Role of Advertising in Promotion

1. Awareness:

One of the important roles of advertising is to create awareness of the product or services such as brand name and price. The awareness of the product or services can be created through highlighting the unique features of the brand. Nowadays, due to intense competition it is not just enough to create awareness, but top of mind awareness is needed.

2. Information:

Advertising helps to inform the target audience about the product. Providing information is closely related to creating awareness of the product. Potential customers must know about a product, such as product features and uses.Product information is very much required, especially when the product is introduced in the market, or when product modification is undertaken. Proper product information can help the consumers in their purchase decision.

3. Persuasion:

When business firms offer similar products, the firm must not only inform the customers about the product’s availability, but also persuade them to buy it. Through persuasive messages, the marketers try to provide reasons regarding the superiority of their products as compared to others available in the market. Persuasion can be undertaken through creative advertising messages, product demonstration at trade fairs, offering free gifts, premium offers and organizing contests.

4. Attitudes:

Promotion is required to build or reinforce attitudes in the minds of target audience. The marketers expect the target audience to develop a favourable attitude towards their brands. Positive attitude towards the brand helps to increase its sales. Through promotional techniques like advertising, the mar­keter can correct negative attitude towards the product, if any. Negative attitude can also be corrected through public relations and advertising.

5. Reminder:

If target customers already have a positive attitude towards a firm’s product or service, then a reminder objective may be necessary. The reminder objective is necessary because the satisfied customers can be targets for competitors’ appeals. Well-established brands need to remind the customers about their presence in the market. For instance, ‘Raymond – the complete man’ campaign is designed to remind the customers.

6. Brand Loyalty:

Advertising helps to develop brand loyalty. Brand loyalty results in repeat purchases and favourable recommendations to others by existing customers. Sales promotion, effective personal selling, timely and efficient direct marketing, and other techniques help to develop brand loyalty.

7. Brand Image:

An advertiser helps to develop a good image of the brand in the minds of target audience. There are several factors that can be of help to audience. There are several factors, such as the character of the personality that endorses the brand, the content of the advertising message, the nature and type of pack­aging and the type of programmes or events sponsored, that can help to develop brand image in the minds of target audience.

8. Counter Competitors’ Claims:

The marketer may counter the claims made by the major competitors. For instance, competitive advertising is undertaken to counter the claims made by competitors either directly or indirectly. With the help of creative advertising, the marketers can claim the superiority of their brand. The marketer may also undertake aggressive sales promotion to counter the competition in the market.

9. Expansion of Markets:

Successful ads results in expansion of the markets. A marketer may intend to expand markets from the local level to the regional level, from the regional level to the national level, and from the national level to the international level. For this purpose, the marketer may undertake various techniques of promotion.

10. Educating the Customers:

Promotion may be undertaken to educate the customers. For instance, some of the advertising is undertaken to educate the audience regarding the use of the product, handling operations, and so on. Public awareness campaigns also educate the public regarding the negative effects of noise, air and dirt pollution, social evils, and so on.