CHAPTER 8PROMOTION

part three: the marketing mix

an opening challenge

You run a small, specialist soft drinks firm. Your marketing budget is a tiny fraction of your major competitors and you certainly cannot afford television advertising. How will you get your brand noticed by potential customers?

agenda

• the promotion mix• managing promotional activities• objectives• promotion strategy• marketing communications process• marketing communications tools• regulations• budgets

mixes

MarketingMix

Place

ProductPrice

PromotionMix

advertising

public relations

sales promotion personal selling

packagingdirect marketing

promotion=

marketing communications

promotion management

• setting objectives• setting budgets• designing marketing

programmes/campaigns• implementing campaigns• checking the results of campaigns

(evaluation and control)

the objectives of promotion what is it meant to achieve?

• create brand awareness• build brand image• inform• remind• educate• break into new market• change/reinforce

attitudes

• stimulate trial • get into purchase

consideration set• regain lost customers• obtain information• re-position • increase usage

targeted objectives

• key to the organisation’s direction– strategies are devised to meet objectives

• objectives should be SMART– specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timed

• aim at a specific target audience

audience or market?

• markets are customers/consumers– people who buy or use things

• audiences listen or watch• so promotional activities are targeted at

audiences– who may or may not be customers/consumers

promotional strategy

market analysis

SMART objectives

target audiences

strategies

push pull

promotional strategy

• a subset of overall marketing strategy• informed by branding and positioning• overall marketing communications strategy plus campaign

strategies• overview of how objectives will be achieved

– the details go in the plan• push strategies

– aimed at the trade• pull strategies

– aimed at consumers

channel

enco

dingdecoding

a simple communications

model: 1se

nderreceiver

message

a simple communications

model: 2se

nderreceiver

distortion distortion

noise

channel

enco

ding

decoding

a simple communications

model: 3se

nder

receiver

feedback

message

(Schramm, 1955)

the promotional mix• advertising– paid for, mass media

• public relations (PR)– media relations, sponsorship, exhibitions,

hospitality, celebrity endorsement• sales promotion– discounts, special offers, competitions

• personal selling– b2b, retail, telesales

influencing customers

AIDA

attention

interest

desire

action

think

feel

do

AIDA and the promotion mixAQ – re-set figure type

DAGMAR: a hierarchical modelAQ – re-set figure type

promotion tools

• advertising• public relations• sales promotion• personal selling

• direct marketing• packaging• sponsorship

advertising essentialsAQ – re-set figure type

creative executions

• slice of life• animation & CGI• endorsement• celebrity• news-style• fantasy

• spoof or parody• demonstration• comedy• audience

participation• music

media

media class or category,e.g. television

media vehicles

e.g.EastEnders media

vehicles

public relations (PR)

‘the determined, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organisation

and its publics. Also understood as reputation management’ (Chartered Institute of Public Relations, 2010)

PR techniques

• publicity or media relations• publications• corporate communications• community relations• lobbying• sponsorship• product placement• branded content• events management• crisis management

sales promotion

short-term special offers which add

value to a product offering

benefits of sales promotion

• good at increasing sales• effectiveness can be easily measured• has accurate targeting• can keep budget down• has an almost immediate effect• creates interest in products

typical sales promotion objectives

• stimulate product trial– which may lead to regular purchase

• introduce a new product to the market• combat/spoil a competitor’s campaign• encourage greater product use– and so more frequent purchase

personal selling

prospecting preparing making the appointment

objection handling

following up the call or pitch

closing

a salesperson’s job

• buyer/seller team coordinator• customer service provider• buyer behaviour expert• information gatherer• market analyst and planner• sales forecaster• market cost analyst• technologist

direct marketing

‘the planned recording, analysis and tracking of individual customers’ responses

and transactions for the purpose of developing and prolonging mutually

profitable customer relationships’ (Institute of Direct Marketing, 2010)

direct marketing communications

• personal contact• looking for a direct response– better feedback

• database marketing• direct response advertising

DM media selection: AIMRITE

Audience

Impact

Message

Response

Internal Management

The End Result

(Pickton and Broderick, 2004)

UK regulations• advertising standards code– legal– decent– honest– truthful

• similar principles in other codes of practice– sales promotion, sponsorship

• for up-to-date rules, visit the ASA website at: http://www.asa.org.uk

setting budgets

• arbitrary method– judgement call

• affordable method– tends to result in low budgets

• competitive parity method– but did the competition get it right?

• objective and task method– time-consuming but accurate

• percentage of sales method– commonly used, but which year’s sales?

summary

• clear campaign objectives• good market understanding• clearly identified target audience– and the means to reach them

• originality and creativity– so the message is correctly received

• a variety of tools to integrate into the campaign

references

• Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) (n.d.) CIPR website. Available at http://www.cipr.co.uk/content/policy-resources/jargon-buster (accessed 30/06/10).

• Institute of Direct Marketing (IDM) (n.d.) IDM website. Available at: http://www.theidm.com/resources/jargon-buster (accessed 15/05/10).

• Pickton, D.W. and Broderick, A. (2004) Integrated Marketing Communications, 2nd edn. Harlow: FT Prentice Hall.

• Schramm, W. (1955) ‘How communication works’, in W. Schramm (ed.), The Process and Effects of Mass Communications. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, pp. 3–26.