ADVERTISING

The word ‘Advertising’ has its origin from a Latin word ‘Adventure’ which means to turn to.
The dictionary meaning of the word is ‘to announce publicity or to give public concerned to a
specific thing which has been announced by the advertiser publicity in order to inform and
influence them with the ideas which the advertisement carries. In business world the terms in
mainly used with reference to selling the product of the concern.

The advertising, as Jones defines it is "a sort of machine made mass production method of
selling which supplements the voice and personality of the individual salesman, such as
manufacturing the machine supplements the hands of the craftsman." It is thus a process of
buying/sponsor/identified media space or time in order to promote a product or an idea.
Advertising is a paid form and hence commercial in nature. This any sponsored
communication designed to influence buyer behavior advertising.

Advertising is non-personal. Unlike personal selling, advertising is done in a non-personal

manner through intermediaries or media whatever the form of advertisement (Spoken, written
or visual). It is directed at a mass audience and not directed at the individual as in personal
selling.Advertising promotes idea, goods and services. Although most advertising is designed to
help sell goods, it is being used increasingly to further public interest goals.

Advertising is identifiable with its sponsoring authority and advertiser. It discloses or identifies
the source of opinions and ideas.

Advertising thus is:

1. Impersonal

2. A communication of ideas.

3. Aimed at mass audience

4. By a paying sponsor.
The two forms of mass communication that are something confused with advertising are
publicity and propaganda. If we eliminate the elements of the "paying sponsor" (The paid
requirement) we would have the element of publicity left:. For publicity is technically speaking,
advertisement without payment. In a similar manner. If we eliminate the requirement of an
"identified sponsor", the resulting communication is propagandistic. It is important for us to
emphasize that advertising may involve the communication of ideas or goods of service. We are
all aware that advertising attempts to sell goods and services. But we may overlook the more
important fact that it often sells ideas. Advertising may persuade with information; it may
persuade with emotion: more frequently, it endeavors to persuade with some mixture of both.

(1) Electronic Media

Advertisers use two types of media to reach target consumers over the airwaves; radio or T.V.

(A) Radio :

Advertisers using the medium of radio may also be classified as National or Local advertisers.
The radio is a prominent vehicle of advertising in our country and accounts for a large sum of
the total advertising budget.The radio serves principally local rather than national or large
regional markets. Many small advertisers use the radio. So do some large organizations.

When T.V. became a factor in the advertising scene, some industry observers felt that radio
advertising might become insignificant or even disappear. This has not been so, for radio
operators have responded to the challenge by offering programmes that features music etc.
which appeal to local audience consumers have responded very favourably to this approach.
Moreover TV does not have much coverage in our country.

(B) Television :

Late in India, a growing class of advertising media has been the TV. In our country, commercial
advertising on TV is severely limited because broadcast timings are only in the evenings. The
TV is a unique combination timing of sight and sound and achieves a deeper impact than the
other media do. This is particularly advantageous for advertisers whose product require
demonstration. TV advertising offers advantage of impact, mass coverage, repetition, flexibility
and prestigious. In our country not everyone has a TV set; therefore it does not reach everyone.
Moreover, in rural India where 76.31% of our population lives. There are hardly any TV sets,
except at the community centre’s where electricity is available. Moreover, TV programmers’ in
our country do not offer much selectivity. The translation is limited, any centers do not have TV
towers.TV appeals to both the senses of sound and of sight . As a result is combines the two to
produce high-impact commercials. Finally, the fact that product or service is promoted on TV
may build a prestigious image of the product and its sponsor. The pleasure derived from
watching TV is at least potentially transferable to the advertising message delivered through
the medium.

(ii) Print Media

The print media carry their massages entirely through the visual mode. These media consist of
newspapers, magazines and direct mail.

(A) Newspaper :

A sizable share of the total advertising budget is spent on advertising in newspapers.

Newspapers in our country virtually reach most of the homes in the cities. Since newspapers
are local, marketers can easily use them to reach particular markets. This selectivity is easily
rigorous. Some are in the twelve-hour range. From the viewpoint of the advertiser, newspaper
offers several advantage, they are local in content and appeal and provide opportunity for
direct communication between a product and its local dealers or distributors. Because
newspapers supply news, they offer an atmosphere of factual information and of currency that
may be favourable for some advertising situations. Advertisers can reach a very broad audience
through newspapers which offer great flexibility. The advertisers may choose the specific area
to be covered and the advertisement can be placed in newspapers at very short notice as
compared with other media.

(B) Magazines :
Magazines are also mean of reaching different market, both original and matinal and of
general and specific interest. An organisation may approach national markets through such
publication as Business India, Famina, Sportsweek, India Today, Business World and Filmfare.
Some marketers divide their market on the basis of such variable as age, educational level and
interest magazines. Magazines are divided into those parts that serve business, industrial
consumers, ladies, sports etc. The diversity of magazines is tremendous. Some offer news or
together "General Interest" content to huge audience. Others are highly specialised, technical or
even exotic. In general, magazines offer advertiser the opportunity to reach highly selective
audience.

