Marketing Communications Basics,

Advertising,
&
Sales Promotion
Definitions
Marketing communications - is simply all forms of
transfer of information between organizations and
markets.
Promotion - all forms of persuasive communications
with markets.
Categories of Promotional Tools
Advertising - paid presentation of information via the
mass media.
Publicity - non-paid presentation of information via
mass media.
Sales promotions - various marketing activities
designed to stimulate short term behavioral response.
Categories of Promotional Tools
Point of purchase communications - various
activities designed to influence customers at point
and time of purchase decision.
Sponsorship marketing - associating a company
with a particular event or activity
Personal selling - personal communications
between sellers and buyers.
 Developing an integrated promotional
strategy
Review marketing objectives.
Decide on promotional tools to use.
Develop objectives for each promotional tool.
Develop action plan for each promotional tool.
Implement action plan for each promotional tool and
measure response.
 Basic Communications Model

Sender Sender Medium Receiver Receiver

Encodes Decodes
Message Message

NOISE

FEEDBACK
Promotion Budget
This is same process as development of the marketing
budget, and generally should be:

Based on objective and task approach

to budgeting.
Affordability.
Concluding comments
With this background we are now going to go in the
details of:
Development of advertising strategy
Development of sales promotions directed
towards:
The trade
End users
Assessment and evaluation of these
promotion tools.
Role of Advertising in Promotion
Strategy
Functions performed by advertising :

 Informing
 Persuading
 Reminding
Developing an Advertising Strategy
Marketing Strategy
1. Objectives
2. Budget
3. Blend of Marketing tools to be used.

Promotion Strategy
1. Objectives
2. Budget
3. Blend of Marketing tools to be used.
Developing an Advertising Strategy

Advertising Strategy
1. Objectives
2. Budget

Creative Media
Strategy Strategy
Creative (or Message) Strategy
The Copy Statement

Message strategy generally begins with a copy strategy

statement that specifies the purpose, objectives,
content, support, and tone of the desired ad.
Guidelines for developing copy strategy
statement
Understand the fundamental marketing goal
 Determine the basic product benefits to be
communicated.
Determine the inhibitors to consumer.
acceptance of communication.
Marshal supporting facts.
Decide upon a creative tactic to communicate
the basic product benefit.
Role of Creative Strategy
Provide guidance for creation of advertising messages.
To be effective, advertising messages must:
Be integrated with other promotional activities
Must take the customer’s perspective.
Must break through the advertising clutter
Be persuasive and free of deception.
Make the product the star of the ad.
Concluding Comments on Creative
Strategy
Most marketers will have actual creation of ad done by
specialists such as ad agencies.
Our responsibility as marketing managers:
 Provide guidance for ad development in the
form of clear objectives
 Make sure that our agency produces ad that
will attain objectives.
Advertising Management and Media
Strategy
The message or creative strategy focuses on how we
develop a message most likely to attain our
communication goals.

The media strategy focuses on how we deliver our

message so that the target audience is the one to
receive our message.
 The Media Planning Process
 Target Audience Selection
 Selection of a primary medium:
Creative tactics employed
Coverage of target audience
Fit within our budget

 Selection of Secondary Medium

The Media Planning Process
 Develop a Minimum Cost Media Schedule.
This must attain media objectives of gross
exposure delivery, reach and average
frequency of exposure.
The Media Planning Process
Media vehicle - a specific printing of a magazine
or airing of broadcast media.
Media schedule - all vehicles used to convey a
specific message to our target audience during a
given planning period.
Reach - the proportion, percentage or number of
unique members of our target audience exposed to
one or more vehicles.
The Media Planning Process
Gross exposures - percentage of audience
exposures delivered by our media schedule without
duplication.
Average frequency of exposure - average number
of vehicles to which the typical member of the
audience is exposed.
Gross Exposures (GRP) = R x F
Where R is reach and F is frequency
Example of Media Planning
Suppose we are going to run an ad weekly for 4
weeks on each of the following TV programs. Our
target is the adult audience.

