What is Advertising?

Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience (viewers, readers or listeners) to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common. Advertising messages are usually paid for bysponsors and viewed via various traditional media; including mass media such as newspaper, magazines, television commercial,radio advertisement, outdoor advertising or direct mail; or new media such as websites and text messages. 0 Ways to Advertise your Business If you have a work at home business that you run over the internet with a website you will need to get the word out and attract people to your site. There are several ways to do this. Just remember to have a budget and stick to it. Make a plan and do something every day to advertise your work at home business. It is a competitive world out there so try to be unique and original. Your advertising needs to pop out at people to get their attention. If they’ve seen it a hundred times, they’re not going to pay attention to yours. Make your potential customers want to see what you have to offer and want to keep coming back for more. It can be challenging and hard work, but in the end it will all be worth it when your business is a success. These are some of the things you can do to advertise your work at home business. Advertising both online and offline can bring customers to your business. Here are some ideas 10 Ways to Advertise your Business – Make a unique†¦ (Page 2 of 4 ) Make a unique and exciting web page. If you are working online, this will be the heart and soul of your business. Make it as interesting as possible. You want potential customers to want to stay and read all the information you have to offer and buy your products. Write original articles and submit them to article directories. Use your website in your resource box and people will visit your website if the article intrigues them enough. Submit your website to link directories. The more exposure and back links to your site you can get, the better. Find link directories that are popular and have lots of traffic and you’ll have visitors in no time. Place online and offline classifieds. Find classified sites, there are paid and free, and submit eye catching ads. Make the title pop so people will instantly be drawn to it. Hand out flyers with your website address on them. Make flyers with a slogan or picture that will make people stop and look at it. Don’t be afraid to use some color. 10 Ways to Advertise your Business – Get some business†¦ (Page 3 of 4 ) Get some business cards made up with your website address on them. Hand these out whenever you get a chance. You can add color to these also. Make use of the many traffic exchanges on the internet. Find as many as you can and pick the ones that interest you. Use as many as you’re comfortable with because you’ll have to surf and click for an hour or so a day to earn views to your site. Post in forums. Giving people advise on the things you know is building a reputation for you and putting a signature with your name and website address may send people to your site. It’s also a great place to learn from others that are doing the same or similar business as you are. Tell everyone you know about your business and before you know it they will tell others. It’s like a chain reaction, word of mouth can be powerful. Make a capture page. Sometimes they are called squeeze pages or splash pages. Make it short and to the point to grab the attention of the person reading it. They will put their name and email in the opt in form and become a subscriber in your list. You can send them your offers for as long as they are a subscriber. About the Author: Tara Martindale specializes in helping people find the best work at home business opportunities available. Visit Tara's Work at Home Business Opportunities site for details. Print Advertising – Newspapers, Magazines, Brochures, Fliers The print media have always been a popular advertising medium. Advertising products via newspapers or magazines is a common practice. In addition to this, the print media also offers options like promotional brochures and fliers for advertising purposes. Often the newspapers and the magazines sell the advertising space according to the area occupied by the advertisement, the position of the advertisement (front page/middle page), as well as the readership of the publications. For instance an advertisement in a relatively new and less popular newspaper would cost far less than placing an advertisement in a popular newspaper with a high readership. The price of print ads also depend on the supplement in which they appear, for example an advertisement in the glossy supplement costs way higher than that in the newspaper supplement which uses a mediocre quality paper. Outdoor Advertising – Billboards, Kiosks, Tradeshows and Events Outdoor advertising is also a very popular form of advertising, which makes use of several tools and techniques to attract the customers outdoors. The most common examples of outdoor advertising are billboards, kiosks, and also several events and tradeshows organized by the company. The billboard advertising is very popular however has to be really terse and catchy in order to grab the attention of the passers by. The kiosks not only provide an easy outlet for the company products but also make for an effective advertising tool to promote the company's products. Organizing several events or sponsoring them makes for an excellent advertising opportunity. The company can organize trade fairs, or even exhibitions for advertising their products. If not this, the company can organize several events that