ADVERTISING WHAT REALLY IS IT?
Media advertising, Online advertising, TV advertising, Google advertising, Facebook advertising: We are bombarded by advertising on a daily basis. Most people can recognize an ad when they see one; after all, we get lots of practice at it. But, can you actually define “advertising?” What makes advertising different from public relations or marketing? This guide will help to define advertising, public relations, and marketing; break them down into their most basic functions; and, demonstrate how they all interrelate while remaining individual entities.
Advertising
Advertising is a paid, non-personal message presented by a company that is used to inform, persuade, or remind consumers to buy a good or service. Advertising comes in a miread of sizes, shapes, descriptions and media platforms, all depending on what the product is and who it is being sold to. However, the goal is always the same: Sell!
Ads are everywhere in today’s society, making it more difficult for specific ads to get attention. This is where creativity comes into play. How can a company generate more attention for their ad than their competitors without overselling the product (exaggerations and false hype)?
Branding is often used alongside advertising to create buyer recognition of a company. What does the Nike Swish, the Apple Apple, and the McDonald’s Arches have in common? Their logos translate into immediate buyer recognition of their company’s product consistency, and create an emotional connection for the buyer to that company. You can think of branding as long term reputation advertising.
Public Relations
Public Relations, or more commonly referred to as PR, acts as the bridge between the public and a corporation. The goal of PR is to provide the public with a strong and positive perception of the company they represent.
Often, PR is conducted through the media in order to reach the greatest audience. Press releases, written by PR professionals, inform the media about what new things are happening with the company they represent. How does PR differ from advertising?
It’s free! You aren’t paying for ad space.
It’s out of your control what’s printed or if it’s printed. Anything published is at the disgression of the publisher. (Remember, you didn’t pay for it.)
It’s a one-time announcement. A publisher won’t print the same information multiple times.
It’s easier to believe for buyers. Any endorsements are coming from a third-party, not the paid message of the seller.
Marketing
Marketing is a much larger and broader concept within business, similar to the umbrellas of finance, accounting or management. Marketing is the total process of transferring goods or services from the seller to the buyer. Marketing includes both advertising and PR. There are five basic steps of a marketing plan:
Research and understand your competition- Before you can sell something, you have to know who you are competing against. What do they have to offer and how will your product be different? No one likes a copycat.
Research and understand your buyers- If you want to sell something, it is extremely important to understand your target buyer. What do they value in a product? What other products are they buying? When and where are they buying these products?
Create an advertising campaign- Once you have a solid product that fills a gap between what the buyers want and what the competition is selling, you want to let your buyers know, “Hey! We’re here with this great new product. You should buy it.” There are a variety of platforms for advertising campaigns, such as television, social media, online, and print. Some may work better than others, depending on who your buyers are.
Launch your campaign- This is the make-it or break-it moment. Besides your advertising campaign, you will want to enlist the help of the media, PR, or a special event. While you can no longer completely control what is published, the additional promotion of your product equals more buyer awareness.
Analyze, revise, and repeat- Keep track of how your product is selling. Could your ad campaign be stronger? Maybe your product needs a new feature? Maybe your target buyer has changed its preferences? Marketing strategies are always changing to keep things fresh and interesting for the buyer.
ADVERTISING IN THE DIGITAL AGE
Advertising platforms are constantly changing. But why?
How many hours a day do you read the newspaper? Listen to the radio? Watch TV? Spend time on the Internet, or more specifically, social media sites? Chances are, you spend more time with the latter. But once upon a time, television was your predominant media, and before that, radio or newspapers.
This is why the advertising industry never seems to sit still. Primary platforms are always changing. Advertisers want to advertise their product to the greatest number of people at one time. This is most easily accomplished by advertising with a broadcast method, or a platform intended to reach a large number of people, such as those mentioned above. During the 1940s, the New York Daily News had a circulation of over two million, but today, social media is king. Let’s take a look at two of the major sites, Facebook and Twitter, and how they are affecting advertising.
Facebook has over 750 million active users, or 1/9 of the world population. BINGO! More people equals more exposure which equals a greater likelihood of a return on your initial investment. According to a study conducted by Constant Contact and research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey:
52% of Americans over 18 spend at least one hour a week on Facebook
34% of all people on Facebook interact with their favorite brands
More than half of people “like” a brand because they are a customer and like receiving discounts and special promotions
76% of people have never “un-liked” a brand
Over 50% of fans are more likely to buy a product or recommend the brand to a friend.
Within Facebook, advertisers can buy ad space or make pages and groups for their companies. The trick is to drive traffic to these pages, often through exclusive Facebook promotions. After that, advertisers are likely to have a loyal customer and even free advertising through word-of-mouth exposure. What’s more, advertisers don’t have to constantly reacquaint their audience with the company, as they did traditionally on TV and the radio.
Twitter is less about profiles and more about summing up massive quantities of information into a format that the consumer can easily digest, i.e. the “human news filter.” Twitter confines posts to 140 characters, shortening our attention span to that of 6-year-olds. This is not always bad, especially for advertisers. Everything said must be concise and polished in order to get one’s point across pronto. Often, these pitches are the most memorable because they are simple and easy to understand. Twitter allows companies to tweet little reminders, promotions, or news about their business without creating full-blown advertisements.
According to this Twitter analysis compiled by website-monitoring.com (as of March 2011):
Twitter has over 100 million accounts and is growing by about 300,000 every day
Twitter users send 55 million tweets per day, but 41% of users have never tweeted
75% of traffic come from outside Twitter
This information suggests that people are specifically seeking out content they are interested in. They are even willing to create accounts simply for following others. Advertisers should capitalize on this attentive, willing audience. Remember, just like with Facebook, the audience that is following you wants to follow you. Never before have advertisers worked with an audience like this.
How the Internet is Changing Advertising
Why has social media caused such a stir in the advertising world? Social media breaks the traditional confines of content producers and content consumers. Back in the 1940s, advertisers produced content and their audience consumed that information in a one-to-one linear relationship. Today, thanks to the Internet, just about anyone can produce content. Now, advertisers have to listen to their audience, creating a circular relationship between advertisers and consumer. Advertisers need to concentrate on giving the audience material that causes them to think and share with others through social media platforms. This new interactive relationship has given rise to the “epipheo,” an epiphany-video.
