CHAPTER ELEVEN

Chapter Objectives
By end of the chapter students should be in position to:
1. Explain the major roles of promotion or communication.
2. List and explain the promotion mix elements and give the appropriate tools for each
element.
3. List and explain the communication model elements.
4. List and explain with relevant examples steps in developing an effective
communication.

DESIGNING COMMUNICATION AND PROMOTION MIX STRATEGIES

11.1 Integrated Marketing Communication

11.2 Communication Mix
11.3 Factors Influencing Communication Mix, Process, and Message Problem
11.4 Message Strategies
11.5 Communication Process

People no longer buy shoes to keep their feet warm and dry. They buy them because of the way
the shoes make them feel. Our business now is selling excitement rather than shoes.
Francis C. Rooney

Introduction
The purpose of communication is to directly or indirectly influence individual groups, and
organizations, to facilitate exchanges by informing and persuading one or more audiences to
accept a company’s products and / or services.

Communication helps businesses grow and prosper, creates relationships, strengthens the
effectiveness of organizations, and allows people to learn about one another. Technology such as
the internet, and mobile phones, and social media affects the way we communicate and is
changing the media landscape and the type of messaging strategy organizations use.

Think about how you get information and then think about how organizations can communicate
with you and other target markets about their products, services, or causes. As we find new
sources of information, the media and message strategies used by businesses must also change.
However, organizations still want consumers or target markets to get consistent messages
regardless of how they receive the information.

11.1 Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)

Once companies have developed products and services, they must communicate the value and
benefits of the offerings to current and potential customers in both business-to-business (B2B)
and business-to-consumer (B2C) markets.

Integrated marketing communications (IMC) provide an approach designed to deliver one

consistent message to buyers through an organization’s promotions that may span all different
types of media such as TV, radio, magazines, the internet, mobile phones, professional selling,
and social media.

Delivering consistent information about a brand or an organization helps establish it in the

minds of consumers and potential customers across target markets.

Changes in communication technology and instant access to information through tools such
as the internet and social media (online communication among interdependent and
interconnected networks of organizations, people, and communities) explain one of the reasons
why integrated marketing communications have become so important. Consumers are also
changing. With access to many sources of information and often an interest in interactive media,
consumers may collect more product information on their own. Marketers must organize and
assemble available information to build a consistent brand message and make it relevant. With
IMC, organizations can coordinate their messages to build the brand and develop strong
customer relationships while also helping customers satisfy their needs.

Changing Media

Many consumers and business professionals seek information and connect with other people and
businesses from their computers and phones. The work and social environments are changing,
with more people having virtual offices and texting on their cell phones or communicating
through social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter. As the media
landscape changes, the money that organizations spend on different types of communication will
change as well. Some forecasts indicate that companies will spend almost 27 percent of their
total promotional budgets, or $160 billion, on electronic or non-traditional media by 2012.

Phones are becoming a new source of information for consumers and a new media for
advertisers to deliver information.

Many college students are part of the millennial generation, and it is consumers from this
generation (people like you perhaps) who are driving the change toward new communication
technologies. You might opt to get promotions via mobile marketing say, from stores on your
cell phone as you walk by them or via a mobile gaming device that allows you to connect to the
Web. Likewise, advertisements on Facebook are popular as businesses continue to utilize more
social media.

Traditional media (magazines, newspapers, television) compete with media such as the
Internet, texting, mobile phones, social media, user-generated content such as blogs, and
YouTube as well as out-of-home advertising such as billboards and movable promotions. You
might have noticed that the tray tables on airplanes sometimes have ads on them. You have
probably also seen ads on the inside of subway cars, in trains and buses, and even in bathroom
stalls. These, too, are examples of out-of-home advertising.

11.2 The Promotion (Communication) Mix

The promotion or communication mix (marketing communications) is one of the four major
elements of the company’s marketing mix. The different types of marketing communications an
organization uses consists of advertising, sales promotions, direct marketing, public relations and
publicity, sponsorships (events and experiences), social media and interactive marketing, and
professional selling.
Although the money organizations spend promoting their offerings may go to different media
channels, a company still wants to send to its customers and potential consumers a consistent
message (IMC). The importance of IMC will be demonstrated throughout the discussion of
traditional media as well as newer, more targeted, and often interactive online media.

11.3 Factors that Influence the Communication (Promotion) Mix, Process and Message
Problems

A number of factors affect the choice of promotion mix elements.

Budget Available: For many companies, the budget available to market a product determines
what elements of the promotion mix are utilized. The budget affects a
promotion’s reach (number of people exposed to the message) and frequency (how often people
are exposed). For example, many smaller companies may lack the money to create and run
commercials on top-rated television shows.

Stage in the product life cycle: The stage in the product life cycle also affects the type and
amount of promotion used. Products in the introductory stages typically need a lot more
promotional dollars to create awareness in the marketplace. Consumers and businesses won’t
buy a product if they do not know about it. More communication is needed in the beginning of
the product life cycle to build awareness and trial.

Type of product and type of purchase decision: Different products also require different types of
promotion. Very technical products and very expensive products (high involvement) often need
professional selling so the customer understands how the product operates and its different
features. By contrast, advertising is often relied upon to sell convenience goods and products
purchased routinely (low involvement) since customers are familiar with the products and they
spend relatively little time making purchase decisions.

Target market characteristics and consumers’ readiness to purchase: In order to select the best
methods to reach different target markets, organizations need to know what types of media
different targets use, how often they make purchases, where they make purchases, and what their
readiness to purchase is as well as characteristics such as age, gender, and lifestyle. Some people
are early adopters and want to try new things as soon as they are available, and other groups wait
until products have been on the market for a while. Some consumers might not have the money
to purchase different products, although they will need the product later. For example, are most
college freshmen ready to purchase new cars?

Consumers’ preferences for various media: We’ve already explained that different types of
consumers prefer different types of media. In terms of target markets, college-aged students may
prefer online, cell phone, mobile marketing, and social media more than older consumers do.
Media preferences have been researched extensively by academics, marketing research
companies, and companies to find out how consumers want to be reached.

Regulations, competitors, and environmental factors: Regulations can affect the type of
promotion used. For example, laws in the United States prohibit tobacco products from being
advertised on television. In some Asian countries, controversial products such as alcohol cannot
be advertised during Golden (prime) time on television. The hope is that by advertising late at
night, young children do not see the advertisements. The strength of the economy can have an
impact as well. In a weak economy, some organizations use more sales promotions such as
coupons to get consumers into their stores. The risk is that consumers may begin to expect
coupons and not want to buy items without a special promotion.

Availability of media: Organizations must also plan their promotions based on availability of
media. The top-rated television shows and Super Bowl ad slots, for example, often sell out
quickly. Magazines tend to have a longer lead time, so companies must plan far in advance for
some magazines. By contrast, because of the number of radio stations and the nature of the
medium, organizations can often place radio commercials the same day they want them to be
aired. Social media and online media may be immediate, but users must be careful about what
they post and their privacy. Uncontrollable events can affect a company’s promotions, too. For
example, when a disaster occurs, TV stations often cut advertisements to make way for
continuous news coverage. If there is a crisis or disaster and your company is in the middle of a
promotion being advertised on TV, you will likely have to scramble to reach consumers via
another medium.

Promotion

Promotion is the coordination of seller’s aim to set up channels of information and persuasion to
facilitate the sales of goods or services or acceptance of an idea. Promotion includes all those
activities which are aimed at creating and stimulating demand.

