Advertising Factors There are some variables or factors that need to be considered when creating an advertising.

These factors are waste, reach, frequency, message permanence, persuasive impact and clutter. Waste is the portion of an audience that is not in a firm's target market. Because media appeal to mass audiences, waste is a significant factor in advertising. For example, a firm plans to place an advertising of a new digital camera in a special-interest magazine for amateur photographers. Through research, this firm knows that 450,000 readers will have an interest in a new camera; 50.000 will have no interest. The latter represents the wasted audience for an ad on that film. Reach refers to the number of viewers or readers in the audience. For television and radio, reach is the total number of people who are exposed to an advertisement. For print media, reach has two components, circulation and pass along rate. Circulation is the number of copies sold or distributed to consumers. Pass along rate is the number of each copy is placed with another reader. For example, each copy of Newsweek is read by about six people. Frequency is how often a medium can be used. It is greatest for newspapers, radio, and television, where ads may appear daily and advertising strategy may be easily changed. Telephone directories, outdoor ads, and magazines have the poorest frequency. A Yellow Pages ad may be placed or changed only once per year. Message permanence refers to the number of exposures one advertisement generates and how long it remains with the audience. Outdoor ads, transit ads, and telephone directories yield many exposures per message. In addition, many magazines are retained by consumers for long periods of time. On the other hand, radio and television commercials last only 5 to 60 seconds and are over. Persuasive impact is the ability of a medium to stimulate consumers. Television often has the highest persuasive impact because it is able to combine audio, video, color, animation, and other appeals. Magazines also have high persuasive impact. Many newspapers are improving their technology in order to feature color ads and increase their persuasive impact. Clutter involves the number of ads that are contained in a single program, issue, etc. of a medium. Clutter is low when a limited number of ads is presented, such as Hallmark placing a few scattered commercials on its television specials. Clutter is high when many ads are presented, such as the large number of supermarket ads in the Wednesday issue of a newspaper. Increasingly, television networks are being criticized for permitting too much clutter, particularly in allowing companies to sponsor very brief commercials (e. g., 15 seconds or shorter).

Marketing communication In the traditional manner, the communication between two humans involves a simple process which is as follows. Sender > Encoding > Message > Decoding > Receiver Like the above human model, Marketing communications too involves a communication message being sent from the Sender (which can be a company, product or a brand) to a receiver (who can be an audience, your target group, stakeholders or anyone whom you want to target your message)

Sender and Receiver In marketing communications, there are two main entities Sender and Receiver. The sender may be the company wanting to target the consumer group. The receiver is the consumer himself. There are several features which you need to know about the sender and receiver before the communication process begins, like their demographics, financial power and their compatibility. If a sender is a sports shoes maker, but the message is received by 60 years old customers, then the marketing communications may fail. The sender needs to know beforehand who the receiver of the message is going to be. This is why the process of segmentation targeting and positioning is done before marketing communications begins. Encoding The message needs to be bundled in the right format for the sender to send the appropriate message to the receiver. This is known as encoding. In marketing communications, this is where advertising agencies play an important role. Depending on the choice of the sender, the creative ad agencies encode the message in the proper format. The format depends on the type of media vehicle being used to deliver the communication message. Thus, you will find that a radio message, a TV message or a print message are encoded differently as all of them have their own pros and cons. Whatever media vehicle / message format you may use, the focus message needs to be the same.

Message decisions During marketing communications, there are various ways in which the message can be sent to the end customers. Television and print is known to have the highest retention and hence advertisers use them the most. Other then these 2, there is radio marketing, online marketing, out of home media, banner advertising, so on and so forth. Any of these media vehicles can carry your message. The important point here is that the message should reach to as large a target audience as possible. In the sales funnel, the more prospects you have the more would be the conversion rate. Thus the objective of a message is to reach as many prospects as possible. A proper message can immediately connect you with your target group, build a better brand positioning, and thereby give an immediate boost to your organization. Marketing communications messages can be of various types. Some of the normally used ones are

Introducing a new product Creating awareness Building brand image Sales promotion offers Customer retention

A marketing message therefore needs to be altered on the basis of these three fundamental factors a) Media vehicle to be used b) What is the objective of the message c) Which is the target group Decoding Decoding a message is not in the hands of the sender. It is instead done by the receiver. All the sender can do is encode the message as best as he can and ensure that it reaches the receiver. The receiver than decodes the message. For example If i show you a shoe in muddy water, some of you might not be interested in the image, some of you might think this is an advertising for the shoe, and some of you might get the message that i am trying to show a shoe which is water proof and easy to clean. Thus, if i am unable to get the message across to most of my audiences, than i fail as a marketer. I need to ensure that decoding of the message is as easy as possible for the receiver. This is the essence of Marketing communications. This is the reason why agencies such as O&M, Lowe lintas etc get such a high fee. Because their messages can be decoded easily by the end user and by the masses. Receiver The receiver is the one making the decision after decoding the message. In other words, the receiver is your end customer / prospect. Thus the receiver is a very important entity in the marketing communications process. Ideally, the receiver should act on the message he has received. Thus if your message was of a sales promotion, your receiver will go ahead and purchase the product. However, as in any situation, there are different variants

of receivers. Some will completely ignore the message, some will use it for reference later and others will act on it. To make sure that the receiver acts on the message, integrated marketing communications is used. The same message is sent in different formats through various media vehicles. The receiver receives the same message in differently encoded format and decodes it. This is why nowadays advertising frequency plays an important role in converting prospects to customers. As FMCG companies have the maximum consumer interactions, they are known to use integrated marketing communications in the best manner. Feedback Nowadays, another factor which has been added to the marketing communications model is the feedback parameter. This is because taking feedback is gaining importance with the noise that happens due to too many products being advertised. Thus after an ad campaign for increasing awareness of a product, the company can take market feedback to know what percentage of target customers are aware of the new product. This feedback will tell the company whether its advertising strategy was right or wrong. In the end, you have to understand that marketing communications is not just an interaction between the company and the end customer. Rather it involves the presence of numerous entities. Marketing communications is an art in itself. A significant amount of an organizations resources are used to ensure that the right message reaches the end customers and the end customer acts in a desired manner.

MEDIA SELECTION IN ADVERTISING MANAGEMENT

A highly creative ad copy may not be able to deliver results if there is an improper selection of media or a poor media plan and strategy .In evolving a media plan, decisions have to be taken in respect to the following media factors 1. Media class This refers to the type of medium which is most appropriate to the product and ad copy. This includes newspaper, magazines ,television ,radio, billboards and direct mail. 2. Media vehicles They provide the immediate environment for the advertisement .For example ,within the newspaper, the Times of India is a media vehicle; in television Zee TVs Antakshari is the vehicle. 3. Media Option This refers to the size(full or half page),length (30seconds or 60 seconds)color or location(like front page bottom right or prime time 9.00 p.m) of the ad in the media vehicle. 4. Scheduling and timing This refers to how media options are scheduled over a period of time. the strategic options here are (i) Flightingi.e periods of total inactivity. (ii) Continuous i.e even distribution of advertising during a time period. (iii) Pulsing- a continuous base augmented by intermittent bursts of heavy advertising.

