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Advertising Basics for New Entrepreneurs

Advertising is made up of several activities that help promote your product or service.

by Katie Marcus

November 26, 2008

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Advertising is made up of several activities that help promote your product or service. Advertising addresses the public and tries to influence their buying decisions. There are primary and secondary functions of advertising, but it all leads to trying to get customers to get in your store and buy your products or services. Let’s go into a bit more detail about what advertising entails.

What is Advertising?

1. Advertising is written and spoken messages that are directed to a target audience.

2. Advertising messages are persuasive – you’re trying to convince your target audience to purchase a certain product or service.

3. The business that is selling the product or service is the one who advertises.

4. Advertising almost always requires cash – you must pay for the medium you are using. For example, you must pay the stadium or wherever you hang a poster. (Make sure you have this fee included in your poster printing budget.)

Advertising is any paid message that presents products or services of a certain business, and should present the product in a persuasive manner so as to entice the reader or listener to purchase the product.

Objectives of Advertising

The objective is to increase sales, get and maintain customers, and boost cash flow. However, it is also intended to brand a product, since branding can do more for sales than simply advertising it. When one thinks of specific items, they often think of a brand name rather than the product itself. For instance, when you say you need a Kleenex, you are actually asking for a tissue. The Kleenex brand has catapulted into the mainstream language so that it represents all types of tissues. That’s a result of good advertising and good branding.

Advertising functions can be broken down into two groups. These are known as the primary and the secondary functions.

Primary Functions

1. Advertising assists in sales increases, because it promotes it to a bigger market. Advertising like flyers, brochures and television ads reach people that your business wouldn’t be able to reach otherwise because of location. Advertising allows you to reach people out of your region and possibly lets you reach a nation of consumers.

2. Advertising persuades people to help them make their next purchasing decision.

3. Advertising helps salespeople and franchisees sell the product or service being featured.

4. Advertisements introduce new products to the market before they even hit store shelves. People are more likely to try a new item if they’ve seen it before. Many companies start advertising and branding a product before it reaches stores to give consumers plenty of time to learn about the new item and to create anticipation for the release of the product.

5. Advertising is used as a way to establish a relationship with consumers. People buy products they are familiar with and advertising builds that familiarity.

6. People’s perception of advertised products or services is changed by products that are advertised. These products (and their brands) seem better and higher quality than those not advertised.

Secondary Functions

1. Advertising gives salespeople a backing to lean on. Salespeople’s jobs are easier when they can point to an advertisement that shows how well the product or service works. Consumers also walk in with a preconceived notion that the product is already good because they saw it advertised before they got to the store.

2. Advertising helps companies attract better or more qualified employees. Just think of car dealerships – would you rather work for a dealership who didn’t advertise so no one knew about it or would you rather work for a dealership that everyone knew about it?

Advertising has many objectives and functions that will help any business. As an entrepreneur, it’s important that you implement an advertising strategy right away, even before you open your doors!

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