Modern marketing calls for more than just developing a good product, pricing it attractively, and
making it available to target customers. Companies must also communicate with their customers,
and what and how they communicate should not be left to chance. For most companies, the
question is not whether to communicate, but how much to spend and in what ways. For our
convenience, all those promotional tools can be categorized in five major components,
constituting the promotional mix: advertising, sales promotion, public relations, personal selling
and direct marketing.

Role of Communication (Promotion)

Promotion serves three essential roles of the communication or promotion:

1. To inform current and potential users about the new product introduced in the market. The
purpose of informative promotion is to convert a consumer need into interest in a new product.
Informative promotional campaigns do help in educating the target market. High-tech products
almost always partake in some type of informative promotion in order to communicate their
product feature and benefits.

2. To remind current and potential users about the companies achievements. More established
products and brands traditionally use a type of reminding promotional strategy. Most of these
campaigns are created to trigger a mental reminder to purchase the product. This strategy is used
when most consumers have already been persuaded to buy the product. The sole promotional
goal would be to remind consumers to buy and use the product for specific purposes.

3. To create purchase or persuade. The ultimate promotional plan, or goal, is to get the target
market to make a purchase or take an action. This type of promotional goal is called persuading
and the ads should promote brand switching. Another key use of persuasive promotion is to
help change consumers' attitudes toward or views of a product. Through marketing research, a
company might uncover a weakness about their product based on consumer feedback. The
company must then address the weakness and persuade consumers to consider their product.

Ultimately, using all these three roles in various ways, the company tries to modify the behavior
of the consumers to suit its objectives and thus buy its products and or services.

Therefore the communication or promotion must have a specific communication TASK,

accomplished with a specific TARGET audience, during a specific period of TIME.

11.4 Communication (Promotion) Mix Tools and Strategies

The promotion strategies are necessary since a good product, well priced attractively and making
it accessible to target customers when left alone will not sell effectively. Therefore, there is need
for companies to communicate with their present and potential customers. Hence modern
companies manage a complex marketing communication system consisting of five major tools
known as promotion mix and it contains advertising, direct marketing, public relations, personal
selling and sales promotion each with its own unique attributes and associated costs. The newly
added tools include: events and experiences, word-of-mouth marketing and direct and interactive
marketing. They are used as tools to communicate to the target market and produce
organizational sales goals and profits.
11.4.1 Advertising

Advertising involves paying an identified sponsor to disseminate a message that identifies a

brand (product or service or ideas) or an organization being promoted to many people at one time
and can be repeated many times. One of the biggest issues an organization must address is
which medium or media provides the biggest bang for the buck, given a product’s
characteristics and target market.

The typical media that organizations utilize for advertising of course include television,
magazines, newspapers, the Internet, direct mail, and radio. Businesses also advertise on mobile
devices and social media such as Facebook, blogs, and Twitter.

Common Advertising Tools includes: Print and broadcast advertisements, Packaging-outer,

Packaging inserts, Motion pictures, Brochures and booklets, Directories, Reprints of ads (for
example copy of the New Vision front page displayed on bill boards or electric poles), Bill
boards, Display signs and stickers, Point of purchase displays, Audio-visual material, Symbols
and Logos

Each medium that might be used (e.g., television, magazines, mobile phones, social media) has
different advantages and disadvantages. Mobile phones provide continuous access to people
on the go, although reception may vary in different markets. Radios, magazines, and newspapers
are also portable. People tend to own more than one radio, but there are so many radio stations in
each market that it may be difficult to reach all target customers. People are also typically doing
another activity (e.g., driving or studying) while listening to the radio, and without visuals, radio
relies solely on audio. Both television and radio must get a message to consumers quickly.
Although many people change channels (zap) or leave the room during commercials, television
does allow for visual demonstrations. In an effort to get attention, advertisers changed the
volume for television commercials for years. However, the Federal Trade Commission passed a
regulation effective in 2010 that prohibits advertisers from changing the volume level of
commercials on television, although consumers still notice that some commercials are louder
than the regular shows.

People save magazines for a long time, but advertisers must plan in advance to have ads in
certain issues. With the Internet, both magazines and newspapers are suffering in terms of
readership and advertising dollars. Many major newspapers, have gone out of business. Other
newspapers, are free online, although printed copies are also available. The fact that local
retailers get cheaper rates for advertising in local newspapers may encourage both local
businesses and consumers to support newspapers in some markets.

Within each different medium, an organization might select a different vehicle. A vehicle is the
specific means within a medium to reach a selected target market.

Characteristics and Costs Associated with advertising tools

 Public Presentation: The consumer’s motives for buying the product will not be questioned
since the public will be informed.
 Pervasiveness: The message can be repeated many times; and allows consumers to compare
notes with offers of other competitors. Large-scale ads show the company’s power or market
share position.
 Amplified Expressiveness: Allows dramatizing the company and its products through use of
print, color and sound.
 Impersonality: Offers only monologue with the audience; and not efficient as company sales
people.

Ads helps in building long term image for a product on the other hand its used to trigger sales
and is efficient way to reach dispersed geographical buyers. Television ads are normally
expensive and newspapers ads are cheap.

Disadvantages of advertising

1. Absolute money outlay very high.

2. Rarely provides quick feedback, or necessarily any feedback.
3. Less persuasive than personal selling.
4. Audience does not have to pay attention.
5. Indirect feedback (without interactivity).

Advertising is a huge investment for corporations. Companies that are well-established with a
significant market share can budget their advertising dollars in a more limited fashion.
Companies that are new to the market, or have smaller market shares, need to invest heavily in
their advertising budget. The reasons for this are the need for consumer awareness, to maintain
exposure and increase sales.

Advertising comes in two forms namely institutional and product advertising. Institutional is a
type of advertising that is used to improve a company's image instead of promoting an individual
product. A subtype of institutional advertising is called advocacy advertising. This specifically
focuses on companies that have had to use advertising to respond to media attacks based on
controversy. An example would be a beer corporation that showcases how much of their
corporate profits is given to M.A.D.D. (Mothers Against Drunk Driving). The overall
promotional strategy would be to show how the beer company does support the local community
and care about its constituents. Product advertising promotes the product or service to the target
market by focusing on the benefits. The three types of product advertising
are comparative, competitive and pioneering.

Comparative advertising: This type of advertising is used to compare two or more

brands together by specific factors. It is also used when a company is entering a market
with strong competitors. The main purpose of this strategy is to convince the consumer
that one brand is superior to all others. The focus is all about a specific brand attribute
that sets the product apart from the competition.

Competitive advertising: This is a strategy where the ads are created to influence sales
for a specific brand. It can be used when a product is in the growth phase of the product
life cycle. It is also the best type of advertising to use when lots of competition enters the
marketplace. The main strategy of competitive advertising is to create high product recall
with the target market.

Pioneering Advertising: This is a strategy that can be used by a company pioneering a

product or service to a target market.

Companies must decide on the type of advertising strategy based on their overall promotional
objectives.

11.4.2 Direct Marketing

Direct marketing involves the delivery of personalized and often interactive promotional
materials to individual consumers via channels such as mail, catalogs, Internet, e-mail,
telephone, and direct-response advertising. By targeting consumers individually, organizations
hope to get consumers to take action, reminding about offers, image building, maintain customer
satisfaction, strengthen relationship, and reassure customers about purchases.

Direct marketing allows organizations to target a specific set of customers, measure the return
on investment (ROI), and test different strategies before implementing to all targeted consumers.
It can be personalized as a call for consumers to take action, which is a desired response.
However, direct marketing is very intrusive, and many consumers may ignore attempts to reach
them. Catalogs and direct mail provide popular alternatives for many marketers, although the
volume of mail sent may drop significantly in a weak economy.

