Informative Advertising: 4 Ways to Use Informative Advertising

Informative advertising uses information to appeal to potential customers. Many forms of advertising, such as ambient and persuasive advertising, rely on provoking an emotional response, but informative advertising aims to sell more of a product or service through information sharing. Informative advertising clearly explains how to use a product and outlines its qualities, benefits, or appeal. For example, a company might use informative advertising to introduce a new product and share its features with a target audience.

Informative and persuasive advertising techniques are both popular options in the toolkit of marketing and advertising agencies, but they use varying strategies to get consumers’ attention. Informative advertising relies on straightforward information, and an informative advertising campaign works best when the product has a clear benefit or appeal.

Persuasive advertising uses design and concept to create an emotional appeal to the audience. Persuasive advertising usually leaves more room for creative, eye-catching methods of making an emotional connection with the target audience than informative advertising.

Marketers and executives might choose to sell products and services through informative advertising. Consider the following ways to use informative advertising:

1. 1. To advertise new products: When a brand has a new product, it can use informative advertising to inform the public about this change. By leaning on the specific qualities of the product—what problem it may solve or desire it may satisfy—the brand can create informed consumers with interest in the product. Pharmaceutical companies often use informative advertising to sell their products when they release a new drug.
2. 2. To compare products: Companies often use informed advertising to show how one product is noticeably better than a similar product. For example, a beer company selling a light beer might create an ad outlining how the carbs and calories of their light beer compare to a major competitor with a similar product. Informative advertising can use comparison to increase sales.
3. 3. To share upgrades: Perpetual upgrades, improvements, and new versions of hardware and software make informative advertising highly important. Sometimes, a product has a reliable built-in audience, but will still benefit from a well-made ad campaign to inform consumers about a necessary upgrade or new product features.
4. 4. Public service: Public entities or nonprofit organizations will often use informative ads to share messages. For example, various anti-smoking campaigns rely heavily on straightforward information about the dangers of smoking.

Learn more about advertising and creativity from Jeff Goodby & Rich Silverstein. Break rules, change minds, and create the best work of your life with the MasterClass Annual Membership.