Power of Advertising in Creating Product/Service Awareness

Advertising and Its Effects

Advertising is the art of making a product known to the potential buyers. It entails the use of various means of media and any other means that can relay the message to the people out there. Through advertisements, the buyers can know more than just the availability of a product. Besides being made aware of the product, consumers can learn about the prices and the usability of the products being sold. Advertisement is a commercial activity, and media houses make most of the revenue from it (Batra, 2009). People and even companies pay to be covered by the platforms of these media in order to have a better way of convincing the public to purchase the goods and services. This paper discusses the various aspects of advertisement and its effects to all concerned stakeholders.

Forms of advertisements

The most commonly used forms of advertisements include both electronic and print media. Television and radio advertisements have been the most common ones for a long time (Murray, et al., 2004). They both customize the content of the adverts to reach the specific targeted audience. Advertisements made through these means are all important and appropriate when advertising products that need detailed descriptions. When advertising through these channels, only those people who are within range can access the adverts. In this regard, the best adverts to be made are those that are timed and released when it is suspected that people have ample time to view them. This is perhaps in the evenings in what is known in adverts' prime time. In terms of billing, these times cost much money to make an advert, unlike the other hours. Marketing and product promotion cannot be attained without adverts. The print media relays their adverts effectively but not in real time although the content is not live as in the electronic media. Media has a way of boosting sales through adverts (Ferrier & Fleming, 2014).

Apart from the electronic and print media, other forms of advertising include the use of billboards, fliers, and gifts. Billboards are large boards placed in major streets in towns and major highways so that many people can see. This form of advertising is appropriate for use in advertising products, which are new in the market. Since they present the products for view for a very long time, they are appropriate for making a maximum impact on the potential consumers (Olney, Holbrook, & Batra, 1991). Fliers are small leaflets that are circulated possessing the message of the advertisement to intended products. In this case, the adverts are only suitable for short-term events. Together with free goods, the fliers are only suitable when launching a new product. They make the best since they can cause maximum impact instantly (Batra, 2009).

Technology has crept into the advertisement scene and has brought a revolution into the field. Social media is the latest addition to the field of advertisement and is a product of technology. It uses the online platform to make the words known to the world. Social media is an internet-based platform that has a variety of options where people can post their communications and in both verbal and textual manner (Ferrier & Fleming, 2014). In the online platform, people tend to use it mainly for socialization but can also serve as official platforms for companies. Besides the social media, other technology-supported platforms are available for use in this regard. These include blogs and websites. Blogs enable people to share customized information that can sell the company products.

Unlike the social media options, blogs are made of detailed information that can provide a pointer to the nature of the company. Blogs act as identities for the companies since they portray all the features of the company that the public must know. In the case of blogs, the focus is only on a particular company and the products and services it produces. It is important to have everything that a company incorporates to the system so that it easier for clients to trace the products and other services being offered. Mostly, websites are more official. They carry the identity of the company in question and act as avenues where transactions can still take place. Most of the advanced companies have set up avenues for transactions to take place through their websites (Murray, et al., 2004).

In the case of multinationals, business takes place all over the world through the websites. In these websites, advertisements for the products being sold are made well through the open chats section. The advantage of advertising through websites relates to reduced costs. It costs way cheaper to use this avenue since the website belongs to the company hence there will be no hiring costs. The need to have websites was necessitated by the desire for an interaction between the clients and the business (Batra, 2009).

Effects of advertisements

Advertisements have the effect of increasing sales for any product. The products that are advertised get to be known by potential clients. This increases their chance of being bought. Since it details all the product details, adverts convinces consumers to buy and even try new goods and services that they have never seen previously. The net effect of adverts on psychology of consumers cannot be ignored or downplayed. Sometimes, it predisposes clients into impulse buying just because the description provided in an advert is irresistible and appears to satisfy particular need. The other effect of advertisements is that they lead to job creation. Companies have come up are specialized specifically on advertisements. They make revenue for advertising goods for manufacturers and other firms (Olney, Holbrook, & Batra, 1991). Media stations such as television stations also make the largest percentage of their revenue through paid adverts. Endorsements are also part of the major mix of advertisements. This is where celebrities offer themselves to be used to advertize some brands (Ferrier & Fleming, 2014). This attracts revenue for them as well. Suppliers of billboards and all the other advertisement equipment all get their income from the advertisement field. Other effects of advertisement include informing the clients of the features of the products being sold. The information, in this case, includes raising the issue of price and quality of the products being sold. For technical products, the adverts will do the work of explaining how they are used. This will be important for new users (Murray, et al., 2004).