Common Direct Marketing Tools include the following: Catalogs, Mailing, Telemarketing,
Electronic shopping, TV shopping.

Catalogues: Both, consumer and B2B companies may send catalogues of their entire
 product lines, mostly in print form, sometimes also online, as CDs, or even videos.
Internet has particularly boosted the catalogue business and companies present their
catalogues and accept orders over the Internet.

Telemarketing involves direct marketing by phone. You may have just sat down for
dinner when the phone rings with a local charity calling to raise money. The calls always
seem to come at dinner or at other inconvenient times. Although expensive, telemarketing
can be extremely effective for charitable organizations and different service firms and
retailers. However, because some consumers have negative perceptions of telemarketers,
many organizations do not use it. The Do Not Call Registry, which was established in
2008, prevents organizations from calling any numbers registered with the Federal Trade
Commission.

Direct response advertising (Broadcast Media) includes an offer and a call to action.
You may be watching television when an interesting product is shown. The announcer
says, “Call now and receive a bonus package.” They want consumers to call to purchase
the product or to get more information. The Internet provides the preferred direct
response medium for direct marketing because it is less expensive considering the sale
generated per contact and easier for the organization to utilize.

Characteristics and Costs Associated with direct marketing tools

The commonly noticed characteristics of direct marketing are:

 Nonpublic: The message is normally addressed to a specific person and does not reach
others.
 Customized: The message can be customized to appeal only to the addressed individual.
 Up to date: The message can be prepared very quickly for delivery to an individual.

11.4.3 Sales Promotion

Sales promotions are activities that supplement a company’s advertising, public relations, and
professional selling efforts. They create incentives for customers to buy products more quickly
and make larger purchases (build market share). Sales promotions are often temporary, but when
the economy is weak, sales promotions become even more popular for consumers and are used
more frequently by organizations. Sales promotions consist of inviting short-term incentives. In
general, sales promotion should focus on consumer relationship building.

Sales promotions may be conducted online and include incentives such as free items, free
shipping, coupons, and sweepstakes. For example, many online merchants offer free shipping
and free return shipping to encourage consumers to shop online. Some firms have found that the
response they get to their online sales promotions is better than response they get to traditional
sales promotions.

Consumer sales promotions consist of short-term incentives such as coupons, contests, games,
rebates, and mail-in offers that supplement the advertising and sales efforts. Consumer sales
promotions include promotions that are not part of another component of the communication mix
and are often developed to get customers and potential customers to take action quickly, make
larger purchases, and or make repeat purchases. That is sales promotions are intended to
encourage trail or purchase of a product or service. The incentives offer added value for the
product or service to resellers, sales persons or consumers.

A free sample allows consumers to try a small amount of a product so that hopefully
they will purchase it. The strategy encourages trial and builds awareness. You have
probably purchased a product that included a small free sample with it for example, a
small amount of conditioner packaged with your shampoo. Have you ever gone to a store
that provided free samples of different food items? Although sampling is an expensive
strategy, it is usually very effective for food products. People try the product, and the
person providing the sample tells them about the product and mentions any special prices
for it.

Coupons provide an immediate price reduction off an item. The amount of the coupon is
later reimbursed to the retailer by the manufacturer. The retailer gets a handling fee for
accepting coupons. When the economy is weak, more consumers cut out coupons and
look for special bargains such as double coupons and buy-one-get-one-free (BOGO)
coupons. They may also buy more store brands. While many consumers cut coupons
from the inserts in Sunday newspapers, other consumers find coupons online or on their
cell phones. Mobile marketing and the Internet provide consumers in international
markets access to coupons and other promotions.

Point-of-purchase displays, including coupon machines placed next to products in

stores, encourage consumers to buy a brand or product immediately. When a consumer
sees a special display or can get a coupon instantly, manufacturers hope the sales
promotion increases sales. Stores may also provide coupons for customers with loyalty
cards to encourage them to select particular brands and products.

A premium is something you get either for free or for a small shipping and handling
charge with your proof of purchase (sales receipt or part of package). Remember wanting
your favorite cereal because there was a toy in the box? The toy is an example of a
premium. Sometimes you might have to mail in a certain number of proofs of purchase to
get a premium. The purpose of a premium is to motivate you to buy a product multiple
times. What many people don’t realize is that when they pay the shipping and handling
charges, they may also be paying for the premium.

Contests or sweepstakes are sales promotions people enter or participate in to have a

chance to win a prize. The organization that conducts the sweepstakes or contest hopes
you will not only enter its contest but will buy some offer being promoted (magazines or
more food) when you do.

Loyalty programs are sales promotions designed to get repeat business. Loyalty
programs include things such as frequent flier programs, hotel programs, and shopping
cards for grocery stores, drugstores, and restaurants. Sometimes point systems are used in
conjunction with loyalty programs. After you accumulate so many miles or points, an
organization might provide you with a special incentive such as a free flight, free hotel
 room, or free sandwich. Many loyalty programs, especially hotels and airlines, have
business partners to give consumers more ways to accumulate and use miles and points.

Rebates are popular with both consumers and the manufacturers that provide them.
When you get a rebate, you are refunded part (or all) of the purchase price of a product
back after completing a form and sending it to the manufacturer with your proof of
purchase. The trick is completing the paperwork on time. Although different types of
sales promotions work best for different organizations, rebates are very profitable for
companies because many consumers forget or wait too long to send in their rebate forms.
Consequently, they do not get any money back. Rebates sound great to consumers until
they forget to send it back.
Exchange or Buy-back Offers: Some consumer durables once bought are not replaced
for a very long time. To encourage such consumers to replace their old products with a
new one, companies or their authorized dealers offer buy-back or exchange offers. The
manufacturer or the dealer pays some reasonable amount for the old product and sells a
new one. Often this new product is offered on convenient interest-free installments.

In business-to-business marketing, sales promotions are typically called trade

promotions because they are targeted to channel members who conduct business or trade with
consumers. Trade promotions include trade shows, conventions, event marketing, trade
allowances, training, and special incentives given to retailers to market particular products and
services, such as extra money, in-store displays, and prizes. Objectives for trade promotions
include getting retailers to carry new items and more inventory, getting them to advertise the
product and give more shelf space, gain support for existing brands, and getting them to buy
ahead.

A trade show is an event in which firms in a particular industry display and demonstrates
their offerings to other organizations they hope will buy them. There are typically many
different trade shows in which one organization can participate. Using displays,
brochures, and other materials, representatives at trade shows can identify potential
customers (prospects), inform customers about new and existing products, and show
them products and materials. Representatives can also get feedback from prospects about
their company’s products and materials and perhaps about competitors. Companies also
gather competitive information at trade shows because they can see the products other
firms are exhibiting and how they are selling them. Trade shows can be very successful,
although the companies that participate in them need to follow-up on the leads generated
at the shows. With changing technology, Webinars are being used to reach businesses
that may not be able to attend trade shows. Follow-up after a Webinar is also essential.

Conventions, or meetings, with groups of professionals also provide a way for sellers to
show potential customers different products. For example, a medical convention might be
a good opportunity to display a new type of medical device. Sales representatives and
managers often attend conventions to market their products.

Sales contests, which are often held by manufacturers or vendors, provide incentives for
salespeople to increase their sales. Often, the contests focus on selling higher-profit or
slow-moving products. The sales representative with the most sales of the product wins a
 prize such as a free vacation, company recognition, or cash.

Trade allowances give channel partners - for example, a manufacturer’s wholesalers,

distributors, retailers, and so forth - different incentives to push a product. One type of
trade allowance is an advertising allowance (money) to advertise a seller’s products in
local newspapers. An advertising allowance benefits both the manufacturer and the
retailer. Typically, the retailer can get a lower rate than manufacturers on advertising in
local outlets, saving the manufacturer money. The retailer benefits by getting an
allowance from the manufacturer.