Flighting is useful in products whose demand is seasonal. After the season ,the demand for these products ceases to exist .A typical example is that of desert coolers in North Indian States like Uttar Pradesh ,Madhya Pradesh ,Rajasthan ,Haryana ,Punjab, Bihar and Delhi. The demand for such coolers emerge during the summer months April to July and declines soon after the monsoon sets in .Hence it pays to advertise desert coolers or its components like exhaust fans and pumps etc. during the summer months only and then discontinue until the subsequent year .So for products whose demand is seasonal, the flighting strategy works well. Continuous advertising is a good strategy for products like textile .toiletries, etc .whose demand is not limited to specific seasons .Here the objectives of the firm is to retain its brand/s at the top of the customers mind and hence continuous visibility through reminder ads and other such tactics. Pulsing works in products like soft drinks and ice creams whose demand is high during summer months and after that the demand does decline but not to zero sales level .The demand goes down to the minimum level which is between no demand to the peak demand. The objective advertising is to ensure higher sales volume and market share. In the evolution of a media plan ,both quantitative (like circulation or view ship statistics, costs etc)and qualitative (like the profile of target audience ,mood created by media vehicles and the like )factors have to be considered. While data on circulation or viewer ship ,etc is available from sources like Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) ,National Readership Survey (NRS)and even different publishing houses ,cost of an ad insertion is available from the publisher or DD etc. The qualitative factors for each media is to be collected through a market research. One of the quantitative criteria used in selecting the media is cost per thousand i.e cost per thousands people reached by a particular vehicle. This is calculated by dividing reach of the vehicles by the cost of an ad in it. Suppose the reach(readership)of newspaper A is 1,20,00,000 persons and the cost of a full page ad in it is Rs 10,000;then cost per thousand of advertising in this paper is Rs.0.83 p only .But another newspaper whose readership may be only 70,00,000 persons ,the cost of the same ad maybe just rs.7,000.Considering cost per thousand(which is re.1.00), we find that advertising in newspaper A is a better alternatives. Wile cost per thousand is an important consideration ,one has to also examine the quality of readership and view ship and whether the audience goes through the entire newspaper or magazine or waits and watches the entire programs .In other words ,though cost per thousand in a newspaper like the Times of India may be the lowest, if the research shows that most readers just glance through the headlines or through the newspaper ,then actually the cost is much higher .As the effective readership may be lower. The same holds good for TV or video advertising. Next variable is the mood created by the media vehicle. India Today creates a different mood than the Illustrated Weekly. Womans era creates a different mood than Savvy or Society. Likewise, Playboy has a different mood environment and Star T.V s Santa Barbara creates

a different mood than the Doordarshan serial, Hum Log. Research suggests that generally the mood created by reading or viewing an item or a programs gets transferred to the product being advertised in the vehicle. Hence, in selecting the media one has to determine the desired number of exposures to the target audience in the appropriate vehicle. The number of exposures is based on the advertisers objective. It could be trial which is based on increased awareness. Assume the rate of trial increases at a diminishing rate with the level of audience awareness as shown. The Planning process of Advertisements Campaigns include the following activities: 1. Situation Appraisal- before planning any activity, one requires relevant information regarding the situation. For planning an Ad campaign, we require information about the target market or consumer, the company or product and the competition. The three important research areas are:

Consumer research and market research Product and company research Competitive research

2. Situation Analysis- (analyzing strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats) From all the information collected, campaigns planners find out the strengths of the product. These strengths could be in any area. The strength often leads to new opportunities to be explored. Weaknesses make the product vulnerable to threats from others. 3. Structural or Strategic Planning- Advertising is an art and a science. While the art comes from writing, designing and producing exciting advertisements, the science comes from scientific methods of research and strategic planning. Strategic planning is the process of making intelligent decisions. It starts with finding out what to do, deciding how to accomplish the objectives. It also decides whom to address (the target audience), how to distinguish the product, how much to spend (budgeting), and how long to run the campaign. 4. Creative Planning- it includes developing a theme, the creative strategy and finally deciding the creative tactics. The theme needs to be a strong concept to be able to hold all there different and diverse ads together. A powerful theme brings about synergy to the campaign. A theme must always relate to and reflect the campaign objectives. Another step of creative planning is finding the creative strategy. The creative strategy outlines the impressions the campaign wants to create. Some common creative strategies are:

Generic Strategy- this is used by market leaders who ignore the presence of competitors Pre-emptive claim strategy- here the brand is the first to pick up a particular feature. In the minds of the people, it becomes associated with that brand. Unique selling proposition (USP) strategy- here the campaign talks about some features, which is unique to that advertised brand and is not available in others.

Brand image strategy: when there are no strong differentiating features among the competitors, then branding try and create images. Product Positioning- some times products or brands are positioned different from competing brands.

5. Media Planning- the ultimate goal of advertising is to reach the target audience with the advertising message. Thus, the major decisions in media planning, which needs to be taken, are:

Which media to be used? Where to advertise (geographic region)? When to advertise (timing and scheduling)? How intense the exposure should be (frequency)?

Media planning is a behind the scene part of advertising. It plays an integral role in merging the science of marketing with the art of advertising. A media planner has to find out about the availability of various media, the media rates, their reaches and also analyze their effectiveness. Media strategy: Every work to be done needs a plan of action so that the work is done in a desired and correct manner. Media Strategy plays a very important role in Advertising. The role of Media Strategy is to find out the right path to transfer or say deliver the message to the targeted customers. How many people see or hear or read all the advertisements or promotional offers and buy the product or service? The basic intention of media strategy is not only procuring customers for their product but also placing a right message to the right people on the right time and of course that message should be persuasive and relevant. So, here the planners of the organization decide the Media Strategy to be used but keeping the budget always in mind. The Media Strategy process has three Ws to be decided. They are

Where to advertise ? When to advertise ? What media type to use ?

Where is the place for showing or delivering advertisement. In short it means the geographical area from where it should be visible to the customers who use or are most likely to use the product or services offered. The place does not mean only TV or radio but it can also be newspapers, blogs, sponsorships, hoardings on roads, ads in the movie break in theatres, etc. The area varies from place to place like it can be on national basis, state basis and for local brands it can be on city basis.

When is the timing to show or run advertisement. For e.g. you cannot show a raincoat ad in the winter season but you need to telecast ad as soon as the summer season is coming to an end and rainy season is just about to begin. The ad should be delivered with perfect timing when most customers are like to buy the product. The planners need to plan it keeping the budget in mind as the maximum of 20% of revenues of the company can be used in the advertisement section. Different products have different time length for advertisements. Some products need year long ads as they have nothing to do with seasonal variations e.g. small things like biscuits, soaps, pens, etc and big services like vehicle insurance, refrigerators, etc. Some products need for three or four months. E.g. umbrellas, cold creams, etc. So the planners have to plan the budget according to the time length so that there is no short of money at any time in this process. What is what type of media is to be used for delivering the message. There are basically two media approaches to choose from.

Media Concentration approach Media Dispersion Approach

In media concentration approach, the number of categories of media is less. The money is spent on concentrating on only few media types say two or three. This approach is generally used for those companies who are not very confident and have to share the place with the other competitors. They dont want anyone to get confused with there brand name so this is the safest approach as the message reaches the target consumers. In media dispersion approach, there are more number of categories of media used to advertise. This approach is considered and practiced by only those people who know that a single or two types of media will not reach their target. They place their product ads in many categories like TV, radio, internet, distributing pamphlets, sending messages to mobiles, etc. Selection of Media Category Whichever category is selected by the planners of the organization, they should select a proper media to convey their message. If the product is for a big amount of customers then a mass media option can be selected like TV, radio or newspaper. The best examples for this type are detergent ads, children health drinks and major regular used products such as soap, shampoo, toothpastes etc. If the planners want to change the mind of people doing window shopping or just doing shopping for sake of name, then point of purchase type can be opted by the company. This helps the company to explain their point to the buyers and convince the buyers to go for their product.

