Year: 2020

A live commercial is spoken by the presenter, station announcer, or newscaster.

Here the presenter reads your script. Or they can discuss your service or product during the spoken segments of their shows.

On the other hand:

Prerecorded commercials have undergone prior production including recording, editing, mixing, adding sound effects, etc.

This can be done in-house by the station’s staff or outsourced to an agency.

Currently, most of the radio ads are 30 or 60 seconds long. But some radio spots are 15s, 10s or 5s long.

So how many words are in a 30-second ad? Easy, just refer to this table:

Sounds, Music for Radio commercial

Without visuals to rely on, the music, background sounds (e.g. Foley) or special effects you select all need to work together to convey the mood and setting of your commercial. This careful attention to detail can mean the difference between catching a listener’s attention, or fading into background noise.

For instance, if you’re a company that sells vacation packages, imagine how your target audience might be captured by the grating sound of an ice scraper on a car windshield especially when juxtaposed with the sound of ice cubes clinking together in a fresh cold drink, as waves crash in the background.

Your Audio Ad Voice Over Forms an Emotional Connection

Often, casting directors will say that as they’re listening through auditions, when they find the right voice, they “just know.”

While this might seem like an oversimplification of the casting process, when you consider how important emotional connection is to capturing attention, it makes sense. When it comes to our emotions, we’re often moved by what we hear simply by hearing it. We don’t need to think over ‘why’ we’ve reacted, all we know is that the performance connected on a visceral level.

Chances are, if the voice over has caused you to pause and take notice, it will do the same for your audience.

Tips to Creating Effective Audio Ads

Keep Your Audio Ad Simple

If your listener remembered just one key message from your ad, what would you want it to be?

Choose one important message, and focus your effort on driving it home.

When listeners are hearing your audio ad, it’s likely that they’re multi-tasking whether they’re driving, washing the dishes, or out for a run their attention is already divided. So make your ad memorable by cutting back on the information that the listener has to remember. You only have around 30 seconds or less for a typical Spotify or Pandora audio spot, so your message has to be crystal clear.

Cut to Your Audio Ad’s Value Proposition as Early as Possible

Always lead with the most important information.

This goes right back to the point above on honing in on your key message. Now that you know what you want listeners to remember, cut to the chase and spend the rest of the time you have reinforcing that message.

Even if you feel like you’re repeating yourself, your listener is more likely to retain your message if they hear it more than once!

Appreciate the Difference between Audio Ads and Radio

Even though some fundamentals, such as script writing and great voice over casting, are essential to both audio ads and radio commercials, some elements are different.

For instance, the listener isn’t likely in your geographic region, so you’ll have to consider a broader audience.

Further, the listener is much more mobile. Traditional radio tends to reach people in the car, at home, or at work. However, when it comes to online radio, listeners could be anywhere, as long as they have a connected device.

Conversational Tone in Your Audio Ad Voice over Can Be Powerful

As Dale Carnegie aptly pointed out in his classic book, ‘How To Win Friends and Influence People,’ people like listening to friendly people, who speak clearly and in a conversational manner. This has never been truer in modern times, when the relatable voice over reads are dominating the advertising space.

When you post your voice over job for your audio ad, you can provide artistic direction to auditioning voice over actors that includes a read that’s conversational and friendly.

Slower Voice over Delivery Forms a Connection with the Listener

When you’re writing a voice over script, it can be easy to lose sight of the fact that the voice over talent only have a limited amount of time to deliver the whole read. You don’t want your audio ad to sound like the rapid chatter associated with disclaimer statements, such as those that appear at the end of a prescription drug commercial!

When you want your ad to be conversational, it pays to be sparing with the copy. By nature, conversations are much slower than ads you hear on television or on the radio.

Give time for the listener to mentally absorb what they’ve just heard and take action.

Loud Background Music is Distracting

You don’t necessarily need to eliminate background music, but rather, consider the volume level of the background music in comparison to the voice over, which should be heard front and center.

On the topic of background music, license a track from a music provider.

There are literally thousands of tracks to choose from online and you’ll be sure to find one that represents your brand and matches the performance style of the voice talent.

Create a Smooth Transition for the Listener

An audio ad isn’t listened to in isolation. Ads are inserted between songs, interviews and other audio content, so you’ll need to have a clean start and finish to your ad.

Avoid long pauses at the beginning of your ad, as it will give the impression that there’s dead air. On the tail end of your ad, avoid long fade-outs for the same reason.

Get creative! This is a savvy audience.

Make Your Call to Action Specific

When you embed a call-to-action (CTA), it’s important that it be as specific as possible. Drive traffic to your website or social media site by instructing listeners how and where they can learn more about your offering. Reference the exact next steps that you want your audience to take. You can even take it one step further by assigning a special landing page, URL, or code to offers that you promote in podcasts (e.g. Use promo code “PodcastListener” in the checkout cart!). That way, you’ll be able to track just how effective your audio ad is.

Record Your Audio Ad

Once you have your script completed, you need to now record the audio ad. Read our article on how to record an audio ad before you go any further in the process!

Pandora and Spotify Ad Examples

So now you have a framework to build an awesome online audio ad. However, you might want some real examples to sink your teeth into. Here are some of the best ad examples on Pandora and Spotify:

Write in the Active voice

When writing web copy, you want to come across with a strong and direct tone that makes what you say crystal clear the last thing you need is for your readers to be rearranging sentences in their minds!

By using the active voice (and avoiding the passive voice), you will be ensuring your writing will be clearly understood.

Craft Headlines that are Captivating & Concise

First impressions count, doubly so online.

When it comes to making great first impressions on your website, that responsibility lies solely on your headlines.

In fact, tests conducted by Upworthy has concluded that traffic can vary by up to a whopping 500% depending just on the headline itself!

So how do we ensure our headlines are infused with the right stuff to capture attention and entice those eyeballs to read through the rest of our copy?

Simple! Focus on crafting a headline that delivers the benefit fast, is concise and hits on the key terms that resonate with your ideal reader.

The copy on Proposify’s hero banner utilizes a powerful headline that delivers on making it crystal clear about what they do and how the user will benefit.

Use Language They Know

Convincing your reader with logic is good, but connecting with their emotions gets them to relate with you, forming a strong connection with your brand!

So how do we leverage this superpower for our website copy? By speaking their language while using a tone of voice that is personality-filled, allowing your reader to easily relate to you.

Frontload Your Best Stuff

Writing web copy isn’t the same as crafting a Harry Potter novel where you start out with a slow beginning and leave the exciting best for the last, it’s the direct opposite!

You need to hook em fast within 3 seconds!

As people’s attention span become shorter than a goldfish’s, it is vital that you frontload your best information right at the start to immediately capture their attention and create a feeling of ‘I need to read more and learn more!’

Here are the top 5 to put up front and center:

1. Your unique selling point (What makes you different from your competitors)
2. Any special or seasonal offers that are going on
3. The greatest benefit your product will bring
4. Information To pre-empt your customer’s biggest worry
5. Powerful social proof (such as reviews and testimonials)

Leverage Social Proof Smartly 

The best websites that enjoy higher conversions are the ones that strategically utilize social proof elements in their website copy.

