Marketing Communications 1

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MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
Introduction: Modern marketing process involves something more than just developing a good product, pricing it attractively and making it accessible. It calls for communication with the present and potential stakeholders and the general public. For most companies today, the question is not whether to communicate, but rather what to say, to whom, and how often. Communication: Communication is the unique tool that marketers use to persuade the consumers to act as in a desired way, say to vote, to buy, to donate, to patronize, etc. Communications take many forms, like verbal, visual or symbolic, and convey special meaning that the marketers want to impart to the consumers. Communications can evoke emotions that put consumers in more receptive frames of mind, and it can encourage purchases that help consumers solve problems or avoid negative outcomes. In short, Communications is the bridge between marketers and consumers, and between consumers and their socio-cultural environments. Definition of Communication: We can define communication in several ways, but it is most commonly defined as the transmission or flow of message or information from a sender to a receiver thro a medium or channel of transmission. In addition to this theres also a fifth component feedback which alerts the sender or is the acknowledgement that the intended message has been received by the receiver. Elements of Communication: Marketers need to understand the fundamental elements of effective communications. The following gives a communications model, which has nine elements or components for the communication process to be complete. These are grouped in to three broad areas; two major parties, two major tools, and four major functions, and one major element of distortion: SENDERENCODINGMESSAGEMEDIADECODINGRECEIVERRESPONSE FEEDBACK The Two Major Parties a. The Sender The sender is the one who initiates the communication, is the source or originator of communication. The communication source may be formal or informal: i. Formal: A formal communication source can be any profit-oriented organisation or any non-profitoriented organization. ii. Informal: An informal communication source can be any other source like friends, family members, etc.
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iii. Word-of-mouth communication is the second kind which is highly persuasive. Hence it is highly recommended that marketers should encourage detailed and positive word-of-mouth communication about their products and services among consumers. b. The Receiver The receiver is the one who is targeted to receive the communication. Here there are a few types intended, intermediary and unintended: i. Intended receivers are the receivers of formal marketing communications who are likely to be targeted prospects or customers. ii. Intermediary receivers are the ones who receive the communication by virtue of their involvement in the process, but they are not the prime targets. Normally they are wholesalers, distributors, retailers, channel partners, etc. iii. Unintended receivers are everyone else who are exposed to the message, but are not specifically targeted by the sender, like general public, company employees, suppliers, creditors, bankers, local community, etc. The Two Major Tools: a. The Medium There must be a medium which connects the sender and the receiver thro which the message passes or flows. Basically there are two types of media: i. Impersonal: This kind of medium is of mass nature where the mass is reached simultaneously, like print media (newspapers, magazines, billboards, hoardings), broadcast (TV, Radio), electronic, internet etc. The Internet is a very powerful mode of interactive communication that permits the audience of communication to provide direct feedback. ii. Interpersonal: This is a kind of formal conversation between a salesperson and customer or an informal conversation between two or more persons that takes place face-to-face, over telephone, by mail, or online. b. The Message The subject matter that needs to be conveyed is the message. It can be verbal or non verbal. i. Verbal: It is thro words, speech, spoken or written, and contain more specific info regarding the products or services. A verbal message combined with a nonverbal message often provides more information to the receiver than any one of them. ii. Nonverbal: It is a symbolic communication thro pictures, photos, illustrations, or a symbol which takes place in both impersonal and interpersonal medium. Marketers often try to develop logos or symbols that are associated exclusively with their products and that achieve high recognition.
The Four major Functions: a. Encoding: This is a method by which the sender puts his message (encodes) in the form of any of the marketing communications mix. He has to make sure that the encoding must not only be understood by the receiver, but also will have the desired effect on the receiver. b. Decoding: This is a method by which the receiver unravels and interprets the message (decodes) after assigning all the relevant meanings of the verbal, the visual and the symbols. The process is affected by environmental factors, and can be difficult for the receiver. Also, the decoding or deriving meaning varies with the persons, time, place and society. c. The Response: The array of the possible reactions exhibited by the receivers after they decode, receive and understand the message. The target audience may not always respond by buying the products or services. So the marketers have to monitor their behaviour and feedback if any. d. The Feedback: The sender must know whether the message has been received by the receiver, so as to take corrective steps like to reinforce, to change, and to modify the message to ensure it is understood in the intended way. In the interpersonal communication it is easier to get the feedback quickly, thro the gestures, body language, facial expression etc. But in the impersonal communication, it is difficult to get the feedback quickly. Since this is very expensive, it must be tested before the communication starts or periodic studies (by an appropriate MR method) must be conducted to know the feedback or other methods must be devised to know the feedback as promptly as possible. The One Major Distortion Noise These are random and competing messages that may interfere with the intended communication. These can be also any unplanned physical and psychological disturbances which can distort the messages, and it can happen at any stage of the marketing communications process. Different Communication Equations One individual to another individual One individual to many individuals One organization to one individual One organization to many individuals One organization to another organization One organization to many organizations Types of Communication Internal External
Oral communication Written communication Audio-visual communication Passive communication Factors Affecting The Communication Process Fiske and Hartley have outlined some general factors that influence the effectiveness of a communication:
1. The greater the influence of the communication source over the recipient, the greater the recipients change or effect in favor of the source. 2. Communication effects are greatest where the message is in line with the receivers present opinions, beliefs and dispositions. 3. Communication is more likely to be effective if the source is believed to have expertise, high status, objectivity, or likeability, but particularly if the source has power and can be identified with. 4. The social context, group, or reference group will mediate the communication and influence whether or not the communication is accepted. Barriers of Communication: The target audience may not receive the intended message for any of these reasons: 1. Selective Attention People are bombarded by hundreds of commercial messages a day of which 80% are consciously noticed and about 12% provoke some reaction. Selective attention explains why ads with bold headlines promising something, such as How to make a Million have a high likelihood of getting attention. 2. Selective Distortion Receivers will hear what fits into their belief systems. As a result receivers often add things to the message that are not there (amplification) and dont notice other things that are there (leveling). The communicators task is to strive for simplicity, clarity, interest, and repetition to get the main points across. 3. Selective Retention People will retain in long term memory only a small fraction of the message that reach them. If the receivers initial attitude towards the object is positive, the message is likely to be accepted and have high recall. If the initial attitude is negative and he raises counter arguments, the message is likely to be rejected only to stay in long-term memory. Because persuasion requires the receivers rehearsal of his own thoughts, much of what is called persuasion is actually self-persuasion.
Marketing communications What is Marketing Communications?