are closely associated with their field. For instance a company that manufactures sports utilities can sponsor a sports tournament to advertise its products. Broadcast advertising – Television, Radio and the Internet Broadcast advertising is a very popular advertising medium that constitutes several branches like television, radio or the Internet. Television advertisements have been very popular ever since they have been introduced. The cost of television advertising often depends on the duration of the advertisement, the time of broadcast (prime time/peak time), and of course the popularity of the television channel on which the advertisement is going to be broadcasted. The radio might have lost its charm owing to the new age media however the radio remains to be the choice of small-scale advertisers. The radio jingles have been very popular advertising media and have a large impact on the audience, which is evident in the fact that many people still remember and enjoy the popular radio jingles. Covert Advertising – Advertising in Movies Covert advertising is a unique kind of advertising in which a product or a particular brand is incorporated in some entertainment and media channels like movies, television shows or even sports. There is no commercial in the entertainment but the brand or the product is subtly( or sometimes evidently) showcased in the entertainment show. Some of the famous examples for this sort of advertising have to be the appearance of brand Nokia which is displayed on Tom Cruise's phone in the movie Minority Report, or the use of Cadillac cars in the movie Matrix Reloaded. Surrogate Advertising – Advertising Indirectly Surrogate advertising is prominently seen in cases where advertising a particular product is banned by law. Advertisement for products like cigarettes or alcohol which are injurious to health are prohibited by law in several countries and hence these companies have to come up with several other products that might have the same brand name and indirectly remind people of the cigarettes or beer bottles of the same brand. Common examples include Fosters and Kingfisher beer brands, which are often seen to promote their brand with the help of surrogate advertising. Public Service Advertising – Advertising for Social Causes Public service advertising is a technique that makes use of advertising as an effective communication medium to convey socially relevant messaged about important matters and social welfare causes like AIDS, energy conservation, political integrity, deforestation, illiteracy, poverty and so on. David Oglivy who is considered to be one of the pioneers of advertising and marketing concepts had reportedly encouraged the use of advertising field for a social cause. Oglivy once said, â€Å"Advertising justifies its existence when used in the public interest – it is much too powerful a tool to use solely for commercial purposes. . Today public service advertising has been increasingly used in a non-commercial fashion in several countries across the world in order to promote various social causes. In USA, the radio and television stations are granted on the basis of a fixed amount of Public service advertisements aired by the channel. Celebrity Advertising Although the audience is ge tting smarter and smarter and the modern-day consumer getting immune to the exaggerated claims made in a majority of advertisements, there exist a section of advertisers that still bank upon celebrities and their popularity for advertising their products. Using celebrities for advertising involves signing up celebrities for advertising campaigns, which consist of all sorts of advertising including, television ads or even print advertisements. The advantages and disadvantages of advertising boils down to one aspect key aspect – cost. BENEFITS Advertising is generally costly, but has to be viewed as an investment and a cost that is going to pay for itself many times over. There are many different types of advertising and not all forms of advertising cost money. The most effective form is word of mouth – when previous customers make recommendations to others. This type of endorsement is invaluable and comes off the back of good service previously delivered. Word of mouth advertising however rarely delivers massive results, instead it is more likely to bring a steady stream of business and enhanced reputation. Media advertising through television, radio and newspapers is a reliable way of driving sales and results, but is an expensive venture. Selecting your target audience and the medium best suited to reach that audience is an art in itself, but when completed properly provides great returns. DISADVANTAGES The downside of advertising is that you have to have your business geared up to cope with additional demand, as well as targeting the right audience. If you spend money on a campaign and do not have the stock or manpower to deal with the demand that follows, it could end up being counter-productive. Being unable to match demand or meet promises can be very damaging to the reputation of a company. If customers are let down or not happy with the service they receive following an advertising campaign, it could be a long time before they consider doing business again. A well planned, targeted advertising campaign can revolutionize a company, bringing them to the public attention and creating a market that can continue to pay dividends for months to come. By keeping the message straightforward and simple a campaign can create a favorable impression, leading to inquires and orders, and giving the company the opportunity to maximize business and profits.