Is any paid attempt to communicate with the customers other than advertising publicity and personal selling?

PART A

Learning objectives

When you have completed this lecture and accompanying module, you should be able to:

• appreciate the range of tools that are available to marketers to communicate with their customers
• describe the role of various agencies that assist the marketing manager with the company's promotion strategy, and appreciate how each agency differs from the others
• interactively explore some of the communication strategies and tools used by marketers
• describe each promotional tool available to marketers.

Read the prescribed text, chapter 12.

This chapter provides the content and substance of Lecture 11.  As in previous lectures, you may find it useful to make brief notes as you read, paying particular attention to the highlighted section of the textbook. 

Then read Part B of Lecture 11 (below).

In Part B, salient points have been extracted from the chapter as a guide for your learning and as a useful basis for later revision.

After reading Part B, you will be ready to work through Module 9.

PART B

Advertising and sales promotion

Australian companies spend more than $300 in total in promotional efforts per year on every person in the country.  It is advertising and promotion that are turning consumers and companies into global thinkers.  In China, for instance, 10% of the market share for the Gillette Oral-B toothbrush will mean that the company sells more in China than in the USA.

Promotion is communication by marketers.

Integrated marketing communications (IMC)

Integrated marketing communications involves a total marketing communications strategy that recognises how all of a firm's marketing activities, not just promotion, communicate with its customers - including marketing channel members.

Promotional mix

The promotional mix is made up of the following:

• advertising
• personal selling
• sales promotion
• publicity/public relations
• direct marketing.

Advertising can be defined as:

any paid form of nonpersonal communication about an organisation, idea or product, by an identified sponsor.

[Kotler et al, 1998, p470]

Advertising should aim at:

• a cost effective way of communicating
• the creation of appealing images and symbolic
• the striking of a responsive chord with audience through creativeness.

Some of the problems with advertising include:

• costs of producing and placing ads are high
• it is difficult to determine effectiveness
• problems with clutter.

Personal selling

Personal selling refers to direct person to person communication whereby a seller attempts to assist or persuade prospective buyers to purchase a company's product, or act on an idea.

The benefits of personal selling include:

• direct contact allows for communication flexibility
• can tailor and adopt messages to specific needs
• immediate and direct feedback.

The problems with personal selling are that:

• it is expensive
• it is difficult to have consistent and uniform messages.

Sales promotion

Sales promotion refers to marketing activities that provide extra value or incentive to consumers or middlemen for purchasing a product.

The benefits of sales promotion include:

• it provides extra incentives
• it is a way of appealing to price sensitive consumers
• the effects can be measured relatively effectively.

The problems of sales promotion are that:

• it is short-run
• quick gains are often at the expense of long-term brand equity
• clutter.

Publicity/public relations

Publicity/public relations can be defined as the nonpersonal communication about an organisation, product or idea that is not directly paid for, nor run under identified sponsorship.

The benefits of publicity/public relations are as follows:

• it is credible
• it is low cost
• it generates word-of-mouth discussion.

The problems of publicity/public relations are:

• lack of control
• it can be negative as well as positive.

Direct marketing

Direct marketing is a system of marketing by which organisations communicate directly with target customers to generate a response and/or transaction.

The benefits of direct marketing are as follows:

• consumers are more receptive to convenience based marketing
• selective and customised message and marketing.
• easiest method to assess effectively

The problems of direct marketing include:

• image
• clutter.

Direct marketing will be looked at in more detail in Lecture 12.

Basic promotion strategies

The push vs pull strategies can be defined as follows:

• push
- bulk of promotional effort is directed at members of marketing channel to get them to push the product forward
• pull - effort is directed at ultimate consumer who will approach retailer, thus pulling the product through the channel.

attention

interest

desire

action

 

Types of advertising

Informative

Informative advertising consists of the following:

• the building of primary demand
• the explanation of complex products
• the introductory stage of PLC.

An example of informative advertising is;

Call 1-800-555-1212 for more information about�

Persuasive advertising includes:

• the building of selective demand
• growth and maturity of PLC
• comparative advertising.

Avis - we try harder!

Reminder advertising consists of the following:

• a maintenance of repurchase levels
• maturity phase of PLC.

