Advertising & Sales Promotion Management

Definitions of Advertising
Advertising does not involve only presentation and promotion, but an
element of persuasion too.

W.J. Stanton definition of advertising is – “Advertising consists of all the

activities involved in presenting to a group a non-personal, oral or visual,
openly sponsored message regarding a product, service or idea, this
message, called an advertisement is disseminated through one or more
media and is paid for by the identified sponsor”.

More precisely, concerning the development of an ad, the various

decisions include:
1. The selection of advertising objectives.
2. The selection of target audience.
3. The determination of advertising budget.
5. 4. The designing of both message strategy and tactics.
6. The selection of media and determining the media use.
7. The evaluation of the outcome of ad exposure.

The Advertising Communication System

Advertising is an audio-visual form of marketing that engages an open, non-
personal message to promote a product or a service. Advertisers are mostly
businesses looking for the promotion of their goods. Advertisements are
communicated through various mass media, such as newspapers, magazines,
television, radio, and the internet. The actual presentation of a particular message in
some medium is called advertisement.

Communication process refers to the interchange of information between two or

more people. For the communication to triumph, both the parties must be able to
exchange and understand the information. If the flow of information is obstructed or
hindered for some reason, the communication process fails.
Advertising communication can be defined as a perception process of the source, a
message, a communication channel, and a receiver. A receiver might sometimes
become the source of information by communicating the message to family and
friends. This kind of communication is called word-of-mouth communication, which
involves social interactions between two or more people.
Advertising communication includes

 Any material published using any medium or activity undertaken by or on

behalf of the advertiser over which the advertiser has minimal control.
 Something that attracts the attention of the public in a way to promote
directly or indirectly a product or a service.
It does not include

 Labels or packaging on the products.

 Corporate reports including public affair messages in the press release and
other media statements and annual reports.
ADVERTISING COMMUNICATION MODEL
Marketing Communication Process Steps
There are certain steps that should be involved in the effective marketing communication
process. The marketing and promotional activities should focus on these steps in order to
attract a huge portion of long run customers. Following are the steps that make the
communication process effective.

 Identification of the target audience

 Determination of the communication objectives
 Designing of message
 Message content
 Message structure and format
 Choosing media
 Collecting feedback

Steps in Advertising Process

The following are the steps involved in the process of advertising:

1. Step 1 - Briefing: the advertiser needs to brief about the product or the service which has to be advertised
and doing the SWOT analysis of the company and the product.
2. Step 2 - Knowing the Objective: one should first know the objective or the purpose of advertising. i.e. what
message is to be delivered to the audience?
3. Step 3 - Research: this step involves finding out the market behavior, knowing the competitors, what type of
advertising they are using, what is the response of the consumers, availability of the resources needed in
the process, etc.
4. Step 4 - Target Audience: the next step is to identify the target consumers most likely to buy the product.
The target should be appropriately identified without any confusion. For e.g. if the product is a health drink
for growing kids, then the target customers will be the parents who are going to buy it and not the kids who
are going to drink it.
5. Step 5 - Media Selection: now that the target audience is identified, one should select an appropriate
media for advertising so that the customers who are to be informed about the product and are willing to buy
are successfully reached.
6. Step 6 - Setting the Budget: then the advertising budget has to be planned so that there is no short of
funds or excess of funds during the process of advertising and also there are no losses to the company.
7. Step 7 - Designing and Creating the Ad: first the design that is the outline of ad on papers is made by the
copywriters of the agency, then the actual creation of ad is done with help of the art directors and the
creative personnel of the agency.
8. Step 8 - Perfection: then the created ad is re-examined and the ad is redefined to make it perfect to enter
the market.
9. Step 9 - Place and Time of Ad: the next step is to decide where and when the ad will be shown.

The place will be decided according to the target customers where the ad is most visible clearly to them. The
finalization of time on which the ad will be telecasted or shown on the selected media will be done by the
traffic department of the agency.

10. Step 10 - Execution: finally the advertise is released with perfect creation, perfect placement and perfect
timing in the market.
11. Step 11 - Performance: the last step is to judge the performance of the ad in terms of the response from
the customers, whether they are satisfied with the ad and the product, did the ad reached all the targeted
 people, was the advertise capable enough to compete with the other players, etc. Every point is studied
properly and changes are made, if any.

Business-To-Business Advertising
Business-to-business advertising refers to any marketing efforts directed toward
other businesses rather than to individual consumers. Business-to-business advertising,
or B2B advertising, takes place between companies that are typically found in the
middle of the supply chain for any product or service that does not reach the average
consumer. B2B advertising may involve the promotion of products such as day-to-day
office supplies, specific parts used in another company's product, or services such as
human resources consulting or logistics that are primarily designed for businesses.

