Archive for January, 2011
Difference Between Advertising And Public Relations
The question about difference between advertising and public relations seems to be blatantly simple. Of course, they are different! With advertising you have total control of the advertising unit you are paying for (which includes that you know in what format, how many times and what exactly should be shown/published/displayed on ad boards, etc.) With public relations you try to play the “trends game” with information and then have no actual control about how exactly the media accepts your info (if accepts, because it can be ignored) and how it will be interpreted.
So, indeed advertising and PR are different.
But let’s get deeper into the issue, because it’s really a thought-provoking matter. You can see that these two concepts have many aspects which are alike. Moreover, you can see that in some cases the same strategies can work both for ads and for PR, and this becomes especially exciting when this is being combined with the alternative online technologies.
What makes ads and PR be alike?
Both advertising and PR are fighting for your attention, isn’t it? Yes, there are tons of differences about how they do that and what is the objective. Still they need YOU, your attention, your thoughts.
Another thing that makes advertising and PR look similar is the attempt to take your attention and in some way (no matter what way) “attach” your attention to the object. This object can be a product, or it can be something more advanced – like the way of thinking about a certain country, or industry, or a political party, or wars talking place somewhere. Basically you need somehow to attach A to O, where A is your attention and O is the object of efforts.
And this is where internet has shown a nice blending of advertising and public relations, where you can’t be that quick about saying what is what.
For example, if you created an article which is addressing a certain issue and pushed this article to page 1 in search engines for the keyword which represents this issue – this is more of a PR. Because you “don’t sell the stuff” directly, instead you are trying to set up the minds of your audience into the proper way of thinking, the way that you need.
But, if you created the same web age which instead of the article has a big banner promoting a product, and pushed this page to high ranks in search engines for the necessary keywords – this is an advertising unit and no one doubts that, because you are obviously “selling the stuff.”
Did you notice that… absolutely the same technique was used. Both for PR and for ad.
Moreover, these things are inter-convertible, meaning that if you have pushed a certain web page to nice rank in search engine, you can publish an article, then sell the space and publish a blatant ad, then change it for the online poll which is more of a PR thing.
This brings up to a new emerging reality on the market of online PR and advertising – this reality is a fight for inter-convertible spots on page 1 in search engines for the keywords that you need. Or, the fight for creation of your own informational units and pushing them up in ranks.
Let’s see what happens next on this market, but looks like ads and PR might become twins when it comes down to the strategies they are using online. And how ads inter-convert with PR units and vice versa.
By: Nickolay Bokhonok
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Advertising Your Business Through Advertising Flyers
One of the cheapest and easiest ways of promoting your business is making use of advertising flyers. Flyers are printed advertisements that are given to prospective clients. Flyers contain all the information about the advantages of using your products. Here are the benefits of using advertising flyers to promote your business:
1. Advertising flyers catch the attention of people easily. Hence, you should make sure you do not make dull or boring looking flyers. You can hire the services of a professional flyer printing company to design and print them for you.
2. Apart from making your flyers look eye-catching, you need to do make sure you mention all the benefits of your products and services clearly enough to make the reader distinguish between your product and the ones available in the market. You should aim to convince into buying your products.
3. Make sure the flyers have a catchy headline. All the contact details such as website, e-mail address and contact numbers should be printed clearly. The words and the expressions that you use should be straight to the point and should the space should not be used up with rambling words.
4. One of the most effective ways to catch the attention of potential customers through advertising flyers is to advertise about special offers and discounts. Also keep in mind that you deliver the flyers well before the end date of the offer so that customers can make the full use of the offer.
5. You can place flyers or door hangers at places your target audience visits on a frequent basis. This is a very good way to make sure your target audience does not ignore or miss the flyers.
6. You can place the flyers in newspapers, magazines, etc so that whenever someone reads them they can come to know about the products and services.
Instead of going to door-to-door and explaining the benefits your products, you can make use of adverting flyers to do the same job for you. It will not take much time in delivering flyers to potential customers and achieve success in your business as potential customers will surely get in touch to try your products or services.
By: Dennis Moore Hopkins
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Advertising Types and Styles
Advertising is a form of marketing for a certain product or service. The aim of marketing is to make the world aware of a product/service that a company or person is offering.
The products or services could be one of two types, they can either be paid or free, meaning that the target market for these services/products either have to pay for the use of said product or services. The other side been that the product/service would be free to the user.
While in development the product/services that are been advertised are designed to meet the requirements of a target market. Target market is a term used by companies/persons to identify the type, gender, age or any category of user they wish for the product/service to be used by.
Advertising plays a large part in the creation of the product/service, because without marketing the consumers would not be aware of the product/service which is been offered, meaning that without knowledge of the product/service consumers would not use or buy into the offerings from the creators.
There are 3 main types of marketing :
Online Marketing
Offline Marketing
Word of Mouth Marketing
Online Marketing
Online Marketing has opened up incredible avenues for advertisers. Because of large companies like Google, it means that companies/persons can advertise their product/service alongside long standing companies/persons who are already known within their target area of creation.
Online Marketing has been made a prime choice because of low productions costs and reasonable costs compared to other forms of marketing. An example of this is you could run an online video marketing campaign for a fraction of the cost of running an advert on the television.
Online advertising has been used in many ways, by almost all companies. Evidence of this is easy to find. Big companies are using a type of advertising called ‘In game Advertising’.
