First of all it is quite necessary to understand the true meaning of advertising in the business terminology. Advertising is a tool of marketing for sales promotion and product awareness to customers. It is a one type of message by such mediator, presentation as well as promotional offer by a firm which can be paid and public announcement.
Advertising is a component of marketing system. It deals with the awareness of customers regarding new product or some features about the existence product. It is quite important step for marketing leaders because it involves strategy selection, expenditure analysis and advertising media selection. It is the most expensive strategy among all marketing systems.
Advertising is the tool of spreading information widely by some non-personal means by the paid media where the information is transferred about the organisation that pays the money for media. The message is carried out by different Medias. Adverting is only one element of the promotion mix, but the overall marketing mix often seen as a leader in the design.
Major Classifications of Advertising
1. Product — Related Advertising
It is concerned with conveying information about and selling a product or service. Product advertising is of three types, viz.,
- Pioneering Advertising: This type of advertising is used in the introductory stages in the life cycle of a product. It is concerned with developing a “primary” demand. It conveys information about, and selling a product category rather than a specific brand. For example, the initial advertisement for black — and — white television and color television. Such advertisements appeal to the consumer’s emotions and rational motives.
- Competitive Advertising: It is useful when the product has reached the market-growth and especially the market-maturity stage. It stimulates “selective” demand. It seeks to sell a specific brand rather than a general product category.
- Retentive Advertising: This may be useful when the product has achieved a favorable status in the market — that is, maturity or declining stage. Generally in such times, the advertiser wants to keep his product’s name before the public. A much softer selling approach is used, or only the name may be mentioned in “reminder” type advertising.
2. Public Service Advertising
This is directed at the social welfare of a community or a nation. The effectiveness of product service advertisements may be measured in terms of the goodwill they generate in favor of the sponsoring organization. Advertisements on not mixing drinking and driving are a good example of public service advertising. In this type of advertising, the objective is to put across a message intended to change attitudes or behavior and benefit the public at large.
3. Functional Classification
Advertising may be classified according to the functions which it is intended to fulfill.
- Advertising may be used to stimulate either the primary demand or the selective demand.
- It may promote either the brand or the firm selling that brand.
- It may try to cause indirect action or direct action.
i. Advertising Based on Demand Influence Level.
- Primary Demand Stimulation: Primary demand is demand for the product or service rather than for a particular brand. It is intended to affect the demand for a type of product, and not the brand of that product. Some advertise to stimulate primary demand. When a product is new, primary demand stimulation is appropriate. At this time, the marketer must inform consumers of the existence of the new item and convince them of the benefits flowing from its use. When primary demand has been stimulated and competitors have entered the market, the advertising strategy may be to stimulate the selective demand.
- Selective Demand Stimulation: This demand is for a particular brand such as Charminar cigarettes, Surf detergent powder, or Vimal fabrics. To establish a differential advantage and to acquire an acceptable sort of market, selective demand advertising is attempted. It is not to stimulate the demand for the product or service. The advertiser attempts to differentiate his brand and to increase the total amount of consumption of that product. Competitive advertising stimulates selective demand. It may be of either the direct or the indirect type.
ii. Institutional Advertising
Institutional Advertising may be formative, persuasive or reminder oriented in character. Institutional advertising is used extensively during periods of product shortages in order to keep the name of the company before the public. It aims at building for a firm a Positive public image in the eyes of shareholders, employees, suppliers, legislators, or the general public. This sells only the name and prestige of the company. This type of advertising is used frequently by large companies whose products are well known. HMT or DCM, for example, does considerable institutional advertising of its name, emphasizing the quality and research behind its products.
Institutional advertisements are at consumers or focus them upon other groups, such as voters, government officials, suppliers, financial institutions, etc. If it is effective, the target groups will respond with goodwill towards, and confidence in the sponsor. It is also a useful method or introducing sales persons and new product to consumers. It does not attempt to sell a particular product; it benefits the organization as a whole.