If the planners want to sell their product on one to one basis, then the third option is direct response type. Here, the company people directly contact the customers via emails, text messages, phone calls or meeting for giving demos. The best example of this type of media is the Life cell Cord Blood Banking. They go to their customers, explain them what it is all about and try to convince them. Thus, this process of media strategy plays an important and vital role in the field of Advertising. Classifications of advertising Advertising is the promotion of a companys products and services though different mediums to increase the sales of the product and services. It works by making the customer aware of the product and by focusing on customers need to buy the product. Globally, advertising has become an essential part of the corporate world. Therefore, companies allot a huge part of their revenues to the advertising budget. Advertising also serves to build a brand of the product which goes a long way to make effective sales. There are several branches or types of advertising which can be used by the companies. Let us discuss them in detail.

Classification of Advertising 1. Print Advertising - The print media has been used for advertising since long. The newspapers and magazines are quite popular modes of advertising for different companies all over the world. Using the print media, the companies can also promote their products through brochures and fliers. The newspaper and magazines sell the advertising space and the cost depends on several factors. The quantity of space, the page of the publication, and the type of paper decide the cost of the advertisement. So an ad on the front page would be costlier than on inside pages. Similarly an ad in the glossy supplement of the paper would be more expensive than in a mediocre quality paper. 2. Broadcast Advertising - This type of advertising is very popular all around the world. It consists of television, radio, or Internet advertising. The ads on the television have a large audience and are very popular. The cost of the advertisement depends on the length of the ad and the time at which the ad would be appearing. For example, the

prime time ads would be more costly than the regular ones. Radio advertising is not what it used to be after the advent of television and Internet, but still there is specific audience for the radio ads too. The radio jingles are quite popular in sections of society and help to sell the products. 3. Outdoor Advertising - Outdoor advertising makes use of different tools to gain customers attention. The billboards, kiosks, and events and tradeshows are an effective way to convey the message of the company. The billboards are present all around the city but the content should be such that it attracts the attention of the customer. The kiosks are an easy outlet of the products and serve as information outlets for the people too. Organizing events such as trade fairs and exhibitions for promotion of the product or service also in a way advertises the product. Therefore, outdoor advertising is an effective advertising tool. 4. Covert Advertising - This is a unique way of advertising in which the product or the message is subtly included in a movie or TV serial. There is no actual ad, just the mention of the product in the movie. For example, Tom Cruise used the Nokia phone in the movie Minority Report. 5. Public Service Advertising - As evident from the title itself, such advertising is for the public causes. There are a host of important matters such as AIDS, political integrity, energy conservation, illiteracy, poverty and so on all of which need more awareness as far as general public is concerned. This type of advertising has gained much importance in recent times and is an effective tool to convey the message.

Objectives of advertising Advertising is the best way to communicate to the customers. Advertising helps informs the customers about the brands available in the market and the variety of products useful to them. Advertising is for everybody including kids, young and old. It is done using various media types, with different techniques and methods most suited. Let us take a look on the main objectives and importance of advertising. Objectives of Advertising Four main Objectives of advertising are: i. ii. iii. iv. Trial Continuity Brand switch Switching back

Lets take a look on these various types of objectives.

1. Trial: the companies which are in their introduction stage generally work for this objective. The trial objective is the one which involves convincing the customers to buy the new product introduced in the market. Here, the advertisers use flashy and attractive ads to make customers take a look on the products and purchase for trials. 2. Continuity: this objective is concerned about keeping the existing customers to stick on to the product. The advertisers here generally keep on bringing something new in the product and the advertisement so that the existing customers keep buying their products. 3. Brand switch: this objective is basically for those companies who want to attract the customers of the competitors. Here, the advertisers try to convince the customers to switch from the existing brand they are using to their product. 4. Switching back: this objective is for the companies who want their previous customers back, who have switched to their competitors. The advertisers use different ways to attract the customers back like discount sale, new advertise, some reworking done on packaging, etc. Basically, advertising is a very artistic way of communicating with the customers. The main characteristics one should have to get on their objectives are great communication skills and very good convincing power. Importance of Advertising Advertising plays a very important role in todays age of competition. Advertising is one thing which has become a necessity for everybody in todays day to day life, be it the producer, the traders, or the customer. Advertising is an important part. Lets have a look on how and where is advertising important: 1. Advertising is important for the customers Just imagine television or a newspaper or a radio channel without an advertisement! No, no one can any day imagine this. Advertising plays a very important role in customers life. Customers are the people who buy the product only after they are made aware of the products available in the market. If the product is not advertised, no customer will come to know what products are available and will not buy the product even if the product was for their benefit. One more thing is that advertising helps people find the best products for themselves, their kids, and their family. When they come to know about the range of products, they are able to compare the products and buy so that they get what they desire after spending their valuable money. Thus, advertising is important for the customers. 2. Advertising is important for the seller and companies producing the products Yes, advertising plays very important role for the producers and the sellers of the products, because

Advertising helps increasing sales Advertising helps producers or the companies to know their competitors and plan accordingly to meet up the level of competition. If any company wants to introduce or launch a new product in the market, advertising will make a ground for the product. Advertising helps making people aware of the new product so that the consumers come and try the product. Advertising helps creating goodwill for the company and gains customer loyalty after reaching a mature age. The demand for the product keeps on coming with the help of advertising and demand and supply become a never ending process. 3. Advertising is important for the society Advertising helps educating people. There are some social issues also which advertising deals with like child labour, liquor consumption, girl child killing, smoking, family planning education, etc. thus, advertising plays a very important role in society. Advertising agencies The work of a tailor is to collect the raw material, find matching threads, cut the cloth in desired shape, finally stitch the cloth and deliver it to the customer. Advertising Agency is just like a tailor. It creates the ads, plans how, when and where it should be delivered and hands it over to the client. Advertising agencies are mostly not dependent on any organizations. These agencies take all the efforts for selling the product of the clients. They have a group of people expert in their particular fields, thus helping the companies or organizations to reach their target customer in an easy and simple way. The first Advertising Agency was William Taylor in 1786 followed by James Jem White in 1800 in London and Reynell & Son in 1812. Role of Advertising Agencies 1. Creating an advertise on the basis of information gathered about product 2. Doing research on the company and the product and reactions of the customers. 3. Planning for type of media to be used, when and where to be used, and for how much time to be used. 4. Taking the feedbacks from the clients as well as the customers and then deciding the further line of action All companies can do this work by themselves. They can make ads, print or advertise them on televisions or other media places; they can manage the accounts also. Then why do they

need advertising agencies? The reasons behind hiring the advertising agencies by the companies are:

The agencies are expert in this field. They have a team of different people for different functions like copywriters, art directors, planners, etc. The agencies make optimum use of these people, their experience and their knowledge. They work with an objective and are very professionals. Hiring them leads in saving the costs up to some extent.

There are basically 5 types of advertising agencies. 1. Full service Agencies Large size agencies. Deals with all stages of advertisement. Different expert people for different departments. Starts work from gathering data and analyzing and ends on payment of bills to the media people. 2. Interactive Agencies Modernized modes of communication are used. Uses online advertisements, sending personal messages on mobile phones, etc. The ads produced are very interactive, having very new concepts, and very innovative. 3. Creative Boutiques Very creative and innovative ads. No other function is performed other than creating actual ads. Small sized agencies with their own copywriters, directors, and creative people. 4. Media Buying Agencies Buys place for advertise and sells it to the advertisers. Sells time in which advertisement will be placed. Schedules slots at different television channels and radio stations. Finally supervises or checks whether the ad has been telecasted at opted time and place or not. 5. In-House Agencies As good as the full service agencies. Big organization prefers these type of agencies which are in built and work only for them. These agencies work as per the requirements of the organizations.

