Role of Advertising in Marketing Mix and the Advertising Process
1. What is the Marketing Mix (The 4Ps)?
Think of baking a cake: you need the right mix of flour, sugar, milk, and heat. Similarly, to market a product successfully, a company blends four controllable elements known as the Marketing Mix (4Ps) — introduced by E. Jerome McCarthy:
- Product: The goods or service offered (quality, design, packaging, brand name).
- Price: The amount the customer pays (MRP, discounts, credit terms).
- Place (Distribution): How the product reaches the buyer (wholesalers, retail shops, e-commerce).
- Promotion: How the company communicates with buyers (Advertising, Personal Selling, Sales Promotion, Public Relations).
Advertising is the most visible and powerful tool inside the Promotion Mix, and it directly supports all four Ps of the marketing mix!
2. Role of Advertising in the Marketing Mix (How Advertising Helps Each ‘P’)
1. Advertising and the Product Mix
- Creates Brand Identity & Personality: Without advertising, soap is just a bar of chemicals. Advertising turns it into Dove (softness & care), Dettol (100% germ protection), or Lux (beauty & glamour).
- Highlights Product Differentiation (USP): It tells buyers what makes the product special compared to rivals.
- Supports Product Line Extension: When an already famous brand like Amul launches Amul Dark Chocolate or Amul Buttermilk, advertising helps customers instantly trust the new product.
2. Advertising and the Price Mix
- Justifies Premium Pricing: Why do people pay ₹80,000+ for an Apple iPhone or ₹300 for a Starbucks coffee? Strong brand advertising creates high perceived value and prestige, reducing price sensitivity.
- Prevents Overcharging by Retailers: By announcing the MRP in ads (e.g., “₹5 ki Maggi” or “₹10 ka Kurkure”), advertising protects consumers from being overcharged.
- Communicates Price Cuts & EMI Offers: Informs customers about festive price drops or zero-cost EMI schemes.
3. Advertising and the Place (Distribution) Mix
- Creates “Pull Strategy”: When millions of customers watch an ad on TV and go to their local kirana shop asking for that brand, the shopkeeper is forced to stock it from the wholesaler. This is called Consumer Pull.
- Guides Customers to Stores: Ads tell buyers where the product is available (e.g., “Available on Blinkit, Amazon, and your nearest medical store”).
4. Advertising and the Promotion Mix
- Supports Personal Selling: Salespeople don’t have to waste time introducing the company from scratch because customers already recognize the brand from ads.
- Makes Sales Promotion Successful: A “Buy 1 Get 1 Free” offer or scratch-card contest only works if millions of people hear about it through advertising!
3. The 5 Ms of Advertising
Before studying the step-by-step advertising process, remember the famous “5 Ms of Advertising” framework, which summarizes every major decision an advertising manager makes:
| The 5 Ms | Core Question | What It Means |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Mission | What are our objectives? | Sales goals or communication goals (Inform, Persuade, Remind). |
| 2. Money | How much should we spend? | Fixing the advertising budget based on product stage, market share, and competition. |
| 3. Message | What message should we send? | Copywriting, designing visuals, choosing the right emotional or rational appeal. |
| 4. Media | Which media should we use? | Choosing between TV, Newspaper, Radio, Billboards, Instagram, and deciding reach/frequency. |
| 5. Measurement | How should we evaluate results? | Testing recall, brand awareness, and sales impact after the campaign runs. |
4. The Step-by-Step Advertising Process
Creating an effective advertising campaign is not just about shooting a fancy video. It follows a systematic 8-step Advertising Process:
Step 1: Market & Consumer Research (Situation Analysis)
The advertiser studies the product’s strengths and weaknesses, competitor ads, market trends, and why customers buy or avoid the product.
Step 2: Identifying the Target Audience
You cannot advertise to everyone in the same way. The company defines its exact target group based on age, income, city, lifestyle, and buying habits (e.g., college students aged 18–24 vs. retired senior citizens).
Step 3: Setting Advertising Objectives
Clear, measurable objectives are fixed using models like DAGMAR or AIDA (e.g., increasing brand awareness by 30% in 3 months).
Step 4: Deciding the Advertising Budget
The finance and marketing teams decide how much money can be spent on the campaign using methods like the Percentage of Sales Method, Competitive Parity Method, or Objective and Task Method.
Step 5: Message Design & Copy Development
The creative team (often an advertising agency) crafts the Unique Selling Proposition (USP), writes the headline, body copy, jingle, and slogan, chooses the advertising appeal (humour, emotion, logic), and prepares the layout or video script.
Step 6: Media Selection & Media Scheduling
Media planners select the best media channels (TV, YouTube, Instagram, Newspapers, Hoardings) that match the target audience and budget, and decide the timing and frequency of the ads.
Step 7: Campaign Execution (Launching the Ad)
After pre-testing the ad copy on a small sample of consumers, the final advertisement is produced and released across the chosen media channels.
Step 8: Measuring Effectiveness & Follow-Up (Evaluation)
Once the campaign runs, the company measures Communication Effect (Did people notice, remember, and like the ad?) and Sales Effect (Did sales and market share increase?). Feedback is used to improve the next campaign.
💡 DAVV Exam Tip
Question (10 Marks): “Explain the role of advertising in the marketing mix. Also describe the steps in the advertising process.”
- Explain the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) and write 2–3 bullet points showing how advertising supports each P.
- Mention the “Pull Strategy” under Advertising & Place — examiners love this concept!
- Draw the 8-Step Advertising Process flowchart and briefly mention the 5 Ms of Advertising (Mission, Money, Message, Media, Measurement).