There are four universal functions of advertising that performs any advertising campaign …

1) The economic functions.

2) The social functions.

3) The marketing functions.

4) Communication functions.

Here we are going to describe you about the four advertising functions … but before that we are going to recommend you to read our previous article “The Definition of Advertising Exposure“. If you have already read about the definition then let’s know about the functions of advertising.

1) Economic Functions Of Advertising

Advertising at its core is primarily economic phenomenon, which has a significant impact on the market players and economic agents, affecting both producers and consumers. The functions of advertising as an economic instrument is to promote the market relations of supply and demand, which is produced by providing a consumer audience information models made on the market offers. Advertising activity promotes regulation of supply and demand, thereby helping to achieve harmony of buyers and sellers in the market. Listed below are some of the most important aspects of the economic impact of advertising on market participants.

1. Advertising creates demand and stimulate sales, and thereby contributes to the circulation of goods and services and, consequently, production. High standard of living in the advanced economies is based on a system of mass production, which, in turn, depends entirely on the mass distribution system. Advertising assigned a key role in ensuring the mass distribution. Thus, advertising contributes to the economic development of the society.
2. Advertising has a positive effect on the development and manufacture of new types of goods and services, providing effective ways to inform consumers about their appearance. This effect, as a whole, helps to attract investment, the various innovations in all areas of production and consumption, improve the quality of goods and services that empower consumer choice. In some cases, significant costs associated with the development of new products, partially compensated through advertising, as advertising informs consumers about new products and thus creates the conditions for their acquisition.
3. Advertising provides consumers with information about products or services, and thus helps them to make the best buying decision. In turn, the manufacturers, the derivation of new products or services on the market, using the advertising opportunities, provide themselves with an effective means of communication with consumers.
4. Advertising assigned a key role in the creation and development of brands.
5. Advertising has an impact on the level of market competition. In some sectors, mass market goods or services to intensive investment in advertising leads to providing a basis for commitment to customers to a limited number of trademarks and, therefore, represent a significant barrier for competitors.
6. Advertising is a tendency to expand the production of goods, and thereby promote employment in the manufacturing sector of the economy.
7. Advertising is one of the main sources of funding for all types of media. Some concepts of media economy are seen as a tool for creating audiences, and then sold to advertisers by providing access to these audiences.

2) Social Functions Of Advertising

The functions of advertising as a social practice is the formation and consolidation in the minds of certain consumer models, values and norms of the society. Despite the fact that the scope of advertising is recognized sufficiently narrow, it has a definite effect on the nature of social relations. Advertising has become so obvious phenomenon in the public life, which in fact transformed into a special social institution and received a single integrated management within the framework of civil law.

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Advertising information addressed to consumers, besides the advertising of certain products and services affects the mass public consciousness and public relations in general. Listed below are some of the most important aspects of the social impact of advertising on society.

1. Advertising contributes to the formation of certain standards of thinking and social behavior of different social groups, and also supports and reinforces existing traditions and the established habits of consumers.
2. Advertising broadcasts different social groups of the material provided by man society, social and cultural opportunities. It creates the desire to use these features, as well as causes it to act to satisfy this desire and realize the opportunities offered by changes in their lives. As a rule, these actions correspond to the interests of society as a whole. Thus, advertising stimulates consumer behavior, encouraging them to increase their level of well-being, and thereby contributes to a better quality of life. It promotes the formation of the “middle class”, which in any society is the basis of its stability. However, in some cases, the functions of advertising can play a destructive role in forming social conflicts. This occurs, for example, in cases where the advertising spreads in the society ideal consumption patterns in adverse socio-economic conditions, not giving the reason the majority of the members of this society to form an opinion about the availability of these models.
3. Advertising works on the formation of values and way of life. Advertising has become an integral part of the socio-cultural stratum of society, making it a certain contribution, but in this case, it is not the beginning of forming social values, in contrast to the art, literature and religion.
4. Advertising promotes conscious consumer behavior, as it helps to compare the features of the proposals, giving the consumer the opportunity to decide on the purchase of already being informed.
5. Advertisement indirectly contributes to the culture of consumption, as comparing the various goods and services, the consumer is in any case tends to get really the best.
6. Advertising contributes to the spread of knowledge from various fields of human activity, instilling consumers some practical skills.
7. Advertising is introducing into the consciousness of people, new knowledge and ideas about new ways to improve their lives. Advertising in some cases, offering consumers new consumption patterns and new social culture, especially in the process of introducing new products and technologies. Thus, it accelerates the implementation of technical and non-technical innovations in various spheres of social practice.
8. Advertisement indirectly has a significant impact on social development, as it contributes to the development of social relations in the sphere of consumption, which is the backbone of social practice in a consumer society.

A look at advertising as a social phenomenon, the evaluation of its activities are entirely dependent on the country, with its historical and cultural traditions. So, now more than 50 percent of citizens have a negative attitude towards advertising. This figure is comparable with similar indicators in other economically developed countries.

