Free Essay About Benefit Of Choosing Advertising As A Major

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Introduction
It is impossible to overestimate the importance of advertising these days. One may talk about its role and significance for hours and hours. Advertising surrounds us everywhere: in the form of huge colorful billboards installed on city streets or painted bus encouraging us to purchase a particular product. Moreover, it reaches us through our TV screens, speakers of a car audio, or in the form of leaflets and brochures from our mailboxes. There are thousands of advertising e-mails we do not need but still receive every day. Any web page we visit is filled with advertising of a whole range of products and services. Regardless of whether we want it or not, we are constantly being under pressure of the dense information realm these days.
Advertising in the modern world is a complex social phenomenon which goes far beyond the working practice. It is not just a business, but a broader phenomenon, covering and having a great influence on almost all aspects of out lives. Some people want to run away from this endless advertising flow and yards of related facts and figures. On the other hand, other people want to learn how to control and manage this flow and how to get benefit from advertising. In fact, jobs in the advertising field offer not only high wages, but also interesting projects, involving creative thinking, management skills and understanding customer needs.
In this paper I will discuss the meaning and significance of advertising, professions related to advertising, and benefits of choosing advertising as a major.

What Is Advertising?

According to Hackley (2005), "Advertising is conventionally regarded as one element of the promotional mix, a management tool defined by its explicitly promotional, mediated and paid-for character, and differentiated from other marketing communications disciplines such as public relations, personal selling, corporate communications, sales promotion and so on".
On the other hand, advertising is not only a set of methods aimed at the increase in sales of your product and services, but also a real art of persuading people and making them desire to buy what you sell. Moreover, selling various goods is not the only objective, as on numerous occasions adverting is also made use of in order to promote political candidates before the elections or different non-profitable organizations. Put it shortly, advertising is simply a tool that gets us like certain thing and makes us want them.
In many countries advertising business is considered to be a rather young field of activities and one of the most interesting and challenging at the same time. Along with that, the attitude of society to the results of this activity is quite contradictory. On the one hand, very few people like obtrusiveness of advertising, frankly poor quality of TV and radio commercials or innumerable posters on their street. But on the other hand, there are people who want to dedicate their lives to advertising business.
As of today, a further understanding of advertising concepts and basic instruments is crucial to any customer who wants to behave reasonably in the market place, but not become a prey of advertising techniques. As soon as an individual learns advertising instruments and techniques, he/she receives a much more better comprehension of the world around.

Advertising at Michigan State University

The Michigan State University website informs students that the program in advertising qualifies undergraduates for different careers relating to the professional field of advertising, marketing, PR and other occupations related thereto. The Michigan State University states that, "graduates find employment in advertising and public relations agencies, media companies, consumer goods companies, businesses involved in electronic commerce, internet communications, sales promotion, event planning, promotional products, direct marketing, and other industries" (qtd. in Msu.edu).
What is more, getting a degree in advertising at Michigan State University implies a student's involvement both in science and arts.

How Writing Courses Are Related to Advertising?

There is a wide spread stereotypy the advertising depends solely upon creative thinking. Of course, this statement is true to some degree. But on the other hand, writing skills are as crucial in the advertising field as creativity, freshness of ideas and originality. For instance, advertising agents and managers constantly have to send e-mails in order to attract new clients and companies collaborate with them. Therefore, in order to engage new customers in an official capacity the message has to be literate, reasonable, informative, logical, and clear for understanding.
What is more, most advertisements depend not only on some bright images, but on the written message. As a result, the more competent and reasonable advertising message is, the more potential customers are likely to pay attention to it.

All in all, writing courses are crucial for successful completion of the course in advertising.

Benefits and Wages
Education in the field of advertising open the way for a better life in the fast moving times we live in. It is impossible to overestimate the benefits of working in advertising business. Advertising companies offer not only high salaries, but also a lot of inestimable privileges for their employees.
There are numerous positions in adverting and related fields to choose from, but one should not forget that the salaries and compensation packages of different specialists are also different. However, one should realize that high salaries, perks and benefits within the company imply a manager's readiness to work in stressful environment, his discipline of excellence, and readiness to work until late at night. Statistics indicate that about 2 in 5 managers occupied in the field of advertising work more than 40 hours per business week.
Company cars, free medical care insurance, gym membership, regular holidays with pay do not constitute the full list of benefits that advertising companies give to the employees. Paid maternity leave, for example, is another privilege for women working for advertising companies. What is more, many advertising agencies provide their employees with opportunities for personal and professional growth. Sometimes, an occupation in the field of advertising involves business trips, which is in fact an amazing opportunity to see the world.
When it comes to wages in the advertising business, it is very important to make a point that wages of advertising agents are estimated to be among the highest in the United States. An advertising manager, for instance, earns on the average about $90,000 annually (see figure 1). Top 10% of advertising agents and representatives annually earn almost $190,000.
Figure 1

Advertising, promotions and marketing managers' median annual wages,

May 2012
Source: Advertising, Promotions, and Marketing Managers. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2014-15 Edition

Conclusion

Advertising is without doubt a very promising and advanced, but at the same time a challenging subject to study. Although the process of studying may be really difficult and intense, a student's pains, dedication, hard work and studiousness will pay off for certain.
Once you graduate from the university, advertising companies will strive for getting a hold of you as a young specialist. You will be engaged in a variety of projects, involving you creativity, originality of ideas and knowledge of advertising strategies you gained during the course of studying. Occupation in advertising is considered to be one of the "youngest" in the labor market. That is why the average age of advertising agents does not exceed 30 years.
The responsibilities of an advertising agent can objectively be divided into two sections. The first one is communicative, involving telephone calls, meetings, business trips and other kinds of personal communication with potential clients and customers. The second group of responsibilities is analytical, involving preparation of commercial offers, media plans, data collection and processing and other analytical operations.
In terms of career development specialists of this profile can reach significant heights. Firstly, there is a possibility that a small advertising agency will emerge into a larger company. What is more important, by that time you will have work experience and relevant education. There is also a possibility of becoming the head of the advertising department or advertising director.

Works Cited

Advertising, Promotions, and Marketing Managers. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2014-15 Edition. Web. 19 Mar. 2015. <http://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/advertising-promotions-and-marketing-managers.htm>. 
"Undergraduate Degree - Advertising." Michigan State University. Web. 18 Mar. 2015. <https://www.reg.msu.edu/AcademicPrograms/ProgramDetail.asp?Program=1353>.
Hackley, Christopher E. "Introducing Advertising and Promotion." Advertising and Promotion Communicating Brands. London: SAGE Publications, 2005. Print.