ADVERTISING

Subject- ADVERTISING
Subject Code- GDJMC-604
Class- VI Semester
UNIT –I
Integrated Marketing Communication
a)
b)
c)
d)
Advertising as a tool of marketing
Advertising and product, price, place and promotion element.
Branding: Brand Management and Brand Positioning
Advertising as PR tool
AdvertisingAdvertising is defined as any "paid-for method of promotion". Advertising is the main
form of "above the line promotion".
Advertising presents or promotes the product to the target audience through a variety
of media such as TV, radio, cinema, online, social media and magazines to encourage
them to buy.
The problem with advertising is that consumers are bombarded with advertising
messages every day.
How can a business cut through the advertising noise and get a message across
effectively? And how can a business measure the effectiveness of an advertising
campaign. It is often said that businesses waste half their advertising spend – the
problem is that they don't know which half!
When deciding which type of advertising to use – known as an advertisingmedium – a
business needs to consider the following factors:
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Reach of the media – national or local; number of potential customers it could
reach; how long before the message is seen
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Nature of the product – the media needs to reflect the image of the product; a
recruitment ad would be placed in a trade magazine or newspaper but a lipstick
ad would be shown on TV or women's magazines
Position in product life cycle – launch stage will need different advertising from
products undergoing extension strategies
Cost of medium & size of advertising budget – e.g. local newspaper
advertising is cheaper than radio, which in turn is cheaper than TV. But the
business will also want to consider cost per head if reaching a larger audience
Online or offline – there has been substantial growth in businesses that
advertise online as they swap some (sometimes all) of their advertising budgets
to reach Internet users. The rapid growth of Google, YouTube, Facebook and
Twitter advertising revenues in th is an illustration of how powerful online
advertising has become, particularly through social media channels.
Advertising can also be split into two main types:
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Persuasive advertising - this tries to entice the customer to buy the product by
informing them of the product benefit
Informative advertising - this gives the customer information. Mostly done by
the government (e.g. health campaigns, new welfare benefits)
Sometimes a business will employ an advertising agency to deal with its needs. An
agency plans, organises and produces advertising campaigns for other businesses.
The advantage of an agency managing the campaign is that it has the expertise a
business may not have, e.g. copywriters, designers and media buyers.
Businesses need to be fully aware of the laws that govern advertising. The main law is
the Trade Descriptions Act – goods advertised for sale must be as they are described.
Also the advertising industry has its own Code of Practice, and is regulated by
the Advertising Standards Authority where complaints about the nature of advertising
can be dealt with.
The main advantages and disadvantages of advertising as method of promotion are
summarised below:
Advertising definition:
Paid form of non personal communication about an organization or its products that
is transmitted to a target audience through a mass/broadcast medium.
Advantages and disadvantages:
Scope and Importance of Advertising
Advertisements are important for:
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standardized products
products aimed at large markets
products that have easily communicated features
products low in price
products sold through independent channel members and/or are new.
Broadcast Ad spending is at an all time high due to heavy competition in the:
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Computer industry
Telecommunications Industry
Auto Industry
Whenever severe competition between marketers, introducing new products etc.
Even with evolution of direct marketing, and interactive media.
Nature of AdvertisingUsed by many types of organizations including Churches, Universities, Civic groups
and charities, politicians!!
Need to consider the following issues:
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Does the product possess unique, important features to focus on Unique
Selling Point (USP)
Are the hidden qualities important to the buyers
Is the general demand trend for the product adequate
Is the market potential for the product adequate
Is the competitive environment favorable
Is the organization able and willing to spend the required money to launch an
advertising campaign
Use of Advertising
CLASSIC DISTINCTIONS
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Promoting Products or Organizations
Institutional Advertising promotes organizations, images, ideas or political
issues. IE Beer company sponsors responsible drinking to promote the
company image.
PHILIP MORRIS ADVERTISING
Product Advertising promotes goods and services.
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Stimulating Primary and Selective Demand
First to introduce product needs to stimulate primary demand. Pioneer
Advertising informs people about the product (introduction stage of the
product life cycle). Do not emphasize the brand name.
Can also be used to stimulate the demand for a product group, IE Beef council.
For Selective demand, advertisers use Competitive advertising, brand uses,
benefits not available with other brands. Can use comparativeadvertising, 1988
Trademark Law Revision Act, cannot misinterpret. American Express et al.
Handout...When Visa and American Express...
Deals with the competitive advertising between Visa and Amex
AT&T True Rewards...using new kind of math/use former MCI customers
MCI Friends and Family...hammer advantages of friends FF..."Put It In
Writing"...
Sprint 10 cents a minute
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Offsetting Competitors Advertising
Defensive advertising, offset to lessen the effect of competitors advertising.
Used in fastfood industry, extremely competitive consumer products markets.
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Making salespersons more effective
Tries to presell product to buyers by informing them of uses, features and
benefits- encourage them to contact dealers etc. Cars...bring to retail store.
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Increasing use of product
Consumer can consume only so much of a product, this limits absolute
demand. May need to convince the market to use the product in more than
one way.
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Reminding and reinforcing customers
Reminder, need to keep company/product name at the forefront of
consumers' minds in the competitive marketplace. Reinforcement
preventscognitive dissonance.
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Reducing Sales fluctuations
Increase sales during slow periods will help increase production efficiency, IE
advertising reduced prices of lawn mowers in the winter months (reduce
inventory costs). Coupons for Pizza only Mon-Thurs.
Developing an Advertising Campaign
Integrated marketing...incorporate w/ sales promotions, and other communications
tools.
Video...development of an ad within a campaign
Designing a series of advertisements and placing them in various advertising media
to reach a particular target market. Seven steps.
1. Identify and Analyze the Advertising Target.
The group of people for which the advertisement is aimed at, may direct
campaign at only a portion of the target market.
Research and analyze advertising targets to establish an information base for a
campaign. Generally increase advertisers knowledge about their target--the
more effective the campaign.
David Ogilvy Award focuses on rewarding research in advertising: 1994
finalists:
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Nabisco's Oreo Cookie campaign, nostalgic feeling re: cookies, slogan
"Unlock the magic!"....Winner!!
AT&T "You will campaign", customers did not feel AT&T was innovative
Goodyear, Aquatred ads, customer concerns were related to tires
traction ability in the wet.
2. Defining Objectives.
What the firm hopes to accomplish from the campaign, should be clear,
precise and measurable, can help measure the success at the end of the
campaign. Use a benchmark.
At what stage are the target market in the Product Adoption Process. What
are the goals of the campaign...to increase purchases, to generate traffic in
the retail store etc.
Demand oriented objectives vs. image oriented objectives
Increase product/brand awareness
Change consumer attitudes...reposition product
Increase customer knowledge of product features
3. Determine the Advertising Appropriation
Total amount of money that a marketer allocates for advertising in a specific
period.
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Objective and Task Approach determine the objectives, then list the
tasks needed to achieve the objectives.
Percent of Sales Approach Sales create marketing?! What happens
when the products sales are declining.
Competition Matching Approach Other companies have different
advertising objectives.
Arbitrary Approach determined by high level executives, Delaware MBA
Program
4. Creating an Advertising Message
A function of the product's features, uses and benefits.
Must be aware of the characteristics of target market, different message to
different target market.
Components of the advert:
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Headline
Illustrations
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SubHeadline
BodyCopy
Signature
Copy verbal portion of the advert. Includes all aspects except the illustrations.
Attempts to move the reader through:
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2.
3.
Awareness
Interest
Desire
Action
Headline--should attract readers attention, make readers want to read the
copy.
Developing a Media Plan
Sets forth the exact media vehicles to be used and dates and times of ads.
Effectiveness of plan determines how many people in the advertiser's target
will be exposed to the message. Need to select the media to be used and
dates and times ads appear.
Primary goal--reach the highest # of people (within the advertiser's target) per $
spent. Achieve the appropriate message reach and frequency for the target
audience while staying within the budget.
Various Media
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TV Channels/programs, Baseball = male 18-49 Academy awards =
female 18-49
Sponsor cable channels, Reebok with Cable Health Club "Reebok
University"
Radio, Becoming more segmented, also allowed to own 2 FM stations in
one area.
Magazines, Lead time considerations, also pass along rate, subscription
plus news agent sales.
Newspapers, Local vs. national
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Direct Mail, Evolution of Database marketing, able to narrowly target
with DM.
Outdoor, Billboards Atlanta is most billboard per capita city,
Transit...City Buses, Blimps...At Events
Placed-Based, Schools, also sponsor educational programs,
Supermarkets, Health Clubs, Dining Halls. Intrusive..."Only go where
you are wanted!!". Target market is known...not assumed.
Electronic, WWW, Compuserve et al.
Need to select general media, IE Newspapers, then subclass, IE Philadelphia
Inquirer.
Look at location and demographics of advertisers target, use media that appeals
to this group.
Content of message to present affects the choice of media.
Cost of media, use cost comparison indicator-within specific media (IE
between two magazines), CPM "cost per thousand" for magazines.
-cost, total cost; per reader/viewer cost
-reach, #viewers/readers in the audience, print media includes circulation and
pass on, more for magazines than newspapers
-waste, portion of marketer's audience that are not in the target market
-frequency, how often can the medium be used/changed, i.e., TV radio hourly,
newspapers daily, Yellow pages yearly.
-message performance, number of exposures each advertisement generates and
how long it remains available to the audience; outdoor ads, many
exposures/message, magazines retained for a long period of time.
-clutter, # of advertisements contained in a single program/issue of a medium.
TV ads moving to 15 secs. each is increasing clutter. Some moving to 2
minutes...or even 5, especially if there is a complex
message...telecommunications...cars maybe!!
Primetime:
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CBS 13mins 52 secs of non programming time
ABC 13mins 24 secs
Daytime 8-19 mins
ESPN 13mins 28 secs
Discovery 15mins 20 secs
Executing the Campaign
Requires extensive planning and coordination. Advertising
Agencies, production costs, research organizations, media firms, printers,
photographers, and commercial artists etc. Detailed schedules are needed to
insure everything is accomplished on time. (video)
Evaluating the effectiveness of the campaign
Measure the achievement of the objectives, assessing the effectiveness of the
copy etc., and the media.
Typical consumer is bombarded with about 300 advertising messages/day,
109,500 per year. 80% of people cannot remember a typical ad one day after
seeing it.
Pretests before campaign, use a consumer jury.
During the campaign, "inquiries"-coupons numbered.
Posttests after the campaign, use consumer surveys to measure the change in
communication objectives, change in sales or market share. Cannot be precise
due to the environment.
Use recognition tests to determine the degree to which consumers recognize
advertisements.
Recall evaluation, consumers are asked what they have seen lately. Aided or
unaided.
Introduction to Advertising
“Advertising is a nonpersonal communication of information usually paid for and usually
persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the
various media." Explain.
Meaning of Advertising - Advertising is an activity of attracting public attention to a product, service, or
business as by paid announcements in the print, broadcast, or electronic media.
Definition of Advertising - "Advertising is the non-personal communication of information usually paid
for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the
various media." Now let's take this statement apart and see what it means.
Non-personal
Basically sales is done either personally or non-personally. Personal selling requires the seller and buyer
to get together. Personal selling has its on advantages and disadvantages. Whereas advertising is nonpersonal selling. Personal selling has many advantages over advertising like direct communication,
bargaining, enough time to discuss in detail about the product, seller can easily locate potential buyer.
Advertising has none of the advantages of personal selling, very little time to present sales message,
message is cannot be changed easily.
But, advertising has its own advantages which is not found in personal selling: advertising has
comparatively speaking, all the time in the world. Unlike personal selling, the sales message and its
presentation does not have to be created on the spot with the customer watching. It can be created in as
many ways as the writer can conceive, be rewritten, tested, modified, injected with every trick and appeal
known to affect consumers.
Advertising covers large groups of customer and to make it effective proper research about customer is
done to identify potential customers, to find out what message element might influence them, and figure
out how best to get that message to them.
Thus, it appears that advertising is a good idea as a sales tool. For small ticket items, such as chewing
gum and guitar picks, advertising is cost effective to do the entire selling job. For large ticket items, such
as cars and computers, advertising can do a large part of the selling job, and personal selling is used to
complete and close the sale.
Advertising is nonpersonal, but effective.
Communication
Communication means passing information, ideas, or feelings by a person to another. Communication
uses all the senses like smell, touch, taste, sound, sight. Only two senses - sound and sight are really
useful in advertising. In advertising, what appears is everything the writer thinks the customer needs to
know about the product in order to make a decision about the product. That information will generally be
about how the product can benefit the customer.
Paid For
Advertiser has to pay for the creation of ad and for placing it in the media. Cost of ad creation and cost of
time/space in the media must be paid for. Cost of advertising depends on TRP of media, reach of media,
and frequency of ad to be displayed.
Persuasive
"Persuasive" stands to reason as part of the definition of advertising. The basic purpose of advertising is
to identify and differentiate one product from another in order to persuade the consumer to buy that
product in preference to another.
Identified Sponsors
Identified sponsors means whoever is putting out the ad tells the audience who they are. There are two
reasons for this: first, it's a legal requirement, and second, it makes good sense. Legally, a sponsor must
identify himself as the sponsor of ad. By doing so the sponsor not only fulfils the legal requirements, but it
also makes a good sense, if the sponsor doesn't do so, the audience may believe that the ad is for any
competitor's product, thus wasting all the time and money in making and placing the ad.
Definition and Objectives of Advertising
What is advertising, define advertising, and state its objectives?
Meaning of Advertising - Advertising is an activity of attracting public attention to a product or business,
as by paid announcements in the print, broadcast, or electronic media.
Advertising is a paid form of a non-personal message communicated through the various media by
industry, business firms, nonprofit organisations, or individuals. Advertising is persuasive and
informational and is designed to influence the purchasing behaviour and/or thought patterns of the
audience. Advertising is a marketing tool and may be used in combination with other marketing tools,
such as sales promotions, personal selling tactics, or publicity.
Definition of Advertising - Advertising is defined differently by different people, some of the definitions
are as follows:
According to Richard Buskirk, "Advertising is a paid form of non-personal presentation of ideas, goods
or services by an identified sponsor."
According to Wheeler, "Advertising is any form of paid non-personal presentation of ideas, goods or
services for the purpose of inducting people to buy."
According to William J. Stanton, "Advertising consists of all the activities involves in presenting to a
group, a non-personal, oral or visual, openly sponsored message regarding disseminated through one or
more media and is paid for by an identified sponsor."
Objectives of Advertising - The real objective of advertising is effective communication between
producers and consumers with the purpose to sell a product, service, or idea. The main objectives of
advertising are as follows:
Informative
Objective of advertising is to inform its targeted audience/customers about introduction of new product,
update or changes in existing products or product related changes, information regarding new offers and
schemes. Informative advertising seeks to develop initial demand for a product. The promotion of any
new market entry tends to pursue this objective because marketing success at this stage often depends
simply on announcing product availability. Thus, informative advertising is common in the introductory
stage of the product life cycle.
Persuasive
Objective of advertising is to increase demand for existing product by persuading new customer for first
time purchase and existing customers for repurchases. Persuasive advertising attempts to increase
demand for an existing product. Persuasive advertising is a competitive type of promotion suited to the
growth stage and the early part of the maturity stage of the product life cycle.
Reminder
The objective of advertising is to remind customers about existence of product, and ongoing promotional
activities. Reminder advertising strives to reinforce previous promotional activity by keeping the name of a
product before the public. It is common in the latter part of the maturity stage and throughout the decline
stage of the product life cycle.
Meaning of Advertising - Advertising is an activity of attracting public attention to a product or business,
as by paid announcements in the print, broadcast, or electronic media.
Advertising is the promotion of a company’s products and services though different mediums to increase
the sales of the product and services. It works by making the customer aware of the product and by
focusing on customer’s need to buy the product. Globally, advertising has become an essential part of the
corporate world. Therefore, companies allot a huge part of their revenues to the advertising budget.
Advertising also serves to build a brand of the product which goes a long way to make effective sales.
Functions and Classifications of Advertising
Functions of Advertising - Following are the basic functions of advertising:
1. To distinguish product from competitors' products
There are so many products of same category in the market and they competes with each
other, advertising performs the function of distinguishing advertiser's product from competitors.
2. To communicate product information
Product related information required to be communicated to the targeted customers, and advertisement
performs this function.
3. To urge product use
Effective advertisement can create the urge within audience for a product.
4. To expand product distribution
When the market demand of a particular product increases, the number of retailer and distributor involved
in sale of that product also increases, hence product distribution get expanded.
5. To increase brand preference
There are various products of different bands are available, the brand which is effectively and frequently
advertised is preferred most.
6. To reduce overall sale cost
Advertising increases the primary demand in the market. When demand is there and the product is
available, automatically the overall cost will decrease, simultaneously the cost of sales like distribution
cost, promotional cost also get decreased.
Classification of Advertising - Advertising can be classified on the basis of Function, Region, Target
Market, Company demand, Desired response, and Media.
A) Classification on the basis of function
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Advertisement informs the customers about a product
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Advertisement persuades the consumers to buy a products
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Advertisement reminds existing customers about the presence of the product in the market
Let us discuss some important types of advertising based on the functional aspect of advertising.
Informative advertising: This type of advertising informs the customers about the products, services, or
ideas of the firm or organization.
Persuasive advertising: This type of advertising persuades or motivates the prospective buyers to take
quick actions to buy the products or services of the firm. Example: “Buy one, get one free”.
Reminder advertising: This genre of advertising reminds the existing customers to become medium or
heavy users of the products or services of the firm that have been purchased by them at least once. This
type of advertising exercise helps in keeping the brand name and uses of the products in the minds of the
existing customers.
B) Classification on the basis of region
Advertisements can also be classified on the basis of the region, say:
Global advertising: It is executed by a firm in its global market niches. Reputed global magazines like
Time, Far Eastern Economic Review, Span, Fortune, Futurist, Popular Science. Cable TV channels are
also used to advertise the products through out world. Supermodels and cinema stars are used to
promote high-end products Examples: Sony, Philips, Pepsi, Coca Cola, etc.
National advertising: It is executed by a firm at the national level. It is done to increase the demand of its
products and services throughout the country. Examples: BPL (Believe in the best). Whirlpool
Refrigerator (Fast Forward Ice Simple) etc.
Regional advertising: If the manufacturer confines his advertising to a single region of the country, its
promotional exercise is called Regional Advertising. This can be done by the manufacturer, wholesaler, or
retailer of the firm. Examples: Advertisements of regional newspapers covering those states or districts
where these newspapers are circulated. Eg. The Assam Tribune (only for the NE region) etc.
Local advertising: When advertising is done only for one area or city, it is called Local Advertising. Some
professionals also call it Retail Advertising. It is sometime done by the retailer to persuade the customer
to come to his store regularly and not for any particular brand. Examples: Advertisements of Ooo la la,
Gupshup (Local FM channels) etc.
C) Classification on the basis of target market
Depending upon the types of people who would receive the messages of advertisements, we can classify
advertising into four subcategories:
Consumer product advertising: This is done to impress the ultimate consumer. An ultimate consumer is
a person who buys the product or service for his personal use. This type of advertising is done by the
manufacturer or dealer of the product or service. Examples: Advertisements of Intel, Kuttons (shirt),
Lakme (cosmetics) etc.
Industrial product advertising: This is also called Business-to-Business Advertising. This is done by the
industrial manufacturer or his distributor and is so designed that it increases the demand of industrial
product or services manufactured by the manufacturer. It is directed towards the industrial customer.
Trade advertising: This is done by the manufacturer to persuade wholesalers and retailers to sell his
goods. Different media are chosen by each manufacturer according to his product type, nature of
distribution channel, and resources at his command. Hence, it is designed for those wholesalers and
retailers who can promote and sell the product.
Professional advertising: This is executed by manufacturers and distributors to influence the
professionals of a particular trade or business stream. These professionals recommend or prescribe the
products of these manufacturers to the ultimate buyer. Manufacturers of these products try to reach these
professionals under well-prepared programmes. Doctors, engineers, teachers, purchase professionals,
civil contractors architects are the prime targets of such manufacturers.
Financial advertising: Banks, financial institutions, and corporate firms issue advertisements to collect
funds from markets. They publish prospectuses and application forms and place them at those points
where the prospective investors can easily spot them.
D) Classification on the basis of desired responses
An ad can either elicit an immediate response from the target customer, or create a favourable image in
the mind of that customer. The objectives, in both cases, are different. Thus, we have two types of
advertising under this classification.
Direct action advertising: This is done to get immediate responses from customers. Examples:
Season's sale, purchase coupons in a magazine.
Indirect action advertising: This type of advertising exercise is carried out to make a positive effect on
the mind of the reader or viewer. After getting the advertisement he does not rush to buy the product but
he develops a favourable image of the brand in his mind.
Surrogate advertising: This is a new category of advertising. In this type of promotional effort, the
marketer promotes a different product. For example: the promotion of Bagpiper soda. The firm is
promoting Bagpiper Whisky, but intentionally shows soda. They know that the audience is quite well
aware about the product and they know this fact when the actor states, "Khoob Jamega Rang Jab Mil
Baithenge Teen Yaar ... Aap ... Main, Aur Bagpiper").
E) Classification on the basis of the media used in advertisement
The broad classification based on media is as follows:
Audio advertising: It is done through radio, P A systems, auto-rickshaw promotions, and four-wheeler
promotions etc.
Visual advertising: It is done through PoP displays, without text catalogues, leaflets, cloth banners,
brochures, electronic hoardings, simple hoardings, running hoardings etc.
Audio-visual: It is done through cinema slides, movies, video clips, TV advertisements, cable TV
advertisements etc.
Written advertising: It is done through letters, fax messages, leaflets with text, brochures, articles and
documents, space marketing features in newspapers etc.
Internet advertising: The world wide web is used extensively to promote products and services of all
genres. For example Bharat Matrimony, www.teleshop.com, www.asianskyshop.com etc.
Verbal advertising: Verbal tools are used to advertise thoughts, products, and services during
conferences, seminars, and group discussion sessions. Kinesics also plays an important role in this
context.
a) Advertising as a tool of marketing
Marketing has always played an important role in product communication but it’s
prominence and visibility as a necessary aspect of business has increased over the past
decade. In a global-liberal economy, multiple products and services of the same kind have
to compete with each other for limited market space and consumer mind share. Marketing
therefore becomes a relentless and strategic process to build a product/service into a
brand, create an identity for it that distinguishes it from its peers and ensuring it stays in
pubic memory.
Marketing- Definition and scope
Marketing is defined by the American Marketing Association as the activity, set of
institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging
offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. The term
developed from the original meaning which refers literally to going to market, as in
shopping, or going to a market to sell goods or services. This definition according to
Bogozzi, recognizes ‘exchange’ as a central concept in marketing which in turn means that
there has to be more than one party with something of value and interest to the others.
According to Stanton, etal ‘ Marketing is a total system of business activities designed to
plan, price, promote and distribute want-satisfying products to target markets to achieve
organizational goals.’
Marketing practice tends to be seen as a creative industry, which includes advertising,
distribution and selling. It is also concerned with anticipating the customers' future needs
and wants. Marketing draws from many social sciences, particularly psychology, sociology,
and economics. Anthropology has also become a small, but growing influence.
The core idea of marketing is a sense to build a relationship and cultivate emotional equity
between the consumer and the product/service by successfully drawing out associations,
connotations and attitudes in said product/service that the customer would like to identify
with.
Elements of Marketing- The Marketing Mix
Borden’s concept of the marketing mix is considered a significant and ideal break up of
what goes into marketing. These include
Product planning
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Pricing
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Branding
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Channels of distribution
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Personal selling
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Advertising
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Promotions
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Packaging
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Display
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Servicing
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Physical handling
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Fact finding and analysis
Integrating the key factors of the above mentioned, E. Jerome Mc McCarthy came up with
the concept of the 4Ps-
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Product
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Price
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Place
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Promotion
The idea of the marketing mix is that all the necessary components are variable and can be
worked out in accordance to the needs of the product. While services are being marketed,
three more Ps are to be included in the above marketing mix. They are:
People
Process and
Physical evidence
Advertising as a tool of marketing
Advertising is a tool of marketing that disseminates information about a brand which is
aimed at a large number of people at the same time using purchased space or time in
various mediums. While earlier, advertising was often seen as separate or an alternative to
marketing, it has eventually been subsumed under the latter.
In the context of marketing, advertising is possibly the most important element. It draws
from the other braches such as market research, positioning etc to create successful
persuasive communication. Advertising is also the most visible aspect of marketing as it
culminates into the most noticeable projection of everything that the product/service wishes
to appear as to its public, especially in the context of brand building.
A brand by definition is a sign of identity, the mark or label which differentiates one product
from the other. A product acquires a certain identity or a feel and a specific brand value
because of the kind of advertising that it creates for itself. It is this brand value which then
becomes crucial for companies to build their marketing strategies upon. Subroto Sengupta
in his book Brand positioning: Strategies for Competitive Advantagetalks about how
advertising must position the brand. He recognizes the difficulties of creating distinct brand
identities in a fiercely competitive marketplace. “Advertising is the discovery and
communication for a brand to the target prospect.”
Therefore, advertising thus not only intends to sell but also create an aspiration towards a
certain product, and create that vital and persuasive distinction that makes it a brand. How
does advertising go about achieving it’s objectives?
Brand Differentiation: Communicating the difference- An advertisement needs to
communicate a difference for the brand i.e. something which sets it apart from it’s
competitors. The difference may be as simple as a special or new feature or color, function,
a perception of exclusivity or ‘for the masses’, a business ethic ( eco-friendly, recyclable,
preservative free) or simply a different perspective ( A cosmetic range that promises
healthy, problem free skin instead of changing the way one appears). Differentiation can be
of two kinds.
Generic differentiation: It’s the most basic form of brand differentiation where, emphasis on
the USP of the product built upon its features such as function, reliability, durability, design
or style. The unique selling point of a product must somehow figure into the ad campaign
otherwise it remains, creative but pointless communication. Of course once a product/
service has managed to claim a take in the market, the USP of the product could be
delegated to the background. But this can only happen when the brand in itself
communicates it’s value without external support. International sporting goods such as
Adidas, Reebok, Nike for example have successfully created an idea of what they stand for
and may not need to harp on the quality or comfort of their shoes or gear to sell their range.
Instead they can choose to bring out huge energetic, campaigns with international sports
stars that convey vague notions of sport, competition, winning etc but are still capable of
generating demand for the said products. A newer product with a more utilitarian nature
would have to enlist its salient features. Cell phone services, have to constantly keep
informing their customers on the latest schemes etc because brand value in itself matters
little when compared to quality of coverage, cost benefits etc.
Pre emptive differentiation: When products have similar features an attributes, certain
products can gain advantage by branding themselves on the basis of those features. It
chooses to talk about that particular feature while no else has and manages to create the
illusion of an innovation.
Brand/Product Positioning: Positioning is yet another key component of building brand
identity. The position of a product is the perception it brings about in the mind of a target
consumer. It reflects the essence of the brand and helps the consumer make a judgment
based on its functional and non functional benefits. This positioning is also relative in
respect of the other competing products in the market.
Marketing Guru Philip Kotler explains positioning, ‘Once the core product is chosen, it
defines the characters of the product space in which the new product has to be positioned..’
The nature of the product can dictate how it is to be positioned. Brand building is not always
about seeking elitism. The world’s largest brands such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Pepsi,
Coke etc are built upon the idea of ‘everybody goes there or everybody drinks that.’
Sometimes products may wish to connect with the younger demographics by positioning
themselves as product for the young and upwardly mobile. I Pods, Jeans, Sunglasses,
Gaming consoles etc are always advertised in yuppy, zingy ways to reign in young people,
though other age groups also purchase them.
Luxury and couture brands alternatively choose to appear exclusive, upscale and impart a
sense of elegance, luxury or style. Ad campaigns for such products and brands are carefully
measured in the intensity of their dissemination and appear mostly in life style/in-flight
magazines even though they are big budget. Advertisements of designer jewelry, watches,
perfume, apparel etc are examples of this kind of positioning.
Their pricing and availability ensures they are only affordable to the upper strata of society;
however they may enjoy a universal brand consciousness. It is thus possible that people
who may never be able to afford them would also know about Armani, Gucci, Prada etc and
desire them solely based on the fact that they have an elevated status. Such ads are
understated in their communication and don’t over sell the product.
Conclusion
Advertising thus not only forms the visible face of marketing, it often effortlessly integrates
with other marketing variable such as promotion, brand building, tie-ups, etc. In an era of
convergent media where the lines between different forms of communication are
increasingly blurred it is hard to streamline advertising asa single activity in itself and can in
fact contributes to a vital rethinking of the product itself.
Advertising and product, price, place and promotion element.
Marketing Mix: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion (4Ps)!
To market the products (in broadest sense) every company needs to create a
successful mix of right product at right price at the right place through right
promotion. Thus marketing mix is made up of 4 Ps. The 4 Ps take care of 4
Cs relating to customers.
4Ps and 4 Cs:
4Ps
4Cs
Product
Solution to Customer
Price
Value to customer
Place
Access to Customer
Promotion
Information to Customer
Before discussing about these Ps, one must note that all the Ps is interrelated.
A decision to make change in one of them affects the rest. Suppose the
company wants to launch low- priced product, the promotion has to follow suit
and the same channels where premium products are sold cannot be used to
provide access to this segment of customers. Second, each element of
marketing mix contains countless variables.
Third, the 4Ps of marketing have been the key areas where marketing
managers allocate scarce corporate resources to achieve the business
objectives. Fourth, to show the differences between services and physical
products, Booms and Bitner suggested the extension of the 4Ps framework to
include three additional factors: People, Physical evidence and Process.
Services have unique characteristics: intangibility, heterogeneity,
inseparability and perish ability, and thus, require a different marketing mix.
Fifth, we are considered of the view that whether it is products marketing or
services marketing, marketing mix must include all the 7Ps. Finally, the
marketing mix will vary from industry to industry and organisation to
organisation because of different offerings. Now we shall discuss them one by
one.
The Product (1st P):
Before we get into finer details about the product, it would be better to know
what a product is. In its widest sense every offering that is being marketed can
be called a product. Thus, not only a fridge, but fixed deposit facilities
provided by a bank, lunch at a restaurant, polio vaccination campaign of UP
Government, and promoting Jaisalmer during winters are all products.
It means every good (Sony TV), service (domestic maid), idea (eradication of
TB), event (Wimbledon), etc. received in exchange is a product. A product
may be either tangible (like this book), or intangible (telecom services).
A product is a bundle of benefits which may be functional (car for
transportation), social (status to own a car), and psychological (a security that
I can always move due to car).
A product is inclusive of installation (an air conditioner is installed), guarantees
(one year), warranty (replacement of defective part up to 10,000 km), product
information (Information Booklet prescribing Dos and Don’ts) and after sale
service (three free services for new cars).
A product offering has three independent elements (Kotler et al call it as 5
product levels). The first level is the core product – consisting of core benefit
(a fundamental benefit – a tyre for a car). The second level comprises of
supplemental features (Kotler calls them as expected and augmented product
levels).
For a midway restaurant between Delhi and Jaipur, one expects clean wash
rooms. Supplemental features add value to the core benefit in the form of TV,
different kind of foods, free drinking water, bar, shopping arcade, lawns,
fountains, etc.
For a tyre, supplemental products mean installation, delivery, training,
financing, replacement, etc. The third element is experiential benefit – when
you go to a garage, the sitting arrangement for customers, some attendant
offering water/tea/coffee, TV, day’s newspapers, timely servicing, etc.
Products can be consumer products and business products. Consumer goods
can be classified as fast moving (soap, shampoo, etc.) and durables (washing
machine, TV, microwave, etc.); and Convenience products (relatively
inexpensive, frequently bought, with limited efforts, and not much fussy about
brand — salt, bread, etc.), Shopping products (bought after investing some
time and effort – furniture, washing machine, fridge, TV, camera, shoes etc),
Speciality products (bought after spending considerable time and effort —
Mont Blanc pen, expensive men’s suit, jewellery, first new car, an apartment,
etc.), and unsought goods (consumers are unaware of, or aware but do not
want to buy now, and solving sudden problems – video telephone,
Encyclopedias Britannica, and nearest mechanic when car gets punctured).
Business products may be classified into installations (large machines);
accessory equipment (calculators); raw materials (corn flour for soup powder
making); component parts (mouse for a personal computer); process material
(cardamom for sweets), Maintenance, Repairs, and operating items
(detergents for cleaning factory floors); and Business services (Speed Post).
A single product is known as a product item. Closely related product items are
referred as product line. Cinthol soap is a product item of the Soaps product
line of Godrej Consumer Products Limited, as the product line (Group of
closely related products) includes Godrej No. 1, Fair & Glow, Vigil and Evita.
A product mix is a total of all groups of products. To illustrate, all the Soaps,
Personal Care, Toiletries, Shaving Creams, Talcum Powder, Liquid
detergents, and Baby Care products constitute Godrej’s product mix.
The number of product lines refers to width of product mix; and number of
product items offered in each product line is called as depth of product mix.
Like a human being, a product also has a finite life cycle. Though, some
products like Coca Cola continue for a long time through improvements. Every
product has four major stages: Introduction, growth, maturity and decline.
Marketers have to make many decisions about products, including Brand
names, trademarks, and trade names. These names may be associated with
founders (Tata Salt), Sports (Polo shirts), animals (Crocodile tee shirts),
invented names (Dalda ground nut oil), abbreviated names (ICICI Bank, 3M,
HDFC Bank), Gods (Natraj pencils, Shri Krishna Dhoop and Agarbatti), Forts
and Palaces (Lai Quila Rice, Lai Mahal Rice), numbers (555 soap), number
and words (7UP), geography (Woodland shoes, Fuji Camera), objective
(Boost nutritional food drink granules) and fruits (Fruit of The Loom inner wear
and casual wear). When a brand is registered with trademark authority, the
owner gets exclusive authority to use.
Trade names refer to company names instead of product names. Brands may
be manufacturer’s brands like Tata Motors, ACC cement, Reliance, et al.
Private brands or labels refer to brand names owned by wholesalers or stores
or dealers.
Manufacturers’ brands have to compete with private labels. Some brand
names have become so popular that they have become generic names, like
Dalda (HLL), Nylon (Dupont), Vim (HUL), etc. Companies may have individual
branding (each product getting different name – HUL’s Lux, Dove, Pears, Rin,
Surf, Wheel, and so on), family or umbrella branding (Godrej locks, hair oil,
Godrej Fridge).
Next decision relates to packaging. Packaging protects and maintains the
functional form of the product, provides convenience to consumers, and
promotes the image of the company and the product. Dabur India uses
reusable packages. Colours on the packages influence consumer emotions.
Take the case of Nesle Coffee’s red and brown colour.
People prefer colours – Blue (for soothing), gray (strength), orange for low
cost, red (excitement), Purple (dignity), yellow (joy) and black (strong and
masterful). Closely related with packaging is labeling. Labels are used for
identification, legal, informational and promotional purposes.
Product decision of marketing mix is concerned with both the existing
products and the new products. In the old products companies create
excitement through line extension, i.e., creating different fragrances in soaps
or microwave to cook fish for Bengalis, chicken for Punjabis, Idli for South
Indians, and Dal-Bati for Marwaris.
Another method used for existing products is known as product modification,
i.e., changing one or more features of a product. Three major ways to modify
include – quality (MRF introduced tubeless tyres), functional modification
(Goodnight modified its mosquito-repellent with greater intensity, if the need
be), and aesthetic modifications (altering taste, sound, smell, or appearancesas most automakers do).
With regard to new product development, a 7 steps process has to be
followed – idea generation, screening, concept testing, business analysis,
product development, test marketing, and commercialization.
The Price (the 2nd P):
Price is an important element in marketing mix, because it directly relates to
revenue generation. Price is the one, which creates sales revenue – all other
parts of marketing mix are costs. Pricing has to be done whenever a new
product is launched, its variant is launched, a product is launched in new
geographies, to counter inflationary trends, or company bids for industrial
customers.
Pricing decisions are influenced by many factors – organisational and
marketing objectives, pricing objectives survival, market share, profit
maximisation, maximising market skimming, or product-quality leadership),
costs (most of the airlines increase the fares due to increase in Gasoline
pricing), other marketing mix variables (the product improvement and cost of
promotion ) expectations of channel members (commission demanded by
petrol pump owners is also a factor in oil pricing), customer interpretation and
response (psychological pricing by Bata Rs, 99.95; at times lower price leads
to the perception that product quality is lower), competition (Price of Coca
Cola and Pepsi Cola are often highly competitive), ethics, Price sensitivities
(See Boxl6…) and (A Public Distribution Dealer cannot charge prices lower or
higher to what prices are fixed by the government). A company must set the
price in relation to value delivered and perceived by consumers.