Examples of the companies that have used this can be found in many games. One of the first companies to realise there was a market in this type was Chupa Chups in 1992. They established that there was a market and approached the creators of a computer game called ‘Zool’. In contacting the creators of the game they managed to agree a deal enabling them to have the background of the computer game to feature the logo of their company and to be designed around they type of product.
To this day, large companies use in game advertising to promote there products within computer games. An up to date example of this been Adidas teaming up with Pro Evolution Soccer computer game creators and having their logo placed on to in game advertising boards around the pitches that hosted the games that the user played their games on.
Because of this, Online Marketing is playing a large part in adverting to this day, with smaller companies/persons getting into the same type, using cheaper alternatives.
An excellent example of this would be the online game market. They have the ability to advertise their site all over the internet via sites that offer banner advertisements in a Pay Per Click (PPC) scheme.
This scheme requires both advertisers and publishers from websites and acts as an agent between the two parties. Advertisers upload banner advertisements that they would like to have exposed to consumers and load funds into accounts held online to which the money that is offered to publishers is taken.
Publishers are sites that are willing to host the banner advertisements that have been uploaded by the advertiser, so that the traffic that reaches their website are made aware about the advertisers site. In return for this service, they are paid by the advertiser per click that is taken on their banner advertisement, leading the consumer to their website.
Offline Marketing
Offline Marketing is a form of marketing that has been used by many creators for many years. If used alongside Online Marketing, they can provide the advertiser with an extensive amount of exposure.
Offline Market covers many subcategories within the advertising world, from radio exposure to television.
Word of Mouth Marketing
Word of Mouth Marketing is one of the most important types of advertising there is. This is generated from humans that have either bought/used the product/service or from humans that have created the product/service.
This form of advertising and marketing is what could be seen as the biggest on the planet. The reasonings for this are simple, if you offer an outstanding product/service to a consumer, not only will they tell others about the product/service, but they are likely to return and generate repeat business.
By: Alex James Graves
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Promotional Sticker Advertising
Promotional stickers are used by individuals, businesses, as well as corporate firms to increase their brand awareness and visibility. Promotional sticker advertising is considered as an effective vehicle for marketing and brand awareness. Promotional stickers can be easily customized and this probably one of the main reasons for its popularity amongst businesses. Most promotional stickers are self adhesive stickers and can be as small as a bumper sticker or as big as acrylic signs or even roll-up & stand banners.
The success of promotional sticker advertising lies in the type of stickers you choose for creating brand visibility. There are several different types of promotional stickers available and can be digitally printed. Some of the simple stickers are the ones that will have the name of your business and logo and can be distributed at exhibitions, commercial events, trade shows, and with mailing materials. The most popular promotional stickers are the ones that are used as bumper stickers or windshield stickers. These stickers normally carry a message apart from the logo and name of the business. Bumper stickers are considered as one of the most effective type of promotional sticker advertising owing to the fact that they can be seen by a large audience.
A third type of sticker is known as informative stickers, which have information on both sides. The advantage is that people can use either side. Normally informative stickers are used for promoting launch of new products, discounts on existing products, new outlet or store etc. Some businesses also use the back side of the sticker as a subscription form or a discount coupon. The fact of the matter is that a sticker should not just be a business card of your business; it should also be a value addition to your customer. Why would someone put the sticker of your business on their windshield or fridge? Now if you have a magnetic sticker, it can be used by a customer for several purposes other than advertising your brand.
Hence, you need to consider the customer value addition aspect while implementing your promotional sticker advertising strategy. The sticker design should be neat and the text should stand out and be comprehensible. Attention to details is important when it comes to promotional stickers because this will help in making your stickers stand out. If people are unable to see your promotional sticker or read them then the cause is lost. Focus on making the design eye-catching and the copy should be innovative.
The most common types of stickers used for promotions are the square stickers and the business card size stickers. Square stickers will be 2.05″ x 2.05″ or 52 mm x 52 mm in size while the business card stickers will be 3.54″ x 2.05″ or 90 mm x 52 mm in size. Even though they are small in size their impact will depend on how you design them.
The bottom line is that success of your promotional sticker advertising strategy depends on the design, content, and visibility of the sticker.
By: Hayi Mansoor
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Advertising Specialty Distributors
Advertising Specialty Distributors sell and market the products of various manufacturers. These distributors cater to the needs of the people by making the finished Advertising Specialty products available. Advertising Specialty distributors are also known as promotional product distributors. If you are a new Advertising Specialty products manufacturer then the Internet is the best place to look for distributors.
Nowadays, the majority of Advertising Specialty manufacturers are in the business of distribution as well. These companies don’t want to hire any middlemen or distributors to sell their products; they prefer direct contact with the market. They generally manage the orders from large corporate houses along with the smaller businesses. Apart from distributing they also provide services like designing, imprinting and communication.
Generally, major Advertising Specialty Distributors contract with the companies who are either manufacturers or consumers. While looking for an Advertising Specialty Distributor, always look into its track record of the market coverage. This means its range of covering the market and people. If the shop is centrally located or in an industrial area, that distributor will generally have an edge over his rivals. Their main aim is to secure product acceptance and maximum market coverage.
Advertising Specialty products are more popular than ever; there are 15,000 to 20,000 distributors in the U.S. market alone. So if you’re new to the market or an old player who desires to make a mark, then try to go in for a big and established Advertising Specialty Distributor, who can take your product places. But make sure the chosen distributor fulfills all your requirements.
By: Eric Morris
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