Features of Advertising

Advertising can be compared with modem just as without a modem internet won’t work as modem is the link between computer and internet, in the same way advertising is the link between the consumer and the company. In order to understand concept of advertising better let’s look at some of the important features of advertising –

1. The first and foremost important feature of advertising is that it should be creative because creativity can be deciding factor in this age of competitive world. For example there are two mobile manufacturers and they both want to advertise about the unbreakable glass of the mobile now one company is advertising it as even if it falls down from pocket it won’t break whereas the second company is advertising it as even if an elephant stands on mobile then also it won’t break. In this case second company advertisement is more creative and it is likely to be remembered more by the customers leading to more sales for the second company.
2. Another important feature of advertising is that it should be cost effective implying that the benefits from advertising should be more than the cost of advertising because many times company spends millions of dollar only to find that it has not produced the desired result. For example the company spends millions on celebrities to endorse their product but if company’s product is of such nature that it does not require any celebrity endorsement then it is better to advertise the product without celebrity which will result in company saving millions of dollars.
3. It should not be confusing and misleading because with false or misleading advertising you can attract customer one time but as far as repeat customers are concerned they will come only if the product is good and if the product is not as good as advertised then that 1 customer will tell 10 potential customers not to buy the product leading to bad publicity for the company. Hence as far as the company is concerned it is better not to advertise rather than wasting money on misleading advertisement.
4. It should be flexible because 30 years back advertisement was done only in newspaper and radio then advertising on televisions was the more preferred option and now the online medium is hot for advertisement. If the company does not alter its advertisement strategy according to current trends then it will not be successful in creating an effective advertisement.
5. Advertising should be entertaining and at the same time it should be informative because many companies feel that there is no need for advertisement to be entertaining as the advertisement is for short time but even for short time advertising can be made captivating so that it remain in the minds of consumers for a long period of time. In short it should be such that it should not look like a product advertisement rather the product should be part of the advertisement.
6. Advertisement should be directed and shown to the target group customers and not to everyone, so for example the advertisements of chocolates and cookies should be shown on cartoon channels because cartoon channels are seen by kids and chocolates and cookies are consumed by kids more than the adults or advertisements of stock brokerage firms and finance related advertisements should be shown on business channels and not on entertainment channels.

Above features are not exhaustive and many more can be added to the above depending on the product which is being advertised and also the target customers for which it is intended.