Marketing & Advertising

Salesman Qualities – The best ones are not learned in school or University. Qualities of a Salesman are skills learned in the field, sometimes senior guides you to apply specific tactics, or sometimes discussions with prospects create a need to learn those skills. Everybody can sell but not everyone is a salesperson & If everyone is a salesman, not every salesman is a good salesman. Studies distinguish Salesmanship & Selling.

Top Skills of a Salesperson

Salesman selling Traditional & Moderns approaches mixed with interpersonal and intrapersonal skills are still important and valued by HR professionals. The ultimate goal of the organization is to make a profit which they do through different kinds of advertising. This selling concept of marketing isn’t enough in the competitive market; even if you understand the market, it is not giving the desired result yet these advertising strategies are beneficial to some extent.

These modern tricks include Facebook advertising, Instagram, email, SMS marketing, and multiple others platforms but all of them have not still replaced the importance of salesman. All others can communicate to the client under predefined limitations but a good salesperson can do something extra sales approaches.

He Can do it

A good salesman must be an expert in the field with vast product or service knowledge, their production & techniques, after-sales process, product life, its competing features, long life, goodwill in the market, feedback from existing customers, and of course, should have good reading, writing and speaking command in regional language. This may be learned through proper training channels within or outside the organization if you don’t take training – It is just like you are frying potato (fries) in water.

Example

Consider you are selling a smartphone but you’re unaware of the latest updates in Android, Windows, or Apple versions. For example Android – you are selling android 4.4.1 and 5.1 have been launched in the market.

How will you respond if a customer asks you why he should buy 4.4.1 instead of the latest 5.1? The salesman should be aware of the Market.

Honesty towards Profession

The first and most important skill of a salesman is, to be honest with the profession. In order to establish the goodwill of the firm, he must be honest and sincere in performing his duty. There is no place for a dishonest salesman in any business.

He Knows

Sales jobs are one of the toughest jobs in the company, selling is incomplete without a salesman effort. The salesman should always consider the customer’s psychological approach, what your customer actually wants. what is the customer’s value? what would be the reason for the customer to pay you for a specific product? A lot of questions are in mind before the presentation. Understanding your consumer is the only key to boosting sales.

Example

A guy is interested in Professional Photography and wanted a DSLR camera. You are trying to convince him to buy a smartphone from your company with 13 megapixels camera for professional photography. Does it get successful?

He Wins

The best ones are incomplete if you don’t win consumer trust. Being a salesman you must have a style to win customers’ confidence. You must convince the customer that you have the product which actually fits its need.

Example

Suppose one of your customers is planning to buy a cycle for losing weight (psychological approach), now it is easy for you to sell Indoor Treadmill. You can convince him by comparing Cycle with Treadmill. “Remember customer need is losing weight”

1) it is indoor, you don’t need to spare time for outdoor cycling. You can do it anytime.

2) All your family members can also do it at home, running will boost their stamina.

3) It is inclined, you can run like climbing hill & burn more calories than road cycling.

Often we are attracted to some strangers in our life for no reason, no feelings, no affection, or affiliation. We just like them, did we ever think about why we are liking a stranger? At least I did, did you? Remember someone and think for a second. I shall clear it in the end.

Dependability

The successful salesman should have the capacity of dependability. It keeps winning the hearts of both customers and employers. A dependable salesman will remain loyal to the firm. Thus he will be sincere in his approach to the customer with a view to increasing the volume of sales and enhancing the firm’s reputation.

Self Reliance and Persistence

Another notable salesman quality is the ability to convince prospective customers with persistent efforts. In order to adequately satisfy customers’ demands, he must be a man of self-reliance. He should have perseverance and determination.

Convincing Style

Effective Communication skills play important role in business, A good salesman should adopt a convincing style in order to win a prospect’s confidence. He must persuade his prospect that the specific product being sold will best fill that need.

Sticky Profession

Consistency is an important quality, in fact, one of the top Qualities of a Salesman. A good salesman should be passionate, energetic; goal-oriented and keep working hard & harder to achieve goals.

If the prospect is not convinced in the 1st meeting, 2nd one, and even after many times and the salesman has faith in the product & himself too, it shall finally motivate the customer; All is well if ends well. A good salesman is always Persistent in Personality & Honest to the Profession along with Honesty to the Clients. Dishonesty leads to failure. Sincerity will increase company sales and the hearts of both Employers and Consumers.

Latest Information

A salesman must have up-to-date information in regard to quality, nature, description, prices, and importance of the dealing products. He should also have knowledge of the potential market, the organization of his firm, and the taste of his consumers.

Sociable

He should be social. Every relationship in the world depends upon courtesy, even husband-wife gets divorced if there is a lack of understanding, courtesy & mutual benefits. Once I read that courtesy infield is like fuel to the vehicle.

Politeness wins the heart and extends the social circle. We like to sit with our polite friends, and the same is for customers. Meeting different people will improve your confidence, your views & abilities. A person who cannot make friends, how shall make customers? long-term customer relations?

Impressing Personality

If you remember I was asking you to think of strangers you like, why did you like strangers for no reason? Don’t worry if you couldn’t find the answer within you. It is their personality, the way they dress up themselves, the way they walk, sit or stand. Their gestures, postures, hairstyle, beard, sunglasses, lenses, necklaces, wristwatches, suit color, shoes, and many more things. If you are going in a sales job, work at yourself first.

Lisa C. Townes

Lisa is a passionate travelers. She spends 3 months every year visiting different places worldwide. She has visited almost every famous place in the world. She herself is an affiliate blogger

If you ask about the Difference between Salesmanship and Selling, most of them will be unable to distinguish and answer. Salesmanship and selling in general are considered the same thing. People say Salesmanship is selling but actually, they are totally different in Business terminology.