When making a purchase online, your visitor will take cues from other people who have bought from your business and it’s no surprise people rely heavily on online reviews when making purchasing decisions.

While there are many formats and types of social proof you can gather such as:

• Customer testimonials
• Media features and mentions
• Influencer endorsements
• Brand Logos
• Number of products sold etc

Utilize Headings & Brief Descriptions 

Remember when we mentioned keeping the headline concise?

Well, you will need to do the same for virtually the rest of your web copy – no long paragraphs telling a story, but brief descriptions placed neatly under a short and punchy heading!

The reason? Keep things simple and allow your reader to scan comfortably through your website.

Take Sumo, for example, they keep their product features descriptions highly scannable with headings that immediately get to the point.

Simplicity: The key in radio is to build around one central idea. Avoid confusing the listener with too many copy points. Use known words, short phrases, simple sentences structure. Keep in mind that the copy needs to be conversational. Clarity: Keep the train of thought on one straight track. Avoid side issues. Use the active voice in simple sentences. Avoid adverbs, cliches, and ambiguous phrases. Delete unnecessary words. (Test: Would the commercial be hurt if the words were deleted?

If not, take them out). Write from draft to drafi until your script becomes unmistakably clear and concise.

Coherence: Be certain that your sales message flows in logical sequence from first word to last, using smooth transitional words and phrases for easier listening.

Rapport: Remember, as far as your listeners are concerned, you are speaking only to them. Try to use a warm, personal tone, as if you were talking to one or two people.

Make frequent use of the word ‘you’. Address the listeners in terms they would use themselves.

Pleasantness: It is not necessary to entertain simply for the sake of it, but there is no

And Music point in being dull or obnoxiotls. Strike a happy medium; talk as one friend to another about the product or service.

Believability: Every product has its good points, tell the truth about them. Avoid overstatements and obvious exaggerations; they are quickly spotted and defeat the whole purpose of the commercial. Be straightforward; convey the feeling of being a trusted friend.

Interest: Nothing makes listeners indifferent faster than a boring commercial. Products and services are not fascinating in themselves; it is the way you look at them that makes them interesting. Try to give your customer some useful information as a reward for listening.

Distinctiveness: Sound different firm other commercials and set your product apart from others. Use every technique a fresh approach, a musical phrase, a particular voice quality or sound effect, to give your commercial its own character.

Compulsion: Inject your commercial with a feeling of urgency. The first few seconds are crucial; this is when you capture or lose the listener’s attention. Direct every word towards moving the prospect close; to wanting the product. During the last ten seconds, repeat. Your promise of benefit; register the name of your product. And don’t forget to urge the listener to act without delay. It is surprising how many commercials don’t do this.

Let us now examine the various types of commercials. Commercials on radio can be broadly classified under two type’s spots and sponsored programmes. It combines announcement of exact time as well as broadcast of the commercial message.

Research can be conducted to optimise 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.

There are primarily two broad types of advertising research viz. Pre-testing and Post-testing. Pre­testing is testing the advertisement before running it so that the likelihood of preparing most effective ads, by allowing an opportunity to detect and eliminate weaknesses or flaws increases. Post-testing is done after the advertisement is run on the media. This is more expensive and elaborate but most realistic as well because the advertisements are tested in real life setting.

In another way of advertisement research can be classified into two types of research, customised and syndicated. Customised 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.

Pre-testing:

Pre-testing, also known as copy testing is a form of customised research that predicts in-market performance of an ad, before it airs, by analysing audience levels of attention, brand linkage, motivation, entertainment, and communication, as well as breaking down the ad’s Flow of Attention and Flow of Emotion. (Young) Pre-testing is also used on ads still in rough form – e.g., animatics or ripomatics. Pre­testing is also used to identify weak spots within an ad to improve performance, to more effectively edit 60’s to 30’s or 30’s to 15’s, to select images from the spot to use in an integrated campaign’s print ad, to pull out the key moments for use in ad tracking, and to identify branding moments.

Pre-testing thus is undertaken to:

1. Establish whether the advert ‘says’ what it was intended to
2. Assess the likelihood of getting a response from the reader

Some of the commonly used Pre-tests are as follows

Pre-tests for Print Media Advertisements:

Consumer Jury Test:

Few consumers form a group and act as jury to show their preferences for one or two ads out of several being considered. The jury members rank the ads and respond to the questions like which was the most impressive ad or which ad provoked you most to go ahead and buy the product or which ad did you notice first and so on.

This test is conducted by two methods namely Order of Merit Rating and Paired Comparison test. In the Order of merit rating test the jury the jurors rank the advertisements as per their preference. The consensus emerges about the best ad copy at the end. But the best may be the best amongst the worst ones.

In the paired comparison test at a time two ad copies are compared one-to-one. Every single ad is compared with all others. Sources are recorded on cards. They are summed up. The winner gets the highest score. This technique is easier than order of merit. Till ten copies, there is good accuracy; which later decreases. The number of comparisons one is required to make with the help of the following formula:

1. (n-l) / 2

Where n= the number of ads to be rested.

Portfolio Test:

Along with the regular advertisements some dummy copies are kept in a folio. Then the consumer-sample sees the folio. The consumer is then asked about what he has seen in each ads. The ad giving minimum playback is considered the best. But then it is necessary to observe whether the chosen advertisement is dummy or regular. If found dummy the actual one is improved on the same lines.

Mock Magazine Test:

Unlike the above method of keeping the advertisements in a folio, test ads are introduced in a real magazine to an experimental group to read. The control group is also exposed to the same magazine, but is without test ads. Later a recall test is conducted to assess the effectiveness о I test ads.

Direct Questioning:

A consumer jury is formed and either the whole ad or its different elements are tested by asking direct questions. Sometimes there is one single question only and sometimes an elaborate questionnaire is prepared to assess attention strength, read-through strength, affective strength and behaviour strength of the ad. For each component the copy is allotted some points. Each ad is rated from the best to the worst.

Perceptual Meaning Studies (PMS):

In this method the respondent is exposed to test the ads for a limited time period. Tachistoscope is an instrument that may be used in this test. After the respondent sees the advertisement, he is subjected to a recall test for the product, brand illustration and the main copy.

Pre-tests for Broadcast Media Advertisements:

All the above methods can be applied to broadcast media also. In addition, some special methods are available to pre-test broadcast media ads – TV and radio ads. The techniques used are:

In Home Projection Tests:

A movie projector screen is installed at consumer’s home to show him the test commercials. He is questioned before and after the exposure to the advertisements. The questions are related to the ad and the change it causes after exposure. The strong and weak points of the ads can be assessed.

Trailer Tests:

Two groups of customers are considered. Both are given discount coupons to purchase the brand under consideration and are invited to shop in a real life shopping environment, a departmental store, a shopping centre etc. The prospects are invited to the display their products. Now one group is shown the test ads whereas the other group is not. The redemption rate of coupons is measured for both groups which may give an idea about the effectiveness of test ads.

Theatre Test:

A group of people who could be a captive audience for an entertainment programme is considered and a questionnaire is sent to them. The free tickets are later sent to them for the programme where the test ads are run. On viewing these, they are asked to fill up another questionnaire. It assesses product, brand and its theme.