It is the process by which a marketer develops and presents stimuli to a defined target audience with the purpose of eliciting a desired set of responses It is a systematic relationship between a business and its market in which the marketer assembles a wide variety of ideas, designs, messages, media, shapes, forms and colours, both to communicate ideas to, and to stimulate a particular perception of products and services by individual people who have been aggregated into a target market. Marketing has a marketing mix that is made of price, place, promotion, product (known as the four Ps), which would include people, processes and physical evidence in service marketing (known as the seven Ps). Marketing communications, as a vehicle of an organizations brand management, is concerned with the promotion of an organizations brand, product(s) and/or service(s) to stakeholders and prospective customers. It is focused on the product/service as opposed to corporate communications where the focus of communications work is the company/enterprise itself. Marketing communications is primarily concerned with demand generation and product/service positioning while corporate communications deal with issue management, mergers and acquisitions, etc. Marketing communications also has a mix. Elements of the mix are blended in different quantities in a campaign. It is recognized that there is some cross over between individual elements (e.g. advertising a firms sales promotion activities) Here are the key elements of the marketing communications mix.
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Marketing Communications
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The marketing communications mix
The primary goal of marketing communications is to reach a defined audience to affect its behaviour by informing, persuading, and reminding. Marketing communication acquires new customers for brands by building awareness and encouraging trial. It also maintains a brands current customer base by reinforcing their purchase behaviour by providing additional information about the brands benefits. A secondary goal of marketing communication is building and reinforcing relationships with customers, prospects, retailers, and other stakeholders. Marketing communication goes beyond these specific promotion tools. The products design, its price, the shape and colour of its package, and the stores that sell itall communicate something to buyers. Thus, although the promotion mix is the companys primary communication activity, the entire marketing mixpromotion and product, price, and placemust be coordinated for greatest communication impact. The following are the several attributes of the Marketing Communications 1. Communication is the unique tool that marketers use to persuade the consumers to act as in a desired way. 2. Communications take many forms, like verbal, visual or symbolic, and convey special meaning that the marketers want to impart to the consumers. 3. Communications can evoke emotions that put consumers in more receptive frames of mind, and it can encourage purchases that help consumers solve problems or avoid negative outcomes.
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4. In short, Communications is the bridge between marketers and consumers, and between consumers and their socio-cultural environment. 5. The new view of communication is an interactive dialogue between the company and its customers that takes place during the pre-selling, selling, consuming and post- consuming stages. Companies must ask not only How can we reach our customers? but also, How can our customers reach us? 6. Generally, the marketing communications of any company are designed to make the consumer a. Aware of the product, b. Induce purchase or commitment to purchase, c. Create a positive attitude towards the product, d. Give the product a symbolic meaning, or e. Show how it can solve the consumers problem better than the competitors products or services. Successful marketing communication relies on a combination of options called the promotional mix. These options include advertising, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing, and personal selling. The role each element takes in a marketing communication program relies in part on whether a company employs a push strategy or a pull strategy. A pull strategy relies more on consumer demand for the product to travel from the manufacturer to the end user. The demand generated by advertising, public relations, and sales promotion pulls the product through the channels of distribution. A push strategy, on the other hand, emphasizes personal selling to push the product through these channels. The five major types of promotion are: Advertising: Any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor. Personal selling: Personal presentation by the firms sales force to make sales and build customer relationships. Sales promotion: Short-term incentives to encourage the purchase or sale of a product or service. Public relations: Building good relations with the companys publics by obtaining favourable publicity, building up a good corporate image, and handling or heading off unfavourable rumours, stories, and events. Direct marketing: Direct communications with carefully targeted individual consumers to obtain an immediate responsethe use of mail, telephone, fax, e-mail, and other non-personal tools to communicate directly with specific consumers to solicit a direct response.
Each type of promotion has its own tools. Advertising includes print, broadcast, outdoor, and other forms. Personal selling includes sales presentations, trade shows, and incentive programs. Sales promotion includes point-of-purchase displays, premiums, discounts, coupons, and demonstrations. Direct marketing includes catalogues, telemarketing, fax transmissions, and the Internet. Integrated Marketing Communications Definitions Integrated Marketing (IM) is a management strategy and multi-discipline focused on organization-wide optimization of unique value for stakeholders. Integrated marketing is the planning and execution of all the companys marketing activities, online and offline, in a way that is consistent across all customer contacts and creates more value than when those activities are performed separately. Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is defined as a customer centric, data driven method of communicating with the customers. IMC is the coordination and integration of all marketing communication tools, avenues, functions and resources within a company into a seamless program that maximizes the impact on consumers and other end users and which results into maximum profit at a minimal cost. This management concept is designed to make all aspects of marketing communication such as advertising, sales promotion, public relations, and direct marketing work together as a unified force, rather than permitting each to work in isolation. According to the American Marketing Association, integrated marketing communications is a planning process designed to assure that all brand contacts received by a customer or prospect for a product, service, or organization are relevant to that person and consistent over time. It is also defined as a concept of marketing planning that recognizes the added value of a comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a variety of communication disciplines and combines these disciplines to provide clarity, consistency and maximum communications impact. Generally marketing starts from the Marketing Mix. Promotion is one element of the Marketing Mix. And the coordination of all the promotional tools along with other components of the marketing mix to gain an edge over competitors is called Integrated Marketing Communications. It is a process for managing customer relationships that drive brand value primarily through communication efforts. Such efforts often include cross-functional processes that create and nourish profitable relationships with customers and other stakeholders by strategically controlling or influencing all messages sent to these groups and encouraging purposeful dialogue with them. This
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integration affects all firms business-to-business, marketing channel, customer-focused, and internally directed communications. Integrated Marketing Communications is a simple concept. It ensures that all forms of communications and messages are carefully linked together. 4 Ps vs. 4 Cs in Marketing Communications Not PRODUCT, but CONSUMER You have to understand what the consumers wants and needs are. Times have changed and you can no longer sell whatever you can make. The product characteristics have to match the specifics of what someone wants to buy. And part of what the consumer is buying is the personal buying experience. Not PRICE, but COST Understand the consumers cost to satisfy the want or need. The products price may be only one part of the consumers cost structure. Other costs include the time to drive somewhere, the cost of dissonance of what you buy, the opportunity cost of guilt for not doing ones other errands, the investment a consumer is willing to make to avoid risk, etc. Not PLACE, but CONVENIENCE Think convenience of the buying experience and then relate that to a delivery mechanism. Consider all possible definitions of convenience as it relates to satisfying the consumers wants and needs. Convenience may include aspects of the physical or virtual location, access ease, transaction service time, and hours of availability e.g. 24/7. Not PROMOTION, but COMMUNICATION Communicate with many mediums working together to present a unified message with a feedback mechanism to make the communication two-way. The Tools For Integrated Marketing Communication Each communication tools has its own unique characteristics & costs. The tools that marketers commonly use to achieve their communication objectives are:
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The Nature of Each Promotion Tool Each promotion tooladvertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations, and direct marketinghas unique characteristics and costs. Marketers must understand these characteristics in selecting their tools. ADVERTISING It is any paid form of non-personal persuasive communication about a firm and its products that is transmitted through the mass media (television, radio, newspaper, magazines, outdoor displays, the internet etc.) Advertising has four characteristics: It is persuasive in nature; It is non-personal; It is paid for by an identified sponsor; and It is disseminated through mass channels of communication. Types of advertising: Product advertising: Is the type that promotes goods and services. Institutional advertising: The type that promotes organizational images and ideas. Pioneer advertising: Tries to develop the primary demand for a product category rather than a specific product. It is usually done in the early stages of the product life cycle to inform potential customers about the new product.
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Competitive advertising: Aims at offsetting the effects of competitors promotion campaigns. Reminder & reinforcement advertising: It targets at letting consumers to know that an established brand still exists. Its purpose is to assure current users of the products benefits. Functions of advertising
An important function of advertising is the identification function, that is, to identify a product and differentiate it from others; this creates an awareness of the product and provides a basis for consumers to choose the advertised product over other products.
Another function of advertising is to communicate information about the product, its attributes, and its location of sale; this is the information function. Advertising messages may promote the adoption of goods, services, persons, or ideas. Because the sales message is disseminated through the mass mediaas opposed to personal selling it is viewed as a much cheaper way of reaching consumers. Advertising also helps in increasing awareness and changing attitudes and opinions of buyers. Through the use of symbols and images advertising can help differentiate products and services that are otherwise similar. Advertising also helps create and maintain brand equity. Brand equity is an intangible asset that results from a favourable image, impressions of differentiation, or consumer attachment to the company, brand, or trademark. This equity translates into greater sales volume, and/or higher margins, thus greater competitive advantage. Brand equity is established and maintained through advertising that focuses on image, product attributes, service, or other features of the company and its products or services.
It can be used to build a long-term image for a product (such as Coca-Cola ads). Advertisement makes it easy for a company to introduce a new product or service. People are most likely to welcome a new item or service if they have already seen it in an advertisement. Many companies commence the advertising of a product before it has hit the shelves.
Buyers tend have a better view of a well advertised product or service as compared to those that dont have any advertisements or are poorly advertised. People tend to purchase products they are familiar with, and a well thought out advertising campaign can achieve that.
To encourage salesmen and provide that feeling of support especially when they are dealing with hard to get customers. Sales staffs find their job easier with a good advertising campaign behind them.
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Types of advertising media Published media include: National daily newspapers Sunday newspapers Local and regional newspapers Consumer magazines Specialist magazines Trade and professional press Internet Visual and audio media include: Television (terrestrial and digital) Radio Cinema Billboards Transport/vehicles Judging the effectiveness of advertising How can the effectiveness of an advert be judged? The answer depends on what objectives were set for the advert. The table below sets out some possible objectives/tasks and how the effectiveness of the advert might be measured: Advertising objective Stimulate an increase in sales How success can be measured - Number of enquiries from advert - Number of enquiries converted into sales - Test customer awareness both before and after the advertising campaign - Number of enquiries - Test customer awareness - Number of requests for further information -Sales -Test customer awareness of brand recognition and
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Remind customers of the existence of a product
Inform customers
Build a brand image
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perceived values Build customer loyalty and relationship - Levels of repeat purchase - Levels of customer retention - Measure demographic profile of purchases Change customer attitudes - Measure type of goods ordered by new purchasers - Compare with previous data
Advantages Advertising can reach masses of geographically dispersed buyers at a low cost per exposure and enables the seller to repeat a message many times. Television advertising, for example, reaches huge audiences.
Beyond its reach, large-scale advertising says something positive about the sellers size, popularity, and success. Because of advertisings public nature, consumers tend to view advertised products as more legitimate. Advertising is also very expressive. It allows the company to dramatize its products through the artful use of visuals, print, sound, and colour. It lets the seller repeat a message many times. Disadvantages
Advertising can be very costly. Although some advertising forms, such as newspaper and radio advertising, can be done on small budgets, other forms, such as network TV advertising, require very large budgets.
Its impersonal nature means it lacks the ability to tailor the sales message to the message recipient and, more importantly, actually get the sale.
Credibility and clutter are other disadvantages. Consumers have become increasingly skeptical about advertising messages and tend to resent advertisers attempt to persuade. Advertising is everywhere, from network television, to daily newspapers, to roadside billboards. Clutter encourages consumers to ignore many advertising messages.
Although it reaches many people quickly, advertising is and cannot be as persuasive as company salespeople. Advertising can carry on only a one-way communication with the audience, and the audience does not feel that it must pay attention or respond.
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PERSONAL SELLING It is the process of using personal communication in an exchange situation to inform customers and persuade them to purchase products. It is a process by which; -one identifies the people, who have a need. [ PROSPECTING] -one determines the needs of the people.[ NEEDS ] -one determines a way of finding a solution to the prospects problem.[ PROPOSE] -one determines the way of communicating your product as a solution. [RECOMMENDING] -one determines the value for the product for the prospect.[ ADVOCATING YOUR PRODUCT]. -one determines / sells benefits of the product to the prospect. [ SELLING BENEFITS] and then creating a transaction for exchanging the product for a value. [CLOSING THE SALE ] and thus creating a satisfaction to the buyers needs/wants [ CREATING CUSTOMER SATISFACTION]. Advantages While face to face with prospects, sales people can get more attention than an advertisement. The sales person is often the only link between the company and customers. He/she may provide information about products, explain and interpret the companys policies, negotiate prices and identify technical problems when a product does not work well. Personal selling is the most effective way to make a sale because of the interpersonal communication between the salesperson and the prospect. Messages can be tailored to particular situations, immediate reaction can be noted, and the approach can be changed to accommodate each prospect. Personal selling is the most effective tool at certain stages of the buying process, particularly in building up buyers preferences, convictions, and actions. Personal selling also allows all kinds of relationships to develop, ranging from a matter-of-fact selling relationship to a deep personal friendship. The effective salesperson keeps the customers interests at heart to build a long-term relationship. Finally, with personal selling, the buyer usually feels a greater need to listen and respond, even if the response is a polite no thank you. Disadvantages
Personal selling is also the companys most expensive promotion tool, costing industrial companies an average of over Shs 5000 per sales call. Differences Between Personal Selling and Advertising
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Personal selling involves direct interaction of salesmen with individuals. Advertising is non-personal and is addressed to the customers in general. In personal selling there is a two-way communication. The salesman explains his viewpoint to the potential buyer and knows about his/her reaction. In advertisement there is one-way communication; the targeted persons' reactions cannot be known immediately.
In Personal selling there is only one channel of transmission of messages i.e., personal talk of the salesman with the potential buyers; advertisement offers a wide choice of channels, visual, audio such as radio and audiovisual such as television.