Difference between Salesmanship and Selling in Broader Perspective

Selling is a Process

Selling is the process of transferring goods or services to the buyer in return for money or something else by a Registered Business. On the other hand, Salesmanship is actually the way you convince your prospect with logic, arguments, and product features to buy it from you and not from other suppliers.

Example 

You being a salesman came to me to sell a laptop. I already have one which means I simply don’t need it. Now you start introducing me to your company’s laptop features, its hard drive, combo drive, registered window, camera, wifi, blue tooth & long battery backup, warranty or guarantee.

After a long healthy presentation and discussion, I buy your laptop and pay you cash. Paying cash and receiving a laptop is selling and everything before paying cash was Salesmanship.

Salesmanship is a Technique

Salesmanship is a technique, a learned skill, from experiencing different selling approaches. It is a complicated process that needs the effort to get command on it. It cannot be performed easily; it also requires field experience to sell, and Selling is a simple process that even kids can perform.

Example

In a sales job interview; the interviewer asked the applicant to sell refrigerators in the winter season in cold areas of the country and heaters in summer in hot areas of the country.

It seems impossible but it is salesmanship. Usually, you go out buying a mobile voucher, you simply pay to the retailer and buy.

Did he/she ever try to convince you to buy a voucher? Absolutely not but the Salesman always does, remember your meeting with the insurance policy seller.

In the above example, salesmanship was performed by the first salesman who motivated you to buy his company SIM card and TV Commercials you watch.

The Answer

Conclusively, Salesmanship is the primary or 1st phase or foundation. Media is power in this era, Ads, Billboards, and SMS marketing do salesmanship for the companies, they influence and build up your mind to buy it.

They pay heavy amounts to Advertising Agencies

In conclusion, We got to know that selling is impossible without salesmanship i.e., selling needs salesmanship but salesmanship doesn’t need selling. It is simply a convincing prospect, everyone is selling but not everyone is a Salesman.

Salesmanship is the art of influencing another person for the item or persuading him to shop for a specific product. It’s going to be thought to be the method of winning the confidence of shoppers.

“It could be a technique of reaching a standard purpose of view with the prospect in reference to the desirability of same, article, service or thing.” Sales Acquirement or salesmanship can also seek advice from convincing a client by sure technique and he’s very persuaded to purchase a selected product.

Importance of Salesmanship

accomplishment helps to make a demand for brand-new merchandise or new brands. It influences to vary in patronage from one supply of provide to a different which ends the concentration of purchases of specific products.

because it wins the buyer’s confidence therefore it helps to create regular and permanent customers.

The one who is engaged in convincing the general public desirability of a particular product is named the salesperson. He informs the shoppers concerning the utility of artifacts with a read-to as well as him to shop for the products.

He establishes the products of the firm within the market. that the sales volume could simply be accumulated.

He perpetually observes the style, taste, likes, and dislikes of the client and informs the producer concerning their alternative.

He helps to determine shut relationship between the manufacturer and client.

Lisa C. Townes

Lisa is a passionate travelers. She spends 3 months every year visiting different places worldwide. She has visited almost every famous place in the world. She herself is an affiliate blogger

As planning is highly valuable in any successful venture of one’s life, it is equally an essential feature of ineffective message designing for business people. A written message that is not planned never gets the desired result rather causes miscommunication and brings loss many times for a business organization.

In view of advanced office technologies, the need for careful planning for writing messages under principles of Effective communication has enhanced. As companies are expanding globally more than locally, it is generally considered essential to prepare the business message thoroughly.

Five Principles Of Effective Communication

Identify Your Purpose (Or) Determine The Objectives

The first principle of effective communication in an organization is to know the reason behind it. Unless a message has a clear purpose, it cannot elicit the required response. Think, if you are not clear about what are you conveying then communication can be successful for you. A company’s written communication influence the public image of the company.

The objective must be determined in the writer’s mind if it is to be successfully conveyed to the mind of the readers. Whether your message is informational or persuasive as sales letter or you seeking an overt response or conversion one, the things must not be vague to follow for the readers.

Analyze Your Audience

The more as a writer you know about your readers, the more you will be able to frame your message to get desired response. As a business executive, you communicate with people of different cultures and countries, you must try to have maximum knowledge of your reader’s qualities. The characteristics of the readers or audience that we should try to analyze before designing a message may be the following:

Audience Expertise

How much do the various receivers know about the topic? When written and readers possess the same degree of expertise, problems in achieving understanding would be minimum. However, as a writer, we should try to judge the professional expertise of the readers for successful communication in business life.

Hierarchical Position

is your message being directed at a subordinate or superior level? If a subordinate, that person will have little choice about accepting the message. If a superior, how re-mailers superior with you and your work? We should be sensible enough to know and feel the situation while framing the message.

Audience Age

You should aware of the maturity level of your audience if you wish to make your message interesting for your receivers. Some topics are meaningful and inspiring for young people but not for aged professionals, hence we should consider the age factor.

Educational Level

Effective communicators always know about the educational level of their receivers. The writer or speaker who is easily understood is most likely to get a quick response. Designing your message using the 7 C’s of communication will add more value to your message.

Occupation

language and occupation influence each other. That’s why the knowledge of the occupation of the receiver will help you to convey your message to them. As long as you limit the use of jargon to the receiver that shares their occupation, the process will be useful for all concerned.

Moreover, we must know the communication principles of the country of the receiver to whom we are writing.

Choose your ideas

Always concentrate on making as many ideas as possible on the subject you are writing, only then you can edit and select the most important ideas based on objectives and audience. Generally, ideas depend on the type of message and receivers. For example, the Director of Human Resources asked Pam MacDonald to report on whether their bank should become involved in providing daycare for the children of employees.

