Introduction to Marketing Communications

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Introduction to MarketingCommunications

What are marketing communications?Marketing communications is a subset of the overall subject area known as marketing.Marketing has a marketing mix that is made of price, place, promotion, product (know as thefour P's), that includes people, processes and physical evidence, when marketing services(known as the seven P's).

How does marketing communications fit in? Marketing communications is 'promotion' fromthe marketing mix.

Why are marketing communications 'integrated?' Integrated means combine or amalgamate,or put simply the jigsaw pieces that together make a complete picture. This is so that a singlemessage is conveyed by all marketing communications. Different messages confuse your

customers and damage brands. So if a TV advert carries a particular logo, images andmessage, then all newspaper adverts and point-of-sale materials should carry the same logo,images or message, or one that fits the same theme. Coca-Cola uses its familiar red and whitelogos and retains themes of togetherness and enjoyment throughout its marketingcommunications.

Marketing communications has a mix. Elements of the mix are blended in different quantitiesin a campaign. The marketing communications mix includes many different elements, and thefollowing list is by no means conclusive. It is recognised that there is some cross over

between individual elements (e.g. Is donating computers to schools, by asking shoppers tocollect vouchers, public relations or sales promotion?) Here are the key of the marketingcommunications mix.

Marketing Communications Mix Video


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Marketing Communication Mix video register FREE here

The Marketing Communications Mix. Personal Selling.

Sales Promotion. Public Relations (and publicity).
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Direct Marketing.

Trade Fairs and Exhibitions.

Advertising (above and below the line).

Sponsorship.

Packaging.

Merchandising (and point-of-sale).

EMarketing (and Internet promotions).

Brands.

Integrated marketing communications see the elements of the communications mix'integrated' into a coherent whole. This is known as the marketing communications mix, andforms the basis of a marketing communications campaign.

Personal Selling Lesson

Exercise

Answer

Personal selling occurs where an individual salesperson sells a product, service or solution toa client. Salespeople match the benefits of their offering to the specific needs of a client.Today, personal selling involves the development of longstanding client relationships.

In comparison to other marketing communications tools such as advertising, personal selling

tends to:

Use fewer resources, pricing is often negotiated.

Products tend to be fairly complex (e.g. financial services or new cars).

There is some contact between buyer and seller after the sale so that an ongoingrelationship is built.

Client/prospects need specific information.

The purchase tends to involve large sums of money.

There are exceptions of course, but most personal selling takes place in this way. Personalselling involves a selling process that is summarised in the following Five Stage Personal

Selling Process. The five stages are:

1. Prospecting.

2. Making first contact.

3. The sales call.

4. Objection handling.

5. Closing the sale.

A Five Stage Personal Selling Process.

Stage One - Prospecting.
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Prospecting is all about finding prospects, or potential new customers. Prospects should be'qualified,' which means that they need to be assessed to see if there is business potential,otherwise you could be wasting your time. In order to qualify your prospects, one needs to:

Plan a sales approach focused upon the needs of the customer.

Determine which products or services best meet their needs.

In order to save time, rank the prospects and leave out those that are least likely tobuy.

Stage Two - Making First Contact.This is the preparation that a salesperson goes through before they meet with the client, forexample via e-mail, telephone or letter. Preparation will make a call more focused.

Make sure that you are on time.

Before meeting with the client, set some objectives for the sales call. What is thepurpose of the call? What outcome is desirable before you leave?

Make sure that you've done some homework before meeting your prospect. This willshow that you are committed in the eyes of your customer.

To save time, send some information before you visit. This will wet the prospect'sappetite.

Keep a set of samples at hand, and make sure that they are in very good condition.

Within the first minute or two, state the purpose of your call so that time with theclient is maximised, and also to demonstrate to the client that your are not wasting hisor her time.

Humour is fine, but try to be sincere and friendly.

Stage Three - The Sales Call (or Sales Presentation).It is best to be enthusiastic about your product or service. If you are not excited about it, don'texpect your prospect to be excited.

Focus on the real benefits of the product or service to the specific needs of your client, ratherthan listing endless lists of features.

Try to be relaxed during the call, and put your client at ease.

Let the client do at least 80% of the talking. This will give you invaluable information onyour client's needs.

Remember to ask plenty of questions. Use open questions, e.g. TED's, and closed questions

i.e. questions that will only give the answer 'yes' or the answer 'no.' This way you can dictatethe direction of the conversation.

Never be too afraid to ask for the business straight off.

