You can have a desirable product or service at an attractive price, but if nobody knows about it, it is unlikely to sell. There are many ways of advertising to find customers, and even a small business should aim to use a combination of these. Some advertising methods are more costly than others, while some are more effective. Cost and effect are not always clearly related. Read the rest of this entry »
From the standpoint of advertising as information, sometimes known as the “market competition” model, the economic role of advertising is to provide information to the marketplace. Read the rest of this entry »
Consumers are exposed to a vast number of commercial messages each day—anywhere from 500 to 3,000, depending on how one defines a “message” and how much the individual chooses to use the media on a given day. Read the rest of this entry »
They get to work, finding phrases that contain these 13 words. Then, 25 minutes later, you have a wide assortment of phrases:
From time to time, you may be asked to get involved with a print advertisement. It might be a consumer ad. A retail ad about products on sale. A business-tobusiness ad targeting your vendors. A corporate ad for the community, etc.
However, the more generic your approach and the more general your audience, the more wasted circulation and the less likely it is that your message will reach its target efficiently. Read the rest of this entry »
Look at the product label. What can you learn about Ivory Soap from the package? It’s 99 and 44/100 percent pure: what does that mean? And more importantly, what does that mean to the consumer? Look a little more deeply. What percentage of purity do other products exhibit? Check the other bars of soap. Do any of them record a purity statement? Why not? Draw some conclusions. Maybe other bar soaps aren’t as pure as Ivory. What is the consumer perception of washing with something that is less pure? Does it affect your sense of cleanliness? Are you less clean if you wash with a less pure soap? Read the rest of this entry »
In an increasing number of advertising agencies, account planners are in charge of collecting, assembling, and even researching product and account data. They’ll analyze it, summarize it, and choose what they feel is the most effective strategy for the brand.
In that case, why not rely solely on information coming from the account planners? Simply put, to write knowledgeably about your product, you need to know as much about it as you possibly can; you need to become an information junkie. You can never have too much knowledge—particularly in the case of parity products, where an unusual or little known fact about the product or target audience may provide the key to finding a point of difference from competition. Read the rest of this entry »
The structure of a radio commercial is similar to the body copy structure in a print ad. You won’t have a headline, of course. But you will begin with a provocative lead-in, to engage the listener. And you’ll follow it with a transition to your story. Sometimes, to maintain listener interest, you’ll want to transition in and out of the story. And you’ll end the commercial with a wrap-up that pays off the commercial. Read the rest of this entry »