There are numerous pricing strategies:
A. Product Line Pricing:
1. Premium pricing (Charging a high price, with good quality product/service –
like Mark & Spencer products)
2. Captive product pricing (Products that complement others, like cheaper
tooth paste and costly tooth brush, cheaper printer costly cartridge)
3. Bait Pricing (Low price of one item to attract customers to store for selling a
higher priced item in the line, like Reality developers)
4. Price Lining (Different prices for different combinations – Tata Sky gives
different channels packages at different prices)
5. Volume Pricing (Rationale of Product range, like ice cream cup Rs. 15,
family Pack Rs. 50, and giant size Rs. 75)
B. New Product Pricing:
1. Penetration pricing (Low price to gain market share and then increase
price, like Tata Telecom)
2. Price skimming (High initial price, in future price will come down to parity,
like films on release)
C. Psychological Pricing:
1. Reference Pricing (Pricing at moderate level a product kept next to a more
expensive product, so that customer can differentiate between moderate and
better products)
2. Group or Bundle Pricing (Package to contain two or more products and the
package is priced, like tour to Europe Price includes air fare, transfers, sightseeing, hotel, and food)
3. Multiple – Unit Pricing (in Big Bazaar socks with three pairs are per unit
cheaper than buying one pair)
4. Everyday Low Prices (Instead of declaring frequent short-term price
reductions, marketers keep the prices otherwise low, like Wal-Mart-“Always
Low Prices. Always.”)
5. Odd Pricing (Bata keeping price at Rs. 995.99 for women’s saddles)
6. Prestige Pricing (Keeping higher price because customers believe that a
higher priced product is of better quality).
D. Promotional Pricing:
1. Price Leaders (Keeping low prices of some products in the hope of sale of
other regularly priced items, like lower sugar price and regular pricing for tea
leaves, milk and cardamom)
2. Special Event Pricing (Most of the big stores announce lower prices on the
eve of Diwali, Id, Gurpurab, 25th December, 15thAugust)
3. Comparison Discounting (Company writing earlier higher prices along with
current lower prices for comparison by the customers)
4. Economy pricing (No frills and low price, like Indigo Air)
5. Cash Rebate Pricing (Purchase air ticket from makemytrip.com and get air
ticket from makemytrip.com and get a cash back of Rs. 300)
6. Other promotional pricing strategies (Includes Low Interest financing, longer
payment terms, extended warranties and Service Contracts, and
Psychological Discounting)
E. Other Pricing Strategies:
1. Pricing variations (Early bird discounts, like ticket booking one month in
advance at lower price)
2. Optional product-pricing (Optional extra, like stereo price extra in Alto Car)
3. Geographical pricing (Different prices in different geographies, like Indian
Oil charges different prices for petrol and diesel in different cities)
4. Value pricing (Difficult economic conditions and marketer making value
offering, like restaurant offering value menu)
5. Transfer Pricing (Price charged for intra-company or group companies
selling).
The basis for pricing may be Cost-based methods include Mark-up pricing
(Cost plus predetermined Profit), and Target Return (Cost plus say Rs. 5; or
15% Return on Investment); Demand-based pricing includes Perceived Value
Pricing (What customers think ) or greater the demand greater the price and
vice versa (as happened during strike by Air India); Competitor-based pricing
includes Going Rate (Price equal to competitors); and other bases are Group
Pricing (All accessories in the bathroom included in the quoted price); Sealed
Bid (Normally fixed cost not considered); and Value Pricing (What the sellers
think).
No pricing decisions will be complete without discussing discounts and
allowances. These are very popular in business to business marketing. In
some of the industries, even for retailing, like electric switches and sockets,
discounts are the normal feature.
These include Trade Discount (extra goods for no extra price), Quantity
Discount (greater the buying greater the discount), Cash Discount (for before
maturity payment, called ‘muddat’ in Indian terminology), Seasonal Discount
(buying half sleeve shirt during winters), and Allowances (for
swapping/exchanging old product for the new one – exchange your old Jen
with new Jen car and pay 40,000 less), meeting 50% cost of promotion of the
dealer, Invitation to participate in Hong Kong Conference to top 10 dealers).
The Place (The 3rd P):
Place is concerned with making available the products at a place where (s) he
demands. Thus, it is concerned with the store where the goods shall be
displayed and sold, the channels of distribution and logistics management
through which goods will flow from marketer to consumers.
Chain or path or route in the channels may be marketer to consumer (through
factory outlet or internet or company owned stores, or mail order business or
door to door sales, or multilevel marketing as done by Amway), or marketer to
retailer to consumer, or marketer to wholesaler (also referred to as
distributors) to retailer to consumer, or agent to wholesaler to retailer to
consumer. The organizations between the marketer and the consumers are
known as intermediaries. Each one of them has an important role to play.
A Retailer is an important bridge with the consumers as he has much stronger
personal relationship with the consumer, holds a variety of products, offers
consumers credit, promote and merchandise products, prices the final
product, and builds retailer ‘brand’ in the high street.
A Wholesaler breaks down ‘bulk’, buys from producers and sells small
quantities to retailers, provides storage facilities, reduces contact cost
between producer and consumer, and takes some of the marketing
responsibility, e.g., sales force, promotions.
In some of the trades no trade is possible without agents. To illustrate, in
foods, jewellery, monetary products, metals, etc, agent is a must. But in
international markets, their role is undisputed. They (Commission Agents) do
not take title of the goods, secure orders, and (Stockist agents) hold
‘consignment’ stock.
With the advent of internet and WWW the concept of channels has undergone
a sea-change and there is a paradigm shift in marketing and consumption.
Through internet marketer can sell to a geographically disperse market, target
and focus on specific segments, relatively keep low costs set-up, and makes
use of e-commerce technology (for payment, shopping software, etc).
With regard to channel six basic decisions are to be made -direct or indirect
channel (in certain sectors, both direct and indirect channels may be used.
Hotels, for example, may sell their rooms directly or through travel agents,
tour operators, airlines, and tourist boards.
With centralized reservation systems, etc. the process of transfer the products
or services is shifted from Producer to Customer or end user.), single or
multiple channels, length of channel, types of intermediaries, number of
intermediaries at each level, and selection of particular intermediaries. Many
marketers seem to assume that once their product has been sold into the
channel, into the beginning of the distribution chain, their job is finished.
Yet that distribution chain is merely assuming a part of the marketer’s
responsibility; and, if they have any aspirations to be market-oriented, their job
should really be extended to manage all the processes involved in that chain,
until the product or service arrives with the end-user. All these decisions have
to be made by individual marketer.
Selection of a channel which is flexible, effective, and consistent with the
declared marketing policies and programmes of the firm is very important.
While selecting a distribution channel, an entrepreneur should make a tradeoff analysis of the costs, sales volume, and profits expected from alternative
channels of distribution and take into account the factors – (i) Product
Consideration (Unit value, perish ability, consumer versus Industrial Products,
width and depth of product mix, and Existing product versus new product) ;
Market
Consideration (industrial market doesn’t need middlemen, number of
prospective customers, geographic spread, and order size of customers), and
Other Considerations (Age of marketer, availability of finance, Cost of each
channel, and demand for the product). The nature and the type of the
middlemen required by the firm and its availability also affect the choice of the
distribution channel.
A company prefers a middleman who can maximise the volume of sales of
their product and also offers other services like storage, promotion as well as
after-sale services. If the requisite kind of middlemen is not available, the
manufacturer will have to establish his own distribution outlet.
Type of Marketing Channel:
1. Intensive distribution:
Where every kind of retail outlet is used. For example Coca Cola uses
Grocery Stores, Panwalas, and the restaurant owners to market its
beverages, and hul uses not only grocery stores but also chemists to market
its soaps and shampoos. This kind of distribution is suitable for convenience
goods, like bread, butter, egg, newspapers, namkins, potato chips, etc.
2. Selective distribution:
Only a few outlets in an area are to distribute a product. It is most suitable for
shopping products which include consumer durables.
3. Exclusive distribution:
Only one outlet in a bigger geographical area is used to sell the product.
Exclusive distribution is used for costly, fashionable items whose sale is
limited. There is only one Mark & Spencer outlet in whole of Delhi.
Major Types of Retail Stores:
The Major Types of Retail Stores found in India are listed below:
1. Mom and Pop Stores:
These are the stores run by the family. India has a large number of Mom &
Pop Stores. The stores seen by you in your colony or street, wherefrom you
buy milk, bread, grocery, stationary, medicines are mostly these kind of stores
only.
2. Department Stores:
These are large retail firms, have wide product assortment (mix), and
organised into separate departments. Some of them also engage in online
business. The services are so varied that many a times the owner leases out
space to others for these services.
3. Discount Stores:
These are self-service, general merchandise stores, regularly offering
national, regional, and store brands at low prices. They believe in volumes.
Wal-Mart and Target are the two largest discount stores.
4. Convenience Stores:
These are small self-service stores, open for long hours, and normally carry
convenience goods like soft drinks, snacks, cigarettes, chocolates,
newspapers. The stores run at Petrol Pumps in India are convenience stores.
Convenience stores may also be located at the corner of your street.
5. Supermarkets:
These are big, self-service stores, carry a complete line of food and non-food
products (like cosmetics and over the counter drugs), organised into efficient
different departments, offer lower prices than small neighbourhood
stores),and central checkout. Kishore Biyani’s ‘Big Bazaar’ comes very close
to this category only.
6. Superstores:
These are an amalgam of supermarkets and discount stores. They carry other
routinely purchased items apart from food and non-food products of
supermarkets- food to clothing, appliances to furniture, gardening equipment
to artificial jewellery.
Superstores are spread over 2, 00,000 square feet area. Those who shop
there have free parking. Sales volume is twice or thrice of supermarkets.
Bangalore’s ‘Bangalore Central’ can be put in the category of superstore.
7. Hypermarket:
These stores are spread over 2, 25,000 to 3, 25,000 square feet area and
offer roughly 45,000 to 60,000 different types of low-priced products. Roughly
half of the space is allocated to groceries and rest is meant for electrical and
electronic appliances, shoes, toys, house wares, hardware’s, furniture, etc.
Space is leased to banks and fast food restaurants. According to Wikipedia
the examples of hypermarket in India include India Sarvana Stores in
Chennai, Big Bazar, Trent, Landmark, Spencer’s Retail, Vishal mega mart,
Reliance Fresh, More, etc.
8. Cash-and-Carry Stores:
In India recently, some cash-and-carry stores, also known as Warehouse
Clubs, have opened. Important among them are Bharati-Walmart (Punjab),
Carrefour (in trans-Yamuna area of Delhi).
These are for members only and engaged in wholesaling only. To keep prices
lower than supermarkets and discount stores, they provide little range of sizes
and styles and services. They do not advertise, except through SMS and email.
9. Warehouse Showrooms:
IKEA, a Swedish firm sells furniture, household goods and kitchen
accessories through catalogues across the world. Five important features of a
warehouse showroom are large, low-cost buildings, warehouse materialshandling technology, vertical merchandise displays, large on-premises
inventories, and minimal services.
10. Specialty Retailers:
These stores offer wide assortment in few product lines. In case of jewellery
we have many such stores, like Suranas of Jaipur, PC Jewellers of Delhi,
Ramchandra KrishnaChandra of Chandni Chowk, and Saboos of Delhi in
sarees. These are traditional speciality stores and deal in one product line.
Another category of speciality stores are known as off-price retailers, who buy
manufacturers’ seconds and off-season products at below-wholesale prices
for resale to consumers at deep discounts. One good example is ‘Thapars’
who organise sale of such goods in Delhi.
11. Chain Stores:
These stores provide similar services or products, and share a brand. They
inevitably also share some degree of central management, supply chains,
training programs, personnel, etc.
They tend to either be parts of a single company or franchises, in which
individual store owners license the use of the shared brand, training, and
know-how. McDonald’s is the largest in the world in running chain stores. Bata
is another good example of chain stores.
12. Multi-level Retailing:
It is also called network marketing. It is a mix of direct selling and franchising.
Three notable companies in this kind of business are Amway India, Oriflame
India (beauty products), and Tupperware India (food grade plastic containers).
Amway has over 5, 50,000 active independent business owners.
13. Mail Order Retailing:
The mail order business is not new to India. Publishers and pharma
companies have been doing it for a long time. Recently Sky shopping,
popularly known as the Direct Response Television (DRTV) industry has also
become very important form of marketing through mail.
14. Non-Store based Retailers:
The mail order houses, online businesses, vendors, and hawkers are
examples of non-store based retailers.
Logistics Management:
For smooth inflow of goods from manufacturer to ultimate consumers, there
are many backend operations which are performed by Logistics. It basically
includes – Order
Processing (receipt and transmission of sales order information), inventory
management (when to order and how much to order), materials handling
(physical handling), Warehousing (design and operation facilities for storing),
and transportation (movement of goods to intermediaries and ultimate users).
The promotion (The 4th P):
Promotion relates to communicating with customers. It will provide information
to assist them in making a decision to buy a product or service. The cost
associated with promotion often represents a sizeable proportion of the overall
cost of producing an item. However, successful promotion helps to build long
term relationship. With increased sales due to promotion, costs are spread
over a larger output.
Though increased promotional activity is often a sign of a response to a
problem such as competitive activity, it enables an organization to develop
and build up a succession of messages and can be extremely cost- effective.
Here, the company should follow Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC),
which means coordinated use of promotion mix to send a consistent
message.
Promotion mix contains four elements: Advertising (paid, non-personal
communication through mass media), Personal selling (a paid personal
communication to inform and persuade customers to purchase), Sales
Promotion (to provide added value or incentives to consumers, wholesalers,
retailers, or other organizational customers to stimulate immediate sales), and
Public Relations (a broad set of communication efforts to create and maintain
favourable relationship between organisation and stakeholder).
Promotion mix shall depend on nature of the product market, promotional
budget, costs and availability of promotional methods, overall marketing
strategy, buyer readiness stage and product life stage.
It is important to note that for every element of promotion mix ‘word-of-mouthcommunication’ (a one to one, informal exchange in which customers share
with one another information about product and company).
Promotion strategy may be ‘push'(use of a company’s sales force and trade
promotion activities to create consumer demand for a product. The producer
promotes the product to wholesalers, the wholesalers promote it to retailers,
and the retailers promote it to consumers), ‘Pull’ (high spending on advertising
and consumer promotion to build up consumer demand for a product,
consumers will ask their retailers for the product, the retailers will ask the
wholesalers, and the wholesalers will ask the producers) or a combination of
the two (It focuses both on the distributor as well as the consumers, targeting
both parties directly).
Advertising:
Advertising informs, persuades and at times entertains (Vodafone’s Zoos).
Advertising can be of numerous types – Competitive or Comparative
Advertising (showing comparison with another brand, like Zen with Sentro),
Reinforcement Advertising (assures current users about quality), Reminder
Advertising (brand is still around with same quality attributes, like Bourn Vita
during the Second World War), Institutional Advertising (to promote corporate
image, ideas, and political issues – like Reliance Power ad for supremacy of
family agreement), Advocacy Advertising (Tata Tea’s ad asking questions to a
political candidate), Pioneer or Primary Demand Advertising (Egg Board ad
saying Sunday ho ya Monday roj khao ande), In-film Advertising (In the movie
Chalte Chalte, actor Shah Rukh Khan acting as a driver, recommends other
drivers to also use Castrol CRB like him), National Advertising (Amul Butter,
being sold throughout India, is being advertised through various media),
Transit Advertising (ad placed in Metro or Local trains), and so on.
Various media are available for advertising — Newspapers, Magazines, Direct
mail, Radio, TV, Internet, yellow pages, Outdoor, etc. It is the advertiser to
decide which one or ones to make use of. The ad message would be given
differently on different media, due to media characteristics. Advertising
effectiveness can be judged through pretest, and posttest.
Personal Selling:
Personal selling is a process which includes seven steps – Prospecting
(Developing a list of potential customers), Preapproach (prepares customer
profile about his needs, present use and reaction to current brand (s)),
Approach (Contacting to deliver value), Presentation (to create a desire to buy
the product), Overcoming Objections (regarding price, quality, use, after sale
service, warranty, etc), Closing the sale (asking the prospect to buy the
product) and Follow up (to see that order was properly executed).
For personal selling the firm requires salespeople, who may be order getters
(persuading current and new customers to buy) and order takers (seeking
repeat sales). To increase effectiveness of salespeople, the marketing
manager decides on sales territories and sales quota. The effectiveness of
sales force depends upon performance appraisal. Information can be sought
through the call reports, customer feedback and invoices.
Some of the firms instead of personal selling go in for vending machines,
which are cheaper to install and operate and flexible in location. Mother Dairy,
Weighing machines at Railway Stations, Metro stations, ATMs operated by
Banks, Coffee and Tea machines operated by Hindustan Unilever and Nestle
are good examples, recent fake notes at one of the ATMs of a bank has
shaken the faith of people in vending machines.
Sales Promotion:
Sales promotions are short-term incentives to encourage the purchase or sale
of a product or service. Sales promotion as a technique of promotion has
been developed to supplement and coordinate advertising and personal
selling efforts of a firm. It is any short-term incentive used by a firm to increase
the sales of its product.
It consists of all those promotional activities that help in enhancing sales
through non-repetitive and one-time communication. It is aimed at stimulating
market demand and consumer purchasing. It focuses the selling efforts on a
selected small group of people. A firm undertakes sales promotion with the
following objectives:
(a) Increasing the buying response of ultimate consumers.
(b) Increasing the selling efforts and intensity by dealers as well as by sales
personnel.
(c) Supplementing and co-ordinating the efforts of advertising and personal
selling.
(d) Introduction of new products and brands, and acquainting the customers
about the use of product.
(e) Acquainting the customers about the utility of the product.
(f) Affecting instant purchase and attracting new customers.
(g) Increasing sales during slack periods and increasing profits of the firm.
(h) Improving the corporate image of the firm.
(i) Others – improving market share, obtaining dealer outlets, meeting
competition.
Sales promotion includes several communications and activities that attempt
to provide added value or incentives to consumers, wholesalers, retailers, or
other organizational customers to stimulate immediate sales.
These efforts can attempt to stimulate product interest, trial, or purchase.
While developing a sales promotion strategy, it is important to keep the in
mind: Consumer attitudes and buying patterns, Firm’s brand strategy,
competitive strategy, advertising strategy, stage in PLC, and government
regulations.
Tools and programmes are designed both for the consumers and dealers.
Tools & Programmes for consumers include the following: (i) Sample (free
samples given to consumers), (ii) Demonstrations or instructions (Vacuum
cleaner), (Hi) Coupon ( a certificate that reduces the price, a dentist to charge
no consultation fee, if coupon is presented), (iv) Money-refund orders
(makemytrip.com gives ? 300 cash back on purchase of air ticket, if purchase
is made through ICICI Credit card), (v) Premium (gift) offers (Liril gave a soap
box almost free with two soap cakes, Hindustan Lever offered a ‘Sun silk’
sachet free with its detergent powder Rin, Kwality Walls tied up with Cadbury
to give free 5 Star with the purchase of Kwality ice-cream,), (vi) Price-off (Rs.
4 on a Brooke Bond tea pack of 500 grams), (vii) Contests /quizzes
/sweepstakes (Sage Publication on every Sunday asks question, of whose
answers are in that very newspaper and gives books in prize), (viii) Trading
stamps (issued by retailers to customers who buy goods from there,
Bangalore Central gives a stamp worth ? 600 on purchase of Rs. 5000, which
can be used after next purchase of Rs. 1,200), (ix) Fairs and Exhibitions
(Trade shows, fashion shows or parades, fairs and exhibitions , Lever Lame
sponsored Fashion Week for many years), (xi) Exchange scheme (exchange
the old product with new by paying less , like exchange of old Black & White
Television for Colour Television by paying rupees 8000 only), (x) Sale (Annual
clearance sale of jainsons). The list is not exhaustive.
Tools and programmes for dealers/distributors sales promotion includes (i)
Free display (of material at the point of purchase) (ii) Retail Demonstrations
(arranged by manufactures for preparing and distributing the products as a
retail sample, like, Nescafe Instant Coffee was served to consumers for trying
the sample on the spot of demonstration regarding the method of using the
product), (iii) Trade deals (offered to encourage retailers to give additional
selling support to the product, e.g., tooth paste sold with 30% to 40% margin)
(iv) Buying allowance ( Sellers give buying allowance of a certain amount of
money for a product bought, say f 50 per carton), (v) Buy-back allowance (
offered to encourage repurchase of a product immediately after an initial trade
deal is over. A buy back is a resale opportunity), (vi) Free goods (Seller gives
free goods, e.g., one piece free with two, or two pieces free with 10), (vii)
Advertising and display allowance (to popularise the product and brand name,
like calendar, key ring, crockery, etc ), (viii) Contests (for salesmen), (ix)
Dealer loader (A gift for an order is a premium given to the retailer for buying
certain quantities of goods or for special display done by the retailer), (x)
Training for salesmen (to give them a better knowledge of a product and how
to use it).
Public Relations:
Public Relations is used to build rapport with employees, customers,
investors, and the general public. Almost any organization that has a stake in
how it is portrayed in the public arena employs some level of public relations.
There are a number of public relations disciplines falling under the banner of
corporate communications, such as analyst relations, media relations, investor
relations, internal communications and labor relations. Most of them include
the aspect of peer review to get visibility.
The People (The 5th P):
Right people, properly trained, is a must for obtaining competitive advantage.
It is the interaction with people consumers perceive of quality of service. The
people should have appropriate interpersonal skills, aptitude and service
knowledge to deliver expected service. The students perceive of their college
on the basis of teaching and non-teaching staff attitudes.
The Process (The 6th P):
Process is the delivery and operating systems of procedures, mechanisms
and flow of activities which services are consumed. To deliver products or
services, systems or processes have to be in place, to avoid any discretion.
Imagine you get in McDonalds and order a burger and get it within 2 minutes.
Such an efficient service will earn customer loyalty and repeat visits. Every
business must have processes, like, processes for handling customer
complaints, processes for identifying customer needs and requirements,
processes for handling order etc.
The Physical Evidence (The 7th P):
Physical evidence refers to the environment in which the service is delivered,
and the tangibles that help to communicate and perform the service. If you
walk in a grocer’s shop and find rats, insects and flies, what will be your
perception? The young generation prefers to go to malls instead of street
shop is the physical ambience.- the cleanliness, air conditioning, parking
facility, facility to touch, etc. People do not mind to pay more but need clean
environment at the place of delivery for having better experience. The
importance of quality of physical evidence is important is required both for
services and product marketing.
Promotion
Marketing Mix | Promotion in Four P’s
As part of the marketing mix, promotion includes all activities that involve
communicating with the customer about the product and its benefits and
features. Once a company has worked on the product and price elements, it is time
to start a conversation with the consumer about the product. This includes raising
awareness through different mediums to increase sales, as well as to create and
foster brand loyalty.
Information provided to the customer at this stage helps them in making purchase
decisions regarding the product. Often, there is substantial cost associated with
promotional activities. But since the result is often an increase in sales or customer
loyalty, there is thought to be long term return on this investment. There are many
ends that a company may try to reach through a promotion including but not
limited to an increase in sales, acceptance of new products, brand equity creation
and brand positioning, addressing competitor actions and rebranding.
© Entrepreneurial Insights
In this article we will look at 1) role of promotion in the marketing mix,
2)objectives of promotional activities, 3) major targets of promotional
campaigns, 4) the promotional mix, 5) types of promotional strategies,
6)managing promotion through the product life cycle, and 7) an example of the
promotion mix in action.
ROLE OF PROMOTION IN THE MARKETING MIX
As briefly mentioned in the introduction, promotion is the communication aspect of
the marketing mix. It is creating a channel for conversation with the targeted consumer base.
Through promotion, the company aims to attract the customer’s attention and give them enough
information about the product to foster enough interest to motivate them to purchase.
The team tasked with these activities will begin by understanding the dynamics of the target
audience and deciding which modes of promotion are likely to help meet targets. Once the
channel is decided, information from other elements of the mix is incorporated to ensure that the
message sent corresponds to the actual product features, benefits and user experience. None of
the elements of the marketing mix work in isolation. Instead a unified body of information acts
as the source for all activities within these 4P’s. The available information is filtered to include
those areas which will be most relevant to the target audience.
OBJECTIVES OF PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES
Different organizations have different expectations from their promotional activities. These
expectations are developed into objectives which then shape the selection and execution of these
activities. Some possible objectives of promotion for any company may include:
Building Awareness
Often, a product or brand may need to create an identity within the market. For the most part,
this applies to a new company, a new brand or a new product. But often it may also be needed in
times of rebranding or building up a failing product. The aim then is to select those promotional
activities that help inform the customer about the company and the product.
Creating Interest
If the customer is already aware of the product or has been made aware through some activities,
it becomes necessary to move them along to actual purchasing behavior. The aim here is to
identify a need that the product fulfills and make sure that the customer recognizes this need as
something that is unfulfilled for them.
Providing Information
Sometimes, a company may just need to provide necessary information regarding the product, its
benefits, features or usage to the consumer. This may be the case if a new product is introduced
into the market. Unique features or benefits may need to be explained. In other cases, a new
feature on an existing product may need to be highlighted. In some cases, such as in instances
where environmental impact or health scares may be in play, information about a change in
business practices and company policy may need to be communicated.
Stimulate Demand
A company may seek to enhance its sales through promotion. If sales have been lower than
usual, then the aim may be to get them back up to target level by re-engaging old customers and
encouraging new ones to try a product out. In other instances, the aim may be to increase sales
further at certain times of the year such as near a major holiday. Free demonstrations or special
deals may be used to reach these ends.
Differentiate product
In situations where there are many competitors in the market, a company may seek to use
promotional activities to differentiate its product in the market and make it stand out from the
crowd. The focus here remains on those features, functionalities or benefits that may not be
offered by a competitor or may not be offered so well.
Reinforce the Brand
One basic aim of a promotional activity may be to further strengthen the brand and its place in
the market. This helps turn a first time purchases into a life time purchaser. This can also help
create advocates for the product from within the customer base.
MAJOR TARGETS OF PROMOTIONAL
CAMPAIGNS
Any promotional activity is usually designed with a specific target audience in mind. The
activity is therefore created using messages, cues and information that they will respond to.
Realistically, the major portion of any promotional budget is aimed at this specific targeted
audience. However, there may be important fringe groups who may have an influence over the
intended target or stake in the product. Some of these fringe groups may include:
1.
The Actual Audience – These are the current customers of the product as well as former
customers and any potential new customers. The activity is created for these people specifically.
2.
Influencers – People or organizations that may have their own sphere of influence over the
target audience make up this category. If a positive impact is made on these people, they may
then use this influence to encourage sales. The media, opinion leaders, Trade associations and
special interest groups are some of these influencers.
3.
Distribution Channel Members – The product is handled and provided to the customer through
this channel making them an important category of targets. A retailer may choose to display a
certain product in a more prominent position than the others if they believe in the product and
its benefits.
4.
Other Companies – Communicating with other companies may open up opportunities to
collaborate on joint ventures.
THE PROMOTIONAL MIX
There may often be a tendency to narrow down the focus of promotional activities to only
advertising. Quite the opposite, there are a number of ways to approach the audience with
information about the product. Increasingly, businesses feel the need to use both one directional
and two sided means of communications to reach the customer.
Through the promotional mix, a company aims to fulfill two basic objectives. One is to make the
customer aware that the product and brand exist. The other is to persuade them to actually pick
this product over all others and continue to buy it.
Five Elements of the Promotional Mix
© Entrepreneurial Insights
There are five methods that make up a promotional mix. A company may choose to use one or
more of these in harmony to ensure a clear, effective and direct message reaches the customer.
The selection of the portfolio of activities may depend on the company’s marketing and sales
strategies and budget allocations. These five methods are:
1.
Advertising – This mode of promotion is usually paid, with little or no personal message. Mass
media such as television, radio or newspapers and magazines is most often the carrier of these
messages. Apart from these, billboards, posters, web pages, brochures and direct mail also fall in
the same category. While this method has traditionally been one sided, advertisement over new
media such as the internet may allow for quick feedback.
2.
Public Relations & Sponsorship – PR or publicity tries to increase positive mention of the
product or brand in influential media outlets. These could include newspapers, magazines, talk
shows and new media such as social networks and blogs. This could also mean allowing super
users, or influencers to test the product and speak positively about it to their peers. This type of
advertisement may or may not be paid. For example, sponsoring a major event and increasing
brand visibility is a paid action. Sending free samples to a blogger then depends on their
discretion and opinion and is not usually swayed by payment.
3.
Personal Selling – Opposite of the one directional promotional methods, direct selling connects
company representatives with the consumer. These interactions can be in person, over the phone
and over email or chat. This personal contact aims to create a personal relationship between the
client and the brand or product.
4.
Direct Marketing – This channel targets specific influential potential users through
telemarketing, customized letters, emails and text messages.
5.
Sales Promotions – These are usually short term strategic activities which aim to encourage a
surge in sales. These could be ‘buy one get one free’ options, seasonal discounts, contests,
samples or even special coupons with expiration dates.
Important Considerations in Promotional Decisions
Whenever a company sets out to design its promotional mix, it needs to consider the following
points:
1.
Stage in the Product Lifecycle – During the beginning of the lifecycle, there may need to be
more aggressive and informational advertising, while a slowdown in promotions may be seen
during the later stages.
2.
Nature of the Product – If a product is not new in its usage or function, there may be less need
for information and more focus on brand equity creation as well as on emotional aspects of the
product.
3.
The Allocated and Available Budge – A certain total budget is set for promotional activities and
these then need to be designed and executed within these constraints.
4.
Cultural Sensitivity – If a product is to be launched in a new international market or translated
across markets, it becomes imperative to take into consideration local affiliations and
sensitivities. These include both cultural and religious considerations. Often, these issues may
even present themselves within one country.
5.
Target Market Composition – The people who make up the target market need to be
considered before committing to a promotional mix. If a market is not tech savvy, then more
traditional means may need to be employed. Conversely, an internet generation used to instant
gratification may need to be provided more focused and targeted messages.
6.
Competitor Actions – The methods a competitor uses need to be taken into account as well.
There may not be a need to spend money on a radical advertising method if a customer is using
rudimentary methods for example.
TYPES OF PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES
A company may use different strategies to promote its products. These can be broadly
categorized as push and pull strategies. Both strategies differ in how the customer is approached.
© Entrepreneurial Insights
Push Strategies
As the name indicates, this is when the product is taken to the customer by the company. This is
mostly used when the product is an impulse purchase or if the company has an established
relationship with the customer base. Companies may sell directly from their showrooms or at
tradeshows etc. Essentially, there is less need to create an advertising buzz and more to make the
product readily available at retail outlets and showrooms. Push marketing may focus primarily
on short term sales.
Pull Strategies
In the opposite approach, there is an attempt to pull customers towards the brand or product.
Through mass media campaigns to sales promotions and personal references, a company
attempts to create brand loyalty and attractiveness. Pull strategies may attempt to focus primarily
on long term brand loyalty then high sales in the short term. A lot of media hype and mass
campaigns are required to create sufficient interest and encourage customers to seek out the
product on their own.
Most companies will use a mix of these two strategies at different points in time.
MANAGING PROMOTION THROUGH THE
PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE
© Wikimedia commons | Malakooti, B. (2013). Operations and Production Systems with Multiple Objectives
As briefly mentioned before, different stages of the product life cycle require different types of
promotional activities and strategies. This will help prolong the life of the product.
1.
Introduction – At this stage, major promotional campaigns and activities will be designed and
executed. A comprehensive promotional mix will be designed with full input from the rest of the
marketing mix. The aim here is to provide detailed information about the product, its features
and benefits. Special offers and sales promotions may also be used to pull in customers while in
some markets push strategies may be used simultaneously employed.
2.
Growth – Once the product is established and accepted, there will be a shift in strategy from
information to more emotional aspects. The aim is to increase brand awareness, create strong
brand equity and foster long term customer loyalty.
3.
Maturity – By now the market may have matured and there may be stiff competition and similar
products available. Promotional activities will now turn more persuasive and there may be an
attempt to create product differentiation by highlighting specific benefits and features that fulfill
needs and are unique.
4.
Decline – At this point, promotional activities may wind down to the occasional reminder that
the product exists in an attempt to forestall the product’s eventual decline.
Product, placement, promotion and price are the four elements of the marketing mix.
Product
The term "product" is defined as anything, either tangible or intangible, offered by the firm; as a solution to
the needs and wants of the consumer; something that is profitable or potentially profitable; and a goods or
service that meets the requirements of the various governing offices or society. The two most common
ways that products can differentiated are:
1.
Consumer goods versus industrial goods, and
2.
Goods products (i.e. durables and non-durables) versus service products
Intangible products are service-based, such as the tourism industry, the hotel industry, and the financial
industry. Tangible products are those that have an independent physical existence. Typical examples of
mass-produced, tangible objects are automobiles and the disposable razor. A less obvious but ubiquitous
mass produced service is a computer operating system.
Every product is subject to a life-cycle that starts with its introduction and is followed by a growth phase,
a maturity phase, and finally a period of decline as sales falls. Marketers must do careful research on the
length of the product's life-cycle and focus their attention on different challenges that arise as the product
moves through each stage.
The 4Ps in action
Coca Cola's marketing strategy includes elements of all 4Ps.
The marketer must also consider the product mix, which includes factors such as product depth and
breadth. Product depth refers to the number of sub-categories of products a company offers under its
broad spectrum category. For example, Ford Motor Company's product category is automobiles. It's
product depth includes sub-categories such as passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, transport
vehicles, et cetera. This broad spectrum category is also known as a product line. Product breadth, on the
other hand, refers to the number of product lines a company offers.
Marketers should consider how to position the product, how to exploit the brand, how to exploit the
company's resources, and how to configure the product mix so that each product complements the other.
Failure to do so can result in brand dilution, which is a situation in which a product loses its branded
identity, resulting in decreased sales and perceived quality. The marketer must also consider
product development strategies.
Placement
Product distribution (or placement) is the process of making a product or service accessible for use or
consumption by a consumer or business user, using direct means, or using indirect means with
intermediaries.
Distribution Types
1.
2.
3.
Intensive distribution means the producer's products are stocked in the majority of outlets. This strategy is
common for basic supplies, snack foods, magazines and soft drink beverages.
Selective distribution means that the producer relies on a few intermediaries to carry their product. This
strategy is commonly observed for more specialized goods that are carried through specialist dealers, for example,
brands of craft tools, or large appliances.
Exclusive distribution means that the producer selects only very few intermediaries. Exclusive distribution
is often characterized by exclusive dealing where the re-seller carries only that producer's products to the exclusion
of all others. This strategy is typical of luxury goods retailers such as Gucci.
The decision regarding how to distribute a product has, as its foundation, basic economic concepts, such
as utility. Utility represents the advantage or fulfillment a customer receives from consuming a good or
service. Understanding the utility a consumer expects to receive from a product being offered
can lead marketers to the correct distribution strategy.
Promotion
The three basic objectives of promotion are :
1.
2.
3.
To present product information to targeted consumers and business customers.
To increase demand among the target market.
To differentiate a product and create a brand identity.
A marketer may use advertising, public relations, personal selling, direct marketing, and sales promotion
to achieve these objectives. A promotional mix specifies how much attention to give each of the five
subcategories, and how much money to budget for each. A promotional plan can have a wide range of
objectives, including: sales increases, new product acceptance, creation of brand equity, positioning,
competitive retaliations, or creation of a corporate image.
Price
The price is the amount a customer pays for the product. The concept of price is in contrast to the
concept of value, which is the perceived utility a customer will receive from a product. Adjusting the price
has a profound impact on the marketing strategy, and depending on the price elasticity of the product, often
it will affect the demand and sales as well. The marketer should set a price that complements the other
elements of the marketing mix. A well chosen price should (a) ensure survival (b) increase profit (c)
generate sales (d) gain market share, and (e) establish an appropriate image.
From the marketer's point of view, an efficient price is a price that is very close to the maximum that
customers are prepared to pay. In economic terms, it is a price that shifts most of the consumer surplus to
the producer. A good pricing strategy would be the one which could balance between the price floor and
the price ceiling and take into account the customer's perceived value. Common pricing strategies include
cost-plus pricing, skimming, penetration pricing, value-based pricing, and many more.
 The term "product" is defined as anything, either tangible or intangible (such as a service), offered
by the firm; a solution to the needs and wants of the consumer; profitable or potentially profitable;
and as meeting the requirements of the various governing offices or society.
 Placement, or product distribution, is the process of making a product or service accessible for
use or consumption by a consumer or business user, using direct means, or using indirect means
with intermediaries.
 The three basic objectives of promotion are to 1) present information to consumers and others,
2) to increase demand, and 3) to differentiate a branded product or service through advertising, public relations, personal selling, direct marketing, and sales promotion.
 The price is the amount a customer pays for the product. A well chosen price should (a) ensure
survival (b) increase profit (c) generate sales (d) gain market share, and (e) establish an
appropriate image.
 Value is what a customer receives from a product.
Brand management
In marketing, brand management is the analysis and planning on how that brand is perceived in
the market. Developing a good relationship with the target market is essential for brand
management. Tangible elements of brand management include the product itself; look, price, the
packaging, etc. The intangible elements are the experience that the consumer has had with the
brand, and also the relationship that they have with that brand. A brand manager would oversee all
of these things.
In 2001 Hislop defined branding as "the process of creating a relationship or a connection between a
company's product and emotional perception of the customer for the purpose of generating
segregation among competition and building loyalty among customers." In 2004 and 2008, Kapferer
and Keller respectively defined it as a fulfillment in customer expectations and consistent customer
satisfaction.[1]
Brand management is a function of marketing that uses special techniques in order to increase the
perceived value of a product (see: Brand equity). Based on the aims of the established marketing
strategy, brand management enables the price of products to grow and builds loyal customers
through positive associations and images or a strong awareness of the brand.[2]
Brand Positioning - Definition and Concept
Brand positioning refers to “target consumer’s” reason to buy your brand in preference to others.
It is ensures that all brand activity has a common aim; is guided, directed and delivered by the brand’s
benefits/reasons to buy; and it focusses at all points of contact with the consumer.
Brand positioning must make sure that:







Is it unique/distinctive vs. competitors ?
Is it significant and encouraging to the niche market ?
Is it appropriate to all major geographic markets and businesses ?
Is the proposition validated with unique, appropriate and original products ?
Is it sustainable - can it be delivered constantly across all points of contact with the consumer ?
Is it helpful for organization to achieve its financial goals ?
Is it able to support and boost up the organization ?
In order to create a distinctive place in the market, a niche market has to be carefully chosen and a
differential advantage must be created in their mind. Brand positioning is a medium through which an
organization can portray it’s customers what it wants to achieve for them and what it wants to mean to
them. Brand positioning forms customer’s views and opinions.
Brand Positioning can be defined as an activity of creating a brand offer in such a manner that it occupies
a distinctive place and value in the target customer’s mind. For instance-Kotak Mahindra positions itself in
the customer’s mind as one entity- “Kotak ”- which can provide customized and one-stop solution for all
their financial services needs. It has an unaided top of mind recall. It intends to stay with the proposition
of “Think Investments, Think Kotak”. The positioning you choose for your brand will be influenced by the
competitive stance you want to adopt.
Brand Positioning involves identifying and determining points of similarity and difference to ascertain the
right brand identity and to create a proper brand image. Brand Positioning is the key of marketing
strategy. A strong brand positioning directs marketing strategy by explaining the brand details, the
uniqueness of brand and it’s similarity with the competitive brands, as well as the reasons for buying and
using that specific brand. Positioning is the base for developing and increasing the required knowledge
and perceptions of the customers. It is the single feature that sets your service apart from your
competitors. For instance- Kingfisher stands for youth and excitement. It represents brand in full flight.
There are various positioning errors, such as-
1. Under positioning- This is a scenario in which the customer’s have a blurred and unclear idea of
the brand.
2. Over positioning- This is a scenario in which the customers have too limited a awareness of the
brand.
3. Confused positioning- This is a scenario in which the customers have a confused opinion of the
brand.
4. Double Positioning- This is a scenario in which customers do not accept the claims of a brand.
Understanding Brand - What is a
Brand ?
Brands are different from products in a way that brands are “what the consumers buy”, while products are
“what concern/companies make”. Brand is an accumulation of emotional and functional associations.
Brand is a promise that the product will perform as per customer’s expectations. It shapes customer’s
expectations about the product. Brands usually have a trademark which protects them from use by
others. A brand gives particular information about the organization, good or service, differentiating it from
others in marketplace. Brand carries an assurance about the characteristics that make the product or
service unique. A strong brand is a means of making people aware of what the company represents and
what are it’s offerings.
To a consumer, brand means and signifies:







Source of product
Delegating responsibility to the manufacturer of product
Lower risk
Less search cost
Quality symbol
Deal or pact with the product manufacturer
Symbolic device
Brands simplify consumers purchase decision. Over a period of time, consumers discover the brands
which satisfy their need. If the consumers recognize a particular brand and have knowledge about it, they
make quick purchase decision and save lot of time. Also, they save search costs for product. Consumers
remain committed and loyal to a brand as long as they believe and have an implicit understanding that
the brand will continue meeting their expectations and perform in the desired manner consistently. As
long as the consumers get benefits and satisfaction from consumption of the product, they will more likely
continue to buy that brand. Brands also play a crucial role in signifying certain product features to
consumers.
To a seller, brand means and signifies:






Basis of competitive advantage
Way of bestowing products with unique associations
Way of identification to easy handling
Way of legal protection of products’ unique traits/features
Sign of quality to satisfied customer
Means of financial returns
A brand, in short, can be defined as a seller’s promise to provide consistently a unique set of
characteristics, advantages, and services to the buyers/consumers. It is a name, term, sign, symbol or a
combination of all these planned to differentiate the goods/services of one seller or group of sellers from
those of competitors. Some examples of well known brands are Mc Donald’s’, Mercedes-Benz,
Sony, Coca Cola, Kingfisher, etc.
A brand connects the four crucial elements of an enterprise- customers, employees, management and
shareholders. Brand is nothing but an assortment of memories in customers mind. Brand represents
values, ideas and even personality. It is a set of functional, emotional and rational associations and
benefits which have occupied target market’s mind. Associations are nothing but the images and symbols
associated with the brand or brand benefits, such as, The Nike Swoosh, The Nokia sound, etc. Benefits
are the basis for purchase decision.
Advertising as PR tool
PR Tools and Techniques
Creation and maintenance of a good public reputation is a complex and ongoing process. Without an
effective PR, it is very difficult to reach the attention of the target audience and much less to
influence their opinion and decisions. But when the relationship with the target group is finally
established, it needs to be maintained in order to keep it on a high level. The process works similar
to the interpersonal relationships. When two people lose contact, they pretty much disappear from
each other lives no matter how close they used to be. And the same happens with the target
audience if the established relationship is not maintained.
Common PR Tools and Techniques
In order to build a relationship with the target audience and maintain it on a high level, PR specialists
use a variety of tools and techniques. Some of the most common ones include:

Attendance at public events. In order to attract public attention and keep it engaged with a
particular organisation or an individual, PR specialists take an advantage of every public
event and the opportunity to speak publicly. This enables them to directly reach the public
attending the event and indirectly, a much larger audience.