3) The Marketing Functions Of Advertising

Functions of advertising as a marketing tool is creating demand for goods and services and stimulate their sales. Promotional activities in the system of market operations is regarded as a complex of means of non-price sales promotion of products and create demand for it.

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Marketing is usually determined as the activities aimed at achieving harmony of buyers and sellers in the market, which is set by the exchange of mutually beneficial relations. Marketing activity is composed of a set of strategic planning and market operations that pursue the ultimate goal of complete customer satisfaction in the products or services. Marketing occurs when people to meet their needs using the exchange – the act of obtaining from anyone desired object c offer anything in return. Exchange – the basic concept of marketing. The basic unit of measurement in the marketing system is a transaction which is a commercial exchange of value between the two by the parties to – the manufacturer of the goods or services and their consumers. The audience of consumers, which the manufacturer of the goods or services directs its marketing efforts, a targeted market. The main structure of marketing elements include product, price, sales agents, as well as promotion, that is, means of communication with consumers. Marketing communication, in turn, is divided into four communication tools:

1. Advertising;
2. Sales promotion;
3. Public relations;
4. Personal selling.

Thus, advertising is a key element in the promotion of goods or services to market and promote in turn – an element of the marketing mix. Without advertising marketing efforts in an attempt to cause, the desired response from the target rink will not have a logical conclusion, and, consequently, the desired efficiency.

In marketing practice, the main functions of advertising is understood as the motivation of consumers to buy advertised products or services, and the use of advertising is determined by its goals and objectives, depending on the marketing strategies of the advertiser and the conditions of the target market. Listed below are some of the most important functions of advertising in the marketing system.

1. Product identification, the manufacturer or seller;
2. Promotion of goods or services;
3. Branding;
4. Consumer information;
5. Forming demand;
6. Sales promotion;
7. Marketing regulation.

4) The Communication Functions Of Advertising

The functions of advertising as a communication tool is to inform consumers about goods and services. Advertising is one of the specific forms of mass communication that is impersonal exchange of information. It performs the corresponding communication functions implemented by a well-established practice of creating and broadcasting of marketing information to target audiences – advertising messages. In this case, advertising is not only to inform about goods or services, but at the same time transforms the information in a certain way, which becomes associated in the minds of consumers with factual information about the qualities of the advertised object. Thus, advertising provides consumers with information models advertised objects, and thereby connects advertisers and consumer audience in the market.

The essence of advertising communication is that a person or organization, which we call the advertiser, sends your message the audience, that is, consumers via the media. Advertiser commonly referred to as the sender, and its audience as the recipient of the message. The connection between the sender and the receiver by means of the communication process.

Message in the communication theory called the information received by the addressee. Consequently, some of the information only becomes an advertising message, when it transformed into a semantic-symbolic form, perceived by the audience, and then brought to the audience. In the modern theory of communication, it is accepted to use the base model of the communication process, which consists of the following successive elements:

1. Communicator – The initiator and a source of communication.
2. Message – The information source intends to transfer to the recipient and for which the communication.
3. Encoding – The transformation of information into the sign-symbolic form, i.e. in the message, which is perceived by the recipient.
4. Channel – The means by which the message is physically transmitted.
5. Recipient – The destination to which a message is transmitted.
6. Decoding – Decoding receiver of the message.

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Based on this scheme, the following table typology advertising communication agents according to their functional sequence in the communication process.

1) Advertiser: A source of communication. The source of advertising communication is an advertiser who needs to make contact with the consumer audience. Such contact marketing strategy advertiser defines objectives.

2) Advertisement producer: The person performing the encoding information an advertiser in a form ready for distribution in the form of advertising and its perception of the audience. As a rule, the functions of the advertisement carry out special organization – advertising agencies. That advertisement producer converts commercial proposals put forward on the market advertiser, in the sign-symbolic form, perceived by recipients – the consumer audience.

3) Mass communications: The person carrying out the dissemination of advertisements using the means of communication. As a rule, the functions of the advertisement distributor performing channels of mass communication – a set of the same type of print and electronic media, as well as other information carriers, which carry out the delivery embodied in the particular form of advertising messages from source to destination.

4) Re-target advertising: Audience are advertising recipients. As a rule, it acts as re-target is collection of individuals defined by the advertiser as a target audience of advertising that targets advertising message, as well as those who one-way or another in contact with the advertising message. Re-target audience can be either global (cover the population of the countries or regions of the world) and local (to cover the population of individual regions, cities or districts).

Advertising communication system involves the transmission of information in one direction, so after receiving and decoding of the advertising message should re-target audience reaction – acceptance its individual representatives of that content, which wanted to give the advertiser. This reaction is expressed in the change of psychological or behavioral characteristics of an audience. If the advertisement was designed for direct action, such as a purchase, the reaction of the audience expressed in committing or having committed acts of purchase. If advertising has been indirect, aimed at creating a positive image of the object of advertising, the audience reaction is to change its views. The concept of reaction associated with the concept of communication effect: if there is that form of audience response, which is calculated on the device, the advertising communication has been effective; if not, then communication was ineffective.