Consumerism

What Is Advertising and Why Is It Important?

Advertising is a business practice where a company pays to place its messaging or branding in a particular location. Businesses leverage advertising to promote their products and services for sale as well as establish corporate culture and branding. When employed properly and strategically, advertising can drive customer acquisition and boost sales.

Advertising establishes a one-way channel of communication, where companies can broadcast non-personal messaging to a general audience. Unlike other types of marketing or even public relations, companies have total control over advertising. When a company pays to place an ad, it has complete control over how the content involved is promoted.

There are countless benefits to a successful advertising campaign. In common practice, businesses can leverage advertising to:

•     Educate customers on the nature of products or services
•     Convince customers that products or services are superior
•     Improve customer perception of brand or culture
•     Generate customer need or want for products or services
•     Exhibit new applications for products or services
•     Publicize new products or services to potential customers
•     Attract new customers to purchase products or services
•     Retain the existing customer base

Taken as a whole, companies that dedicate resources to advertising can reap many valuable benefits.