What is Advertisement?
All activities carried out for the purpose of promoting and announcing a product or service are called advertisements. Advertising activities that enable information about a service to be delivered to a targeted audience contain persuasive and remarkable elements.
Advertising, which is a mass communication tool, is a non-personal mass communication tool, although it is used in niche marketing. Appealing to mass audiences and reaching large audiences with a single message makes advertising a profitable promotional activity.
While advertising, factors that benefit the buyer, offer solutions, persuade and differ from alternatives should be prioritized. The ad is not a user manual or prospectus and the buyer is not obliged to buy every product he sees. For this reason, an attractive and interesting language should be used in advertisements. The product should be presented to the buyer with short and catchy contents by avoiding long expressions.
Each ad targets more than one buyer. Therefore, the buyer / consumer audience to be targeted is determined first. By analyzing the habits, needs and expectations of the determined audience, advertisements are prepared that will appeal to them and directly attract their attention.
Effects of Advertising
An ad doesn’t just aim to increase sales. It is also a way of communicating with existing customers. Customer loyalty is ensured by reminding the customer that he made the right choice. Advertising updates the brand value of the company, the trust of the partners and the current position in the market by providing information about the company. Therefore, advertisements can only be made for reputation management.
It is an advertising activity for the consumers who complete the purchasing process to be satisfied with the product or the service, and that consumer turns into an advertising figure and recommends the same product to their relatives. Successful advertising activities can lead to chain advertising activity in this way.
Advertising is an important communication tool for both the producer and the consumer. While the producer has a say about the product, the consumer can evaluate the products that will meet the needs. Advertising, which is a mass activity, has the power to increase the current demand in the market. Therefore, it is of great importance for the growth of economies and the development of industries.
What is Advertising?
Advertising, which requires promotional activities to increase the market demand in general, is cost-efficient than other methods that provide customer interaction. Advertising activities targeting audiences reach more consumers with a single budget. While it serves to communicate with existing customers, it also offers an evaluable offer for potential customers.
Advertising is a communication tool not only for commercial businesses but also for all institutions and organizations. Even some associations and foundations that do not seek commercial profit can manage the prestige in the market by doing advertising activities.
- Pioneering Advertising: It is a type of advertising focused on providing information used in the early stages of producing a product or service. It is used to create a demand by providing information about the category of the product or service.
- Competitive Advertising: It is the type of advertising used during the launch of the product or service. The brand stands out, not the type of product. While it can encourage instant purchasing action, this information is expected to stand out when you are ready to buy just by giving information.
- Permanent Advertising: After the product or service is placed in the market, it is advertisements that are made only for reminder purposes without any action. It aims to make the product catchy and create awareness.
- Informative Advertising: It is a type of advertising that aims to announce the product when the product or service is launched. Providing information, which is the approach that leads to the emergence of the concept of advertising, is used for promoting the product.
- Persuasive Advertising: It is the type of advertisement used to increase the market share of the product available in the market. It is done in order to convince the consumer that the product is better than its competitors.
History of Advertising
Although advertising may seem like an extension of the age we are in, it is a very old concept. Studies show that there has been intentional or unintentional advertising from the time of the Romans.
The beginning date of advertising is considered as old as humanity. In 3000 BC, the producers’ efforts to attract attention by shouting to sell their products and the use of signboards are the first examples of advertising. Many civilizations have engaged in promotional activities by making murals. Alongside the murals, the world’s oldest advertisement is on a tablet and is considered the oldest example of print advertising.
With the development of the printing house, advertising activities also gained a different dimension and printed materials such as brochures, flyers, posters, labels emerged. With this development, the retailing industry has begun to be widely used.
The increase in the range of stores and products forced the sellers to find other methods and take the lead in the competitive environment.
As marketing activities such as peddlers, discounts, campaigns and sponsorships developed, advertising continued to grow as a business line and adapt to the era.
Today, more than 80% of advertising activities are made up of digital ads. The advent of radio and television led to the spread of visual and audio advertisements, which replaced print advertising. Thus, larger audiences were reached at once with the visual advertisement alternative, which is easier than printing and distributing brochures.
First Ad
The earliest known advertising activities are verbal. “Touting” made by sellers to sell their products is the first type of verbal advertisement and is still widely used in public markets today. In any neighborhood market, in addition to touting, the careful arrangement of fruits and vegetables on the counters, cutting and displaying them, different inscriptions used on price tags are examples of traditional advertising.
The oldest known print ad is a tablet containing information about a needle shop in China between the years 960-1127.
The tablet belonging to Jinan Liu’s “Quality Needle Shop” reads “We buy high quality steel and we always make good quality needles ready for home use”. Today, this tablet, which is clearly accepted as an advertisement, is considered the first advertisement.
