Course Description

This course is a practical "hands-on" advertising course designed to help you to identify your core marketing needs and to self-evaluate your focus. It is presented in an easy to follow format designed to help you think about your business and begin to formulate your own advertising ideas and plans. In this course, you'll learn: The questions you need to answer in order to be able to develop a top-notch advertising plan for your business! What advertising is and how to identify your target audience in order to customize your strategy to meet their needs. How and where to go to research essential demographic information needed in preparing the perfect advertising plan. What are Corporate Identification & Branding. What questions to ask in preparing a SWOT Analysis. What to look for in your Competition. The different types of Print Media How to create and manage Press Release. How to Develop a Theme. Types of Internet Advertising. How to Develop an Advertising Campaign. This is a self-paced, online course. You have 5 weeks to finish. If you need additional help understanding the material presented, you can communicate with the instructor and fellow classmates. The instructor will monitor and track your progress throughout the class. LVS Online offers many wonderful learning tools to help you get the most out of your online course, including an online portfolio service that manages all your course registrations, certificate of completion option, a class discussion board to interact with your instructor and fellow classmates, free hosting account, and a student upload area. LVS is a Corel Training Partner. LVS students may purchase Corel products at a significant savings. Follow this link for details. LVS students are also eligible take advantage of special offers made available by famous software developers such as Andromeda, AV Bros, Extensis, Harry Heim, namesuppressed, Nik Multimedia, and Ulead. Details are provided in the classinfo link found in the confirmation of registration. If you would like to receive more information regarding this course, click on the "Contact Us" link in the Information section and we'll try to answer any of your questions within the day.

Course Requirements

A working knowledge of your computer is essential: Free Windows Class Here Plan to devote approximately 3 - 4 hrs per week on the lesson and assignment.

Course Prerequisites

None

Course Syllabus

Lesson 1 Overview: What is Advertising? Understanding your Target Audience Developing a Plan Lesson 2 Marketing Research Understanding Demographics Lesson 3 Print Media Press Releases Liner Ads vs. Display Ads Lesson 4 Internet Advertising Lesson 5 Campaign Development Lesson 6 Summary Q & A

Course Excerpt

LESSON 1 What is Advertising? According to the Encyclopedia Britannica online, “Advertising is the techniques and practices used to bring products, services, opinions, or causes to public notice for the purpose of persuading the public to respond in a certain way.” Weekly newspapers in London first carried advertisements in the 17th century; by the 18th century such advertising was flourishing. The first advertising agencies were established in the 19th century to broker for space in newspapers, and by the early 20th century agencies were producing the advertising message itself, including copy and artwork. Most advertising promotes goods for sale, but similar methods are used in public service messages to promote causes, charities, or political candidates. In many countries, advertising is the most important source of income for the media through which it is conducted. In addition to newspapers, magazines, and broadcast media, advertising media include direct mail (see direct-mail marketing), billboards and posters, transit advertising, the Internet, and promotional items such as matchbooks or calendars. Advertisers attempt to choose media that are favored by the advertisers' target audience. For our purposes, advertising is the activity by which we promote our product or service to the general public. Advertising can take the form of anything from signage, collateral materials (letterhead, envelopes, printed materials, etc.), advertising campaigns, etc. Basically anything needed to draw in prospects in order to “sell” your product or service. For example, a business may do the following things to market their goods/services: Develop unique products or services that cater to a niche market. Hang signage outside their office/storefront with their business name and specials. Have pre-printed letterhead, envelopes, business cards, and sale materials (brochures, flyers, postcards, sales kits, CDs, etc. for use in communicating with prospects and clients. Develop an advertising campaign to market their goods/services using flyers, newspaper ads (refer to advertising section for more details), radio, television mediums, networking, internet, etc. Train and develop employees in the art of sales and customer service. Every industry has a unique way of actually advertising their goods/ services. However, the basic steps are generally the same. Businesses need to: Develop a unique product or service (or at least develop a strategy that targets a niche market by creating the perception that the product or service is unique in some way – for example; selling a guaranteed service program may be the way to convince renters that one apartment community is “better” than another.), Create a program to spread the word about the product or service in an effort to attract buyers Sell the product or services in order to build their business After all, we are in a capitalistic society. Most of us are in the business of trying to make money rather than work for the fun of it. Continued...

Course Goals

At the end of this course you will understand what advertising is, how to target your audience, and how to develop a plan.

Course Reviews

New Class May 2007 More...