The primary advantage of magazine advertising are selectivity of market targets; quantity
reproduction long life; the prestige associated with some magazines; and the extra service
offered by many publications. The quality of magazines reproduction is usually high.
Consumers sometime keep individual copies for long period of time; reread them or pass them
on to other. Some magazines have prestige value. The marketer can cover national or large
regional markets at a low cost per contract (per individual reached). Magazines generally offer
high-quality printing of advertisement.

(iii) OUTDOOR AND TRANSIT MEDIA

(A) Outdoor Advertising :

Outdoor advertising involves the use of sign and bill-boards, posters or displays (such as those
that appear on a building’s wall) and electric spectacular (large, illuminated, sometime
animated sign and display). The marketers may purchase billboards on the basis of showings. A
showing indicates the percentage of the total population of a particular geographic area that
will be exposed to it during one month period. The highest showing is 100. Here the number of
billboards is would attract approximately 50% of the local population about 20 times during a
month. Sings are usually smaller than billboards and are erected and maintained by the
marketer rather than by the advertising media.
This form of advertising has the advantage of communication quick and simply ideas of
repetition and of the ability to promote products that are available for sales. Outdoor
advertising is particularly effective in metropolitan and other can use this medium to bring the
products to the attention of consumers or to remaining them of the product, while they are on
shopping trips or area disposed towards shopping. Advertisers may utilize this medium to
economically reach a large mass of people or small local markets.

(B) Transport Advertising :

Transport advertising appears on the inside or outside of taxis, buses, railways and other modes
of passenger transportation. Marketers may use transit advertisement to attain high exposure
to particular groups consumers on theory way to and from work and tourists. Repeat exposure
is possible for a majority of the people in our country use public transport basis. Transport
advertising is useful in reaching consumers at an advantageous point which they are
embarking on a shopping trip. This medium is a low cost medium.
Measuring Advertising Effectiveness
A customer who doesn't know much about your business – or doesn't even know it exists –
won't purchase your products or services. Public relations campaigns can help get you in the
public eye, but for most businesses, effective advertising is critical. But effective advertising
means more than simply spending large amounts of money on a variety of advertising media.
Your overall goal is to receive a real, measurable return on your investment. A secondary – but
just as important – goal is to analyze the effectiveness of different types of advertising; that way
you can ensure that each advertising dollar is spent wisely.

The process of measuring advertising effectiveness starts with a simple formula: Return on
Investment.

Return on Investment (ROI) evaluates cost against return. (While ROI can be used to evaluate
advertising expenditures, it can also be used to evaluate any type of investment, improvement
project, process redesign… virtually any situation where money will be spent and a return on
that spending is expected.
Here is the formula :

ROI = (R – CI ) / CI X 100
R = Return, and
CI = Cost of Investment

The result is a ratio; the higher the ratio, the better the return. For example, say you decide to
run a new direct mail campaign. You print 4,000 postcards and mail them to potential
customers; the total cost of printing and mailing is $2,000. As a result of the campaign you
generate $9,500 in sales. Simply do the math:

$9,500 - $2,000 = $7,500; $7,500 / $2,000 = 3.75, or 375%. Your ROI on the direct mail
campaign was 375%.

Keep in mind other factors may have come into play. If your postcards advertised customers a
discount on a specific item, the discount will have affected your total profit level on the sales of
those items. But that is okay, especially since you generated increased revenue, more total
sales… and hopefully some of your new customers purchased other items as well. That's why
evaluating advertising effectiveness can become somewhat subjective; other financial factors
do come into play.

Another variable that makes evaluating advertising effectiveness difficult is utilizing different
types of advertising media. For example, say this month you run a television ad, three
newspaper ads, and run one direct mail campaign. How can you determine the return
generated by each type of advertising?

Possibly you don't care. You may simply decide to measure the program's effectiveness as a
whole. In that case, add up all the costs of advertising, determine your total sales, and calculate
ROI. On a one-month basis you won't learn much; evaluated over time you will be able to see
trends: Whether your return is increasing, decreasing, or staying flat.A better way is to tie
specific items or activities to specific forms of advertising. Your television ads may be a general
awareness ads designed to increase market awareness. Newspaper ads are typically used to
spread the word about specific sales or product offerings. Direct mail pieces should target a
specific item or service and call for a direct response.
Say you run a lawn care business and product a direct mail flyer advertising a 10% discount
for customers who sign up for a seasonal lawn care program. Measuring the effectiveness of
the flyer is relatively simple: Just keep track of the number of customers who call in response
and evaluate the revenue generated against the cost of the flyer. You can do the same with
newspaper or television ads; include information about a specific item, service, discount or
sale… and then measure the increase in activity against the expense.Or imagine you run a
retail store and decide to place a large ad in the newspaper. You provide an overview of your
store, but you also mention that you are running a "10% Off Everything in the Store" promotion
this weekend. At the end of the weekend, compare your total sales for that period against sales
on non-promotional weekends; the difference is, in large part, the result of the newspaper ad
you placed. Then calculate ROI.

