When one starts a business or is running a business, one needs to make people aware of the fact. Promotion is important for any type of business to let others know about the business. Any type of business, whether it is run online or offline requires customers so that it can experience a good business turnaround. However, the only means of reaching customers is advertising. This is why advertising is important for a business. Once a business advertises about its products and services, it is able to run in a competitive environment.
Advertising is important for every aspect of a business. It plays an imperative role for both manufacturers and consumers. Advertising is important for the business on the whole as it lets the business gain more customers, thereby increasing business turnaround.
Advertising can be achieved using various media like television, newspapers, radio, banners, pamphlets, websites etc. Each advertising media has its own pros and cons and one must evaluate all of them before selecting a particular media. The main thing that needs to be considered is that the advertising medium selected must be able to reach a large number of customers.
Generally, businesses hire the services of an advertising agency to promote their products and services. The advertising agency selected by the business owner can handle the entire advertisement campaign and all aspects of the companies Marketing. This way the businessmen can focus on other aspects of the business and need not worry about how to attract more customers. The advertising agency handles the entire process of promoting a product or service by breaking it down into stages and then working on each stage. These stages are described below:
- Market analysis- The advertising agency first studies the market to know the target audience and the needs of the target audience. The Small Business Marketing Consultant at the advertising agency also studies the competition present in the market to know how the advertising campaign will do in the market. This is done to know whether the product or service will be able to stand in the competition or not.
- Selecting the advertising media- Once the advertising agency has decided to go ahead with the advertising campaign, it starts to select the advertising media. The Small Business Marketing Consultant at the agency studies the benefits and drawbacks of all the available media like television, radio, newspaper, internet etc. On the basis of their comparison, the consultants select the media which they feel will do justice to the advertising campaign.
- Cost-benefit analysis- The Small Business Marketing Consultant at the advertising agency then performs a cost benefit analysis. This analysis is performed for two reasons. The first is to decide whether the advertising campaign will benefit the business in the sense will advertising help to earn good business turnaround. If yes, then advertising agency starts with an advertising campaign. The other reason why a cost benefit analysis is done is to check whether the cost of promoting a product or service using a particular advertising media justifies the benefits it reaps. This is done to make sure that advertising using a particular media benefits the business by helping it get more customers and thus high business turnaround.
- Deciding the mode of advertisement- The market consultant at the advertising agency then decides about how the message will be conveyed to the target audience. The advertising agency may use simple pamphlets or banners to let the customers know about the product or service. On the other hand, the advertising agency may film an attractive video to make sure that the target audience is conveyed the message.
- Creating the actual advertisement- Once all aspects are looked into, the Small Business Marketing Consultant at the advertising agency proceeds with the creation of the advertisement. For this, the consultant may take the help of experts at the advertising agency or he may seek the help of professionals from outside. In either case, the end result is the creation of an attractive and appealing advertisement by the advertising agency.
The advertising agency charges for the completion of the advertising campaign. So, it must be ensured that a business man goes in for an advertising agency that completes the work in the specified budget. Also the advertising agency must make sure that it does not exceed the budget because if it does so, the cost will out-shadow the benefits of the advertising campaign. This will not help the business in any manner.
The advertising agency must also be clear about the goals and objectives which the business wants to achieve using the advertisement. When promoting the products and services, the advertising agency must also make sure that the right message gets across to the right people at the right time. If the advertising agency fails to provide the advertisement at the right time, the consumers may shift to another product or service.
Why advertising is important for business and consumers?
The sole purpose of a business is to sell products and services to earn profits. Advertising helps a business to earn profits by enabling more people to know about the products and services and thus resulting in more sales. The consumers on the other hand will never get to know about the products and services if they are not advertised. Advertisements help the consumers to make decisions regarding which product and service to buy. With the help of advertisements, a consumer gets the best possible options.
Today, the advertising industry has become a huge industry because of the large number of products and services being offered. As a result, the competition has also increased, requiring every businessman to promote his products and services in the best possible manner. This has further led to the development of new advertising techniques and an increase in the number of advertising agencies which are available today. The aim of every promotional campaign is to enable the products to reach the right people by increasing the awareness about the product, its benefits and drawbacks. This is important for the success of a business.