Stage Four - Objection Handling.Objection handling is the way in which salespeople tackle obstacles put in their way byclients. Some objections may prove too difficult to handle, and sometimes the client may justtake a dislike to you (aka the hidden objection). Here are some approaches for overcomingobjections:

Firstly, try to anticipate them before they arise.


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'Yes but' technique allows you to accept the objection and then to divert it. Forexample, a client may say that they do not like a particular colour, to which thesalesperson counters 'Yes but X is also available in many other colours.'

Ask 'why' the client feels the way that they do.

'Restate' the objection, and put it back into the client's lap. For example, the clientmay say, 'I don't like the taste of X,' to which the salesperson responds, 'You don't likethe taste of X,' generating the response 'since I do not like garlic' from the client. Thesalesperson could suggest that X is no longer made with garlic to meet the client'sneeds.

The sales person could also tactfully and respectfully contradict the client.

Stage Five - Closing the Sale.This is a very important stage. Often salespeople will leave without ever successfully closinga deal. Therefore it is vital to learn the skills of closing.

Just ask for the business! - 'Please may I take an order?' This really works well.

Look for buying signals (i.e. body language or comments made by the client that theywant to place an order). For example, asking about availability, asking for details suchas discounts, or asking for you to go over something again to clarify.

Just stop talking, and let the client say 'yes.' Again, this really works.

The 'summary close' allows the salesperson to summarise everything that the clientneeds, based upon the discussions during the call. For example, 'You need product Xin blue, by Friday, packaged accordingly, and delivered to your wife's office.' Thenask for the order.

The 'alternative close' does not give the client the opportunity to say no, but forces

them towards a yes. For example 'Do you want product X in blue or red?' Cheeky, buteffective.

Direct MarketingWhat is Direct Marketing?Direct marketing is a channel free approach to distribution and/or marketing communications.So a company may have a strategy of dealing with its customers 'directly,' for example banks(such as CityBank) or computer manufacturers (such as Dell). There are no channel

intermediaries i.e. distributors, retailers or wholesalers. Therefore - 'direct' in the sense thatthe deal is done directly between the manufacturer and the customer.

As mentioned above, 'direct' also in the sense that marketing communications are targeted atconsumers by the manufacturers. For example, a brand that uses channels of distributionwould target marketing communications at wholesalers/distributors, retailers, and consumers,or a blend of all three. On the other hand, a direct marketing company could focus uponcommunicating directly with its customers. Direct marketing and direct mail are oftenconfused - although direct mail is a direct marketing tool.

There are a number of direct marketing media other than direct mail. These include (and areby no means limited to):

Inserts in newspapers and magazines. Customer care lines.


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Catalogues.

Coupons.

Door drops.

TV and radio adverts with free phone numbers or per-minute-charging.

...and finally - and most importantly - The Internet and New Media.

The Internet and New Media (e.g. mobile phones or PDA's) are perfect for direct marketing.Consumers have never had so many sources of supply, and suppliers have never had access toso many markets. There is even room for niche marketers - for example Scottish salmoncould ordered online, packed and chilled, and sent to customers in any part of the world bycourier.

Many companies use direct marketing, and a current example of its use, as part of a businessmodel, is the way in which it is used by low-cost airlines. There is no intermediary or agent,customers book tickets directly with the airlines over The Internet. Airlines capture data thatcan be used for marketing research or a loyalty scheme. Information can be processed

quickly, and then categorised into complex relational databases.Then, for example, special offers or new flights destinations can be communicated directly tocustomers using e-mail campaigns. Data is not only collected on markets and segments, butalso on individuals and their individual buyer behaviour. Companies such as Amazon arewholesalers of books (i.e. they do not write or publish them) - so they use CustomerRelationship Management and marketing communications targeted directly at individualcustomers - which is another, slightly different example of direct marketing.

Sales PromotionWhat is sales promotion?Sales promotion is any initiative undertaken by an organisation to promote an increase insales, usage or trial of a product or service (i.e. initiatives that are not covered by the otherelements of the marketing communications or promotions mix). Sales promotions are varied.

Often they are original and creative, and hence a comprehensive list of all availabletechniques is virtually impossible (since original sales promotions are launched daily!). Hereare some examples of popular sales promotions activities:

(a) Buy-One-Get-One-Free (BOGOF) - which is an example of a self-liquidatingpromotion. For example if a loaf of bread is priced at $1, and cost 10 cents to manufacture, if

you sell two for $1, you are still in profit - especially if there is a corresponding increase insales. This is known as a PREMIUM sales promotion tactic.

(b) Customer Relationship Management (CRM) incentives such as bonus points or moneyoff coupons. There are many examples of CRM, from banks to supermarkets.