If potential buyers are aware of the products because of advertisement; salesmen can easily persuade them to buy them. Advertisement creates desire to buy the products; salesmanship converts the potential demand created by advertisement into actual sale. Personal selling is confined to a particular area; while advertisement is generally found to cover a larger number of people. Personal selling always aims at effecting sales of existing products; advertisement may also aim at enhancing the goodwill of the advertiser who may not be selling the goods and services immediately. Personal selling is used only for promotion and sale of products; advertisement may be used for various other purposes also, such as building brand image. In personal selling, the salesmen are paid salary or commission or both; advertisement is a one-time expenditure and varies with time, space and nature of media. The effectiveness of personal selling depends upon the quality of salesman such as ability to convince, knowledge of the product etc., whereas the effectiveness of advertisement depends upon the design of advertisement and the media used for the purpose. SALES PROMOTIONS Definition:
It is an activity or material that acts as a direct inducement and offers added value to buy a product. It is often a short-term incentive to encourage purchase of the product. Its a key ingredient in marketing campaigns, and consists of a diverse collection of incentive tools, mostly short term, designed to stimulate quicker and / or greater purchases of particular products or services. Sales promotion is a marketing communication function that offers a tangible added value designed to motivate and accelerate a response. Examples may be 20% price off, 20% more goods, free samples of other products, buy two get three, one soap case free with two soaps, free talk time with a handset, etc.
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Sales promotions attract consumer attention and provide information that may lead to a purchase. They offer strong incentives to purchase by providing inducements or contributions that give additional value to consumers. And sales promotions invite and reward quick response. Where advertising says, Buy our product, sales promotion says, Buy it now. Sales promotion effects are usually short lived, however, and are not effective in building long-term brand preference. Types of Sales Promotions There are two basic types: Consumer, and Trade Sales Promotions. Consumer promotions are targeted and designed for the end users directly. Here, the marketers use a PULL strategy, which is the use of incentives to motivate end users to purchase a brand and thus put pressure on the retailer to stock that brand. The consumers thus PULL the products thro the distribution line towards themselves. Trade promotions are targeted and designed for members of the distribution channel, such as distributors, wholesalers, retailers. Here, the marketers use a PUSH strategy, which is the use of incentives to motivate the buying and reselling of products. The traders thus PUSH the products down the distribution channel towards the consumers. Objectives of consumer sales promotions Consumer sales promotion activities are designed to achieve the following targets;
Increasing trial and repurchase: Packaged goods brands use sales promotions to encourage trial as well as repurchase. SPs such as special prices and product samples can motivate prospective customers to try something for the first time.
Increasing frequency and quantity: Because the majority of the people who take advantage of coupons and price reductions are current customers, a good SP strategy does more than simply offer current customers a discount. Its designed to increase purchase frequency or purchase quantity at each transaction.
Countering competitive offers: The third objective of consumer SP, countering competitive offers, is used frequently in highly competitive product categories. Airlines, and the manufacturers of soft drinks and breakfast sellers, for example, stay abreast of what competing brands are doing and act frequently to counter these efforts.
Increasing customer retention: Companies that know who their current customers are can plan programmes to reward and retain customers, particularly the most profitable ones.
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Reinforcing/improving the brand image and strengthening brand relationship: Although SPs by design add something extra to a brand offering, what is added should not only be compatible with the brands image, but also reinforces that image. Others Include;
To introduce new products To attract new customers To increase sales during periods of low demand Types of consumer sales promotion techniques Premiums/gifts: A premium is an item offered free or at a bargain price to reward some type of behaviour like, buying, sampling and testing. It is known as a premium promotion in that the customer gets something in addition to the main purchase. The most effective ones are those, which are available instantly. Free is the most powerful word that the company can use for these premiums. But to get this Free a purchase is necessary, generally at a full price. The cost of the premiums is generally low compared to the main product, at around 10 % of it e.g. a free Omo bucket for purchasing 1 kg of Omo detergent.
Specialties/gifts: These are items given free to the customers and other stakeholders, to keep a brands name at the top of the mind. Generally no purchases are necessary for these and the items are of low cost like, calendars, coffee mugs, key rings, etc. But for organisational buyers (B2B) it can be expensive gifts to the concerned officers like, Cell Phones, Suitcases, wrist watches, CD players, etc.
Coupons: Coupons are certificates with a stated price reduction on a specified items and generally valid for a specified period of time. These are distributed by the retail stores, thro newspapers, magazines, brochures, etc. These coupons dont enhance the brand image, but boost the sales in the short term, encourage first purchase/trials and brand switching.
Price Reductions: This is a kind of short-term price reduction, where the prices are less than the regular ones. It can take the form of coupons, free goods, free extra, etc. The retailers advertise price reductions each week / month for particular brands for which they also get trade promotional allowances.
Point-of-purchase displays: Research into customer buying behaviour in retail stores suggests that a significant proportion of purchases results from promotions that customers see in the store. Attractive, informative and well-positioned point-of-sale displays are, therefore, very important part of the sales promotional activity in retail outlets.
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Sampling: Sampling is offering free samples of products to prospective customers (or of new products to existing customers) and the opportunity to try a product before making a buying decision. This is one of the most expensive tools of SP, but it is also one of the most effective and most credible one, because it actually involves the actual use and performance of the product. (Perfume sellers heavily depend on it). It can be distributed on purchase of related products or to all the buyers who visit a retail store. A similar case to this is combination or combo offer where closely related items are offered free like blades with safety razor, conditioner with shampoo, toothbrush with toothpaste, etc.
Sweepstakes, contests and games: A contest is a brand-sponsored competition that requires some form of skill and effort (like quizzes which are not based on chance, but knowledge and skill). A sweepstakes is a form of sales promotion that offers prizes based on a chance drawing of entrants names.
Price deals: A temporary reduction in the price, such as happy hour. Loyalty Reward Programs: Discount or free merchandise to regular customers. They are normally employed by supermarkets and are mechanisms in which regular customers who remain loyal to a particular outlet are rewarded with discounts or free merchandise e.g. Bonga points, Nakumatt smart points.
Cents-off deals: Offers a brand at a lower price. Price reduction may be a percentage marked on the package. Price-pack deal: The packaging offers a consumer a certain percentage more of the product for the same price (for example, 25 percent extra), or buy one get one free. Loss leader Pricing: the price of a popular product is temporarily reduced in order to stimulate other profitable sales Rebates/money refunds: Consumers are offered money back if the receipt and barcode are mailed to the producer. A customer receives a money refund after submitting a proof of purchase to the manufacturer.
Point-of-sale displays Glorifier: A small stage/stand that elevates a product above other products. Demonstrations: are occasions at which a manufacturer shows how a product works in order to encourage trial use and purchase of the product. Trade sales promotion objectives The primary objectives of trade promotion are:
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Increase distribution: The first objective is to move more products, thro the channel, i.e., to increase the volume of the distribution. This helps in reducing the risk for distributors and retailers. What the members of the distribution channel fear most is buying products or quantities they cant resell. Thus they have to be motivated to stock some products.
