Advertising is a communication process aimed at persuading audience to take some desirable actions with regards to products, services or ideas. The main idea behind advertising is to make customers respond to the offerings of the company. It usually involves building awareness among people and influencing the masses using visual or oral messages to purchase a product or avail a service. It creates awareness among prospective customers making use of means such as TV, News paper, radio, Websites hoardings, bill boards etc. The advertising industry has gone through a rapid development with change in consumer behavior and as a result of liberalization.

Why advertising?

Communication is the key in advertising and it uses various medium in the brand building process. Itinvolves informing the people about a product or service, creating demand for the product or service, promoting sales and there by maximizing revenue. Advertising forms an integral part of marketing.

Advertising industry in India and its growth

The worth of advertisement and public relations industry in India is $5 billion. The value of the advertising industry is expected to double in the next couple of years. The present worth of advertising industry in the United States is $145 billion and in China is $43 billion. Statistics show that the entertainment and media industry is one of the fastest growing industries in India and the estimated compounded annual growth rate the end of 2013 is 13 per cent. As this industry is growing at a fast rate, students have started to focus on advertising programs to pursue a career in this industry.

Advertising is definitely a prosperous and challenging career, and there is large number of opportunities in various advertising agencies. Advertising finds application with products, brands, companies, services, personalities etc. It involves the process of building a relationship with customer which can be used to increase sales. Most of the agencies offer attractive pay package and position. It is particularly suitable for people with a creative mind set.

Recent trends in advertising

Advertising is witnessing emergence of new areas in the field which has resulted in increasing the number of job opportunities. One new area is the event management where different events are managed and marketed. Another developing area is the image management which involves projection of profiles of companies or individuals. Internet marketing is also an emerging segment which targets a section of people.

Advertising- Qualifications and eligibility criteria

In India the advertising agencies recruit people based on their qualification in management or advertising or mass communication. In order to get into market research jobs, media planning and client servicing, oneshould have a MBA.

Getting admission for a Post Graduate program in advertising requires a graduation from a recognized university, with 50 per cent marks in any of the discipline. Interested candidates should take an entrance test in order to secure an admission. The entrance test is followed by an interview.  There are institutions which offer graduation programs in advertising which will be a BA program. To secure admission one should have passed the 12th standard.

Skills required for advertising career

The basic requirement of advertising jobs is creativity. Other qualities include a natural flair in writing, and the ability to transform ideas in to visual format. These qualities are necessary because advertising is intended to make the common man aware of different products or services and to persuade them. So the advertisement program should be informative as well as attractive.

Interested candidates should be able to understand the needs and wants of the prospective customers from different background and culture. In order to lead a successful career in advertising, there are other requirements too which includes ability to work in a team, mental and physical capacity to over come pressure and to take criticisms. One should have a socializing nature and must have a calm temperament. In the case of market researchers and media researchers, analytical skills are important in addition to critical and logical thinking. In depth analysis is often required in the case of research jobs. Those working in the advertising field should be able to make the advertisement appealing to people.

Areas to work with advertising

A range of career options are provided by the advertising industry in India. In the advertising sector, the openings are of executive and creative in nature. Client servicing, media research, and market research forms the executive job category. The creative job category consists of copywriters, visualizers, photographers etc.

The role of the executive section is to cater to the needs of the clients, creating leads, locating new business, retaining existing customers, take care of the timing and placement of advertisements, select the suitable channel for advertising, negotiation with different clients etc.

The creative section is in charge of developing the advertisements based on the needs of the clients and preparing copies of the advertisements.

In India the advertising programs of different companies are handled by different advertising agencies. Certain large companies have their own departments that take care of specialized activities such as market research, video production etc.

The primary roles carried out by advertisement are:

• Educating the customers
• Advertisements are intended for creating an awareness of the product or service in the minds of the customers.
• Creating a positive image about the company in the minds of the prospective customers.
• Sales

The idea of any advertisement is to persuade people to purchase a product or to avail a service offered by a company.

Opportunities in the advertising industry in India

As the advertising industry in India is growing at a faster pace, there are large numbers of opportunities in different areas of advertising. Openings are found in:

Different advertising agencies

• The advertising departments of different organizations
• Advertising departments of journals, magazines, newspapers
• In television channels and radio channels
• Market research organizations

In terms of pay package and glamour, advertising has become the most sort after career field in recent years. More over the growth of the industry offers a better career growth in the advertising field in India.