Social and Economical Aspects of Advertising Every coin has two sides Advertising is praised but also criticized by critics in their own ways. Advertising has many positive impacts along with its negative pictures. As the President of American Association of Advertising Agencies, John O Toole has described advertise is something else. It is not related to studies, but it educates. It is not a journalist but gives all information. And it is not an entertaining device but entertains everyone. Now lets go through the economic and social aspects of advertising. Economic role of Advertising Value of Products: The advertised products are not always the best products in the market. There are some unadvertised products also present which are good enough. But advertising helps increase value for the products by showing the positive image of the product which in turn helps convincing customers to buy it. Advertising educates consumers about the uses of the products hence increasing its value in minds of the consumers. For e.g. mobile phones were first considered as necessity but nowadays the cell phones come with number of features which makes them mode of convenience for consumers. Effect on Prices: Some advertised products do cost more than unadvertised products but the vice versa is also true. But if there is more competition in the market for those products, the prices have to come down, for e.g., canned juices from various brands. Thus some professional like chartered accountants and doctors are not allowed to advertise. But some products do not advertise much, and they dont need much of it and even their prices are high but they are still the leaders in market as they have their brand name. e.g., Porsche cars Effect on consumer demand and choices: Even if the product is heavily advertised, it does not mean that the demand or say consumption rates will also increase. The product has to be different with better quality, and more variety than others. For E.g., Kelloggs cornflakes have variety of flavors with different ranges to offer for different age groups and now also for people who want to loose weight thus giving consumers different choices to select from.

Effect on business cycle: Advertising no doubt helps in employing more number of people. It increases the pay rolls of people working in this field. It helps collecting more revenues for sellers which they use for betterment of product and services. But there are some bad effects of advertisements on business cycle also. Sometimes, consumer may find the foreign product better than going for the national brand. This will definitely effect the production which may in turn affect the GDP of the country. The economic aspects are supported by the Abundance Principle which says producing more products and services than the consumption rate which helps firstly keeping consumers informed about the options they have and secondly helps sellers for playing in healthy and competitive atmosphere with their self interest. Social role of Advertising: There are some positive and some negative aspects of advertising on the social ground. They are as follows. Deception in Advertising: The relation between the buyers and sellers is maintained if the buyers are satisfied with what they saw in advertise and what they got after buying that product. If seller shows a false or deceptive image and an exaggerated image of the product in the advertisement, then the relation between the seller and buyers cant be healthy. These problems can be overcome if the seller keep their ads clean and displays right image of the product. The Subliminal Advertising: Capturing the Minds of the consumers is the main intention of these ads. The ads are made in such a way that the consumers dont even realizes that the ad has made an impact on their minds and this results in buying the product which they dont even need. But All ads dont impress all consumers at all times, because majority of consumers buy products on basis of the price and needs. Effect on Our Value System: The advertisers use puffing tactics, endorsements from celebrities, and play emotionally, which makes ads so powerful that the consumers like helpless preys buy those products. These ads make poor people buy products which they cant afford, people picking up bad habits like smoking and drinking, and buy products just because their favorite actor endorsed that product. This affects in increased the cost of whole society and loss of values of our own selves.

Offensiveness: Some ads are so offensive that they are not acceptable by the buyers. For example, the ads of denim jeans showed girls wearing very less clothes and making a sex appeal. These kinds of ads are irrelevant to the actual product. Btu then there is some ads which are educative also and now accepted by people. Earlier ads giving information about birth control pills was considered offensive but now the same ads are considered educative and important. But at the last, there are some great positive aspects which help

Development of society and growth of technologies Employment Gives choices to buyers with self interest Welcomes healthy competition Improving standard of living. Give information on social, economical and health issues.

Steps in Advertising Process Mass demand has been created almost entirely through the development of Advertising Calvin Coolidge in the New York Public Library. For the development of advertising and to get best results one need to follow the advertising process step by step. The following are the steps involved in the process of advertising: 1. Step 1 - Briefing: the advertiser needs to brief about the product or the service which has to be advertised and doing the SWOT analysis of the company and the product. 2. Step 2 - Knowing the Objective: one should first know the objective or the purpose of advertising. i.e. what message is to be delivered to the audience?

3. Step 3 - Research: this step involves finding out the market behavior, knowing the competitors, what type of advertising they are using, what is the response of the consumers, availability of the resources needed in the process, etc. 4. Step 4 - Target Audience: the next step is to identify the target consumers most likely to buy the product. The target should be appropriately identified without any confusion. For e.g. if the product is a health drink for growing kids, then the target customers will be the parents who are going to buy it and not the kids who are going to drink it. 5. Step 5 - Media Selection: now that the target audience is identified, one should select an appropriate media for advertising so that the customers who are to be informed about the product and are willing to buy are successfully reached.

6. Step 6 - Setting the Budget: then the advertising budget has to be planned so that there is no short of funds or excess of funds during the process of advertising and also there are no losses to the company. 7. Step 7 - Designing and Creating the Ad: first the design that is the outline of ad on papers is made by the copywriters of the agency, then the actual creation of ad is done with help of the art directors and the creative personnel of the agency. 8. Step 8 - Perfection: then the created ad is re-examined and the ad is redefined to make it perfect to enter the market. 9. Step 9 - Place and Time of Ad: the next step is to decide where and when the ad will be shown. The place will be decided according to the target customers where the ad is most visible clearly to them. The finalization of time on which the ad will be telecasted or shown on the selected media will be done by the traffic department of the agency. 10. Step 10 - Execution: finally the advertise is released with perfect creation, perfect placement and perfect timing in the market. 11. Step 11 - Performance: the last step is to judge the performance of the ad in terms of the response from the customers, whether they are satisfied with the ad and the product, did the ad reached all the targeted people, was the advertise capable enough to compete with the other players, etc. Every point is studied properly and changes are made, if any. If these steps are followed properly then there has to be a successful beginning for the product in the market Advertising techniques Today every company needs to advertise its product to inform the customers about the product, increase the sales, acquire market value, and gain reputation and name in the industry. Every business spends lot of money for advertising their products but the money spent will lead to success only when the best techniques of advertising are used for the product. So here are some very common and most used techniques used by the advertisers to get desired results. 1. Emotional Appeal This technique of advertising is done with help of two factors - needs of consumers and fear factor. Most common appeals under need are:

need for something new need for getting acceptance need for not being ignored need for change of old things

need for security need to become attractive, etc.

Most common appeals under fear are:

fear of accident fear of death fear of being avoided fear of getting sick fear of getting old, etc.