Live Telecast Test:

The advertisements are put on air either by narrow casting or live telecasting. These ads are test ads, and not the regular ads. Later, viewers are interviewed to know their reactions.

Some Other Pre-Testing Techniques:

Sales Experiment:

Before a product advertisement is launched nationally, a small ad campaign of one or more advertisements is run. Two or more test centres are selected to do so. The ads are run for a fixed period say one to four months and then the sales responses are noted. It is a very useful and effective measure for FMCG items and those ads who aim to motivate buyers to take an immediate sales action.

Direct Mail Tests:

A group of prospects are selected from the mailing list randomly and are sent different test ads. Then to measure the response, the orders against each lot are noted.

Physiological Testing:

In this test, rather than what respondents say, what is considered more important is the physiological reaction of the respondents. Three principal instruments to do so are:

Eye Movement Camera:

It measures how the eye moves over the layout of test ads. The route taken by the eye and also the pauses are noted so that the areas of interest and attention can be judged.

Galvanometer:

It measures skin responses to ad stimuli like perspiration by gland activity through palm. More perspiration decreases the resistance and faster current passes. The tension is generated. The greater it is, the more effective the ad is. The technique is of limited use for ads of a very sensitive nature.

Perceptoscope or Pupilometric Devices:

They record changes in pupils dilatation. Dilatation indicates reading and attention. Contraction shows dislike of the respondent to what is being read. It evaluates interesting appealing visual stimuli. It is developed by Eekhard Hess and James Polk. Left eye is photographed to record dilatation.

Pre Testing is also called copy testing by some experts. Copy testing is a specialised field of marketing research, it is the study of television commercials prior to airing them. Although also known as copy testing, pre-testing is considered the more accurate, modern name (Young) for the prediction of how effectively an ad will perform, based on the analysis of feedback gathered from the target audience. Each test will either qualify the ad as strong enough to meet company action standards for airing or identify opportunities to improve the performance of the ad through editing. (Young)

We saw various tests which are all pretests. Following is another classification of pretest or copy tests. There are four general themes woven into the last century of copy testing.

Report Card Measures:

The first theme is the quest for a valid, single-number statistic to capture the overall performance of the advertising creative. This search has spawned the creation of various report card measures. These measures are used to filter commercial executions and help management make the go/no go decision about which ads to air. (Young). The predominant copy testing measure of the 1950s and 1960s, Day-After Recall (DAR) was interpreted to measure an ad’s ability to “break through’” into the mind of the consumer and register a message from the brand in long-term memory. Once this measure was adopted by Procter and Gamble, it became a research staple.

But every thing was not that bright about these tests. In the 70s, 80s, and 90s, tests were conducted to validate a link between the recall score and actual sales. For example, Procter and Gamble reviewed 10 year’s worth of split-cable tests (100 total) and found no significant relationship between recall scores and sales. (Young) In addition, Wharton University’s marketing guru Leonard Lodish conducted an even more extensive review of test market results and also failed to find a relationship between recall and sales. Harold Ross of Mapes & Ross found that persuasion was a better predictor of sales than recall.

Diagnostic Measures:

The second theme is the development of diagnostic copy testing, the main purpose of which is optimisation. Understanding why diagnostic measures such as attention, brand linkage, and motivation are high or low can help advertisers identify creative opportunities to improve executions. (Young)

But then again this method was not perfect. Different approaches have been developed by research companies to determine the report card measures of attention, brand linkage, and motivation. For example, Unilever analysed a database of commercials “triple-tested’’ using the three leading approaches to the measure of branding (Ameritest, ASI, and Millward Brown) which shows that each of the three is measuring something uncorrelated with, and therefore different from, the other two. (Kastenholtz, Kerr & Young).

Non-Verbal Measures:

The third theme is the development of non-verbal measures in response to the belief of many advertising professionals that much of a commercial’s effects – e.g. the emotional impact – may be difficult for respondents to put into words or scale on verbal rating statements. In fact, many believe the commercial’s effects may be operating below the level of consciousness. (Young) According to researcher Chuck Young, “There is something in the lovely sounds of our favorite music that we cannot verbalize – and it moves us in ways we cannot express.” (Young, p.22)

Moment-by-Moment Measures:

The fourth theme, which is a variation on the previous two, is the development of moment-by- moment measures to describe the internal dynamic structure of the viewer’s experience of the commercial, as a diagnostic counterpoint to the various gestalt measures of commercial performance or predicted impact. (Young)

In the early 1980s, the shift in analytical perspective from thinking of a commercial as the fundamental unit of measurement to be rated in its entirety, to thinking of it as a structured flow of experience, gave rise to experimentation with moment-by-moment systems. The most popular of these was the dial-a-meter response which required respondents to turn a meter, in degrees, toward one end of a scale or another to reflect their opinion of what was 011 screen at that moment.

But then the things were not that easy. Unless the dial-a-meter is calibrated by normalising the data to each individual’s reaction time, the aggregate sample data will be spread across many measurement intervals. Second, dial-a-meters contain an uncertainty range around which moment is actually being measured because of differences in respondent response times. Relatively little has been published to validate dial-a-meter diagnostics to traditional measures of overall ad performance such as recall and persuasion.

Post-Testing:

Post-testing or Ad tracking, as otherwise known, can be customised or syndicated. Tracking studies provide either periodic or continuous in-market research monitoring a brand’s performance, including brand awareness, brand preference, product usage and attitudes. Advertising tracking can be done by telephone interviews or online interviews—with the two approaches producing fundamentally different measures of consumer memories of advertising, recall versus recognition.

Purpose of Post Testing:

The purpose of ad tracking is generally to provide a measure of the combined effect of the media weight or spending level, the effectiveness of the media buy or targeting, and the quality of the advertising executions or creative. Some newer forms of online tracking, separate the issues of the quality of the creative component from the quality of the media buy and instead focus on the relative performance of ads versus the competitive ads that are airing at the same time. All forms of tracking data are used to provide inputs to Marketing Mix Models which marketing science statisticians build to estimate advertising return on investment (ROI).

Some ad tracking studies are conducted by telephone while others are conducted on the Internet. The two approaches produce very different measures of advertising awareness because the interviews tap into consumer memories of advertising using fundamentally different measures, recall versus recognition.

For example, with an Internet study, the respondent can be shown a few memorable, de-branded still images from the TV ad or a de-branded version of a print or Internet ad and then answer three significant questions:

1. Do you recognise this ad? (Recognition measure)
2. Please type in the sponsor of this ad. (Unaided awareness measure)

iii. Please choose from the following list, the sponsor of this ad. (Aided awareness measure)

A telephone survey does not allow for visuals. Verbal descriptions are very difficult to provide for a campaign that has several ads featuring the same character(s) in the same situation with only slight changes. Telephone is not considered a flexible enough methodology to be used in all situations.