Balance demand and control inventory levels: Knowing how important it is to have products available when customers want them, most marketers try hard to make sure products are always available with the retailers. Service companies, similarly staff up for traditionally busy times of the day, week, month or year. When companies find they have too many goods at hand or service personnel who are not engaged, they use promotional strategies to balance demand and control inventory levels.
Respond to competitive programmes: Trade Promotion can also help a brand respond to competitive offerings. To counter the introduction of a new competing brand, say, a company can use a loading promotion in which retailers are given incentives to by in larger quantities than usual (to load up on a product). This reduces space and demand for the new brand, making it more difficult for the new brand to get and keep distribution.
To gain more and better shelf-space.
Trade sales promotion tools The essence of most trade promotions is a reduction in price that come in many forms; Trade/merchandise allowances: these are short-term incentives offered to induce a retailer to stock up on a product. Point-of-purchase displays: Extra sales tools given to retailers to boost sales. Trade discounts (also called functional discounts): These are payments to distribution channel members for performing some function. Volume/quantity discounts: This discount is based on the volume as the name suggests- the more the volume, the more the discount, and hence the more profit to the retailer. Performance allowances: These are the price reductions given to the retailers in exchange for the retailers agreement to feature the companys brand(s) in its own advertising or promotional offers. Display allowances: A type of performance allowance which is a price reduction for locating an additional quantity of a brand in a high traffic area like the end of an aisle, In exchange for this allowance, retailers agree to give the brand off-shelf display which automatically attract more customer attention and increase sales.
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Buy back allowances: When introducing a new product, marketers sometimes offer a buy-back allowance, which is a payment to buy back the current stock of a brand and replace it with a features new product. To further persuade the retailers to take on products, some marketers guarantee protection from risk by offering to buy-back any of their own brands not sold within a specified period.
Dealer loaders: This is a high value premium given to a retailer in exchange for stocking a product e.g. a bottle cooler or a fridge with the purchase of soft drinks, which the dealer can keep. Contests: To motivate retail dealers and their sales people to reach specific sales goals or to stock a certain product, companies offer dealer contests, competitions awarding dealers special prizes and gifts, when they achieve certain sales targets/volumes.
Sales training: In many high-tech or specialty stores, the salesmen help customers by explaining in detail all the features, the correct/efficient method of use. For these, the company provides an extensive training programme to the salesmen of the dealer/retailer, at its own cost, for them to learn about the products in details, and to impart that knowledge to the consumers, so that they can get the most advantages using that product. These companies also supply the Business Support Materials free to the dealers / retailers which may consist of education and training materials, brochures, charts, and facts, figures that are needed to learn the basics of the products and use them correctly.
Point-of-Purchase (POP) displays: These are in-store advertising displays featuring a product. Some times retailers refer to in-store promotion activities as merchandising. Some marketers use field merchandisers to go into stores and make sure that the marketers brand is being properly displayed, that perishable products are not beyond the sale by dates dates, and that the retailers are providing the in-store support that they have been paid to provide. Limitations of sales promotions
The Cost-effectiveness: The critical decision whether to use SP should be based on their costeffectiveness. Sales promotion deals can be very costly but may not have much return. Non-serious customers: SPs sometimes attract customers who are searching for the best deal, and not for a long-term brand relationship. These are customers who always try to buy what is on sale and are not loyal to any brand.
Copycatting: As soon as one brand in a category has a successful SP programme, competitors soon follow suit. This copycatting usually negates the added value advantage and transforms the cost of the programme into just another cost of doing business.
Overuse of promotional offers: The overuse of promotional offers will negatively reposition the brand. A brand that is always on sale or always offering premiums will soon be known as the deal brand,
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an image that most brands dont want to have. Most companies limit discounts, not only to protect the profitability of the brand but also to protect the retail price. Attracting new customers at the cost of existing ones: Targeting promotional offer is a sound strategy, but it needs to be done in a way that doesnt anger / hurt some customer. For example if the price-off is offered to only new customers, then it may put off the existing ones. PUBLIC RELATIONS Definitions; Public relations are a planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between a firm and its target publics. It is the communication of a product, brand or business by placing information about it in the media without paying for the time or media space directly. Public Relations is the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between on organization and its publics. (Institute of Public Relations, USA). Objectives To create and maintain the corporate and brand image of the firm i.e. to enhance the position and standing of the firm in the eyes of the public. To disseminate information about the firm to the public. To undertake corrective measures to overcome bad publicity. What is meant by the term publics in the above definitions? A business may have many publics with which it needs to maintain good relations and build goodwill. They include Employees Shareholders Trade unions Members of the general public Current and potential customers Other industry players Public relations tools They can be broadly classified as; Oral communication Printed and graphic communication Print media
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Outdoor media (electronic displays, hoardings, posters) Broadcast media (radio, television, films) Other media (websites, endorsements, exhibitions) Public relations tools include: Press conferences; meetings called by the firm to announce major news events or to respond to a crisis. Corporate social responsibility activities; i.e. building goodwill by contributing money, time and other resources to good causes Celebrity endorsement is a PR tool which persuades audiences to buy products such as soft drinks, soaps, eatables, clothes, toothpaste, beverages etc. by creating awareness/ interest in them through celebrities or popular people. Exhibitions; At exhibitions, items displayed leave a lasting impression on the minds of the people. It involves participation of people on a large scale and products can be exhibited and demonstrated in a relaxed atmosphere Community Relations: Planned activity with a community to maintain an environment that benefits both the organization and the community. Public Affairs: Developing effective involvement in public policy and helping an organization adapt to public expectations. The term is also used by government agencies to describe their public relations activities and by many corporations as an umbrella term to describe multiple public relations activities. Governmental Affairs: Relating directly with legislature and regulatory agencies on behalf of the organization. Lobbying can be part of the government affairs programme. Issues management: Identifying and addressing issues of public concern that affect the organization. Development/Fund-Raising: Demonstrating the need for and encouraging the public to support an organization, primarily through financial contributions. Special Events: Stimulating an interest in a person, product, or organization by means of a focused happening e.g. anniversary. They are activities designed to interact with publics and listen to them and can be used to draw attention to the firms products.. Lobbying; Influencing people in government and other pressure groups in order to secure their support to achieve a desired action e.g. to promote a regulation favourable to the firms business. Employee Relations; It is imperative to maintain employee goodwill as well as to uphold the companys image and reputation amongst its employees. A good employee relations program keeps employees informed and provides them with channels of communication to upper levels of management.
