9: Writing for the Advertising Industry

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Large portions of this chapter are remixed, revised, and amended from Writing for Strategic Communication Industries, https://ohiostate.pressbooks.pub/stratcommwriting/

That text was published under a more restrictive CC-BY-Non-Commercial license. Please contact the author of that text before considering using this chapter for commercial purposes.

Figure $\PageIndex{1}$: Advertising billboards. (Unsplash free-to-use license; Deon Fosu)

Learning Objectives

Learn the core concepts of writing for the advertising industry
Study and be able to deconstruct a pro-social ad campaign model

Advertising industry overview

Advertising is a massive global industry with a variety of methods of bringing marketing messages to target audiences. Whether brands wish to target sectors of mass audiences on mass media platforms or they want to create social media campaigns that narrow the target audience down to specific types of individuals at specific points in the purchase funnel, advertisements are most often written with an audience in mind.

From a media writing standpoint, advertising is one of the most fascinating subfields because it draws on many other types of writing while still having some unique characteristics, particularly when it comes to persuasion. Persuasive writing exists in other mass communication fields. Public relations professionals write to persuade journalists and wider audiences to identify a corporation, a brand or an individual in a certain way. News editors and columnists often aim to write persuasively about policy. But advertisers are in the mode of persuasion at all times.

Those who write advertising copy might write social media posts, text copy for display ads and a video script for an influencer in the same day. Advertising copy writers strive to keep their messaging fresh but familiar enough that audiences can relate to it. Writers also must keep in mind what audience research data say about what audiences want to hear and how they want to hear it. Advertising is a highly technical and highly creative field.

Definition: Advertising

Advertising is paid promotional content that combines long-term strategies and tactical messaging about the benefits of a product or service to influence a target audience’s attitudes and/or behaviors.

The prevalence of advertising

From all forms of mobile and online communication to television, radio, and print, the average American sees hundreds —potentially thousands — of advertisements daily. Although many consumers find them annoying, advertisements play a prominent role in shaping opinions about products, people, and politics.

Advertising is a key source of revenue — at times, the only source — for many forms of mass media. Many media institutions could not exist in anything resembling their current form without it. This includes the news industry, television industry, radio, search engines, and social media.

For example, according to a March 2023 report, WORDSRATED, a non-commercial research organization that studies the publishing industry, advertising made up 46 percent of revenues for U.S. newspapers in 2021. According to Pew Research, digital ads make up about 40 percent of that amount. Circulation revenue, which is revenue from subscribers, totaled about 40 percent of newspapers’ total revenues. Thus, even in an age of declining advertising revenues, ads are still the single most important revenue stream for newspapers.

Advertising influences agendas for television and digital-only news outlets, and it provides topics of conversation and debate for myriad social media platforms.

Although much advertising revenue has migrated away from the venerated newspaper industry, the advertising industry on the whole is incredibly lucrative. Total U.S. advertising expenditures in 2022 were $318 billion, according to Forbes. That is about $980 per person in the U.S.

The year COVID lockdowns hit, digital advertising had a relative boom, according to Digiday. In other words, advertisers tend to spend freely when the economy is up and strategically when it is down. Advertising is considered essential in our corporate, consumer economy. With its economic and cultural influence on society, the advertising industry has an expansive reach. Advertisers reflect changes in society and, at times, have bolstered positive social change; however, they “are also cautious not to alienate consumers and other stakeholders,” according to McDonald, Laverie, and Manis.

The advertising industry continues to be a powerful force influencing various aspects of the global economy, and is it a major media industry unto itself.

Jobs in advertising

The Advertising Educational Foundation’s Career Guide outlines five broad categories of advertising industry jobs.

Account managers serve as a liaison between the client and the advertising agency. They conduct research and oversee creative aspects, production, and more.
Account planners are responsible for presenting information about the consumer. They analyze audiences and figure out ways to achieve brand loyalty.
Those in the Creative Department of ad agencies are responsible for developing messages and images. They also pitch advertising plans to clients.
Employees in the Media Department work on advertising placement strategies, media buying, and analyzing consumer behaviors.
Digital marketing professionals develop interactive web and mobile tools that can connect consumers to brands in deeply engaging ways. These roles are diverse in terms of their expectations and day-to-day duties, but the work is interdependent.

Developing advertising strategies and delivering on campaigns are truly team efforts.

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Definition: Advertising