How Business-to-Business Advertising Works

While business-to-consumer (B2C) advertising focuses on reaching a household's
decision-maker, business-to-business advertising focuses on reaching the employees of
a business responsible for making capital decisions, or the individual who is in charge of
purchases. While consumers may be able to make rapid decisions on whether a
product is of interest, businesses are often slower and have to go through a more
complicated process because the cost of products for a business can be high and may
require approval from several levels of management.

For example, when Apple announced its transition to using Intel processors in its
Macbook computers, this counted as a business-to-business transaction, since Apple
purchased the processors from Intel, rather than an end consumer such as you or I.
Since Intel does not target the end consumer, any advertising it does is considered B2B
advertising to other computer or electronics companies to purchase its niche
technology.

Types of advertising
Newspaper

Magazine

Radio

Television

Directories

Outdoor and transit

Marketing Planning:
“marketing planning is the work of setting up objectives for
marketing activity and of determining and scheduling the steps
necessary to achieve such objectives.” Planning is the first
management function to be performed in the process of
management. It governs survival, growth and prosperity of any
enterprise in a competitive and ever-changing environment.

Planning precedes activity in any purposeful endeavour. Business

firms naturally undertake a good deal of planning. Business firms
have to master the environment and score over their competitors.

Importance of Marketing Planning:

Marketing planning is a systematic and disciplined exercise to formulate
marketing strategies.

1. It helps in avoiding future uncertainties.

2. It helps in management by objectives.

3. It helps in achieving objectives.

4. It helps in coordination and communication among the departments.

5. It helps in control.
6. It helps the customers in getting full satisfaction.

Benefits of Marketing Planning:

1. Marketing planning promotes successful marketing operations.

2. Planning helps to co-ordinate activities which can facilitate the attainment

of objectives over time.

3. It forces management to reflect upon the future in a systematic way.

4. Resources can be better balanced in relation to identified market

opportunities.

5. A plan provides a frame work for a continuing review of operations. It will

make the firm to give more attention to market enlargement rather than
market maintenance.

Characteristics of Marketing Planning:

Marketing planning has the following characteristic features:
1. The success depends to a large extent upon human behaviour and response.

2. They are complicated in nature.

3. Marketing decisions have long term effects on efficiency, profitability and

market standing of the firm.

4. Marketing planning is a formal and systematic approach towards planning

of all marketing activities-product positioning, price setting, distribution
channels etc.

5. Marketing planning, as a rational activity, requires thinking; imagination

and foresight. Market analysis, market projection, consumer behaviour
analysis and marketing-guided conclusions are based on data and
measurements drawn from internal and external environments.

6. Marketing planning is a forward-looking and dynamic process designed to

promote market- oriented or consumer-oriented business actions.

7. Planning is concerned with two things:

(i) Avoiding incorrect actions and

(ii) Reducing frequency of failure to exploit opportunities.

Consumer Decision-Making Process

5 steps of the consumer decision making process

1. Problem recognition: Recognizes the need for a service or product

2. Information search: Gathers information
3. Alternatives evaluation: Weighs choices against comparable
alternatives
4. Purchase decision: Makes actual purchase
5. Post-purchase evaluation: Reflects on the purchase they made

Market Segmentation
Market segmentation is a marketing term that refers to aggregating prospective buyers
into groups or segments with common needs and who respond similarly to a marketing
action. Market segmentation enables companies to target different categories of
consumers who perceive the full value of certain products and services differently from
one another.
KEY TAKEAWAYS

 Market segmentation seeks to identify targeted groups of consumers to tailor products

and branding in a way that is attractive to the group.
 Markets can be segmented in several ways such as geographically, demographically, or
behaviorally.
 Market segmentation helps companies minimize risk by figuring out which products are
the most likely to earn a share of a target market and the best ways to market and
deliver those products to the market.
 With risk minimized and clarity about the marketing and delivery of a product
heightened, a company can then focus its resources on efforts likely to be the most
profitable.

Market Segmentation – Importance

Some of the importance of market segmentation are described
below:
1. Co-Ordination of Product and Marketing Appeals – As market segmentation
presents an opportunity to understand the nature of the market, the seller can
adjust his thrust to attract the maximum number of customers by various
publicity media and appeals.
2. Better Position to Spot Marketing Opportunities – As the producer can
make a fair estimate of the volume of his sale and the possibilities of
furthering his sales in the regions where response of the customers is poor.
3. Allocation of Marketing Budget – It is on the basis of market segmentation
that marketing budget is adjusted for a particular region or locality. Specific
budget can be allocated according to different market segments.
4. Meeting the Competition Effectively – It helps the producer to face the
competition of his rivals effectively. The producer can adopt different
strategies for different markets taking into account the rival’s strategies.
5. Effective Marketing Programme – It helps the producer to adopt an
effective marketing programme and serve the consumer better at
comparatively lower cost. Diverse marketing programmes can be attached for
various segments.

