What is advertising? When talking about advertising, we have to keep in mind that there are many different perspectives. For example, there is the viewer who see the ad, the advertising agency that executed the campaign, and the company who uses advertising to increase sales, build brand recognition, and introduce new products or services into the market.
Advertising itself is defined by a set of strategies geared towards raising awareness of certain products and services. However, not only does advertising tell the public that these products exist, but it also helps to give a company a certain reputational ‘brand’ in regards to the products or services they offer. Without the use of paid advertising, it would be incredibly difficult to achieve certain goals, such as subtly implanting a brand's high quality into the minds of consumers.
Index
What Is Advertising and What Is It For?
Advertising can be simply understood as a paid form of communication through which companies publicize themselves through different mediums available within the market. However, given the quantity of advertising channels available to companies, there are many different types of advertising. Among the most prominent ‘offline’ mediums are print, radio, TV, product placement, external advertising, and direct advertising. Within the scope of paid online advertising are a large number of alternatives including videos, search engine ads, display ads, social ads, email marketing, etc.
The objectives a company has directly influences the platforms they should use. One of the most important strategic stages in creating an advertising campaign is to come up with a media plan. This, along with measuring, is absolutely key in order to make the best decisions on how to promote an image, raise brand awareness, or increase company sales.
Some elements which we at Cyberclick think are absolutely crucial when it comes to online advertising.
- Advertising on Social Media. Where can you find your audience? The majority are on social media! This means that you cannot leave social ads out of your advertising strategy. Remember, Google and Facebook are two of today’s largest advertising platforms within the digital environment.
- Advertising on Facebook. Facebook is still the king of social media and therefore, many companies continue to invest in Facebook Ads. With multiple campaign possibilities, different types of objectives and formats, a variety of audience segmentations, and many other parameters available, you can reach your target audience at the right time.
- Advertising on Twitter. Twitter offers a stable audience that is very focused on up-to-date info as it is the first place you can find out what's happening around the world. Though it is true that user growth has more or less plateaued, the Twitter community is very active. Because of this, Twitter Ads is currently one of the most interesting advertising platforms. You'll find that Twitter followers are very valuable for your company.
- Advertising on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the quintessential professional social network on the global scale. Millions of executives and employees from countless different industries use this platform. With LinkedIn Ads, you will find a well-segmented target audience that is predisposed to listen to your message. Naturally, the cost of these Ads is a bit higher than other social networks, but they offer an excellent ROI.
- Advertising on Instagram. Instagram is the most en vogue social network right now. Millennials and Gen Z are very present and very active on Instagram, so user growth doesn't look like it will slow down any time soon. Instagram Ads is the ideal advertising platform for any business with a target audience between 18 and 35 years old.
- Online Advertising Agency. Don’t know which agency to pick? You’ll want to know how each business works within the digital advertising sector. Keep this in mind as you make decisions
- Advertising Campaign. These are groups of ads made with the aim of selling a product or a service. They can include text, pictures, videos, segmentations, advertising channels, native advertising, etc.
- Online Advertising. Online advertising (sometimes referred to as Digital Advertising) is used to describe advertising on the internet.
- Types of Advertising. There are many different ways to advertise. Of course, one each one should be used at the right time within the user conversion funnel. Each advertising format has its most effective position within the funnel (TOFU, MOFU or BOFU) and various tools that can help create and implement the type of ads you want. In order to get to know the types of online advertising, and when to best implement them, find out how they would work within the Funnel Advertising Methodology.
10 Characteristics of Advertising
Here we have the 10 most noteworthy characteristics of advertising.
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Its purpose is to promote a product or service and encourage people to purchase it.
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Its main function is to persuade the consumer.
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It is part of a company's marketing strategy, whether online or offline.
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It targets a specific buyer persona.
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It costs the advertiser (the company, organization, etc).
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It seeks to be original and capture people's attention.
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It shows up in a variety of channels or platforms.
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One of its fundamental characteristics is the repetition of the messaging in order for it to be heard by the audience.