Another sales promotion that manufacturers, such as those in the tool or high tech
industries, offer businesses is training to help their salespeople understand how the
manufacturers’ products work and how consumers can be enticed to buy them. Many
manufacturers also provide in-store product demonstrations to show a channel
partner’s customers how products work and answer any questions they might have.
Demonstrations of new video game systems and computers are extremely popular and
successful in generating sales.

Free merchandise, such as a tool, television, or other product produced by the

manufacturer, can also be used to get retailers to sell products to consumers. In other
words, a manufacturer of televisions might offer the manager of a retail electronics store
a television to push its products. If a certain number of televisions are sold, the manager
gets the television. Have you ever been to an electronics store or a furniture store and felt
like the salesperson was pushing one particular television or one particular mattress?
Perhaps the salesperson was getting push money, or a cash incentive from the
manufacturer to push a particular item. The push to sell the item might be because there
is a large amount of inventory of it, it is being replaced by a new model, or the product is
not selling well.

Training Program: Manufacturers impart training about their own brands to the sales
staff of wholesaler or retailer at their (wholesaler’s or retailer’s) location. Training programs
help channel members succeed in value-addition to customers.

Common Sales Promotion Tools include: Contests, games, sweepstakes, lotteries; Premiums and
gifts; Sampling; Fairs and trade shows; Exhibits; Demonstrations; Couponing; Rebates; Low
interest financing; Entertainment; Trade in allowances; Trading stamps; Tie-ins.

Characteristics and Costs Associated with sales promotion tool

The following are the three major characteristics of sales promotion

- Communication: They gain attention and usually provide information that may lead the
consumer to the product.
- Incentive: They incorporate some concession, inducement or contribution that gives
value.
- Invitation: Include a distinct invitation to engage in the transaction now.

Sales promotion is used to create a stronger and quicker response they are usually short run and
cannot build long run brand preference.

Sales promotion is promotional activities that give some type of incentive to

intermediaries or consumers to encourage immediate sales. The incentives given can vary
from coupons to samples to contests. Sales promotion tactics can be targeted toward end
customers, as well as intermediaries like retailers or wholesalers.

It's important to note that even though the primary goal of sales promotion is sales, it can
also be used to generate impulse purchases, strengthen brand loyalty or provide product
information or increase support among marketer’s sales force or gain the support of
resellers of company product.

Sales promotions have specific characteristics: they are often used to stimulate short-term
results that are measurable and frequently combined with other promotion techniques.
Marketers must take care to ensure that the sales promotions they choose are consistent
with their brand image. Promotions that don't correspond with the brand's image can
often do more harm than good by confusing the consumer.

11.4.4 Public Relations and Publicity

Public Relations (PR): involves communication designed to help improve and promote an
organization’s image and products. PR is often perceived as more neutral and objective than
other forms of promotion because much of the information is tailored to sound as if it has been
created by an organization independent of the seller. Thus it is the element in the promotional
mix that evaluates public attitudes, identifies issues that may elicit public concern and executes
programs and acceptance.

Publicity is public information about a product, service or company that appears in newspapers,
magazines, radio, social media or television. Publicity is not paid for by the company and can
create massive goodwill.

Public relations and publicity are a variety of programs designed to promote and or
protect a company’s image or its individual products.

The main purpose of public relations and publicity is that it helps build a positive public image
for a company, supports new product launches and sales, helps a company to evaluate public
attitudes and communicates the overall goals of the company.

Common Public Relations Tools include: Press kits, Speeches, Seminars, Annual reports,
Charitable donations, Sponsorships, Publications, Community relations, Lobbying, Identity
media, Company magazine, Events e.g. Kabakas wedding then and now birthday marathon.

Sponsorships occur when companies pay to support an event or cause and provide the
opportunity to target specific customer groups. Sponsorships enhance a company’s image
and usually generate public relations. With an increasing amount of money being spent
on sponsorships, they have become an important component of the promotion mix. The
 sponsorship should fit with the overall marketing plan and increase consumer brand
awareness and interest.

Consumer education is when companies offer free instruction or material to help

educate consumers about their product or category. This would benefit the company
because they would get free publicity, the community would be happy and they would be
cultivating potential customers in the youth of the area.

New product publicity is when companies try to feature their new products in free news
stories to attain media coverage and excellent word of mouth.

Product placement is when a company is able to place their product in a movie,

television show, radio program, magazine, book or even a video game. Usually, the
company receives free publicity and a positive product enhancement by having the
product appear in a media vehicle.

Internet websites and social media is another form of public relations and publicity tool
used to promote a product or service. Many smaller companies find these to be extremely
helpful in getting their product name out and it also helps fuel word of mouth discussions.

Many companies have internal PR departments or hire PR firms to find and create public
relations opportunities for them. As such, PR is part of a company’s promotion budget and their
integrated marketing communications.

Unpleasant situations arising as a result of negative events may precipitate unfavorable public
reactions for an organization. To minimize the negative effects of such situations leading to
unfavorable coverage, companies have policies and procedures in place to manage help any such
public relations problems.

Characteristics and Costs associated with Public relations and publicity:

The appeal of public relations is based on its three distinctive qualities:

 High credibility: News stories and features seem more authentic and credible to readers than
ads do.
 Off guard: Public relations can reach many prospects that avoid sales people and
advertisements. The message gets to buyers as news rather than as a sales directed
communication.
 Dramatizing: Public relations have a potential for dramatizing a company or product.

11.4.5 Personal Selling (Professional Selling)

Professional selling is an interactive, paid approach to marketing that involves a buyer and a
seller and aims to inform and persuade prospects and customers to purchase products, services,
or accept ideas of issues. The interaction between the two parties can occur in person, by
telephone, or via another technology. Whatever medium is used, developing a relationship with
the buyer (specific target market) is usually something the seller desires; for the purpose of
making sales.

When you attend an interview for internships or full-time positions and try to convince potential
employers to hire you, you are engaging in professional selling. The interview is very similar to a
buyer-seller situation. Both the buyer and seller have objectives they hope to achieve. Business-
to-business marketers generally utilize professional selling more often than most business-to-
consumer marketers.

Common Personal selling Tools include: Sales presentations, Sales meetings, Incentive
programs, Samples, Fairs and trade shows.

Benefits of Personal Selling

a. Personal selling is the marketer’s best choice in marketing because it can help
demonstrate the products.
b. Another benefit is that the marketer can tailor the offer depending on the customers
needs.
c. Personal selling also allows the marketer to adjust his customer list and not waste any
time in the future calling on them.
d. Personal selling should be used when the target market is small in size and when the
product is complicated, costly, and there are large variations in customers' needs.

Characteristics and Costs Associated with Personal Selling Tool

This is the most cost effective tool at later stages of buying process, particularly in building up
buyers’ preference, conviction, and action. Personal selling when compared with advertising has
got the following qualities:
 Personal confrontation: Personal selling involves an alive, immediate, and interactive
relationship between two or more persons. Each party is able to observe each other’s needs
and characteristics at close range and make immediate adjustments.
 Cultivation: Personal selling permits all kinds of relationships to spring up, ranging from a
matter of fact selling relationship to a deep personal friendship. Very good sales people keep
their customers’ interests at heart if they want long run relationship.
 Response: Personal selling makes the buyer feel under some obligation for having listened to
the sales talk. Even a response of say ‘thank you’ is enough.
 Cost per person is very high and hence the most expensive promotional tool.
 Allows the marketer to adjust message quickly to improve communication.

