Advertising is a prominent feature of today’s economic life. The term refers to the paid communication of a firm’s goods and services to target customers and the society as a whole (Egendorf, 2006). Currently, various avenues are used in advertising. These include TV, radio, magazines, newspapers and internet-based platforms. These platforms help companies to promote their goods and services, and consumers respond by either buying or not buying the specific products. For impact, the adverts should be persuasive, informative and complementary to the advertised product (Spring, 2011). However, according to the neoclassical approach to economics, a rational consumer is not influenced by how a company describes its product but rather by the utility the product provides. Despite this argument, advertising significantly affects what consumers will pay for a product.
Advertising connects a good or a service to the need. A good advert is based on the premise that consumption of the good will fulfil the need. A key strategy used by firms is the linking of a good to the most essential and universal need that is most deeply felt so as to modify the consumer’s behavior application and utility of the good. Most adverts promise the consumer happiness and overstate the importance of acquiring a particular product. This leaves the buyer no option than to purchase the product.
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More radically, most advertisements are also argued to create new needs or even to revive latent needs that were not felt or known earlier. In so doing, it tends to raise the profile of product on an entire product category regarding fulfilling of perceived needs. Consumers are known to purchase products that rank high in the satisfaction of their needs.
Advertising also divulges important features of a product. This allows a potential customer to compare it with other competing products. An effective advert allows consumers to wedge a product’s competitors. In this case, the advert alerts the customer to give more attention to certain features before making a decision. Further, a consumer can adjust his or her expectations based on the portrayed performance of a product as well as its ability to satisfy his or her need. Moreover, advertising makes it easy for sellers to reach out to existing and potential customers by indicating where the good can be bought from. Proper advertising campaigns also provide a reference to a product’s price by use of leaflets and billboards. As a result, the reference price creates an avenue for the buyer to compare a product with others in the market.
A consumer’s rationality restricts the number of names that he or she can remember in a particular category. Advertising, in this case, plays the vital role of putting a specific brand in the buyer’s mind. A good advert triggers a consumer desire to purchase the product. If he or she is satisfied by the product’s utility, loyalty to the product is established (Fennis & Stroebe, 2010). When this happens, a change in the price of the product does not alter the consumer's perception of the product. Based on this argument, advertising has a significant role to play in determining what a consumer will pay for a particular product.
Conclusion
Due to increasing competition, advertising has become more important than ever before. However, w hen all factors remain the same, the price of a particular product does not change with advertising. Nevertheless, alternative brands with different advertising features affect what the customers will buy. The more adverts a product has, the more likely it is for consumers to buy it. For adverts to be impactful, they must be persuasive, informative and complementary.
References
Egendorf, L. K. (2006). Advertising . Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press .
Fennis, B. M., & Stroebe, W. (2010). The psychology of advertising . Hove, East Sussex: Psychology Press.
Spring, D. (2011). Advertising in the age of persuasion - Building brand America, 1941-1961 . New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