2. Promotional Advertising This technique involves giving away samples of the product for free to the consumers. The items are offered in the trade fairs, promotional events, and ad campaigns in order to gain the attention of the customers. 3. Bandwagon Advertising This type of technique involves convincing the customers to join the group of people who have bought this product and be on the winning side. For e.g. recent Pantene shampoo ad which says 15crores women trusted Pantene, and you? 4. Facts and Statistics Here, advertisers use numbers, proofs, and real examples to show how good their product works. For e.g. Lizol floor cleaner cleans 99.99% germs or Colgate is recommended by 70% of the dentists of the world or Eno - just 6 seconds. 5. Unfinished Ads The advertisers here just play with words by saying that their product works better but dont answer how much more than the competitor. For e.g. Lays - no one can eat just one or Horlicks - more nutrition daily. The ads dont say who can eat more or how much more nutrition. 6. Weasel Words In this technique, the advertisers dont say that they are the best from the rest, but dont also deny. E.g. Sunsilk Hairfall Solution - reduces hairfall. The ad doesnt say stops hairfall. 7. Endorsements

The advertisers use celebrities to advertise their products. The celebrities or star endorse the product by telling their own experiences with the product. Recently a diamond jewellery ad had superstar Amitabh Bacchan and his wife Jaya advertising the product. The ad showed how he impressed his wife by making a smart choice of buying this brand. Again, Sachin tendulkar, a cricket star, endorsed for a shoe brand. 8. Complementing the Customers Here, the advertisers used punch lines which complement the consumers who buy their products. E.g. Revlon says Because you are worth it. 9. Ideal Family and Ideal Kids The advertisers using this technique show that the families or kids using their product are a happy go lucky family. The ad always has a neat and well furnished home, well mannered kids and the family is a simple and sweet kind of family. E.g. a dettol soap ad shows everyone in the family using that soap and so is always protected from germs. They show a florescent color line covering whole body of each family member when compared to other people who dont use this soap. 10. Patriotic Advertisements These ads show how one can support their country while he uses their product or service. For e. g some products together formed a union and claimed in their ad that if you buy any one of these products, you are going to help a child to go to school. One more cellular company ad had a celebrity showing that if the customers use this companys sim card, then they can help control population of the country. 11. Questioning the Customers The advertisers using this technique ask questions to the consumers to get response for their products. E.g. Amway advertisement keeps on asking questions like who has so many farms completely organic in nature, who gives the strength to climb up the stairs at the age of 70, who makes the kids grow in a proper and nutritious ways, is there anyone who is listening to these entire questions. And then at last the answer comes - Amway : We are Listening. 12. Bribe This technique is used to bribe the customers with some thing extra if they buy the product using lines like buy one shirt and get one free, or be the member for the club for two years and get 20% off on all services. 13. Surrogate Advertising

This technique is generally used by the companies which cannot advertise their products directly. The advertisers use indirect advertisements to advertise their product so that the customers know about the actual product. The biggest example of this technique is liquor ads. These ads never show anyone drinking actual liquor and in place of that they are shown drinking some mineral water, soft drink or soda. These are the major techniques used by the advertisers to advertise their product. There are some different techniques used for online advertising such as web banner advertising in which a banner is placed on web pages, content advertising using content to advertise the product online, link advertising giving links on different sites to directly visit the product website, etc. Advertising budget Advertising Budget is the amount of money which can be or has to be spent on advertising of the product to promote it, reach the target consumers and make the sales chart go on the upper side and give reasonable profits to the company. Before finalizing the advertising budget of an organization or a company, one has to take a look on the favorable and unfavorable market conditions which will have an impact on the advertising budget. The market conditions to watch out for are as follows:

Frequency of the advertisement Competition and Clutter Market Share of the Product Product Life Cycle Stage

1. Frequency of the Advertisement This means the number of times advertise has been shown with the description of the product or service, in the granted time slots. So here, if any company needs more advertising frequency for its product, then the company will have to increase its advertising budget. 2. Competition and Clutter The companies may have many competitors for its product. And also there are plenty of advertisements shown which is called clutter. The company has to then increase their advertising budget. 3. Market Share To get a good market share in comparison to their competitors, the company should have a better product in terms of quality, uniqueness, demand and catchy

advertisements with resultant response of the customers. All this is possible if the advertisement budget is high. 4. Product Life Cycle Stage If the company is a newcomer or if the product is on its introduction stage, then the company has to keep the budget high to make place in the market with the existing players and to have frequent advertisements. As the time goes on and product becomes older, the advertising budget can come down as then the product doesnt need frequent advertising. When the market conditions are studied thoroughly, then the company has to set up its advertising budget accordingly. For setting advertising budget, there are four methods: They are as follows.

Percentage Of Sales: In this method, the budget is decided on the basis of the sales of the product from previous year records or from the predicted future sales. This is a pure prediction based method and best applicable to the companies which have fixed annual sales. But if in case there is a requirement for more promotional activities then this method has a disadvantage because there will be decrease in advertisements as the budget is fixed. Affordability: this method is generally used by the small companies. Only the companies which have funds and can afford advertising opt for this method. The companies can go for advertising at any time in whole year whenever they have money to spend. The amount spent also varies from time to time as per the advertisements takes place. Best guess: This method is basically for newcomers who have just entered the market and they have no knowledge or say they are not aware of how the market is and how much to spend on advertising. Thus, this method is applied by the higher level executives of the company as they are the only experienced people.

Thus, doing the homework and then moving forward, i.e. searching for best market conditions and setting the best advertising budget will have a great impact on improvement and development of the company.

Advertising campaigns Advertising campaigns are the groups of advertising messages which are similar in nature. They share same messages and themes placed in different types of medias at some fixed

times. The time frames of advertising campaigns are fixed and specifically defined. The very prime thing before making an ad campaign is to knowWhy you are advertising and what are you advertising ? Why refers to the objective of advertising campaign. The objective of an advertising campaign is to

Inform people about your product Convince them to buy the product Make your product available to the customers

The process of making an advertising campaign is as follows: 1. Research: first step is to do a market research for the product to be advertised. One needs to find out the product demand, competitors, etc. 2. Know the target audience: one need to know who are going to buy the product and who should be targeted. 3. Setting the budget: the next step is to set the budget keeping in mind all the factors like media, presentations, paper works, etc which have a role in the process of advertising and the places where there is a need of funds. 4. Deciding a proper theme: the theme for the campaign has to be decided as in the colors to be used, the graphics should be similar or almost similar in all ads, the music and the voices to be used, the designing of the ads, the way the message will be delivered, the language to be used, jingles, etc. 5. Selection of media: the media or number of Medias selected should be the one which will reach the target customers. 6. Media scheduling: the scheduling has to be done accurately so that the ad will be visible or be read or be audible to the targeted customers at the right time. 7. Executing the campaign: finally the campaign has to be executed and then the feedback has to be noted. Mostly used media tools are print media and electronic media. Print media includes newspaper, magazines, pamphlets, banners, and hoardings. Electronic media includes radio, television, e-mails, sending message on mobiles, and telephonic advertising. The only point to remember is getting a proper frequency for the ad campaign so that the ad is visible and grasping time for customers is good enough. All campaigns do not have fix duration. Some campaigns are seasonal and some run all year round. All campaigns differ in timings. Some advertising campaigns are media based, some are area based, some are product based, and some are objective based. It is seen that generally advertising campaigns run successfully, but in case if the purpose is not solved in any case,

then the theory is redone, required changes are made using the experience, and the remaining campaign is carried forward. Measuring Advertising Effectiveness

When a child writes the examination papers, he has to see the result come what it may be, so that he comes to know where he is wrong and where he should pay more attendance. This will help him work better in future. This is exactly the case of the advertisement. The work is not complete if the effectiveness of advertise is not measured. This is the only way to know how the advertisement is performing, is it reaching the targets and is the goal achieved. It is not at all possible to measure advertisement effectiveness accurately as there are many factors like making a brand image, increasing the sales, keeping people informed about the product, introducing new product, etc, which affect the effectiveness of an advertisement. We all know that there are some companies who advertise at very low level but still their products are a hit and some companies indulge in very heavy advertisements but they dont get desirable results. But then, there are some traditional and modern tools to measure most of the effectiveness of an advertisement through which the advertiser can or may get more and more information about how their ads and product are performing in the market. According to Philip Kotler and Armstrong, the Gurus Of Marketing, there are two most popular areas which need to be measured for knowing the effectiveness of advertisement and they are:

Communication Effect Sales Effect

Communication Effect Research consists of three types of researches: 1. Direct Rating Method - here, customers are directly asked to rate the advertisement and then these rating are calculated. 2. Portfolio Tests - here, the customers see the ads and listen carefully to the ads and all the contents of the ads and then they are asked to recall the ad and the contents. Then the calculations are done with help of this data. 3. Laboratory tests - here, the apparatus to measure the heart rates, blood pressure, perspiration, etc are used on the customer after he watches the ad, to know the physiological reactions of the body. Sales Effect Research totally depends on the sales of the company. The sales keep varying from time to time. There are some factors affecting sales like product availability, the price of the product, contents of the product, and sometimes the competitors. So this method is a little

difficult than the communication one. The company doing sales effect research generally bothers about the sales of the product, they try to know whether or not the money they are spending on the ads is enough or excess. As earlier said, it is not possible to measure each and everything and the chances are at the lower end if the company has many ads running through various mediums at the same time. So suggestion is that the advertiser or the company should use appropriate and different methods which are most suitable for the media under use.

The company can hold surveys and product recognition tests Questionnaire or feedback flyers can be distributed and customers could be asked to fill it up. Toll free number can be highlighted on the ads so that customers can call up. The response rates can be increased by telling customers what to do. For e.g. some ads have lines in flashy color like Hurry Up or No one can eat just one or be the first etc.

These are the traditional ways. Now days, internet is the modern tool for measuring the effectiveness of an advertisement. There are some types such as: Integrated direct marketing - This is an internet based tool where they have a response corner designed on the websites. Whenever the customers visit the sites, they fill up their contact details and give feedbacks. Thus the company supplies more information and sends newsletters and also gets the idea for further action. But then its not that only online advertiser have this facility but then advertisers who dont work online can use coupons, discount vouchers, etc. to do this. Analysis tool - there is an analysis tool available on internet by using which the advertiser will know how many customers are visiting the site, who are shopping online, how many pages are viewed, etc. which in turn will help advertiser to measure the effectiveness. Internet is the most easy, cheaper and cost effective way to measure the effectiveness because here no money is wasted as the ad is only viewed when the customer want to view it where as in normal print method or using TV, the ad sometimes goes unwatched or unattended and viewed for the sake of viewing. Media vehicles Frequency To maximize overall awareness, the advertising must reach the maximum number of the target audience. There is a limit for the last few percent of the general population who don't see the main media advertisers use. These are more expensive to reach. The 'cumulative' coverage cost typically follows an exponential curve. Reaching 90 percent can cost double what it costs to reach 70 percent, and reaching 95 percent can double the cost yet again. In

practice, the coverage decision rests on a balance between desired coverage and cost. A large budget achieves high coveragea smaller budget limits the ambitions of the advertiser. 1. FrequencyEven with high coverage, it is insufficient for a target audience member to have just one 'Opportunity To See' (OTS) the advertisement. In traditional media, around five OTS are believed required for a reasonable impact. To build attitudes that lead to brand switching may require more. To achieve five OTS, even in only 70 percent of the overall audience, may require 20 or 30 peak-time transmissions of a commercial, or a significant number of insertions of press advertisements in the national media. As these figures suggest, most consumers simply don't see the commercials that often (whereas the brand manager, say, sees every one and has already seen them many times before their first transmission, and so is justifiably bored). The life of advertising campaigns can often extend beyond the relatively short life usually expected. Indeed, as indicated above, some research shows that advertisements require significant exposure to consumers before they even register. As David Ogilvy long ago recommended, "If you are lucky enough to write a good advertisement, repeat it until it stops selling. Scores of good advertisements have been discarded before they lost their potency." Spread More sophisticated media planners also look at the 'spread' of frequencies. Ideally all of the audience should receive the average number of OTS. Those who receive fewer are insufficiently motivated, and extra advertising is wasted on those who receive more. It is, of course, impossible to achieve this ideal. As with coverage, the pattern is weighted towards a smaller numberof heavy viewers, for examplewho receive significantly more OTS, and away from the difficult last few percent. However, a good media buyer manages the resulting spread of frequencies to weigh it close to the average, with as few audience members as possible below the average. Frequency is also complicated by the fact that this is a function of time. A pattern of 12 OTS across a year may be scarcely noticed, whereas 12 OTS in a week is evident to most viewers. This is often the rationale for advertising in `bursts' or `waves' (sometimes described as `pulsing'). This concentrates expenditure into a number of intense periods of advertising, spread throughout the year, so brands do not remain uncovered for long periods. Media Buyers In the end, it is the media buyers who deliver the goods; by negotiating special deals with the media owners, and buying the best parcels of `slots' to achieve the best cost (normally measured in terms of the cost per thousand viewers, or per thousand household `impressions', or per thousand impressions on the target audience. The "best cost" can also be measured by the cost per lead, in the case of direct response marketing). The growth of the very large,

international, agencies has been partly justified by their increased buying power over the media owners. Types of Media and Their Characteristics In terms of overall advertising expenditures, media advertising is still dominated by Press and television, which are of comparable size (by value of 'sales'). Posters and radio follow some way behind, with cinema representing a very specialist medium. Press In the United Kingdom, spending is dominated by the national & regional newspapers, the latter taking almost all the classified advertising revenue. The magazines and trade or technical journal markets are about the same size as each other, but are less than half that of the newspaper sectors. Television This is normally the most expensive medium, and as such is generally only open to the major advertisers, although some regional contractors offer more affordable packages to their local advertisers. It offers by far the widest coverage, particularly at peak hours (roughly 7.00 10.30 p.m.) and especially of family audiences. Offering sight, sound, movement and colour, it has the greatest impact, especially for those products or services where a 'demonstration' is essential; since it combines the virtues of both the 'story-teller' and the `demonstrator'. To be effective, these messages must be simple and able to overcome surrounding family life distractions& especially the TV remote. Radio Radio advertising has increased greatly in recent years, with the granting of many more licenses. It typically reaches specific audiences at different times of the dayadults at breakfast, housewives during the day, and commuters during rush hours. It can be a costeffective way of reaching these audiencesespecially since production costs are much cheaper than for television, though the lack of visual elements may limit the message. In radio advertising it is important to identify the right timing to reach specific radio listeners. For instance, many people only listen to the radio when they are stuck in traffic, whereas other listeners may only listen in the evenings. The 24 hour availability of radio is helpful to reach a variety of customer sub-segments. In addition, it is a well-established medium to reach rural areas. Cinema Though national audience numbers are down, this may be the most effective medium for extending coverage to younger age groups, since the core audience is 15 to 24.

