5 minute read
Advertising.
Advertising began with the ancient Street Caller who wandered in the lanes of the villages and towns and called out to the residents and passers-by to listen to his announcements. The ones interested would ask questions and he would give them the relevant information on the spot.
Then, came the posters, newspapers, newspaper inserts, mailers, radio, television, mobile call-outs, SMS promotions, online advertisements and today we manage search engine and social media advertising.
These are mere modes or channels of advertising. A business needs to firstly understand what advertising is in order to derive value in the form of Branding and/or Return on Investment (RoI). A business may use advertising to deliver various results. Hence, it is important to define the Goals of the advertising campaign.
These goals may be to:
1. Create awareness 2. Launch new products/ announce developments 3. To initiate leads/inquiries 4. To cause purchase decisions 5. To encourage more/repeat purchase 6. To reward/acknowledge the buyer 7. To create brand recall 8. To educate the consumer
Next, the business has to identify the target audience to receive the advertisement. Brands mostly choose to communicate with the decision maker or buyer. But there are innumerable campaigns directed towards the influencer rather than the buyer.
Although the World Trade Organisation has condemned and banned directing advertising messages towards minors (children), brands use them to influence adults into the buying decisions. In case of industrial/technical purchases, it is often advisable to direct the campaign to the user rather than the buyer and count on the user to influence the buying decision. The target can be segmented on the basis of age, location, other demographics, socio economic factors and previous buying behaviour, browsing data etc.
The fact that today there are several modes of
advertising and every mode has innumerable channels in it, has made the advertisers/media managers job very difficult and very fascinating.
An advertiser can direct a specific campaign to a specific audience more accurately by using the channels at his disposal wisely. Also there are chances of colossal failures if one doesn't invest enough time and effort to understand that medium of communication and the utility of a specific channel for the given purpose.
Creatives are the final tool of delivering the message or rather they are the message. So while colour and aesthetic design are paramount to making an advertisement attractive, if a colourful advertisement does not communicate the message, it's a failure. So the message has to scream itself out of the ad-copy. The message has to be something that the audience can instantly connect with. The average attention span of the audience today is restricted to a few seconds of screen time in this overcluttered advertising space.
The onus of delivering the message lies in instantaneous connect with the creative.
Brevity is the key to make creative work. 'Less is more' is the new adage. There are countless campaigns which fail simply because there is no particular point that they aim to drive home. The result of any advertising campaign is it's 'call to action.' The message has to prompt the audience to take the desired action at most. Without the decisive and compelling call to action, the audience doesn't know what to do.
An advertisement may or may not result in achieving the organisation's goals in one go. Repetition is the key to success. One has to reiterate the message many times to cause the desired results. It may be repeating it via the same mode and channel, or using various channels.
The repeated bombardment of messages will invariably impact the minds of the audience and sooner or later, they will act on the cue and the advertisement will yield the desired returns.
Finally, one cannot overemphasize on the importance of ensuring that the buyer is left with a superlative experience after successful conversion via the ad campaign. A business has to be poised to cater to the increased demand post advertising or it defeats the purpose of advertising itself and can even create a negative impact on the business.
Advertising is an entire universe of diverse and dynamic variables. It takes a lifetime of trials, observation and improvements in order to see massive results. The only way to master this fascinating facet of marketing is to take the first step.
The devil is in the details. So one needs to make deliberate efforts to tie every loose end from conceptualization of the ad campaign to final delivery of the product/service to after-sales service.
About the Author:
Rohini Gonsalves is a gold medallist in marketing, sales management, and sales promotion from Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan. She holds more than 15 years of experience in the field of marketing and sales, is a marketing consultant, and also the founder of Sevarat, a Panjimbased start-up which provides geriatric care services to elderly patients.
Anyone wishing to avail of her services may contact her on:
Mobile: +91 8329 857965 Email: rohini@sevarat.com Website: www.sevarat.com An
