Role of Promotion As A Marketing Function
Promotion is communicating information to prospective customers through advertising and other promotional methods to encourage them to purchase the organization's products and services, and it is also defined as any form or communication that a company uses to inform, persuade, or remind consumers about its products or services. Promotion involves the communication with consumers, and it is one of the most important elements or the marketing mix as well. The roles of communication in marketing are to inform, persuade, and remind an audience. Informing involves providing information for the potential customer about a new aspect of a new or current product. Persuasion is often involved with informing, and it is used to make a case for a customer to purchase a product. The third role is to remind about a product to let a customer remember that a product is still on the market.
Types of Promotion
-Advertising is any form of paid, nonpersonal communication that uses mass media to deliver a marketer's message to an audience. Advertising is the most popular and familiar form of advertising. Broadcast media is television and radio advertising where there is a signal sent from a transmitter to receivers in a geographic area. Other types of advertising include print advertising (magazine) direct mail (junk mail), and outdoor advertising (billboards). Ambient is nontraditional advertising (Examples: sidewalk chalk, stickers on bananas, and hot-air balloons). Internet advertising is the future of advertising because it is fast-growing and dynamic. It is easy to control and get the proper viewing reaction, but it is expensive, has no instant feedback, and people can ignore ads.
-Public relations or PR is the effort to reach consumers by generating public publicity. Publicity is any nonpaid communication about a product, service, company, or cause. PR department employees write press releases. It is valuable for a person to like the product or service like a celebrity, so people purchase it as compared to a commercial, and it is inexpensive, but it is hard to control.
-Personal selling is person-to-person communication with a potential customer in an effort to inform, persuade, or remind the customer to purchase an organization's products or services. This involves trained salespeople to sell to businesses to make large amounts of money. Others are telemarketers, car dealers, real estate or insurance agents, and customer service. It is good because of information, persuasion, and feedback, but it doesn't reach a large number of people.
-Sales promotion is any activity or material that gives consumers a direct incentive to buy. This involves price promotions, limited-time models, free features, giveaways, free samples, and displays are used. It works well because it creates short-term sales and loyal customers, but people don't always buy again without a promotion. These are the main times that sales promotions are used. The different types are rebates (money-back offer), coupons (price reduction), incentives, sweepstakes, contests, frequency, premiums (free or cheaper with another purchase often with cereal companies), sampling (food products at grocery stores), and cooperative advertising.
-Public relations or PR is the effort to reach consumers by generating public publicity. Publicity is any nonpaid communication about a product, service, company, or cause. PR department employees write press releases. It is valuable for a person to like the product or service like a celebrity, so people purchase it as compared to a commercial, and it is inexpensive, but it is hard to control.
-Personal selling is person-to-person communication with a potential customer in an effort to inform, persuade, or remind the customer to purchase an organization's products or services. This involves trained salespeople to sell to businesses to make large amounts of money. Others are telemarketers, car dealers, real estate or insurance agents, and customer service. It is good because of information, persuasion, and feedback, but it doesn't reach a large number of people.
-Sales promotion is any activity or material that gives consumers a direct incentive to buy. This involves price promotions, limited-time models, free features, giveaways, free samples, and displays are used. It works well because it creates short-term sales and loyal customers, but people don't always buy again without a promotion. These are the main times that sales promotions are used. The different types are rebates (money-back offer), coupons (price reduction), incentives, sweepstakes, contests, frequency, premiums (free or cheaper with another purchase often with cereal companies), sampling (food products at grocery stores), and cooperative advertising.
Elements of Promotional Mix
The promotional mix is the combination of advertising, public relations, personal selling, and sales promotion that marketers use to reach a target market. The promotional objective informs, persuades, and reminds consumers. The target market is used to target consumers based on income, health, location, and many others. The marketing mix is used in promotion, and the product, price, and distribution play a role in determining promotion. Company philosophy includes values and strategies of the company. Resources play a role because promotion can be expensive, and small businesses have a smaller budget.
Use of Business Ethics in Promotion
Ethics are moral principles or values based on honesty and fairness. A code of ethics is a set of standards or rules that guide ethical business behavior. In promotions, business ethics are used to avoid false and misleading advertising. Also, they are used to reject high-pressure or misleading sales tactics and promotions. Ethics are indirectly used in self-regulation, social action, responsiblity to customers, and harm and accountability.