(c) New media - Websites and mobile phones that support a sales promotion. For example, inthe United Kingdom, Nestle printed individual codes on KIT-KAT packaging, whereby aconsumer would enter the code into a dynamic website to see if they had won a prize.Consumers could also text codes via their mobile phones to the same effect.

(d) Merchandising additions such as dump bins, point-of-sale materials and productdemonstrations.

(e) Free gifts e.g. Subway gave away a card with six spaces for stickers with each sandwichpurchase. Once the card was full the consumer was given a free sandwich.


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(f) Discounted prices e.g. Budget airline such as EasyJet and Ryanair, e-mail their customerswith the latest low-price deals once new flights are released, or additional destinations areannounced.

(g) Joint promotions between brands owned by a company, or with another company'sbrands. For example fast food restaurants often run sales promotions where toys, relating to a

specific movie release, are given away with promoted meals.

(h) Free samples (aka. sampling) e.g. tasting of food and drink at sampling points insupermarkets. For example Red Bull (a caffeinated fizzy drink) was given away to potentialconsumers at supermarkets, in high streets and at petrol stations (by a promotions team).

(i) Vouchers and coupons, often seen in newspapers and magazines, on packs.

(j) Competitions and prize draws, in newspapers, magazines, on the TV and radio, on TheInternet, and on packs.

(k) Cause-related and fair-trade products that raise money for charities, and the less welloff farmers and producers, are becoming more popular.

(l) Finance deals - for example, 0% finance over 3 years on selected vehicles.Many of the examples above are focused upon consumers. Don't forget that promotions can

be aimed at wholesales and distributors as well. These are known as Trade SalesPromotions. Examples here might include joint promotions between a manufacturer and adistributor, sales promotion leaflets and other materials (such as T-shirts), and incentives fordistributor sales people and their retail clients.

Public Relations (PR) Page 1

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Public relations as part of the marketing communicationsmixPublic Relations (PR) is a single, broad concept. It is broad since it contains so manyelements, many of which will be outlined in this lesson. Public Relations (PR) are any

purposeful communications between an organisation and its publics that aim to generategoodwill.

Publics, put simply, are its stakeholders. PR is proactive and future orientated, and has thegoal of building and maintaining a positive perception of an organisation in the mind of its

publics. This is often referred to as goodwill.
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Yes it is difficult to see the difference between marketing communications and PR since thereis a lot of crossover. This makes it a tricky concept to learn. Added to this is the fact that PRis often expensive, and not free, as some definitions would have you believe. PR agencies arenot cheap. Below are some of the approaches that are often considered under the PR banner.

Interviews and photo-calls.It is important that company executives are available to generate goodwill for theirorganisation. Many undertake training in how to deal with the media, and how to behave infront of a camera. There are many key industrial figures that proactively deal with the mediain a positive way for example Bill Gates (Microsoft) or Richard Branson (Virgin). Interviewswith the business or mass media often allow a company to put its own perspective on mattersthat could be misleading if simply left to dwell untended the public domain.

Speeches, presentations and speech writing.Key figures from within an organisation will write speeches to be delivered at corporateevents, public awards and industry gatherings. PR company officials in liaison with companymanagers often write speeches and design corporate presentations. They are part of the

planned and coherent strategy to build goodwill with publics. Presentations can be designedand pre-prepared by PR companies, ultimately to be delivered by company executives.

Corporate literature e.g. financial reports.Corporate literature includes financial reports, in-house magazines, brochures, catalogues,

price lists and any other piece of corporate derived literature. They communicate with avariety of publics. For example, financial reports will be of great interest to investors and thestock market, since they give all sorts of indicators of the health of a business. A company

Chief Executive Officer CEO will often write the forward to an annual financial report wherehe or she has the opportunity to put a business case to the reader. This is all part of PublicRelations.


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Sponsorship is where an organisation pays for their product or service to be associated withan activity or event. Organisations commonly sponsor sporting events and such as TheOlympics, sporting stars and other celebrities, or medium, for example television

programmes. The sponsors gain exposure, and also align their product or service with theattributes of the sport, celebrity or medium.

Many companies (often those in profit!) make donations to charities and good causes. Whendonations are publicised, again the benefits generate goodwill for the organisation. It should

be noted here that Microsoft's Bill Gates donates substantial amounts to good causes that areoften not reported. This is true corporate philanthropy.

Public Relations (PR) Page 1

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Public relations as part of the marketing communicationsmix

Product placement in media.This is an interesting and original use of PR. There are very many examples in movies andTV programmes that 'place' products.

