A promotional tool, which stimulates the prospective customers to take or continue a particular decision, with the help of a commercial offering, is called Advertising. The title ‘advertising’ is taken from a Latin word ‘advertere‘ meaning ‘to turn toward’. The advertisements are capable of diverting the attention of the viewers, listeners, readers or the towards a particular brand, product. service or an idea. Thus, any piece of information that diverts the attention of the target customers towards a brand/product/service/idea, can be called ‘advertising’.
Advertisements, being the vital element of promotion, are public notices, introduced by organisations, to make the target custorners informed and stimulated towards their offerings. Altering the buying behaviour or the thought process of the target customers and making them convinced to take certain course of action (desired by the organisations), is the main purpose of advertising. When advertisements are circulated through radio or television, they are called ‘commercials’. With the advent of television, different types of products, services or ideas, have been promoted through different commercials.
Advertising Objectives
Following are the main objectives of advertising:
- To Inform: Providing product information is the key purpose Of advertising. The organisations may broadcast existing or new products and services offered to the public through advertisements. Advertising is also helpful in informing the target audience about the business of a new organisation. The advertisements strategically focus on drawing the attention of potential customers, through utilising effective verbal and communication techniques that become highly appealing.
- To Influence: Sometimes, informing target customers about products and services does not generate required results. So, organisations start using advertising to influence the consumers to buy their offerings. For this purpose, suitable languages and pictures/images are utilised by organisations in their advertisement programs to influence the customers. These languages and images, when used effectively in advertisements, result in highlighting the strong points of a product or service, thus influencing the buying decisions of the customers.
- To Remind: Reminding the customers about offerui products and services, is also an objective of advertising. As numerous brands exist in a single product it may make the customers forget about some brands. The advertisements, thus, remind the customers about the brand/organisation and position its offerings in the minds Of the customers.
- To Add Value: Advertising aims at presenting the product or service to the audience in a positive light, so as to add value to the organisation’s brand. While preparing an advertisement, an advertiser focuses on increasing brand value by emphasising on the product’s strengths, As the basic character of advertising is to persuade, a brand’s value can be increased by using advertising elements like pictures/images and texts. For example, an advertisement for a school in a particular magazine, highlighting the positive points (like facilities, security and availability of skilled staff), results in adding brand value by way of promising best education for children.
- To Assist in Other Company Activities: Apart from the above objectives, advertising also aims at aiding Other activities like informing the Customers regarding sales promotion Offer; like — discounts and gift cards. Use of advertising is also profitable for the organisation, as it instructs the customers about different uses of the product or service before they purchase it. This also helps the salesmen, as it saves the time incurred on describing the product functioning and use. Consequently, the saved time is implemented in achieving sales.
Limitations of Advertising
The main limitations of advertising are as follows:
- Multiplication of Needs: Advertisers force customers to purchase unwanted or unnecessary products. Human beings always have the urge to own quality goods, have a positive image and stature in the society, which is evoked by advertisers to sell their products. They make an earnest request. which inspires the customers to buy products. Thus, ads evoke various emotions and sentiments to win over new customers.
- Misrepresentation of Facts: Goods not having any actual worth are sold to customers, When misleading facts and uses are conveyed through ads. Extravagant claims made by the advertisers are profitable for them but are totally unfavourable for the customers.
- Consumer’s Deficit: Advertising gives a sense of contentment to the users of the product, although it can also lead to dissatisfaction among people who wish to buy products, but are unable to do so because of of funds. Such dissatisfaction is detrimental or unpleasant, if it affects a major segment of the society. This discontentment can be significant, if it inspires any societal change.
- Increased Cost: It is a debatable issue, whether advertising increases per unit cost of the product (to be borne by the buyer) or not _ It is a fact that advertising expenses form a certain percentage of per unit cost of product, It would be unfair to conclude that the product offered would cost less, if the advertising expenses are reduced from the total expenses. Even though it increases the cost, it also reclaims the same during the distribution activities.
- Wastage of Natural Resources: Advertising faces a major opposition that it ruins the utility value the product even before the expiry of its shelf life. For example, in the automotive industry, when a new vehicle is advertised with great deal of persuasion, it compels the firm to dispose of the earlier launched models in spite of the fact that they have not become incompetent.
- Barriers to Entry: To some extent, ads influence distribution of production in the industry. The of individual trade, technical aspects of production and the amount of product promotion done, are few reasons for the fluctuating industrial concentration. Facts confirm that the relationship between industrial concentration and advertising is not effective as per expectations.
- Product Proliferation: Advertising often faces criticism that it influences unwanted product multiplication, causing lot of wastage of resources. The resources wasted on producing similar goods can be used for manufacturing new useful products.
- Inefficient Manufacturers Stay in Business: One of the major drawbacks of advertising is that it allows incompetent producers to continue functioning in the market, by substantial advertising of low quality or inferior products. It is harmful as the consumers are induced to buy inferior goods.
- Propensity of Consume: It is assumed that advertising increases the tendency to purchase more than required. This increased tendency can be detrimental as it causes apparent consumption of products. It leads to wastage of funds and less savings, thus hampering the investment prospects.
- Deferred Revenue Expenditure: Advertising is unearned income, as its benefits are not derived immediately but delayed over few months or years. Thus, the advantages derived from advertising are limited, as the advertising cost constitutes a major part of the total costs, which becomes deferred expenditure for the organisation. Hence, investing huge amount on advertising does not assure instant results.
- Managerial Difficulties: Regulating the amount to be allocated towards advertising, selecting various media vehicles, assessing different functions and coordinating them properly, the outlook Of management while forming advertising targets, are certain factors which determine productivity of advertising towards a product or the organisation offering the product. As variety of essentials is to be managed for effective advertising, it leads to complex situation for advertisers, and thus, probability of efficient advertising reduces.