Internet/Web Advertising This rapidly growing marketing force borrows much from the example of press advertising, but the most effective useadopted by search enginesis interactive. mobile Advertising Personal mobile phones have become an attractive advertising media to network operators, but are relatively unproven and remain in media buyers' sidelines. Audience Research Identifying the audience for a magazine or newspaper, or determining who watches television at a given time, is a specialized form of market research, often conducted on behalf of media owners. Press figures are slightly complicated by the fact that there are two measures: readership (total number of readers of a publication, no matter where they read it), and circulation (the number of copies actually sold, which is mostly independently validated). Advertising-free media Advertising-free media refers to media outlets whose output is not funded or subsidized by the sale of advertising space. It includes in its scope mass media entities such as websites, television and radio networks, and magazines. The public broadcasters of a number of countries air without commercials. Perhaps the best known example of this is the United Kingdom's public broadcaster, the BBC, whose domestic networks do not carry commercials. Instead, the BBC, in common with most other public broadcasters in Europe, is funded by a television licence fee levied on the owners of all television sets. A 2006 report by the Senate of Canada suggested that the country's public broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, be funded sufficiently by the federal government so that it could air without any advertising.[1] Advertising media scheduling Scheduling refers to the pattern of advertising timing, represented as plots on a yearly flowchart. These plots indicate the pattern of scheduled times advertising must appear to coincide with favorable selling periods. The classic scheduling models are Continuity, Flighting and Pulsing.

Continuity This model is primarily for non-seasonal products, yet sometimes for seasonal products. Advertising runs steadily with little variation over the campaign period. There may be short gaps at regular intervals and also long gapsfor instance, one ad every week for 52 weeks, and then a pause. This pattern of advertising is prevalent in service and packaged goods that require continuous reinforcement on the audience for top of mind recollection at point of purchase. Advantages:

Works as a reminder Covers the entire purchase cycle Cost efficiencies in the form of large media discounts Positioning advantages within media

Program or plan that identifies the media channels used in an advertising campaign, and specifies insertion or broadcast dates, positions, and duration of the messages. Flighting (or "bursting") In media scheduling for seasonal product categories, flighting involves intermittent and irregular periods of advertising, alternating with shorter periods of no advertising at all. For instance, all of 2000 Target Rating Poinered in a single month, "going dark" for the rest of the year. Halloween costumes are rarely purchased all year except during the months of September and October. Advantages:

Advertisers buy heavier weight than competitors for a relatively shorter period of time Little waste, since advertising concentrates on the best purchasing cycle period Series of commercials appear as a unified campaign on different media vehicles

Pulsing Pulsing combines flighting and continuous scheduling by using a low advertising level all year round and heavy advertising during peak selling periods. Product categories that are sold year round but experience a surge in sales at intermittent periods are good candidates for pulsing. For instance, under-arm deodorants, sell all year, but more in summer months. Advantages:

Covers different market situations Advantages of both continuity and flighting possible

Sales promotion What is sales promotion? Sales promotion is any initiative undertaken by an organisation to promote an increase in sales, usage or trial of a product or service (i.e. initiatives that are not covered by the other elements of the marketing communications or promotions mix). Sales promotions are varied. Often they are original and creative, and hence a comprehensive list of all available techniques is virtually impossible (since original sales promotions are launched daily!). Here are some examples of popular sales promotions activities: (a) Buy-One-Get-One-Free (BOGOF) - which is an example of a self-liquidating promotion. For example if a loaf of bread is priced at $1, and cost 10 cents to manufacture, if you sell two for $1, you are still in profit - especially if there is a corresponding increase in sales. This is known as a PREMIUM sales promotion tactic. (b) Customer Relationship Management (CRM) incentives such as bonus points or money off coupons. There are many examples of CRM, from banks to supermarkets. (c) New media - Websites and mobile phones that support a sales promotion. For example, in the United Kingdom, Nestle printed individual codes on KIT-KAT packaging, whereby a consumer would enter the code into a dynamic website to see if they had won a prize. Consumers could also text codes via their mobile phones to the same effect. (d) Merchandising additions such as dump bins, point-of-sale materials and product demonstrations.

(e) Free gifts e.g. Subway gave away a card with six spaces for stickers with each sandwich purchase. Once the card was full the consumer was given a free sandwich. (f) Discounted prices e.g. Budget airline such as EasyJet and Ryanair, e-mail their customers with the latest low-price deals once new flights are released, or additional destinations are announced. (g) Joint promotions between brands owned by a company, or with another company's brands. For example fast food restaurants often run sales promotions where toys, relating to a specific movie release, are given away with promoted meals. (h) Free samples (aka. sampling) e.g. tasting of food and drink at sampling points in supermarkets. For example Red Bull (a caffeinated fizzy drink) was given away to potential consumers at supermarkets, in high streets and at petrol stations (by a promotions team). (i) Vouchers and coupons, often seen in newspapers and magazines, on packs. (j) Competitions and prize draws, in newspapers, magazines, on the TV and radio, on The Internet, and on packs. (k) Cause-related and fair-trade products that raise money for charities, and the less well off farmers and producers, are becoming more popular. (l) Finance deals - for example, 0% finance over 3 years on selected vehicles.

Many of the examples above are focused upon consumers. Don't forget that promotions can be aimed at wholesales and distributors as well. These are known as Trade Sales Promotions. Examples here might include joint promotions between a manufacturer and a distributor, sales promotion leaflets and other materials (such as T-shirts), and incentives for distributor sales people and their retail clients. Direct Marketing What is Direct Marketing? Direct marketing is a channel free approach to distribution and/or marketing communications. So a company may have a strategy of dealing with its customers 'directly,' for example banks (such as CityBank) or computer manufacturers (such as Dell). There are no channel intermediaries i.e. distributors, retailers or wholesalers. Therefore - 'direct' in the sense that the deal is done directly between the manufacturer and the customer. As mentioned above, 'direct' also in the sense that marketing communications are targeted at consumers by the manufacturers. For example, a brand that uses channels of distribution would target marketing communications at wholesalers/distributors, retailers, and consumers, or a blend of all three. On the other hand, a direct marketing company could focus upon communicating directly with its customers. Direct marketing and direct mail are often confused - although direct mail is a direct marketing tool. There are a number of direct marketing media other than direct mail. These include (and are by no means limited to):

Inserts in newspapers and magazines. Customer care lines. Catalogues. Coupons. Door drops. TV and radio adverts with free phone numbers or per-minute-charging. ...and finally - and most importantly - The Internet and New Media.

The Internet and New Media (e.g. mobile phones or PDA's) are perfect for direct marketing. Consumers have never had so many sources of supply, and suppliers have never had access to so many markets. There is even room for niche marketers - for example Scottish salmon could ordered online, packed and chilled, and sent to customers in any part of the world by courier. Many companies use direct marketing, and a current example of its use, as part of a business model, is the way in which it is used by low-cost airlines. There is no intermediary or agent, customers book tickets directly with the airlines over The Internet. Airlines capture data that can be used for marketing research or a loyalty scheme. Information can be processed quickly, and then categorised into complex relational databases.

Then, for example, special offers or new flights destinations can be communicated directly to customers using e-mail campaigns. Data is not only collected on markets and segments, but also on individuals and their individual buyer behaviour. Companies such as Amazon are wholesalers of books (i.e. they do not write or publish them) - so they use Customer Relationship Management and marketing communications targeted directly at individual customers - which is another, slightly different example of direct marketing.