First Visual Ad
The first television ad was broadcast on the WNBT (WNBC) New York station on July 1, 1941, before a baseball match between Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Philies. The ad, which describes the watches of the Bulova brand, was designed with a theme depicting a rotating clock that appears on the map of the United States of America. This ad cost only $ 4 for Bulova.
In the following period, television advertising began to spread and develop with advertisements broadcast in Japan in 1953 and in England in 1955.
Modern Advertising
Advertising in the modern sense used today has largely completed its development in the 21st century. The biggest development in the advertising industry took place after World War II. Rapid and effective sector movements have begun to revive the economies that suffered greatly. As a result of the competition between the Western and Far Eastern markets, economic development gained momentum and advertising reached a significant power in this competition.
Advances in technology over the past decade show how difficult it is to form an opinion on what will happen in the next decade. However, the most important development experienced and to be experienced in the advertising sector is that communication is now bilateral. The consumer will have more say and will remain decisive in every step from production to advertising.
Brands (how to build successful brand?) that appeal to a general audience will continue to make customized works with a special advertising approach for different cultures and communities by turning towards the local.
Advertising Strategy
The processes of preparing, presenting, approving and finally sharing an advertisement with the consumer are determined when the advertisement idea is first introduced. No stage is unexpected or unnecessary. Advertising consists entirely of predictable processes based on planning and analysis. First, the reasons for the need for advertising arise. Afterwards, alternative products that can be advertised are determined and alternative advertising options are created. Finally, the application process starts in line with the selection made among the alternatives.
Alternatives should be feasible and purposeful in order to begin the implementation process. Therefore, the aim of this whole process is to find applicable advertising options. Advertising strategy has many affecting factors. Competitor strategies, market dynamics, current needs of the company and expectations of the consumer are determinants in advertising as well as in marketing. These determinants generally shape the advertising process and form the initial data. The advertisement is prepared in the light of these data and delivered to the consumer.
Advertising Processes
Analysis
When advertising, it is necessary to analyze all factors that are affective in the process. The company’s current position and historical data, current and design products, market position, consumer needs and targeted plans are processed in this process and shape the advertising work. In addition to the company’s previous and successful advertisements, advertisements and products of competitors are also examined and a general market research is conducted. This process may take one to two weeks or five to ten years.
The conclusion reached at the end of the research will determine the concept and content of the advertisement. In addition, the financial evaluation of the analysis process is included in the cost by making a cost research. Analysis is just a research process. A clear decision is not expected in the end, it only provides a significant data archive, which is the most important preparation stage of the advertising work.
Planning
Having a precise and valid definition of the audience to be targeted in the advertisement constitutes an important component of the general plan. An advertising work that is not made for the needs of the consumer cannot be successful. Although advertising is directed to them by drawing the lines of the targeted audience, it should not be forgotten that since advertising is a form of mass communication, the untargeted consumer will also see the advertisement and in fact everyone is a potential customer. For this reason, the advertisement to be made should appeal to the general and should not draw sharp boundaries by clearly emphasizing the characteristics of the target audience.
How the advertisement will reach the consumer and what elements it will contain should be determined in the planning process. A detailed study of visual stimuli such as a cheerful advertisement or a sad advertisement, a candid advertisement or a luxurious advertisement is done and the right theme is selected. How it is delivered is as important as the content of the prepared message. After deciding on the general features of the advertisement, cost calculation is made. Including all analysis processes, the budget of the stages of the preparation and publication of the advertisement is decided and the revenue and expense targets are included in the planning process.
Implementation
Ideas that emerge and are approved at the end of the analysis and planning processes are transformed into advertising during the implementation process. The process of broadcasting the ad, which is ready for sharing, in which environments and within which time periods occurs in the implementation step. The prepared ad can be in the form of visual, audio or content. Each of these genres is broadcast in different media mediums. For this reason, it is ensured that the advertisement to be prepared is made suitable for those platforms by investigating which environments the target audience uses more frequently and effectively. If it is an advertisement to be published only on social media, visual and content studies can be done and interaction ways can be kept open. If only the television audience is targeted, a story that is suitable for the dynamics of the target audience is designed to meet with the consumer on a common ground.
The most important point in the implementation process is to ensure that the previously agreed idea is correctly converted into an advertisement. Sometimes the ideas put forward sound very creative, but they fail because they are not implemented correctly in practice. In these cases, the involvement of practitioners experienced in advertising would be impressive in terms of results.
Advertising Agency
Advertising agency is an organization formed by people who specialized in promotion and research services such as marketing and advertising. Advertising agencies serve the advertisers, not the media where the ad is broadcast. Unlike working directly with the publisher, advertising agencies, which make a more specific, creative and product-consumer-oriented work, lead an expert work process in advertising.
Some companies and institutions may prefer to manage this process with internal intervention by creating their own marketing and advertising teams instead of working with advertising agencies. In this part, cost calculations come into play and the institution prefers whichever method is more effective and cheaper.