The data that a post-test might provide are as follows:

1. Decision Analyst
2. Top of mind brand awareness
3. Unaided brand awareness
4. Aided brand awareness
5. Brand fit
6. Brand image ratings
7. Brand trial
8. Repeat purchase
9. Frequency of use
10. Purchase intent
11. Price perceptions
12. Unaided advertising awareness
13. Aided advertising awareness
14. Unaided advertising message recall
15. Aided advertising message recall
16. Aided commercial recall
17. Ad wear out
18. Promotion awareness and usage
19. Market segment characteristics
20. Media habits
21. Lifestyle/Psychographics
22. Demographics

Different techniques of Post-Testing:

Among the various post testing techniques used most common ones are:

1. Penetration tests: Recognition/recall
2. Progress tests or Sales Effects Tests.

Apart from this, perceptions, image and attitudes can also be measured to assess the effectiveness of ads. The attitude measurement may be used in combination with penetration (recall) tests.

Penetration Tests:

Daniel Starch had given the details of this test for the first time in his book Principles of Advertising (Chicago- A W Shaw, 1923). These tests are also known as Recognition/Readership Viewership tests. They are aided recall tests dating back to 1923. Since then they have been conducted in the US by the Daniel Starch Organisation. Here, the respondents are shown the issues of magazines they claim to have read. They are asked to recognise the ads, asked whether they have read them. The results are put into three categories:

(i) Noted (N): A person who only remembers having seen the ad in the issue under study

(ii) Seen-Associated (A). A person who not only remembers seeing it but also claims to have seen or read some part of it. He may even associate the ad with the product or advertiser

(iii) Read-Most (RM). The person who has read half or more of the written material in the ad.

The above categories of readers are expressed in percentage terms. This method is also adaptable to broadcast ads where commercial advertisements on tape are played. McGown (1979) gave the following formula to calculate Readers per Dollar:

Readers peere Dollar = Percent noted X Magazin’s primary readers / Space cost in Dollar

This method however is not error free. This method is always subject to reporting errors by the respondents. They might deliberately exaggerate or at times unknowingly suppress information. At times they guess answers to please the interviewer and hide the fact that he or she has not seen the advertisements.

There are however some methods as follows which might increase the efficiency of measurement.

1. The tachistoscopic method: Advertisements are shown to the respondent, either whole or part, at high speed; and then they are asked to furnish information based on those ads.
2. The screen method: Several screens are put over an ad which are then removed one by one an recognition is obtaited at various levels of visibility.

iii. Two more methods often used by researchers are Pre-publication control which requires a recognition survey of previously unpublished advertisements and confusion contra methods where some unpublished advertisements are mixed up with some published ones and then recall is measured.

Gallup-Robinson Impact Test:

Gallup- Robison is a commercial research firm which has formulated standardised aided recall tests to survey advertisement impact. A respondent is shown a magazine cover and is asked whether s/ he has read the issue. If yes, then s/he is asked to describe anything s/he remembers seeing in that issue. S/he is then given a deck of cards with brand names on them which appeared on the issue and is asked to indicate which ones s/he remembers seeing in the issue.

Recognition Vs Aided Recall:

1. In the aided recall method, the test issue is kept closed, and the respondent is required to answer, entirely on the basis of his memory, whereas in the recognition method, respondents first qualify as readers of a particular issue.
2. The aided-recall method has a more exacting requirement; in effect, it eliminates many persons of “less desirable” characteristics from the audience which is not the case with the other one.

iii. Studies in USA have revealed that the recognition method gives an average advertisement score that is six times the average PNR score.

1. The aided-recall advertisement readers are younger, and have a lower educational, occupational and income status.
2. A Printed Advertising Rating Methods (PARM) study has concluded that the aided-recall method gives much lower ratings, which are sensitive to such methodological factors as the lapse of time before the interview, the competence of the interviewers and the type of the sample.

Unaided Recall Tests:

This is a kind of recall test where the respondents are not given any clue to recall the ad. This proves to be more demanding than the aided recall, as respondents recalling the brands without help shows a greater degree of penetration of the ad.

Types of Unaided Recall:

Day-After- Recall (DAR):

One day after the advertisement appears the readers or viewers are questioned after that.

Total Prime Time (TPT):

Here the main item of research is viewer’s television viewing time.

Triple-Association Test (TAT):

This test measures how much a viewer or reader has learnt about the brand from the advertisement. The respondent is told about some product feature or benefit and he is to find the brand name for that. For example if a respondent is asked that which toothpaste ad shows that it has salt in it and the respondent says Colgate active salt we understand that the learning objective of the advertisement is successful.

Progress Tests:

These tests assess the total sales effect from the ad and hence is also called sales effect test. In other words, the various stages through which a customer passes and finally purchases are because of the advertisement or not is analysed. Though the increase of sales due to advertisement is slightly difficult to be measured, yet we have the following established methods

The Netapps Method:

Netapps stands for Net-Ad-Produced-Purchases. Daniel Starch and Staff Company developed this method. It takes a sample population of which some have read or viewed the advertisement and others have not. In each group those who did and did not purchase the brand under investigation are found and analysed as to what percentage bought under the influence of the advertisement.

Intend-to-buy Test:

The readers or viewers of the advertisement are asked about their intention to buy. For positive responses further investigations are done to find the strong influences in the advertisement because of which they decide to buy.

Sales Result Tests:

Following are some of sales results tests which measure the additional sales generated by the ads.

Past Sales before and after the ad are recorded and the difference is accounted for as an impact of advertisement.

An audit may be run on the dealers inventory before and after the advertisement.

Enquiry Tests:

Some consumer durables companies issue coupons as a part of the advertisement copy and when they are circulated to the customers, they are supposed to fill it up and send it back to the company. So when the customers are filling in the coupons they are seeing the ad copy as well. So from the number of coupons received estimation can be made as to the number of the readership of the advertisement.

Attitude Tests:

The change in attitude of the customers after the advertisement campaign is measured and marketers observe whether there has been any change in the customers’ attitude towards the brand under investigation. Further they assume that a positive attitude towards their brand may lead to further purchases. Generally the attitude is measured by rating it on a scales like Likert Scale, Thurstone scale, Differential Scale, Guttman Scale etc.

Thus like any other aspect of market research, advertising research also aims towards the investigation of various real facts from the market. It attempts to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of the communication efforts of the organisations. On these evaluations, many important strategic communication decisions depend. Hence it proves to be a very important area as today the organisations know that apart from the sales figures, brand image and goodwill are also very important which depends a lot on the advertising efforts.

Concept Testing

Concept testing (to be distinguished from pre-test markets and test markets which may be used at a later stage of product development research) is the process of using surveys (and sometimes qualitative methods) to evaluate consumer acceptance of a new product idea prior to the introduction of a product to the market. It is important not to confuse concept testing with advertising testing, brand testing and packaging testing, as is sometimes done. Concept testing focuses on the basic product idea, without the embellishments and puffery inherent in advertising.

