Marketing Strategies within Establishments
In the world of marketing, institutional advertising stands out as a unique approach that focuses on promoting a company or organization's image, values, or social responsibility, rather than specific products. This strategy, also known as Corporate advertising, is an effective way to create and maintain goodwill about the organization in the market.
The most common mediums used for institutional advertising are Television, Radio, Digital, and Print media. Each of these mediums offers distinct advantages and disadvantages.
Print and Digital Media Advertising
This includes brand promotion through newspapers, magazines, emails, text messages, and other digital platforms. The advantages are wide reach, the ability to provide detailed information, relatively low cost, and good for targeting specific demographics. However, there are disadvantages too, such as the potential for being ignored or skipped by users, less engaging than audiovisual media, and effectiveness depending on the medium's credibility and reader engagement.
Television and Radio Advertising
Utilizing commercials and infomercials created specifically to promote the organization’s image, television and radio advertising offer broad and diverse audience reach, strong visual and auditory impact, and are good for emotional appeal and storytelling. Yet, they come with their own set of challenges, such as being expensive to produce and air, limited time for message delivery, and viewers may skip ads or switch channels.
A prime example of successful institutional advertising is Coca-Cola's campaigns that target recycling and Greenpeace. These ads have been well received by their target consumers, helping the brand establish itself as a champion of environmental sustainability.
Institutional advertising can help build cohesive brand identity, foster community goodwill, and differentiate a company from competitors on a values basis. For instance, Adidas used print media to promote its support for African orphans, while Idea Cellular addressed social issues like corruption via TV campaigns to connect emotionally with the audience.
However, there are also potential disadvantages. The benefits may take a long time to manifest, costs may not directly tie to sales, and potential skepticism may arise if the message seems insincere or contradictory to company actions. For example, ITC, a multi-business conglomerate, used institutional advertising to promote their Classmate stationery, carrying an environmental message and donating Rupee 1 for every stationery sold.
Effective institutional marketing strategy can help brands get ingrained in consumers' minds and become their preferred choice. On the other hand, misleading consumers through a mix of institutional and product advertising can be detrimental.
In summary, institutional advertising primarily divides into print/digital media and broadcast media (TV and radio), each with its own pros and cons regarding reach, cost, engagement, and message depth. While some experts argue that institutional advertising only adds to the advertising cost without substantial returns on investment in the short run, its long-term impact on brand building and public perception cannot be overlooked. Aggressive institutional advertising in a single industry might lead to market monopoly, which could be harmful to the market. Nonetheless, institutional advertising is here to stay and can act as a booster for organizations in the ever-increasing competition.
[1] Source: Various marketing research studies and articles. [3] Source: Marketing textbooks and academic journals.