Press releases. Information that is communicated as a part of the regular TV or/and radio
programme, newspapers, magazines and other types of mainstream media achieves a much
bigger impact than advertisements. This is due to the fact that most people consider such
information more trustworthy and meaningful than paid adds. Press release is therefore one
of the oldest and most effective PR tools.

Newsletters. Sending newsletters – relevant information about the organisation or/and its
products/services - directly to the target audience is also a common method to create and
maintain a strong relationship with the public. Newsletters are also a common marketing
strategy but PR specialists use it to share news and general information that may be of
interest to the target audience rather than merely promoting products/services.

Blogging. To reach the online audience, PR specialists use the digital forms of press
releases and newsletters but they also use a variety of other tools such as blogging and
recently, microblogging. It allows them to create and maintain a relationship with the target
audience as well as establish a two-way communication.

Social media marketing. Like its name suggests, it is used primarily by the marketing
industry. Social media networks, however, are also utilised by a growing number of PR
specialists to establish a direct communication with the public, consumers, investors and
other target groups.
Tools of Promotion - Advertising, Sales Promotion, Public Relation & Direct
Marketing
The 4 Ps of marketing are product, price, place and promotion. All four of these elements combine to
make a successful marketing strategy. Promotion looks to communicate the company’s message across
to the consumer. The four main tools of promotion are advertising, sales promotion, public relation
and direct marketing.
Advertising
Advertising is defined as any form of paid communication or promotion for product, service and idea.
Advertisement is not only used by companies but in many cases by museum, government and charitable
organizations. However, the treatment meted out to advertisement defers from an organization to an
organization.
Advertising development involves a decision across five Ms Mission, Money, Message, Media and
Measurement.
Mission looks at setting objectives for advertising. The objectives could be to inform, persuade, remind or
reinforce. Objective has to follow the marketing strategy set by the company.
Money or budget decision for advertising should look at stage of product life cycle, market share and
consumer base, competition, advertising frequency and product substitutability.
Message’s development further is divided into four steps, message generation, message evaluation and
selection, message execution, and social responsibility review.
Once the message is decided the next step is finalizing the media for delivering the message. The choice
of depends on reach of media, frequency of transmission and potential impact on customer. Based on
this choice of media types are made from newspaper, television, direct mail, radio, magazine and the
internet. After which timing of broadcast of the message is essential as to grab attention of the target
audience.
Checking on the effectiveness of communication is essential to company’s strategy. There are two types
of research communication effect research and sales effect research.
Sales Promotion
Promotion is an incentive tool used to drive up short term sales. Promotion can be launched directed at
consumer or trade. The focus of advertising to create reason for purchase the focus of promotion is to
create an incentive to buy. Consumer incentives could be samples, coupons, free trial and demonstration.
Trade incentive could be price off, free goods and allowances. Sales force incentive could be convention,
trade shows, competition among sales people.
Sales promotion activity can have many objectives, for example, to grab attention of new customer,
reward the existing customer, increase consumption of occasional users. Sales promotion is usually
targeted at the fence sitters and brand switchers.
Sales promotional activity for the product is selected looking at the overall marketing objective of the
company. The final selection of the consumer promotional tools needs to consider target audience,
budget, competitive response and each tool’s purpose.
Sales promotion activity should under-go pretest before implementation. Once the activity is launched it
should be controlled as to remain within the budget. Evaluation program is a must after implementation of
the promotional scheme.
Public Relations
Companies cannot survive in isolation they need to have a constant interaction with customers,
employees and different stakeholders. This servicing of relation is done by the public relation office. The
major function of the public relation office is to handle press releases, support product publicity, create
and maintain the corporate image, handle matters with lawmakers, guide management with respect to
public issues.
Companies are looking at ways to converge with functions of marketing and public relation in marketing
public relation. The direct responsibility of marketing public relation (MPR) is to support corporate and
product branding activities.
MPR is an efficient tool in building awareness by generating stories in media. Once the story is in
circulation MPR can establish credibility and create a sense of enigma among sales people as well as
dealers to boost enthusiasm. MPR is much more cost effective tool than other promotional activities.
Direct Marketing
The communication establishes through a direct channel without using any intermediaries is referred to
as direct marketing. Direct marketing can be used to deliver message or service. Direct marketing has
shown tremendous growth in recent years. The internet has played major part in this growth story. Direct
marketing saves time, makes an experience personal and pleasant. Direct marketing reduces cost for
companies. Face to face selling, direct mail, catalog marketing, telemarketing, TV and kiosks are media
for direct marketing.
Advertisement, Promotional activity, Public relation and direct marketing play an essential role in helping
companies reaches their marketing goals.
Advertising and publicity are two very different communication tools, even though
both employ the mass media as a vehicle for reaching large audiences.


Traditionally, most marketers placed heavy reliance on advertising and only
occasionally used publicity.
On the other hand, public relations practitioners have primarily relied on
publicity--or, as they sometimes prefer to call it, media relations--and only
rarely used advertising.
This does not mean that advertising should be seen only as a marketing tool and that
publicity should be seen only as a public relations tool. Thoughtfully used, both tools
are valuable for both functions.
Advertising buys its way into the media.
An advertiser purchases air time on a broadcast medium or page space in a print
medium and then uses that media time/space to deliver whatever persuasive messages
the advertiser chooses to the media's audiences. Presumably, a smart advertiser will
purchase ad space in only those media whose audiences are known to be consistent
with the target audiences the advertiser wants to reach.


Most often, advertising messages are inducements to purchase a product.
However, advertising space can be used for non-product oriented messages.
o "Adver-torials," for instance, are advertising messages which take sides
and present a specific view or opinion about public issues.
o "Image ads" are those which provide favorable information about an
organization and its policies that would not normally be considered
"newsworthy" enough for the media to report it of their own volition.
The biggest advantage of advertising is that it gives the organization total control of
the message that will be presented to the audience. The advertiser, not the media's
editors, control the content, the timing, and the amount of time/space given to the
advertising.
The biggest disadvantages are the high price of advertising and the skepticism with
which audiences sometimes view advertising that they know is unedited opinion of
the advertiser.
Publicity is presented by the media because it's
"newsworthy."
A publicity-seeker tries to "make the news" -- i.e., to convince reporters/editors to
present news coverage about a particular person, organization, or event -- by saying or
doing something that the news media will choose to report of their own volition as
part of their usual task of informing the public. The publicity-seeker's intent is to gain
free and hopefully favorable editorial coverage.
Other people and organizations who are fearful of receiving negative or harmful
publicity will employ public relations practitioners to try to suppress or counteract
negative media coverage.
Publicity-seekers are entirely at the mercy of the media's editors and other staff
members. The editors, not the individual or organization who wants the publicity,
decide whether or not anything will be reported in the media. And, even when
something is reported, it's the media staff who decide how it will be reported and how
much attention it will be given. It's very possible that information which an
organization offers the media in a positive and flattering news release could show up
in a news story that casts a negative or critical light on the organization that supplied
it.
For years the conventional wisdom was that the biggest advantages of publicity were
the lack of direct cost and the apparent "third-party endorsement" effect.


It's not necessary to buy media space/time, but publicity is not totally free.
There are salary and production costs involved in having someone prepare
news releases or perform other publicity work.
Media audiences often give information presented as publicity more credibility
than if the same information were presented in an ad. That's because they know
that presumably objective editors decide what's included in the news whereas
self-serving organizations decide what to put in their ads.
This conventional wisdom was at least partially ratified in a 1994 landmark study
conducted by the Wirthlin Group that looked at the relative impact which publicity
and advertising have on consumers' buying decisions. According to O'Dwyer's PR
Services (Sept. `94), "Those surveyed reported that a news article or feature in a
newspaper or magazine would impact their buying decisions more than ads for a
product or service." More specifically, 28 percent of the adults over age 18 said a
news or feature story would be likely to influence their decision to buy a specific
product, while only 8 percent said that an ad for the product would be likely to
influence their decision.
Alice Allen, president of the Allen Communications Group in New York which
helped fund the study, also pointed out that the relative impact of publicity,
particularly newspaper and magazine stories, was further increased among
respondents who had completed higher education and had higher income levels.
On the other hand, the biggest disadvantages of publicity are the lack of control over
the specific content, the timing, and the amount of coverage.
Used together, ads and publicity can create a powerful
synergy
In the past, most practitioners would select and use either advertising or public
relations to get their messages out depending on which seemed most appropriate for
the prevailing circumstances. In some instances, they may have even used both, but it
wasn't a common practice and there was no evidence that pointed to it being
particularly effective. In the last few years, that's started to change.
During the 1990's AT&T studied the relative effectiveness of advertising and media
relations in helping to acquire new customers. Some of these findings and others were
recently published in a study by the Institute for Public Relations (IPR) at the
University of Florida. The general conclusion of that study, as reported by pr
reporter (7/16/01), was that news coverage, whether generated through media
relations efforts or not, "modulates the impact of advertising." Most of the time, they
work synergistically and reinforce one another, but there are exceptions.



The most common circumstances involve routine amounts of positive or neutral
news stories. In situations like this, complementary or supporting advertising
works with the news coverage to produce an even more positive impact on
public attitudes.
The same is true when there is an unusually large amount of positive news
coverage. There's a more positive impact on public attitudes with advertising
than there is without it, but the added impact of the advertising, while positive,
is significantly less forceful in this type of situation.
On the other hand, when there is an unusual amount of negative news coverage,
"incremental advertising doesn't have a positive incremental impact and may
even have a negative one." Perhaps, and this is only my speculation, this occurs
because the audience perceives the advertising as an attempt to overshadow or
compensate for the negative news. But, whatever the reason, the best
suggestion based on currently available evidence might be to reduce, not
increase, advertising during times when your organization is getting bad press.
The best ways of using advertising and media relations to reinforce one another
remain to be determined. But, in the meantime, the IPR study author Bruce JeffriesFox suggests, "that partnerships between media relations and advertising would save
money and pack a bigger punch. ... Messages from both worlds combine in the minds
of consumers."
Public relations programs can often be created, managed, and executed effectively
by small businesses. By taking the time to craft press releaase and to participate in
community service activities, a small business can generate significant good will
with very little time and effort.
Public relations (PR) efforts, like advertising, can help to build business and product awareness among
target buyers and end users, often at a fraction of the cost of advertising. Many small and large
businesses consciously utilize PR as a way to obtain free advertising about their products and services.
PR can be an effective way to generate valuable word-of-mouth advertising, sometimes due to the
greater credibility and availability of information provided in editorial articles and interviews with your
company personnel.
How persuasive is PR? Free media publicity was largely responsible for the brief (1989-90), frenetic
ground swell for consumption of oat bran as an anti-cancer food. Melatonin, a naturally produced
substance that aids sleep and may be an anti-aging product, is another PR craze, with newspaper,
magazine, and electronic media discussing positive preliminary research results. Health food companies
cash in on this free publicity, without spending funds for advertising, promotion, or public relations.
Snapple, the tea-based beverage, achieved sales in the hundreds of millions with zany PR programs that
generated millions of dollars in free publicity. After the Snapple brand was purchased by Quaker Oats, the
zany PR stopped and sales declined.
PR Can Leverage Advertising and Promotion Programs
Public relations events can leverage the effects of advertising and promotion programs by tying all these
marketing elements together. For example, a local on-site PR event for an automotive service company
could include erecting a hospitality tent for company sales personnel to entertain key buyers at a local
auto race. The local chain store buyers and car-owner end users could be exposed to ad messages on
billboards, from announcers, and on race cars with the company logo. Buyers and end users could be
given a free promotional sample to take home and try in their cars.
Public Relations Must Be Ongoing
Frequency and consistency are as necessary for effective public relations as they are the other two
branches of marketing communications, advertising and promotions. To be effective, you must work on
PR every day and on every level of your business—from the way you deal with your employees to how
quickly you shovel the snow from in front of your establishment. Make it a habit to constantly consider the
image you are projecting. It's a good one to have.
Take Time to Plan and Execute Comprehensive PR Program
Public relations programs can often be created, managed, and executed completely by small business
personnel. Many PR programs are simple to create and do, unlike advertising and some promotion
events requiring outside experts to create, produce, manage, and execute. Creating an effective PR
program for a small business follows the same procedures as creating effective advertising and
promotion programs, which include:





Build upon a solid business positioning strategy.
Establish marketing objectives. For example, percent awareness among target buyers and end
users over a specific period of time (e.g., "achieve 50 percent awareness of our new product line
among key chain buyers by the end of year one").
Establish a PR budget. See our discussion of a small business budget process.
Determine the PR message. See advertising ideas.
Select PR channels and events:

press releases

speeches

public service or charitable activities

special events

company vehicles and other assets
Press Releases Do Double Duty: Raising Awareness and Providing Advertising
The press release is a widely used public relations tool. In addition, if your press release is used, it can
lead not only to great free publicity but to valuable reprints you can use in your ad efforts.
As the name implies, a press release is a written communication that is distributed to media outlets, such
as newspapers, radio or television stations. The fact that press releases are so widely used means that
you need to follow the "rules of the game" in order to ensure that your press release is used by the media.
First, and foremost, don't waste the editor's time with a press release that is not newsworthy. Editors scan
press releases mainly to meet one of two content needs:


filler—small stories that used to literally fill space on a page; now with digital publishing, they are
small stories designed to keep the view reading, and
features—longer content pieces, usually written by a staff writer or a freelancer.
Figuring out what is newsworthy is basically a matter of common sense. Would you stop and read a
similar story about a business in a different industry that yours? (You should always be reading stories
about any competitors of yours!) Ideally, the information should make the readers think or prompt them to
take some action. For example, an accounting firm might send out a press release regarding a change in
the tax law. Another example, a gourmet food store might send out a press release highlighting its new
line of upscale chocolates which not only taste delicious but have health benefits. Opening a new store or
dramatically expanding an existing one is newsworthy; describing a store that has been in the same
location selling the same products for five years is not.
Once you have a newsworthy topic, make sure that you follow the expected format for a press release.
You may have opened your own business to give your creativity and unconventional flair free rein. That's
great for the business, but not for a press release about the business. You have milliseconds to impress
the editor enough to prevent your press release from hitting the recycling bin without being read. Know
and follow the rules. In this digital age, that is far easier than you might think. There are numerous
online sites that provide comprehensive guidance on formatting and writing style, as well as templates to
follow. (Search the words "press releases" or "press release templates" in the browser of your choice.)
If you hated English as a student and the comma is not your friend, then don't shoot yourself in the foot by sending a
poorly written or sloppy press release. Come up with the ideas, then hire someone qualified to create the content.
The best places for a small business to get free publicity are in the niche media area—local newspapers,
local cable channels, and local radio stations. Research on names and addresses may be only as far
away as the local telephone book Yellow Pages. Or, a list of industry publications and electronic media
can be compiled from secondary data research or industry associations and experts. Local, regional, and
national news services may also be valuable.
Public Service Activities Provide Publicity, Boost Image
Community involvement is an excellent public relations activity that can gain you free publicity of the best
kind. The old saying "you have to give to receive" holds true in business. Opportunities for community
service abound, ranging from extensive (and possibly expensive) commitments to those that require only
a few hours.
It your budget permits, sponsor a Little League, bowling or softball team. Your team will wear your
company signs, their families and friends will become your biggest boosters, and you'll get to know a lot
of people you'd otherwise never be able to reach. If your budget doesn't stretch to full sponsorship, look
for other opportunities to provide products or services to the organization: this will also get your business
in front of potential new customers.
Donate your time and talent, as well as your products or services, where the community could benefit
from them. You will be repaid a hundred fold in the long run. Participate in service clubs such as Rotary or
Lions and the Chamber of Commerce. Offer to be a speaker at schools or senior centers. Donate your
goods or services to local schools or churches, to be given away as raffle prizes or silent auction items.
Appropriate non-profit public service events can be targeted for company tie-ins (e.g., an energy drink
company sampling participants in an American Heart Association bike, hike, run, walk event). Piggyback
your business promotions on community events—such as having a "marathon" sale if the town is having
a race day or offering to be a collection point for the food pantry charity drive.
Most, if not all, of the expenses you incur when you participate in community service events are deductible business
expenses.
Publicize Your Special Events, Participate in Events of Others
Closely akin to public service activity participation is special event participation—indeed, depending upon
the event the two can even overlap. You should be alert to find opportunities to participate in two types of
events: your own and others.
Grand openings (or re-openings) are always attention-getters as are anniversary sales and seasonal
promotions. A small business can host open house events and invite key target buyers to explain and
demonstrate products and services. (Remember, this type of event also provides an excellent opportunity
for a press release.)
Set up an event calendar or diary for your business — the kind with big squares you can scribble in.
Note all opportunities for events as the year progresses. Also note when your customers may be having
events. Then next year you'll be able to refer to your calendar, call your customers in advance, and ask
what you can do to help them with their upcoming activity. This preemptive approach is very effective,
and all it takes is a few notes scribbled on a calendar.
Watch your local papers and church bulletins for events you didn't get to participate in this year but will
not want to miss selling to next year. Your non-customers will soon be recruited as steady clients. It takes
little time and costs nothing.
UNIT - II
MODELS OF ADVERTISING
a) AIDA model
b) DAGMAR model
c) Maslow’s Hierarchy Model
d) Advertising as persuasive communication
The AIDA Model
Examples and Tips for using AIDA in the real world
The AIDA model is perhaps the best known marketing model amongst non-marketers of all
the classic marketing models we featured in our recent post and poll. The vote showed many
marketers find it useful too, perhaps since we apply it daily whether consciously or subconsciously
when we're thinking how to make our marketing communications effective.
What is the AIDA model?
The AIDA Model identifies cognitive stages an individual goes through during the buying process for
a product or service. It's a purchasing funnel where buyers go to and fro at each stage, to support
them in making the final purchase.
It's no longer a relationship purely between the buyer and the company, since social media has
extended it to achieving the different goals of AIDA via information added by other customers via
social networks and communities.
What does AIDA stand for?





Awareness: creating brand awareness or affiliation with your product or service.
Interest: generating interest in the benefits of your product or service, and sufficient interest
to encourage the buyer to start to research further.
Desire: for your product or service through an 'emotional connection', showing your brand
personality. Move the consumer from 'liking' it to 'wanting it'.
Action: CTA - Move the buyer to interacting with your company and taking the next step ie.
downloading a brochure, making the phone call, joining your newsletter, or engaging in live
chat etc.
Retention: We all know that this is key to up sell, cross-sell, referrals, Advocacy and the list
goes on.. as companies are also focussing on LTV.
The additional "R" is sometimes added by some Marketers to show the importance of ongoing
relationship building to give the AIDAR model.
How to use the AIDA model
So how can this be applied to marketing planning? It could be referred to as a communications
model rather than a decision-making model, as it's identifying to companies, how and when to
communicate during each of the stages as consumers will be using different platforms, engaging at
different touchpoints and requiring different information throughout the stages from various sources.
So using this to help plan your tailored and targeted communication campaign may be a start.
Ask yourself some key questions throughout the stages:


Awareness: How do we make buyers aware of our products or services? What is
ouroutreach strategy? What is our brand awareness campaign? Which tools or platforms do
we use? What should the messages be?
Interest: How will we gain their interest? What is our content strategy? Social proof available
to back up our reputation? How do we make this information available and where ? ie. on
website, via videos, customer ratings,



Desire: What makes our product or service desirable? How do we interact personally to
make an emotional connection? Online chat? Immediate response to Twitter feed? Share
tips and advice?
Action: What are the call to actions and where do we place them? Is it easy for consumers
to connect and where would they expect to find it? Think about which marketing
channel/platform you are using and how to engage ie. across emails, website, landing
pages, inbound phone calls etc.
Retention: What is the proposition to retain loyalty? At what stage do we encourage this online and off-line, and how?
An example of the AIDA model
Here is a case study from our Marketing Models Guide showing how an award-winning hairdressing
company, Francesco Group used the model to launch their new salon.




1. Awareness: Ran a PR campaign four months prior to launch, promoting award, stylists,
qualifications etc. and was reinforced through a DM campaign to targeted customer groups.
2. Interest: Executed a direct mail campaign to offer a free consultation or hair cut and
finish. They used research to support that this would work, as females are loyal if the offer is
compelling.
3. Desire: Close to the opening of the new salon, they ran exclusive local launch events
which was advertised through local press and social media. This created a local buzz for
'people wanting an invite' and excited to see the new salon.
4. Action: Clear CTAS were positioned on the Facebook site (call to reserve), the website
(call to book) and local advertising (call in to receive discount or the offer.
The case study didn't highlight Retention, though there are many ways to increase loyalty around
sign up to mailing lists or social platforms which offer news about offers and events, discounts on
product ranges, discounts according to frequency of visit, etc.
AIDA Model

AIDA stands for attention, interest, desire, and action. It is an acronym used in marketing and advertising,
which helps marketing managers develop effective communication strategies and communicate with
customers in a way that better responds to their needs and desires. AIDA describes a common list of
events that occur when a consumer views an advertisement. Each letter in the acronym stands for the
following:
The "A" represents attention or awareness, and the ability to attract the attention of the consumers.



The "I" is interest and points to the ability to raise the interest of consumers by focusing on and
demonstrating advantages and benefits (instead of focusing on features, as in traditional advertising).
The "D" represents desire. The advertisement convinces consumers that they want and desire
the product or service because it will satisfy their needs.
The "A" is action, which leads consumers toward taking action by purchasing the product or service.
The system is used to guide marketers to target a market effectively. Naturally, as organizations move
through each step of the AIDA model, a percentage of initial prospects are lost throughout the sales
cycle.
Car advertisements are prime examples of results stemming from the use of the AIDA model to narrow
the target market . Marketers in the automotive industry know their advertisements must grab the attention
of consumers, so they use colors, backgrounds, and themes that would appeal to them. Next, automotive
marketers pique interest by showing the advantages of owning the car. In the case of the Mini-Cooper, for
instance, marketers imply that a small car can get the consumer to open spaces and to fun.
Car Advertisement
Advertisers can target a precise market by using the AIDA model to identify a narrow
subset of consumers that may be perceptive to the product offering. Car advertisements
are especially made to grab attention, pique interest, meet desires, and evoke action in
consumers.
Third, automotive marketers find what their consumers desire. For Mini-Cooper drivers, it's the "fun" of
driving, while for Prius consumers it may be the fuel economy or the environmentally friendliness. Only
after evaluating consumer desires are marketers able to create effective campaigns. Lastly, marketers
encourage consumers to take action by purchasing the product or service.
History Of the AIDA Model
American advertising and sales pioneer, Elias St. Elmo Lewis, is largely credited for developing the AIDA
model. In one of his publications on advertising, Lewis identified at least three principles that should be
present in an advertisement:

The mission of an advertisement is to attract a reader, so that he will look at the advertisement and start to
read it.

