Exploring the Main Concepts of Advertising

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How many of you listened to the radio, watched television, or glanced at a magazine before school this morning? Whether you realized it or not the minute you pressed the power button or flipped the cover page you were exposed to some sort of advertisement. Defined as any paid form of communication by an identified sponsor, advertising dominates a huge part of our daily lives. Living in such a consumer driven economy means that we deal with subliminal and up front messages pushing us to “ buy, buy, buy”, countless times throughout our day. Most of these messages are sent by identified sponsors including major corporations like Wal-Mart, as well as smaller run businesses. No matter the size, all modern day businesses employ workers to research and promote the product or service offered. Marketing entails the commercial processes involved in promoting and selling and distributing a product or service (Wordnet,1). Advertising falls under the promotional segment of marketing. The advertising process breaks down into four main concepts, strategy, creative idea, execution, and media.

The first concept deals with developing a strategy to provide focus and direction for the advertisement. Success of this first step results in effective advertising. Effective advertising leads to either a purchase of the product/service or recognition so when a need for the product arises the consumer recalls the advertisement.

Secondly, the marketer must decide on the most profitable consumer group, also called the target audience. Businesses often incorporate market segmentation into their decisions concerning target audience. Segmentation divides the market into groups of people who have similar characteristic in certain key product related areas. F...

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...es to Cheetos you know what you’re getting, not much variation involved. However, an iPod offers multiple opportunities for customization and upgrades that the consumer must carefully consider relative to the price they are willing to pay. In this sense, buying Cheetos requires far less consumer purchase involvement then the purchase of a new iPod. All of these factors contribute to the overall satisfaction associated with a product. The results of conducted primary research help marketers decipher elements of their advertising strategy that need tweaking.

Essentially, the advertising process continues throughout the life cycle of a product or service. This process must adapt to changes and adjustments that occur within a given market.

I hope this has contributed to everyone’s understanding of advertising and the important role it plays in our everyday lives.

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