Advertising and Promotion

Advertising is a presentation of ideas, goods or services paid for by an identified or identifiable sponsor. Advertising is non personal, mass communication and, as such, has become a potent means of mass education and mass selling. Advertising complements the efforts of personal selling and, in recent years, has been assigned a growing share of the total selling effort. In contrast to product or service publicity, advertising is paid for by the advertiser, and the name of the sponsor appears in connection with the advertisement.
Advertising may use any of several media, such as newspapers, magazines, billboards, catalogs, booklets, car cards, store signs, radio, television, novelties, calendars, blotters, matchboxes, and sky-writing. The selection of media has become a carefully researched activity and some of the best marketing research is done in connection with media studies.
Despite much criticism directed at advertising, induced in a measure by certain advertising excesses and abuses, business is assigning a constantly growing share of the total selling effort to advertising. This has been especially noticeable in recent years in industrial marketing, where the cost of personal calls has soared to $25 or more per call. In contrast, first contact can be made by proper advertising for very much less.
With the growth of the buying committee, where from four to eight people may be involved in a single purchase, advertising is being called upon more and more to open doors and to create interest.
The tasks assigned to advertising have grown in importance and in range. Today, advertising not only broadcasts original information on products or services, but it widens markets by such devices as revealing new uses and attracting leads.
In consumer goods, advertising is given an ever- widening task in creating consumer interest and loyalty, and in selling the company behind the product. This last task-that of creating and enhancing the company image-has assumed special importance in the last few years. Many marketing people believe that customer faith in a company is as important as any other single element in customer loyalty and "repeat" business.
With the increased emphasis on customer-oriented, integrated marketing, advertising has assumed a different and, in some respects, more important role in the total sales effort. Advertising was once considered a rival and a competitor of the sales department. Advertising and sales now work together as partners. Advertising often assists sales in the specific tasks assigned to sales. The total selling job may be broken down into six parts: (1) making preliminary contact, (2) arousing interest, (3) creating preference (for specific brand or product), (4) solving a customer buying problem, (5) getting the order and (6) keeping the customer sold.
Analysis will show that major responsibility for one or the other of these parts may be assigned to either advertising or sales. Both can and do work together towards the same goal. They are, in every respect, partners in accomplishing the total job.
In consumer-goods marketing, pre-selling has become a definite and important part of the total selling effort. This task is assigned almost exclusively to advertising. But personal selling is relied upon to keep the customer sold. With the growing recognition of the imperative need for demand creating, in view of the enormous productive capacity of American and Canadian industrial plants, management recognizes the necessity of wedding the arts of selling and advertising.