Meaning & use
advertising
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Meanings
noununcountable
The business or activity of creating and sharing messages that persuade people to buy products, use services, or support ideas.
Grammar: Uncountable: talk about advertising in general, not 'an advertising' or 'advertisings'.
Patterns
- advertising for something
- advertising campaign
- spend money on advertising
She works in advertising, designing campaigns for fashion brands.
The company spends millions on advertising every year.
Online advertising has changed how small businesses reach customers.
noununcountable
The advertisements that appear in a particular place or medium, considered as a group.
Grammar: Uncountable: refers to the ads collectively, not one ad.
Patterns
- the advertising on something
- see advertising
- be full of advertising
The magazine is full of advertising for luxury cars.
I find the advertising on that website really annoying.
Children see a lot of advertising for sugary snacks.
Common combinations
- advertising campaign
- The new advertising campaign will run on TV and social media.
- advertising agency
- They hired an advertising agency to redesign their brand.
- online advertising
- Online advertising lets you target specific age groups.
- advertising revenue
- The newspaper relies on advertising revenue to survive.
- word-of-mouth advertising
- Word-of-mouth advertising is often more effective than paid ads.
Synonyms and how they differ
- marketing
- Marketing is wider: it includes research, pricing, and sales strategy, while advertising is just the promotional messages.
- promotion
- Promotion can mean a special offer or a single campaign; advertising is the ongoing business of creating ads.
- publicity
- Publicity is attention from the media, which may be free and not always planned; advertising is paid and controlled.
Word family
- advertise verb
- To make a product or service known to the public, often by paying for space or time.
- advertisement noun
- A single piece of promotional content, such as a TV spot or a poster.
- ad noun
- Informal short form of advertisement.
- advertiser noun
- A person or company that pays for advertising.
Commonly confused: advertising or advertisement? advertising or advert?
advertising vs advertisement
An advertisement is one specific ad; advertising is the whole industry or activity.
advertising vs advert
Advert is a British informal word for a single advertisement, not the general activity.
Practice
The company decided to increase its ______ budget to reach more customers.
Choose one answer.
We need a noun that describes the activity or industry, and 'advertising' fits as an uncountable noun before 'budget'. 'Advertisement' would mean one specific ad, which doesn't fit the general budget idea; 'advertise' is a verb; 'advertiser' is the person or company that advertises.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “advertising”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.