Hi guys! In this post, I really want to explain how you can structure your advertisements in order to maximize the intentional messaging within them. I’ll be going over some theories, and how to apply them in a simple and practical manner. Enjoy!
1) Explicit Messaging:
Explicit messaging is the most straightforward and obvious message in an advertisement. Whatever is communicated directly within the advert is considered explicit messaging. For example, if there’s a perfume ad in print that states the price of the perfume, a description of the scent, and where to purchase it, that’s explicit information. Explicit messaging is composed of direct statements.
2) Implicit Messaging:
Implicit messaging is what is implied in an advertisement. If the visual of the perfume ad is a woman who conforms to societal beauty standards and is dressed in designer clothing, readers may infer that if they buy this perfume, they’ll become closer to society’s ideal. An excellent way to think about how to apply implicit messaging is to think about how the composition of your advertisement, beyond mere words, will impact consumers who view it.
Fun Fact: According to this study, implicit memory is preserved even when the environment isn’t perfect, but explicit memory is affected negatively. It’s really important to work with both of these memory systems to make the most impactful and memorable advertisements possible.
3) Persuasion Knowledge Model:
The Persuasion Knowledge Model (PKM) is vital in understanding how to create messages that will resonate with your customers. It goes over how consumers’ primary tasks are to interpret marketers’ messages and then about how they acquire skills that allow them to understand those persuasion techniques.
It’s important for marketers to understand that consumers continually learn from past persuasion attempts. Knowledge about persuasion grows throughout a consumer’s life. They can learn about it through friends and family, from observing marketers, and marketing tactics from the media (to name just a few!) It’s important for industry professionals to recognize that their customers’ are increasingly savvy and that their marketing strategy shouldn’t remain stagnant from year-to-year.
What that means for you: Don’t stick with exactly the same marketing strategy! It’s so important to keep in touch with your client base and to shape your marketing to their current wants and needs.
4) Color Theory:
.... I’m citing Wikipedia for this one… and the next one…. don’t tell anyone…
Visuals are extremely important to successful marketing. And color theory can give you practical suggestions about how to design your advertisements- or maybe even your product! Color Theory goes the impact of individual colors, shades, and how they visually interrelate.
5) Color Psychology:
Color Psychology is the study of how color influences human behavior. In marketing and advertising, it’s used heavily to attract new customers, and create associative brand messages. 35% of Americans prefer the color blue. Blue has the positive associative messaging of; trust, serenity, and intelligence.
What that means for you: Do your research! Make sure you make the color scheme of your advertisement intentional in order to attract the most customers and to make sure your implicit messaging in on-brand. (Isn’t it cool how theories overlap? 😊)
So, there you have it! In this post, I really wanted to tell you guys about how you can make your messaging more intentional- and hopefully more effective. Please let me know if you have any questions, comment, or more down below. Thanks for reading!
