or their products.
• Remind Consumer
  It aims to stimulate repeat purchase of products and services. Expensive four color coca-cola ads in different magazines are intended to remind people to purchase Coca-Cola.
• Convince Consumer
  It aims to convince current purchasers that they made the right choice. Automobile ads often depict satisfied customers enjoying special features of their new car.
• Create and Enhance Brand Image
  Advertising is also used for creating a brand image which helps in building customers loyalty.
• Help in Personal Selling
  Advertising facilitates the process of personal selling. The salespersons job is made easier if the customer is familiar with the product.

The Five Ms of Advertising

In developing an advertising programme. marketing managers must always start by identifying the target market and buyer motives . Then they can make five major decisions. These are known as five Ms of advertising.

1. Mission
2. Money
3. Message
4. Media
5. Measurement

Types of Advertising

Some common types of advertisement are

1. Classified Advertisement : Matrimonials, property related advertisement, auction information, tender noticed, vacancies, etc related advertisements.
2. Decorative Advertisement : National festivals, specific function, important incidents, etc related advertisements.
3. Financial Advertisement : Advertisements related to bank, stock market, Life insurance corporation, etc.
4. Informative Advertisement : Advertisements related to public education, intellectual and cultural consciousness, traffic security, police system.
5. Authenticated Advertisement : Advertisement of any product or service done by any famous personality.
6. Pannel Advertisement : Advertisements published on both the sides of the heading of newspapers its titles or folio.
7. Souvenir Advertisement : Souvenirs published by different self help organisations, public installations, etc.
8. National Advertisement : Advertisements done through various national newspapers, magazines, television and radio, etc.
9. Cooperative Advertisement : Advertisements given collectively by the various producers of any one product.
10. Contract Advertisement : Advertisements given on a concessional rates and for a fixed period of time in various monthly, half-yearly and annually published newspapers and magazines.

Functions of Advertising

• It promotes the sale of goods and services by informing and persuading the people to buy them.
• It helps in the introduction of new products in the market.
• It facilitates large-scale promotion.
• It stimulates research and development activities.
• It educates the people about new products and their uses.
• It provides on important source of revenue to the publishers of newspapers and magazines.
• It buids up the reputation of the advertiser.

Media of Advertising

Advertising media are the means through which messages regarding products and services are transmitted from the advertising firm to people at whom that product is targeted.
Following are the types of media that are available for this purpose.

Press Advertising

It is printed media of advertising. It includes

Newspaper/Magazine Advertising

1. Classified advertising
2. Display advertising

• Outdoor Advertising
  • Banners
  • Hoarding
  • Bus advertising
  • Tram advertising
  • Electric display
  • Posters
  • Sky advertising
  • Train advertising
  • Car cards
  •  Advertising board
• Direct mail Advertising
  • Post card
  • Folders
  • Price list
  • Catalogue
  • Leaflets
  • Booklets
  • Sales letter
  • Circular
  • Personal letters
  • Monthly magazines
• Electronic Advertising
  • Radio
  • Cinema
  • Cinema Slide
  • Loudspeaker
  • Television
  • Video Cassette
  • Film
• Entertaining Advertising
  • Drama
  • Fairs
  • Music programmes
  • Exhibitions
  • Educational Programmes
  • Demonstration
• Point of Purchase Advertising
  •  Window display
  • Counter display
• Modern Advertising
  • Satisfied Customer
  • Past Customer
  •  E-commerce
  •  E-mails
  •  Mobile
  • Internet (Digital Marketing)

Factors taken into consideration while selecting the advertising media

1. Nature of product
2. Objectives of advertising
3. Nature of market
4. Life of advertisement
5. Media used by customers
6. Type of audience
7. Financial consideration
8. Circulation of media

Principles of Effective Advertisement

• It must attract the attention of the people.
• It must suggest something to the reader or listener of the advertisement.
• It should aim at educating the people for which it is meant.
• It must have a conviction value.
• It should create a need for the product in the mind of the people and make them buy the product.
• It must make the people remember or retain the message.

Advantages of Advertising

The purpose of advertising is to convince customers that a company’s services or products are the best and enhance the image of the company and also to hold existing customers.

The advantages of advertising are explained below

• Benefits Consumers : Advertising helps the consumers to gain useful information about the products, prices, quality, terms of sale, after sale services, etc. Besides providing such information, advertising also guides the customers about the right use of the product.
• Benefits Manufacturers : Advertising helps the manufacturers in introducing new products, maintaining customers of existing products and in increasing their sales by attracting new customers.
• Benefits Society : The enhanced competition resulting from advertising motivates the producers to make improvements in their existing products and find out better alternatives through Research and Development (R & D) activities.

