Importance of Advertising

Advertising is, simply put, information. Whether we're announcing a new product or service, sharing pricing information, notifying about new points of sale, or simply remembering and reinforcing the image of a brand, everything has to do with transmitting information. Since ancient times, advertising has been of great help in the business world, by promoting healthy competition between companies. Its main objective is to tell the world that we have something interesting to offer and it can be anything from an event, a new product line or a political campaign. It can take the form of print ads, billboards, radio, television, and now also social networks.

Advertising is a constantly present phenomenon in our lives and we can point to the emergence of this phenomenon towards the middle or end of the 19th century when mass societies began to be generated. In this sense, advertising depends to a great extent on the formation of a mass society that can freely access to literacy, information and consumption, being these three proper and necessary pillars of the advertising.

If it is not advertised, it does not exist. What good is it for you to offer the ideal product if nobody knows about it?

Advertising is a form of communication. For most companies it is a key tool for success. A very common and serious mistake is to assume that consumers are automatically aware of what we have to offer them. As if that were not enough, the competition today is such that it is most likely that other companies are doing the same as us and we have to show our target market why we are different and top.

Businesses, which seem to be ubiquitous every day across the media traditional and digital, have the largest customer base and thrive most in business. If no one is aware of how great your product is, they won't buy it, it's as simple as that. People prefer what they know. We generally lean towards what is familiar to us instead of what is unknown. A strange product is always associated with increased risk, and comparing prices and quality can require us to spend considerable time in the decision making. Advertising helps brands gain credibility and trust to become the best option in the minds of their consumers.

Emotional connection with the consumer

Beyond simple information, the best and most effective advertising strategy has an additional and very important purpose: it makes us feel something about the product. By making the customer emotionally connect with the message, brand loyalty is generated, which in the long run translates into higher sales.

A means to educate society

Philip Kotler, better known as "the father of marketing" proposes the concept of Marketing 3.0 which says that today's consumers buy products and services that satisfy their deepest needs for community, idealism and creativity, which is why brands they should focus on offering products and corporate cultures that inspire them and that project their same values, so that they can feel identified. This philosophy not only consists in positioning the brand, but also in promoting an "unstructured" education where knowledge, principles and customs are transmitted to the audience.

Advertising has a remarkable ability to reach the masses and make people aware of various issues.

Therefore, many governments and even non-governmental organizations (NGOs) frequently use it for disease and addiction prevention campaigns, planning familiar, intelligent use of natural resources, etc .

Surely advertising campaigns involve a large investment, however if the strategy is creative and professionally executed, it will will achieve an experience worth remembering in the minds of consumers, with a positive impact for the company reflected in the increase in sales.

Thus, it is common to find spaces or areas where the figure of the public is presented completely full of advertisements. Some examples of these spaces or spheres can be the media (through the advertisements) as well as the same sidewalk or street where the advertisements are present by all sides. In addition, spaces specially designated for the consumption of advertised products arise, such as shopping malls, supermarkets and businesses.

Advertising is based on the idea or notion that the more a product reaches the public, the better known it will become and, therefore, the more possibilities it will have to be consumed.

But being known is not enough. It is important for advertising to be recognized, which makes a substantial difference. While a well-known product does not offer any distinctive element, a well-known product is a product that has already been tested and used and that is chosen again by the consumer who gets. Thus, the task of advertising (and hence its importance) is to convert a product, an object, a good or a service into something that is distinguished from the rest and that seeks to reach a certain type of public.

Photos: iStock, fazon1 / Leonardo Patrizi