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It often offers customized products or services.
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It should be ethical.
Advertising Strategy
The design stage of the campaign, or the advertising strategy, consists of several different parts. Companies that aren't in the marketing sector don’t usually give much thought to this part. However, it would be very difficult to achieve the desired results without a solid plan so let's take a look at some key points.
- Copy Strategy: In this process, the main idea of the campaign becomes defined. It should include the company’s objectives that will later be sent to the creative team. From there, the creative team will transform the initial proposal into the final advertising content.
- Creative Strategy: Once the copy is finished, it will be analyzed by the creative team in two phases. First they will make sure that the messages are creative and engaging enough to convince/convert the consumer. Then the message will transformed into a final piece of art, potentially including images, videos, infographics, and custom fonts. This is all part of graphic design and is carried out by advertising creatives.
- Media Strategy: Here you need to specify which media platforms the campaigns will be published on. This depends on the desired reach and the segmentation that you have determined. Analyze all of the options up until the perfect plan is created.
Advertising Messages and Language
When a company decides to invest in marketing, it’s not enough to just have a message. The language of advertising is a very important part of connecting with an audience. Even though the goal is for clients to make a purchase, posting an ad that just says “BUY THIS” is not very motivating or inspiring. Naturally, it's necessary to craft a message before sending it out into the market in order to make it more compelling.
One way to do this is by creating a powerful slogan. This is one of the best strategies in marketing because it sticks with people. A good example of this is from Nike whose slogan "Just Do It" is a simple, yet effective and popular message. They use it across different types of media (video, billboards, online ads, etc.) because it resonates with people and represents the ethos of the brand.
Another tool that is not as widely used by companies is music. Many businesses have reminded consumers of their brand through the use of catchy songs that incorporate key information about their brand. A good example from the US is the Folgers Coffee jingle. Who doesn’t remember that one?
Differences Between Online and Offline Advertising Techniques
With the arrival of the internet came a series of new marketing formats collectively called online marketing. Quite simply, if the medium or format of a campaign relies on the internet, we naturally refer to this as online advertising. Otherwise the campaign would be referred to as offline advertising.
A great advertising campaign depends on both online and offline formats in order to fully achieve its objectives. However, investments in online advertising have been growing over the last few years. Every time a company is asked about their advertising budget, they always confirm that year after year they are investing more and more online.
- Costs. Due to the large scope of online/offline advertising, generalizing is not really an option. There are cheaper options and there are more expensive ones. However, unlike conventional ad campaigns, online advertising can be more cost effective and can offer a variety of payment options (like PPC).
- Direct Conversion vs. Indirect Conversion. One of the most biggest differences between traditional means and the internet lies in the conversion rate. When online, a user is exposed to a campaign which they can immediately interact with. For example, they can see an ad, click on it, go to the website and buy in a matter of minutes. This cannot be accomplished with offline advertising.
- Metrics and Recruitment Methods. Digital marketing statistics are incredibly precise it's actually quite easy to obtain information. Data from all users can be accessed by the advertiser and/or marketing agency. In offline campaigns, it is not possible to obtain much data. Furthermore, online advertising can be contracted almost immediately. In more traditional mediums, one has to allow a lot more time.
- Adjustments in Real Time. Another advantage of digital ads is the fact that you can adjustment campaigns over time. Using a specific analysis provided based on metrics, a company can change its advertising investment strategy in a matter of minutes.
- Reaching the Target Audience. It’s true that for digital ads to reach people, the internet is a necessity. This could be problematic for those who don’t have internet access. However, it is also true that online marketing allows for specific segmentation and is capable of reaching the segments of a population that are the target of a campaign. Offline mediums offer the exact opposite. These ads are capable of reaching large numbers of people but without any real filters.
Advertising is an absolute necessity and therefore it's important to create strategies that are specifically designed so that your products or services have solid brand recognition with consumers in your target market. This is not an easy process, so we recommend you entrust this work to specialists in the sector who can offer you the best possible results!