Say you spent $1,500 to place the advertisement. On a "normal" weekend, your store does
$6,500 in sales. This weekend you did $11,500 in sales. While other factors may have come
into play, you could easily assume that the additional $5,000 in sales was due to the ad you ran
in the newspaper. To calculate ROI: $5,000 - $1,500 = $3,500; $3,500 / $1,500 = 2.33, or
233%. Your ROI for the campaign was 233%. (In essence, you received $2.33 in return for
every advertising dollar you spent, which is a great return on investment.)

The key to evaluating advertising effectiveness is to work hard to determine where sales and
revenue originated, at least in terms of the advertising you place. If you run three types of
advertisements, all featuring the same products or discounts, simply add the total of your
advertising spending together. If you wish to evaluate television, radio, print, etc., advertising
separately, try to tie unique items to each type of advertising so you can determine the impact
of each method. It's not as hard as you think, especially if you ensure that most of your
advertising messages include a direct call to action. Otherwise why spend the money on
advertising in the first place?

Measuring advertising effectiveness is one of the key components to having a successful

marketing campaign. If you are concerned about whether your marketing return on
investment is worthwhile or if you’re spending a lot on marketing without seeing results,
knowing how to track and measure the performance of your activities will not only make you
more efficient but also stretch your advertising dollars as far as possible.
Below are some ways for measuring your advertising and marketing
effectiveness:

1. Website Stats: If you don’t have a website stat counter yet, you certainly need to have one.
Not knowing how many visitors you get each day or where they come from will not help you
see which online tactics are working, or if others have found you through offline promotion
either. At the very least you should be aware of what keywords are bringing traffic to your site,
how many are coming directly by typing in your domain name, and other referring pages.
More detailed info such as bounce rates, visitor paths, landing and exit pages will all give you
additional information to assess what marketing value your website is providing.
2. Asking People How They Found Out About You: If you get a cold call and don’t know where
the person came from, there’s no harm in asking how they found out about the property they
are calling on or why they called you. Was it the sign in the yard? The ad you placed in the
paper? Craigslist? Most people won’t reckon it’s weird if you question them how they found
out about the property or your services.
3. Comparing Time With Promotion: Some promotions will bring immediate results, others
might take months before you see results. For example, if you are consistently sending out
postcards to a targeted neighborhood, you likely won’t get calls the first month or two. But,
after 6 months you might start seeing calls. Make sure before judging that a campaign has been
a failure that you’ve allotted enough time to assess it’s effectiveness and give it time to perform.
4. Stop Running Ads: If you’ve been regularly advertising in the newspaper every week for
years for example, try a few weeks of going without the advertising. If you don’t see any
difference in calls or business, there’s a excellent chance you won’t miss it and can cut it out
unless your seller demands it for their listings. You can also do this with CPC campaigns – if
you stop running it and notice you get less emails from your website contact form, you may
choose it’s best to keep that one going. Always test this way one ad at a time – you don’t want to
reckon it’s the newspaper advertising that was working when it was really the CPC advertising.

5. Use Different Phone Numbers: You can often track an ad’s performance by using different
contact phone numbers. If you get calls to a number that’s only listed in one advertisement,
then you can be pretty certain that ad was successful.
6. Use Direct Response Postcards: Postcards that can offer a simple pre-paid “drop in the mail
for more info” type of response can help you gauge the effectiveness of a direct mail campaign.
This works well with an offer to do a free home consultation or to provide the customer with
more information about recent news, events, or special promotion.
While there is no exact science to understanding how your marketing efforts are paying off
and what response and return on investment they are bringing, doing just a few of these will
help you choose if what you are doing is working and should be continued, if you should try
something else, or if there are other ways to improve your marketing campaigns. Taking the
time to analyze the effectiveness of a campaign will not only help you spend less time
preparing ads that don’t work – but also save you money as well.
Methods of Measuring Advertising Effectiveness

• Concept generation and testing

• Rough art, copy, and commercial testing

• Pretesting of finished ads

 Market testing of ads

Concept testing

o Conducted early in campaign development

o To explore the targeted consumers response to a potential ad or campaign

 i.e. Focus groups and mall intercepts

Rough Art, Copy, and Commercial Testing

Comprehension and reaction tests

• Conveying meaning intended by assessing responses

• Consumer juries

• Uses consumers to evaluate the probable success of an ad

• Self-appointed expert

• Limited evaluation of the number of ads

• Halo effect

• Specific ad preferences overshadowing objectivity

Why do we need to measure effectiveness ?
• Avoiding costly mistakes

• Evaluating alternate strategies

• Increasing the efficiency of advertising

• Determining if objectives are being achieved.