Personal Selling Steps

The steps of personal selling are also knows as the sales process or cycle. The steps are what a
salesperson has to go through to sell a particular product or service. Some sales are very quick,
such as when the farmer has to sell his tomatoes from his road side cart. Other sales can take
long to complete due to the expense or technical nature of the product. The personal selling steps
are: generating leads, qualifying leads, approaching the customer and probing needs, developing
proposing solutions, handling objections, closing the sale and following up.
Generating Leads: Lead generating (or prospecting) is when the marketer identifies the people
or companies in the geographic area who are most likely to buy his product. He can't waste his
time calling on every prospect. He needs to either send out a postcard, make phone calls or even
sales calls. The marketer can also network by going to town meetings or chambers. The marketer
may also find customers through referrals. Referrals are when friends recommend your business
to their friends. This word of mouth is usually the best way of gaining customers.

Qualifying Leads: Not every person that shows interest in potentially buying the farmer's
flowers will be a good lead. Lead qualification occurs when a person has a recognized need, a
willingness to see a salesperson and buying power. If the potential customer is lacking in any of
the three items, then they would not be a good investment of time for the marketer.

Approaching the Customer and Probing Needs: Now that the marketer has developed an
excellent set of leads, he needs to do his homework. The marketer should research or conduct
a pre-approach where homework is completed on the customer. The marketer should try to create
a needs assessment of the customer by creating a customer profile. This can be done by a quick
phone call or even a short postcard survey. The ultimate goal of the marketer is to figure out
what issues the customers may have and how he can solve them with his products.

Developing and Proposing Solutions: Backed with a list of places to make appointments for
sales calls and a short presentation in which he will make a sales proposal to a prospective
customers, and a list of the recommendations and how he can help customers to solve a current
issue (the issue could be as simple as stocking fresher flowers or making more money by
offering the product at a lower cost) then our marketer has created a stunning presentation that is
short and vividly impactful. He has offered great prices and left sample products for free.
Unfortunately, not every sales call ends with a sale. The marketer needs to handle any objections
from the potential customer next and not give up.

Handling Objections: The customer that the marketer visited today loved his products. The
objection the marketer had was concerning the price. The marketer offered them a 10% discount
if they would pay within 30 days. The extra discount was all the customer needed. He closed the
sale. Sometimes potential customers will say that they prefer a competitor. It's always important
for the marketer to know his competition so he can explain why his offer is superior.

Closing the Sale: Our marketer is in position to meet his or her target. He was sure to ask for the
sale after the presentation, and he was a good negotiator. He never gave up on a client and
handled every objection that was thrown his way. Lastly, he emphasized his good quality and
was always polite and professional.

Following Up: Good salespeople realize that after a sale is closed, they still need to follow up
with excellent customer service. Follow up is when the marketer ensures full delivery that the
quality is excellent and that he answers all of the customer’s questions. The marketer makes sure
that he calls after each order and thanks the customer for the business. Emails and postcards are
also used to remind the customers about the products and to let them know that he will never
forget his customers. His ultimate goal is to create a relationship selling experience.
Finally, relationship selling is when a company builds and maintains an ongoing relationship
with their clients in order to develop long-term partnerships.
Communication goes beyond the above named communication tools. The products design, its
price, the shape and color of its package and the store that sells it – all communicate something
to buyers. Sales force promotion, objectives include getting more sales force support for current
or new products, or getting salespeople to sign up new accounts.

11.4.6 Interactive marketing

Online activities and programs designed to engage customers or prospects and directly or
indirectly raise awareness, improve image, or elicit sales of products and services. The number
of companies using Internet promotions is increasing. Contests and sweepstakes are among the
most commonly used to motivate people to visit marketers’ Internet sites. Interactive marketing
frequently conducts prize promotions to attract users to its advertisers’ areas. The prizes may
range between substantial sums of money to daily prizes including merchandise decorated with
the online service’s logo. This trend is gradually catching up in our country with increased
availability of Broadband Internet and more and more households acquiring computers. The
direct marketing tools are websites / portals and social networking sites.

Online marketing has following advantages:

a. Cost Effective and Enduring Marketing Strategies
b. Market Penetration
c. Low Cost, Instant Communication
d. Content is Timeless
e. Real Time Statistics for Measuring Success of Promotion Campaign
f. Time Saving
The disadvantages of online marketing are as follows:
a. Difficulty in Attracting Customers
b. Difficulty in Evaluating Legitimacy of Transaction
c. Salespersons and Customers are Isolated

11.4.7 Word-of-mouth marketing

People-to-people oral, written, or electronic communications that relate to the merits or
experiences of purchasing or using products or services.

Word of mouth also takes many forms both online or offline. Three noteworthy characteristics
are:
1. Influential:- Because people trust others they know and respect, word of mouth can be
highly influential.
2. Personal:- Word of mouth can be a very intimate dialogue that reflects personal facts,
opinions, and experiences.
3. Timely:- Word of mouth occurs when people want it to and are most interested, and it often
follows noteworthy or meaningful events or experiences

11.4.8 Events and Experiences

Company-sponsored activities and programs designed to create daily or special brand-related
interactions with consumers, including sports, arts, entertainment, and cause events as well as
less formal activities.

There are many advantages to events and experiences as long as they have the following
characteristics:
1. Relevant: - A well-chosen event or experience can be seen as highly relevant because the
consumer is often personally invested in the outcome.
2. Engaging: - Given their live, real-time quality, events and experiences are more actively
engaging for consumers.
3. Implicit:- Events are typically an indirect “soft sell”

11.5 The Communication Process Model

The communication process itself consists of nine elements and the marketer needs to understand
these fundamental elements for effective communication. Two parties in a communication
process are sender and receiver; message and media are communication tools, whereas major
communication functions are: encoding, decoding, response and feedback. Interference is the
noise in the model. Marketers must know how to get through to the target audience in the face of
the audience’s tendencies toward selective attention, distortion, and recall.
The communication process illustrates how messages are sent and received. The source (or
sender) encodes, or translates, a message so that it’s appropriate for the message channel say, for
a print advertisement, TV commercial, or store display and shows the benefits and value of the
offering. The receiver (customer or consumer) then decodes, or interprets, the message. For
effective communication to occur, the receiver must interpret the message as the sender intended.

The perceptual process is how a person decides what to pay attention to and how to interpret
and remember different things, including information in advertising. By selecting a magazine, a
television show, or even an elective class in school, you’re selecting what you’re exposed to and
deciding what gets your attention. However, your selection does not insure you’ll either pay
attention or remember or correctly interpret what you see or hear.

With so many different types of distractions and technology (such as recording devices),
imagine how difficult it is for an advertiser to get you to pay attention much less remember the
message. To increase retention, advertisers may repeat the same message multiple times in
different places, but they must be careful that consumers don’t get so tired of the message that
there is a negative effect.

Marketers must be excellent communicators and be able to educate, persuade and convince
consumers to purchase their products. The basic building block of marketing is effective
communication, which is the process by which we exchange or share meanings through a
common set of symbols.

The steps that a promotional plan must incorporate to communicate their message to their target
market are sending, encoding, choosing the correct channel, reaching the receiver, decoding and
receiving feedback. The end result should be the communication of a promotional message to the
consumer that leads to sales.

A marketing communication model answers the following questions: Who says what? What
channel to be used? Who is going to receive the message and with what effect?

