Classified Ads – In the past, long before the internet mushroomed and could be easily accessed by everyone, print media became everyone’s mainstay in finding information. Usually, parents, especially fathers, prefer to subscribe to newspapers to find the latest news information in Indonesia as well as to complete a crossword puzzle on one of the pages of the newspaper.
Mothers usually subscribe to magazines to find out the latest cooking recipes for their families, while teenagers choose youth magazines to read short stories, get posters of idols that are currently popular, or just want to know their zodiac predictions this Sunday.
However, compared to magazines, newspapers are the choice of many people to find current information. Want to know the latest news, just open the newspaper published today. Want to find information about job vacancies, just open the newspaper. Likewise, if you are looking for information about a used house or car, all you have to do is open a newspaper.
There, you can find rows of classified ads displaying information about job vacancies, houses and cars for sale. Sometimes, elementary school children also have to collect clippings for their schoolwork, and for that they have to buy newspapers.
Because all information can be found in newspapers, it is not surprising that newspapers are always selling well, people hunt them every morning. Those who are looking for work, in particular, will diligently buy today’s newspapers to find information about the latest job vacancies in the classifieds column.
For those of you who grew up in the 90s or early 2000s, you must be very familiar with classified ads, but if you are a Millennial or Gen-Z child, classified ads are definitely a very foreign thing. Considering that you grew up with the internet, let alone classified ads, maybe you rarely even read newspapers.
For those of you who don’t know, classified ads are advertisements that often appear in print media such as newspapers or magazines, but most classified ads appear more often in newspapers.
Unlike the advertisements that we see on the internet or television, classified ads tend to be short, but full of information. For example, if you are looking for a house, you will find some information about the house, such as location, land area, price and contact telephone number.
However, because the capacity of the advertising column in a newspaper is very limited, the information that is included is also only the most important ones, and even then it is shortened so that it doesn’t take up too much space.
Definition of Classified Ads
In general, classified ads are short advertisements that appear in the columns of print media such as newspapers or magazines. Typically, classified ads display the sale of a number of goods and properties, as well as information about job vacancies. To place this ad, those of you who want to sell property or promote a product must come to the newspaper printing office to provide information about the property or product to be advertised, as well as pay the fees required to place the ad.
In the Big Indonesian Dictionary , aka KBBI , classified ads are small advertisements consisting of several lines that appear in a column. In the past, this type of advertising has been one of the favorite ways to sell or promote something. In English, classified ads are known as classified advertising .
Characteristics of classified ads that need to be known
Classified ads are no longer popular nowadays, so it’s no wonder that many Millennials are confused by this one term. For those of you who don’t know classified ads, you can see the characteristics of classified ads. The following are the characteristics of classified ads that you need to know!
1. Limited Number of Lines
As confused as you are, from the name, at least you have a small idea about this ad. Yup, as the name implies, classified ads are short advertisements consisting of only a few lines of sentences. In newspapers, classified ads are usually on the last page.
The number of lines in an advertisement usually depends on the fee paid to the editor of the newspaper. The more rows and the larger the columns used for the advertisement, the greater the cost. Conversely, the fewer rows used, the lower the cost.
To keep costs down, advertisers will usually only post important information which, if totaled, only takes up a few lines. But the most common, classified ads usually only consist of two or three lines.
2. Short Sentences
One of the main characteristics of classified ads that are not found in the advertisements we usually see is that the sentences are abbreviated. Those who are not used to seeing classified ads may be confused by the abbreviations that appear and even misinterpret them.
Sentences in classified ads are deliberately shortened to keep the number of lines in the ad small, so that the costs incurred by advertisers are cheaper. For example, the word ‘Jalan’ will be shortened to ‘Jln’, while the word ‘Address’ will become ‘Almt’. With an abbreviation like this, it’s no wonder that one ad will only spend two to three lines.
3. Cheap advertising costs
Today, to advertise on television, the costs that must be incurred by a person or a company are clearly not cheap. The longer the duration and the more often it is played, the price is also very expensive.
Sometimes, companies also place advertisements on popular television shows to promote their products. If you have this, the costs incurred will be even greater. To reduce expenses, sometimes companies advertise their products on social media.
There, they can promote at any time without worrying about costs. The way of promotion is even more creative, not only by posting photos but also videos that can attract the number of viewers and likes.
However, the conditions will be different if you use classified ads to promote your product. As already mentioned, the cost of classified ads is determined by the number of lines that contain information. However, even with quite a lot of classifieds, the costs incurred to place classified ads will not be as expensive as advertisements on television.
4. Filled with Facts and Opinions
In contrast to advertisements on television where advertisements are made as attractive as possible with pictures and videos. Classified ads displayed in print media such as newspapers will only display important information without pictures. In addition to important information, several types of classified ads also sometimes include opinions.
For example, if you post an ad about selling a house, the information that appears will only be information about the house. Starting from the location of the house, the area of the land, and the contact number that can be contacted by the buyer.
The same goes for job advertisements. Usually the information that appears is the required position, company name, qualifications, and the address to send the application file.
Meanwhile, classified ads that raise opinions are usually found in classified ads for drugs or a product. This type of ad will display testimonials from users of the drug or product. This testimonial is deliberately posted to make customers believe in the quality of the product.
Types of Classified Ads
At first glance, classified ads look the same, especially with the number of columns and lines that are short and only consist of a few sentences. But even though it’s short, concise, and clear, it turns out that classified ads are also divided into several types.