 She generated the following ideas:

• Effect on maternity leaves
• Recruitment
• Turnover
• Development of children
• Morale
• Productivity

Collect your data to support your ideas

You must collect sufficient data to explain and support your major ideas. All the necessary materials including facts and figures, the specific company’s policy and procedure, names, dates, broachers, and sometimes product samples should be part of your data collection. Insufficient data may not bring the desired response from the receiver due to a lack of understanding of your message from the real perspective

Organize your Message

The order and organization of ideas are as important as the ideas themselves. Scattered and disorganized materials may be more complex to follow for the receivers, becoming a cause of confusion and embarrassment for the readers. However, drafting a message is a different job in different cultures. Overall, the organization of the message will give the final perception of the sender’s mental filter and caliber to readers. It will definitely influence the company’s credibility with the public.

Lisa C. Townes

Lisa is a passionate travelers. She spends 3 months every year visiting different places worldwide. She has visited almost every famous place in the world. She herself is an affiliate blogger

With the help of effective Communication Skills in Business, owners can change the market entirely. They are able to design a good message that brings their expected results. However, it is a very complex affair to give a scientific definition of communication due to its scope and levels. However, many writers defined communication according to their own knowledge and experience.

To know the subject, it is necessary to have a certain definition in our mind about it. The Oxford Dictionary definition of communication is “To make something known to others”

Definitions of Communication

• “The process by which messages evoke a response”
• “Communication is a mutual exchange of facts, thoughts, opinions or emotions”

Generally, communication involves at least two persons or parties to complete its process by exchanging the messages, written or oral, verbal or non-verbal. Communication takes place when the message is received by the other person.

It is not received, there will be a response and therefore no communication “For effective communication a message must evoke the desired response.

Benefits and Importance of Communication Skills in Business

Former chairman of General Motors Mr. T. A Murphy says:

“The one common denominator in business and management is people and relationships with people. Message-designed principles of Effective communication can make the difference between success and failure, or at least it can determine the degree of success.”

Communication is equally significant to the organization and to the individual. Regardless of the type of organization in which you work now and will work in the future, It highlights the benefits of effective communication skills.

Communication extends across all areas of business including functions of management, marketing, finance, and social positions. The modern style of business has enchanted its significance as an auricle skill for the individual and organization alike.

Advantages of Effective Communication Skills in Business

1. A prominent feature of a good personality
2. Essentials Pre-requisite for good job and promotion
3. The significance of communication and new global market

Importance of Communication in Business

Communication is Most Demand Job Skill for Future

Professional skills are the basis of successful business life and communication skills stand unique among them. The canopy of communication prevails over all the business and social activity.

The art of speaking well and writing well is definitely the essence of leadership and management skills.

Communicating as various surveys about the important professional skills remained at top of them. It affects the decision-making in an organization that is crucial to achieving certain goals.

The judgments, decisions, and efforts put forth by employees determined to a large extent the profitability of a business and communication skills bring them to the scene to get them implemented moreover, its utility in the cultural context is equally significant for an individual and organization. Briefly speaking communication gives language and style to the people and organization and enables them to meet their goods and continue to exist.

Communication is Life Blood of Every Organization

It is truly said that communication is the blood that’s running in the veins of every business. If we work upon the structure and mechanism of businesses then we feel that business activity is impossible with and communication, because every industry consists of a group of people who interact and react throw a medium of communication.

Managers daily exchanges information, business ideas, plans, make decisions and agreements, which is impossible without communication.

Hence, no business can succeed, build up goodwill and win customers without effective communication, few companies also train their employees for 7 C’s of Communication because it is required for both internal and external affairs to run a business firm.

Internal communication helps to increase jobs satisfaction, safety, productivity, and profits and decreases absenteeism grievances, and turnover. It consists of downward upward and horizontal communication with their respective rules for the successful functions of business ventures.

External communication is mainly concerned with the messages to persons outside the company. It has a far setting effect on its reputation and ultimate success. They write letters, proposals, reports, telephone calls, or personal conversations to win a customer, create a desire for a firm’s product or service.

Advertising is the most strutted type of external Communication, we may soon realize that advertising channels are the bridges throw which an organization accomplishes its goals.

Time is money is the slogan of modern hectic life. We spend most of our time in communication in an office writing, speaking, and listening. Time factor in overall communication costs.

Poor Communication can cost an organization time and money therefore now strong multi-national companies train their employees business communications skills training to communicate effectively in business life.

Efficient and effective communication skills in the workplace save time and money for organizations increasing their productivity and profit.

On the other hand, unclear, incomplete inaccurate, and unduly long or late messages will cost a company heavily compiled with the loss of public image. So, ineffective messages that confuse the customers are more expensive them effective ones because they destroy company credibility moreover, poor messages often required several additional explanatory messages which will further add to the communication cost.

In view of the above discussion, we can say that efficient communication enhances the profit and productivity of the business organization.

Communication Skill is Prominent Feature of Good Personality

Effective communication places a key role in personality development in any field of life and remains significant in professional life. There are also other aspects of a personality like a stature, Social, entrepreneurial skills but communication skills give the exposure to his capabilities utilize them in professional affairs.

A person who can speak well and write well has definitely an edge over others no matter what social or professional positions he or she has. Communication determines the worth of personality and tells what really lies there in an individual.

Nobody can judge the caliber of a person if one remains silent or there is no exchange of ideas or importance between them because the way of speaking, the words used, and the style expose the real person.

“If one has the strong shell of communication, he will be the most effective person in social, practical in business life. The people who speak without hesitation and write fluently generally lead the organizations only because of their communication skills”

Essentials Pre-requisite for Good Job and Promotion

Business leaders frequently mourn the lack of communication of skills among many university graduates. The ability to communicate stands high among other attributes that employers seek in all potential employees. In a recent survey, the employers declared communication skills as the skills they most preferred in job applicants, while leadership skills came in seconds.

