Modern advertising methods don’t have to use new media. They can use traditional advertising media approached in a modern way.

The major difference between traditional and modern advertising methods is the purpose of the ad. Modern advertising methods use direct and targeted advertising rather than brand advertising.

The purpose of brand advertising is to build an image for a business so that when people are ready to buy, they will think of the business and its products.

Direct advertising, on the other hand, tries to persuade people to buy or take some other immediate action. It usually targets a specific market with an offer that its members will find appealing enough to act now.

This post is the second in a series on modern advertising methods. If you want to read the first post in this series, you can link to it below:

Modern Advertising Methods 1: Introduction

This post covers two modern advertising methods that have been used for brand advertising for decades. But they can be used as modern advertising methods if they encourage a specific target market to take an immediate action.

The two types of modern advertising methods covered in this post are PR advertising and theater advertising.

Public relations, or PR advertising, is designed to get people to take an action other than making a purchase. Traditionally, PR advertising gives the business’ perspective on an issue, defends the business from accusations, or makes an apology for some wrong doing. But PR advertising used for these purposes isn’t a modern advertising method because it doesn’t require an action from target market members.

The modern method for PR advertising is to encourage interaction with the business. This includes making a telephone call, completing a form, or visiting a Web site. Because it’s PR rather than sales, the interaction is not designed to make a sale, but to support the business in some other way.

Of course, PR advertising can be either online or offline like ads in newspapers, magazines, television and radio.

Modern Advertising Methods for Theater Advertising

Theaters advertising has used a modern advertising method for decades when advertising concession stand products. These ads run before the movie starts and at intermission to get people to buy drinks, candy and popcorn immediately.

Theater advertising doesn’t work as effectively for other businesses because it’s impossible to get people to take immediate action. However if the ad on the screen is accompanied by a printed promotion like a coupon, it can work as a modern advertising method.

For example, many people eat out after a movie. So a restaurant advertising a discount to movie-goers can encourage an immediate action. This requires that theater employees hand out a coupon or a promotional flyer that movie-goers can take to the restaurant for the discount.

The third post in this series describes how to use traditional print media as modern advertising methods. You can access it through the link below:

Modern Advertising Methods 3: Magazine & Newspaper Advertising

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Posted: 9-4-06: Modern Advertising Methods 2: PR & Theater Advertising

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