It is important that the instruments (questionnaires) to test the product have a high quality themselves. Otherwise, results from data gathered surveys may be biased by measurement error. That makes the design of the testing procedure more complex. Empirical tests provide insight into the quality of the questionnaire. This can be done by:

• Conducting cognitive interviewing. By asking a faction of potential-respondents about their interpretation of the questions and use of the questionnaire, a researcher can verify the viability of the cognitive interviewing.
• Carrying out a small pretest of the questionnaire, using a small subset of target respondents. Results can inform a researcher of errors such as missing questions, or logical and procedural errors.
• Estimating the measurement quality of the questions. This can be done for instance using test-retest, quasi-simplex, or mutlitrait-multimethod models.
• Predicting the measurement quality of the question. This can be done using the software Survey Quality Predictor (SQP).

Concept testing in the new product development (NPD) process is the concept generation stage. The concept generation stage of concept testing can take on many forms. Sometimes concepts are generated incidentally, as the result of technological advances. At other times concept generation is deliberate: examples include brain-storming sessions, problem detection surveys and qualitative research. While qualitative research can provide insights into the range of reactions consumers may have, it cannot provide an indication of the likely success of the new concept; this is better left to quantitative concept-test surveys.

In the early stages of concept testing, a large field of alternative concepts might exist, requiring concept-screening surveys. Concept-screening surveys provide a quick means to narrow the field of options; however they provide little depth of insight and cannot be compared to a normative database due to interactions between concepts. For greater insight and to reach decisions on whether or not pursue further product development, monadic concept-testing surveys must be conducted.

Frequently concept testing surveys are described as either monadic, sequential monadic or comparative. The terms mainly refer to how the concepts are displayed:

1.) Monadic. The concept is evaluated in isolation.

2.) Sequential monadic. Multiple concepts are evaluated in sequence (often randomized order).

3.) Comparative. Concepts are shown next to each other.

4.) Proto-monadic. Concepts are first shown in sequence, and then next to each other.

“Monadic testing is the recommended method for most concept testing. Interaction effects and biases are avoided. Results from one test can be compared to results from previous monadic tests. A normative database can be constructed.” However, each has its specific uses and it depends on the research objectives. The decision as to which method to use is best left to experience research professionals to decide, as there are numerous implications in terms of how the results are interpreted.

Copy Testing

Copy testing is a specialized field of marketing research that determines an advertisement’s effectiveness based on consumer responses, feedback, and behavior. Also known as pre-testing, it might address all media channels including television, print, radio, outdoor signage, internet, and social media.

Automated Copy Testing is a specialized type of digital marketing specifically related to digital advertising. This involves using software to deploy copy variations of digital advertisements to a live environment and collecting data from real users. These automated copy tests will generally use a Z-test to determine the statistical significance of results. If a specific ad variation out performs the baseline in the copy test, to a desired level of statistical significance, this new copy variation should be used by the marketer.

Features

In 1982, a consortium of 21 leading advertising agencies — including N. W. Ayer, D’Arcy, Grey, McCann Erickson, Needham Harper & Steers, Ogilvy & Mather, J. Walter Thompson, and Young & Rubicam released a public document laying out the PACT (Positioning Advertising Copy Testing) Principles that constitute a good copy testing system. PACT states a good copy testing system must meet the following criteria:

• Provides measurements which are relevant to the objectives of the advertising.
• Requires agreement about how the results will be used in advance of each specific test.
• Provides multiple measurements, because single measurements are generally inadequate to assess the performance of an advertisement.
• Based on a model of human response to communications – the reception of a stimulus, the comprehension of the stimulus, and the response to the stimulus.
• Allows for consideration of whether the advertising stimulus should be exposed more than once.
• Recognizes that the more finished a piece of copy is, the more soundly it can be evaluated and requires, as a minimum, that alternative executions be tested in the same degree of finish.
• Provides controls to avoid the biasing effects of the exposure context.
• Takes into account basic considerations of sample definition.
• Demonstrates reliability and validity.

Types of copy testing measurements

Recall

The predominant copy testing measure of the 1950s and 1960s, Burke’s Day-After Recall (DAR) was interpreted to measure an ad’s ability to “break through” into the mind of the consumer and register a message from the brand in long-term memory. Once this measure was adopted by Procter and Gamble, it became a research staple.

In the 70s, 80s, and 90s, validation efforts found no link between recall scores and actual sales (Adams & Blair; Blair; Blair & Kuse; Blair & Rabuck; Jones; Jones & Blair; MASB; Mondello; Stewart). For example, Procter and Gamble reviewed 10 year’s worth of split-cable tests (100 total) and found no significant relationship between recall scores and sales (Young, pp. 3–30). In addition, Wharton University’s Leonard Lodish conducted an even more extensive review of test market results and also failed to find a relationship between recall and sales.

The 1970s also saw a re-examination of the “breakthrough” measure. As a result, an important distinction was made between the attention-getting power of the creative execution and how well “branded” the ad was. Thus, the separate measures of attention and branding were born.

Persuasion

In the 1970s and 1980s, after DAR was determined to be a poor predictor of sales, the research industry began to depend on a measure of persuasion as an accurate predictor of sales. This shift was led, in part, by researcher Horace Schwerin who pointed out, “the obvious truth is that a claim can be well remembered but completely unimportant to the prospective buyer of the product the solution the marketer offers is addressed to the wrong need”). As with DAR, it was Procter and Gamble’s acceptance of the ARS Persuasion measure (also known as brand preference) that made it an industry standard. Recall scores were still provided in copy testing reports with the understanding that persuasion was the measure that mattered.

Diagnostic

The main purpose of diagnostic measures is optimization. Understanding diagnostic measures can help advertisers identify creative opportunities to improve executions.

Non-Verbal

Non-verbal measures were developed in response to the belief that much of a commercial’s effects e.g. the emotional impact may be difficult for respondents to put into words or scale on verbal rating statements. In fact, many believe the commercial’s effects may be operating below the level of consciousness. According to researcher Chuck Young, “There is something in the lovely sounds of our favorite music that we cannot verbalize and it moves us in ways we cannot express”.

In the 1970s, researchers sought to measure these non-verbal measures biologically by tracking brain wave activities as respondents watched commercials (Krugman). Others experimented with galvanic skin response, voice pitch analysis, and eye-tracking. These efforts were not popularly adopted, in part because of the limitations of the technology as well as the poor cost-effectiveness of what was widely perceived as academic, not actionable research.

In the early 1980s the shift in analytical perspective from thinking of a commercial as the fundamental unit of measurement to be rated in its entirety, to thinking of it as a structured flow of experience, gave rise to experimentation with moment-by-moment systems. The most popular of these was the dial-a-meter response which required respondents to turn a meter, in degrees, toward one end of a scale or another to reflect their opinion of what was on screen at that moment.

More recently, research companies have started to use psychological tests, such as the Stroop effect, to measure the emotional impact of copy. These techniques exploit the notion that viewers do not know why they react to a product, image, or ad in a certain way (or that they reacted at all) because such reactions occur outside of awareness, through changes in networks of thoughts, ideas, and images.

Rural advertising

Rural advertising is increasingly evident throughout the countryside. The majority of advertisements and hoardings are for fertilizers, hybrid seeds, diesel pumps and pesticides, not to men­tion the message of family planning.

Therefore, advertising in the Indian rural context must be seen as consisting of techniques for improving economic mobility within the country. The emergence of an active cash economy is bound to create a strong rural demand and promote consumption.