Public relations Public relations as part of the marketing communications mix Public Relations (PR) is a single, broad concept. It is broad since it contains so many elements, many of which will be outlined in this lesson. Public Relations (PR) are any purposeful communications between an organisation and its publics that aim to generate goodwill. Publics, put simply, are its stakeholders. PR is proactive and future orientated, and has the goal of building and maintaining a positive perception of an organisation in the mind of its publics. This is often referred to as goodwill. Yes it is difficult to see the difference between marketing communications and PR since there is a lot of crossover. This makes it a tricky concept to learn. Added to this is the fact that PR is often expensive, and not free, as some definitions would have you believe. PR agencies are not cheap. Below are some of the approaches that are often considered under the PR banner. Interviews and photo-calls. It is important that company executives are available to generate goodwill for their organisation. Many undertake training in how to deal with the media, and how to behave in front of a camera. There are many key industrial figures that proactively deal with the media in a positive way for example Bill Gates (Microsoft) or Richard Branson (Virgin). Interviews with the business or mass media often allow a company to put its own perspective on matters that could be misleading if simply left to dwell untended the public domain. Speeches, presentations and speech writing. Key figures from within an organisation will write speeches to be delivered at corporate events, public awards and industry gatherings. PR company officials in liaison with company managers often write speeches and design corporate presentations. They are part of the planned and coherent strategy to build goodwill with publics. Presentations can be designed and pre-prepared by PR companies, ultimately to be delivered by company executives. Corporate literature e.g. financial reports. Corporate literature includes financial reports, in-house magazines, brochures, catalogues, price lists and any other piece of corporate derived literature. They communicate with a variety of publics. For example, financial reports will be of great interest to investors and the

stock market, since they give all sorts of indicators of the health of a business. A company Chief Executive Officer CEO will often write the forward to an annual financial report where he or she has the opportunity to put a business case to the reader. This is all part of Public Relations. Sponsorship and charitable donations. Sponsorship is where an organisation pays for their product or service to be associated with an activity or event. Organisations commonly sponsor sporting events and such as The Olympics, sporting stars and other celebrities, or medium, for example television programmes. The sponsors gain exposure, and also align their product or service with the attributes of the sport, celebrity or medium. Many companies (often those in profit!) make donations to charities and good causes. When donations are publicised, again the benefits generate goodwill for the organisation. It should be noted here that Microsoft's Bill Gates donates substantial amounts to good causes that are often not reported. This is true corporate philanthropy. Publicity events and 'stunts.' Publicity events fall under the banner of guerrilla marketing. Here an organisation will take the opportunity to seize upon a particular moment to hijack public attention. Publicity events and stunts are practiced by both companies and private bodies (including pressure and political groups). A famous example of a publicity stunt was one conducted by Fathers For Justice (a British pressure group for divorced fathers), whereby individuals, dressed as Superheroes, invaded Buckingham Palace in London. Advertorials in newspapers, magazines or on websites. Advertorials are paid for advertisements that are designed to appear like copy (i.e. normal reported text). Many countries insist that advertorials do contain a line of text to explain that they are sponsored or placed by an advertiser. Advertorials are often used to imply that some ground breaking treatment or solution has been uncovered. Press or media releases, conferences, contact and entertainment. Press or media releases, conferences, contact and entertainment are pivotal Public Relations strategies. In the past, the press were the original target (e.g. newspapers and magazines) but today the whole media industry forms the target (i.e. radio, websites, TV, New Media and so on). Media releases are drafted by a PR company, for example, to report financial information prior to the release of company reports. Media conferences are called often at short notice to inform the media directly on a current event that has just happened, or that is about to happen. Media contact includes interviews with key personnel, and could include speeches, presentations and speech writing by the PR company. Finally entertaining the press, or media, is undertaken when trying to gain as much media space as possible. This could be for a product launch or to promote an acquisition.

Copywriting refers to the use of written copy to promote a business or entity. The ultimate purpose of copywriting is to expand the client base of a business. Multinationals and businesses are now promoting themselves globally, with a worldwide audience at their disposal, which has led to an unprecedented rise in demand for copywriters. Advertising and marketing campaigns are increasingly web-based, further raising the demand for creative writers who can get the job done on a tight budget.

Tips for Being an Effective Copywriter Being a copywriter doesnt mean that you are as effective as your counterparts. Every skill needs to be learned methodically in various stages and aspects. This list of tips will start you on your copywriting career.

Your Attention, Please! The Internet is a jungle. Web surfers scan through pages until they get what they want. Writing an eye-catching headline is as important as the article itself. The only way to compel the reader to stay on your page is to catch their eye. Make sure your opening line evokes an emotion, a physical desire or a curiosity in readersanything to get them to stay for the main course.

Eye-Catching Headings and Bullet Points Organizing information is an important aspect of web writing. Information needs to be divided into headings and bullet points that attract the readers attention when sifting through pages. Nobody wants to waste their time aimlessly browsing information. Bullet points guide readers to a decision of whether to stay on your page. As a copywriter, you also need to make sure that your website is compatible with all browsers. Information that will persuade readers should be placed at the top of the page so that they dont have to scroll down to locate something.

Keep It Short and Simple Readers should know how to contact you for more information. Avoid confusing potential customers. Keep it short and simple: the more details you provide, the greater the chance readers will forget the most important aspects of your campaign. Clarity and concision ensure the maximum utilization of your space and keeps the attention of readers. Readers are then more likely to contact you.

Call to Action This is the second most important aspect of effectively written copy, after the eye-catching headline. The quality that separates average salespeople from great ones is the ability to identify when to close a sale. A great piece of copywriting without a persuasive call to action would effectively be a waste of time, effort and money. Calls to action create an urgency to respond.

Identify Your Target Audience

Copy intended to generate sales targets a particular section or group in society. The target audience could vary in age, socioeconomic status, education, gender and so on. The language used for high-school kids would be different than that used for grandparents. Similarly, the words and technical terms employed in writing for a layman are different than those in writing for a group of highly educated techno-geniuses. Analyze your target audience for the copy being written. This will not only ensure a successful campaign, but reduce the effort you have to make.

Connect With Your Audience Copy that does not connect with its audience is not likely to keep anyones attention. The easiest way to welcome the reader into the piece is to write in the second person. Writing in the second person helps readers relate the points mentioned in the copy to their own lives. Read through your copy and count how many times you could replace we with you. The focus should be on readers, not you.

Know Your Product and Services Expert copywriters dont only focus on product features and related services but have a knack for connecting the benefits of a product to innate emotional needs. Connecting with your target audience emotionally will elicit their action. As a copywriter, be well aware of the benefits of your product or service. Only then will you be able to describe its benefits and beat the competition. Potential customers are interested in knowing how the product can benefit them: the better these benefits are explained, the more likely they will connect their needs to your product.

Proofread Professionalism and efficiency extends to everything associated with a company. Proofread and revise your writing, ensuring that not a single error in syntax or semantics remains. This will win you trust and legitimacy. Grammatical errors and typos make your company appear unreliable. If your company does not promote itself professionally, then what guarantees that it will uphold promises about its products? Corporate advertising Corporate advertising is a promotional strategy that is designed to not only interest consumers in products and services offered by the company, but also to cultivate a positive reputation among consumers and others within the business world. The focus of corporate advertising is on the company itself, with the attention to the products produced by the corporation being a byproduct of the advertising effort. This type of corporate marketing is often employed along with advertising campaigns that are directly focused on the goods and services produced by the company. The main function of corporate advertising is to generate and enhance a sense of confidence and appeal among vendors and consumers. Depending on the exact nature of the corporate marketing approach, the advertising may also be developed with an eye of enhancing the reputation of the company among its peers in a community or within a given sector of the marketplace. In any application, the idea is to build the most agreeable public image for the corporation as possible. While corporate advertising does include some mention of company products, the object of this type of advertising is not directly aimed at generating sales. Instead, corporate ads focus on the strength and reliability of the company as a whole, the integrity that the business employs in all its business relationships, and how the company seeks to better the circumstances of the geographic locations where it operates. As part of this process, it is not unusual for one or more of the leading products to be mentioned, but there is usually no mention of pricing or upcoming discounts of products found

within corporate advertisingcampaigns. Those are left to product advertising efforts that focus specifically on the goods produced for sale.