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Financial Relations; Financial relations involves communicating with a companys stockholders, financial analysts and potential investors. Annual reports and stockholder meetings are important tools for maintaining good investor relations. Publicity Publicity refers to the generation of news about a person, product, or service that appears in broadcast or print media. It is communication in news story form about a firm and its products that is transmitted through the mass media at no charge. Publicity is really a part of the public relations effort. But there are several major differences. Publicity is a short-term strategy, while public relations is a concerted program extending over a period of time. Public relations is designed to provide positive information about the firm and is usually controlled by the firm or its agent. Publicity, on the other hand, is not always positive and is not always under the control of, or paid for by, the organization. Both positive and negative publicity often originates from sources outside of the firm. In most organizations, publicity is controlled and disseminated by the public relations department. Publicity tools Video News Release (VNR); It is a publicity piece produced by a firms media agent so that media stations can air it as a news story e.g. Kenya Airways documentary on TV.
Brochures; Depending on their size and purpose for which they are developed, they are called leaflets, folders or pamphlets. All these publications are called brochures. A brochure is a folded sheet of information which can be read like a book and provides information which is relevant over a longer period of time, e.g. a brochure produced by a college provides information about courses offered, fee structure, hostel facilities and so on for students who are seeking admission. Newsletter: It is a printed publication produced at regular intervals. It is distributed to a particular audience seeking information e.g., a newsletter published by a college consists of information about activities conducted during a particular period, special achievements by students or teachers, retiring employees, new entrants etc. Such newsletters target not only the teachers and students but also the college alumni. Press release; A press release is a form of written communication used to announce something to the media. It is mailed, faxed or e-mailed to the media. The text of the press release is written in the form of a story with an attractive heading so that the media quickly grasps and circulates the message
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through newspapers/radio/television/internet. It involves using various media channels to highlight on specific information or events of the firm e.g. product launches, expansions etc. Websites; The Internet web is the most commonly used form of media for public relations. The information in a website is presented in an easy and understandable format. Web pages are designed with catchy illustrations to make them attractive and thereby grab the attention of the public. Advantages Publicity is highly credible. Unlike advertising and sales promotions, publicity is not usually perceived as being sponsored by the company (in the negative instances, it never is). So consumers perceive this information as more objective and place more confidence in it. Publicity information may be perceived as endorsed by the medium in which it appears. For example, KIMs award for COYA (company of the year) reflects the institutes perception of the quality of products of the firm selected. A publicity story has news value to its audience and people like to pass on information that has news value. Publicity thus results in a significant amount of free, credible, word-of-mouth information regarding the firm and its products. Disadvantages Timing of the publicity is not always completely under the control of the marketer. Thus, the information may be released earlier than desired or too late to make an impact. Accuracy: A major way to get publicity is the press release. Unfortunately, the information sometimes gets lost in translationthat is, it is not always reported the way the provider wishes it to be. As a result, inaccurate information, omissions, or other errors may result. Sponsorship; This means supporting an event, activity or organisation by providing money or other resources that is of value to the sponsored event. This is usually in return for advertising space at the event or as part of the publicity for the event. There are several kinds of sponsorship: Television and radio programme sponsorship; the increasing fragmentation of television in Kenya through new channels is providing many more opportunities for sponsorship of this kind. Sports sponsorship; major sporting events have the advantage of being attended and watched by large numbers of people. They also attract significant media coverage. Arts sponsorship; sponsorship of arts events like drama festivals. Educational sponsorship; this can take several forms from the sponsoring of individual students at college to the provision of books and computers to schools.
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Public relations tools can also be classified as: Consumer communication Customer press releases Trade press releases Promotional videos Consumer exhibitions Competitions and prizes Product launch events Websites Business communication Corporate identity design Direct mailings Trade exhibitions Internal / employee communication In-house newsletters and magazines Intranet Notice boards Employee conferences Email External corporate communication Company literature (brochures, videos etc.) Community involvement programmes Local, national and international media relations Financial communication Financial media relations Annual report and accounts Shareholder meetings (including the annual general meetings) Public relations offers several benets. It is very believable: news stories, features, and events seem more real and believable to readers than ads do. Public relations also can reach many prospects who avoid salespeople and advertisementsthe message gets to the buyers as news rather than as a sales- directed communication. Difference between PR and Advertising
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Public Relations involves the activities and methods employed to establish and promote an organizations products, services, or overall image to its all its shareholders. PR promotes the entire organization while advertising traditionally promotes a particular product or services. While a company pays to have their advertisements put in newspapers or other media, public relations involves getting free exposure for the company whether through press releases, conferences or other tools.
Advertisings goal is generating sales whereas the main goal of public relations is generating goodwill. PR communicates with the people or public of an organization while advertising communicates with the target markets of an organization.
The success of a PR campaign can be measured through the evidence of public support favorable public opinion whereas the success of an advertising campaign can be measured through the size of sales or revenue generated. DIRECT MARKETING Direct marketing is concerned with establishing an individual relationship between the business offering a product and the final customer. Direct marketing has been defined by the Institute of Direct Marketing as: The planned recording, analysis and tracking of customer behaviour to develop relational marketing strategies The process of direct marketing covers a wide range of promotional activities. These include:
Direct-response adverts on television and radio Magazine inserts Direct mail Telemarketing Direct mail; The most common form of direct marketing is direct mail used by advertisers who send paper mail to all postal customers in an area or to all customers on a list. Telemarketing; in this case marketers contact consumers by phone. This process may be outsourced to specialist call centres. Email Marketing; customers are contacted thro Email. A major concern is spam mail, which actually predates legitimate email marketing. As a result of the proliferation of mass spamming, ISPs and email service providers have developed increasingly effective E-Mail Filtering programs.
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Door-to-Door Leaflet Marketing; similar to direct mail marketing, this method is targeted purely by area, and costs a fraction of the amount of direct mail due to not having to purchase stamps, envelopes or having to buy address lists and the names of home occupants. Voicemail Marketing; This has emerged as a result of availability of personal voice mailboxes, and business voicemail systems. It represents a cost effective means by which to reach people with the warmth of a human voice. Direct response television marketing; This is usually form of half-hour or hour-long segments that explain a product in detail and are commonly referred to as infomercials and ask viewers for an immediate response typically to call a phone number on screen or go to a website. Direct selling; is the sale of products by face-to-face contact with the customer by having salespeople approach potential customers in person. Integrated Campaigns; The marketer combines direct mail, telemarketing, radio and broadcast TV, as well as online channels such as email and social networking (twitter, face-book, etc). The Direct marketing database Direct mailing is based on the mailing list a critical part in the direct marketing process. The mailing list is a database which collects together details of past, current and potential customers. The starting point is the existing information the business keeps on its customers. All forms of communication between a customer and the business need to be recorded so that a detailed, up-to-date profile can be maintained. It is also possible to buy mailing lists from elsewhere. The Internet, directories, associations and other sources are good examples. Internet Marketing Revolutionary changes in marketing are being driven by advances in technology and developments that have led to dramatic growth of communication through interactive media, particularly the Internet. Interactive media over the Internet allow for a back-and-forth flow of information between users and the company. Unlike traditional forms of marketing communications such as advertising, which are one-way in nature, the new media allow users to perform a variety of functions such as receive information and images, make inquiries, respond to questions, and make purchases thro the World Wide Web. Many companies, ranging from large multinational corporations to small local firms, have developed websites to promote their products and services, by providing current and potential customers with information, as well as to interact with consumers. The Internet is a medium can be used to execute all the elements of the promotional mix. In addition to advertising on the Web, marketers offer sales promotion incentives such as coupons, contests, and