EverReady batteries keep going, and going, and going�

The advertising target is that portion of the target market which the firm wants to attract.  Examples of advertising targets include:

• Kelloggs Coco Pops - aimed at adults
• Johnsons Baby Shampoo - aimed at adults for every day use
• Beef short cuts - dad cooking for the kids
• Citibank - targets the residential investment loan market.

The three major objectives of advertising are to inform, to persuade and to remind.

The objectives of informing are:

• to build brand awareness
• to build company image
• to suggest new uses.

The objectives of persuading are as follows:

• to build brand preference
• to encourage brand switching
• to change customer perceptions.

The objectives of reminding are as follows:

• to maintain top-of-mind awareness
• to maintain product relevancy.

The advertising message

Tips for effective advertising:

• KISS
• be single minded
• sell the sizzle, not the steak
• reinforce desire positioning
• competitive advantage.

What to say: the appeal is the central theme or idea.

How to say it: the execution format is the style of presentation.

Message appeal

There are two main types of appeal contained in the advertising message.  They are:

• rational
appeal; this focuses on the customer's practical, logical, utility based needs
• emotional appeal; this focuses on the customer's psychological needs and feelings.

The following are examples of message execution:

• slice of life - Kelloggs Sultana Bran
• lifestyle - Jeep Cherokee
• fantasy - Tattersalls Lotto
• mood or image - Nike
• musical - Coca Cola
• personality symbol - Louey the Fly
• technical expertise - Dr Kerryn Phelps/milk
• testimonial - AMP
• endorsement - Jerry Seinfeld/Amex.

The media plan

The goal of the media plan is to find a combination of media that will enable the marketer to communicate the message in the most effective manner possible at the minimum cost.

Developing a media plan involves:

• developing a media mix
• determining target market coverage
• determining geographic coverage
• scheduling (continuity, flighting, pulsing)
• reach vs frequency
• creative aspects and mood
• flexibility
• budget considerations.

Types of media

The main types of media are:

• television
• radio
• magazines
• newspapers.

Outdoor

The largest support media category is outdoor.  It includes billboards as well as electronic strips, inflatables, sporting stadium signage, neon signs etc.

Additional out-of-home media

Out-of-home media include aerial advertising, such as blimps, aircraft pulling banners and skywriting, mobile billboards, in-store media, such as videos on shopping carts, in-house radio and TV as well as additional media, such as rubbish bins and ATMs.

Transit advertising

Transit advertising may be on the inside of bus, trains and trams in the form of cards or on the backs of tickets, outside posters or at stations, terminals or platforms in the form of floor displays, showcases and posters.

Other media

Other media may take the form of Yellow Pages, movie, theatre and video advertising or in-flight advertising.

Sales promotion

Sales promotion is a direct inducement that offers an extra value or incentive for the product to the sales force distributors or ultimate consumers, with the primary objective of creating an immediate sale.

The key points of sales promotion are as follows:

• it involves some kind of inducement that provides an extra incentive to purchase the product
• essentially it is an acceleration tool that is designed to speed up the selling process and maximise sales volume
• programs can be targeted to different parties in the marketing channel, including wholesalers, retailers and consumers.

Sales promotion types

Consumer - orientated sales promotions

The basic objective of the consumer orientated sales promotion is to induce purchase.

Other objectives include:

• obtaining trial and repurchase
• increasing consumption of established brand
• defending current customers
• enhancing advertising and marketing efforts.

Trade - orientated sales promotions

The objectives of trade orientated sales promotions include:

• obtaining distribution and support for new products
• maintaining trade support for established brands
• encouraging retailers to display and promote established brands.
• Some examples of trade orientated sales promotion are as follows:
• contests/incentives
• allowances
• point-of-purchase materials and displays
• sales training
• trade shows
• cooperative advertising.

Advertising vs sales promotion

Advertising is characterised by the following traits:

• long-term orientation
• brand building focus
• difficult to measure effectiveness
• objectives include brand awareness, creating an image, attracting a new segment.

Sales promotion is characterised by:

• short-term orientation
• tactical focus
• objectives include generating trial, increasing purchase frequency, defending market share.