The traditional growth and dominance of urban industrial centres is undergoing rapid changes. A more equit­able distribution in rural areas would also help in slowing down the rapidly increasing influx of people from rural into urban centres.

Literacy and Media Habits:

Despite the low level of literacy in rural areas, the growth between 1971 and 1981 is significant. Five crore more people have become literate in the course of the last decade, a figure almost equal to the entire population of France. Growth in literacy levels is expec­ted to continue, and this, in turn, will lead to greater awareness of products on the part of the rural people.

Some market research studies on the media habits of farmers in Andhra, Haryana and Punjab are quite revealing they clearly show that, contrary to popular belief, organized media play a signi­ficant role in supplementing the efforts to reach rural consumers.

Other 70 per cent of the population listens to the radio; about 65 per cent in Andhra goes to the cinema. The corresponding figure for Punjab and Haryana is 26 per cent. In both these areas, over 30 per cent read newspapers regularly.

In rural India, the role that advertising plays is minor. It will enhance demand only when favourable environmental conditions have been created. Advertising does not create immediate demand. There is always an information gap.

Rural India is a set of regional markets where cultural factors play a very important role. The raw materials come from the soil; and the relatively low productivity of Indian forms is reflected in the low purchasing power of the rural buyer.

The rural advertising problem in a country like India is related to political, social and economic problems. With low incomes from farms the question that arises is- Can we afford the infrastructure of the mass media for the rural markets? The Indian rural market is very heterogeneous.

Nevertheless, public advertising is an important pre-condition for the creation of demand. The problem of the rural consumer in our country is that he is traditional; to some extent, there is homogeneity, and there are high resistance and low resistance pro­ducts amongst the rural buyers.

Rural buyers show a great many cont­radictions; and the advertising man has to understand them. For exa­mple, the poor spend lavishly on marriages; in certain parts, a rigid caste system still exists; the community is more contented with what­ever little it has. Many preach non-violence and practice violence.

For mass media men to motivate rural buyers to change their life-style is not therefore that easy. The concept of sufficiency is a hurdle to deve­lopment; and the problem of huge distances and inadequate outlets is quite considerable.

Within a rural market, there are many mini-markets based on caste, religion,’ language or other differences. All the people living in and around these markets have distinctly different life-styles. The marketing men know that the cost of distribution increases as the town gets smaller; and it is not economical to serve very small villages.

In rural areas, the effective approach to be employed to reach the buyers is to establish contact with local educators who can influ­ence them by word of mouth. Such local educators are government officials, Block Development & Extension Officers, Village Pardhans and school teachers.

Rural markets are no longer a seller’s market now. Many people have underrated the strength of the market on the assumption that India’s rural poverty restricts rural purchases only to those items which are basic necessities. This has turned out to be a myth now.

The social status, needs, expenditure on weddings, religious ceremonies and the farmers’ need for excitement, travelling and entertainment, have influenced the operations of the rural market. Many farmers travel to weekly markets to buy vegetables that they can themselves grow; but they go in order to have news, stimulation and for socialisation.

The bumper crops and the upturn in agricultural production have resulted in a considerable increase in the incomes of farmers and in their purchasing power. The increase in purchasing power in rural areas has generated vast potential markets for manufactured goods because the people want to raise their standard of living.

New appro­aches must be evolved to awaken the rural population to the range of consumption possibilities open to them. Advertising and consumer research is essential for this purpose; for it must be determined not only what the villager wants but what would motivate him to buy.

Market research and consumer surveys are essential and should cover a fairly wide area of rural life, including the attitudes and aspirations of the rural buyer.

The different approaches to reach rural buyers which may be profitably utilised include mobile publicity-cum-sales stalls, sales and cinema vans, participation in rural fairs and festivals.

The villagers are slightly hesitant about going to smart-looking shops. The relatively prosperous families generally become the pace setter group in the village; and these must initially receive the adverti­ser’s attention.

Advertising research may focus on the sources of awareness in the rural sector the media influencing the villages. It must concentrate on determining the different influences that the villager is being exposed to, either in the village or in his visits to the towns.

A villager normally makes his household purchases in a near­by small town or a fair, but visits either a district, town or a still larger market for his requirements of consumer durables. It would be useful to ascertain his motivation in selecting different markets for different purposes.

Seasonality figures prominently in rural buying habits on account of harvesting seasons, fairs, festivals and marriage, etc. These things should be plotted in advance for sales promotion; and advertising information on the styles of the rural buyer, his attitudes towards pro­cesses, durability, and the incidence of impulse buying these should be checked.

The rural buyer in general is price conscious. Cheaper and sophisticated models of agricultural machinery, sewing machines, etc., should therefore be more acceptable to the village consumer.

The goods should be made available to the rural consumer at places which are most convenient to him. Ideally, it would be desi­rable to get right down to the villages, and combine the sales and advertising effort at that level. But, practically, this would be very difficult because the selling cost would be too high if we follow this approach.

To expand sales in rural markets, hire-purchase facilities should be extended. Effective after-sales service should be extended where a distributor/dealer has been appointed. Some incentive should be given to dealers to open bank accounts in nearby banking towns.

Eighty per cent of the total population is in villages and about 60 per cent of the national income comes from rural areas. There is an inequitable distribution of this rural income amongst the rural folk.

There are two sections of the rural population: a large portion have a low income and low consumption levels; the rest are the rural rich.

Rural Advertising Mix

In rural areas, advertising in the form of outdoor publicity will- prove more effective. The use of mobile vans and audiovisual meth­ods would hold and attract the attention of the rural folk. The use of switch lights, wall writings, cars and other vehicles fitted with loud­speakers and musical instruments would boost sales in rural areas.

Demonstrations and seminars may be profitably used. A few indi­viduals are very prominent in rural areas and their word is honoured by the villagers.’ Convincing such individuals about the utility of the products will go a long way in stimulating their sales in the villages.

There is a considerable scope for outdoor publicity inside and outside the public carriers. On truck routes, hoardings may prove to be the most effective method of advertising. This type of advertising, moreover, has a definite reminder value.

What is required is the use of appro­priate colours, signs and pictures which are liked by the rural folk. Outdoor advertising in rural areas, however, should not only introduce new commodities to the market but also explain their uses and extol their virtues.

The services of commercial broadcasting too, may be profitably utilized in view of the growing popularity of radios, transistors and TV sets. In a country like ours, where 75 per cent of the people are illiterate, the importance of radios and TV sales as a means of mass communication needs hardly to be over-emphasized.

The point of purchase for most of the items is usually the weekly “haat” or market outside the village. For certain produ­cts, the point-of-purchase display that relies heavily on pictorial representation would prove very effective.

As the retailer is the final- link in the chain of communication with the consumer, retail displays would be extremely effective if the material is well planned. What is imperative for the manufacturer is to design a display that will suit the small retail shop in rural areas.

This is of crucial importance because the biggest problem of the retailer is to mar age the mass material in the limited space available. Whatever may be the medium of advertising, the largest audience in rural areas should be the growing number of literate youth.