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sweepstakes online, and they use the Internet to conduct direct marketing, personal selling, and public relations activities more effectively and efficiently. Factors determining selection of the promotion mix 1) Promotional resources: If a companys promotional budget is extremely limited, it is likely to rely on personal selling rather than advertising or sales promotion. 2) Promotional objectives, policies e.g. if the objective is to create mass awareness of a new consumer product then advertising or sales promotion can be used. 3) Characteristics of the target market: If the size is limited, the promotional mix will emphasize personal selling. But when markets are large, advertising and sales promotion is used because the methods can reach many people at low cost per person. Geographic distribution: Personal selling is more feasible if a companys customers are concentrated in a small area than if dispersed. If dispersed advertising would be used. Socio-economic characteristics: Age, income, level of education etc. 4) Characteristic of the product: for industrial products personal selling is used but advertising plays a major role for consumer goods. 5) Price: high priced products call for more personal selling because consumers associate greater risk with the purchase of such products and want the advice and opinion of a sales person. 6) Stage of the PLC e.g. at introduction stage, advertising is done to create awareness. 7) Cost of promotional methods. 8) Availability: e.g. a product may be banned from being advertised on TV or radio e.g. cigarettes. Promotion Mix Strategies Push strategy; a promotional policy in which the producer promotes the product only to the next level down the marketing channel. A company uses the sales-force to push the product through channels. The producer promotes the product to wholesalers, the wholesalers promote to retailers, and the retailers promote to consumers. Pull strategy; a promotion strategy in which a business promotes directly to consumers in order to create a strong consumer demand for its products. It calls for spending a lot on advertising and consumer promotion to build up consumer demand. If the strategy is successful, consumers will ask their retailers for the product, the retailers will ask the wholesalers, and the wholesalers will ask the producers. Steps in Developing Effective Communication The marketing communicator must decide on the following six steps (Six Ms). Identify the target audience/market.
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Determine the desired objectives/response (mission) Design the message Choose the media Develop the total promotion budget (money) Collect feedback on the communication campaign (measure effectiveness). 1. Identifying the Target Audience The audience may be potential buyers or current users, those who make the buying decision or those who inuence it. It may be individuals, groups, special publics, or the general public. The target audience will affect the communicators decisions on what will be said, how it will be said, when it will be said, where it will be said, and who will say it. 2. Determining the Desired Response In most cases, the nal response is purchase. But purchase is the result of a long process of consumer decision making. The target audience may be in any of six buyer readiness stages. Buyer readiness stages; The stages consumers typically pass through on their way to purchase: awareness, knowledge, liking, preference, conviction, and purchase. The marketing communicator needs to know where the target audience is now and to what stage it needs to be moved. The marketing communicators target market may be totally unaware of the product, know only its name, or know little about it. The communicator must rst build awareness and knowledge. E.g., when Nissan introduced its Inniti automobile line, it began with an extensive advertising campaign to create name familiarity. Initial ads for the Inniti created curiosity and awareness by showing the cars name but not the car. Later ads created knowledge by informing potential buyers of the cars high quality and many innovative features. Once potential buyers know about the Inniti, Nissans marketers want to move them through successively stronger stages of feelings toward the car. These stages include liking (feeling favourable about the Inniti), preference (preferring Inniti to other car brands), and conviction (believing that Inniti is the best car for them). Inniti marketers can use a combination of the promotion mix tools to create positive feelings and conviction. Advertising extols the Innitis advantages over competing brands. Press releases and other public relations activities stress the cars innovative features and performance. Salespeople tell buyers about options, value for the price, and aftersales service. The communicator must then lead these consumers to take the nal step to buy. Actions may include offering special promotional prices or premiums. 3. Designing a Message Ideally, the message should get attention, hold interest, arouse desire, and obtain action (a framework known as the AIDA model). In putting together the message, the marketing communicator must solve
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three problems: what to say (message content), how to say it logically (message structure), and how to say it symbolically (message format). Message Content The communicator must identify an appeal or theme that will produce the desired response. There are three types of appeals: rational, emotional, and moral. Rational appeals relate to the audiences self-interest. They show that the product will produce the desired benets. Rational appeal messages may show a products quality, economy, value, or performance. In its ads, Mercedes offers cars that are engineered like no other car, stressing engineering design, performance, and safety. Emotional appeals attempt to stir up either negative or positive emotions that can motivate purchase. Communicators use such positive emotional appeals as love, pride, joy, and humour. Advocates for humorous messages claim that they attract more attention and create more liking and belief in the sponsor. E.g., when you make people laugh, and they feel good after seeing the commercial, they like the association with the product. Communicators can also use negative emotional appeals such as fear, guilt, and shame, which get people to do things they should (brush their teeth, buy new tires), or to stop doing things they shouldnt (smoke, drink too much). A Michelin tire ad features cute babies and suggests, Because so much is riding on your tires. Moral appeals are directed to the audiences sense of what is right and proper. They often are used to urge people to support such social causes as a cleaner environment aid to the needy, or combat such social problems as drug abuse, sexual harassment, etc. An example of a moral appeal is: God made you whole. Give to help those He didnt. Message Structure The communicator must decide which of three ways to use to structure the message. The rst is whether to draw a conclusion or leave it to the audience. Early research showed that drawing a conclusion was usually more effective; however, more recent research suggests that the advertiser is often better off asking questions and letting buyers draw their own conclusions. The second structure issue is to present a one-sided argument mentioning only the products strengths. Usually, a one-sided argument is more effective in sales presentations. The third message structure issue is to present the strongest arguments rst. Presenting them rst gets strong attention, but may lead to an anti-climactic ending. Message Format
