MARKETING

HOW TO SELL A PRODUCT
via advertising.
There is a lot of hard work and research involved, and above all, it requires the use of the mind to come up with some creative idea.

An unknown product, no matter how good it is, will not sell if consumers are unaware of its existence.  However, with an aggressive advertising campaign a product can be transformed into "brand equity", an advertising industry's parlance for a brand which has been implanted in the consumers' minds as being good and prestigious.

Many a product has achieved that status, the company producing it will obviously reap in the profits.

But is it all that easy to convince consumers to buy a product?  Is it that simple to create a concept to capture the "soul and mind" of consumers?  The answer is, it is not all that easy!

In fact, there is a lot of hard work and research involved, and above all, it requires the use of the mind to come up with some creative idea.

The responsibility the advertising industry had to shoulder was heavy.  Any advertisement to be produced would have to take the welfare of the client into consideration.  Apart from that it has to be aware that the ads will be scrutinised by the authorities which monitor advertisements; and the public, especially, the young.  Advertising therefore, is more than just spending your client's money.  Any good and responsible advertising agency would not spend money unnecessarily and come up with shoddy advertisements or commercials.

Shoddy advertisements, such as to be shown on television, will have negative effects on viewers.  A good and responsible advertising agency will have to sit down with the client and study the course of positive action to be taken to promote the product.

The targeted market has to be discussed whether any possible adverse effect resulting from the advertisement will have to be made via marketing research.

Students in advertising had to learn how man perceive things and how these things could be interpreted.  This is just one of the topics the students must understand beside learning others such as cost and effect, before they can embark on a project.

When an advertising agency acts to the contrary, the product advertised may be portrayed negatively to the public, or the concept may be too unclear for the public to grasp.  So in the final analysis the client will lose out and the product will die at infancy.

A good example is how a local soft drink company which has been associated with only a particular ethnic group made it big, nationally and internationally, due to positive advertisement. An advertising company was approached by this company many years ago to promote its drink.  Today, the product is not only good, it has been portrayed as the drink that consumers would like to buy or to be associated with, without having an stigma attached to it.  After a long and intense campaign, the soft drink has been considered "chic" and consumers are no longer ashamed to be seen drinking the product.

So from an initial $30,000 budget that the advertising company had to work on to promote the drink, it now had a $3 million or more account.  And the same advertising agency has been retained by the soft drink company to promote the product.

The above illustrates how a responsible advertising agency with a firm belief in a product can help plot the course of action for a properly researched advertisement for the product.  If the advertising company had decided to take the $30,000 produce a lousy campaign, the client would not be the only one losing out.  The advertising agency will also lose in view of the potential that this soft drink company had.

Rule of the thumb for companies who intend to advertise their products?  Do your homework.  If such companies know next to nothing about how to advertise, a list of reputable agencies are available on the internet for them to consult with.  But if you are a big company, you can be rest assured that many advertisers will hover around for a piece of the action.

How do you feel about this ad promoting a soft drink?