The figure below shows a communication model with nine elements namely:

The major parties in communication process:

1. Sender (source or communicator): The party sending the message to another party. The
sender is usually a company, a marketing manager, advertising manager or advertising agency
who is the creator of the communication message.
2. Receiver (audience or destination): A receiver in marketing communications is the
person who decodes the message and is usually the consumer. A receiver is considered as the
party receiving the message sent by the sender. A promotional message is considered a success
when it reaches the receiver and is absorbed.

The major communication tools:

1. Message: The set of symbols that the sender transmits.
2. Media (the path through which the message moves): Message channels are
communication mediums, including everything from a radio to a newspaper, or even a facial
expression, therefore message channels are the communication channels through which the
message moves from sender to receiver.

The communication functions.

 1. Encoding (putting the thought or idea in symbolic form): The encoding is a process
where the sender's message or ideas are put into some type of words or signs. The end
result of the encoding is what the receiver hears. Or encoding is the process of putting
through into symbolic form an advertisement that will convey the intended message.
Other types of encoding are coupons, displays or outdoor ads.
2. Decoding (assigning meanings to the symbols transmitted by the sender): The process
by which the receiver assigns meaning to the symbols encoded by the sender.
Decoding is the interpretation of the language and symbols sent by the source through a
channel. The key to effective decoding is for the marketing manager to make sure that the
overall promotional message is an appropriate one. The message should ring true with
their target market. It is important that the message is not confusing or does not suggest
something incorrect about the product.
3. Response (the set of reactions that the receiver has after having been exposed to the
message): The reactions of the receiver after being exposed to the message.
4. Feed back: The part of the receiver’s response communicated back to the sender. The
receiver's response to their message, in order to discover if the promotional message was
effective. They can discover this information through surveying customers and other
marketing research tools. Some companies run mock viewings of their commercials in
movie theaters and then watch to see if the audience is smiling, nodding and enjoying the
advertisement.
5. Noise: Noise is anything that interferes with, distorts or changes the transmission of the
informational message. Hence noise is the unplanned static or distortion during the
communication process, which results in the receiver getting a different message the
sender sent. Marketing managers have to be concerned about noise that could affect
how their message is received. Other entertainment options that could detract consumer
viewership, are such as switching channels, using a DVR, the lighting and the sound of
the ad, and consumers’ getting up for a snack during commercial time. Most companies
try to make the ads funny, entertaining, colorful and relevant in order to maintain
viewership.
Message Problems

If you do not hear someone correctly, misread information, or misinterpret a message, you might
think a product or service provides different benefits or is easier or harder to use than it really is.

Interference, or noise, can distort marketing messages. Factors such as poor reception, poor
print quality, problems with a server, or a low battery can interfere with your getting messages.
Interference includes any distractions receivers and senders face during the transmission of a
message. For example, if you’re studying for an exam while you’re talking on the phone. The
conversation interferes with remembering what you’re reading. If a friend tells you a story, then
you tell another friend, and that person tells someone else, will the message be the same after it is
relayed to multiple people? If you miss class and borrow someone else’s notes, do you
understand what they mean? Not only must advertisers try to present consistent messages (IMC),
they must also try to ensure that you interpret the message as they intended.

Senders must know what audiences they want to reach and what responses they want. The
senders encoding process must mesh with the receivers decoding process for the message to be
effective. The message must be transmitted through an efficient media that reaches the target
audiences. Senders must develop feedback channels so that they know the receiver’s response.

Irrespective of the noise due to many ads, the sender must get the message through to the
receiver or target audience. The target audience may not receive the intended message for any of
the following three reasons:
1. Selective attention: Not all the stimuli will be noticed due the noise in the surrounding
environment.
2. Selective distortion: Message will be twisted to hear what you want to hear.
3. Selective recall: A small fraction of the message will be kept in the permanent memory.

Purchasing a market offer (product or service) provides the sender with feedback, which often
tells the seller that you saw information and wanted to try the product. If you use any coupons or
promotions when you buy a product, the advertiser knows which vehicle you used to get the
information. Market research and warranty registration also provide feedback.

We tend to purchase products and remember information that has some relevance to our personal
situation or beliefs. If you have no need for a product or service, you might not pay attention to
or remember the messages used to market it. Advertisers also want you to remember their brands
so that you’ll think of their products or services when you need to make a purchase.

Factors that moderate the effectiveness of a communication

1. The greater the monopoly of the communication sources over the recipient; the greater the
change or effect in favor of the source over the recipient.
2. Communication effects are greatest where the message is in line with the existing opinions,
beliefs and dispositions (an inclination or tendency to act in a particular way) of the receiver.
3. Communication that is repetitive can produce the most effective shifts on unfamiliar, lightly
felt, peripheral issues, which do not lie at the center of the recipient’s value. For example
parental talk to children about early sex or sex before marriage.
4. Communication is more likely to be effective where the source is believed to have expertise,
high status, objectivity or likeability but particularly where the sources has power and can be
identified with.
5. The social context, group, or reference group will mediate the communication and influence
whether or not it is accepted. For example communication packages that are dramatized are
more effective compared to non-dramatized one.

11.6 Developing Effective Communication Process (Promotional Decisions)

Developing the promotion program or promotion process involves eight steps. The
communicator must first identify the target audience and its characteristics, including the image
it carries of the product. Next, the communicator has to define the communication objective,
whether it is to create awareness, knowledge, liking, preference, conviction, or purchase. A
message must be designed containing an effective content, structure, format, and source. Then
communication channels both personal and non-personal must be selected. Next, the total
promotion budget must be established. Four common methods are the affordable method, the
percentage-of-sales method, the competitive-parity method, and the objective-and-task method,
allocate the total promotion budget, decide on promotion mix, and measure the promotions
results.

11.6.1 Identifying the Target Audience

The marketing communicator starts with a clear target audience in mind. Target audience could
be potential buyers, current users, deciders or influencers. It could also be individuals, groups,
particular publics or the general public. The target audience will affect the communicator’s
decisions on what will be said, how it will be said, when will it be said, where it will be said, and
who will say it.

After defining the target audience, the marketing communicator must decide what response is
desired. In most cases, the final response is purchase. The target audience may be in any of the
six buyer readiness stages awareness, knowledge, liking, preference, conviction, and purchase.
The communicator must know the target audience stage now and the next expected stage.

Examples include assessment of target audience’s current image of the company, its products
and its competitors. The target audience’s knowledge is measured first using the below
familiarity scale.

Never heard of Heard of only Know a little bit of Know a fair amount of Know very well

Using the favorability scale, respondents who are familiar with the product can be asked how
they feel towards it.

Very unfavorable Somewhat unfavorable Indifferent Somewhat favorable Very favorable

11.6.2 Determining the Communication Objectives and Buyer Readiness Stages

This step aims at understanding the desired audience response namely purchase and satisfaction
which is the end result of a long process of consumer decision making. During the promotion
program, the marketer might want to put something into the consumers mind (cognitive stage),
or change the consumer’s attitudes (effective stage) or get the customer to act (behavior stage).

The four best-known consumer responses hierarchy models are:

Stages AIDA Hierarchy-of- Innovation - Communication

Model Effects Model Adoption Model Model
Cognitive Attention Awareness Awareness Exposure
stage
Reception

Knowledge Cognitive response

Effective Interest Liking Interest Attitude

stage
Desire Preference Evaluation Intention
 Conviction
Behavior Action Purchase Trial Behavior
stage
Adoption

The Innovation - Adoption Model is explained further in the “consumer adoption process” as
indicated below:

When a new product is introduced in the marketplace, consumers go through a five-stage process
to determine whether or not to adopt the product. The five stages of the consumer adoption
process are:
1. Awareness (introduction stage): This is stage when consumers first learn about the new
product but don't yet have all the information.
2. Interest (information-gathering stage): This is the stage of the adoption process when
consumers seek information about the product.
3. Evaluation (consideration stage): At this stage of the process, the consumer decides if he
wants to try the new product or not.
4. Trial (sampling stage): This is the stage where the consumer tries the new product.
5. Adoption / Rejection (buy or not buy stage): This is the stage when the consumer decides
whether to continue to buy the new product or not.