Limitations of Advertising

The limitations of advertising are

• Adds to Cost : Money spent on advertising eventually, results in increased cost of the product, which is passed on to the consumers through increased prices.
• Undermines Social Values : Advertising may introduce ideas or concepts alien to our culture. These new values generated or propagated by advertising may affect our social, moral and ethical values.
• Creation of Monopoly : Business firms which can spend heavily on advertising are usually the ones who grab a bigger share of the market. Such firms generally have a monopoly which results in unequal opportunity for small producers who eventually perish.
• Encourages Sale of Inferior Products : Advertising does not distinguish between superior and inferior products and persuade people to purchase even the inferior products.
• May Not Increase Overall Demand : Advertising does not always increase demand. In many cases, a number of firms manufacturing similar products may advertise vigorously. This may not result in an actual increase in the total demand for the product but simply shift demand from one brand to another.

Publicity

Publicity is a part of marketing and customer relations. Publicity is also non-personal communication about an organisation on its products that is transmitted through a mass medium in the form of news but is not paid for by the organisation.

Characteristics of Publicity

1. Third persons involve in providing information and messages about goods or services of a firm.
2. The business firm need not bear expenses for the publicity materials communicated to the general public through mass media.
3. Information and messages about business firm and its products can be communicated to greater number of audiences and readers by making flow of news and holding press conference.
4. There remains no possibility of repetition of the information and messages about the firm and its products communicated through publicity.

Difference between Advertising and Publicity

Advertising	publicity
Advertising comes from an identified sponsor.	Publicity comes from a natural and impartial source.
Advertising is a paid form of ideas, goods and services.	Publicity is not paid by sponsor.
Advertising is what the organization says about its product.	Publicity is what others say about the organization.
Advertising always carries a positive image because the organization pays for the content.	Publicity can be positive or negative because it comes from an impartial source.
Advertising is targeted to the particular audience by the sponsor.	In publicity, it is not focused.
Most of the time advertising ignores social responsibilities.	In publicity, special stress is given on social responsibilities.

 

Some Important Terms

• Surrogate Advertising : It is prominently seen in cases where advertising a particular product is banned by law. Advertising for products like cigarettes or alcohol which are injurious to health are prohibited by law in several countries is called surrogate advertising.
• Sandwich Board Advertising :  A sandwich board is a type of advertisement composed of two boards with a message or graphic. It is carried by a person, with one board in front and one behind, creating a sandwich effect.
• Advertising Frequency : The number of repetitions needed to put the brand’s message across to consumers, has an obvious impact on the advertising budget.

Tit – Bits

• The steps in scientific advertising campaign includes
  •  Decision to advertise
  •  Marketing research
  •  Determining advertising budget
  • Determining objective
• Promotional advertising includes showroom and exhibition, window advertising, interior display.
• When a product or brand is embedded in entertainment and media then it is known as convert advertising or guerilla advertising.
• Publicity may have favourable or unfavourable impression on the public about the company and its products.
• Mail advertising includes price list, booklets, novelty gifts and business reply envelope.

Check Your Skills

1. Advertising is a major promotion mix ingredient that is a

1. non-paid form of non-personal communication
2. non-paid form of personal communication
3. paid form of personal communication
4. paid form of non-personal communication
5. None of the above

2. Which of the following is a means of advertising?

1. Cinema
2. Gift
3. Demonstration
4. Radio and television
5. All of these

3. Advertisement is a type of [SBI Clerk 2011]

1. direct marketing
2. service marketing
3. indirect marketing
4. internet banking
5. internal marketing

4. Press advertising include

1. newspapers
2. magazines
3. journals
4. All of these
5. None of these

5. The steps in scientific advertising campaign includes

1. decision to advertise
2. marketing research
3. determining advertising budget
4. determining advertising objective
5. All of the above

6. The term advertising has been derived from

1. credere
2. adre
3. advertere
4. ad-hoc-not-with-joy
5. net

7.  Which of the following is true about advertising?

1. It is a paid basis
2. It may be non-personal
3. It is not a critical presentation
4. All of the above
5. None of the above

8. Which of the following is are the media of advertising?

1. Press advertising
2. TV
3. Radio
4. Films
5. All of these

9. Which is the drawback of advertising?

1. Wastage of money
2. Reduction of ethics
3. Mis-representation of facts
4. All of the above
5. None of the above

10. Which is a type of advertising?

1. Direct advertising
2. Indirect action advertising
3. Primary demand advertising
4. All of the above
5. None of the above

11. The major stages of advertising development include

1. domestic
2. export
3. international
4. multinational and global
5. All of the above

12. Which of the following is the limitation of advertising?

1. Adds to cost
2. Neglecting social values
3. Creating monopoly
4. Encouraging sale of inferior products
5. All of the above

