Importance of Consistency in Advertising

Lack of Consistency

A marketing strategy needs to be consistent. In 2022, advertising consistency is the key to building a relevant brand by engaging your consumers by consistently delivering messages. For most brands, the consumers fail to remember them. It results in losing sales and profits. An advertisement's effectiveness is in the success of consumer remembrance. 

When consumers remember their past experiences, it grabs their attention. It is the advertisements that remind consumers to buy a product. Businesses use attention to stimulus for increasing the chances of being remembered. There are various ways companies can grab their consumers' attention towards their message. Some of which are- 

1. Pleasant ambient scents, sounds, and music. These enhance the brand's overall message making it more memorable. 

2. Free products or samples act as mini-billboards as they build the brand's goodwill. 

3. Free stickers help the consumers to remember the brand’s information. 

4. Nowadays, Social Media can quickly deliver reminders and recommendations to its target consumers.

5. Retrieval Cues placed on packing and point of buy enhance the effectiveness of the ad. 

What are Retrieval Cues? 

Retrieval Cues activate the memory at the point of purchase by providing relevant information to the consumers. It links the favorable feelings generated by the ad towards the product. It tricks the consumers' minds and reminds them of brand values again and again.

Every business relies on repetition. The more consumers see the ads, the more likely they will buy the product. Most consumers buy a particular product after they see the ads 20 times. Despite having some negative responses to seeing an ad too often, it has plenty of advantages. Most ads use Self Referencing. It involves relating to the consumer’s self and experiences. It enhances the number and strength of potential linkages between new and stored information.

Research shows that if the copy fails to evoke imagery, include pictures or video in the ad. This not only improves retrieval and impression of the ad but also memorability. Brands are associated with favorable images and idealized lifestyles. It needs its Visual representations to increase memorability. When an ad conveys the same message in both visual and verbal expressions, it facilitates remembering. Ads conveying the same meaning through all their elements get remembered. 

Every ad displays the brand name. The brand name itself must convey the key brand attributes to the consumers. Suggestive brand names easily enhance the recall of ads as they confirm the same attribute the brand connects itself with. They stand out from the clutter and are less susceptible to interference. 

How Should an Ideal Ad Affect Its Target Audience?

1. Closure: Closure is developing a complete picture or perception of the advertisement. When elements in the perceptual field are missing, the consumers try to ‘fill in’ the missing parts. It increases consumer thinking during stimulus processing, ultimately enhancing the ad recall. Thus, Closure is an easy way to increase brand memory. 

2. Good Mood: An ad should always put your target consumers in a good mood. Moods are said to influence retrieval. Whether your consumers remember your ad depends on the positive or negative mood. Positive moods increase the chances of remembering the favorable information from the ad. Ads can use humor and music to influence the audience’s mood. 

3. Products: Products advertised must be of use to the customers. The ad should make the product a necessity for the viewers. Products that evoke such feelings create an automatic reminder within the consumer’s memory. 

4. Brand Promise: Remember, A brand is not a thing, it’s a Promise. It is the responsibility of the brand to inform customers about the complete product value. Consumers must understand everything they get delivered when they purchase from you. From features to benefits, satisfaction to safety, excitement to rewards- the ad must be a complete package of all the physical and emotional benefits tied directly to your brand. 

5. Balance Theory

One theory used frequently in Advertising is Fritz Heider’s Balance Theory. It is the most basic simple model for consistency theories involving three cognitive elements: 

• P: Person i.e., the perceiver

• O: Other people

• X: Attitude object such as thing, event, action.

The P-O-X triad is a famous model. In it a child admires Popeye. The child does not like spinach. But, Popeye is associated with Spinach. It creates a cognitively imbalanced state, which motivates the child to either eat spinach or stop watching Popeye. 

The same happened with the Toyota Prius. Women have a negative attitude towards high gas prices. The Toyota Prius advertised itself as a high mileage car. It forms a positive impression of the car towards its target consumers. They see high mileage cars as a positive aspect of their investment. She is bound to consider the car while purchasing. 

Conclusion

Advertising and Marketing teams need to understand that Consistency builds brand loyalty. 70% of the consumers will purchase if they trust your brand. These reasons are more than enough to maintain Consistency in Advertising. In this way, a brand can create better ads to attract more consumers. 

Written by Garima Jain