Types of Advertising

Here is an article that talks about the different types of advertising.

Read on and you'll be amazed that there are kinds you never even thought were advertising.

Advertising is the promotion of a company's products and services carried out primarily to drive up sales of the products and services. It is also done to build a brand identity and impart changes in old products or introduce new product/services to the customers. Advertising has become an essential element of the corporate world and hence companies allot a worthy of consideration amount of resources towards their advertising budget. There are several reasons for advertising, some of which are as follows:

• Increasing the sales of the product/service.
• Creating and maintaining a brand identity or brand image.
• Communicating a change in the existing product line.
• Introduction of a new product or service.
• Increasing the buzz-value of the brand or the company.

Thus, there are several reasons for advertising. Similarly, there exist various media which can be effectively used for advertising. Mentioned below are the various categories or types of advertising. Have a look.

Print Advertising - Newspapers, Magazines, Brochures, Fliers 

Print media has always been a popular advertising option. 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, newspapers and magazines sell the advertising space according to the area occupied by the advertisement, the position of the advertisement in the publication (front page/middle page, above/below the fold), as well as the readership of the publications. For instance, an advertisement in a relatively new and less popular newspaper will cost far less than an advertisement in an established newspaper that has a high readership. The price of print ads may also depend on quality of the paper and the supplement in which they appear. For example, an advertisement in the glossy (and popular) supplement of a newspaper costs more than one in a supplement which uses mediocre quality paper. 

Outdoor Advertising - Billboards, Kiosks, 

Trade-shows and Events

Outdoor advertising is also a very popular form of advertising. It makes use of several tools and techniques to attract the customers outdoors. The most common examples of outdoor advertising are billboards, kiosks, and also events and trade-shows organized by the company. Billboard advertising is very popular. However it has to be really terse and catchy in order to grab the attention of the passersby. Kiosks not only provide an easy outlet for the company's products but also make for an effective advertising tool to promote the company's products. Organizing special events or sponsoring them makes for an excellent advertising opportunity and strategy. 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 were introduced. The cost of television advertising often depends on the duration of the advertisement, the time of broadcast (prime time/lull time), sometimes the show on which it will be broadcast, and of course, the popularity of the television channel itself. The radio might have lost its charm owing to new age media. However it remains the choice of small-scale advertisers. Radio jingles have been very a popular advertising medium and have a large impact on the audience, which is evident in the fact that many people still remember and enjoy old 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 advertising as such 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. Pay attention next time, you're sure to come across a lot of such examples.

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. Hence these companies come up with several other products that have the same brand name and indirectly remind people of the cigarettes or alcohol of the same brand by advertising the other products. 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 messages about important matters and social 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 the advertising field for a social cause. Oglivy once said, "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 the United States, radio and television stations are granted to bidders on the basis of a fixed amount of public service advertisements aired by the channel. 

Celebrity Advertising

Although the audience is getting smarter and smarter and the modern-day consumer is getting immune to the exaggerated claims made in a majority of advertisements, there exists 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. How effective these ads are, is something that each consumer himself can determine. 

So, those were the most popular kinds of advertising used today. Each of the advertisement types mentioned has its own sub-types and rates of effectiveness. It is the job of advertising department to figure out which type of which medium is the best and the most feasible for the company.