Meaning , Nature and Importance of Advertising

Advertising can be defined as a non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services paid by an identified sponsor. It is non-personal mass communication which has become a potent means of education and mass selling. It consists of all the achievements involved in presenting product information targeting audiences through media such as newspapers, magazines, catalogs, booklets, posters, radio, television, calendars, cards, transport, etc.

According to W.J. Stanton, “Advertising consists of all the activities involved in presenting to an audience a non-personal, sponsor- identified, paid for a message about a product or organization.”

According to American Marketing Association, “Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, and services of an identified sponsor.”

From the above definitions, we can conclude that advertising is the sales message directed to mass on behalf of the paying sponsor.

Features of Advertising

Following are the key features of advertising:

Payment of money:

One of the features of advertising is to pay the money for advertising. Advertisements appear in newspapers, magazines, television or cinema screens because the advertiser has purchased some time to communicate information to the potential customers. The adviser must pay money for advertising activities. It is not free of cost.

Non-personal:

In advertising, there is no face to face or direct contact with the customers. That is why it is described as non-personal salesmanship. It is a non-personal form of presenting products and promoting ideas. It simplifies the task of the sales force by creating awareness in the mind of potential customers.

Promote products and services:

Advertising helps in the promotion of products and services.It is directed towards increasing the sale of the products and services of a business unit.Advertising is essential for the promotion of goods and services.

Identified sponsor:

The advertisement should disclose or identify the sources of opinion and ideas it presents.It should identify the sponsor from where the advertisement can be occurred. Identifying the specific sponsor is very important in the advertising process.

Advertising is a means of communication with the users of a product or service. Advertisements are messages paid for by those who send them and are intended to inform or influence people who receive them, as defined by the Advertising Association of the UK.

Description: Advertising is always present, though people may not be aware of it. In today's world, advertising uses every possible media to get its message through. It does this via television, print (newspapers, magazines, journals etc), radio, press, internet, direct selling, hoardings, mailers, contests, sponsorships, posters, clothes, events, colours, sounds, visuals and even people (endorsements).

The advertising industry is made of companies that advertise, agencies that create the advertisements, media that carries the ads, and a host of people like copy editors, visualizers, brand managers, researchers, creative heads and designers who take it the last mile to the customer or receiver. A company that needs to advertise itself and/or its products hires an advertising agency. The company briefs the agency on the brand, its imagery, the ideals and values behind it, the target segments and so on. The agencies convert the ideas and concepts to create the visuals, text, layouts and themes to communicate with the user. After approval from the client, the ads go on air, as per the bookings done by the agency's media buying unit.

Role and objective of advertisement –
Through advertising an organisation communicates with its target audience through mass communication to persuade buyers to buy its products. The intention is to maximise profits and increase market share.

Below is the nature of advertising –
1) It is a mass communication tool directed towards a large audience

2) It is a non-personal communication. It is not delivered in person and is not meant for an individual

3) Because of large audience influence, it helps an organisation to produce a similar product for a large audience by generating demand. It helps in mass production and not tailor made products for individuals.

4) It is economical as a single message is delivered to large audience.

5) Besides being economical, it is also efficient as it targets a large audience within the same time frame.

6) It gives identity to the organisation. The sponsor can be easily traced via brand logos and company’s name on the advertisement.

The advertising role differs from organisation to organisation. In many organisations, the advertising expenditure exceeds the total expenditure of all other marketing functions. An organisation has to clearly define the role of advertising as part of its promotion strategy. It should compare the capabilities of alternative promotion tools. Advertising has its share of advantages and disadvantages-

Advantages of Advertising – 
• It can reach large number of audience at low cost.

• It helps in the pull strategy. The advertising message creates demand, and buyers regularly inquire for the product from the middlemen. The middlemen are forced to stock the product instead of organisations asking them to stock the products.

• It enhances and creates awareness about the organisations brand, name, etc.

• It is beneficial to both seller and buyer. The seller can highlight the product features as much as possible to educate buyers.

• It helps organisations sales people by creating awareness.

• Gives organisations options to utilise visual as well as audio tools.

• It helps consumers in making right decisions.

• It saves consumers time that is usually wasted comparing similar products in stores, websites, etc.

Disadvantages of Advertising – 
• The cost for advertising can go high in case of national as well as international media. For advertising on premium magazines and TV programs that have large audience, the advertising charges are generally high.

• A single message is communicated for all buyers. It requires analysis of the entire market and an appropriate message. For example, there cannot be contents in advertisement that are not suitable for children, etc.

• Difficult to analyse the feedback from the audience and the process for receiving feedback is also slow. The resellers can ask for feedback on forms, etc. and from people who visit the store but not from the people who don’t visit the store or shops.

• It is less effective than personal selling in persuading consumers.

• Advertising in newspapers, etc. can be easily overlooked by buyers because of advertisement
clutter.

• Regularly changing channels on television, lack of attention on the advertising media also result in the advertising effort lost.

• From consumer’s perspective, advertising creates needs and wants. It creates a desire for products that are not actually necessities of life.

• Not every organisation can afford advertising, hence it sometimes creates monopoly of large manufacturers. Consumers are at loss because a similar product of good quality may be available at a cheaper price from a small manufacturer.

• Many times misleading claims from manufacturers are done to push sales.

• Hoarding, neon lights, electronic displays at busy streets and cross roads often distract drivers that have proved hazardous.