If one can effectively communicate one’s knowledge, ideas, and proposals to others to need or should receive them, he or she will be most probably considered the ideal one for any job position offered.

Nowadays when we look at the newspapers page of job-advertisement, we generally find that communication is a primary requisite in many carriers, such as customer relations, labor relations, marketing, management, sales, and teaching.

Communication is the most sensitive aspect of any business venture which makes or mars the prospectus of success. Companies and individuals daily pay the price of problems caused by a lack of communication skills.

For example, the receptionist who did not listen carefully to the inquiry for business lost a chance to grow the business and the company had to suffer for their miscommunication. Therefore, now employers read rank effective communication high among others professional skills. Moreover, communication skills affect promotions during a job.

The Significance of Communication and New Global Market

As the horizons of Business life are expanding and the world is shrinking in a global village, the importance of business communication is increasing in this phenomenon. W.T.O.

Is connecting the business worldwide. Now the business professional must be aware of cultural diversity if they wish to become competent in the mold of the global market. The facility of market and e-mail has made the job of communication easier but responsibilities and challenges have multiplied.

Now understanding the changed global scenario and different nations with a typical attitude and culture has become essential for successful communication.

Many multi-national companies fail to launch their business venture in foreign countries only because they do not care to realize the need to learn about the target countries’ people’s language, psychology in business, and style of life.

Moreover, the knowledge of information technology and its usage in the field of communication are essential to communicate globally. “New global marketplace requires more comprehensive and competent communication strategy.

If we have a grasp over the communication with different nation international trade, would be definitely a great advantage.

Lisa C. Townes

Lisa is a passionate travelers. She spends 3 months every year visiting different places worldwide. She has visited almost every famous place in the world. She herself is an affiliate blogger

Marketing is the process of creating communication, delivering, and exchanging an offer that gives value to clients and customers. Marketing is defined as  “the activity” by the American Marketing Association. Basically, the term “Marketing” doesn’t mean going to market with some kind of staff for sale. Marketing is management that identifies, anticipates, and satisfies the customer with their profits. Marketing is a combination of the 7 Ps.

Marketing is the process in which you can bring a product to market including these steps; Marketing segmentation, pricing, and promotion strategies, developing communication skills, market research, determining distribution, and vision for long-time market development goals. There are many parts of the marketing process “e.g. brand management, advertising art director, product designing, etc”.

Marketing Concept

The marketing concept is to satisfy the organizational objectives, an organization should accept the needs and wants of the customer. In marketing, you have to understand these concepts

• Needs: The Necessity of people to live a healthy, safe, and happy life when needs stay unfulfilled adverse outcome: dysfunction or death.
• Wants Something which is not necessary, but that is your desire or wish. Want is not essential for life survival.
• Demands When the needs and wants have backed the ability to pay. Then the potential to become economic demand.

For the development of the product and improvement of the product, marketing research is conducted. It is directly related to the consumer’s needs. Customer needs are beneficial to market segmentation it is related to dividing the market into different categories of customers on the basis of different desires for customers that might buy separate products or who may buy marketing mixes.

Needs-based segmentation “beneficial segmentation”, “place the consumer’s desires at the forefront of how a company works or how its desire and marketing products and services”. Although need based segmentation is not easy to do in practice, it is one of the most effective ways of segmenting a material.

Designing is the best way how it will fulfill advertisements and promotions to show how this product or service is beneficial for customers and how it will fulfill customers’ desires.

What is Marketing Orientation?

Marketing orientation is the philosophy of companies that focuses on developing and fulfilling the needs and wants of their customers through their products. In the past marketing concentrated on establishing selling points for existing products, and orientation works in the opposite manner.

The Production Concept or Orientation

The Production Orientation or Concept refers that customers will always buy and recommend products available in the market at an affordable price.

It is the oldest concept in marketing and manufacturers following this orientation focuses on only two things

1. Production
2. Distribution

This marketing strategy is useful for some products.

The Product Concept or Orientation

Product Orientation or Concept refers to that customers will not go for an affordably priced product. They will surely go for innovation, qualitative, and better product performance. This concept is usually adopted by the electronics company.

Manufacturers under this concept always try to improve their product features. They make marketing research, and add advanced values to the existing product in the better version like Mobile manufacturers using a better camera, more ram, and processor.

Selling Concept

The Selling Orientation keeps the ideology of selling through extra promotional activities. They believe, their sales are not based on production and product concepts. Their sales depend upon promotional activities they do with different types of advertising and promotional campaigns.

The concept behind this orientation is that customers repeatedly watching ads or promotions may buy repeatedly. They easily forget their past experience with that.

Marketing Orientation or Marketing Concept

Know what your customer wants, how they want, where they want, why they want, and how much they want. In simple words, this marketing concept believes in achieving long-term and short-term organizational goals by knowing the customer at its best level.

The motto is Customer First and Target is Customer Again

It is strongly customer oriented. They totally want to make products for the customer and never rush to find a customer for products.

Societal Marketing Orientation

Societal Marketing Orientation thinks of doing something for welfare, both for consumers and non-consumers.

They believe in do improvements in both and in society too. Doing something like, flood donations, concerts and seminars for orphans and a few similar activities suits best in this example.

This is a newer concept in marketing after the acknowledgment of global warming. Industries and Organizations started to do social welfare and got some good responses in eyes of clients.

Importance of Marketing

Marketing is the heart of the business. Most businesses are based on successful marketing, It advertises the products or services. The overall marketing umbrella covers advertising, communication, promotions, and sales. Marketing is a process by which a product or service is introduced all over the world and without marketing your company may offer the best product or service in your industry but none of your potential customers, targeted by Advertising media or salesman will know about your product or service. Without marketing, your product sales may crash or the company may have to close.

