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Advertising
Advertising refers to a marketing strategy that is used to encourage potential customers to purchase ‘particular’ goods or services. Often business owners look for means of making their goods and services gain advantage over their competitors. Advertisements are meant to trigger a desire to purchase goods and services. They employ means that twist the mentalities of those targeted to purchase particular services or goods. Consequently, without decreasing their prices, they seek to communicate the value of their goods in a unique way to fit their customers’ requirements. An advertisement is often tailored to a ‘particular’ target that is perceived to have higher chances to purchase the products out of the present population. Therefore, while business owners use advertisements to increase their sales, the effect of the advertisements can be degenerative to the society (Jin 1).
Adverts are formulated to increase the desire for the merchandise being advertised. They make the buyer think beyond the ordinary and gain a conviction on the product in the advert. Advertisement entails initiating or increasing an emotional appeal in potential and prospective customers. Therefore, all advertisements revolve around the ability to fulfill emotional needs such as the need for security, self-acceptance, attractiveness, or anxiety among other feelings. Customers will be attracted to that good or service that will take care of their emotions. For instance, women are always after losing weight and looking attractive. Consequently, any product or service that promises to deliver beauty and lean bodies will catch the attention of almost every woman. The attractive images of flawless women used in cosmetics adverts often deter women from thinking beyond the commercial need of the advert. They will not have time to imagine the detrimental effect that this beauty product would have on their skin in case the product was not genuine (Dutta n.p).
Companies have multiple strategies to attract clients: one example would be that, for every particular good purchased from their stores, one stands a chance to win a gift. In most cases, the prize to be won is of greater value than the products to be purchased. This lures the customers to purchase more of these products with the notion that the more they purchase, the more they increase their chances of winning. Customers sometimes get crazy with these advertisements, especially those of telecommunication companies that require one to participate by sending messages to ‘particular’ codes. These are ways in which advertisements are degenerating to the society while, on the other side, they benefit companies through hefty sales and subsequent profits (Hayko 2).
MODES OF ADVERTISING
Based on the customer being targeted, a business owner will choose from the various modes of advertisement, one that best fits his target. Various ways of advertising include Television, Radio, newspapers, road shows, billboards, internet, and use of store promotions among others. Often, business owners will run sale promotions to tempt customers to buy more. Business owners often subscribe to radio and television stations to have their ads run on these media for the number of times subscribed. Advertisements that do not involve motion or entail details are often placed on newspapers with further details relating to the products and goods described. Advertisements referring to the property are best placed in newspapers and run on television channels since these are widely accessible, and are best at offering fine details on the property being advertised. Thus, the choice of a mode of advertising depends on numerous factors such as demographics of the target customer, details to be included in the advert, and the underlying message in the advert among other factors (Trehan 111&112).
With the current level of technology and internet usage, advertising has shifted to internet modes such as emails, Web Pages, and the social media (Cocotas 5). Geographic extents are no longer limits to advertising as the internet allows the online purchase of goods and materials. Therefore, companies have shifted to online modes of advertising, especially the social media whose subscription guarantees a high number of customers to be reached. The various social sites such as Tweeter, Facebook, MySpace, and Instagram have extensively occupied the world of advertisements (Nielson report 15).
PURPOSES OF ADVERTISING
Adverts aim to deliver a clear and correct message to present and prospective customers. This is to convince clients that they would win their desired satisfaction by purchasing certain products. In other events, adverts are used to enhance the image of a company or point out the need for a specific product thus triggering the desire to purchase the product. On launching a new product, companies use advertisements to inform potential customers of the new product, its use, and the extra benefits from the product. Therefore, the overall goal of advertising is to inform customers of a new or existing product in order to influence them to buy. On the other hand, to a business owner or a company, the ultimate goal of the advertisement is to attract more customers and increase sales.
ATTRIBUTES OF AN EFFECTIVE ADVERT
Originality. An original advert combines rare and often ignored elements to describe aspects of a product or good that is away from the usual. This creates a unique advert. By the use of unique verbal or visual techniques, the advert makes the product appear different from other similar products. For example, an advert depicting a usual detergent cleaning all sorts of stains in a single wash shows that once a customer purchases such product, there is no demand for bleaching agents or thorough scrubbing. Thus, the originality and uniqueness of the advert may give the impression of originality in the advertised good or product (Reinartz n.p).
Attractiveness. The human eye is much drawn to attractive things, and so are the mind and heart. Consequently, every attractive advert, whether visual or audio, will trigger someone to invest time and pay attention to the advert. For example, adverts for women and baby products often use bright colors and sweet melodies; an attractive advert referring to a body lotion can show a beautiful woman floating on a flower petal in an ocean of lotion surrounded by beautiful flowers (Kirkpatrick 92).
Elaboration. An advert often communicates the hidden information about a product or service that cannot be understood by looking at the product. Customers need to learn about these hidden benefits to gain confidence and attraction in order to purchase the product. For example, an advert on fruit yoghurt in Germany featured a woman leaking her lips; the fact that her tongue appears deep red like the strawberry lures customers that the yoghurt is a complete extract of the strawberry fruit.

CONCLUSION
Companies and business owners often launch adverts concerning their products and services to attract more customers. Whereas adverts for new products aim at educating customers on the availability and use of the new product, those on old products help customers gain more confidence in the existing products. This means that advertisements are meant to benefit the customers in relation to their needs. Thus, business owners and companies formulate their adverts to accommodate the emotional needs of customers such as the need to look attractive, the need for security, and the need to feel energized among others. Adverts become regenerated to customers when they only focus on informing customers on the benefits while ignoring any potential risks. Adverts containing disclaimers such as “the excessive use of alcoholic products is harmful to human health” are more realistic. This is because as much as they attract the customer to purchase alcoholic products, they also offer appropriate cautions on the same.
Modes of advertising used by business owners include television, newspapers and magazines, internet, road shows, and billboards among others. The selection of the method to use is determined often by numerous factors such as demographics of the target group, the product, or service and the nature of the advertisement. Currently, the net has become the preferred mode of advertising with the social media being the most preferred way. This is due to the current level of technology; therefore, this method becomes the best in reaching most customers with diverse demographics. A good advert has vital attributes such as attractiveness and originality.

Works Cited
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