Advertising

There are a lot of different subfields in communication studies. One that particularly sparks my interest is advertising. Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. It aims to sell a product to a certain target audience. Advertising is so important to a brand because it is what people think about and remember when they hear about said brand. 

Work Environment

Advertising careers are fast-paced and highly competitive. Working under pressure and tight deadlines are common in this field. Not only do you need to fit those qualifications, advertising also requires you to be highly creative. Creativity plays a huge role in advertising. In order to catch the eye of your viewer, a creative advertisement is needed. Every brand should have the goal to be known by their advertisement. For example, Jake from State Farm. He is globally known from a commercial advertisement, making viewers associate the brand with the ad. Due to the commotion around this ad, everybody knew Jake from State Farm, and everybody knew that he wore a red shirt and khaki pants. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffconway/2021/02/11/jake-from-state-farm-actor-kevin-miles-from-sleeping-in-his-car-to-starring-in-super-bowl-commercials/?sh=6dfe5d35cb9b

Types of Advertisement

• paid search
• social media
• display
• native
• print
• broadcast advertising.

The six types of advertisements above are all are very competitive fields. Paid search advertising is when advertisers pay search engines to place their ads in the search engine results page. Social media advertising is how it sounds. It is promoting your brand through social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. These types of advertisements are most likely targeted towards specific demographics. Display advertising is a form of digital advertising that uses banner type ads on webpages and social media. Native advertising is also a form of digital advertising, but the ads are non disruptive, and feel as though they belong on the webpage. Print advertisement is the oldest form of advertising, which would be on any newspapers, paper articles, or magazines. Finally, broadcast advertising is traditional television and radio advertisement. Depending on which audience you are targeting, you would use any of these 6 types. https://online.maryville.edu/blog/types-of-advertising/

Internships

The first step into starting a career in advertising would be an internship. Being a college student in Philadelphia opens a lot of opportunities for internships. Being in any city in general, is always a good place for opportunities. https://joinhandshake.com/blog/students/the-best-city-internships-for-college-students/ An advertising intern would be responsible for providing support for the sales and marketing department. Interning for an advertising agency is a way to see if advertising is a right fit for you. It is a way to get a feel of the advertising world, and even explore other options within the broad field of marketing. Interning is also a way to get a feel of the job and organization before committing to it. 

Finding a Company

The next step in starting a career in advertising is finding a company you would like to work for. There are many job options for advertising. Especially in cities, such as Philadelphia. Some jobs include; Entry Level Sales and Marketing Representative, Marketing and Communications Coordinator, and Digital Advertising Sales Associate. In order to find a place of work, research is a main component. It is important to find a brand you would enjoy and be interested in working for. For example, I enjoy all things makeup, fashion, etc., so brands that fall under those categories would be my top choices. By following these brands on social media, it is easy to reach out to them individually. 

Conclusion

Once you are able to work for a company, your career can go up from here. There are many fields that intertwine in the advertising industry. Marketing being one of them. Marketing goes hand in hand with advertising. In order to figure out an advertisement, it is important to be aware of the target audience, which is the marketing of the company. 

In conclusion, advertising is a great option for those in school for communication studies. Advertising is a way to express creativity while promoting a brand. Students who are especially interested in graphic design should definitely consider pursuing advertising. Advertising is a great field to go into due to the endless job and internship opportunities.