The written word, whether it is used for advertising in the press or on a hoarding, on merchandising materials or on the container, would have to be addressed largely to the younger generation with their expectations and their aspirations.

With growing literacy in rural areas, another possible break­through in rural marketing may be achieved by the use of the mail? Order channel of communication. India’s postal network serves more than one and half lakh towns and villages.

Mail orders may be used as an ideal tool with a view to sending out goods to consumers but also as a means of promoting product messages. A recent study of advertising media, as used in the family planning campaign, has revealed that, by far, the most effective publicity medium for village audiences were the mailings to village panchayats.

The most serious difficulty in mail order business, however, is the high cost of postal parcels and the uncertainties regarding prompt and secure delivery.

Co-operatives have played a very important role in popularising the use of various agricultural inputs, such as fertilizers, improved seeds, new implements, pesticides etc. The public distribution system has rightly recognized the importance of the role of co-operatives in rural areas.

For the sale of engineering goods and agricultural equipment, it is necessary to provide, for their service and repairs, facilities at a nearby place where the rural buyers are located. The demonstration and the use of the items should also be explained at this centre.

Rural Advertising – Problems of Marketing Products in Rural Areas

Problems of Marketing Agricultural Products:

There is a need for coordinating production and marketing:

(i) If production increases, the increased output must be marketed. The structural interdependence of the industrial and rural sectors and lack of co-ordination generate prob­lems which depress prices and discourage production.

(ii) Difficulties of transport and communication limit the range of physical distribution; therefore, an efficient and coordinated transport system is needed.

(iii) By their very nature agricultural products are grown in a few places and certain seasons. For a continuous supply and fair prices, therefore, storage facilities are necessary.

(iv) Cereals, vegetables, etc., last longer if packed in polythene.

(v) Market information is vital.

(vi) Poor farmers are fleeced by moneylenders. Extended credit facilities should therefore be created.

Problems of Marketing Consumer Goods in Rural Areas:

The creation of primary demand is essential. Advertising is mainly done to create awareness. That is why the radio and TV have become very popular in more than 500,000 villages. Providing goods at the retail outlets is a great challenge, therefore an intimate know­ledge of the consumer wants is essential.

The pre-eminent position of the rural sector in our economy is nothing new. Four-fifths of our people live there, and half of our national income is generated in this sector. Anyone interested in marketing has for long been conscious of the vast potential in rural India. This potential is now beginning to be seen not as a remote promise, but perhaps an immediate opportunity.

There is little doubt that the record agricultural production of the last two years, in contrast with the sharp decline which occurred two years earlier, has changed attitudes a great deal. Optimism has been encouraged by the first signs of a genuine breakthrough in agriculture.

The intelligent use of fertilizers, pesticides and better seeds has had a dramatic impact on yields, wherever they have been applied. That the agricultural yield would rise sharply, given proper inputs, has been known for decades.

What has come as surprise to the country as a whole is the enthusiasm and extent to which these new practices have been accepted. With the right products presented in the right way to the farmer an immense change can be brought about; and the image of the farmer as a tradition-bound, unenterprising individual reconciled to his poverty-stricken existence will begin to fade.

While it is wrong to overlook the fact that the change is most significant amongst the larger and more enlightened farmers in areas under irrigation or assured rainfall, it would seem reasonable to assume that it must, in the course of time, sweep over the bulk of the rural sector.

Urban Advertising

Advertising or propaganda is a show that presented by a person or institute by purpose of influence on the thoughts and acts of people. All of the urban elements side the correct signs can help to enforce the identity and economic vitality and change it to an active and strenuous place.

Although many known the emerge of advertisement simultaneously with the advent of the mass media, but since the industrial revolution advertising as a marketing communication tool evolved to become an art and a science.

According to the importance of advertising in economic and social affairs, to introduce a variety of promotions for goods and products used by companies and producers. Citizens in neighborhood and life environment are faced to urban advertising. These kinds of advertising consists of graffiti, painting, design and installation poster, announcements and notices, statues and inscriptions and various topics in the field of cultural, social, political, economic and commercial that happened in the city by state organs, public institutions, associations and companies as well as citizens can be done. Urban advertising divided to two categories: fixed and fixed. Signs, billboards and graffiti are part of urban fixed advertising and example of an urban mobile ads is bus ads. Totally signs and urban status are used as making relation. The main goals of signs and symptoms, regulation and classification and foster understanding in the urban environment. The establishment of operational rules adopted by the municipality beautify the city of Urmia generally the symptoms can be divided into six main groups: orientate, inform, guide, identify, express or terms and beauty. To be effective urban advertising medium must have certain characteristics to be considered in designing or evaluating them. Some features must be considered in designing or evaluating them. Readability, strengthening face and urban identity, harmony and respect for hierarchy and are included in the balance (table1).
Table 1: The features expected of an urban advertising

Digital advertising is the practice of delivering promotional content to users through various online and digital channels.

Digital advertising leverages mediums such as social media, email, search engines, mobile apps, affiliate programs and websites to show advertisements and messages to audiences. 

Traditional (non-digital) advertising widely followed the spray and pray approach. It reached out to the masses, but the ROI was largely undeterminable. Digital advertising, as we know it today, is heavily data-driven and can give you minute details of your campaigns and outcomes. The availability of user data and rich targeting capabilities makes digital advertising an important tool for businesses to connect with their audience. It is useful to remember that while the connected world offers may ways to reach and engage with customers, there is a distinction between ways that are free or ‘organic’ and paid or ‘inorganic’. Digital advertising is an ‘inorganic’ way to reach and engage with customers and prospects.

Digital advertising encompasses all advertising efforts that use an electronic device or the internet. Businesses leverage digital channels such as search engines, social media, email, and their websites to connect with current and prospective customers.

Advertising has always been about connecting with your audience in the right place and at the right time. Today, that means you need to meet them where they are already spending time: on the internet.

Enter digital advertising in other words, any form of advertising that exists online.

Digital advertising is defined by the use of numerous digital tactics and channels to connect with customers where they spend much of their time: online. From the website itself to a business’s online branding assets digital advertising, email advertising, online brochures, and beyond there’s a spectrum of tactics that fall under the umbrella of “digital advertising.”

The best digital marketers have a clear picture of how each digital advertising campaign supports their overarching goals. And depending on the goals of their advertising strategy, marketers can support a larger campaign through the free and paid channels at their disposal.

A content marketer, for example, can create a series of blog posts that serve to generate leads from a new ebook the business recently created. The company’s social media marketer might then help promote these blog posts through paid and organic posts on the business’s social media accounts. Perhaps the email marketer creates an email campaign to send those who download the ebook more information on the company.

Scope and Importance

Digital Advertising industry is booming not just in India but all parts of the world. The year 2016 took the industry by surprise with over 1.5 lakh job opportunities in the Digital Advertising domain. Well, the following was a bigger surprise when only the first quarter of 2017 marked for 8 lakh job opportunities.

The surveys conducted by several forums have predicted this number to grow with Digitalisation in the nation. Our Prime Minister has been actively promoting the idea of Digital India. PM Modi’s digital India campaign gained massive popularity. The initiative of Government of India is aimed at providing easy services to its natives.