Getting Word Out

For a successful business, the product or service must be providing awareness to buyers. You have to use marketing strategies to create product or service awareness. Without marketing, your customer may never know about your business offers, and your business may never give progress and success. Marketing gives you an opportunity to promote your product, services, and company, with the help of marketing your business has a choice to build up and promote more than your competitors.

High Sales

If your product, service, or company should get a place on the radar screen of your prospect, it increases your chance that the customer will make a buy. Awareness is a reality and the main focus of high sales. If customers are not aware of your product, service, or company then how they buy something and how your sales will be high. Awareness is a point where new customers start to spread the word. Your sales will highly increase as the word spreads. Without marketing these sales may not happen, without sales, a company or business cannot succeed.

Healthy Competition

An environment is fostered by marketing in the marketplace for healthy competition. Marketing can make out the pricing of products and services which not only reaches the potential consumers but also it reaches the door of competitive companies. As opposed to those companies which have rich control of products and services those companies can charge any price.

Marketing help to keep pricing competitive for a company or business to try to win over consumers before its competition does. Without competition, well-experienced and famous companies have no fair loss they can easily sell, on the other side the newly established company has little chance to succeed. Marketing gives healthy competition that allows small or new businesses to be successful. Enter and grow your sale in the marketplace places

Reputation For Company

The reality is reputation is the success of a company or business. The marketing introduces the product and builds the brand name of the company. When a company gets to believe in the public and reaches the high expectation of the public its reputation builds up, the business will expand and sales will increase. If you want to build your company’s reputation and you want to increase your sales, then you have to focus on quality products or services, your communications should be effective, and you should participate in active communicative programs.

Consideration

Marketing is very important in business as above I discussed marketing is the heart of the business, it is very expansive. In the beginning, a company might spend half of its sales on marketing programs. After some time the marketing budget can reach 30 percent (sometimes more) of the annual sale. Your company can get the best chance by marketing, as like; public relations, designing and printing for all print materials, website development, print and broadcast, advertising trade shows, etc.

Lisa C. Townes

Lisa is a passionate travelers. She spends 3 months every year visiting different places worldwide. She has visited almost every famous place in the world. She herself is an affiliate blogger

Advertising is extremely important for businesses to get customers interested in their products. Today, we see ads everywhere – on billboards, TV, radio, internet and more. Companies use many different advertising methods to grab our attention and convince us to make a purchase.

These methods can be grouped into different types of advertising. Each type has its own unique way to reach people. Some use traditional routes like newspaper ads, TV commercials or billboards. Others use newer digital marketing on websites, apps, and social media.

Understanding the various types of advertising is key for businesses to effectively connect with the right customers. The right advertising type allows companies to deliver their marketing messages through the channels that work best.

This article will explore the major forms of advertising used today. We’ll look at how each type works, its strengths and limitations, and its role in helping businesses achieve goals like increased brand awareness and sales. From classic approaches to cutting-edge digital strategies, choosing the proper advertising types is essential for companies to grow in today’s crowded marketplace.

What is Advertising Today?

Advertising today refers to the various strategies and tactics that businesses employ to promote their brands, products, and services. It is an integral component of a company’s overall marketing efforts aimed at achieving specific goals such as acquiring new customers, building brand awareness, and driving sales. Advertising has evolved with technology, giving rise to digital platforms that complement traditional media like print, broadcast, and outdoor advertising. The key aspects of advertising are:

• A core marketing strategy to grow businesses
• Promotes brand visibility, product/service awareness, and customer acquisition
• Utilizes both traditional (print, TV, radio, billboards) and digital (online, social media, mobile) channels
• Allows targeting and tracking the effectiveness of campaigns
• Digital advertising enables precise audience targeting and personalization

Marketing vs. Advertising

While marketing and advertising are often used interchangeably, there is a distinct difference between the two:

• Marketing is the complete strategic process of building a business, which includes activities like market research, branding, product development, pricing, distribution, sales, and advertising.
• Advertising is a specific component within the marketing mix, focused on paid promotional tactics and messaging to create brand awareness, generate demand, and convince customers to take action (e.g., make a purchase).Types of Advertising

Main Types of Advertising

The various types of advertising done today are mainly categorized into traditional and digital advertising. These are explained as:

Traditional Advertising

Traditional advertising refers to the more conventional methods of promoting products, services, or brands through offline channels and mediums that have been around for a long time. This includes print media, broadcast media, out-of-home advertising, and direct mail marketing sent through postal services.

Traditional advertising has been a staple for businesses aiming to build brand awareness and reach mass audiences, though it tends to be more expensive and lacks the precise targeting capabilities of digital advertising. Despite the rise of digital, traditional advertising remains impactful, with statistics showing many consumers still pay attention to and engage with these offline ad formats.

Digital Advertising

In contrast, digital advertising includes the promotional methods that pull online channels, internet-connected devices, and digital technologies to deliver advertising messages. This type of advertising has gained significant traction due to the growth of the internet, mobile devices, and data-driven marketing capabilities.

It includes tactics like search engine advertising, social media advertising, mobile advertising, online video advertising, native advertising integrated into content, and consumer-generated advertising facilitated by user-created content.

The key advantages of digital advertising lie in its ability to target specific audiences more accurately based on data insights, provide engaging and interactive ad experiences across devices, and measure campaign effectiveness through robust analytics. Additionally, digital advertising often offers more cost-effective options compared to traditional media buys for businesses of all sizes.