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In a print ad, the communicator has to decide on the headline, copy, illustration, and colour. To attract attention, advertisers can use novelty and contrast; eye-catching pictures and headlines; distinctive formats; message size and position; and colour, shape, and movement. If the message will be carried over the radio, the communicator must choose words, sounds, and voices. If the message is to be carried on television or in person, then all these elements plus body language have to be planned. Presenters plan their facial expressions, gestures, dress, posture, and hairstyle. If the message is carried on the product or its package, the communicator has to watch texture, scent, colour, size, and shape. Colour plays a major communication role in food preferences. When consumers sampled four cups of coffee that had been placed next to brown, blue, red, and yellow containers (all the coffee was identical, but the consumers did not know this), 75 percent felt that the coffee next to the brown container tasted too strong; nearly 85 percent judged the coffee next to the red container to be the richest; nearly everyone felt that the coffee next to the blue container was mild; and the coffee next to the yellow container was seen as weak. Therefore, if a coffee company wants to communicate that its coffee is rich, it should probably use a red container along with label copy boasting the coffees rich taste. Message Source The messages impact on the target audience is affected by how the audience views the communicator. Messages delivered by highly credible sources are more persuasive. Therefore, marketers hire celebrity endorserswell-known athletes, actors, and musiciansto deliver their messages. Many drug companies promote to doctors, dentists, and other health care providers to motivate these professionals to recommend their products to patients. 4. Choosing Media There are two broad types of communication channelspersonal and non-personal. Personal Communication Channels In personal communication channels, two or more people communicate directly with each other. They can communicate face to face, over the telephone, or even through the mail or e-mail. Personal communication channels are effective because they allow for personal addressing and feedback. Personal inuence carries great weight for products that are expensive, risky, or highly visible. For example, buyers of automobiles often go beyond mass-media sources to seek the opinions of knowledgeable people. Companies can hence use inuential people in their advertisements. Non-Personal Communication Channels
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Non-personal communication channels are media that carry messages without personal contact or feedback. They include major media e.g. print media (newspapers, magazines, direct mail); broadcast media (radio, television); and display media (billboards, signs, posters). 5. Setting the Total Promotion Budget One of the hardest marketing decisions facing a company is how much to spend on promotion. Promotion spending may be 20 to 30 percent of sales in the cosmetics industry and only two or three percent in the industrial machinery industry. There are four common methods used to set the total budget for advertising: the affordable method, the percentage-of-sales method, the competitive-parity method, and the objective- and-task method. Affordable Method Some companies set the promotion budget at the level they think the company can afford. Although the affordable method can result in overspending on advertising, it more often results in under spending. Percentage-of-Sales Method Other companies set their promotion budget at a certain percentage of current or forecasted sales. Using this method means that promotion spending is likely to vary with what the company can afford. It also helps management think about the relationship between promotion spending and sales. It also creates competitive stability because competing rms tend to spend about the same percentage of their sales on promotion. The drawback is that it wrongly views sales as the cause of promotion rather than as the result. Competitive-Parity Method Still other companies set their promotion budgets to match competitors budgets. They monitor competitors advertising or get industry promotion spending estimates from publications or trade associations, and then set their budgets based on the industry average. Two arguments support this method. First, competitors budgets represent the collective wisdom of the industry. Second, spending what competitors spend helps prevent promotion wars. Objective-and-Task Method This is whereby the company sets its promotion budget based on what it wants to accomplish with promotion. This budgeting method entails dening specic promotion objectives; determining the tasks needed to achieve each objective; and estimating the costs of performing these tasks. The sum of these costs is the proposed promotion budget. 6. Collecting Feedback
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After sending the message, the communicator must research its effect on the target audience. This involves asking the target audience members whether they remember the message, how many times they saw it, what points they recall, how they felt about the message, and their past and present attitudes toward the product and company. The communicator also wants to measure behaviour resulting from the messagehow many people bought a product, talked to others about it, or visited the store. Feedback on marketing communications may suggest changes in the promotion program or in the product offer itself. Revision Questions 1. Name and define the five tools of the promotion mix A companys total marketing communications mixalso called its promotion mixconsists of the specific blend of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations, and direct marketing tools that the company uses to pursue its advertising and marketing objectives. Advertising includes any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor. In contrast, public relations focuses on building good relations with the companys various publics by obtaining favourable unpaid publicity. Firms use sales promotion to provide short-term incentives to encourage the purchase or sale of a product or service. Personal selling is any form of personal presentation by the firms sales force for the purpose of making sales and building customer relationships. Finally, firms seeking immediate response from targeted individual customers use nonpersonal direct marketing tools to communicate with customers. 2. Discuss the process and advantages of integrated marketing communications. Recent shifts in marketing strategy from mass marketing to targeted or one-on-one marketing, coupled with advances in information technology, have had a dramatic impact on marketing communications. Although still important, the mass media are giving way to a profusion of smaller, more focused media. Companies are doing less broadcasting and more narrowcasting. As marketing communicators adopt richer but more fragmented media and promotion mixes to reach their diverse markets, they risk creating a communications hodgepodge for consumers. To prevent this, companies are adopting the concept of integrated marketing communications which calls for carefully integrating all sources of company communication to deliver a clear and consistent message to target markets. To integrate its external communications effectively, the company must first integrate its internal communications activities. The company then works out the roles that the various promotional tools will play and the extent to which each will be used. It carefully coordinates the promotional activities and the timing of when major campaigns take place. Finally, to help implement its integrated
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marketing strategy, the company appoints a marketing communications director who has overall responsibility for the companys communications efforts. 3. Outline the steps in developing effective marketing communications. In preparing marketing communications, the communicators first task is to identify the target audience and its characteristics. Next, the communicator must define the response sought, whether it be awareness, knowledge, liking, preference, conviction, or purchase. Then a message should be constructed with an effective content and structure. Media must be selected, both for personal and non-personal communication. Finally, the communicator must collect feedback by watching how much of the market becomes aware, tries the product, and is satisfied in the process. 4. Explain the methods for setting the promotion budget and factors that affect the design of the promotion mix. The company must decide how much to spend on promotion. The most popular approaches to making this decision are to spend what the company can afford, to use a percentage of sales, to base promotion on competitors spending, or to base it on an analysis and costing of the communication objectives and tasks. The company must divide the promotion budget among the major tools to create the promotion mix. Companies can pursue a push or a pull promotional strategy, or a combination of the two. What specific blend of promotion tools is best depends on the type of product-market, the desirability of the buyers readiness stage, and the product life cycle stage.
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Marketing communications What is Marketing Communications?

Gerald Werre: geraldwerre@gmail.com

The marketing communications mix

Gerald Werre: geraldwerre@gmail.com

Gerald Werre: geraldwerre@gmail.com

Gerald Werre: geraldwerre@gmail.com

Gerald Werre: geraldwerre@gmail.com

Remind customers of the existence of a product

Build a brand image

Gerald Werre: geraldwerre@gmail.com

Gerald Werre: geraldwerre@gmail.com

Gerald Werre: geraldwerre@gmail.com

Gerald Werre: geraldwerre@gmail.com

To gain more and better shelf-space.

Gerald Werre: geraldwerre@gmail.com

Gerald Werre: geraldwerre@gmail.com

Gerald Werre: geraldwerre@gmail.com

Gerald Werre: geraldwerre@gmail.com

Gerald Werre: geraldwerre@gmail.com

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