Principles of Marketing, 17/e

Major Advertising Decisions

Setting Advertising Objectives

The first step is to set advertising objectives. These objectives should be based on past decisions about the target market, positioning, and the marketing mix, which define the job that advertising must do in the total marketing program. The overall advertising objective is to help engage customers and build customer relationships by communicating customer value. Here, we discuss specific advertising objectives.

An advertising objective is a specific communication task to be accomplished with a specific target audience during a specific period of time. Advertising objectives can be classified by their primary purpose—to inform, persuade, or remind. Table 15.1 lists examples of each ...