The Four Types of Market Segmentation

The four bases of market segmentation are:

 Demographic segmentation
  Psychographic segmentation
 Behavioral segmentation
 Geographic segmentation

Demographic Segmentation
Demographic segmentation is one of the most popular and commonly used types
of market segmentation. It refers to statistical data about a group of people.

Demographic Market Segmentation Examples 

 Age
 Gender
 Income
 Location
 Family Situation
 Annual Income
 Education
 Ethnicity

Psychographic Segmentation
Psychographic segmentation  categorizes audiences and customers by factors
that relate to their personalities and characteristics.

Psychographic Market Segmentation Examples 

 Personality traits
 Values
 Attitudes
 Interests
 Lifestyles
 Psychological influences
 Subconscious and conscious beliefs
 Motivations
 Priorities

Behavioral Segmentation
While demographic and psychographic segmentation focus on who a customer
is, behavioral segmentation  focuses on how the customer acts.

Behavioral Market Segmentation Examples 

  Purchasing habits
 Spending habits
 User status
 Brand interactions

Geographic Segmentation
Geographic segmentation is the simplest type of market segmentation. It
categorizes customers based on geographic borders.

Geographic Market Segmentation Examples   

 ZIP code
 City
 Country
 Radius around a certain location
 Climate
 Urban or rural

Aspects of Advertising:
Aspects of Advertising – Social Aspect
The criticism that “most promotional messages are tasteless,” and that
“promotion contributes nothing to society’s well-being” sometimes ignores the
fact that there is no commonly accepted set of standards or priorities within
our social framework. We live in a mixed economy, with differing needs,
wants, and aspirations; what is tasteless to one group may be quite satisfactory
for another.
A Social Perspective on Advertising:
Critics attribute an awesome ability to advertising to persuade millions of
Indians to do almost anything. Advertising has been accused of causing, either
directly or indirectly-
(а) An escalation in the national crime rate;
(b) An increase in communal riots;
(c) A decline in the respect for leadership of every kind;
(d) The employment of strategies for the manipulation of children;
(e) The use of sub-threshold effects to slip messages past our conscious guard,
(f) A deliberate sale of products for their status-enhancement value;
(g) Illogical irrational loyalties;
(h) The exploitation of our deepest sexual sensitivities and
(i) The application of the insights of depth selling to politics.

Aspects of Advertising – Social Aspects: With Criticisms

These criticisms are:
1. Advertising is frequently false and misleading.
2. Advertising concentrates on selling products to people they neither need
nor want.
3. Advertising exhibits bad taste.
4. Advertising stresses small and insignificant differences between products
and has resulted in an unnecessary and wasteful proliferation of brands.
5. Advertising is too persuasive.
6. Advertising can be used, to take advantage of children (bad effect on
children).
7. Much advertising is irrelevant and unnecessary.
8. Advertising has resulted in uniformity.

Brand Positioning: Definition, Importance

 Positioning can be defined as the positioning strategy of the brand with the goal to
create a unique impression in the minds of the customers and at the marketplace.
Brand Positioning has to be desirable, specific, clear, and distinctive in nature from
the rest of the competitors in the market.

Effective brand positioning enables a firm’s brand to be readily distinguishable from

competing brands in the marketplace. Distinguishing the brand from other brands
can be in terms of associated brand attributes, benefits to users, and/or market
segment emphasis, among other factors. Effective brand positioning further
emphasizes elements of superiority along one or more distinguishing dimensions
which are valued by consumers.

Steps of Brand Positioning:

 Identify the current standing

Identify the direct competition

Understand the standing of the competitor brands

Identify the uniqueness of the company

Develop the unique selling propositions

Formulate the messaging statements

Importance of Brand Positioning and strategy :

1) Market differentiation

The unique and creative Brand Positioning not only clears the clutter from the
market but also gives the factor of differentiation to the brand as compared to its
direct and indirect competitors.

2) Justifies the pricing strategy

Yet another benefit of the Brand Positioning is that it helps the management of the
company to justify the pricing strategy.

3) Competitive advantage

A strong Brand Positioning that tactfully and strategically highlights the core values,
strengths, attributes, and the unique selling propositions of the brand enjoys the
facet of competitive advantage that results in accomplishing the objectives of higher
sales, increased market share, customer loyalty, attracting the new set of
customers, and elevated profits.

4) Makes the brand more creative

There are quite many brands in the market offering the similar lines of products and
services to the same target market and audience but it is the Brand Positioning that
makes one brand different and unique from the other.