The AIDA Model: The model explains how a marketer can attain a promotional goal. This
model is called the AIDA concept. The acronym stands for Attention, Interest, Desire
and Action. These are the various stages that a consumer moves through when confronted with a
promotional message.

a) Attention: If the consumer does not know that the marketer's product exists, then they
will never consider purchasing the item. The marketer must gain the target
market's attention. Many companies use teaser ads to get consumers to pay attention.
Another example of getting a consumer's attention would be how large warehouse clubs
and supermarkets use their fresh bakery smells to stimulate purchases by getting the
consumers attracted to the product through their sense of smell. Lastly, many retailers use
large visual images and ads to invite consumers to come into their store to shop. Once the
consumer is now aware of the product, the next challenge for the marketer is to create
interest.

b) Interest: A consumer that is aware of a product does not always necessarily go ahead and
purchase the product. The marketer needs to get the consumer interested enough to desire
to purchase the product. One key way a marketer can generate interest would be for the
consumer to get hands on experience with the product through demonstrations. Another
way marketers can get their target market is to court early adopters. Early
adopters are consumers who are the first to buy the product, and hence other consumers
depend of them for their product advice. Early adopters can be consumers who have a
large, disposable income, a celebrity or even an average consumer who has a deep
interest in a specific category. Companies will even pay celebrities to carry or use their
products to create interest in their target market. Once the consumer has developed
interest in the product, the marketer must then step up their persuasion techniques and
 create consumer desire.

c) Desire: Desire usually is a want for a specific, branded product. The marketer wants to
create a desire for their specific product by convincing consumers that the offer is the
best solution to satisfy their needs. Companies try to promote exclusivity or special brand
bonuses that the consumer will get by purchasing their product. Once the marketer has
moved the consumer through the first three steps, it's up to a bundle of final techniques to
get the consumer to actually take action and purchase the product.

d) Action: The last part of the AIDA Model is to have the consumer take part in a cognitive
thinking sequence called action. There are different ways that a marketer can motivate a
consumer to take action and purchase the product. The most popular ways are for
companies to use promotions and price discounts to invite the consumer to buy. The
second way marketers can motivate consumers is by communicating the product's
features and benefits. The consumer will go through all of the AIDA steps with high
involvement products, such as technology, vacations and new home purchases.
Consumers might quickly skip a step with low involvement purchases, such as buying a
pack of gum or a water bottle.

Many consumers will reject the product before making it through all five stages if they believe
the product does not provide value to them. It is important for companies introducing a new
product to understand the adoption process so that they can successfully lead as many potential
customers as possible from the awareness stage to adoption of their new product. If companies
discover that their prospective customers are not making it to a certain stage of this process, they
must find a way to encourage them to complete the adoption process.

The Organization’s Promotion Objectives

Advertisers must also examine their promotion objectives. What are they trying to accomplish
with their promotions? Are they trying to build awareness for a new product, are they wanting to
get people to take action immediately, or are they interested in having people remember their
brand in the future? Building primary demand, or demand for a product category, such as orange
juice, might be one objective, but a company also wants to build selective demand, or demand
for its specific brand(s), such as Tropicana orange juice.

Other common objectives follow the AIDA model (attention, interest, desire, and action). AIDA
objectives typically are achieved in steps. First, companies focus on attention and awareness of a
product or service, which is especially important for new offerings. If a consumer or business is
not aware of a product or service, they won’t buy it. Once consumers or businesses are aware of
products or services, organizations try to get consumers interested and persuade them that their
brands are best. Ultimately, companies want consumers to take action or purchase their products
or services.

11.6.3 Designing the Message

This stage aims at developing an effective message. Ideally, the message should gain attention,
hold interest, arouse desire and elicit action (AIDA Model). In practice few messages take the
consumer all the way from awareness to purchase. Formulating the message will require solving
four problems namely:
a) Message content (what to say).
b) Message structure (how to say it logically).
c) Message format (how to say it symbolically).
d) Message source (who should say it).

Message content: Focuses out what to say to the target audience to produce the desired
response. This process has been variously called the appeal, theme, idea, or unique-selling
proposition. It amounts to formulating some kind of benefit, motivation, identification or reason
why the audience should think about or investigate the product. Three types of appeals can be
distinguished namely:
 Rational appeals (self-interest). They show that the product will produce the claimed
benefits. For example quality, value, economy or performance.
 Emotional appeals (stirs up negative or positive emotions that will motivate purchase).
Negative emotions include fear, guilt, and shame appeals. Positive emotions include humor,
love, pride and joy.
 Moral appeals (are directed to the audience’s sense of what is right and proper). Examples
include equal rights for women; help the disadvantaged, cleaner environment, use of
condoms, etc.

Message structure: The message effectiveness depends on its structure as well as its content.
The message structure depends on the following attributes: first, being put on conclusion
drawing; second, one-versus-two-sided arguments; third, whether to present the strong
arguments first or last (order of presentation). Conclusion drawing might cause negative
reactions in the following cases.
 If the communicator is untrustworthy.
 If the issue is simple and the audience is intelligent.
 If the issue is highly personal.
Thus stimulus ambiguity leads to broader market. One or two sided arguments: should the
product only be praised or also mention its shortcoming. Order of presentation: should the strong
arguments be presented first or last.

Message format: The marketing communicator needs a strong format for the message; and
decisions on the following have to be considered.
 In print ad. Messages: headline, copy, illustration, color
 Radio Messages: needs considerations about words, voice qualities (speech rate, rhythm,
pitch, and articulation) and vocalizations (pauses, sighs, yawns).
 TV or in Person Messages: body language becomes vital in addition to facial expressions,
gestures, dress, posture, and hairstyle.
 Product or Packaging Messages: attention should be paid to color, texture, scent, size and
shape.

Message source: Messages delivered by attractive sources achieve higher attention and recall.
Thus celebrities are often used as they have high credibility. Factors, which underlie credibility,
are expertise, trustworthiness and likeability.

Message Strategies

Utilizing a Product’s Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

When organizations want to communicate value, they must determine what message strategies
work best for them. Smart organizations determine a product’s unique selling proposition
(USP), or specific benefit consumers will remember. Domino’s “Pizza delivered in 30 minutes
or it’s free” is a good example of a unique selling proposition. Likewise, Nike’s global slogan
“Just Do It” helps athletes and other consumers realize their potential, and many consumers may
think of all the things that they do when they use Nike products.

Sometimes the same promotions can work in different cultures (countries), but others must be
adapted for different international audiences similar to the way products may be adapted for
international markets. Companies must be careful of how words translate, how actions are
interpreted, how actors (or models) look, and what different colors in ads may mean.

When deciding on a message strategy, organizations must consider the audience, the objectives
of the promotion, the media, and the budget, as well as the USP and the product. Knowing your
audience and whom you are trying to reach is critical. The more the advertisers know about the
consumers (or businesses) exposed to the message, the better.

Message Characteristics

Organizations must also determine what type of appeal to use and how to structure their
messages. Some of the common advertising appeals are humorous, emotional, frightening (fear),
rational (informative), and environmentally conscious.

Many people like commercials that use humor because they are typically entertaining and
memorable. Humor sells, but firms must be careful that the brand is remembered. Some
commercials are very entertaining, but consumers cannot remember the brand or product.