Traditional Advertising

This old but reliable advertising type has further distributions, such as:

Print Advertising

Print advertising refers to using physically printed media like newspapers, magazines, brochures, flyers, and billboards to promote products, services or brands. It has been one of the oldest and most traditional forms of advertising, dating back centuries before the digital age. As per stats, almost 80% of consumers look towards print ads, while only 45% of consumers take immediate action on digital advertisements.

There are different methods of printing that are used as a medium of advertising. These are:

Newspapers

Newspapers remain one of the most popular print advertising mediums. In addition to classified ads for jobs, real estate, and other listings, newspapers offer display ads that can range from small space ads to full-page, visually impactful advertisements. Inserts or circulars printed as separate sections allow advertisers to include promotional materials like coupons and flyers within the newspaper itself. Some newspapers even sell advertising space on jacket wraps that go around the entire paper.

Magazines

Magazines are the second largest and most trustworthy branding medium after newspapers. It tends to be more visually impactful with high-quality printing. On average, 1/3 of the advertisers spend 20-40% of their budget on magazine advertising. Magazines frequently include advertorials designed to mimic the look of the publication’s editorial content and articles. Separate advertisement inserts can be loosely incorporated into magazines as well. Premium cover ads printed on the front or back of the magazine are the most coveted and expensive placements.

Brochures/Pamphlets

Brochures, pamphlets, and catalogs are another major print advertising category used heavily for direct mail marketing. Companies produce multi-page product brochures highlighting their offerings which can be mailed directly to prospective customers. Single-page flyers allow mass distribution of more concise print ads at events, retail locations, and public spaces. Lengthier catalogs showcase full product lineups.

Direct Mail Advertising

Direct mail advertising is a type of print advertising that involves sending physical advertisements directly to customers through the postal mail service. This targeted approach allows companies to reach a very specific mailing list of prospective customers. For instance, a new hair salon can create a promotional flyer announcing its grand opening and mail it to residents within a 5-mile radius, including discount coupons to attract new clients.

The power of direct mail should not be underestimated in the digital age. A key stat shows that 41% of Americans of all ages still look forward to checking their mail each day (according to LinkedIn data). Compared to email marketing where 80% of emails go disregarded, a remarkable 80% of direct mail pieces get opened by recipients.

Marketers leverage direct mail to send tailored coupons, promotions, and business updates straight to customer mailboxes. They often include website information and QR codes to drive online engagement with the physical mail piece as well. Companies can source direct mail lists from their existing customer databases or purchase third-party mailing lists from specialist providers.

Broadcast, Video, and TV Advertising

This category covers advertising through channels like television, radio, streaming video platforms, and podcasts that can reach large audiences. Its strength lies in engaging audio and visual storytelling capabilities.

Television Commercials

Television remains one of the most powerful mass advertising mediums. According to Statista, a global survey of marketers in 2021 was done, which added that 76% of people planned to increase their online video advertising budgets in 2022. Moreover, in 2023, 91% of businesses used video as a marketing tool, marking an all-time high since 2016.

With 90% of consumers watching videos on digital displays, the U.S. in 2023 spent an estimated $78.45 billion on video advertising. TV commercials provide opportunities for creative, attention-grabbing video ads during shows and programs. National television ads can be expensive but offer unparalleled reach. More affordable options include advertising on local channels, cable networks, or streaming services. A major advantage is the ability to create memorable branded stories using sight, sound, and motion.

However, ads only have a brief 15-30 second window to make an impact. As audiences become fragmented across channels, targeting the right programs/time slots for reaching intended audiences is crucial.

Radio and Podcast Advertising

While radio advertisement has been around for decades, podcast advertising is an emerging avenue. Radio ads are still effective for locally targeted campaigns through spot buys during peak listening times. They rely purely on audio to deliver marketing messages. Podcasts provide more niche targeting based on listener interests and show topics. Podcast host-read ads or pre-roll/mid-roll ad spots allow for creative messaging.

Key benefits include cost-effectiveness to reach targeted audiences and opportunities for uninterrupted listening. However, the lack of visual components and shorter audience attention spans are limitations of audio-only ads.

Out-of-Home (OOH) Outdoor Advertising

Out-of-home advertising influences physical outdoor spaces and locations where people spend time outside their homes to deliver marketing messages. As per Statista, the Out-of-Home Advertising market has extended and people are relying on it such that it is about to reach US$39.26 billion worldwide in 2024. With many consumers on the move, OOH aims to reach them while traveling, commuting, shopping, or just being outdoors. Major OOH formats include billboards, transit ads, and street furniture placements.

Billboards

Billboards remain the most iconic and impactful form of outdoor advertising. These large vinyl or digital displays are strategically positioned along major highways, city streets, and high-traffic areas to capture maximum eyeballs. Static billboards feature impactful visuals while digital billboards rotate multiple animated advertisements. The strength of billboards lies in grabbing the attention from pedestrians, commuters, and drivers through crisp visuals and minimal messaging. However, their viewing time is fairly limited as people pass by.

Transit Ads

Transit systems advertising places ads on buses, taxis, subways, trains, and other transportation vehicles that move throughout cities. These moving OOH displays can expose brands repeatedly to audiences along different routes. Formats range from full wraps covering entire vehicle exteriors to interior placards above seats. The captive audiences and repeated impressions allow for greater ad engagement compared to billboards.

Street Furniture Ads

This category covers OOH placements on public amenities like bus shelters, benches, kiosks, and litter bins lining sidewalks and pedestrian areas. Being situated at eye level makes them highly visible to people walking around urban environments. Street furniture OOH provides hyperlocal targeting in specific neighborhoods or high-foot traffic zones like shopping districts. However, these placements tend to be smaller with limited space for messaging.

Product Placement

Product placement is a form of advertising where branded products or services are incorporated into other media like movies, TV shows, music videos, video games, etc. Instead of running traditional commercials, brands pay to have their offerings featured and used by characters/personalities in the content itself.

