Modes and Functions of Advertising as a Tool of Marketing

According to Moriarty et al. (2014), promotion mix of the marketing strategies that the company undertakes plays an important role in determining the success or failure of a product or service. Advertising on the other hand is one of the most effective tools of promotion. Percy and Elliott (2016), state that Advertising is a form of mass communication that allows a company to communicate with the target market. However, so and so state that advertising is a paid form of communication which enables the company to send a message to the customers (Buil et al. 2014). 

            There are a number of modes in which a message can be advertised: print, television, radio, audio, digital, OOH (OUT-OF-HOME) etc are (Lee and Johnson 2013). Print advertising dose not only include newspaper and magazine, pamphlets, brochures, advertorial piece in newspapers etc (Pilelien? and Grigali?nait? 2014).  Television has also a number of ways for advertising there are banners are now a popular means of advertising in television apart from commercials. Radio and other audio modes use similar means of advertising however, with technology OOH has changed; digital billboards along with traditional hoardings etc are used in OOH (Jewell and Saenger 2014).

The lasted mode of advertising is digital media, as social media acceptance among the customers are rising more and more companies are choosing to advertise on social media, both audio visual advertisements can be used in this medium and with considerable less expense (Tiago and Veríssimo 2014). Muratovic et al. (2014), there are advertising agencies that help other organizations with their advertising content. In order to maximize the reach of the message it is important to choose the right medium of advertising the medium which is most effective for the target market. In this case there are also media planning agencies which help companies to plan their budget according to the effectiveness (Maehle and Supphellen 2015).

            The ways in which consumers are influenced to buy a certain product or service is known as consumer behaviour. According to Solomon et al. (2014), the study of consumer behaviour helps the company to not only develop products and services that will serve the requirement of the customers but also, develop other marketing strategies to reach out to the target market. Sparks et al. (2013), says that there are a number of factors that are influences the consumer behavior:  purchasing power, marketing strategies by the company, social influence, Psychological factors etc.  Consumer behavior leads to buying decisions based on the motives associated with buying (Mullen and Johnson 2013).

Factors Influencing Consumer Behavior

            Carey (2014), states that, advertising is one of the most effective marketing tools. However, advertising is dependent on other marketing mix elements like market research and segmentation, product development, pricing, positioning strategy etc. The effectiveness of the process depends on a number of factors, which furthermore helps in establishing the perception for the company on the minds of the people (Lee and Johnson 2013). This can be achieved by for example, with the help of developing a brand image. According to Parente and Strausbaugh-Hutchinson (2014), the message that the company wants to send the customers should be clear and to the point.

On the other hand, so and so, mentions that the choice of medium of advertising is important as it ensures the reach of the message to the right people (Maehle and Supphellen 2015). For example: if a product is aimed for the kids then the choice of television channel where the product should be advertised are kid’s channels. Persuasion is an objective of advertising and the degree to which advertising is persuasive is also important in ensuring efficiency. This is the factor that leads the customers to buy or not to buy a product.

            There are a number of functions apart from communication that is performed by advertising as a tool of marketing (Lee and Johnson 2013). It helps in the establishment of a brand; a company wants to establish itself as a brand because it leads to a recall value in the minds of the people. It helps the customers in understanding how the company is different from the others in the market. Hence it can be said that advertise has a role in establishing the competitive advantage of the company (Lee and Johnson 2013).

            According to Lantos (2015), the people who are in the middle income group spend their hard earned money in products or services that would provide them utility and value. Thus the quality of the product and the price of the product are important for this group of people. The people in this group are looking to save their money wherever possible. Television, radio, digital, print as well as OOH are the entire medium that this group is exposed to (Hugstad and Durr 2015).  Guarin and Knurling (2014), state that the luxury industry is a segment that is an aspiration for people in this industry.

The purchasing power of people are limited to a lower degree and thus the choices that these people make are mostly based on something that they trust would be worth the money. Hence they have the tendency to use the same products over and over again. With advertising the companies have to establish that trust and confidence among the customers which will lead them to eventually buy that product (Hugstad and Durr 2015). The companies whose target markets are middle income group people they have to ensure that the claims for the quality of the product or service are appropriate. Because in case the product does not work out for a customer they will not return to it (Ranganath and Adarsha 2013)..

Establishing Brand Image through Advertising

            The purpose of advertising is to convince people regarding the product or service, weather it the objective is to introduce a product or to establish some added benefits to the product or to make people aware of some other promotional message like discounts etc.  One of the major aspects that advertising uses to influence consumer behaviour is establishing the brand, awareness regarding the brand helps the consumer to identify a product or service and associate all the values which are aligned with the brand. Rai (2013), states that advertisement influences the customers to materialize the purchase of products. The author also states that the influence is also evident when the message focuses on the quality and the prices of the products. 

People are looking out for products that can give value for the money and that are what is important to establish in an advertisement (Buil et al. 2014). According to Rai (2013), the factors that influence the consumer behaviour should be the main focus of the advertisement in order to gather the attention of the customers.  Any advertisement that communicate to the customers that they will get the value for their money and more with the usage of the product or service leads in to an action of purchase or even consideration of purchasing (Rai 2013).

Advertising help the customers to choose from the wide range of products that are available in the market. Since there is intense competition among the most of the products and services in the market it is important for the content of the Advertisement to be engaging and attractive to the customers in order for them to end up buying it (Ranganath and Adarsha 2013). Factors like a celebrity endorsement, the focus on the needs of the customer in the content of the advertisement have an impact positive or negative on the consumer behaviour.

            From the above discussion the gap in the literature that has been found is the elements of advertising that impact the consumer behaviour. As every customer thinks and behaves in a different way there are a number of variables that impact the customer to make their buying decision. There are also hardly any information regarding South African consumers in the literature(Rai 2013).

            In the process of researching the authors faced issues with collecting information from the people who have been contacted, a number of replies could not be used as they were mostly speaking on general terms. It is also not easy for the researchers to get the time for the marketing mangers of some of the organisations to get information (Lee and Johnson 2013).

Conclusion

            The topic of impact of advertising has been researched by a number of researchers however, there are limited research based on South African population, this is an important challenge that will be followed by the researcher (Rai 2013).

            The research topic should be narrow and should cater to a population that is easily accessible. While taking any kind of sample size the researcher should ensure that the source is credible, this is not only for the case of primary research but also for secondary research (Rai 2013). Researchers also indicate not to waste time or resource on the source that does not have credibility. Most of the research is narrowed down to the advertisements of organisation or a group of people (Lee and Johnson 2013).

            From the above discussion it can be conclude that the there are a number of researches on the topic. However the researcher has narrowed it to the middle income group of people living in a particular area of South Africa. It is also found that Advertising is a paid form of communication that has a number of medium to reach out to the people. However, the effectiveness lies on choosing the right medium along with several other aspects. According to some of the literature advertising have an impact on the consumer behaviour, some of the factors are the need for a known face to endorse the product, the content of the advertisement, the message of the advertisement.

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