04 Jun 10 What are the various parts of a Print Advertisement?
Print ads are of various types, shapes, sizes and most importantly they are crafted in various ways. It’s the concept, visual and copywriting of an ad which makes it draw thumbs up or face thumbs down. All advertisements strictly work on the principle of AIDA – i.e., it grabs attention first, generates interest slowly, as reader moves towards end of the ad his desire to purchase is stimulated and at the end he is convinced to take action i.e. purchase decision.
Print advertisements typically involve several parts.
Headline
Headline is the most important element of a print advertisement. If it fails to grab attention of the reader rest of the things just go unnoticed. Headlines may appear on the topic or mid or side of the advertisement. Most of the times it is used above the picture, as it’s believed that pictures grab attention faster than the text. The headline may be the strongest part of the advertisement or may be secondary to a strong visual. A perfectly crafted headline could entice lot of interest and excitement about the ad. Headlines can be of many forms – statement, question, issuing warning, testimonial, news sort etc. It should relate to its target audience. It may use emotional or rational or moral appeal to convince the target audience.
Subhead
Generally, subhead comes just below the headline. It is an answer or support to the question or curiosity that the headline evokes. The subhead ideally talks about the product benefit, carries the mood set by the headline and expands upon the headline idea.
Bodycopy
Bodycopy follows the subhead. This part generates the detail information about the product, highlights product features and key benefits, rationally provides supporting facts or quotations, convincingly establishes superiority of the product and stimulates the desire to purchase.
Artwork
There are various types of visual elements of an advertisement. It can be in any form – photograph, hand-drawn illustration, graphics. An ad may have a single strong self explicit visual or many pictures instead of one. Some advertisements may have no visual in it, but carry few visual elements like decorative border or bullets or a shape. Often visuals carry captions below them like ‘Before’, ‘After’, ’20 years ago’. Such captions help the illustrations to put the message across.
Closure
End of the advertisement is not to be ignored either. This is the part which provokes action that is purchase decision. Closing idea should be striking. It should put the motivation to buy. Several closing ideas can be used like – ‘act now’, ‘visit our dealer’, ‘send enquiries, ‘buy now’, ‘hurry before the stock ends’, ‘limited stock, rush now’ and the like.
Contact information
An effective ad should always carry contact information like – logo, brand name, address, phone numbers, road direction, website url etc. Such details are generally furnished towards the bottom of the ad.
Extras
Certain promotional advertisements may also carry extras like – tear-out coupon, free sample attached, business enquiry form.
Print advertisements have always remained a major tool of communication. Print ads have great impact on the target audience as it brings along credibility, long life and detail information.
Tags: Advertisement Ads, Aida, Curiosity, Excitement, Grabs, Illustration, Moral Appeal, Photograph, Print Ads, Print Advertisements, Product Benefit, Product Features, Purchase Decision, Quotations, Reader Moves, Shapes Sizes, Superiority, Target Audience, Testimonial, Visual Elements
04 Apr 10 3Cs of Marketing Communication
Communication, in a nutshell, is the process of transferring information from the sender to the receiver. This definition applies to the field of marketing communication as well. For a communication to be effective, it needs to follow some principles, which I call 3 Cs of communication. In this blog post, I will discuss about these in context of marketing communication.
Content
What is being said is the most important factor in communication. This is the first thing you need to decide. You need to figure out what you want to convey to your audience. Is it the product benefit, or is it brand camaraderie? Before making any attempt to communicate, you should decide what you want to convey.
Concise
No one likes a 1000-page epic, not even you-particularly in the context of marketing message. The longer your message is the slimmer is its chance of making any impact on the receiver. You should not use even a single useless word in your marketing communication. It does not only push the audience away, but it also costs more—after all, every word takes more media space.
Clear
This is paramount. Clarity is very, very important. No matter how concise and clearly defined your content is, if it is not clear, it will not be understood. You need to do a test run of every communication campaign, before releasing it for the entire population. Nothing could be more harmful for your brand then misunderstood message.
Marketing communication is an attempt to inform the brand’s target audience about the feature, attributes, and benefits, etc., of the brand, and the more closer it will be to the 3Cs described above, the better it will be for the overall health of the brand.
Tags: 3cs, Attempt, Attributes, blog, Camaraderie, Clarity, Communication Campaign, Communication Content, Communication Effective, Field Marketing, health, Marketing Communication, Marketing Content, Media Space, Nutshell, Population, Product Benefit, Target Audience