13. Advertising that promotes organisational images, ideas and political issues is …….. advertising.

1. product
2. defensive
3. competitive
4. compar ative
5. institutional

14. Which of the following is are the beneficiaries of advertising?

1. Manufacturers
2. Consumers
3. Society
4. All of these
5. None of these

15. Online advertising uses

1. internet
2. world wide web
3. Both ‘1’ and ‘2’
4. radio
5. TV

16. Which of the following is means of outdoor advertising?

1. Sandwich board advertising
2. Advertising board
3. Electric display
4. Posters
5. All of the above

17. Promotional advertising includes

1. showroom and exhibition
2. window advertising
3. interior display
4. All of the above
5. None of the above

18. Publicity may be

1. oral
2. written
3. personal and non-personal
4. All of the above
5. None of the above

19. Word-of-moth marketing is

1. triggered by the company
2. unpaid advertising
3. used by the company to influence behaviour
4. None of the above

20. Advertising is a form of intended to persuade an audience to purchase a product of ….. service.

1. communication
2. sales
3. market planning
4. Both ‘1’ and ‘2’
5. None of these

21. Which is the latest means of bank advertising?

1. Internet or E-mail
2. Postcard
3. Price list or business reply envelope
4. All of the above
5. None of the above

22. When a product or brand is embedded in entertainment and media then it is known as

1. covert advertising
2. guerrilla advertising
3. Both ‘1’ and ‘2’
4. overt advertising
5. None of the above

23. The outdoor advertising include

1. wall display
2. vehicular display
3. billboard display
4. All of these
5. None of these

24. Advertising is a form of paid non-personal presentation of ideas, goods or services for the purpose of

1. brand
2. newspaper
3. advertisement
4. inducing people to buy
5. All of these

25. A paid form of non-personal communication about an organisation and or its products that is transmitted to a target audience through a mass medium is

1. advertising
2. publicity
3. personal selling
4. sales promotion
5. All of these

26. Which of the following is considered to be any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor?

1. Personal selling
2. Advertising
3. Direct marketing
4. Sales promotion
5. None of these

27. The client of an advertising agency is called

1. customer
2. major
3. corporate
4. account
5. All of these

28. Mural advertising includes

1. bus tram and train advertising
2. sticker advertising
3. sky advertising
4. All of the above
5. None of the above

29. Which of the following may have favourable or unfavourable impression on the public about the company and its products?

1. Publicity
2. Advertising
3. Promotion
4. Forcasting
5. None of these

30. Mail advertising includes

1. price list
2. booklets
3. novelty gift
4. business reply envelope
5. All of the above

31. The function of advertising involves

1. to introduce new products
2. to explain causes of shortages
3. to aid salesmen
4. All of the above
5. None of the above

32. A tobacco company advertises its line of music cds. It is a type of

1. substitute advertising
2. surrogate advertising
3. out-door advertising
4. None of the above
5. All of the above

33. Mass communication with customers or potential customers, usually through paid public media is known as [SBl Clerk 2012]

1. publicity
2. sales promotion
3. advertising
4. public relations
5. brand building

34. Which of the following is the means of bank advertising?

1. Newspaper or magazine
2. Poster
3. Internet
4. Television
5. All of the above

35. You watch a movie and fine out that a particular brand crops up in it very often. It is an example of

1. surrogate advertisement
2. broadcast advertisement
3. convert advertising
4. All of the above
5. None of the above

36. Which is the element of advertising?

1. Public presentation
2. Non-personal process
3. Written or printed in words
4. All of the above
5. None of the above

37. Advertisements are required for [PNB PO 2009]

1. boosting the production levels
2. motivating the employees
3. boosting the sales
4. All of the above
5. None of the above

38. Advertisement is a type of [SBl PO 2011]

1. direct marketing
2. service marketing
3. indirect marketing
4. internet banking
5. internal marketing
6. Advertising

39. The following is the biggest limitation of advertising.

1. It forces consumer to buy the things he does not need.
2. It sells gloss and dreams to prospective buyers.
3. It tells consumers about the arrival of new products in market.
4. All of the above
5. None of the above

40. The advertising process may be classified as

1. product advertising
2. pioneering advertising
3. consumer advertising
4. institutional advertising
5. All of the above

41. Direct mail advertising includes

1. post card
2. booklets
3. folders
4. pricelist
5. All of these

42. The five Ms of advertising are mission, money, message, media and

1. marketing
2. market share
3. monopoly
4. measurement
5. None of these

43. The number of repetitions needed to put the brand’s message across to consumers is known as

1. advertising frequency
2. product substitutability
3. competition and clutter
4. Both ‘1’ and ‘2’
5. None of the above

44. ………advertising aims to stimulate repeat  purchase of products and services like expensive four color coca-cola ads in magazines.

1. Reinforcement
2. Persuasive
3. Reminder
4. Informative
5. None of these

Answer Key