Broadly speaking, advertising is the promotion of goods, services, ideas, companies by an identified sponsor. But advertisements alone do not guarantee any sales, they just create a curiosity. It is just a message to promote a product, a thought, an idea or a service. The role of advertising is different for different industries or institutions. Public Relations, on the other hand, plays an important role when companies are going through a sudden crisis and want to safeguard their image.

Organizations, irrespective of their size, take the aid of advertising to build brand preference. The purpose of advertising is to promote goods and services, but merely advertising and promotion does not guarantee any success in selling the product and/or service. When a business is not doing good, it has to advertise, but when the business is doing good, it pays to advertise. Much before it came into the market, Tata Nano managed to create a hype in the market through its advertisements. Advertising is only a tinkle which makes the people aware that there is something in the air. How do the firms make the public aware that they have something to offer to them? They need to advertise, about the product features, which creates an impact in the minds of the consumer, who, in turn, approaches the manufacturer or dealer of the product or service to know more about the services being offered. A company can reach out to a huge audience across the country by advertising.

The scope of advertising is limited to only creating awareness about a product, service, idea or a company. It acts as a Pull Factor, where the idea is to pull the customers to the company and assists specially the people in marketing and sales to generate leads. With the various channels of communications available today—radio, television, Internet, newspapers, banners, pamphlets, brochures, magazines, mobile phones, advertising has taken a dynamic form. In the earlier days, advertising was limited only to newspapers and magazines. Besides these media, today one can advertise through radio, TV, mobiles, posters, neon signboards, billboards, Internet, exhibitions, trade shows. Specialist products and services are often advertised in trade shows and exhibitions. Of late, billboards, POP's (Point of Purchase), etc. have also become popular advertising channels. In times of recession, advertisers would refrain from experimenting with new media channels to communicate with the consumers and would prefer to stick to the media which traditionally offered them the best results, i.e., newspapers and magazines, to reach out to the masses.

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