This technique aims to increase brand exposure and product recognition organically within the narrative. When executed well, product placements feel authentic and create positive associations between the brand and the content. Major benefits include tapping into captive viewer audiences, implied celebrity/influencer endorsements, and the ability to bypass ad-skipping behaviors.

In line with its growing importance, product placement spending in the US exceeded $15 billion in 2022, according to PQ Media, with expectations to rise to $23.5 billion by 2026. Globally, product placement spending is anticipated to reach almost $41.5 billion by 2026. Moreover, Statista states that the global market is expected to grow by over 12 percent to $29 billion in 2023.

According to Statista, there is a significant growth predicted in earnings through product placement – which is observed from 2021 and is expected to grow till 2026.

However, product placements require careful integration to avoid being heavy-handed or disrupting the viewer experience. There are also ethical concerns around insufficient disclosures of paid product placements. Measurement challenges exist in quantifying the exact impact on brand awareness and sales from these embedded placements.

Guerrilla Advertising

Guerrilla advertising employs unconventional, often surprising marketing tactics to promote products/services in an inexpensive but memorable way. The core idea is to cut through advertising noise and capture significant attention through unique, creative strategies.

Common guerrilla tactics include street installations, flash mobs, experiential brand activations, stunts, undercover marketing, and ambient advertising that interacts with the surrounding environment. Brands get creative by transforming public spaces, objects, events into impactful displays that generate buzz.

The strengths are cost-effectiveness compared to traditional advertising, the ability to create share-worthy moments, and high engagement through out-of-the-box thinking. However, guerrilla efforts require extensive creativity, can be labor-intensive to execute, and risk potential public backlash if not implemented carefully.

Digital Advertising

Just like further divisions in traditional advertising, digital advertising is also categorized as below:

Online Search Advertising

With the rise of the internet and mobile devices, online search has become the starting point for many consumer journeys. Search advertising allows businesses to promote their products and services by placing ads directly within search engine results pages (SERPs). As per Statista, online advertising is the most popular digital advertising format in the United States, with companies spending $99 billion on search ads in 2022. Besides, market research suggests that search ad spending will continue to grow in the coming years, reaching $136 billion dollars by 2026.

Below are the major types of online search advertising:

Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

Advertising PPC ads are the sponsored text or product listings that appear at the top and sides of SERPs when users enter specific keywords or queries. Advertisers bid on these keywords and only pay when someone clicks on their ad. PPC enables precise audience targeting based on search intent signals.

Popular PPC platforms include Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising, and Amazon Ads. They use auction-based systems where ad rankings depend on bid amounts, relevance, and quality scores. GITNUX market data says that on a daily basis, approximately 80% of internet users see advertisements via Google’s Display Network, with 65% of small B2B companies acquiring customers through this channel.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Unlike PPC’s paid approach, SEO focuses on optimizing websites and content to improve organic search rankings for relevant keywords. This unpaid channel aims to make websites more discoverable and drive free traffic from SERPs.

Effective SEO involves technical website optimizations, quality content creation, earning backlinks, local search visibility, and adhering to evolving search engine algorithms. While it takes more time and effort upfront, SEO can deliver compounding traffic over time at relatively low costs. The challenges are staying up-to-date with search trends and facing increasing competition for rankings.

Here’s a comparison of search volumes on Google in three different years to better understand the worth of advertising through this medium.

Product Listing Ads (PLAs)

These are visual shopping ads that appear in SERPs alongside regular text listings. E-commerce brands and retailers use PLAs to display product images, titles, prices, merchant names, and other details directly in the search results for relevant product queries.

For online retailers, PLAs are an effective way to drive high-quality, purchase-intent traffic at the bottom of the funnel. However, creating rich product data feeds and managing bids across large catalogs can be complex.

Social Media Advertising

With billions of active users spending significant time on social networks, social media advertising has become an indispensable part of digital marketing. It allows brands to reach audiences where they’re already engaged and connect with them through creative, interactive ad experiences.

As these platforms continue to shape the digital word, understanding their reach and user engagement can be effective to understand this advertising strategy. So, here is a graph representing that:

Facebook Ads

Facebook is one of the largest social media platforms that is used by over 3 billion users monthly. With such a large community, this platform is a comprehensive suite of ad formats and targeting capabilities to reach its massive user base effectively.

The key ways through which Facebook advertises is the feed ads, stories ads, live video ads, collection ads for product showcasing, and more. An advanced offering is Dynamic Product Ads which automatically promote an e-commerce company’s entire product catalog with dynamically generated creative tailored to each user’s interests.

A key strength of Facebook ads lies in the granular targeting options available to advertisers. Beyond basic demographics, businesses can leverage Facebook’s wealth of user data to reach precise custom audiences based on psychographic traits like interests, behaviors, life events, and more. Retargeting website visitors and existing customers is also possible.

According to a study by WordStream, Facebook ads have an average click-through rate (CTR) of 2.50% for lead generation ads across industries. However, the travel industry stands out with observed CTRs of over 6%.

Instagram Ads

As a visual-first platform owned by Facebook, Instagram ads focus on delivering creative experiences through feed posts, stories, reels, IGTV videos, and more. With over 2.4 billion monthly active users, Instagram ads can reach nearly all of them each month. Its younger, highly engaged user base and seamless shopping integrations aid product discovery and purchases.

Instagram inherits Facebook’s extensive ad targeting options while adding features like location mapping and influencer marketing capabilities. It is one of the best advertising platforms as being a top choice for influencer marketing, with 72% of marketers leveraging the platform for influencer collaborations. According to a survey, almost 62% of users express increased interest in a product after viewing Instagram Stories. It is why, Instagram’s global ad revenue reached $28.9 billion in 2021 and is projected to surpass $50 billion in coming years.

