50 Advertising Techniques

http://foxhugh.com/2014/12/01/50-advertising-techniques/
1) Altruism The ad presents an altruistic story and hopes the viewer associates the story
with the product and/or service.
2) Analogy A similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may
be based.
3) Arouse Curiosity The ad catches the curiosity and therefore the attention of the
customer.
4) Bandwagon Trying to convince viewers that a product is good because "everyone" is
buying it; encouraging people to "jump on the bandwagon".
5) Card Stacking Telling the facts from one side only.
6) Cartoon Character An animated character that promotes a product.
7) Children In most houses, children have a say in every big or small purchase made. Most
parents just give in to the tantrums, a fact well known to the advertisers. Out of ten
commercials one sees through any medium, 8 have children featured in them who are
generally a little more perfect than the target audience. These perfect children then go on to
become role-models that have to emulated by other children.
8) Comparison Appeal This brand is better than other brands of the same product.
9) Deal Appeal This technique involves making the audience a compelling offer, and
telling them exactly how to get it. Key words associated with this technique are free and
save.
10) Emotional Appeal Writers may appeal to fear, anger or joy to sway their readers. They
may also add climax or excitement. This technique is strongly connected to the essay's mood.
11) Establish Credibility I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with
headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.
12) Exaggeration Exaggerating products and their uses is another of the good advertising
techniques and examples of the technique can explain how this works in the favor of the
advertiser.
13) Exigency Creating the impression that your action is required immediately or your
opportunity will be lost forever.
14) Facts and Figures Statistics and objective factual information is used to prove the
superiority of the product.
15) Fantasy Super athletes, superheroes, movie stars, the beautiful, the rich, the powerful,
or things associated with them are featured with the hope that the consumer will tend to
transfer the qualities of these people to the products and themselves and buy the item.
16) Fear Using fear to sell a service and/or product.
17) Green If you buy this product then you are helping the environment.
18) Glittering Generalities An emotionally appealing phrase so closely associated with
highly valued concepts and beliefs that it carries conviction without supporting information
or reason.
19) Humor The use of humor may help people remember the ad and want to buy the
product because of the positive association with it.
20) Hyperbole This is one of the more enjoyable persuasive techniques. It involves
completely overstating and exaggerating your point for effect. (Like when your mom says, "I
must have asked you a million times to clean your room!" Get it?).
21) Image Advertising- Presenting a desirable situation or lifestyle in order to convince the
viewers that if they use a product, they, too can have this lifestyle; beautiful people.

50 Advertising Techniques
http://foxhugh.com/2014/12/01/50-advertising-techniques/
22) Innuendo Causing the audience to become wary or suspicious of a competing product
and/or service by hinting that negative information may be being kept secret.
23) Irony Irony is present if the writers words contain more than one meaning. This may
be in the form of sarcasm, gentle irony, or a pun (play on words). It can be used to add humor
or to emphasize an implied meaning under the surface. The writer's "voice" becomes
important here.
24) Jingle or Slogan A catchy song or phrase that helps you remember a product.
25) Lifestyle Appeal In this technique, an advertisement provides a glimpse from a
particular lifestyle or way of living. The hope is that the audience will desire this lifestyle
and transfer that longing to the product.
26) Magic Ingredients The suggestion that some almost miraculous discovery makes the
product exceptionally effective.
27) Mascot Mascot the audience can identify with like Smokey the Bear.
28) Metaphor A figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to
which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance.
29) Name Calling Appeal In this technique, the advertiser compares its product or service
to the competition in a way that is favorable to the advertiser.
30) Nostalgia This appeal implies that this product takes you back to the good old days
or back to nature, etc.
31) Parallelism When an author creates a "balanced" sentence by re-using the same word
structure, this is called parallelism. Always strive for parallelism when using compound or
complex sentences. Jingles and/or slogans can be improved using parallelism.
32) Patriotism The suggestion that purchasing this product shows your love of your
country.
33) Personification This technique gives human characteristics to a product,
or service.
34) Plain Folks The product is not elitist and suitable for ordinary people.
35) Promise a Benefit The ad promises a benefit to the consumer.
36) Red Herring Highlighting a minor detail as a way to draw attention away from more
important details or issues.
37) Repetition Repeating an element within one advertisement so that viewers will
remember the advertisement and will buy the product.
38) Reverse Psychology A persuasion technique involving the false advocacy of a belief or
behavior contrary to the belief or behavior which is actually being advocated.
39) Rhetorical Question Sometimes a writer will ask a question to which no answer is
required. The writer implies that the answer is obvious; the reader has no choice but to agree
with the writer's point.
40) Savings or Free You will save money or get something free if you buy this product.
41) Scale A product looks bigger or smaller in the ad than the actual product.
42) Sensory Appeal The product tastes good, looks good, or feels good. Sounds or
pictures appealing to the senses are featured.
43) Shocking the Viewer An effective method of advertising, shocking viewer gets them
more interested in the product, because it is a shift in their comfort zone.
44) Simple Solutions One product and/or service solves several problems at the same time.
45) Slice of Life Appeal A problem is presented in a realistic manner by real people.

50 Advertising Techniques
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46) Snob Appeal The use of the product makes the customer part of an elite group with a
luxurious and glamorous life style.
47) Testimonial Appeal In this technique, a celebrity or authority figure endorses the
product. This could be a celebrity, sports star, or professional.
48) Transfer Words and ideas with positive connotations are used to suggest that the
positive qualities should be associated with the product and the user.
49) Weasel Words Weasel words" are used to suggest a positive meaning without actually
really making any guarantee.
50) Word Choice Is a person "slim" or "skinny"? Is an oil spill an "incident" or an
"accident"?