Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
Depending on the advertising goals, the communication between the advertiser and
consumer can take different forms.
Although certainly true at the very basic level, eyes do not directly translate to
accomplishing business goals. Instead, we need to get at the core of advertising.
At its heart, advertising is a commercial form of persuasive communication!
Markets are conversations [
63
], and the Internet is a conversation [
63
]. So, with spon-
sored search, you have a lot of opportunities for communication!
Persuasive communication is the process of guiding people toward the adoption
of an idea, attitude, or action by rational and emotional means. Persuasion is a form
of social influence.
Persuasive communication is a problem-solving strategy that relies on
appeals
.
This is what advertising is attempting to do. An ad's goal is to appeal to potential
customers to get them to buy your product or service, either now or in the future.
Potpourri
: A Frenchman, Théophraste Renaudot, placed the first advertisements
in the newspaper,
La Gazette de
France
, in the 1630s [
64
].
La Gazette de
France
appears to have been the first commercial publication to
include paid advertising in its pages, allowing the newspaper to lower its price,
extend its readership, and increase its profitability.
Nearly all commercial newspapers soon copied the advertising formula.
The phrase “advertising agency” originated in 1842 when Volney B. Palmer
opened his business providing advertising service in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This
event is widely accepted as the birth of modern advertising. It marks the beginning of
a creative industry that has radically transformed the practice of business [
64
].
As such, advertising as persuasive communication addresses several needs,
including:
•
Customer awareness
(i.e., alerting a potential consumer that a certain product or
service is available )
•
Customer reminder
(i.e., reminding a potential customer that they may need a
particular product or service)
•
Obtaining more
customers
(i.e., growing a market for a particular product)
•
Improving
business
(i.e., expanding a range of products or services).
As with other advertising channels, we view sponsored search as a pure advertising
medium. The objectives are to encourage information search by potential consumers,
to prompt direct action from these searchers, to relate searcher needs to our advertise-
ments and our products, to encourage recall of past product or service satisfaction
from prior customers (i.e., promote good brand recall), and to modify attitudes or
reinforce attitudes among prior customers (i.e., promote good brand recall).
Due to this persuasive communication construct, we see a list of keyterms in ads that
result in getting attention, generating emotion, or a strong call-to-action. These terms
have proven themselves as being persuasive. Some examples of these terms include:
•
Free
•
New
