Advertising/Basics

Advertisers refer to the standard communications model of a source transmitting a message through a channel (which contains a degree of noise) to a target. Feedback is received by the source in response to the message. Good feedback typically comes in the form of money spent on the product advertised.

Customer Relations Management (CRM) is concerned with (among other things) the conversion rate: percentage of customers who "try and buy" the product.

There are three types of appeals in advertising: logical, ethical, and emotional.

Advertising is just one way to spend your marketing dollar. There are a variety of ways to promote a product, collectively called Marketing Communications (MarCom). They are illustrated by the MarCom Matrix.

Marketing Public Relations (MPR) is an attractive alternative to advertising. MPR uses public relations techniques as part of a marketing campaign. PR tools used by marketers include newsletters, events, endorsements, demonstrations, contests, and interviews.

There are two main types of promotion: trade promotion and consumer promotion. The differences in ad strategies are characterized as "push" and "pull": trade promotions are designed to push the product (into the market), and consumer promotions are made to pull the product (into the shopping cart).

Promotions
The three types of promotions are Win, Free, and Save.

Win
Examples of "win"-type promotions are games and contests. Sweepstakes are probably the most popular "win" promotion. According to US law, purchase cannot be necessary to win a sweepstakes. If purchase were necessary, that would make it a lottery; and lotteries can only be conducted by the state.

Free
A "free"-type promotion offers the consumer something for no charge. These are premiums (buy one product, get a second one free), bonus packs ("more for less"), and sampling (free samples). A continuity program is a free-type promotion that makes the consumer part of a "club". An example of this are coffee shops that give their customers a card that is punched or stamped each time they buy coffee; after a certain number of purchases are made, they are given a free coffee.

Save
Examples of "save" promotions are coupons, rebates, and other money-saving ads. Some save promotions are a type of premium, where a customer can buy one (or more) items at the regular price and get an additional one at a reduced price (e.g. "Buy one, get the second 50% off"). Another type of save promotion is the FSI (Free-Standing Insert), a sheet of coupons typically inserted into newspapers.