Twitter Ads

Twitter’s advertising suite promotes content through channels like Promoted Tweets, Accounts, and Trends. Ads leverage features like hashtags, video content, polls, and crucially conversation targeting based on relevant keywords/topics discussed.

This platform is ideal for brand awareness goals, real-time marketing around events/trends, and engagement-focused campaigns using timely, concise messaging.

LinkedIn Ads

On professional social networks, businesses can run Sponsored Content campaigns distributing content to feed streams based on user traits like job titles, skills, company, etc. Other formats like Message Ads and Dynamic Ads for personalized product promotion exist.

LinkedIn ads offer unique B2B targeting for lead generation, recruitment marketing, brand building within professional circles, and tapping into high-quality audiences for premium offerings.

Pinterest Ads

Pinterest’s immensely popular mood-boarding and visual discovery capabilities translate into a prime advertising platform for lifestyle, retail, and CPG brands. As of March 2024, with over 498 million active “pinners”, promoted pins and shopping ads sync seamlessly within the Pinterest browsing experience.

In categories like home decor, fashion, beauty, travel, and more, Pinterest enables brands to drive discovery, build awareness, and impact purchasing intentions at scale. Specialized ad offerings include influencer partnerships, promoted video pins, app install campaigns, and shopping catalogs integrated with e-commerce platforms.

Snapchat Ads

Snapchat’s highly creative and interactive ad formats like AR Lens campaigns, Snap Games, Story Ads, and First Commercial products are geared towards the younger millennial/Gen Z demographic. With 414 million daily active users, Snapchat presents opportunities for brands to engage these audiences through cutting-edge augmented reality brand experiences.

TikTok Ads

As the emergent video-sharing sensation and the fifth most popular social media platform, TikTok advertising unlocks viral opportunities by inserting brands within cultural conversations. Offerings include TopView video ads, Branded Effects filters, Hashtag Challenges, and working with TikTok creators. With over 1.5 billion monthly users worldwide, TikTok ads can build matchless engagement for brands successfully tapping into global internet trends.

Cell Phone Mobile Advertising

Do you know? As per a survey done, more than half of Americans (56.9%) are addicted to using their phones. The average spending is 4 hrs. 30 minutes daily while checking it 144 times a day. It is surprising to know that 75% of Americans check a notification appearing on their phones within the first five minutes.

With this widespread smartphone adoption, mobile advertising has become a crucial channel for reaching consumers on-the-go. Mobile ads allow brands to target audiences based on their device, location, app usage habits, and online behaviors. Common mobile ad formats include search ads, display banners, video ads, social media ads tailored for smaller screens, and ads within mobile apps. Mobile ads can leverage features like click-to-call, map directions, and integrated mobile payments to drive direct responses.

The key strengths of mobile advertising are the ability to reach people across all micro-moments throughout their day, leveraging location relevance, and facilitating instant actions like calls or navigation. Major platforms include Google Ads App Campaigns, Apple Search Ads, Twitter Ads, Instagram Ads, Facebook Audience Network, and specialized mobile ad networks. However, mobile ads have limited real estate and need to be optimized for seamless user experiences without being overly intrusive.

Consumer-Generated Advertising

This form of digital advertising controls promotional content created by unpaid consumers instead of brands themselves. It involves customers voluntarily generating advertisements through submissions like product reviews, testimonials, how-to videos, blogs, and social media posts.

By encouraging user-generated content (UGC), brands can foster more authentic word-of-mouth promotion from real customers who enjoy their products/services. UGC ads come across as more trustworthy than typical corporate advertising.

Major strategies include running contests for the best customer video ads, curating positive reviews for amplification, working with fan communities, and influencer collaborations. Consumer-generated ads can be highly cost-efficient while delivering a relatable brand voice.

However, they require deft management of legal concerns like disclosure guidelines, user permissions, and intellectual property rights over the fan-created materials. Brands may also have limited control over the creative quality and consistency of these consumer-driven promotions.

Native advertising

Native advertising refers to paid advertisements that are designed to blend into the surrounding content and user experience on websites, social media platforms, mobile apps, etc. Unlike traditional disruptive ad formats, native ads adopt the form, style, and functionality of the platform they appear on.

Common examples include sponsored content articles matching the editorial tone of a news website, promoted social media posts blending into user feeds, or recommended product listings integrated within e-commerce sites.

There are several key benefits of native advertising:

• These ads mimic organic content for a less disruptive ad experience than pop-ups or banners.
• Contextual relevance and seamless integration boost engagement, sharing, and click-through rates for native ads.
• Brands can share richer stories through long-form sponsored content with native ads.
• Native ads are versatile, adapting to web, mobile, and emerging channels like voice.

Major native ad platforms include content recommendation widgets, social media promotional tools, publisher partner programs, and specialized native ad networks. These benefits are reflected in the growth of the global Native Advertising Market reported by LinkedIn, which is expected to expand at a booming CAGR of 12.81% during the forecast period, reaching USD 4358.76 million by 2027.

Ending it here

In today’s busy marketplace, it’s critical for businesses to understand the different types of advertising to effectively reach their target audiences. Whether it’s using billboards or working with social media influencers, companies need to blend traditional and digital channels.

By choosing the right advertising methods strategically, brands can create engaging stories, build real connections, and grow by capturing the interest of modern consumers among many competing messages. Success comes from matching each advertising type’s strengths with overall marketing goals.

NEIL DUNCAN

Neil Duncan, a professional in business innovation and management, has a deep interest in writing and sharing his voice by publishing articles on different b2b and b2c websites/blogs like this. He currently serves as the Vice President in AZ.