Now imagine when a nation’s government is promoting the digital interaction, what do you think will be the Digital Advertising scope in that nation.

Types of Digital Advertising

We’ve arrived! It’s time to dive head first into 9 types of digital advertising. Types of online digital advertising include:

1. Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization or SEO refers to the process of growing your online visibility in non-paid (organic) search engine results. SERPs or search engine results pages appear to users after they search for a given set of keywords using a search engine like Google or Bing. Each user receives an individualized results page based on keywords, the user’s location at the time of searching, and their browsing history.

Organic search results appear in a list and are ranked using the search engine’s algorithm. As users change the way they search and engage with online content, these algorithms change. The higher you rank on a SERP, the more traffic is directed to your site and the more chances of making a passive visitor an active customer.

2. Search Engine Advertising

Search Engine Advertising or SEM covers the ground SEO ignores, paid traffic from search engines. With SEM you purchase advertisement space that appears on a user’s SERP. The most common paid search platform is Google AdWords. Next, is Bing Ads.

The search engine charges a marketer a predetermined amount to display an advertisement in a number of places on a SERP generated from specific keywords or phrases. One example of SEM is pay-per-click advertising or PPC. PPC refers to a digital advertising method wherein search engines charge a company each time their advertisement is clicked.

3. Social Media Advertising

By now you know that social media is a crucial part of your advertising strategy. But do you know the ins and outs of social media advertising? Social media advertising gives you increased exposure. It allows you to connect with your consumers in a more intimate way. From this interaction, you can gain valuable customer feedback that allows you to improve your customer service, product, or service.

Using social media advertising you’ll gain more reach when you post quality content. Everything you do to increase traffic or business on your social media channels is social media advertising. Whether you’re on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, or LinkedIn these efforts all amount to social media advertising.

Most everyone benefits from social media advertising, but B2C companies stand to gain the most. Pay attention to what your target audience talks about on social media. Engage in the conversation. Use social media advertising as a way to gauge what content you put out does well by monitoring shares and likes.

4. Content Advertising

Content advertising refers to the practice of delivering a quality piece of content to your users to generate sales and leads. This content can live anywhere online. Tweets, a YouTube video, and blogs on your website all comprise content advertising. Content Advertising works because it melds together exceptional content with other types of digital advertising like SEO and Social Media Advertising.

5. Affiliate Advertising

Affiliate advertising refers to the process of paying for conversions. Think of it like hiring a sales person for your product or service. That affiliate earns a commission. You determine the rate for affiliate advertising.  You only pay for conversions. This means there is no upfront cost to affiliate advertising. Many bloggers or e-commerce websites use affiliate advertising.

When you choose to use affiliate advertising ensure that all of your terms and boundaries are discussed beforehand. The affiliate represents your brand, so you want them to carry your brand’s message close to them. Think about the kinds of words you want the affiliate to use. Of course, you need to make the deal work for the affiliate, too.

6. Influencer Advertising

Influencer advertising is among the newer types of digital advertising. Influencer advertising uses people with an enormous online reach considered experts by your target market to drive traffic and sales.

Influencer advertising is popular on social media channels like Instagram and Snapchat. Companies hire Instagrammers with large followings to promote their brand by posting one or more photos with the product. Companies now engage in Instagram or Snapchat “takeovers” where the hired influence controls the company’s social media platform for a given amount of time, most often a day. These social media takeovers drive the influencer’s following to your social media channels increasing your new followers and unique views.

7. Email Advertising

Email advertising allows you to update your email subscribers on a regular basis about your company. This fosters a relationship unlike any of the other types of digital advertising. Your email updates provide value to your consumer. As a result, you build brand trust and brand loyalty.

The best email advertising campaigns involve a list of subscribers earned by your content and company, not paid for by your company. People who opt-in to your email subscription prove more likely to become active buyers.

8. Viral Advertising

Viral advertising refers to a post of some sort that is trendy, funny, or strange enough to garner a massive amount of shares online. Viral advertising causes an enormous spike in website traffic over a short period of time. This is hard to do but the benefits alone make the effort worth your time.

B2C companies stand to gain the most from viral advertising. B2C companies can use social media to reach an enormous audience across all of their active platforms.

9. Mobile Phone Advertising

Each of the types of digital advertising can happen on a mobile device. Some types of advertising using a mobile phone do not fit the above types of digital advertising.

These include SMS advertising which could prove an asset to local advertising efforts. You can prompt your consumers to use SMS to receive special offers, coupons, and updates from your company.

Promoting a brand is more important than opening a store. It is essential to create brand awareness for the customers to know about the brand’s existence. The retailer must strive hard to communicate the USPs (Unique selling Proposition) of the brand to influence the buying behaviour of the customers. In simpler words, advertisements help the end-users to know to which brand a particular product belongs.

Advertisements play a crucial role in promoting a brand and creating its awareness amongst the masses.

They help in creating an image of a particular product or brand in the minds of the potential customers. Such a mechanism is also called Brand Positioning.

Advertising is a medium through which an individual or organization highlights the USPs and benefits of a product or service to influence the buying behaviour of the individuals.

It helps to create a positive image of a particular brand in the minds of the customers and prompts them to buy the same.

Role of Advertising in Retail

• The retailer through various ways of advertising strives hard to promote his brand amongst the masses for them to visit the store more often.
• Advertisements attract the customers into the store. They act as a catalyst in bringing the customers to the stores.

The advertisement must effectively communicate the right message and click on the customers. It should be a visual treat and appeal the end-users.

Advertisements have taglines to create awareness of a product or service in the most effective way.

• The tagline has to be crisp and impressive to create the desired impact.
• The tagline should not be lengthy else the effect gets nullified.
• It has to be catchy.
• It should be simple to memorize.

The moment an individual hears “Just Do it”, he knows he has to visit a “Nike Store”. That’s the importance of a tagline.

Modes of Advertising

1. Nothing works better than promoting a brand through signboards, billboards, hoardings and banners intelligently placed at strategic locations like railway stations, crowded areas, heavy traffic crossings, bus stands, near cinema halls, residential areas and so on. Such advertising is also called as out of home advertising.

Out of home advertising is a way to influence the individuals when they are out of their homes. The hoarding must be installed at a height visible to all even from a distance.

Make sure it catches the attention of the passing individuals and influences them to visit the store.

Keep it simple and make sure it doesn’t confuse the customers; instead it should convey the information in its desired form.

2. Print media is also one of the most effective ways to promote a brand. Newspapers, magazines, catalogues, journals make the brand popular amongst the individuals. Retailers can buy a small space in any of the leading newspapers or magazines; give their ads for the individuals to read and get influenced.
3. Television also helps the brand reach a wider audience. Now a days retailers also use celebrities to endorse their products for that extra zing. Celebrities are shown using the particular brand and thus making it a hit amongst the masses.

Sachin Tendulkar – the famous Indian cricketer endorses Castrol India, MRF tyres, Adidas, Boost etc.A child gets influenced to drink Boost because his favourite cricketer drinks the same.

4. Radio Advertisements also help in creating brand awareness.
5. Social networking sites have also emerged as one of the easiest and economical ways to promote a product or brand.