O Level Revision : Commerce - Advertising
Advertising is a marketing communication that is meant to promote or sell a product, service or idea.
Advertising
The purpose of advertising
- To inform customers of prices, uses and qualities of new and existing products or services
- To inform about job vacancies and events.
- To create demand for the products and services.
- To induce and persuade the sellers to stock the advertised items.
- To persuade customers to buy the goods and services.
- To increase sales and profits.
- To remind consumers of existing items.
- To sustain demand for the goods and services.
Types of advertising
- Persuasive
- Persuades consumers to buy specific products.
- Is used when products are similar to each other, for example Boom, Omo, Sunlight and Surf are all soap powders by different producers.
- Suppliers compete for the market.
- Suppliers claim their products have an edge over competitor’s products.
- Quality, performance, price, durability and economy of use determine persuasive bases.
- Informative
- Gives precise information on price, size and technical performance of a good or service.
- Gives details of events.
- Informs the public about finance, insurance, education or healthcare events.
- Generic or Collective
- Producers, as a group, advertise the good or service collectively.
- Producers promote the good or service in general terms: ‘Eat cereals daily for
energy; ‘Travel in comfort to Harare by buses’; ‘Drink tea for a healthy mind’.
- Brand names are not mentioned.
- Gives benefits of the product.
- Producers share the cost of advertising.
- Advertising costs are averagely low.
- Sales increase for the individual members.
- Profits increase for the individual members.
Advertising media
The media convey/relay the message/advertisement to the public.
- Television
Advantages
- Provides sound, motion and vision.
- Has high audience attention and personal impact.
- Use of item is demonstrated.
- Wide exposure to many potential consumers.
Disadvantages
- Highly costly.
- Less consumer selectivity.
- Television is accessed by a few.
- Newspapers
Advantages
- Provide printed words and pictures.
- Are more informative.
- Can always be referred to after some time.
- Wide readership.
- Local, national and regional coverage.
- Advertisement can be inserted and deleted at short notice
- Low cost
- Affordable to many consumers
- Published daily or weekly
- Advertisement is coded and classified
Disadvantages
- Short life
- Low quality production
- Can reach only the literate
- Remote areas get stale news
- Internet
Advantages
- Has motion, sight and sound
- Covers local and abroad
- Can target a market
Disadvantages
- Expensive to make
- Takes time to make
- Caters for few with access to internet
- Posters
Advantages
- Cheap and easy to make
- Easily stuck on walls, trees or vans
- Attract large viewership at strategic areas
- Last for longer periods
Disadvantages
- No audience selectivity
- No audio motion impact
- Open to vandalism
- Radio
Advantages
- Has the widest coverage.
- Has audio and personal impact.
- Segments target market through selected special interest programmes.
- Programmes can be timed and repeated.
- Radios are cheaper than televisions.
- Radios are available on cell phones, televisions and cars.
Disadvantages
- No visible impact
- Message life is short
- No transmission in some areas
- Magazine
Advantages
- Quality production
- Longer life
- Low cost per exposure
- Target specific consumers
- Increased circulation
- Informative and instructional
- Read at leisure
Disadvantages
(Same as newspapers)
- Neon signs
Advantages
- Bright colours and attractive flashing signals
- Visible to many
- Show logo, pictures and brand names distinctly.
- Can be viewed often
- Have high repeat exposure
Disadvantage
- Expensive to produce and maintain
- Direct mail
Advantages
- Consumer selectivity
- Reaches the intended target
- Minimum and wasteful circulation
Disadvantages
- Limited to literate and mailing list
- Costs of mailing are high.
- Mail may be ignored as junk.
- Mail addresses might change.
- Catalogue
Advantages
- Sent to known/target consumers
- Are available on request
- Pictures in colour
Disadvantage
- Expensive to produce and send
- Shop windows,Trade Fairs and Exhibitions Displays
Advantages
- Attractive to shoppers
- Details of item, colour, size, form and price are seen.
- Uses and advantages of item can be shown and explained.
Disadvantages
- Reach only shoppers and visitors.
- Trade Fairs are held once annually.
- Business paraphernalia
- Logos on vehicles shows goods and services on offer.
- T-shirts, carrier bags advertise the firm`s products.
- Identify with business
- Viewed by consumers
- Are in print and colour
- Costly to make
Advantages of advertising
- Increases sales and profits.
- Reduces the selling price of the product.
- Increased sales cover costs of the advertisements.
- Leads to competition among sellers.
- Quality of products is kept high.
- Consistent and stable prices are usually maintained.
- New products can be introduced.
- Consumers are exposed to a variety of high quality products.
- Improves the standard of living of the consumers.
- Revenue from advertising assists to lower the price of advertising media such as newspapers.
- Creates employment for people involved in the advertising business.
Disadvantages of advertising
- Leads consumers to overspend through impulse buying.
- Misleads consumers.
- Increases prices due to costs of advertising.
- Might lead to the purchase of harmful products.
- Undermines social standards such as were advertisements display semi-naked personalities.
- Large firms gain a monopoly in a product market.
Sales promotion
- Giving free samples to consumers.
- Reducing prices of products frequently.
- Giving free gifts on condition consumers buy specified quantities of goods.
Advertising agents
- Carry out market research on prices, names, packaging and target consumer groups.
- Advise on design, size, colour, and media for item.
- Create the advertisement using information provided by owner of product.
- Produce the advertisement and the owner of the product approves it.
- Place the advertisement on the advertising media.