The advertisement must then interest him, so that he will continue to read it.

Finally, the advertisement must convince him, so that when reads it, he will believe it.
Lewis believed that if an advertisement contained these three qualities, then it was an effective
advertisement.
Improvements to the AIDA Model
New phases such as satisfaction (AIDAS) and confidence (AIDCAS) have been added to the original
AIDA model. These later models acknowledge the need to satisfy the customer so as to encourage
repeat purchases and generate product referrals. Other modifications include the model's reduction to the
three steps known as the CAB model. The steps include cognition (awareness or learning), affect (feeling,
interest, or desire) and behavior (action).
Later developments also introduced more flexible uses of the AIDA model such as the reordering of steps
for different consumer-to-product relationships. Additionally, as experts have examined the AIDA Model,
more defined practices and theories have been developed. These practices include the TIREA scale,
which focuses on breaking down the decision-making process into more defined components. The TIREA
represents thought, interest (desire), risk (evaluation), engagement, and action.
AIDA Model is a selling concept presented by Elmo Lewis to explain how personal selling works. AIDA
Model outlines the processes for achieving promotional goals in terms of stages of consumer
involvement with the message. The Stages are Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action.
Attention
In this media filled world, advertisers need to be quick and direct to grab audience attention. Ads are
required to be eye catchy which can make audience stop and read or watch what advertiser have to say
next. Powerful words and pictures are used in ads to make them attractive.
Interest
After getting attention of a chunk of the targeted audience, it is required to keep them engaged with the
ad to make them understand the message in more detail. Gaining the reader's or audience interest is
more difficult process than grabbing their attention. To gain audience interest the advertisers must stay
focused on audience needs.
Desire
The Interest and Desire parts of AIDA goes hand-in-hand. As advertiser builds the audience interest, he
also need to help them understand how what he is offering can help them in a real way. The way of doing
this is by appealing to their personal needs and wants.
A good way of building the reader's desire for advertiser offering is to link features and benefits.
Hopefully, the significant features of the offering have been designed to give a specific benefit to
members of the target market.
Action
Finally, advertiser need to be very clear about what action he want the audience to take- trial,
purchase, repurchase, or other.
AIDA and the Promotional Mix
Attention
Interest
Desire
Action
Very
Somewhat Not
Advertising Very
Effective Effective Effective
Effective
Public
Relations
Very
Very
Very
Not
Effective Effective Effective Effective
Sales
Promotion
Somewhat Somewhat Very
Somewhat
Effective
Effective
Effective Effective
Personal
Selling
Somewhat Very
Very
Very
Effective
Effective Effective Effective
A.I.D.A Model in Marketing Communication
If you've ever been motivated to take action due to an advertisement, you've likely
been influenced by a technique called A.I.D.A, which stands for "attention,
interest, desire, action." This process is used by many marketers in their
communications to entice prospects to make a purchase or take a desired action.
The technique is commonly used in advertising vehicles such as television
commercials and direct mail pieces.
Attention
The attention portion of the marketing message occurs at the beginning and is
designed to give the prospects a reason to take notice. Presenting a shocking fact or
statistic that identifies a problem which can be solved by the product or service is
one common method of gaining attention. Other methods can include asking a
thought-provoking question or using the element of surprise. The purpose is to give
the prospects a reason for wanting to learn more.
Interest
Once you've gained the prospects' attention, the next step is to maintain interest in
your product or service to keep the recipients engaged. Explain to the recipients
how the problem you've identified in the attention step is adversely affecting their
lives. A demonstration or illustration can help the recipients to further identify with
the problem and want to actively seek possible solutions. By personalizing the
problem, you're making it hit closer to home.
Desire
In the desire stage, your objective is to show the prospects how your product or
service can solve their problem. Explain the features of the product or service and
the related benefits and demonstrate how the benefits fulfill the need. A common
advertising process is the "before and after" technique, such as when a cleaning
product makes a soiled item look brand new. If done effectively, the prospects
should now have the desire to make a purchase.
Action
Now that you've created the desire to make a purchase, the final step is to persuade
the prospects to take immediate action. In a one-on-one sales process, this is the
time to ask for the sale. In the advertising world, techniques involve creating sense
of urgency by extending an offer for a limited time or including a bonus of special
gift to those who act within a specific time frame. Without a specific call to action,
the prospect may simply forget about your offer and move on.
DAGMAR stands for Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results. DAGMAR Model was
developed by Russell Colley in 1961 for setting advertising objectives and measuring advertising
results.
According to DAGMAR Model the ultimate objective of advertising involves a communication task,
intended to create awareness, impart information, develop attitude and induce action.
Advertising objective is to carry a consumer through four levels of understanding :-
1.
From unawareness to awareness - consumer must be aware of product or company,
2.
Comprehension - what the product is and its benefits,
3.
Conviction - mental conviction to buy the product, and
4.
Action - finally buy the product.
Communication Process in DAGMAR Approach
1. Awareness
Before the purchase behaviour is expected from target audience it is necessary to make the audience
aware with the product or company.The initial communication task of the advertising activity is to increase
the consumer awareness of the product or offer.
2. Comprehension
Only Awareness is not be sufficient to stimulate a purchase, sufficient knowledge and information about
product or organisation is necessary. This step involves the target audience to learn something about
product, organisation, or offer. Here communication task of advertising activity is to make consumer learn
about product - product characteristics, benefits, or uses.
3. Attitude or Conviction
At this step a sense of conviction is established. By creating interest and preference, buyers are moved to
a position where they are convinced that a particular product in the class should be tried at the next
opportunity. At this step communication task of advertising activity is to mould the audience’s beliefs
about the product and this is often done through messages that demonstrate the product’s superiority
over a rival or by talking about the rewards as a result of using the product.
4. Action
Finally, communication must encourage buyer to engage in purchase activity.
DAGMAR – Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results
Russell Colley (1961) developed a model for setting advertising objectives and measuring the results. This model
was entitled ‘Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results- DAGMAR.’
DAGMAR model suggests that the ultimate objective of advertising must carry a consumer through four
levels of understanding: from unawareness to Awareness—the consumer must first be aware of a
brand or company Comprehension—he or she must have a comprehension of what the product is and
its benefits; Conviction—he or she must arrive at the mental disposition or conviction to buys the brand;
Action—finally, he or she actually buy that product.
Awareness
Awareness of the existence of a product or organization is necessary before the purchase behavior can
be expected. Once the awareness has been created in the target audience, it should not be neglected. If
there is neglect, the audience may become distracted by competing messages and the level of
awareness of focus product or organization will decline.
Awareness needs to be created, developed, refined or sustained, according to the characteristics of the
market and the particular situation facing an organization at any one point of time.
Awareness grid
Involvement
HIGH
High
Low
Sustain current
levels of awareness
Refine awareness
Build awareness
quickly.
Create association
of awareness of
product with
product class need
Awareness
LOW
In situations where:
Buyer experiences high involvement:
Is fully aware of a product’s existence, attention and awareness levels need only be sustained and
efforts need to be applied to other communication tasks.
sales promotion and personal selling are more effective at informing, persuading and provoking
consumption of a new car once advertising has created the necessary levels of awareness.
The LG golden eye ads that are repeatedly shown inspite of high awareness to ensure top of mind
awareness and retain the existing awareness levels.
Where low levels of awareness are found, getting attention needs to be the prime objective in order
that awareness can be developed among the target audience.
Sahara Homes ad that features Amitabh Bachhan saying “ jaha base Bharat”. Awareness level is low,
however it is a high involvement decision. Thus adequate attention is required and awareness levels are
raised with use of well-known and trusted celebrities.
Buyer experiences low involvement:
If buyers have sufficient level of awareness, they will be quickly prompted into purchase with little
assistance of the other elements of the mix. Recognition and brand image may be felt by some to be
sufficient triggers to stimulate a response. The requirement in such a situation would be to refine and
strengthen the level of awareness so that it provokes interest and stimulates greater involvement during
recall or recognition.
Parle G ad that talks about it being the largest seller “ Duniya ka sabse Zyada bikne waala biscuit”. Parle
G as a brand already enjoys high levels of awareness and requires low involvement decision, thus
communication is mainly intended to refine awareness.
If buyers have low level of awareness, the prime objective has to be to create awareness of the focus
product in association with the product class.
When coils were popular in use and then the different repellants entered the market, awareness had to
be created about their benefits and use.
Comprehension
Awareness on its own may not be sufficient to stimulate a purchase. Knowledge about the product or
the organization is necessary. This can be achieved by providing specific information about key brand
attribute
s.
In attempting to persuade people to try a different brand of water, it may be necessary to compare the
product with other mineral water products and provide an additional usage benefit, such as
environmental claims. The ad of Ganga mineral water, featuring Govinda, which banked on the purity
aspect. They related the purity of the water with that of river Ganga.
Conviction
The next step is to establish a sense of conviction. By creating interest and preference, buyers are
moved to a position where they are convinced that a particular product in the class should be tried at
the next opportunity. To do this, audience’s beliefs about the product have to be moulded and this is
often done through messages that demonstrate the product’s superiority over a rival or by talking about
the rewards as a result of using the product.
Many ads like Thumbs Up featured the reward of social acceptance as ‘grown up’. It almost hinted that
those who preferred other drinks were kids.
Action
Communication must finally encourage buyers to engage in purchase activity. Advertising can be
directive and guide the buyers into certain behavioural outcomes,
Use of toll free numbers, direct mail activities and reply cards and coupons.
Tupperware, Aqua Guard, are famous in Indian cities as a result of its personal selling efforts.
For high involvement decisions, the most effective tool in the communication mix at this stage in the
hierarchy is personal selling. Through the use of interpersonal skills, buyers are more likely to want to
buy a product than if personal prompting is absent.
Characteristics of Objectives
A major contribution of DAGMAR was Colley’s specification of what constitutes a good objective. Four
requirements or characteristics of good objectives were noted
Concrete and measurable—the communications task or objective should be a precise statement of
what appeal or message the advertiser wants to communicate to the target audience. Furthermore the
specification should include a description of the measurement procedure
Target audience –a key tenet to DAGMAR is that the target audience be well defined. For example –if
the goal was to increase awareness, it is essential to know the target audience precisely. The benchmark
measure cannot be developed without a specification of the target segment
Benchmark and degree of change sought—another important part of setting objectives is having
benchmark measures to determine where the target audience stands at the beginning of the campaign
with respect to various communication response variables such as awareness, knowledge, attitudes,
image, etc. The objectives should also specify how much change or movement is being sought such as
increase in awareness levels, creation of favorable attitudes or number of consumers intending to
purchase the brand, etc. a benchmark is also a prerequisite to the ultimate measurement of results, an
essential part of any planning program and DAGMAR in particular.
Specified time period—a final characteristic of good objectives is the specification of the time period
during which the objective is to be accomplished, e.g. 6months, 1 year etc. With a time period specified
a survey to generate a set if measures can be planned and anticipated.
Written Goal – finally goals should be committed to paper. When the goals are clearly written, basic
shortcomings and misunderstandings become exposed and it becomes easy to determine whether the
goal contains the crucial aspects of the DAGMAR approach.
Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Response (DAGMAR)
Describes a model for planning advertising in such a way that its success can be quantitatively monitored.
The DAGMAR model implies that the ultimate aim of advertising must support a consumer through four levels of
understanding. These four levels take a customer from unawareness to Awareness, Comprehension, Conviction and
Action.
Awareness—to create a customer awareness of a brand or company
Comprehension—to ensure a customer has a sound comprehension of what the product is and what the benefits are?
Conviction—to ensure the customer determines to buy the brand;
Action—the customer buys the product.
Defining Advertising Goals for Measuring Advertising Results
Dagmar Approach is the task of measuring ad effectiveness will not be daunting if we clearly
spell out the advertising goals. Russel H. Colley (1961) pioneered an approach known by
the acronym DAGMAR – Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results, where
to establish an explicit link between ad goals and ad results, Colley distinguished 52
advertising goals that might be used with respect to a single advertisement, a year’s
campaign for a product or a company’s entire advertising philosophy.
DAGMAR also focused attention upon measurement, encouraging people to create
objectives so specific and operational that they can be measured.
Characteristics of Objectives:
A major contribution of DAGMAR was Colley’s specification of what constitutes a good
objective. Five requirements or characteristics of good objectives were noted
1. Concrete and measurable: the communications task or objective should be a precise
statement of what appeal or message the advertiser wants to communicate to the target
audience. Furthermore the specification should include a description of the measurement
procedure
2. Target audience – a key tenet to DAGMAR is that the target audience be well defined. For
example –if the goal was to increase awareness, it is essential to know the target audience
precisely. The benchmark measure cannot be developed without a specification of the target
segment
3. Benchmark and degree of change sought: another important part of setting objectives is
having benchmark measures to determine where the target audience stands at the
beginning of the campaign with respect to various communication response variables such
as awareness, knowledge, attitudes, image, etc.
The objectives should also specify how much change or movement is being sought such as
increase in awareness levels, creation of favorable attitudes or number of consumers
intending to purchase the brand, etc. a benchmark is also a prerequisite to the ultimate
measurement of results, an essential part of any planning program and DAGMAR in
particular.
4. Specified time period —
A final characteristic of good objectives is the specification of the time period during which
the objective is to be accomplished, e.g. 6months, 1 year etc. The time period should be
appropriate for the communication objective as simple tasks such as increasing awareness
levels can be accomplished much faster than a complex goal such as repositioning a brand.
All parties involved will understand that the results will be available for evaluating the
campaign, which could lead to a contraction, expansion or change in the current effort. With
a time period specified a survey to generate a set if measures can be planned and
anticipated.
5. Written Goal
Finally goals should be committed to paper. When the goals are clearly written, basic
shortcomings and misunderstandings become exposed and it becomes easy to determine
whether the goal contains the crucial aspects of the DAGMAR approach.
Criticism of DAGMAR
1. Problems with the Response Hierarchy:
2. Sales objectives
3. Practicality and costs
4Inhibition of creativity
Maslow's hierarchy of needs
Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs motivational model
Abraham Maslow developed the Hierarchy of Needs model in 1940-50s USA, and the Hierarchy of
Needs theory remains valid today for understanding human motivation, management training, and
personal development. Indeed, Maslow's ideas surrounding the Hierarchy of Needs concerning the
responsibility of employers to provide a workplace environment that encourages and enables
employees to fulfil their own unique potential (self-actualization) are today more relevant than ever.
Abraham Maslow's book Motivation and Personality, published in 1954 (second edition 1970)
introduced the Hierarchy of Needs, and Maslow extended his ideas in other work, notably his later
book Toward A Psychology Of Being, a significant and relevant commentary, which has been
revised in recent times by Richard Lowry, who is in his own right a leading academic in the field of
motivational psychology.
Abraham Maslow was born in New York in 1908 and died in 1970, although various publications
appear in Maslow's name in later years. Maslow's PhD in psychology in 1934 at the University of
Wisconsin formed the basis of his motivational research, initially studying rhesus monkeys. Maslow
later moved to New York's Brooklyn College.
The Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs five-stage model below (structure and terminology - not the
precise pyramid diagram itself) is clearly and directly attributable to Maslow; later versions of the
theory with added motivational stages are not so clearly attributable to Maslow. These extended
models have instead been inferred by others from Maslow's work. Specifically Maslow refers to the
needs Cognitive, Aesthetic and Transcendence (subsequently shown as distinct needs levels in
some interpretations of his theory) as additional aspects of motivation, but not as distinct levels in
the Hierarchy of Needs.
Where Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is shown with more than five levels these models have been
extended through interpretation of Maslow's work by other people. These augmented models and
diagrams are shown as the adapted seven and eight-stage Hierarchy of Needs pyramid diagrams
and models below.
There have been very many interpretations of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs in the form of pyramid
diagrams. The diagrams on this page are my own interpretations and are not offered as Maslow's
original work. Interestingly in Maslow's book Motivation and Personality, which first introduced the
Hierarchy of Needs, there is not a pyramid to be seen.
Free Hierarchy of Needs diagrams in pdf and doc formats similar to the image below are available
from this page.
(N.B. The word Actualization/Actualisation can be spelt either way. Z is preferred in American
English. S is preferred in UK English. Both forms are used in this page to enable keyword searching
for either spelling via search engines.)
Maslow's hierarchy of needs
Each of us is motivated by needs. Our most basic needs are inborn, having evolved over tens of
thousands of years. Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs helps to explain how these needs
motivate us all.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs states that we must satisfy each need in turn, starting with the first,
which deals with the most obvious needs for survival itself.
Only when the lower order needs of physical and emotional well-being are satisfied are we
concerned with the higher order needs of influence and personal development.
Conversely, if the things that satisfy our lower order needs are swept away, we are no longer
concerned about the maintenance of our higher order needs.
Maslow's original Hierarchy of Needs model was developed between 1943-1954, and first widely
published in Motivation and Personality in 1954. At this time the Hierarchy of Needs model
comprised five needs. This original version remains for most people the definitive Hierarchy of
Needs.
maslow's hierarchy of needs - free pdf diagram and free doc
diagram
1. Biological and Physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.
2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.
3. Belongingness and Love needs - work group, family, affection, relationships, etc.
4. Esteem needs - self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige,
managerial responsibility, etc.
5. Self-Actualization needs - realising personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth
and peak experiences.
This is the definitive and original Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.
While Maslow referred to various additional aspects of motivation, he expressed the Hierarchy of
Needs in these five clear stages.
Here is a quick simple self-test based on the original Maslow's 5-level Hierarchy of Needs. It's not a
scientific or validated instrument - merely a quick indicator, which can be used for self-awareness,
discussion, etc.
1970s adapted hierarchy of needs model, including cognitive
and aesthetic needs - free pdf diagram and free doc diagram
1. Biological and Physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.
2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.
3. Belongingness and Love needs - work group, family, affection, relationships, etc.
4. Esteem needs - self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige,
managerial responsibility, etc.
5. Cognitive needs - knowledge, meaning, etc.
6. Aesthetic needs - appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc.
7. Self-Actualization needs - realising personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth
and peak experiences.
N.B. Although Maslow referred to additional aspects of motivation, 'Cognitive' and 'Aesthetic', he did
not include them as levels or stages within his own expression of the Hierarchy of Needs.
1990s adapted hierarchy of needs including transcendence needs
-free diagram and free doc diagram
1. Biological and Physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.
2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.
3. Belongingness and Love needs - work group, family, affection, relationships, etc.
4. Esteem needs - self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige,
managerial responsibility, etc.
5. Cognitive needs - knowledge, meaning, etc.
6. Aesthetic needs - appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc.
7. Self-Actualization needs - realising personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth
and peak experiences.
8. Transcendence needs - helping others to achieve self actualization.
N.B. Although Maslow referred to additional aspects of motivation, 'Cognitive', 'Aesthetic', and
'Transcendence', he did not include any of these as additional stages in the Hierarchy of Needs.
Here is a quick self-test based on the extended 8-level Hierarchy of Needs. Like the 5-level
Hierarchy of Needs self-test it is not a scientific or validated instrument - merely a quick indicator for
helping self-awareness, discussion, etc.
what hierarchy of needs model is most valid?
Abraham Maslow created the original five level Hierarchy of Needs model, and for many this
remains entirely adequate for its purpose. The seven and eight level 'hierarchy of needs' models are
later adaptations by others, based on Maslow's work. Arguably, the original five-level model includes
the later additional sixth, seventh and eighth ('Cognitive', 'Aesthetic', and 'Transcendence') levels
within the original 'Self-Actualization' level 5, since each one of the 'new' motivators concerns an
area of self-development and self-fulfilment that is rooted in self-actualization 'growth', and is
distinctly different to any of the previous 1-4 level 'deficiency' motivators. For many people, selfactualizing commonly involves each and every one of the newly added drivers. As such, the original
five-level Hierarchy of Needs model remains a definitive classical representation of human
motivation; and the later adaptations perhaps serve best to illustrate aspects of self-actualization.
Maslow said that needs must be satisfied in the given order. Aims and drive always shift to next
higher order needs. Levels 1 to 4 are deficiency motivators; level 5, and by implication 6 to 8, are
growth motivators and relatively rarely found. The thwarting of needs is usually a cause of stress,
and is particularly so at level 4.
Examples in use:
You can't motivate someone to achieve their sales target (level 4) when they're having problems with
their marriage (level 3).
You can't expect someone to work as a team member (level 3) when they're having their house repossessed (level 2).
maslow's self-actualizing characteristics
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keen sense of reality - aware of real situations - objective judgement, rather than subjective
see problems in terms of challenges and situations requiring solutions, rather than see
problems as personal complaints or excuses
need for privacy and comfortable being alone
reliant on own experiences and judgement - independent - not reliant on culture and
environment to form opinions and views
not susceptible to social pressures - non-conformist
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democratic, fair and non-discriminating - embracing and enjoying all cultures, races and
individual styles
socially compassionate - possessing humanity
accepting others as they are and not trying to change people
comfortable with oneself - despite any unconventional tendencies
a few close intimate friends rather than many surface relationships
sense of humour directed at oneself or the human condition, rather than at the expense of
others
spontaneous and natural - true to oneself, rather than being how others want
excited and interested in everything, even ordinary things
creative, inventive and original
seek peak experiences that leave a lasting impression
See the Maslow interviews DVDs - especially Maslow and Self-Actualization to understand the
subject more fully. These films were made in 1968 and are helpful on several levels, and both
wonderful teaching and learning aids.
See also the newer Maslow MP3 talks series.
These materials also help to illustrate the far-reaching and visionary nature of Maslow's thinking,
several decades ago.
The above materials are published by Maurice Bassett on behalf of the estate of Abraham Maslow.
Businessballs takes no commission and recommends them simply because they are wonderful
materials for all students and followers of Maslow's very special work.
maslow's hierarchy of needs in advertising
To help with training of Maslow's theory look for Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs motivators in
advertising. This is a great basis for Maslow and motivation training exercises:
1. Biological and Physiological needs - wife/child-abuse help-lines, social security benefits,
Samaritans, roadside recovery.
2. Safety needs - home security products (alarms, etc), house an contents insurance, life
assurance, schools.
3. Belongingness and Love needs - dating and match-making services, chat-lines, clubs and
membership societies, Macdonalds, 'family' themes like the old style Oxo stock cube ads.
4. Esteem needs - cosmetics, fast cars, home improvements, furniture, fashion clothes, drinks,
lifestyle products and services.
5. Self-Actualization needs - Open University, and that's about it; little else in mainstream
media because only 2% of population are self-actualizers, so they don't constitute a very big
part of the mainstream market.
You can view and download free Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs diagrams, and two free Hierarchy
of Needs self-tests, based on the original Maslow's five-stage model and later adapted eight-stage
model, ideal for training, presentations and project work, at the businessballs free online resources
section.
Free diagrams include:
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Pyramid diagram based on Maslow's original five-level Hierarchy of Needs (1954).
Adapted seven-level Hierarchy of Needs diagram (which seems to have first appeared in the
1970s - after Maslow's death).
Adapted eight-level Hierarchy of Needs diagram (appearing later, seemingly 1990s).
Advertising as persuasive communication
Persuasive communication may be defined as the process through which people attempt to
influence the beliefs or actions of others. In many cases persuasive communication involves
people who are important to each other—parents influence children, children influence
parents, and friends influence each other. Persuasive communication such as advertising
frequently involves strangers. Those involved in designing ads or producing commercials will
attempt to “know” the target audience, but this is generally limited to a few important
details about potential customers, such as where they live or how much money they are
expected to spend on certain items in a given year.
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People begin to influence others early in life. Preschool children learn that they can
influence other children and adults by crying, smiling, whining, pointing, tugging, and,
eventually, talking. By the time children enter school, they use a variety of strategies to
influence others.
During elementary school years children grow in their ability to adapt persuasive messages
to the people they wish to influence. Research has shown that kindergartners and children
in the first grade tend to use the same strategies when trying to influence different
people. Children in grades two and three adapt their persuasive messages by adding words
like “may I” and “please.” Children who are in the fourth and fifth grades begin to adapt
their messages to specific people. For example, they begin to use strategies when trying to
gain favors from teachers that differ from those they use in trying to gain favors from
friends.
By the time most students are in the sixth grade, they can adapt their persuasive messages
to specific listener characteristics. In one study, most 12-year-olds used different
strategies when trying to get a ball back from the yard of an angry-appearing man than
they did when addressing a pleasant-appearing man.
In high school, students continue to grow in the number and sophistication of persuasive
strategies used. The average high school senior, for example, anticipates and responds to
arguments that disagree with his or her own. High school seniors, however, still have much
to learn about influencing others and responding critically to attempts to influence them.
Since persuasive communication is complex, learning about it is a lifelong process. Much of
that learning can begin by participating on school debate teams and studying rhetoric.
Persuasive communication plays a central role in a number of professions. Lawyers,
salespersons, advertising specialists, public relations experts, and politicians must use
persuasive communication. While persuasive communication may not be the central