For example, a car manufacturer places a car in a movie and the hero drives it, or wears awatch that is looked at by the villain displaying the time, underscored by the manufacturer's

logo. Today, computer games include banners and posters during game-play as the actionunfolds. Examples of product placement in games would include field sports with adverts

placed alongside a pitch, or car racing games where you pass billboards displayed in a city.

Lobbying government bodies.Lobbying is named after the 'lobby' area of the British Houses of Parliament wheretraditionally 'lobbying' would have occurred. Lobby in the past would have meant catchingthe eye of a Member of Parliament, in order to persuade him or her to take up a particularcause or argument. Today, lobbying firms are hired by organisations or individuals with aspecific cause to promote. For example, a charity could lobby for a change in laws regarding

pharmaceuticals or armaments. The charity would hire a lobbying firm to promote their cause

with elected politicians.

Press or media releases, conferences, contact andentertainment.Press or media releases, conferences, contact and entertainment are pivotal Public Relationsstrategies. In the past, the press were the original target (e.g. newspapers and magazines) buttoday the whole media industry forms the target (i.e. radio, websites, TV, New Media and soon). Media releases are drafted by a PR company, for example, to report financialinformation prior to the release of company reports.

Media conferences are called often at short notice to inform the media directly on a current

event that has just happened, or that is about to happen. Media contact includes interviewswith key personnel, and could include speeches, presentations and speech writing by the PR
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company. Finally entertaining the press, or media, is undertaken when trying to gain as muchmedia space as possible. This could be for a product launch or to promote an acquisition.

Advertorials in newspapers, magazines or on websites.Advertorials are paid for advertisements that are designed to appear like copy (i.e. normal

reported text). Many countries insist that advertorials do contain a line of text to explain thatthey are sponsored or placed by an advertiser. Advertorials are often used to imply that someground breaking treatment or solution has been uncovered.

Corporate promotional materials, websites, in-housemagazines and customer magazines.The market for promotional materials is large. Promotional materials include items such as

pens, balloons, mouse mats, and so on. They tend to carry a company's logo and contactdetails, and are another way to promote goodwill between and organisation and its publics.Websites are a vital marketing communications and public relations tool that can convey

information to publics on how to contact an organisation, key personnel, products andservices, corporate history, and financial reports, as well as any other targeted and plannedinformation.

In-house magazines are used for internal marketing, communication and change managementfrom within the organisation. In-house magazines are targeted at internal publics. Conversely,customer magazines help organisations to communicate with external publics (mainlycustomers) on all sorts of topics such as good news stories, product launches, customer clubsand many other subjects.

Advertising Lesson

Exercise

Answer

Advertising is an important element of the marketing communications mix. Put simply,advertising directs a message at large numbers of people with a single communication. It is amass medium.

Advertising has a number of benefits for the advertiser. The advertiser has control over themessage. The advert and its message, to an extent, would be designed to the specifications of

the advertiser. So the advertiser can focus its message at a huge number of potentialconsumers in a single hit, at a relatively low cost per head. Advertising is quick relative toother elements of the marketing communications mix (for example personal selling, where anentire sales force would need to be briefed - or even recruited). Therefore an advertiser hasthe opportunity to communicate with all (or many of) its target audience simultaneously.

Advertising Media

Outdoor (Posters ortransport)

New Media - Mobiledevices

New Media Internet - websites andsearch engines

Newspapers (Local and

National)Television Magazines
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Advertising Media

Radio Cinema Others...

Planning for advertisingAdvertising agencies and their clients plan for advertising. Any plan should address thefollowing stages:

Who is the potential TARGET AUDIENCE of the advert?

WHAT do I wish to communicate to this target audience?

Why is this message so IMPORTANT to them?

What is the BEST MEDIUM for this message to take (see some of thepossible media above)?

What would be the most appropriate TIMING?

What RESOURCES will the advertising campaign need?

How do we CONTROL our advertising and monitor success?

There are two key categories of advertising, namely 'above-the-line'and 'below-the-line.'Thedefinitions owe a lot to the historical development of advertising agencies and how theycharge for their services. In a nutshell, 'above-the-line' is any work done involving mediawhere a commission is taken by an advertising agency, and 'below-the-line' is work done fora client where a standard charge replaces commission. So TV advertising is 'above-the-line'since an agency would book commercial time on behalf of a client, but placing an advert in aseries of local newspapers is 'below-the-line,' because newspapers tend to apply their owncosting approach where no commission is taken by the agency i.e. instead the agency chargesthe client a transparentfee. There are many facets and elements to advertising - too many to

be covered in this short lesson. Try some of the other lessons to build your knowledge.

Documents

Introduction to Marketing Communications