Regulation of Promotion
The Federal Trade Commisssion (FTC) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are government agencies in United States. Network regualation includes companies meeting standards for everything they air. Regulatory boards investigate trustworthiness in ads like the National Advertising Review Council and many others. Competitive regulation is other competing companies filing complaints and claims about other ads. Corrective actions are for companies that need to provide consumers enough information to make a decision. Cease-and-desist order is a legal order to discontinue the deceptive advertising. Corrective ads correct any false impressions left by the deceptive ads. A fine is a monetary penalty.
Difference Between Product Advertising and Brand Advertising
Product advertising gives the benefits of a specific product or service and relies on rational arguments why a customer should buy it. It includes product information, prices, or competitor comparisons, but this type will also include some brand advertising as well. Product advertising is different from brand advertising because it is advertising that aims to build an image. The brand and brand character, rational and emotional elements, contribute to this. Corporate advertising is advertising for a company.
Types of Advertising Media
The different types of advertising media are television, radio, outdoor, direct mail, magazines, newspapers, and internet. TV reaches large audiences and has a low cost per viewer, but it has a high total cost and long lead time. Radio is highly mobile and is at a relatively low cost, but its message is limited to audio and strong potential for interference from other sources. Outdoor has a low cost and high visibility, but it's increasingly regulated and message length is limited. Direct mail is highly segmented and easy to measure effectiveness, but it's often considered junk mail and is expensive. Magazines have a long life span and can carry coupons and response cards, but they have a high cost and long lead time. Newspapers have a short lead time and large circulation, but they have lower printer quality and a short life. Internet is highly targeted and instantly measurable, but it has a limited audience and high cluttter from competing ads.
Components of Advertisements
Advertising components include the logo, slogan, and ad campaign. A logo is a unique symbol or design that represents a company. A slogan is a catch phrase or small group of words that are combined in a special way to identify a product or company such as Wendy's "Where's the beef?" slogan. An ad campaign is a series of ad messages that share a single idea and theme. Dove is an example of a company that involves ad campaigns well into advertising their products.
Components of Copy
Copy is used in both broadcast and print media. The headline is the leading sentence(s) that are intended to attract the attention of the consumer. It can be positive or negative, and it should be brief and simple while still including the key benefit and brand name. A subhead is a few words where it is a phrase or sentence usually above or below the headline. The four functions include giving more information about the key benefit or special offers, making the customer read the body by guiding them through the text. "The headline hooks them, subhead reels them in." Body is the main textual element, and it's often not read. Call out is an excerpt from the body of the text. Caption explains an illustration. Tag lines and slogans are a short phrase that are almost textual logos. For my magazine advertisment that I created towards the bottom of the page, I used several print elements such as a headline, subhead, pull quote, correct logo and slogan placement as well as proper layout.
Z Format, White Space, and How the Eye Moves Across Print Media
Print media includes newspaper, magazine, directory, direct mail, and online. The z format is where your eyes read an add in the motion that you would write/print an uppercase z (Example: "Z"). White space is used to aid in the z format because marketers know what attracts the human eye. The layout focuses more on the illustration than the text. They put less copy in magazines while they put more in technical and direct mailings like flyers. Eyes moves across print media in five ways: (1) left to right, (2) top to bottom, (3) large to small, (4) light to dark, (5) color to no color.
Main Formats of Radio Media
Radio advertising is generally composed of :15, :30, and :60 spots.
-Music format are commercials that consist of songs and jingles.
-Dialogue format uses conversation. Copyrighters often use humor.
-Announcement format is where an announcer usually the disc jockey or newscaster reads the information. If it is recorded ahead of time, sound effects can also be used.
-Celebrity announcer format is where a celebrity can act as the announcer to increase consumer interest.
-Music format are commercials that consist of songs and jingles.
-Dialogue format uses conversation. Copyrighters often use humor.
-Announcement format is where an announcer usually the disc jockey or newscaster reads the information. If it is recorded ahead of time, sound effects can also be used.
-Celebrity announcer format is where a celebrity can act as the announcer to increase consumer interest.
Creative Formats Used in Advertising
-Musical- these revolve around a jingle, characters, famous musicians, or background music.
-Dramatization- these present a realistic scene played by actors which often show how to solve a problem with a product. They make you feel you are watching a real event.
-Testimonial- celebrities, knowledgeable professionals, or everyday people endorse products. It is effective because it is coming from a third party.
-Comedy- people respond to emotion by associating positively with a brand through humor and laughing.
-Image advertising- evoke a mood or attitude for a brand or product.
-Product demonstration- shows the product in action.
-Competitive- refers to competition and claims superiority.
-Dramatization- these present a realistic scene played by actors which often show how to solve a problem with a product. They make you feel you are watching a real event.
-Testimonial- celebrities, knowledgeable professionals, or everyday people endorse products. It is effective because it is coming from a third party.