Program Adult Rating*

A 30
B 35
C 40
D 25
Example of Media Planning
GRP = (30)(4) + (35)(4) + (40)(4) + (25)(4)
= 520 GRPs for four weeks.
Now we determine that this schedule will reach
60% of adults.
F = 520 = 8.7
60
On average, people will be exposed to 8.7 of
vehicles carrying our message.
Comments on Development of Media
Schedule
Whether we want a schedule that is heavy on reach or
heavy on frequency depends on what we’re trying to
accomplish.
Sometimes we want both - for example with the
introduction of a new product.
Concluding comments on Media
Strategy
Development of actual media schedule is generally
done by agencies. However, we want to review
proposed media schedules and ask:
Are we getting sufficient reach or audience
coverage?
Is the frequency of exposure sufficient to
ensure that message is processed?
Are there lower cost alternatives?
Role and Nature of Sales Promotions
Sales promotion is use of an incentive by marketers to
induce defined customer groups to perform specific
actions.
Role of sales promotions has changed dramatically
from that of a minor component of the promotion mix
to a major component of promotion mix.
 Push-Pull Strategies

Marketer
Pull Push
Strategies Strategies
Incentives Incentives
Trade Intermediaries
Targeted for Targeted
and their marketing
End Users for Trade
organizations
Intermediaries
and their
End Users marketing
(Consumers) organizations
Pros and Cons of Sales Promotions
Pros
Sales promotion is an extremely effective tool for
stimulating behavioral response.
Cons
Frequent sales promotions can cause customers to
perceive a brand as a “deal” brand.
Can cause customers to become more deal oriented in
the long run.
Recent Trends
Retailers attempting to reduce frequency of sales.

Marketers converting to everyday low prices to:

Reduce customer expectations of product being sold on
deal.
Prevent customers from stockpiling dealt products.
Trade Directed Sales Promotions
Nature and Objectives of Trade Directed Sales
Promotions:

They’re for the purpose of affecting:

 Stocking.
 Display.
 Attention to product by trade members’ marketing
activities.
Trade Directed Sales Promotions
Most frequent objectives of trade sales promotions are
to:
 Facilitate new product introductions by
ensuring product availability and obtaining
favorable display.
 Limit competitors’ access to shelf space
Trade Directed Sales Promotions

Most frequent objectives of trade sales

promotions are to:
 Move a product whose sales season is coming to an
end.
 Obtain more favorable display of existing products.
 Counter competitors’ promotional efforts.
 Increase inventory turnover.
Keys to successful Trade Sales
Promotions
Provision of a desirable incentive
Timing - have to consider
Sales seasonality
Other promotional activities
Ease of use for trade intermediaries.
Having fast and measurable results.
Having a favorable and visible impact on trade
performance.
Types of Trade Promotions
Selection depends on:
Our objectives.
Our budget.
 Trade tolerance and responsiveness to
particular promotions.
Marketers’ ability to choose to participate (or
not) in a particular promotion.
Frequently used trade sales promotions
Trade allowances - come in a variety of forms but
in general are a price reduction or direct financial
reward.
Buying allowances
Slotting allowances
Co-op advertising - marketer pays part
(sometimes all) trade intermediaries’ advertising
cost for featuring their brand prominently.
Frequently used trade sales promotions
Training programs - products that require active
sales effort at the point of sale often require marketer
to conduct training for trade intermediaries’ sales
forces and to reward them for successful sales efforts.
Trade shows
For some industries, the majority of sales are made
at trade shows:
Great opportunity for competitive
intelligence gathering.
Good for developing, maintaining and
building customer relations.
Good for introducing new products and
obtaining market feedback.
Consumer Directed Sales Promotions
Rewards/incentives for consumer sales promotions
are either:
Immediate
Delayed
General experience is that immediate rewards are more
likely to produce consumer response than delayed
rewards.
 A Classification of Consumer Sales
Promotions
Marketer Objectives

Consumer Trial Impact Brand Franchise Image

Reward Maintenance Reinforcement
and/or Consumer
Loading
Immediate  Sampling  Price offs
 Instant coupons  Bonus packs
 Shelf delivered  In on and near
coupons pack coupons
Delayed  Media and Mail  In and on-pack  Self liquidating
 Free in-mail coupons premiums
premiums.  Refunds and  Contests and
 Scanner rebates sweepstakes
delivered
coupons.
Evaluation of Mass media Promotions
Before-after tests of measures of customer’s decision
processes which advertising was designed to affect:
For consumer promotions, we need to study promotion
targets and measure responses to promotion.
For trade promotions, we need to study trade promotion
targets and measure responses to promotion.
Evaluation of Mass Media Promotions
Monitoring over time the sales (units and dollars) of
products by trade intermediary type and in total.
Monitoring over time competitor promotional
activities during time period of implementation of our
promotional strategy.