Getting Over That Writer's Block

Writing is a wonderful way of life. However, it can also be one of the most frustrating things out there. This is because of a little thing called Writer's Block. Every writer has suffered from it at one time or another. My most recent case of the block comes from my desire to write a screenplay.

Benefits of Advertising

1. Economic Benefits of Advertising: Advertising can play an important role in the process by which an economic system guided by moral norms and responsive to the common good contributes to human development. Advertising can be a useful tool for sustaining honest and ethically responsible competition that contributes to economic growth in the service of authentic human development. Advertising does this, among other ways, by informing people about the availability of rationally desirable new products and services and improvements in existing ones, helping them to make informed, prudent consumer decisions, contributing to efficiency and the lowering of prices, and stimulating economic progress through the expansion of business and trade. All of these can contribute to the creation of new jobs, higher incomes and a more decent and humane way of life for all.

Unique Selling Proposition

The Unique Selling Proposition (also Unique Selling Point) is a marketing concept that was first proposed as a theory to explain a pattern among successful advertising campaigns of the early 1940s. It states that such campaigns made unique propositions to the customer and that this convinced them to switch brands.

Advertising Objectives

Advertising objectives are the communication tasks to be accomplished with specific customers that a company is trying to reach during a particular time frame. A company that advertises usually strives to achieve one of four advertising objectives: trial, continuity, brand switching, and switchback. Which of the four advertising objectives is selected usually depends on where the product is in its life cycle.

Types of Advertising Research

Research can be conducted to optimize advertisements for any medium: radio, television, print (magazine, newspaper or direct mail), outdoor billboard (highway, bus, or train), or Internet. Different methods would be applied to gather the necessary data appropriately. First, there are two types of research, customized and syndicated. Customized research is conducted for a specific client to address that client’s needs. Only that client has access to the results of the research. Syndicated research is a single research study conducted by a research company with its results available, for sale, to multiple companies.

Positive and Negative Effects of Advertising

Positive Effects:-The positive side of advertising is that it makes you aware that a product or service is available. New and improved products are developed all the time and we can't be expected to keep track of these developments ourselves. So its manufacturer helps us in our lack of awareness and tells us: "Our new and improved product is now even better! Go out and buy it!".

Brand Image & Marketing Mix

Brand Image:-
The total impression created in the mind of a potential consumer by a brand and all its functional and emotional associations. The total image can be seen as the sum of several images such as the product, user, occasion, service and personality images.

Types of Advertising

Advertising, when properly understood, is a powerful tool for marketing. It can be most effective with products that can be differentiated from similar products based on consumer-accepted quality differences. However, regardless of the quality of a product’s advertising, it is important to remember that a product has to compete on its own. For example, brand preference cannot be established if the product fails to meet consumer expectations.

Advertising vs. Public Relations

Paid Space or Free Coverage: -
-Advertising: The company pays for ad space. You know exactly when that ad will air or be published.
-Public Relations: Your job is to get free publicity for the company. From news conferences to press releases, you're focused on getting free media exposure for the company and its products/services.

Characteristics of a Press Release

- Release Time: - This line graces the top of nearly every press release distributed to the media. It tells the journalist or editor receiving it when the information in the release can be made public. Most often, that line will read FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.

- Contact Info: - At a bare minimum, every press release should include the full name of the appropriate media contact person, their phone number, and their email address.

Display Advertising Vs. Classified Advertising

Display advertising appears throughout the newspaper. It refers to graphically designed ads, often with logos, photos, drawings or borders.
Classified advertising, often referred to as "want ads," are text-only ads that appear in a particular section of the paper, classified according to type (Help wanted, real estate, for sale, want to buy, etc.). An ad with a border around it is considered a display ad even if it's located on the classified pages.

The Times-Gazette, like most newspapers, has separate departments for selling classified and display advertising, so you can save yourself time and confusion if you ask for the appropriate department when you call.

Classified ads are typically text only and are charged by the word or line. Display ads usually involve color and artwork and are charged by the amount of column inches they take up.

Forms of Advertising

Advertising can take a number of forms, including advocacy, comparative, cooperative, direct-mail, informational, institutional, outdoor, persuasive, product, reminder, point-of-purchase, and specialty advertising.
1. Advocacy Advertising - Advocacy advertising is normally thought of as any advertisement, message, or public communication regarding economic, political, or social issues. The advertising campaign is designed to persuade public opinion regarding a specific issue important in the public arena. The ultimate goal of advocacy advertising usually relates to the passage of pending state or federal legislation. Almost all nonprofit groups use some form of advocacy advertising to influence the public's attitude toward a particular issue.

2. Comparative Advertising - Comparative advertising compares one brand directly or indirectly with one or more competing brands. This advertising technique is very common and is used by nearly every major industry, including airlines and automobile manufacturers. One drawback of comparative advertising is that customers have become more skeptical about claims made by a company about its competitors because accurate information has not always been provided, thus making the effectiveness of comparison advertising questionable.

3. Cooperative Advertising - Cooperative advertising is a system that allows two parties to share advertising costs. Manufacturers and distributors, because of their shared interest in selling the product, usually use this cooperative advertising technique. An example might be when a soft-drink manufacturer and a local grocery store split the cost of advertising the manufacturer's soft drinks; both the manufacturer and the store benefit from increased store traffic and its associated sales. Cooperative advertising is especially appealing to small storeowners who, on their own, could not afford to advertise the product adequately.

4. Direct-Mail Advertising - Catalogues, flyers, letters, and postcards are just a few of the direct-mail advertising options. Direct-mail advertising has several advantages, including detail of information, personalization, selectivity, and speed. But while direct mail has advantages, it carries an expensive per-head price, is dependent on the appropriateness of the mailing list, and is resented by some customers, who consider it "junk mail."

5. Informational Advertising - In informational advertising, which is used when a new product is first being introduced, the emphasis is on promoting the product name, benefits, and possible uses.

6. Institutional Advertising - Institutional advertising takes a much broader approach, concentrating on the benefits, concept, idea, or philosophy of a particular industry. Companies often use it to promote image-building activities, such an environmentally friendly business practices or new community-based programs that it sponsors. Institutional advertising is closely related to public relations, since both are interested in promoting a positive image of the company to the public.

7. Outdoor Advertising - Billboards and messages painted on the side of buildings are common forms of outdoor advertising, which is often used when quick, simple ideas are being promoted.

8. Persuasive Advertising - Persuasive advertising is used after a product has been introduced to customers. The primary goal is for a company to build selective demand for its product.

9. Product Advertising - Product advertising pertains to nonpersonal selling of a specific product. An example is a regular television commercial promoting a soft drink. The primary purpose of the advertisement is to promote the specific soft drink, not the entire soft-drink line of a company.

10. Reminder Advertising - Reminder advertising is used for products that have entered the mature stage of the product life cycle. The advertisements are simply designed to remind customers about the product and to maintain awareness.

11. Point-of-Purchase Advertising - Point-of-purchase advertising uses displays or other promotional items near the product that is being sold. The primary motivation is to attract customers to the display so that they will purchase the product. Stores are more likely to use point-of-purchase displays if they have help from the manufacturer in setting them up or if the manufacturer provides easy instructions on how to use the displays.