-Comedy- people respond to emotion by associating positively with a brand through humor and laughing.
-Image advertising- evoke a mood or attitude for a brand or product.
-Product demonstration- shows the product in action.
-Competitive- refers to competition and claims superiority.
How the Internet Has Changed Advertising & Strategies Used
Many things have changed the internet advertising. Smart phones have aps and access on the go to pages such as social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Linked in and many others. Mobile marketing is used, and it is a set of practices that enables organizations to communicate and engage with their audience in an interactive and relevant manner through any moblie device or network. Strategies used include pop up ads, banner ads, and viral marketing. Viral marketing uses social media to increase brand awareness to achieve marketing objectives. This can be by word-of-mouth, videos, games, ebooks, software, images, and text messages.
Types of Support Media
-Outdoor advertising- billboards, jumbotron, signage
-Transit advertising- bus wraps, taxis
-Other promotional items- pens, pencils, coffee mugs, bags, clocks, etc.
-Transit advertising- bus wraps, taxis
-Other promotional items- pens, pencils, coffee mugs, bags, clocks, etc.
Steps to Create an Advertising Plan
An advertising plan is a document that outlines the activities to be completed and resources needed to create advertising. An advertisng campaign is a series of related advertisements with a similar look, feel, and theme that centers on a specific product, service, or brand.
1. Set objectives- Objectives are set such as increasing sales or awareness and communicating an idea. Specifically marketers find the main advertising communication, target audience, and time frame.
2. Determine the budget- There are many ways to determine a budget: what you can afford (generally small companies), percentage of sales (better to base off future projections), and competitive matching (budget similar to competition). Objective and task is the best method because it bases the budget on objectives set to be achieved. A team determines goals for the effort, outlines the activities necessary, and then calculates the cost of completing the tasks to determine the budget.
3. Develop the creative strategy- The creative strategy is how a company positions its brand or product in advertising. To whom is the advertising targeted, ande what should the advertising communicate to that target market are answered. The strategic brief which is a short document that defines the target market and articulates the main message of the advertising. This guides the rest of the advertising process.
4. Select and schedule the media- What types of media (format), which vehicles (programming or publication like Sports Illustrated), in what units (length of time), and at what time is answered. Cost (based on type of media, vehicle, and unit and efficiency is based on cost per viewer/reader) and creative, brand, and corporate fit (finding out if the idea will physically work) are decided at this step to go along with reach, frequency, and lead time. Reach is the total number of people who see an ad, and it is estimated on traffic for outdoor advertising, circulation for magazines, and pass-along rate for print media. The number of times a member of the target audience is exposed to the advertising message is frequency. The amount of time required to place an ad is the lead time which varies per media type.
5. Develop the creative concept- The concept is drawn up and presented to a client once they are approved. In a presentation, acting out ideas for TV commercials, reading scripts, and rough versions of print ads are shown. Advertising is expensive so conducting research is necessary to find effectiveness. Techniques are used to test the ad. If the ad passes the tests it's often approved for production.
6. Produce the advertising- The production phase begins when the client is comfortable with the creative concepts. Print ads use photographers while models are also used. A TV commercial involves the director, actors (up to 100), and select locations. This is time consming. After the film is made a team works with editors, sound engineers and special effect artists for music and sound effects. This process continues until client satisfaction. Last is for the client to send to ad out to their media of choice such as a magazine. Then the ad runs.
7. Evaluate the plan's effectiveness- The effectiveness is decided with quantitative or qualitative research. Quantitative research involves collecting data that can be classified into meaningful numerical values. Qualitative research is research where it interperets the why and how of people's opinions.
1. Set objectives- Objectives are set such as increasing sales or awareness and communicating an idea. Specifically marketers find the main advertising communication, target audience, and time frame.
2. Determine the budget- There are many ways to determine a budget: what you can afford (generally small companies), percentage of sales (better to base off future projections), and competitive matching (budget similar to competition). Objective and task is the best method because it bases the budget on objectives set to be achieved. A team determines goals for the effort, outlines the activities necessary, and then calculates the cost of completing the tasks to determine the budget.
3. Develop the creative strategy- The creative strategy is how a company positions its brand or product in advertising. To whom is the advertising targeted, ande what should the advertising communicate to that target market are answered. The strategic brief which is a short document that defines the target market and articulates the main message of the advertising. This guides the rest of the advertising process.
