Top 10 Advantages and Disadvantages of Advertising

Marketing and Advertising has a major budget allocation for every organization. Today, it is not just enough to have a good product, you also need to advertise it in order to have a healthy sale and to reach a break even or to make profits. Companies hire brand ambassadors, advertising firms and they run campaigns to ensure that the people are aware of the product.

However, the fact is that Advertising not only comes with advantages but it also has some of the disadvantages. In this article, we are going to talk about the top 10 advantages and disadvantages of advertising.

 

Advantages of Advertising

1. Expand the Market

The best part about marketing is that it expands the market for the company. For example, there is a chocolate maker who wants to introduce his products in India then how would he really educate people about the presence of his products? The answer is simple, he would spend money on advertising so that people get to know about his products. This way, he can increase the market penetration and he can target a mass audience with the help of newspaper and television.

2. Increases the Sales

Since the people will get to know about the product via advertising, they will be tempted to try something new. This would again help the company in increasing the sale. From here, the quality of the product also plays a major role because the customer might leave feedback on social media and that can also impact the sales. Overall, the short term and long term impact of marketing are that it increases the sales of the product by multiple folds.

3. Fights Competition

Now the fact is that you don’t expect to fight competition if people are not aware of your product. You could have a product which is life changing but until the people know about it, they won’t buy it. This is why advertising is really important. There is a saying that what you see is what you buy. For people to buy your product, people need to see what is different about the product. If your product is better than the same product of competitors then you can surely beat the competition easily.

4. Create Employment

Now advertising market is huge and when we say huge, we are talking a billion dollar industry which servers across the globe. For this multi-billion dollar industry to function, there is one key requirement and that is human resources. So, basically, advertising creates a lot of employment opportunities for the people as well. You find all level of jobs and most of the people in this field are very creative.

5. Better Products Offered

Since many companies are offering the same type of product, it creates the need to advertise the product so as to fight the competition. When you do that, you need to ensure that your product is better than the product of other companies. If this doesn’t happen then you are going to surely suffer and the sales can have a negative impact as well. Hence, from a customer perspective, advertising would ensure that they get a better product at a more competitive price. What else could a customer want?

You just looked at the main advantages of advertising the product. It should be noted that it is not just enough to advertise the product but you need to advertise it right.

Disadvantages of Advertising

1. High Costs

While the advertising is helping you in getting the product at a lower cost, the irony is that advertising is also increasing the cost of your product. Many organizations spent over 40% of the total cost of the product for advertising. Where do you think this cost is recovered from? That is right, end of the day, the customer is paying for the advertising expense. For a better understanding, you can look at the balance sheet of the company and you will realize how it works.

2. Can be Misleading and Manipulative

Now the fact is that the advertising can be really misleading and manipulative. For example, the advertisement of the fairness creams in India can be really misleading. Similarly, the advertisements of some of the perfumes or deodorant spray can also be quite misleading. Moreover, these advertisements make the customer believe that they will be able to achieve something unachievable with the help of the product and the customer ends up exceeding his budget to purchase the product which he never really needed. Basically, the advertisements can create artificial needs for the customers.

3. Bad for Small Business

Advertisements can have a negative impact on small businesses as well. The fact is that advertising on a large scale requires you to have a lot of budgets. If you are not able to allocate a large budget for advertising then there is no use of it. In such a case, small businesses are not usually left with any option but to work without advertisements. Eventually, you might get kicked out of the market if you run a small business.

4. Can Have Negative Impact

Some of the advertisements can have a negative impact on the people and they can boycott the product as well. One of the recent examples is of Surf Excel when people said that their religious sentiments were hurt because of the advertisement aired on the television. In turn, many people took it to social media and they boycotted the product. Hence, it becomes necessary to study the market before the product is actually launched.

5. Requires a lot of Efforts

Advertising also requires a lot of efforts and it is not something that you can do all by yourself. You would need to ensure that you are involving an agency who can advertise your product right.

These were the main advantages and disadvantages of advertising. It is now upto the organization to decide if the disadvantages outnumber the advantages. Moreover, advertising needs to be done very strategically in order to get the right results.