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Advertising: Types & Features

Advertising is a paid form of communication, a non-personal message through different media platforms to influence the buying behaviour of the customers or clients. We all are living in a world of consumerism, where the market always has an answer for the public’s growing needs/demands. The term advertising belongs to the subtle influence's that primarily focus on a message to buy a product, use a service, or follow an idea as suggested by the advertiser.

Surprisingly, there is evidence that the advertising has its traces even in ancient times around 4000 BCE as mentioned in Egyptian evidence. Chinese and European civilisations also have the records to prove the presence of advertising. From ancient times to the modern, it has changed its nature.

We will now focus on the different types of advertising using different media platforms in detail:

Print Media Advertising

Despite being one of the oldest form of advertising, print media is widely used even today by the small and big advertisers for their advertising needs.Not only because of its credibility, which comes with time, but also because of its reach to the targeted audience and the flexibility of advertisement forms are few things that make the print media a part of most of the advertisement campaigns. Print media includes different types of Newspaper advertisements, Magazines advertisements, Periodicals and Trade journals, Brochures, Flyers etc. The choice of a specific medium depends upon the product or service and the best-suited option for that. Prints ads commonly follow two major forms of advertisements you can book the ads as Classified ads and Display advertisements. Classified advertisement caters to small advertisers for their basic advertising needs, and Display ads are for broader coverage purposes.

Radio Advertising

Radio advertising has its own long journey. With the gaining popularity across the rural and urban settings, Radio has become the choice of many advertisers. With the emergence of FM Radio, it has increased manifold. There are several FM radio stations offering their services for advertising. Radio advertising is primarily of two types: Sponsored Ads: Ads sponsoring some program or part of the program.

Regular Ads: These ads appear before, after or during the program.

These ads are voice-based with the mix of script, sound effects, and music; offering a wide range of advertising forms like Jingle Ads, Testimonial ads, Sponsorship ads, and Live on-air ads. Even though Radio has a limited market share in advertising, still it is a popular and integral part of any media campaign.

Television Advertising (Cable/Satellite/Advance television)

Television is undoubtedly one of the most popular among the traditional advertising media, and an expensive one too. Television ads are audio-visual ads with more impact and better reach. Television ads have grown significantly in the year 2019 in India. Television ads or TV commercials are broadly of two types -

  • Sponsored Ads: When a television program or part of the program is sponsored by the advertisers.
  • Normal TV Commercials: Most of the advertisements fall in this category. The advertisement appears during the breaks while the programs aired (before /after/ during the program). The charge of the advertisements depends upon the time slot of the broadcast and the duration of the advertisement.

Going by the content, television ads are presented in several formats like Demo ads, Celebrity endorsement, Testimonial advertisements, Public service advertising, etc.

Outdoor Advertising

Outdoor Advertisement is another cost-effective medium of advertising. This type of advertising is also called OOH (out of house advertising). As the name suggests, this type is advertisement is meant for those who are out of their houses or on the move. Billboards (Static, Digital and Mobile ), Banners, Point of sale advertising, Wall writings, Building wraps, Bus shelter posters, are some of the examples of Outdoor media. These ads can be easy to recall and hard to avoid as they are so prominently placed with loud content and eye-catching visuals. Vehicle advertising is also an interesting outdoor medium in which some vehicle is used with a vinyl wrap covering its body or a part of the body. Different types of vehicles are used according to the need and type of advertisements.

Direct Mail

Direct mailing is another type of advertisement that allows you to communicate at a one-to-one level with the consumer. Direct mail is a physical correspondence sent by the advertisers to the prospects with some information, and benefits that promote CTA (call to action). CTA leads to some kind of benefit for the advertisers. Though it seems that this type of advertising is a thing of the past but it is just a misconception. Direct mailing is quite effective and has more control over the entire advertising process. You know to whom you are posting(you already have your mailing list with you).

Digital Media Advertising

Advertising through digital media is the latest and most promising form of advertising that is gaining popularity with the growth in the number of people using digital mediums. Digital Advertising is a broader term used for advertisement through different online channels:

Social Media Advertising: As the name suggests, Social media advertising uses social media platforms for Regular Ads: These ads appear before, after or during the program.. There are a myriad of advertisement opportunities offered in different types of social media platforms.

  • Social Networking Sites(Facebook, LinkedIn etc.)
  • Video Sites(YouTube etc.)
  • Microblogging sites(Twitter etc.)
  • Picture sharing sites(Instagram, Pinterest etc.)

Websites:

Websites are also used for advertising and brand promotion. The objective of the advertisement is brand promotion and converting the user (leads)into a customer. Website advertisements appear in different forms like Still ads, Web banners, Pop-up ads, Floating ads   Expanding ads etc.

Search Engine: SEO

E-Mail

E-mail is also a way to connect with your target audience. It is quite similar to Direct mail advertising but this one is using online mediums for sending mails instead of physical mails.

Mobile Advertising:

With the rapid growth of mobile users, the mobile is also sharing some of the advertising space for the past few years. Mobile advertising is relatively new. Mobile ads are delivered in the form of display ads through SMS, MMS or using mobile applications or games.

There are plenty of Advertising options that allow advertisers to be effective in expressing ideas. Ever-expanding mediums for advertising are helping both the consumers and advertisers.

Creative Thinks Media