4. Select and schedule the media- What types of media (format), which vehicles (programming or publication like Sports Illustrated), in what units (length of time), and at what time is answered. Cost (based on type of media, vehicle, and unit and efficiency is based on cost per viewer/reader) and creative, brand, and corporate fit (finding out if the idea will physically work) are decided at this step to go along with reach, frequency, and lead time. Reach is the total number of people who see an ad, and it is estimated on traffic for outdoor advertising, circulation for magazines, and pass-along rate for print media. The number of times a member of the target audience is exposed to the advertising message is frequency. The amount of time required to place an ad is the lead time which varies per media type.
5. Develop the creative concept- The concept is drawn up and presented to a client once they are approved. In a presentation, acting out ideas for TV commercials, reading scripts, and rough versions of print ads are shown. Advertising is expensive so conducting research is necessary to find effectiveness. Techniques are used to test the ad. If the ad passes the tests it's often approved for production.
6. Produce the advertising- The production phase begins when the client is comfortable with the creative concepts. Print ads use photographers while models are also used. A TV commercial involves the director, actors (up to 100), and select locations. This is time consming. After the film is made a team works with editors, sound engineers and special effect artists for music and sound effects. This process continues until client satisfaction. Last is for the client to send to ad out to their media of choice such as a magazine. Then the ad runs.
7. Evaluate the plan's effectiveness- The effectiveness is decided with quantitative or qualitative research. Quantitative research involves collecting data that can be classified into meaningful numerical values. Qualitative research is research where it interperets the why and how of people's opinions.
How to Determine Local Media Rates
Advertising rate is the amount of money it costs to display or broadcast an ad. Print ad rates are based on circulation (number of people who buy), audience (number that read), size of ad, and prime positions and dates that may change rates. For example a column inch equals one column multiplied by one inch. If the price is twenty dollars per column inch, a two column, four inch ad would be one hundred sixty dollars ($20 X 2 X 4 = $160). Also primetime is the time period when the network TV or radio audience is the largest, so the price would be higher. This is used in broadcast advertising.
Nature of Promotional Plan
The promotional plan is the blueprint for how the elements work together.
1. Research and analyze the market- Marketers use research to identify product strengths and weaknesses, market oppurtunites, and competive threats.
2. Select the target market- This stage is about picking the target market using key characteristics and deciding what motives and buyer.
3. Identify promotional objectives- The question, what does the company want to achieve with its promotional plan, is answered realistically, and it is measured.
4. Set the promotional budget- Costs are determined by setting the budget by fitting the plan, and not focusing on available funds. Previous annual budgets are utilized.
5. Develop the promotional mix- Marketers determine the amount of advertising, public relations, personal selling, and sales promotion used in promotion.
6. Implement the promotional plan- The plan goes into effect by dividing the budget among the promotional mix elements stated above, and an activity schedule is developed.
7. Evaluate the results- The plan is evaluated and changed based on the results of the plan. Results are compared to the objectives.
1. Research and analyze the market- Marketers use research to identify product strengths and weaknesses, market oppurtunites, and competive threats.
2. Select the target market- This stage is about picking the target market using key characteristics and deciding what motives and buyer.
3. Identify promotional objectives- The question, what does the company want to achieve with its promotional plan, is answered realistically, and it is measured.
4. Set the promotional budget- Costs are determined by setting the budget by fitting the plan, and not focusing on available funds. Previous annual budgets are utilized.
5. Develop the promotional mix- Marketers determine the amount of advertising, public relations, personal selling, and sales promotion used in promotion.
6. Implement the promotional plan- The plan goes into effect by dividing the budget among the promotional mix elements stated above, and an activity schedule is developed.
7. Evaluate the results- The plan is evaluated and changed based on the results of the plan. Results are compared to the objectives.
Coordinate Activities in the Promotional Mix
Activities are coordinated based on the activity schedule in step six of the nature of promotional plan information stated above. Decisions are made determining when the various promotional efforts take place. Promotions run simutaneously and sometimes they are staggered depending on the stated objectives. Promotional materials are created also. Activities in the promotional mix involved the marketing plan.
Public Relations Plan
The picture below is an example of a press release. It was used as a press release in our MDA public relations plan project. There are many elements for a press release. The top of the document states "press release" either as shown below or in all caps, and it has a line across the page below with both methods. It states "For Immediate Release" with the date below that. Below that is "Contact:." Below that is your name (Marketing Group). Below that is the contact phone number (715-555-5555). Below that is the title of the event formatted as shown below. Below that is the body including the city and state and information regarding the title. One element that is not shown on this press release, but should be incorporated is five number signs (#####) one space below the body centered is the body font. The other formating features like alignments, font sizes, etc. are shown below.
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Magazine Advertisement
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Radio Commercial
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