It notifies the consumers that the company is a responsible business entity and is patriotic; that its management takes ecologically responsible action, is an affair- motive action employer, supports the socialistic pattern of society or provides employment opportunities in the community. When Indian Oil advertisements describe the company’s general activities, such as public service work, this may be referred to as institutional advertising because it is intended to build an overall favorable attitude towards the company and its family of products. HMT once told the story of the small-scale industries supplying it with component parts, thus indicating how it aided the development of ancillary industries.
iii. Product Advertising
Most advertising is product advertising, designed to promote the sale or reputation of a particular product or service that the organization sells. Indane’s Cooking Gas is a case in point. The marketer may use such promotion to generate exposure attention, comprehension, attitude change or action for an offering. It deals with the non-personal selling of a particular good or service. It is of three types as follows:-
- Informative Product Advertising: This form of advertising tends to characterize the promotion of any new type of product to develop an initial demand. It is usually done in the introductory stages of the product life cycle. It was the original approach to advertising.
- Persuasive Product Advertising: Persuasive product advertising is to develop demand for a particular product or brand. It is a type of promotion used in the growth period and, to some extent, in the maturity period of the product life cycle.
- Reminder-Oriented Product Advertising: The goal of this type of advertising is to reinforce previous promotional activity by keeping the brand name in front of the public. It is used in the maturity period as well as throughout the declining phase of the product life cycle.
4. Advertising based on Product Life Cycle
- Consumer Advertising: Most of the consumer goods producers engage in consumer product advertising. Marketers of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, scooters, detergents and soaps, cigarettes and alcoholic beverages are examples. Baring a few, all these products are all package goods that the consumer will often buy during the year. There is a heavy competition among the advertisers to establish an advantage for their particular brand.
- Industrial Advertising: Industrial executives have little confidence in advertising. They rely on this form of promotion merely out of fear that their competitors may benefit if they stop their advertising efforts. The task of the industrial advertiser is complicated by the multiple buying influence characteristics like, the derived demand, etc. The objectives vary according to the firm and the situation. The basic appeals tend to increase the rupee profits of the buyer or help in achieving his non-monetary objectives. Trade journals are the media most generally used followed by catalogues, direct mail communication, exhibits, and general management publications. Advertising agencies are much less useful in industrial advertising.
5. Trade Advertising
- Retail Advertising: This may be defined as “covering all advertising by the stores that sell goods directly to the consuming public. It includes, also advertising by establishments that sell services to the public, such as beauty shops, petrol pumps and banks.” Advertising agencies are rarely used. The store personnel are usually given this responsibility as an added task to be performed, together with their normal functions. The result is that advertising is often relegated to a secondary position in a retail store. One aspect of retail advertising is co-operative advertising. It refers to advertising costs between retailers and manufacturers. From the retailer’s point of view, co-operative advertising permits a store to secure additional advertising that would not otherwise have been available.
- Wholesale Advertising: Wholesalers are, generally, not advertising minded, either for themselves or for their suppliers. They would benefit from adopting some of the image-making techniques used by retailers — the need for developing an overall promotional strategy. They also need to make a greater use of supplier promotion materials and programs in a way advantageous to them.
6. Advertising based on Area of Operation
It is classified as follow:
- National advertising: It is practiced by many firms in our country. It encourages the consumer to buy their product wherever they are sold. Most national advertisements concentrate on the overall image and desirability of the product.
- Regional advertising: It is geographical alternative for organizations.
- Local advertising: It is generally done by retailers rather than manufacturers. These advertisements save the customer time and money by passing along specific information about products, prices, location, and so on. Retailer advertisements usually provide specific goods sales during weekends in various sectors.
7. Advertising According to Medium
The most common classification of advertising is by the medium used. For example: TV, radio, magazine, outdoor, business periodical, newspaper and direct mail advertising. This classification is so common in use that it is mentioned here only for the sake of completeness.