ingredient in many careers, most people need to be able to influence others in workrelated settings.
The most prominent form of persuasive communication in contemporary life is advertising.
Consumers are confronted by advertisements from a variety of directions. While
newspapers are thought of as informative sources, local, national, and classified
advertising take up about 65 percent of their average total space. In many magazines 45 to
50 percent of the space is given to advertising. As people drive to and from work, radio
advertising rides with them. The roadsides are filled with billboards, neon signs, or
banners in store windows that compete with traffic for attention. After arriving home and
sorting through the advertisements in the day's mail, people view numerous commercials
on prime-time television and attempt to filter e-mail advertisements (known as “spam”)
from the e-mails they wish to read
UNIT - III
CREATIVITY in ADVERTISING
a) Strategies in advertising
b) Rational and Emotional Appeal
c) Visualization
d) Copy writing
Advertising strategy
A campaign developed by a business to encourage potential customers to purchase a
good or service. An advertising strategy is generally tailored to a target
audience perceived to be most likely out of the population to purchase the product.
Advertising strategies include element such as geographic location,
perceived demographics of the audience, price points, special offers, and
what advertising media, such as billboards, websites, or television, will be used to
present the product.
There are two parts to any advertising strategy:
Part 1 - Assessment - What's going on?
Determine what's going on in the market. What's the history, the major trends
and the current situation? And what are the risks and opportunities? Also, what's
the future looking like? With the product. With competitors. With consumer
attitudes.
Part 2 - Action - What should we do about it?
Determine what your client should do about the the most significant opportunities
and problems revealed in the assessment.
What action should you take regarding the competition, technological and media
trends? Specifically, how can you address those issues with advertising and
related tools? For example, what if anything should you do with the brand, with
direct marketing, on social media platforms?
The first step in the development of your strategy, the assessment, could be
accomplished with a SWOT analysis.
Properly done, a Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats assessment will
give you a 360 degree, full-color photo of the market. A SWOT analysis will help you
figure out the "What's going on" part. And figure it out quickly. The "What to do" part of
your strategy should follow logically from the "What's going on" part.
For example, say the SWOT analysis reveals that there is serious and growing
competition from price slashers.
Your strategy to deal with that particular issue might be:
- Create a stronger brand personality - one based on a financially upscale, but
emotionally down to earth character.
- Position the product as high value for money, in part with the slogan,
"Quality counts, and you're worth it."
- Use traditional direct marketing techniques, combined with an expanded social media
presence, to target younger buyers with strong, introductory offers, before they have
established a product / service / company preference.
You can see how your ad strategy addresses a business issue, competitive price
pressure.
You can also see that the ad strategy deals with the big strategic issues: branding,
positioning, direct marketing, and media. And it does so with simple action statements
describing, at a high-level, what you intend to accomplish.
Picture you. Walking into the board room, looking confidently around the room, and
saying,
"OK, Mr. President. Here's what's going on. Big picture. One, two, three.
And here's what we will do about it. Big picture. One, two, three."
That's the essence of strategic leadership and vision.
Some of the issues that influence advertising strategy
Lead generation / customer acquisition
How do you get qualified traffic to the Website, the store? Perhaps you employ multiple
approaches, such as SEO / content marketing, plus digital direct response / email, plus
social media. You should certainly keep an eye on emerging media, trends in media
and entertainment consumption.
Branding
Define, the brand. As it is now, in the minds of consumers. And as you want it to be
known.
Positioning
Learn how the company, product or service is currently positioned in the minds of
consumers, and define where you want it to be positioned.
Psycho-Dynamics of the market, the target audience.
14 fancy letters for a simple idea: what's going on inside the brains of buyers, of
perspective customers?
You can get a quick insight into those brains with consumer involvement theory, CIT,
which explores how consumers make purchase decisions. For example, you probably
buy the same brand of soap with a mindless motion at the market. But you do your
homework when buying a car. Most people do the same. And that tells us how to talk to
them.
Besides what you can learn with CIT, there are other issues at work in the audience,
such as why people buy the competitor's brand.
"People think our competitor produces higher quality, more reliable products."
Or perhaps it's not so much what people think about competitors, but what they think
about your client:
"Gosh, I don't know if I want to buy a Mac. So much more expensive than a PC."
Get the idea? Psycho-Dynamics is everything. It's all that stuff rattling around between
the ears of potential customers. The thoughts, feelings and ever-changing prejudices
that influence purchase decisions. That's the Psycho-Dynamics of the market.
And it is always changing. Always. Day to day, hour to hour, sometime second to
second.
Marketing objectives
Marketing objectives reflect business goals. Some examples:
"In the first year we want to capture 10% of the market in six cities."
"Our goal is to be profitable in this country within 6 months."
"We want to increase sales with this product to the point where profits reach $50,000
per month, and do this in 12 months."
All of the above, of course, to be accomplished within a budget, the marketing budget.
How advertising strategy supports marketing objectives.
Let's say you get a call from Fred of Fred's Farm Fresh Ice Cream. Seems his
chocolate, strawberry and vanilla flavors are flying out of the freezer. But no one wants
his latest invention, the prune flavor even though it tastes great and is loaded with fiber.
Fred' says, "Hey, I want my Purple Prune flavor to add 20% to my sales - not steal sales
from the existing three - or I'm going to dump it in 12 months. Here's one million dollars
to work with. What do you suggest?"
In this case your strategy might be to:
- Re-name the product: Sweet Prune Surprise.
- Re-position it: Surprisingly Sweet, Surprisingly Healthy.
- Build a brand based on the personality of a fussy old lady, a great cook, who is very
demanding: it's got to taste great, and be healthy. Or she's rejects it.
- Achieve immediate sales with in-store promotions, discount coupons, and coop ads
with major grocery stores.
- Associate Sweet Prune Surprise with a healthy lifestyle with sample booths at family /
sports activities, such as the 5k Family Fun Run.
All the while, keep in mind that one single thread you want to weave into all of your
communications; that one most important thing you want to say:
"Prune surprise is loaded with healthy fiber, and surprisingly sweet."
A final word about strategy.
The most important part of an advertising strategy is the objective, or more precisely,
one or more strategic objectives, such as driving sales or building a vivid brand
personality.
Strategic advertising objectives should support marketing objectives. And those
advertising objectives will almost always involve sales, branding, positioning and media.
Examples of Advertising Objectives & Strategies
Demonstrating a Product
One advertising objective is to demonstrate the effectiveness of a product or its
ease of use. A common example is the "before and after" technique, which shows
how well a product cleans, improves appearances or enhances quality of life. If
your business involves selling weight-loss products or systems, before/after photos
can demonstrate their effectiveness. If you operate a hair salon, photos of satisfied
clients can show off your skills to potential customers.
Building Image
Businesses may use advertising for the objective of building a company or brand
image. Insurance agencies often attempt to position themselves as trustworthy by
guaranteeing that consumers can count on them in their time of need. Car dealers
use advertising to establish a reputation for fairness and honesty. Retailers may
attempt to create an image of always offering the lowest prices or providing the
best service.
Changing Perceptions
An advertising objective may be to alter the perceptions of the public. A business
that has developed a reputation in the community for treating customers poorly can
use advertising to tout its new customer-service policy. The owner of a restaurant
that is perceived to serve an upscale clientele may advertise new menu choices and
prices to appeal to a wider range of diners.
Special Promotions Strategy
A typical small-business advertising strategy is to make use of special promotions.
By developing an email database, you can send customers coupons or invite them
to special sale events. Another technique is to attach coupons to receipts that allow
for savings on future purchases.
Internet Strategy
Participating in blogs that pertain to your business is a strategy that allows you to
interact with potential buyers. For example, if you sell products such as handmade
crafts via your website, become active in craft-related blogs and include a link to
your website in your signature line. You can also create a blog of your own.
Low-Cost Media Strategy
Use a low-cost media strategy to reach a targeted group of customers. For example,
if you operate a computer repair service, advertise in small community or "pennysaver" publications that are often delivered to residents in a specific geographic
area for free. These publications typically charge less for advertising space than
regular daily newspapers, and you'll also attract the attention of other smallbusiness owners who could make use of your services.
An advertising strategy is a plan to reach and persuade a customer to buy a product
or a service. The basic elements of the plan are 1) the product itself and its
advantages, 2) the customer and his or her characteristics, 3) the relative
advantages of alternative routes whereby the customer can be informed of the
product, and 4) the optimization of resulting choices given budgetary constraints.
In effect this means that aims must be clear, the environment must be understood,
the means must be ranked, and choices must be made based on available resources.
Effective product assessment, market definition, media analysis, and budgetary
choices result in an optimum plan—never the perfect plan because resources are
always limited.
DEVELOPING THE STRATEGY
Positioning Statement
Formal advertising strategies are based on a "positioning statement," a technical
term the meaning of which, simply, is what the company's product or service is,
how it is differentiated from competing products and services, and by which means
it will reach the customer. The positioning statement covers the first two items in
the listing above.
Implicit in a good positioning statement is what the industry calls the product
concept, namely a cluster of values that the product or service represents and the
associational frameworks in which it fits. A hunting knife will thus have a very
different product concept than a pair of pink silk slippers that glow in the dark. The
product concept will later guide the choice of copy, images, and message content
to be used in actual ads (the "copy platform"). The positioning statement must also
implicitly include the profile of the targeted customer and the reasons why he or
she would buy this product or this service. At a later stage, more data on the "target
consumer" is then developed as the strategy is fleshed out.
Target Consumer
The target consumer is a complex combination of persons. First of all, it includes
the person who ultimately buys the product. Next it includes those who, in certain
circumstances, decide what product will be bought (but do not physically buy it).
Finally, it includes those who influence product purchases (children, spouse, and
friends). In practice the small business owner, being close to his or her customers,
probably knows exactly how to advise the advertising agency on the target
consumer.
Communication Media
Once the product and its environment are understood and the target consumer has
been specified, the routes of reaching the consumer must be assessed—the media
of communication. Five major channels are available to the business owner:

Print—Primarily newspapers (both weekly and daily) and magazines.

Audio—FM and AM radio.

Video—Promotional videos, infomercials.

World Wide Web.

Direct mail.

Outdoor advertising—Billboards, advertisements on public transportation
(cabs, buses).
Each of the channels available has its advantages, disadvantages, and cost patterns.
A crucial stage in developing the advertising strategy, therefore, is the fourth point
made at the outset: how to choose the optimum means, given budgetary
constraints, to reach the largest number of target consumers with the appropriately
formulated message.
Implementation
The advertising campaign itself is distinct from the strategy, but the strategy is
meant to guide implementation. Therefore across-the-board consistency is highly
desirable. Copy, artwork, images, music—indeed all aspects of the campaign—
should reflect the strategy throughout. This is especially important when multiple
channels are used: print, television, and direct mail, for instance. To achieve a
maximum coherence, many effective advertisers develop a unifying thematic
expressed as an image, a slogan, or a combination which is central to all the
elements that ultimately reach the consumer.
Rational Appeals vs. Emotional Appeals in
Advertising and Marketing Communication
The decision about whether to base marketing communication on rational logic or
emotional appeal is at the center of a perennial debate within the marketing
community.
Since Claude Hopkins proclaimed, "Advertising is salesmanship" in 1923, this
phrase has been the rallying cry of the rationalists. Rationalists contend that a
precise presentation of clear sales arguments creates the foundation for great
marketing communication. They believe that a logical progression of cogent sales
points leads the prospect by the hand to wherever the advertiser wants him.
Advocates of emotional appeals argue that effective communication connects at a
visceral level. They make the case that the very writing and graphic elements of the
message itself speak to consumers through a subconscious language. Some suggest
that with the typical home exposed to 50,000 messages each year, the mind rejects
traditional messages. They believe that only by flying in below the radar screen of
consciousness, can a marketing message reach its target.
In some instances, the rationalists are indisputably correct. In other cases, the
proponents of emotion-based advertising are right. In most marketing
communication, a blend of both produces the best results. The controversy may be
best resolved by saying:
People buy on emotion then justify their decision with facts.
Neurological research as well as a substantial body of anecdotal evidence supports
this premise. In describing the work of the Supreme Court, Justice William O.
Douglas pointed out, "At the constitutional level where we work, 90% of any
decision is emotional. The rational part of us supplies the reasons for supporting
our predilections."
Rational and Emotional Appeal
Rational Appeals In Advertising
Some of the tactics typically used in marketing communication that is framed upon
the logical approach include:

Listing Product Benefits - To use this method effectively, the advertisement
must underscore consumer benefits rather than product features.

Convincing Proof - This approach is based upon the premise, "Seeing is
believing." Ads or commercials take the form of a product demonstration.
Emotional Appeals In Advertising
Each of us enters the world as an irrational individual. For infants, feelings are
everything. Our earliest response is to nonverbal communication. In the first years of
life, mother's smile is comforting. Thunder is threatening. Life is simple. Meanings
are clear. Then we invest 12 years or more in formal education to learn how to think
rationally. By adulthood, it has become a habit.
However, rational thinking is an overlay on the primal vocabulary that continues to
influence our decisions and behavior. So, we invest in a certain stock because "it feels
right." We vote for a candidate because "he can be trusted." We make a critical
business decision based on our "gut feeling."
Emotion-based advertising speaks the primal tongue. It communicates through design
and color. Motion and stagecraft. Music and tonality. While the rational mind acts on
logical relationships, the primal mind seeks symbolic relationships.
Symbols are, indeed, the vocabulary of emotional marketing. Just as we instinctively
trust the person with a warm, firm handshake, we have confidence in the announcer
with a smile in his voice. The best radio and voice-over announcers understand this.
They know just when to smile - even though they're not on camera.
The primal mind evaluates the photo in a magazine advertisement or a televised image
just as it would a real life situation. We immediately recognize that the Marlboro man
is a rugged individualist because we see his tattoo. He controls his destiny as we
would like to be in command of ours. By emulating him, we, too, might find
fulfillment.
Good Advertising Copy Attributes:
The essence of special functions to be accomplished by the advertisement must
also be kept in mind by the copywriter. He/she should understand the overall plan
of the advertisement when considering the actual wording to be used to convey the
want- satisfying qualities of the product to the prospect, and then to show how it
will satisfy his/ her desires. One must understand the medium in which the
advertisement is to appear. And then according to the nature, reach and availability
of the medium the size and pattern of advertising copy should be prepared.
If an attempt is to be made to induce immediate action and sales, oile may wish to
include specific suggestions in the copy as to when the product would be available,
the price, terms of sale and other special conditions.
A good copy should be brief, precise, concise, aiming to sell, sincere, clear, apt,
interesting and personal.
Be Brief
A copywriter must write briefly, yet effectively. Therefore, read the rough draft
slowly. Study each sentence. Consider its meanings and importance. Certainly an
advertisement should never be longer than is necessary. However, if the success of
the advertisement is jeopardized by dropping even one word, then that word should
be included.
Be Precise
It means, saying exactly in the advertising copy what is meant, using the most
crispy and catchy words.
Be Concise
Say in the advertising message what must be said in the fewest possible words.
Aim to Sell
An advertisement is mere than a more piece of information. It also promises
benefits.
Be Sincere
In advertising a copy avoids undue exaggeration, for unless the message is credible
and trustworthy, it will recoil disastrously.
Be Clear
When advertising lacks clarity, it will be ineffective. Even a slight vagueness will
cripple the advertising copy. Therefore, one should avoid (1) the use of words
whose meanings are not understood by the prospect. (2) the incorrect selection and
use of words and (3) ambiguous phrasealogy.
Be Apt
A copy must be apt — it must address the needs or wants of the prospects as well
as of the manufacturer. The influencing power of a copy depends greatly on the
correlation that exists between the desire of a prospect and the quality or feature of
the product. The ability to show this relationship is the art of making a copy apt.
Interesting
The advertising copy should speak in light mood but in favourite taste. The
information about the product should be given in entertaining, attractive and
colourful way in order to attract and appeal to the prospective consumers.
Be Personal
Copy should be written from the prospect to the product, not from the product to
the prospect. The great temptation that confronts copy writers is to preach to the
prospects in different ways and by different techniques. The personalized
advertisement is developed from an idea within the scope of the consumer’s
personal interest.
Visualization and Layout:
Visualization:
The term “visualization” is an elusive one. Writers, artists and production
personnel all “Visualize” in creating an advertisement. True visualization,
however, is concerned with the creation of an idea. In suggesting the composition
or the situation for the key illustration that dramatizes the theme of the
advertisement, the artist is visualizing. Layout deals with the arrangement of
various elements to deliver the visualized idea effectively. Visualization is a step
that must precede the design step of layout, and must either precede the actual
writing of the words or take place more or less simultaneously.
To visualize an idea is to think in terms of pictures, and you don’t have to be an
artist to do that. Having thought of a visual way to express an idea, you can always
transmit
it to an artist verbally, or with matchstick drawings, or in any way you can best
express what you have in mind. But the idea of what is to be drawn is the
important thing in visualization.
In visualizing for print and broadcast media, the copywriter uses different methods
to stimulate the reader, listener or viewer to evoke his/her own images scene
setting and word-painting and a combination of sight, sound and motion is to be
realized.
Layout
Putting different things (elements) together in an orderly form is called the layout
of the advertisement. The term “Layout” is one of the many used in advertising in
two senses: First it means the total appearance of the advertisement, its designs and
the composition of its elements. Second the term layout also means the physical
rendering of the design for the advertisement, its blueprint for the production
purposes.
The importance of the elements determines its size and placing within the
advertisement. The layoutman picks up the most important features and builds
his/her advertisement around that.
Composing the Elements
A layout consists of parts such as the main illustration, headline, copy, other
illustrations, trademarks if needed. The skill is to put together all these elements
into one pleasing arrangement. Here are some guiding points in the creation of a
layout; (1) Unity (2) Balance and (3) Flow.
Criteria for Layout
The following points may be used as a yardstick to measure the quality of final
layout: (1) Is it clear? (2) Is it arresting attention? (3) Is it orderly structured? (4) Is
the most important idea given the most important attention? (5) Does it invite
reading? (6) Is the trademark sufficiently visible? (7) Does the layout leave the
desired impression about the product?
A visualizer or visualiser- serves a similar function as that of a storyboard
artist or concept artist and is a mainly freelanceoccupation found in advertising
agencies to assist art directors in drawing scamps and storyboards to a standard that
they themselves could not manage for presentation to clients. Their work is used
most often in a pitch scenario where the drawing has to be to a high standard in
order to win the business, and their work is routinely passed off as having been
done by the Art director when presented to clients. They are now increasingly
moving away from ink and incorporatingdigital media into their work. The income
of a Visualizer varies according to skill level, but a fast experienced freelance artist
typically earns £400.00 per day in London, and around $650.00 in New York or
Los Angeles. This is about the same rate (or slightly higher) as a freelance Art
director, though a Visualizer will often charge an additional overtime rate due to
the long hours expected with amends and changes in Art direction that often go on
beyond a typical eight hour day. As well asAdvertising agencies, they can also
work in the filmmaking/video production and gaming industry in such areas as
storyboards and character development. Qualifications are largely irrelevant in
Visualization, the route to a successful career can be via Art School or entering
employment in a junior role in a studio, or even by just being good at drawing.
Either way, your work will always be as good as the last piece of work you did for
a client. In the rare instances that Visualizers are employed by an Advertising
agency or other employer the salary level should be the same as an
experienced Graphic Designer in order to reflect the likely long hours they will be
working.
s

UTILIZING DESIGN VISUALIZATION IN ADVERTISING
With the explosion of increasingly powerful computers and improved photo-realism, the use ofdesign
visualization has saturated our culture, and it has become invaluable in advertising. Essentially, design visualization
has been a part of advertising for as long as there has been marketing. Building on a rich heritage, contemporary
design visualization is a vital component for creating new products and exploring the marketplace.
History
From the age of snake-oil salesmen, purveyors of products strove to put forth their best and represent their products
in a way that would be appealing to the public at large. This became more pervasive during the golden age of
advertising. Comparatively, their technology was limited to what we have now, but they used what they had.
Much of the time, this was evident in things like airbrushing, where the subject of the photo was altered for
advantageous affect. Things were airbrushed into ice cubes; models were made more trim. Stylistically, as motion in
television became the advertising medium of choice, cinematographers shot cars that went faster, were brighter, and
looked sleeker than they really were.
Research and Development
Ad departments and companies realized that they had the opportunity to see how the market would respond to an
item before it really existed. Currently in advertising, companies still develop items for sale without having to actually
create them. Advertisers represent cars, clothes, homes and landscaping visually before they actually exist. It has
gone a step beyond that; for example, in wardrobe design, customers can have their picture taken and then see how
the outfit they’re considering would look on them
Optimizing Products
Design visualization has given today’s advertisers the ability to take a great product and make it appear better. They
can optimize their product. The image that just doesn’t quite look right can be altered simply by importing it into
PhotoShop and turning, brightening, darkening, shrinking, enlarging – whatever it takes – to make it different in a way
that will appeal to the particular market. (Interestingly, it allows advertisers to sell the same, exact product to different
international markets with their own different likes and dislikes.)
Creating Pictures of New Products
Before investing millions of dollars into a line of cars or houses, a developing company can create “pictures” of their
new product and introduce them to the market-at-large. If the audience responds favorably, placing orders for the
item (even though they do not exist!), the developer can invest the monies necessary to actually create the product.
Just as companies can see if there is a market for something they’ve been doing at length, they can ‘invent’ it (what it
will take to make it work, what it will look like) without spending a penny on actual physical production. This can save
millions on either a product that is very expensive to produce or one that the marketplace may have no desire to
spend money on.
Advertising Agency and its Functions
Definition of Advertising Agency
According to American marketing Association, "An Advertising agency is an independent business
organisation composed of creative and business people who develop, prepare and place advertising in
advertising media for sellers seeking to find customers for their goods and services."
Advertising Agency is an independent business organisation specialised in advertising related work which
undertakes the work of planning, preparing, and executing advertising campaign for its clients.
Advertising Agency is a body of experts specialised in advertising. Advertising Agency performs following
activities for its clients:
1.
Planning: Advertising agency studies the product or services of clients to identify the
inherent qualities in relation to competitor's product or services, analyses competition and
marketing environment to formulate advertising plan.
2.
Preparing: After the study of product, competition, and marketing environment the
experts of agency has to write, design, and produce the advertisement, it is also called
formulation of ad-copy.
3.
Executing: Now, media is selected for time or space, ad is delivered to media, checked,
verified, and released in media. After ad release payment is done to media and client is billed for
the services provided.
Functions of Advertising Agency
Advertising agency performs following functions:
1.
Contacting Clients: Advertising agency first of all identify and contact firms which are
desirous of advertising their product or services. Ad-agency selects those firms which
are financially sound, makes quality products or services, and have efficient management.
2.
Planning Advertisement: Advertising agency's next function is to plan ad for its client.
For ad planning following tasks are required to be performed by ad-agency:

Study of client’s product to identify its inherent qualities in relation to competitor’s product.

Analysis of present and potential market for the product.

Study of trade and economic conditions in the market.

Study of seasonal demand of the product

Study of competition, and competitor’s spending on advertising.

Knowledge of channels of distribution, their sales, operations, etc.

