Advertising has served a critical purpose in the business world, which is to enable sellers to compete effectively with each other for the attention of buyers.

If the products and services your company offers are a necessity, a luxury or simply a bit of a treat, you cannot rely on a one-time ad or word-of-mouth marketing to keep a steady flow of customers.

A strong commitment to advertising must be created; it is both an external call to action and an internal reinforcement for your sales team.

Advertising is an important part of your marketing strategy. The goal is to promote your business, communicate your message and reach your audience. The ultimate goal is usually to increase awareness or sales.

Until a customer deals with you directly and actually buys your products or services, your advertising can form the first impressions about your business. Advertising can certainly attract new customers, but only if done correctly. Otherwise it can deter potential customers.

Promotion

The main objective of advertising is to make it known that it has something to offer. It can be anything from an upcoming entertainment event you are promoting, such as a new product line, a political campaign you are managing, the expansion of an existing service platform or officially putting up the wall for your first business.

Whether your promotion takes the form of print ads, commercials, billboards or brochures; the content adheres to the rules of journalism by identifying who, what, when, where and why.

Awareness

Advertising helps increase your target demographics’ awareness of the issues with which they may be unfamiliar, as well as educate them about the related benefits of your product or service.

A popular example of this is the health care industry. If, for example, a consumer watches a television commercial in which someone describes pain and discomfort similar to that experienced by the viewer, the ad not only identifies a probable cause, but suggests a potential remedy or treatment option to discuss with his or her doctor.

Comparisons

Advertising invites your target audience to evaluate how your product or service is measured against your competitors.

Home cleaning product demonstrations are a good example of this because they provide compelling visual evidence of which product does the fastest and most effective job of addressing hard-to-reach stains.

Political advertisements are another example of how advertising works with comparisons of candidate qualifications and voting records for readers and viewers to make informed decisions at the ballot box.

Retention

An ongoing advertising campaign is essential to remind your current customers that they are still around.

In an economy with so much recession where so many stores, restaurants and small businesses are trying to stay afloat; maintaining a strong presence through regular ads, brochures, postcards, events and a dynamic website is invaluable for long term relationships.

This also serves to attract new customers who may not have needed to invest in advertising when you opened, but are now at a maturity that you can invest in making your products or services known to a wider demographic.

Moral

When people ask their employees where they’re working, the latter are likely to feel better about their jobs if the reaction to their answer is, “Wow, I’ve heard a lot of good things about that store” rather than “No, I’ve never heard of it” or “Oh, are they still open?”

Investing in an advertising plan, keeps your business in front of consumers and your brand will be part of any conversation.

This, in turn, gives your employees a sense of pride and emotional ownership of belonging to your company, and will lead to positive feelings and name recognition.