For those outside of the industry, advertising as a concept is rarely defined correctly. While most people can tell you what a magazine ad is, they can't tell you the difference between advertising and promotions and they have no idea what an advertising campaign is. If you choose advertising as a topic for your marketing paper, be sure to accurately define it as the act of producing advertisements for commercial purposes through a variety of mediums and provide examples. You could write a paper discussing the different types of advertising, such as television, radio and billboards, and when these mediums should be used. If you'd like to take a more research-focused approach, you can discuss the effects of certain types of advertising on a specific demographic.
If you're interested in the psychology behind business and marketing, consumer behavior is an engaging subject. This topic includes subjects like how customers select between different brands, how they're influenced by their environments and how they process marketing messages. Research-focused papers on this topic can include your own primary research, including surveys and focus groups asking consumers about their purchasing decisions and purchasing process regarding a certain product. For a broader paper, consider writing about the trends that have been identified in consumer behavior and how marketers in specific industries have leveraged that knowledge to execute successful marketing campaigns.
While advertising introduces a product or service to customers, promotions keep that product or service at the forefront of the consumer's mind. Promotions like sales events, coupons and promotional events can stimulate product demand. This is a broad topic that should definitely be split up into smaller topics such as types of pricing promotions or measuring the effectiveness of a promotion. Public relations, which also falls under promotional activities and is often misunderstood, is another great paper topic.
With shrinking marketing budgets, even large companies are returning to grassroots marketing campaigns. Grassroots marketing relies on marketing directly to customers where they live and work, essentially focusing exclusively on the demographic for which your product or service is created. This can be done by posting fliers in office break rooms, hosting product demonstrations, and focusing on building relationship at networking events and online. A paper on grassroots marketing can focus on anything from word-of-mouth and the emergence of social media to its value for small businesses with small budgets. This topic may require some extra research, but it's very applicable in today's marketing world.