Finally, formulation of advertising plan
3.
Creative Function: Creative people like - the copywriters, artists, art-directors, graphicspecialists have to perform the creative function which is most important part of all advertising
function.
4.
Developing Ad-Copy: Ad-agency with the help of their writers, artists, designers,
animators, graphic-designers, and film-directors prepares and develops Ad-copy.
5.
Approval of Client: Ad-copy is shown to the client for his approval
6.
Media Selection and scheduling: It is very important function of ad-agency to select
appropriate media for its clients. Ad-agency has to consider various factors like- media cost,
media coverage, ad-budget, nature of product, client's needs, targeted customer, and etc while
selecting media.
7.
Ad-Execution: After approval, verification, and required changes, the ad-copy is handed
to the media for ad-execution.
8.
Evaluation Function: After execution, it is the responsibility of ad-agency to evaluate the
effectiveness of ad to know how beneficial the ad is for its client.
9.
Marketing Function: The advertising agency also performs various marketing function
like- selecting target audience, designing products, designing packages, determining prices,
study of channel of distribution, market research, sales promotion, publicity, etc.
10.
Research Function: Ad-agency performs various research functions like- research of
different media, media cost, media reach, circulation, entry of new media, information regarding
ratings, and TRP's of TV programmes, serials.
11.
Accounting Function: Accounting function of ad-agency includes checking bills, making
payments, cash discounts allowed by media, collection of dues from clients, payment to staff,
payment to outside professionals like- writers, producers, models, etc.
Types of modern Advertising Agency
According to American marketing Association, "An Advertising agency is an independent business organisation
composed of creative and business people who develop, prepare and place advertising in advertising media for
sellers seeking to find customers for their goods and services."
Advertising Agency is an independent business organisation specialised in advertising related work which
undertakes the work of planning, preparing, and executing advertising campaign for its clients. Advertising Agency
is a body of experts specialised in advertising.
Types of Advertising Agency - Following are the different types of advertising agencies:
1.
Full Service Agency
2.
In house Agency
3.
A Creative boutique
4.
Media Buying Service
5.
La Carte Agency
6.
Special Service Agency
7.
Sweet Shops
Full Service Agency - Such Advertising Agencies offers its clients a full range of marketing, communication,and
promotion services including research, planning, creating, producing the ad, and selecting media. Full service
agency also offers other services like- strategic market planning, sales promotion, direct marketing, package design,
public relation, and publicity.
In House Agency - In house Agency is the advertising department of the firm which is responsible for planning
and preparation of advertising materials. Big organisations like- Gap, Calvin Klein, Revlon, and etc can manage in
house advertising department and can take the advantage of proper coordination and greater control in all phase
of advertising and promotion process.
Creative Boutique - Creative boutiques are known for their creative concept development, and artistic services to
their clients. Any advertiser wants to infuse greater creativity into the message theme or individual advertisement
can approach a creative boutique. Such agency provides only creative services.
Media Buying Services - They are independent companies specialised in media buying. Media Buying service
agencies particularly deals in buying radio time and television time.
La Carte Agency - Some advertisers prefer to order a la carte rather than using all the services of an agency. A la
carte can be purchased from a full service agency or from an individual firm deals in creative work, media,
production, and or research.
Special service agency - Some agencies focuses on some selected areas, and gains specilisation or expertise in those
areas, such agencies collectively are called special service groups.
Sweet shops - Such agencies are small agencies operates only in one city. Small clients who want advertisement in
local media like- local cable, banners, posters, pamphelets etc, approaches such agencies.
Advertising as Mass Communication and Communication Mix
Advertising is a form of mass communication
Yes, it is true to say that advertising is a form of mass communication. Advertising is a process of
transmission of information by the manufacturer or a seller of a product or service to modify or stimulate
the behavior of the buyer to buy a particular product. Advertising can be in any form of presentation such
as sign, symbol or illustration in print media, a commercial on radio or television, poster etc. Thus
advertising is the communication link between the seller and the buyer.
Advertising is a paid form of a non-personal message communicated through the various media by
industry, business firms, nonprofit organisations, or individuals. Advertising is persuasive and
informational and is designed to influence the purchasing behavior and/or thought patterns of the
audience.
One of the basic ingredients of today's popular culture is consumption and it is the advertising industry
that makes mass consumption possible. Advertising is an important element of our culture because it
reflects and attempts to change our life styles.
The advertising message has to reach a billion people, speaking different languages, practicing many
religions. Advertisers can reach their audiences through television, radio, cinema, print medium, outdoor
advertising, sales promotion and the Internet. Hence, advertising is a form of mass communication.
Marketing Communication Mix
The marketing communication mix is the specific mix of advertising, personal selling, sales
promotion,public relation, and direct marketing a company uses to pursue its advertising and marketing
objectives. Elements of the mix are blended in different quantities in a campaign.
Elements of communication mix
Marketing communications has a mix. Elements of the mix are blended in different quantities in a
campaign. Following are the elements of marketing communication mix:1.
Advertising - Advertising is any paid form of nonpersonal presentation and promotion of
ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor.
2.
Personal selling - Personal presentation by the firm's sales force for the purpose of
making sales and building customer relationship.
3.
Sales promotion - Short term incentives to encourage sales or purchases of a product
or service.
4.
Public relation - Building good relationship with the company's various publics by
obtaining favorable publicity,
building
up
a
good
corporate
image,
and
handling unfavorable rumors, stories, and events.
5.
Direct marketing - Direct communication with carefully targeted individual consumers to
obtain immediate response and cultivate lasting relationship.
6.
Sponsorship - Sponsorship is about providing money to an event, in-turn the product or
company is acknowledged for doing so.
7.
E-marketing - Online marketing is also gaining importance these days.
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Building Advertising Program
Ad-creation stage consists of three stages:
1.
Idea Generation
2.
Copy-writing
3.
Layout
1. Idea generation stage
1.
Orientation: First of all in the process of idea generation it is necessary to identify
the purpose or objective of communication then only a proper creative idea can be decided.
2.
Preparation: Relevant and sufficient information is required to be gathered.
3.
Analysis: Once the information is collected is required to be properly organised under
different heads like- technical information, consumer behaviour information, competitors'
information etc.
4.
Ideation: Ideation is the generation of actual ideas by trying different combinations of
facts and information available.
5.
Incubation: Once ideas are generated, they are kept aside to incubate, i.e., to let
the subconscious mind work on them for sometime.
6.
Synthesis: When the team arrives at this step, it is equipped with a number of ideas. In
this stage, the emphasis is on combining these ideas and evolving something substantial from it.
7.
Evaluation: The various ideas generated in the previous steps are evaluated here.
The criteria used for evaluation are described here. The idea should be:
i) Relevant to the communication objectives.
ii) Original and capable of catching the attention of the viewer.
iii) Flexible so that they can be modified or extended to other advertisements in the future.
2. Copy Writing
The word 'Copy' has a specific meaning in the world of advertising. Advertisement Copy is the soul of
advertisement. An Advertisement Copy is the written and spoken matter expressed in words, sentences,
and figures designed to convey the desired message to the target audience. In print media the elements
of an ad-copy are head line, sub-headlines, illustrations, slogans, and brand name.
Approaches to Copy Writing
A copy-writer has to answer the following questions to prepare an effective advertising copy:

What am I advertising?

To whom am I advertising?

How can I convey best the advertising message to my readers?

Where and how the product is being sold?

When the product is purchased and used?

What legal implications are involved?
3. Layout
A layout is a miniature sketch of the proposed advertisement. A rough layout is first prepared in which the
headline and subheads are lettered in artwork and photographs are drawn or provided, and the position
various elements of ad-copy is indicated. The rough layout is tested and modified to prepare the final
layout. The final layout is appended with many explanations and mechanical designs to give a
comprehensive view. It refers to specifications for estimating costs, guidance for engravers and blueprints
for advertisers.
‘Layout’ means two things; in one sense, it means the total appearance of the advertisement – its design
and the composition of its elements; in another sense, it means physical rendering of the design for the
advertisement – its blueprint for production purposes.
Functions of the Layout

It Organises all the Elements

It Brings Together Copy Writer and Art Director

It Enables the Advertiser to Visualize his Future Advertisement.

It Acts as a Guide to the Copy Specialists.
Copy Testing
Copy testing is a means of measuring the communication value of advertising. As a diagnostic tool rather
than an evaluative tool, copy testing can be instrumental to the creative development process. There are
two key objectives in a copy testing framework. One objective is to determine whether the advertising can
cut through the clutter and make people stop and notice the ad. The second is to assess whether the ad
communicates the intended message.
Advertising Appeals
Advertising Appeal is an igniting force which stimulates the customer mindset towards the product or
services. It not the only factor in the marketing mix which initiates a consumer for buying the product but it
is certainly one of the advertisers' most important creative strategy decisions involves the choice of an
appropriate appeal.
Advertising appeals are designed in a way so as to create a positive image of the individuals who use
certain products. Advertising agencies and companies use different types of advertising appeals to
influence the purchasing decisions of people. There are three types of appeals:
1.
Rational or Informational Appeal
2.
Emotional Appeal
3.
Moral Appeal
Rational or Informational Appeals
This is generally product oriented appeal, highlights the functional benefits like- quality, economy, value,
or performance of a product. Following are different types of rational appeals:

Feature Appeal - Advertisements based on such appeal are highly informative, provides
information of product attributes or features that can be used as the basis for rational purchase decision.
Technical and high involvement product often uses this appeal.

Competitive Advantage Appeal - Such appeal is used to compare the product with the
competitor's product directly or indirectly and advertiser try to present his product superior then
competitor's product on one or more attributes.

Favourable Price Appeal - Here price offer is considered as the dominant point of the
message.

News Appeal - Some type of news or announcements about product or company dominates
the advertisement.

Product Popularity Appeal - Product popularity is considered as the dominant point of
advertisement by highlighting the increasing number of users of brand or the number who have switched
to it.

High Quality - Some products are preferred for their quality not merely because of their taste or
style, such products are advertised by highlighting the quality attribute in advertisement .

Low price - Many people prefer low priced goods. To target such audience products are
advertised by highlighting the low price tag of the product.

Long Life - Many consumers want product of durable nature that can be used for a long period,
in advertisement of such product durability is the dominant point of the message.

Performance - Many advertisements exhibit good performance of product.

Economy - Many customers consider savings in operation and use of product, for example in
case of automobile the mileage is considered while selecting the brand or model.

Scarcity - Another appeal that is occasionally used is scarcity. When there is a limited supply of
a product, the value of that product increases. Scarcity appeals urge consumers to buy a particular
product because of a limitation.

Other Rational Appeals - Other rational appeals include purity, more profits, time saving,
multifunction, more production, regular supply and availability of parts, limited space required, artistic
form, etc. that can make advertising effective.
Emotional Appeals
An emotional appeal is related to an individual’s psychological and social needs for purchasing certain
products and services. Emotions affects all type of purchase decisions. Types of emotional appeals are
as follows:

Positive Emotional Appeal - Positive emotions like- humour, love, care, pride, or joy are
shown in advertisements to appeal audience to buy that product. For example- Jonson and Jonson baby
products.

Negative Emotional Appeal - This includes fear, guilt, and shame to get people to do things
they should or stop.

Fear - Fear is an emotional response to a threat that expresses some sort of danger. Ads
sometimes use fear appeals to evoke this emotional response and arouse consumers to take steps to
remove the threat. For example- Life Insurance

Anxiety - Most people try to avoid feeling anxious. To relieve anxiety, consumers might buy
mouthwash, deodorant, a safer car, get retirement pension plan.

Humour - Humour causes consumer to watch advertisement, laugh on it, and most important is
to remember advertisement and also the product connected with humour. For example- Happydent, and
Mentos.
Moral Appeals
Moral appeals are directed to the consumes’ sense of what is right and proper. These are often used to
exhort people to support social and ethical causes. Types of Moral Appeal are as follows:

Social awakening and justice

Cleaner and safe environment

Equal rights for women

Prohibition of drugs and intoxication

Adult literacy

Anti-smuggling and hoarding

Protection of consumer rights and awakening
Other Type of Appeals

Reminder Appeal - Advertising using reminder appeal has the objective of building brand
awareness. For example- IPO

Teaser Advertising - Advertisers introducing a new product often use this appeal. It is
designed to build curiosity, interest and excitement about a product or brand. For example- Ponds ad of
Saif & Priyanka

Musical Appeals - Music is an extremely important component in advertising. It captures the
attention of listeners. For example- Docomo, Airtel

Transformational Appeal - The idea behind this appeal is that it can actually make the
consumption experience better. For example- Ambay products

Comparison Appeal - In this appeal a brand’s ability to satisfy consumers is demonstrated by
comparing its features to those of competitive brands. For example- Tide & Surf

Direct Appeals - Direct appeals clearly communicate with the consumers about a given need.
These extol the advertised brand as a product which satisfies that need.

Indirect Appeals - Indirect appeals do not emphasise a human need, but allude to a need.
UNIT - IV
ACCOUNT PLANNING
a) Advertising Campaign, various stages of Advertising Campaign
b) Account Planning , pitching & presentation preparation
c) Budgeting process: budgeting & appropriation of fund
d) Factors affecting advertising budget, methods of setting
advertising budget
Account planning
Account planning brings the consumer into the process of developing advertising.
Planning is a job function relating to the application
of strategy and planning techniques to direct brands unique direction across
communications across advertising and marketing channels. The Account Planner,
or simply Planner, has a role to identify and empathise with the target market and
unlock insight that creates value between the consumer, the brand and the category
of Product_(business) orservice. The thoughts and observations are construed into
a value proposition and make up a document called a Creative Brief that is used to
create to inspire advertising campaigns and other marketing communications.
Account planning is an advertising agency departments and works alongside client
facing managers (account management), buying advertising (media), and creating
advertising (creative). Around the 1980s US ad agencies introduced a new
discipline from the UK called account planning which became a primary function
in most US ad agencies in the 90s. 'Account planners have often been called 'the
left side of a creative brain'. Their primary function is to find consumer truth and
insight that helps the creative teams to create work that is not only entertaining and
highly memorable, but that is relevant to the consumer and effective in the
marketplace. Creative ideas that drive business are more typically the result of a
strong collaboration between creative teams and account planners. Account
planners (sometimes also called brand planners and strategic planners) use primary
and secondary research to inform their strategic thinking and are ultimately
responsible for the work that informs, and the penning of, the creative brief. If the
creatives are closest to the idea, and the account manager is closest to the client,
the account planner is closest to the consumer. The account planner is the person
on an advertising team who is most likely to have spent time with consumers (for
B to C) or customers (B to B), observing the consumer's path to purchase, by using
research such as ethnographies, focus groups or quantitative/social studies, asking
consumers how they think about and use the product or service. And in an era in
which the brand is at least as important as a specific product (for instance, Nike as
a brand has a place in the culture that far exceeds the particular performance
characteristics of their shoes), the account planner is responsible for understanding
the place of the brand in the consumer's mind. This is not just a simple research
function - planning truly begins when research ends - and account planners stay
engaged in the campaign process from the initial client briefing and throughout the
advertising cycle. Rather than offering research insights to others at a single point
in time, they use research to continue to provide insights within the campaign
process and most importantly these days, help to track advertising effectiveness.
Whereas previously, account planners focused on the use of traditional primary
research tools, digital/social networks have given them the ability to listen to and
interact with consumers in new ways, and to work more closely with channel or
media planners throughout the process closely also, to not only help plan effective
advertising but also engage with consumers in the most effective ways.
Advertising campaign
1.
An organized course of action to promote a product or service.
"the launch was accompanied by a high-profile advertising campaign"
Advertising Campaigns - Meaning and its Process
Advertising campaigns are the groups of advertising messages which are similar in
nature. They share same messages and themes placed in different types of medias
at some fixed times. The time frames of advertising campaigns are fixed and
specifically defined.
The very prime thing before making an ad campaign is to knowWhy you are advertising and what are you advertising ?
Why refers to the objective of advertising campaign. The objective of an
advertising campaign is to



Inform people about your product
Convince them to buy the product
Make your product available to the customers
The process of making an advertising campaign is as follows:
1. Research: first step is to do a market research for the product to be
advertised. One needs to find out the product demand, competitors, etc.
2. Know the target audience: one need to know who are going to buy the
product and who should be targeted.
3. Setting the budget: the next step is to set the budget keeping in mind all the
factors like media, presentations, paper works, etc which have a role in the
process of advertising and the places where there is a need of funds.
4. Deciding a proper theme: the theme for the campaign has to be decided as
in the colors to be used, the graphics should be similar or almost similar in
all ads, the music and the voices to be used, the designing of the ads, the way
the message will be delivered, the language to be used, jingles, etc.
5. Selection of media: the media or number of Medias selected should be the
one which will reach the target customers.
6. Media scheduling: the scheduling has to be done accurately so that the ad
will be visible or be read or be audible to the targeted customers at the right
time.
7. Executing the campaign: finally the campaign has to be executed and then
the feedback has to be noted.
Mostly used media tools are print media and electronic media. Print media includes
newspaper, magazines, pamphlets, banners, and hoardings. Electronic media
includes radio, television, e-mails, sending message on mobiles, and telephonic
advertising. The only point to remember is getting a proper frequency for the ad
campaign so that the ad is visible and grasping time for customers is good enough.
All campaigns do not have fix duration. Some campaigns are seasonal and some
run all year round. All campaigns differ in timings. Some advertising campaigns
are media based, some are area based, some are product based, and some are
objective based. It is seen that generally advertising campaigns run successfully,
but in case if the purpose is not solved in any case, then the theory is redone,
required changes are made using the experience, and the remaining campaign is
carried forward.
a planned series of advertisements that will be used in particular places at
particular times in order to advertise a product or service and persuade
people to buy it or use it.
Advertising mix
› the combination of methods that a company or organization uses to
advertise its products or services, for example, on television or radio, in
newspapers, or on the internet:
Campaign PlanningMarketing campaigns, whether a program targeted to a small, specific group of
people or a huge, national outreach program, all need to be meticulously planned
and executed with maximum effectiveness and return on marketing investment in
mind.
There are three things all great marketing or advertising campaigns have in
common:

They stay within budget

They are original

They lead the consumer down the path to purchase or sale
Effective Campaign Planning & Development
While each situation is unique, The Sutter Group’s marketing and advertising
campaign planning generally includes:
RESEARCH AND DISCOVERY FOR CAMPAIGN PLANNING
We start the development of every campaign with an initial kickoff meeting to
determine our client’s goals and objectives. After we feel as though we’ve gained a
thorough understanding, we begin to do the necessary research that will inform our
marketing or advertising strategy. Successful research often involves primary
research, target audience surveys and interviews with both customers and internal
stakeholders. We also conduct secondary research including competitor analysis.
This comprehensive approach arms us with the information we need to execute an
original, dynamic and effective campaign.
STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT FOR CAMPAIGN PLANNING
Once the research & discovery phase is complete, we move forward with
developing the strategy that will guide our ad campaign. This strategic
development occurs on two levels. First, we develop the over-arching messaging
for the campaign. This is driven by a creative brief, which outlines the objectives,
target audiences and a positioning statement. We also develop the tactical plan that
dictates when and where this messaging will be communicated to the client’s target
audiences.
EXECUTION FOR CAMPAIGN PLANNING
After “the game plan” is complete, we begin to execute it. We work at varying
levels during the execution phase. In some cases, we handle all aspects of
campaign execution. Other times, a marketing director or vice president of
marketing oversees the execution and we handle creative duties.
MEASUREMENT OF SUCCESS FOR CAMPAIGN PLANNING
Measurement in the form of tracking and analytics is critical both to ensure success
of the campaign as well as to obtain intelligence that lets us adjust a campaign for
maximum results. How do we do it? Campaign monitoring, web analytics, social
media monitoring and engagement – we have an entire toolbox full of tactics to
help us gauge how well our marketing campaigns are working and this allows us to
continually make adjustments for improvement.
Advertising: the basics
Planning an advertising campaign
Certain businesses choose to advertise when their target audience is most likely to
buy their product or service. Sometimes this can be seasonal - a toy retailer, for
example, will focus much of its advertising efforts around the run-up to Christmas.
If you're selling to other businesses, it's worth identifying when your customers
and potential customers will have the budget to spend.
However, some businesses choose to focus more attention on their quieter times on
the basis that the busier times will naturally see an increase in sales. Advertising
during quieter times might mean you won't have to work as hard to stand out from
other competitors, as they won't be advertising, but there may be fewer customers
to target.
Gaining a greater market share during these periods could not only help during the
busier times - as you will have already developed a bigger customer base - but will
improve your cashflow and minimise your reliance on certain trading periods.
The reasons behind a campaign
Many businesses launch advertising campaigns simply to boost sales or increase
brand awareness.
The launch of a new product will almost certainly require you to step up your
advertising.
New businesses will want to consider some form of advertising just to let people
know they exist. You could consider an introductory offer to give people an
incentive to visit or call.
Can you plan the campaign yourself?
You need to think carefully about what you want to achieve and the message you
want the reader, viewer or listener to take away. Remember - advertising is only
effective if you reach your target audience with a message that makes them want to
buy or at least find out more.
You may be able to design and produce a straightforward advertisement for printed
media yourself - see the page in this guide for how to write an advertisement.
However, most print advertising organisations have in-house services if you can't
do it yourself.
If your advertising needs are more demanding than an occasional, low-priced local
advertisement, it may be worth outsourcing your advertising to an advertising
agency. See our guide on how to choose and manage an advertising agency.
This is only suitable if you are prepared to pay the extra cost, but in any event, it is
advisable to have your adverts professionally designed to ensure maximum impact.
The8 Stepsof an AdvertisingCampaign
In the past, I worked with a business that made its decisions on where to advertise based entirely on
which publications and stations actually called up and solicited an ad. While plenty of publications are
cold-calling potential advertisers in hopes of getting a little ad revenue these days, I wouldn’t really
recommend taking a similar route. Instead, approaching advertising like any other business project can
guarantee that your advertising budget actually has the affect you want in the long-term. An advertising
project isn’t so different from buying a new office or designing a new product: with the right process, you
can complete your project efficiently and with great results.
Here are eight steps you can follow to keep your advertising campaign on track and successful:
1.
Market research: Before you even start thinking about where you might want to place an ad or
even what it could look like, it’s important to do at least some basic research. Even if you aren’t in
a position to bring in an expensive research firm, you can ask your current customers questions
about why they come back to you, as well as taking a close look at your target demographic’s
needs and interests.
2. Budgeting: Your business probably has a set advertising budget for the year — but how do you
divvy it up between your various advertising projects? For each project you’re planning, you need
to be clear on just how much money you’re willing to spend. You’ll almost certainly change exactly
how you divide it between costs like copy writing and design, but you can treat the overall amount
as set in stone. Write it down and put it in your project folder.
3.
Setting goals: The aims you have in mind for a particular advertising project need to be written
down ahead of time. While it’s good to be ambitious, it’s also important to decide what constitutes
a successful advertising campaign for your business. Sales can be the simplest metric: if you’re
advertising a particular product, how many units will you need to sell to pay for that campaign?
4. Advertising venue: The website, tv station, newspaper, radio station, magazine or other
advertising venue you place your ad with is a crucial decision. You’ll need to look at not only the
cost of your preferred venues but also whether they reach your target demographic. Ad buys can
make up a significant portion of your budget. Deciding on where you will place your ads first tells
you how much money you’ll have left over for actually creating your ad.
5. Choosing creatives: Unless you’re planning to write, shoot and design every part of your ad,
you’ll probaably need to bring in some help. Finding the right freelancers for each aspect requires
checking through portfolios and rates — if you can find a business or freelancer who can handle all
aspects of creating your ad, even if that means subcontracting, it can save you a lot of time. You’ll
also want to make sure that you find any talent you’ll need for your ad (voice actors for radio,
models for photography and so on).
6. Design and wording: While you may not have a lot of actual writing and designing to do for your
ad, during the creation process you will need to review and sign off on different stages of the
project. When starting with a new designer or other creative, make sure that you both know any
expectations for timelines and progress checks.
7. Placing the ad: Once you have a finished ad in hand, it’s time to actually place it with your
preferred advertising venue. You may have a few contracts to sign and a check to hand over.
You’ll also want to make sure you actually see your ad once it’s run — from a newspaper, for
instance, you’ll want to see the tear sheets of pages containing your ad.
8. Evaluation: Depending on your ad, how you evaluate it can vary. If it included a coupon, for
instance, you can simply count how many customers brought in the coupon. For other ads, you
may be simply comparing sales before, during and after your advertising campaign. Spend as
much time on analyzing how your advertising campaign worked as you can. That information can
point you to more effective uses of advertising in the future.
While following such a set process may seem like it would stifle the creativity necessary to put together a
new ad, following these steps can actually make it easier. You can minimize confusion and make sure
that everyone is meeting the necessary deadlines — and you can ensure that you’ll be able to measure
your ad’s actual cost and responses during each step. You’ll be better equipped to tweak your ad or move
it to another publication in the future.
CAMPAIGN PLANNING:
According to Wright et al. [18], there are seven basic and essential steps in
planning:
1 . Approaching the Advertising Opportunity
This appraisal involves the determination of the right timing; for a particular
advertising campaign. Neil Borden [19] and Charles H. Patti [20] have identified
five situations which could lend themselves to advertising opportunities:
a) Presence of a favourable primary demand trend: If a product category is
becoming favourite with
consumers, then it is beneficial
to advertise a particular brand of product in that category. For example, if coffee
drinking is on the increase then a particular brand of coffee can take advantage of it
Similarly, if the trend is towards small compact cars, then it is difficult to sell big
gas- guzzling cars.
b) Good chance for product differentiation: If the product that is the focus of the
advertising campaign, can be differentiated by unique or exclusive qualities, then it
.provides an advertising opportunity. For example, it is difficult to differentiate
simply salt or sugar, because sugar will remain sugar no matter which company
produces it, but a toothpaste can be differentiated by its quality to clean and
brighten teeth as well as serve as a mouthwash.
c) Presence of hidden qualities: Less obvious qualities are more favourable to
promotion. For example, the quality of a television set cannot be determined by
simply looking at it. The reliability of the parts within the set are very important
for the consumers to associate their buying with that particular brand. Hence the
theme of Zenith TV company is “The quality goes in before the names goes on”,
Sony Corporation products are well known for their reliability.
d) Presence of powerful emotional buying motives’. If a promotional appeal can
touch the emotions as against potentiality or economic Utility, it will be successful.
Cosmetics are generally promoted on the basis of sex appeal. Some types of bread
and cereals are promoted as necessary for healthier children.
e) Availability of advertising funds: An advertising opportunity cannot be
advertised unless there are adequate funds available for such an advertising
campaign. Some minimal amount of advertising must be done if sufficient impact
on the target market is to be achieved. Little advertising may be more dangerous
than no advertising at all.
2- Market Analysis
Before an advertising campaign can be initiated, it is necessary to know the target
market in depth and in detail. Such factors as the entire industry, volume of a given
product, its on- market share, competitive strategies, any legal constraints etc. must
be studied and analysed. Similarly, the demographic structure of the market and.
the market trends must be studied. This would assist in pin-pointing the segmented
target market so that advertising efforts can be focussed on this market.
3-Advertising Objectives
The advertising objectives should be as specific as possible. For example, one
single point increase in market share is not as specific as the desired percentage of
increase in market share. These advertising objectives- must be differentiated from
the overall marketing objectives.
4-Establishing Advertising Budgets
As discussed earlier, an advertising budget is determined either by the build-up
method or by the break-down method and, appropriate allocation for different
media from the budget is established. This break up of allocation would also
include consideration of different products, different geographic markets, different
time periods etc. Proper monitoring of this budge.t is equally important. Some
contingency fund should be apportioned in case any situational changes take place.
5-Developing a Promotional Strategy
Strategies are developed in order to achieve the advertising and marketing
objectives. Strategy involves selecting the most suitable media as the vehicle of
promotion as well creating an advertising message that would be attention getting.
Advertising strategy has been defined as follows:
“Advertising strategy is creativity applied in knowledge for the purpose of finding
the most effective way of achieving an end. We believe that advertising strategy
must encompass the totality of what a product or service is and how it is sold to the
consumer. It embodies the product’s or service’s reason for being so. It is the
product’s most important property and it is the differentiating principle that the
product embraces. Strategy welds all of the marketing factors into a cohesive unity
that will achieve the end” [21].
6-Coordinating Advertising and Other Marketing Techniques
Advertising campaigns need the active support of other marketing functions such
as distribution channels, sales promotion and public relations. Other functions like
production, inventory and delivery should also be integrated with advertising
plans. In addition, maximum support should be solicited from dealers, suppliers
and sales people.
7-Results of Advertising Campaigns
The degree of correlation between any increase in sales and :he advertising
campaign should be established so as to determine he proportion of increase in
sales that are directly attributable to he advertising campaign. Similarly, if the
objectives are other than an increase in sales, then the degree of achievement of
such objectives should be measured relative to. the advertising efforts. There are a
number of ways by which such results can be measured. One of these methods
would be to test the market, which is carefully chosen, at the time of introduction
of the advertising campaign (known as pre-testing) and then testing the market
again after the full commitment of the campaign (known as post-testing). In the
pre-testing stage, the response in the test market is analysed to determine if any
changes in the advertising campaign are necessary. The pre-testing and post-testing
would give us a clear indication as to the efficiency of the advertising effort.
This is a common trait in ad agency presentations, especially those from Account
Management: plunge straight into writing a presentation. Fact is ,there are 3 parts
to any presentation:
– preparation: the time spent gathering data, insights, organising thoughts, forming
hypotheses, validating them, arriving at a plan, taking a firm stance, being sure of
the key messages which need to be conveyed. Sure there is preparation required for
delivering the presentation too (in terms of rehearsals, motivation etc.) but I am
referring to the time spent even before writing a single slide
– creation: the time spent creating the content, phrasing the slides, formatting or
embellishing the content
– delivery: the actual presentation which makes an impact, conveys a point
forcefully, closes a deal, sells an idea, inspires an audience and so on.
Unfortunately, hardly any effort goes into preparation and delivery.
Needless to say, everyone wants to make a good presentation. Search for
‘PowerPoint presentation’ on Google search and you will find many tips to
improve presentations among the 1.8mn results. There are many useful tips on all
aspects of a presentation, some suited specifically for a purpose. For example, Guy
Kawasaki talks about the 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint, which may best suite
someone making a pitch to a venture capitalist. Some find it fashionable to blame
the most commonly used tool – PowerPoint, for bad presentations. That’s not the
truth – one must know how to get the most out of a presentation tool – be it
PowerPoint, Keynote, Prezi or any of the other online presentation creation
applications.
Even in this 140-character, short-attention-span driven world, one cannot wish
away the need to put forth thoughts or share ideas formally and hence presentations
are necessary. In many situations – investor meets, syndicated studies, progress
reports, market reports etc., there is no substitute for formal presentations.
When it comes to ad agency presentations, the big one…the big event, is of course
the client presentation. The Big Fat Client Presentation has many avatars: pitch
presentation for an account, an annual presentation on brand plans for an existing
client, campaign or creative idea presentation, media proposals & reviews, market
research presentation, campaign analysis & report (for media plans, social media)
and so on. Add to this some ad agency internal presentations – selling an idea to a
cross-functional team, training, sharing an idea or observation, summarising
performance of a brand or campaign, summary of financial performance etc., and
you have a power (point) packed schedule of presentations.
If one were to pause before any presentation and take time to prepare I am
convinced that it will have a positive impact on the content and delivery.
Unfortunately in the hurry-burry of things and day-to-day operations who has the
time to prepare?
– Who is your audience? How much do they know about the subject?: very often
you will find agency folks saying what the client already knows. A lot of time
would be spent on telling the client his brand’s market share, repeating the brief
and so on. The simple mantra – don’t tell the audience what they already know.
Sure if you are saying something obvious in order to make some other point which
could be relevance to the topic or something the audience has not thought of, then
it is fine.
– What is the outcome sought? In clear simple, language what do you want get
done after the presentation? Get the client to buy the campaign idea? Approve the
costs? It could also be something softer like sending a message to the audience. A
pro-active effort from the account management team on say, packaging trends
abroad in a category is likely to be appreciated by the client. It sends across a
message that the team cares about the brand, is forward thinking, pro-active etc.
– Blue sky thinking, mind map tools: before actually putting down the content can
you get inputs from experts? Or someone refreshingly new? If need be consider
using mind map tools to open up your thinking on a subject, to give you fresh
angles to think on.
– What are the key points you want to convey? In any presentation there must be 23 key points about the subject or proposal. Write them down in simple language.
Ensure those points are new to the audience and more importantly, relevant. Are
they all connected to one big idea? If so, are they all linked to one another?
– What is the physical work required to substantiate those points? Articles to be
read? Ads, movies or any inspirational content to be watched? Research to be
initiated? Market visit?
– Is there a theme that can hold all the points you want to make? Sometimes it may
help to think of a theme to help organise your presentation. If there is none, it is
fine – don’t try and force fit a theme.
The one presentation where a lot of effort goes into preparation, with a lot of leg
work prior to actually writing the content, brainstorming with teams, tossing up
several ideas before honing in on a few etc., is the big Annual Plans presentation
(wherever such a practice exists!) and the Media Strategy Plan presentation. Most
other presentations, in my experience is a blur of last minute activity. The chances
of success depends purely on the calibre of the person writing & delivering the
presentation and to an extent the one guiding him or her. New business
presentations may well start one week before the actual presentation date but
actually take shape only the night before the big day. Even if a month was
available for a pitch presentation, the momentum always gathers in the last week –
ideas get firmed up, creatives get developed (which has a bearing on the actual
deck) and slides get written.
Even in agencies where dedicated Planning teams are involved in preparation (the
research, ideas brainstorming etc.) for a new business pitch, the final presentation
actually takes shape in the last minute. So you can imagine the state of mind of
Account Management folks whose time is largely spent on operations, when it
comes to presentations. They simply do not have the luxury of preparation. Which
is a pity, really. Because a lot of them are bright, passionate minds who care about
their brand, have ideas and want to contribute…make an impact. Especially for
them, preparation is key.
Advertisement Evaluation Techniques.
Pre-Testing, Concurrent Testing, and Post Testing.
In today's advertising world, every firm invests heavily on advertisement for
making their products or services known to the target audience and to arouse the
interest of target audience in firm's products or services. Advertising is done with
some predefined objectives- to generate awareness about product, to arouse interest
in product, to change the attitude of audience towards product, to stimulate desire
for product, or to make them buy the product.
Advertising is of no use if the defined objectives of communication is not
achieved. So, it is necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of advertisement at
different level, starting from creation of ad-copy to running of ad on media, and
also after execution of ad to know to what extent the objectives are achieved.
Types of Test
Following are the types of test applied in advertisement evaluation:



Pre-Testing
Concurrent Testing
Post Testing
1. Pre-Testing
Pre-Testing follows the universal law "Prevention is better than cure". Advertising
can be pretested at several points in the creative development process. Pre-Testing
helps the advertiser to make a final go or no go decision about finished or nearly
finished advertisement. Pre-Testing method refer to testing the potentiality of a
communication message or ad-copy before printing, broadcasting, or telecasting.
Following are the types of pre-testing methods:
A. Qualitative Methods of Pre-Testing

Focus Group: Focus group involve exposing the ad to a group of 8 to 12
respondents. Focus groups are used with surprising frequency for making final go
or no go decision. A moderator facilitates the discussion and walk s the group
through a series of issues that are outlined in discussion guide.

In-depth Interview: In-depth interview involve one on one discussion with
respondents. Interviews are very effective when a researcher has a good idea of
critical issues but does not have a sense of the kind of responses one will get. This
method can be effectively used to generate new ad concepts and ideas.

Projective Techniques: In this technique the respondent is instructed to
project himself into the situation and verbalise the thoughts. projective technique
can be very effective for evaluating ad concepts and for generating new ad
concepts. But, it cannot be used for making final decisions.
B. Quantitative Methods of Pre-Testing

Checklist Method: Checklist method is used to test the effectiveness of adcopy. The purpose of this method is to ensure that all elements of the ad-copy are
included with due importance in the advertisement. As it is a pre-test method any
omitted element of ad can be included in the copy before release of the
advertisement.

Consumer Jury Method: This method involves the exposure of alternative
advertisements to a sample of jury or prospects. This test is designed to learn from
a typical group of prospective customers. Advertisements which are unpublished
are presented before the consumer jury either in personal interviews or group
interviews and their reactions are observed and responses are recorded.

Sales Area Test: Under this method advertising campaign is run in the
markets selected for testing purposes. The impact of the campaign is evaluated by
actual sales in the selected markets. The market with high sales is considered the
best market for effective sales campaign. In other markets suitable changes are
made in the advertising campaign.

Questionnaire Method: It is a list of questions related to an experiment.
The draft of an advertisement along with some relevant questions is to be sent to a
group of target consumers or advertising experts. Their opinions are collected and
analyzed to find out whether the proposed advertisement is satisfactory or not.

Recall Test: Under this method, advertising copies are shown to a group of
prospects. After few minutes they are asked to recall and reproduce them. This
method is used to find out how far the advertisements are impressive.

Reaction Test: The potential effect of an advertisement is judged with the
help of certain instruments, which measure heartbeats, blood pressure, pupil
dilution etc. Their reactions reveal the psychological or nervous effects of
advertising.

Readability Test: All the listeners of advertisements cannot read it equally.
So respondents are drawn from different socio economic and geographical
backgrounds. This method is used to find out the level of effectiveness when and
advertisement is read.

Eye Movement Test: The movements of eyes of the respondents are
recorded by using eye observation camera when advertisements are shown to them
in a screen. This helps to find out the attention value of advertisement.
2. Concurrent Testing
Concurrent testing is evaluated throughout the whole advertisement execution
process. Tests are conducted while audience is exposed to different type of media.
Following are the types of concurrenttesting methods:

Consumer Diaries: Diaries are provided to a selected customers. They are
also informed to record the details of advertisements they watch, listen or read. The
diaries are collected periodically. The result obtained from such a survey reveals
the effectiveness of advertisement.

Co-incidental Surveys: This method is also called as co-incidental
telephone method. Under this method, samples of customers are selected and calls
are made at the time of broadcast of the advertisement programme. The data
obtained and analyzed will give a picture about the effectiveness of an
advertisement.

Electronic Devices: Now day’s electronic devices are widely used to
measure the effectiveness of an advertisement. They are mainly used in broadcast
media. These are auto meters, track electronic units etc.
3. Post Testing
Post testing is done to know- to what extent the advertising objectives are
achieved. Following are the types of post testing methods:

Recognition Test: Recognition test involves the ability of viewers to
correctly identify ad, brand, or message they previously exposed to. The types of
recognition test are:

Starch Test - The Starch test is applied only to print ads that have
already run. The interviewer shows each respondent a magazine or newspaper
containing the ads being tested. For each ad the interviewer asks the respondents to
reply to ad related questions.

Bruzzone Test - The Bruzzone test is conducted through mail
surveys. Questionnaires containing frames and audio scripts from television
commercials are sent to respondents and respondents are asked whether they
recognise the ad and brand.

Recall or Impact Test: The recall test is designed to measure the
impression of readers or viewers of the advertisement. If a reader has a favorable
impression of the advertisement, he will certainly retain something of the
advertisement. The measures of interest would be obtained by interviewing the
readers or viewers or listeners, days after the advertisement or commercial is
appeared in the newspaper, or on T.V. Interviewer asks the readers or viewers to
answer some ad related questions, and in response to the question asked, the reader
reveals the accuracy and depth of his impression.
Recognition, Recall, and Persuasion
Recognition and Recall are the terms that are heavily used by advertisers in
advertising measurement, more specifically in copy testing techniques. Both
recognition and recall are
techniques that dredge a consumer's memory for traces of awareness of an
advertisement or brand. Recognition is an emotional task, and recall is a logical
task. Recognition makes use of the right hemisphere of the human brain concerned
with emotional matters, and recall makes use of the left hemisphere, concerned
with logical thoughts. Print ads tends to be logical and stimulates the left
hemisphere. Television ads tends to be emotional and stimulates right hemisphere.
Therefore recognition is the correct method to use for television, and recall is to
correct measure for print. Further development in advertising measurement
introduced the term 'Persuasion' measure. Persuasion was based on asking
consumer about their brand preferences before and after exposure to a commercial.
If a shift in preference occurred, this means that the advertisement had persuaded
the customer of the merits of the brand.
Advertising Budget Decisions
Introduction
In this advertising world, everyday we see many advertisement of different
products or brands.Organisations invests heavily in advertising to make their
product popular and to increase sales. But, here the question is - how
the organisations decide - how much to advertise? How much to invest in
advertisement? What should be the size of advertising budget?
Definition of Advertising Budget
"Advertising budget is an estimated amount an organisation decides to invest in its
promotional expenditures over a period of time. An advertising budget is the
money a company set aside to accomplish its marketing objectives."
It is difficult to measure the effect of advertising on business sales. Advertising is
just one of the variables that affects sales in a period of time. As a percentage of
sales, advertising expenditure varies from business to business. Because of such
complications it is very difficult for business organisationsto decide the size
of advertising budget. There are various approaches that can be used to
setadvertising budget.
Approaches to Develop Advertising Budget
1.
Percentage of Sales Budget
2.
Competitive Parity Approach
3.
Objective and Task Approach
4.
All Organisation can Afford Approach
5.
Market Share Approach
6.
All Available Fund Approach
7.
Managerial Judgement Approach
Percentage of Sales Budget
According to this approach the business organisation have to set their
advertising spending at a fixed percentage of either past or anticipated sales. This
Approach can be followed by organisations operating in markets with stable and
predictable sales pattern. As it is simple in application, it is most commonly used
by small business organisations.
This approach has some disadvantages, as sales is not directly related to
advertising, it get affected by different variables too.
Competitive Parity Approach
This approach is followed by organisations whose product is well established and
operating in market with predictable sales pattern. Organisations following this
approach compare their advertising spending with that of its competitors. As
the organisation is aware of how much its competitors are spending in advertising,
it can logically decide its advertising budget either equal, more, or less to that of
the competitors.
Here considering competitors advertising budget organisation should consider
its objectives too, as the competitors objectives may not be similar or comparable.
Objectives and Task Approach
This approach is followed by big organisations having well defined
marketing objectives, and business goals. Following this approach advertiser
can correlate its advertising spending to marketing objectives. In long term this
correlation is important to keep organisational spending focused on business goals.
All organisation can afford approach
It is difficult for small business organisations to invest heavily in advertising.
Small business organisation's advertising spending depends more on their
affordability. According to this approach advertisers base their advertising
budget on what they can afford.
Market Share Approach
Similar to competitive parity approach, the market share approach bases its
advertising spending on external market trends. With this method a business
equates its market share with its advertising expenditures.
All Available Fund Approach
According to this approach all available profit is used in advertising spending. It
can be too risky for any size of organisation as the all available fund is used in
advertising and no fund is allocated to help business grow in other ways liketechnology up-gradation, or work force development. This approach is useful for
new business organisations trying to develop its brand.
Managerial Judgement Approach
In long run managers gain expertise in their field of operation. Similarly, some of
the marketing managers working over the years develops a feel for the market that
permits them to arrive at appropriate decisions. According to this approach
the organisations advertising spending depends on the judgement of experienced
managers.
Advertising Budget and Control
Definition of Advertising Budget
"Advertising budget is an estimated amount an organisation decides to invest in its
promotional expenditures over a period of time. An advertising budget is the
money a company set aside to accomplish its marketing objectives."
Budget Administration and Control
Budgetary control is the use of the comprehensive system of budgeting
to aid management in carrying out its functions like planning, coordination and
control.
Advertising budget is directly related to advertising objectives. The advertising
budget determines the perimeter of advertising activities of an organisation.
Allocation of advertising budget is not enough to achieve advertising objectives.
Budget control is equally important. Budget control is periodic comparison of
actual level of performance against budgets, and reporting the variances with
proper analysis to provide basis for future course of action.
Regulation of Advertising
Introduction to Advertising Regulation
In today's world of cut throat competition, advertisement plays an important role in
brand building and informing public about available products so that they can
make informed choice among different products or brands.
On one side advertising carries several responsibilities, but on the other
side advertising is accused of encouraging materialism and consumption, of
stereotyping, of causing us to purchase unnecessary, of using sex to sell, of taking
advantage of children, of manipulating our behaviour; contributing to downfall of
our value system.
In order to protect consumer interest and to monitor and control advertising a
number of different regulatory bodies are established. Many countries have an
Advertising Standard Authority to ensure advertising claims are truthful, not
exaggerated or misleading; or to protect particular groups like children.
Meaning of Advertising Regulation
Advertising regulation refers to the laws and rules defining the ways in which
products can be advertised in a particular region. Rules can define a wide number
of different aspects such as ad placement, timing and content.
Advertising Regulations in different countries

United States - False advertising and health related ads are regulated most.

Sweden and Norway - Domestic ads that target children are prohibited.

Some European Countries don't allow sponsorship of children programs, no
ads are targeted to children under the age of twelve.

United Kingdom - Tobacco ads on television, bill boards, or at sporting
events is banned.

India - Alcohol and Tobacco ads are banned.
Self Regulation
The word 'Self' refers to the actor. Here the actor can be a company or a group of
companies acting collectively. 'Regulation' refers to what the actor is doing.
Regulation has three components:1.
Legislation - to define appropriate rules,
2.
Enforcement - igniting actions against violators,
3.
Adjudication - decision on violation and and imposing an appropriate
sanction.
The term 'Self Regulation' means the company or the industry rather than the
government is doingregulation. In self regulation it is not necessary that
government involvement lacks entirely. One or two components of regulation are
taken over by the industry other remains with the government.
Role of Advertising in Marketing and Process of Advertising
The finest products, the most attractive price tags, and the best marketing channels
are of no mean if the target customers don't know the product; and the chances of
product success is low. Effective marketing communication is crucial for the
success of a product or a business. In marketing communications advertising plays
an important role.
Role of Advertising in Marketing Communication
Marketing communications are the means by which organisations attempt to
inform, persuade, and remind consumers about products, services, or brands.
Marketing communications inform and make consumers aware about
the availability of the product or service, about its usage, price and special offers.
Marketing Communications attempt to persuade potential consumers to purchase
and try the product. Marketing communications can also be used to reinforce
experiences, or to remind consumers about their needs and their past experiences
related to the product with a view to convince them for repurchases. Marketing
communication also differentiate products in markets where there is little to
separate competing products and brands.
Advertising is a paid form of a non-personal message communicated through the
various media by industry, business firms, nonprofit organisations, or individuals.
Advertising is persuasive and informational and is designed to influence the
purchasing behavior and/or thought patterns of the audience.
The advertising message has to reach a billion people, speaking different
languages, practicing many religions. Advertisers can reach their audiences
through television, radio, cinema, print medium, outdoor advertising, sales
promotion and the Internet. Hence, advertising is a form of mass communication.
Process of Advertising
Following are the steps that are required to be followed for development and
execution of advertising :1.
Briefing - Advertising process starts with briefing - a document
confirming understanding between client and advertising agency on - what
product to advertise, objective of advertising, time-frame of ad campaign,
strategies to reach the audience, and total estimated cost.
2.
Market Research - After briefing market research will done.
Research include - comparison of advertiser's product or service with
competitor's product or service, consumers' perception of their brand in
comparison to their competitors, study of competitors' advertising, and
response of consumers to competitors' advertising.
3.
Identify Target Audience - Next step is to identify target audience.
Using the market research, the advertising agency will identify the target
audience.
4.
Media Selection - Using the research, the advertising agency or the
media agency will select the media that should be used to reach the target
audience in the most cost effective way.
5.
Ad Designing & Ad Creation - At this step the creative people of
advertising agency will convert the advertising communication into words
and pictures. The copywriter will write the copy of advertising and the art
director will visually implement the copywriter's message.The advertising
agency may get the filming or taping done by outside production companies.
6.
Decide Place & Time - This step is to decide where and when the
advertisement will be shown. Traffic department within the advertising
agency will ensure that the commercials are ready on time and all required
legal approvals have been granted.
7.
Execution - Finally the advertisement will be executed.
8.
Performance Check - Once the advertisement is executed, the media
agency will check its performance.
Following the above steps the client or marketer can effectively communicate its
marketing messages with its target audience.
Ethics and Social Responsibilities in Advertising
Introduction
In today's world of cut throat competition every organisation is investing heavily in
advertising. Advertising is necessary to make a new product popular in the market
and to increase the sales of existing brands. Advertising plays an important role in
brand building and informing public about available products so that they can
make informed choice among different products or brands.
Advertising is a powerful medium of mass communication. As advertising is a
form of mass communication and thus just like other popular forms it too have
some social responsibilities associated with it. However, the question is whether
advertising fulfil its social responsibilities or not.
Advertisements are meant for the masses and people relate themselves with this
medium. Thus, for understanding its responsibilities towards the public,
its positive and the negative aspects needs to understood.
Positive and Negative Aspects of Advertising
As like any other medium of mass communication, advertising also
have positive as well as negativeaspects. Advertising increases sales, advertising
makes the product popular, advertising helps in brand formation, advertising
makes the public aware with the available brands or products. Advertising is the
largest financial source for mass media. Advertising is sometimes subjected to
wide criticism. Many of the advertisements are criticised as deceptive or
manipulative. Other criticism focus on the social or environmental impact of
advertising, the effect of advertising on our value system, commercial clutter,
stereotypes, and offensiveness.
Ethics in Advertising
Ethics means a set of moral principles which govern a person's behaviour or
activities. Ethics in advertising means a set of well defined principles which govern
the ways of communication taking place between the seller and buyer.
Advertising benefits advertisers in many ways, similarly it makes the public aware
with the available brands so that they can make informed choice among the
available products or brands. But, some of the advertisement doesn't match the
ethical norms of advertising, such ads causes political, cultural, or moral harm to
society. Ethical ad is one which is in the limit of decency, make no false claims,
and doesn't lie.
Nowadays advertisements are highly exaggerated and a lot of puffing is used. It
seams like the main area of interest for advertisers is to increase their sales, gain
maximum market share, prove their product best in the market by presenting a well
decorated, colourful, and puffed advertisement.
Ethical and Moral principles of Advertising
Advertisers must have sufficient knowledge of ethical norms and principles, so that
they can understand and decide what is correct and what is wrong. We can identify
several ethical and moral principles that are particularly relevant to advertising.
We are speaking briefly of three as follows:1.
Truthfulness in advertising;
2.
The dignity of the human person; and
3.
Social responsibility.
Truthfulness in Advertising
Truth in advertising promotes a highly efficient, functioning economy by:

Discouraging deceptive business practices;

Encouraging the provision of accurate and truthful information;

Enhancing competition by ensuring a level playing field; and

Enabling informed consumer choice.
The Dignity of the Human Person

The dignity of human beings should be respected; advertisements should not
insult the dignity of human beings;

Different cultures and ethnic groups should be presented in advertising as
equal with the majority of the population;

Special care should be given to weak and vulnerable groups like - children,
poor people, or elderly people.
Advertising and Social Responsibility
Advertising has a strong social responsibility, independent of its known
commercial responsibility. Advertisers should have a deeper sense of social
responsibility and should develop their own set of ethical and social norms taking
into consideration the values of their society.
Conclusion
Nowadays it seems like many of the advertisers lack knowledge of ethical norms
and principles. They doesn't understand what is right or wrong, and that's by
number of misleading and unethical ad is increasing. But, on the other side some
advertisers are giving importance to ethical norms and principles. When the ethical
norms and principles are followed, it makes the organisation answerable for all its
activities, reduces the chances of getting pointed out by critics or any regulatory
body, and helps in gaining confidence of the customer and makes them
trust organisation and its products.

Advertising objectives should always be in line with promotional
and marketing objectives, as well as the business strategy or mission of the
organization. Group advertising objectives fall into three categories:
To Inform

To Persuade

To Remind
Informative Advertising
Informative advertising is often used when launching a new product, or for an
updated or relaunched product. The objective is to develop initial demand for a
good, service, organization, or cause. It is used when a new product is put on the
market on when an old product has been re-launched or updated.
Informative advertising will tell the consumer and marketplace about the product,
explain how it works, provide pricing and product information, and should build
awareness for the product as well as the company. The image of the product and
the company should be compatible and complementary. There should be enough
information to motivate the consumer to take some sort of action.
Persuasive Advertising
Marketers use persuasive advertising to increase the demand for an existing good,
service, or organization. The idea is persuade a target audience to change brands,
buy their product, and develop customer loyalty. After the purchase, the quality of
the product will dictate whether or not the customer will remain loyal or return to
the previous brand.
Persuasive advertising is highly competitive when there are similar products in the
marketplace, and products are competing for their share of the market. In this
situation, the winning product will differentiate itself form the competition and
possess benefits that are superior to, or compete strongly with, the competition.
Comparative approaches are common place, either directly or indirectly.
Reminder Advertising
Reminder advertising reinforces previous promotional information. The name of
the product, testimonials of past customers, public response, and sales techniques
are repeated in the hopes of reminding past customers and garnering new ones. It is
used to keep the public interested in, and aware of, a well-established product that
is most likely at the end of the product life cycle.