Look through the sentences and decide which of them are True (T) or False (F)

Advertising Strategy

An advertising strategy is a campaign developed to present ideas about products and services to potential consumers in the hopes of convincing them to buy those products and services. This strategy, when built in a rational and intelligent manner, will reflect the whole business. As well-knownwritersAlexander Hiam and Charles D. Schewe stated, a business's advertising strategy "determines the character of the company's public face."Even though a small business has limited capital and is unable to devote as much money to advertising as a large corporation, it can still develop a highly effective advertising campaign. The key is creative and flexible planning, based on indepth knowledge of the target consumer and the ways to reach that consumer.Ideally, this established and ever-growing consumer base will eventually aid the company in its efforts to carry their advertising message out into the market.

Today, most advertising strategies focus on achieving three general goals: 1) inform potential consumers about a business and its product or services; 2) stimulate sales directly and "attract competitors' customers"; and 3) establish or modify a business' image.In other words, advertising seeks to inform, persuade, and remind the consumer.

As a business begins, one of the major goals of advertising must be to inform potential consumersabout the business and its products.Once the business' reputation is established and its products are positioned within the market, the amount of resources used for advertising will go down as the consumer develops a kind of loyalty to the product. What most advertisers stress from the beginning is clear planning and flexibility. And key to these aims is creativity, and the ability to adapt to new market trends.

With these concrete objectives, the following elements of the advertising strategy need to be considered: target audience, product concept, communication media, and advertising message.The target consumer is a combination of persons. It includes the person who buys the product, as well as those who decide what product will be bought (but don't physically buy it), and those who influence product purchases, such as children, family, and friends.The product concept grows out of how the product is positioned within the market. This will dictate the kind of values the product represents, and how the target consumer will receive that product.The communication media is the means by which the advertising message is sent to the consumer. The types of media categories include the following:newspapers (both weekly and daily) and magazines; FM and AM radio; promotional videos; World Wide Web: direct mail; billboards, advertisements on public transportation (cabs, buses).An advertising message is guided by the "advertising platform," which is a combination of the marketing goals and production values. It should be done after choosing target audience, product concept and communication media. At this point, the advertising message can be directed at a very concrete audience to achieve very specific goals. When creating the advertisment, direct language (saying exactly what you mean in a positive, rather than negative manner) is the most effective. The theory here is that the less the audience has to interpret, the easier the message will be to read, understand, and act upon.

Small business owners also need to consider the visual rhetoric of the advertisement, which simply means that the entire advertisement, including blank space, should have meaning and logic. Most industry experts recommend that advertisers use short paragraphs, lists, and catchy illustrations. Remember, an advertisement has to capture the reader's attention quickly.

The advertising budget can be written before or after a business owner has developed the advertising strategy. When to make a budget decision depends on the importance of advertising and the resources available to the business. If, for instance, a business knows that they only have a certain amount of money for advertising then the budget will tend to dictate what advertising is developed. On the other hand, if a business has the resources available, the advertising strategy can be developed more widely.

There are two methods of advertising: the push method and the pull method. The aim of the push method is to persuade retailers, salespersons, or dealers to carry and promote the product. This relationship is achieved by offering the retailer help to sell the product. Whereas aim of the pull method is to make the target consumer try and buy the product. This process is achieved by directly appealing to the target consumer with coupons, in-store displays, etc.

Analysing the advertising campaign is very important too. Many small businessessimply throw a campaign out there and hope for the best. The small business owner who does not bother to adequately analyze his or her advertising efforts is in danger of throwing away a perfectly good advertising strategy if he or she is unable to determine whether business upturns or downturns appear because of the advertising or some other factor.The only way to know how your advertising strategy is working is to ask the consumer, the opinions of whom can be gathered in several ways.The direct response survey is one of the most accurate means of measuring the effectiveness of a company's advertising for the simple reason that it measures actual responses to a business's advertisements.

Some businesses prefer using services of advertising agencies. The decision whether or not to use an advertising agency depends both on a company's advertising strategy and its financial resources. An agency has professionals who can organize, create, and place advertising so that it will show your product in the best possible light. Because of their resources and expertise, agencies are useful when a business is planning a broad advertising campaign that will require a large amount of resources. An advertising agency can also help track and analyze the effectiveness of the advertising.

There are special advertising laws that help businessman to regulate the procedure.The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) protects consumers from deceptive or misleading advertising.

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Look through the sentences and decide which of them are True (T) or False (F).

a) An advertising strategy is a campaign made to show ideas about products and services to potential investors in the hopes of convincing them to buy them.

b) The key to the successful advertising is the creativity and flexibility of planning.

c) Today, most advertising strategies can achieve three general goals.

d) When the consumer develops a kind of loyalty to the product, the amount of resources used for advertising will increase.

e) Target audience, product concept, communication media, and advertising message are the elements of the advertising strategy that need to be considered.

f) The target consumer is a combination of opinions.

g) The product concept will dictate the kind of values the product manifests, and how potential buyers will receive that product.

h) Advertisers use short paragraphs, lists, and catchy illustrations because an advertisment has to attract the reader's attention in the first place.

i) The advertising budget can be written before a business owner has developed the advertising strategy.

j) It is of no particular importance to analyze the advertising campaign.