1. An Introduction
to Advertising
What
is advertising?
Advertising
in real sense is the way or strategy to popularize a product services or brand
with a view to increase the sales as a whole. A company cannot survive without
offering its services to the target group or customers in order to create the
sales or to create the market as the case may be.
Why
advertising?
The
olden method of salesmanship has become hard these days due to the increased
cost of manpower. Further to manage a huge sales team further involves
supervisory cost which increases the overhead as a whole. Again the manpower
without effective training in a waste and hence it also attracts training cost
indeed.
As
a matter of fact, advertising is never intended to replace the sales team
completely. Rather it smoothen the selling function as a support system and
helps build the harmony among the sales team. There was a period when selling
need to be done by showing the product sample physically. Every sales person
has to carry the product samples, irrespective of it weight and cover the vast
distance to show it to the clients,
wherever they are.
This
Himalayan task can be replaced by showing a simple brochure which has the
pictures of the products and its description.
Why
the customers need to buy from you?
When
the availability of product is everywhere why the need arises to buy only from
a particular company or supplier? What makes a customer to decide a particular
product or company?
In
general every customer needs quality product. Of course they also need a good
price. A good price means either competitive or affordable, as the case may be.
Apart from this, there is one important aspect is often expected by the
clients. That is after sales service or public relation. Good relationship
constitutes the lasting business from a client. It sometimes supersedes even
the product or service defects when the relationship is sound and effective.
Which
company needs advertisement?
Before
1990, there were companies boasting about customer loyalty tend to neglect the
presence of advertisement as a whole. After the globalization when competition
shifted from local to global, it has become inevitable to avoid advertisement
completely.
When
the competition is fierce, certain tactics required to popularize the product
or services among the clients or buyers. The advertising techniques make this
possible and practical otherwise the company will be out of race for sure.
Irrespective of product or services, any company, whether small or big, needs
to apply various advertising strategies to avert the tough competition in order
to place their product in front of the customer who in turn will make the
purchase decision.
There
is more number of companies seeking the professional advice and advertising
support with a view to place their products or services first. There are
Consumer products, Electrical and Electronic products, Food and Beverages,
Mechanical and construction companies, Insurance and Financial products,
Garments and Fashion products and Kids segment like Toys, Chocolates etc. Every
company has advertising budget depends up on its size and presence. It may be a
company with all India
network or a small super market confined to particular area or city. Publicity
can be made according to its presence and its need.
2. An Introduction
to Print Media Advertisement
What
are the types of advertisements?
Advertisement
strategy is innumerable these days. Yet it is broadly classified into five
categories. They are as detailed below.
Print
Media, Visual Media, Outdoor Publicity, Exhibitions & Events and the online
advertisements.
Let
us see in detail about the Print Media Advertisement.
Print
Media is the oldest yet a very powerful form of advertisement till now. In
spite of the technological advancement in various other types of advertisement,
Print Media ad continues to reign because of its simplicity and clarity in
conveying the details of any product or services as a whole.
Print
Media-Various Strategies
Brochures:
To
express about the company a profile statement is often needed. Brochure
carrying the company profile is of utmost important these days as people often
wants to know about the company before signing any contract or before issuing
any order. Further a brochure will also convey the product information,
technical specification and service details etc which ultimately makes the
brochure vital and important indeed.
A
brochure can be a Director/CEO’s profile also. Generally brochures are used for
multi purpose, like product/service catalogue, company profile or about a
specific project etc.
Leaflets/Pamphlets
A
single sheet printed material consists of new product launch or opening of a
new store or branch etc. is called as leaflets/pamphlets which is used either
direct distribution or as news paper insertion these days.
This
publicity method is both cost effective as well as could reach thousands of
people over night.
Print
advertisement in News Papers and Magazines.
Daily
news papers have become part and parcel of our day to day life. Every one of us
is keen on reading the hot news of the day.
Prominent papers like The Hindu, Indian Express, Times of India and more
such daily papers are reigning these days. Lots of advertisements are displayed
in these papers since the readership is more for such news papers.
Various
Types
Starting
from classified ads to box type display ads and half page/full page ads,
branding pages which will serve as a cover for the news paper are some of the
kinds of publicity through news paper. As vast majority of the people are
having the habit of news paper reading, this type of advertisements are popular
among educated circles.
A Review by Ayubkhan.U
Photo Courtesy: Google