DEFINITIONS OF ADVERTISING

Advertising is any controlled form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and services by an identified sponsor that is used to inform and persuade the selected market (Bolen. William H, Advertising, John Wiley & Sons, p.4, 1984)

 The printed, written, spoken or pictured representation of a person, product, service, or movement, openly sponsored by the advertiser at his expense, for the purpose of influencing sales, use, votes, or endorsement. (Advertising age)

Advertising is a non-personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products services, or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media (bovee, 1992, p.7)

Characteristics of Advertising

ADVERTISING is based on the following characteristics:

· Paid form: Advertising is a paid form, except in case of Public Service Announcements.

· Non-personal: It is done in non-personal manner through intermediaries (channels) and the message is conveyed through many different kinds of media, which are largely non-personal so that it reaches a large audience of potential customers.

· Controlled: This provides important distinction between advertising and personal selling or publicity. The content, time and direction of message is controlled by the advertisers. No more and no less. You cannot do this in case of personal selling and publicity.

· Identifiable: This distinguishes advertising with propaganda. Sponsor is identified.

· Ideas, Goods and Services: It is a strategic communication driven by objectives and these objectives can be measured to determine its effectiveness.

· Information and Persuasion: Communication link between things and the consumers. Advertising is paid persuasive communication that uses non-personal mass media as well as other forms of interactive communication to reach broad audiences to connect an identified sponsor with a target audience.

· Marketing: The systematic planning, implementation and control of a mix of business activities intended to bring together buyers and sellers for the mutually advantageous exchange or transfer of products.

Advertising is a single component of the marketing process. It's the part that involves getting the word out concerning your business, product, or the services you are offering. It involves the process of developing strategies such as ad placement, frequency, etc.

Advertising includes the placement of an ad in such mediums as newspapers, direct mail, billboards, television, radio, and of course the Internet. Advertising is the largest expense of most marketing plans, with public relations following in a close second and market research not falling far behind.

The best way to distinguish between advertising and marketing is to think of marketing as a pie, inside that pie you have slices of advertising, market research, media planning, public relations, product pricing, distribution, customer support, sales strategy, and community involvement.

Advertising only equals one piece of the pie in the strategy. All of these elements must not only work independently but they also must work together towards the bigger goal. Marketing is a process that takes time and can involve hours of research for a marketing plan to be effective. Think of marketing as everything that an organization does to facilitate an exchange between company and consumer.

The essence of marketing is to understand your customers’ needs and develop a plan that can meet those needs. By doing this, you create an effective way to grow and expand your coffee or tea business.

Objectives of Advertising

 · Builds awareness of products & brands (Supports new products by generating awareness): Primary objective in building brand awareness is to make people think of your brand first when they are ready to purchase.

 · Provides product & brand information: Advertising supplies the necessary information to consumers so that they know what is available and where to buy it. It broadcasts information on products, services and ideas sold on the open market through a variety of media portals. It reveals the special features being sold, what color and size the product is and which stores carry it.

· Reinforces past purchases & brand experiences: Consistent quality advertising increases consumer loyalty for a product, service or idea. Advertising seeks to maintain the current customer base by reinforcing purchasing behavior with additional information about the benefits of brands. The goal of advertising is to build and reinforce relationships with customers, prospects, retailers and important stakeholders.

 · To communicate product information: Another function of advertising is to communicate information about the product, its attributes, and its location of sale; this is the information function. Product information communicated to the customers in manner that meets their information needs. Making an advertising message believable is not easy; though often it is sufficient to make the consumer curious enough to try the product. Whenever changes are made in the prices, channels of distribution or in the product by way of any improvement in quality, size, weight, brand, packing, etc., they can be informed to the public by the producer through advertisement.

· Tells & shows uses to the consumers: An informative ad is used to introduce a brand new company, product or service to the marketing. Before you can convince customers that you have the best option, they have to know what your product does on a basic level. Additionally, companies with complex solutions might benefit from informing customers of how their products work and how the products help the customers. Informative ads normally have more copy centered on explaining features of the solution and benefits to the customer.

· To urge product use: Another function of advertising is to induce consumers to try new products and to suggest reuse of the product as well as new uses. Advertising provides constant reminders and reinforcements to generate the desired behavior the advertiser wants from them. This is a particularly effective function in the long run as reminders and reinforcements register in the consumers' minds, becoming the base on which they shape their future decisions. Sampling is the way to urge the product using.

· To expand the product distribution: When the consumer comes to know about the particular product from the advertisement he/she wants to try that new product. They go to shops to buy the product; if the new product is not available in a shop then the shopkeeper consults the distributor to make that product available in his shop. It is basically to provide the product all over market. It is necessary to make sure that product should be accessible to everyone. Availability of the product effects the distribution.

· To Increase Brand Preference and Brand Loyalty: When the product delivers the promised quality, service and value, it creates satisfied customers who become instrumental in spreading a favorable word-of-mouth. Satisfied customers also develop brand preference; each product features and uses are written on the product. Brand loyalty is a long-term customer preference for a particular product or service. Brand loyalty can be produced by factors such as customer satisfaction with the performance or price of a specific product or service, or through identifying with a brand image. It can be encouraged by advertising.

· Helps in building relationships with consumers: Advertising helps to build relationship with the customers.

· To Inform, Remind and Persuade consumers: Persuasion is the core mission of advertising. Advertising tells you how the product, service or idea you are considering will improve your life. According to Jeremiah O'Sullivan R, author of "The Social and Cultural Effects of Advertising," advertising feeds on the concepts of ideology, myth, art, sexual attraction and religion. Advertising infuses images and ideas into products and services, just as the meanings of products and services are infused into images and ideas.

Persuading customers is a prominent ad objective of companies in competitive markets. Once customers have a basic understanding of your industry and product offerings, you must show them why your brand is elite. Companies use a variety of approaches, including emphasis on product quality, service, unique features, environmental friendliness, the cool factor, cutting-edge technology and low costs. Emotional appeals are common in persuasive ads because you want to tug at the heart strings of customers by building up their experience.