Starting from bid advertisements, sales advertisements, job advertisements, and search advertisements. Although at first glance they are the same, these advertisements clearly convey different information from one another. Here are the types of classified ads and their explanations!
1. Offer Ads
As the name implies, offer advertisements are advertisements that offer or promote certain services. Offer ads themselves can take many forms. Starting from billboards, posters, videos, even classified ads that are published in newspapers.
In classified ads, offer ads usually contain various information about services and contacts that can be contacted if needed. Such as advertisements for transport services, for example, will display the type of car used, capacity, and the number that can be contacted.
2. Sales Ads
As the name implies, this type of advertising is advertising that promotes a product to customers. On television, sales advertisements are also the type of advertisement we see most often. Starting from advertisements for drinks, food, to household products that we usually use for our daily needs.
In newspapers, most sales advertisements do not promote products such as food or household products, but the sale of used cars and motorcycles, as well as properties such as houses and apartments.
For house sales, advertisements usually only display location, land area, condition of the house, price, to contacts who can be contacted if the buyer is interested. Sometimes, the sales ad also displays a photo of the house even though it is in black and white format so that the buyer has an idea about the house.
3. Job Vacancy Ads
So, for this classified ad, you could say it was the favorite advertisement for job seekers in the 2000s. Every time there is a new issue of a newspaper, we buy it just to find information about job vacancies.
In contrast to sales or offer advertisements which only consist of two or three lines, job vacancy advertisements are usually longer. Not only consisting of position and company name, job advertisements also consist of required qualifications such as education level, age limit, gender, to job description details that must be completed if the applicant is accepted to work at the company.
Finally, so that applicants don’t get confused about where to send their applications, the company also includes an address or email for sending files, complete with a deadline for sending them.
4. Search Ads
If sales and offer ads contain promotions for profit, then search ads are more social in nature. This type of ad is placed to look for items or people who have disappeared. For the goods themselves are usually in the form of a wallet or mobile phone. It also states when the item disappeared, plus its characteristics.
Unlike the previous advertisements, advertisements for searching for people, usually contain a complete photo with the characteristics of the missing person. Starting from height, skin color, hair, age, name, gender, last condition, date of disappearance, to contact who can be contacted by the reporter. Advertisements are placed in the hope that missing people can be found soon and reunited with their families.
Examples of Classified Ads
Most Gen-Z or Millennial children will feel unfamiliar with classified ads. It’s understandable, they really grew up in an era when all information could be found on Google and also social media. What’s more, all information and advertisements look much more attractive on the internet because they are equipped with photos and videos that are far more convincing.
Because the internet already has everything, they are no longer interested in opening newspapers and looking at the classified ads that are displayed there. However, even though the internet contains everything, sometimes we still need newspapers. Either for school work or other purposes. For you Millennials or Gen-Z kids who are curious, what does this classified ad look like, here’s an example!
1. Examples of Offer Classified Ads
| House for rent. No intermediaries. Call Tommy 081245780xxx |
| Freight services. Pick up car complete with driver. Call Andreas 0856772356xxx |
2. Examples of Sales Classified Ads
| House for sale: Diva Permai area, JKT. Jln. Antasari no. 11. Lt/Lb. 152/45. SHM. 300 million, negotiable. Call Asri 0812999578xxx |
| House for sale: Jln. Indah Permai RT 02/06 No. 18A. West BGR. Lt/Lb. 170/50. SHM. 500 Mt. Call Wiryawan 0896888999xxx |
| Quick sale.
Avanza 2017, black color, full ors, very trwt, km 100k, complete papers, interest call 0813 2244 7890 |
3. Example of a job advertisement
| Urgently needed Cashier Female/Male Education min. SMA/SMK/EQUIVALENT Max. 25 yrs Able to operate a computer Experience min 1 THN Application sent to PT Sumber Karya Jln. Raden Saleh no. 28 Tanjung Duren JKT. Applications should be sent as late as December 28, 2022 |
| Sales Sales urgently needed Male Education min. D3/S1 Age max. 25 yrs Experience min 1 yr Have SIM C Willing to be placed throughout Indonesia Application sent to PT Needle Shuper Jln. Diponegoro no. 22 Bekasi. Applications should be sent as late as October 1, 2022 |
|
Barista Male Education is needed urgently min. SMA/SMK/EQUIVALENT Max. 25 yrs Experience min 1 THN Application sent to Kopiku Cafe Jln. Pondok Aren no. 21 Sudirman JKT Applications should be sent as late as October 28, 2022 |
4. Example of a Missing Person Classified Ad
| Missing Persons Wanted
Maya Conscience Female, aged 60 years old, Call Ms. Nis |
| Missing Persons Wanted
Dany Suya Boy aged 8 years old Call Mr. Widodo |
Classified ads are past their popularity. In the past, people applying for jobs, looking for homes, looking for relatives depended on the advertisements in the newspaper. Today, its popularity has indeed waned as fewer and fewer people read newspapers. However, you can still use classified ad services to promote or find something or someone that is important to you and your family.
Although many print media companies have collapsed because they are unable to compete with the sophistication of the internet, there are still many newspaper readers. That means, you can still find classified ads on the back of the newspaper.
For Sinaumed’s who are studying advertising, you can visit sinaumedia.com . As #FriendsWithoutLimits , we always try to provide the best and newest products for Sinaumed’s, so that you have #MoreWithReading information .
Author: Siti Marliah
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