Institutions working with agencies use the marketing department when establishing a relationship with the agency. The marketing department directs the work to be done by sharing detailed information about the institution and the market with the agency. Therefore, providing the most accurate and up-to-date information to the agency constitutes the basis of the process.
Benefits of Working with an Advertising Agency
- We determine our communication strategy according to monthly or annual plans and present them to you. We help you to achieve the results that will reach your marketing goals with PR campaigns specially prepared for you.
- The advertising agency does not only act on the experiences of the current customer. Its experiences with other customers it works with are also guiding throughout the process.
- Compared to an advertiser to be recruited, a team with different expertise within the agency can manage a faster and more successful process.
- Advertising agencies have strong media connections and discounts that result in substantial savings.
- Terminating the units established within the institution is not as easy as terminating the process of working with an advertising agency.
- Since the advertising agency is an independent structure from the institution it works with, it can manage the process more efficiently with an objective evaluation by looking objectively at the suggestions and requests.
An ad doesn’t just aim to increase sales. It is also a way of communicating with existing customers.
Advertising Ethics
With the developing market dynamics, advertising, which is the most effective way of communicating with the consumer, has also shown significant developments. Advertisers reaching the consumer by using all means of communication can try every way to compete in this huge market. However, certain rules determined to protect both the consumer and the producer or the seller itself must be followed.
Because advertising is inherently apt to be exaggerated and uses various persuasion tactics to persuade the consumer to buy, sometimes the boundaries of honesty can be crossed with promises that do not actually exist. Ethical rules come into play at this stage and determine the conditions of competition and honesty of the advertiser.
Ethical rules do not automatically depend on a sanction system. The rules that apply to many markets such as the general competition market, public health, freedom of expression, and deserved earnings are also valid in the advertising industry. The advertiser is expected to perform a correct management by complying with these rules, without being bound by any conditions. Ethical rules aiming to prevent the non-existent features, misleading information and negligence that threaten public health regarding the advertised product are valid for all sectors and do not vary according to geographical or demographic differences.
General principles outlined by the Institute for Advertising Ethics (IAE)
- Advertising, public relations, marketing communications, news, and editorial all share a common objective of truth and high ethical standards in serving the public.
- Advertising public relations, and all marketing communications professionals have an obligation to exercise the highest personal ethics in the creation and dissemination of commercial information to consumers.
- Advertisers should clearly distinguish advertising, public relations and corporate communications from news and editorial content and entertainment, both online and offline.
- Advertisers should clearly disclose all material conditions, such as payment or receipt of a free product, affecting endorsements in social and traditional channels, as well as the identity of endorsers, all in the interest of full disclosure and transparency.
- Advertisers should treat consumers fairly based on the nature of the audience to whom the ads are directed and the nature of the product or service advertised.
- Advertisers should never compromise consumers’ personal privacy in marketing communications, and their choices as to whether to participate in providing their information should be transparent and easily made.
- Advertisers should follow federal, state and local advertising laws, and cooperate with industry self-regulatory programs for the resolution of advertising practices.
- Advertisers and their agencies, and online and offline media, should discuss privately potential ethical concerns, and members of the team creating ads should be given permission to express internally their ethical concerns.
- Trust between advertising and public relations business partners, including clients, and their agencies, media vendors, and third party suppliers, should be built upon transparency and full disclosure of business ownership and arrangements, agency remuneration and rebates, and media incentives.
SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis or SWOT matrix is a strategic structure that helps an organization determine its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats during goal or project planning.
Used as an analysis report in the initial decision-making process regarding a project or structure, SWOT is a detailed data study on the current situation and targeted status of the institution or decision maker. The data obtained are very important in terms of calculating the steps to be taken from the beginning of the project, determining the benefit to be obtained or the inevitable damage.
SWOT is not a roadmap, but an analysis that contains the information necessary to create the roadmap. After the SWOT is created, the actual decision-making process begins. In this decision-making process, the most beneficial and least harmful way is determined by using the information obtained with SWOT.
AIDA Model
AIDA Model; It consists of the initials of the words attention, interest, desire and action and describes the stages from the first time a consumer notices the brand to the moment they complete the purchase. AIDA, which allows the manufacturer or seller to look through the eyes of the consumer, recommends that the advertisement be adapted to these processes that the consumer goes through.
The AIDA model, which emerged in the late 19th century, is still used today with many different variations and hierarchy systems. Many different titles and sub-titles were created under the four main headings that existed when it first appeared.
The general advertising process defined by AIDA is a reflection of the consumer’s journey with the brand. The consumer realizes the brand, examines it, finds it suitable and takes the action to buy. The AIDA model, which includes the general steps of the process up to purchasing, is a roadmap for advertisers and marketers.