Companies must also be careful when using fear appeals so consumers don’t get too alarmed or
frightened. A few years ago, Reebok had to discontinue a TV ad because it upset so many
people. The ad showed a bungee jumper diving off a bridge, followed by a shot of just his shoes
hanging from the bridge by the bungee cord. That ad provoked people because it implied the
jumper had fallen to his death.

Firms also decide whether to use strategies such as an open-ended or closed-ended message;
whether to use a one-sided or two-sided message; and whether to use slogans, characters, or
jingles. An open-ended message allows the consumer to draw his or her own conclusion, such as
a commercial for perfume or cologne. A closed-ended message draws a logical conclusion.
Most messages are one sided, stressing only the positive aspects, similar to what you include on
your résumé. However, two-sided messages are often utilized as well. Pharmaceutical companies
often show both the positive aspects (benefits) of using a drug and the negative aspects of not
using it. (Of course, U.S. laws require companies to list the side effects of prescriptions - hence
the long “warnings” you hear and read about in conjunction with drug ads.)

The order of presentation also affects how well consumers remember a brand. If you forgot
about a twenty-five-page term paper that you had to write before the next day of class, which
sections of the paper would be the strongest? Would the beginning, the end, or the middle be the
best section? Many students argue that either the beginning or the end is most important, hoping
that the instructor does not read the entire paper carefully. The same strategy is true for
commercials and advertisements. The beginning and the end of the message should be strong
and include the brand name. That way, if consumers hear or read only part of the message, they
will hopefully remember the brand name.

Some companies use characters or mascots (symbols of good luck) and or jingles or slogans.
Although media is changing, many of the characters and jingles have stayed the same for
decades.

11.6.4 Selecting the Communication Channels

There are two types of communication channels namely: Personal and Non personal.

Personal communication channels: Involve two or more persons communicating directly with
each other. They derive their effectiveness through the opportunities for individualizing the
presentation and feedback.

Further distinctions among personal communication can be drawn between advocate (sales
people paying visits), expert (using independent firms to reach target market), and social
channels (neighbors, friends, associates, etc to reach target market). Personal influence carries
more weight for products that are expensive, risky or highly visible.

Non-personal communication channels: These are media that carry the message without
personal contact or feedback. They include majorly Media, Events and Atmosphere.
 Atmospheres are packaged environments that create or reinforce the buyer’s leanings
towards product purchase.
 Events are occurrences designed to communicate particular messages to audiences. This
includes news conferences, grand openings and sports sponsorships.
 Media: This includes print media (newspapers, magazines, and direct mail), broadcasts
media (radio, television), electronics media (audiotapes, videotapes, and videodisc) and
display media (billboards, signs, posters).

11.6.5 Establishing the Total Promotion Budget

This is the most difficult marketing decision faced by companies. Promotion expenditures might
vary between 10–50% of sales. An offering’s budget is a critical factor when it comes to
deciding which message strategies to pursue. Several methods can be used to determine the
promotion budget. There are four methods used to set promotion budget namely:
a) Affordable method: or what you think you can afford, is a method used often by small
businesses. Unfortunately, things often cost more than anticipated, and you may not have
enough money. Many small businesses think they’re going to have money for promotion,
 but they run out and cannot spend as much on promotion as they had hoped. Such a
situation may have happened to you when you planned a weekend trip based on what you
thought you could afford, and you did not have enough money. As a result, you had to
modify your plans and not do everything you planned. The method ignores the role of
promotion as an investment and the immediate impact of promotion on sales volume;
which makes long-range market communication planning difficult. The method is only
good for financial management.
b) Percentage of sales method: The simplest method for determining the promotion budget.
It merely uses a percentage of last year’s sales or the projected sales for the next year.
This method does not take into account any changes in the market or unexpected
circumstances. However, many firms use this method because it is simple and
straightforward.

Advantages
 Promotion expenditure varies with what is affordable.
 It helps management to think in terms of the relationship between promotion cost,
selling price and profit per unit.
 It encourages competitive stability; as competitors spend almost the same percentage
of their sales on promotion.

Disadvantages
 It views sales as the cause of promotion; but not as the result of promotion.
 It discourages aggressive spending.
 Promotion budget dependence on year-to-year sales fluctuation interferes with long
range planning or opportunities.
 It does not look into product and territory requirements.

c. Competitive parity method: Spend in relation to market share to avoid promotion wars.
The limitation of the method is that company reputations, resources, opportunities and
objectives differ so much that their promotional budgets are hardly a guide.

Competitive parity: that is, they try to keep their promotional spending comparable to the
competitors’ spending level. This method is designed to keep a brand in the minds of
consumers. During a recession, some firms feel like they must spend as much if not more
than their competitors to get customers to buy from them. Other companies are forced to
cut back on their spending or pursue more targeted promotions.

d. Objective and task method: This is whereby marketing managers first determine what
they want to accomplish (objectives) with their communication. Then they determine
what activities: commercials, sales promotions, and so on are necessary to accomplish the
objectives. Finally, they conduct research to figure out how much the activities, or tasks,
cost in order to develop a budget.

11.6.6 Deciding on the Promotion Mix

The promotion budget should be divided among the main promotional tools, as affected by such
factors as type of product market, push-versus-pull strategy, buyer readiness stage, product life-
cycle stage and company market rank.

Part of the budgeting process includes deciding how much money to allocate to different tool
(advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, public relations and sales force). Although most
media budgets are still spent predominantly on traditional media, shifts in spending are occurring
as the media landscape continues to change. Mobile marketing continues to become more
popular as a way to reach specific audiences. Younger people are typically the most accepting of
mobile advertising.

It’s possible to achieve a given sales level with varying promotional mixes. Normally the sales
force cost is established first because much of this is a fixed cost and the other cost components
follow.

The manufacturers of most major brands use texting and multimedia messages. Mobile
marketing allows advertisers to communicate with consumers and businesses on the go. While
many marketers plan to use electronic devices for their mobile-marketing strategies, other firms
may use movable or mobile promotions.

Factors considered by companies in developing their promotion mix include the following:

Type of product market

The rated importance of promotional tools varies between consumer and industrial markets. The
consumer goods companies’ rate advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, and public
relations in that order. Industrial goods companies rate personal selling, sales promotion,
advertising, and public relations in this order.

Though advertising is less vital than personal selling in industrials goods, it however performs
the following functions.
a. Awareness building: Prospects who are not aware of the company or product might refuse
to see the sales representative. Further more the sales person might have to take a lot of time
describing the company and its products.
b. Comprehension or Understanding building: If the product embodies new features, some of
the burden of explaining can be effectively undertaken by advertising.
c. Efficient reminding: If prospects know about the product but are not ready to buy, reminder
advertising would be more economical than sales calls.
d. Lead generation: Ads offering brochures and carrying the company’s phone number are an
effective way to generate leads for sales people.
e. Legitimation: Sales people can use tear sheets of the company’s ads in leading magazines to
legitimize their company and products.
f. Reassurance or Encouragement: Ads can remind customers how to use the product and
reassure them about their purchase.

In consumer goods where advertising is considered very vital, personal selling can make the
following three important contributions namely:
a. Increased stock position: Sales people can persuade dealers to take more stocks and devote
more shelf space to the company’s brand.
b. Enthusiasm building: Sales people can build dealer enthusiasm for new products by
dramatizing the planned ads and sales promotion backup.
c. Missionary selling: Sales people can sign up more dealers to carry the company’s brands.
d. Manage key accounts. Sales reps can take responsibility for growing business with the most
important accounts.

Push versus Pull strategy

Businesses must also decide whether to use a push strategy, a pull strategy, or both push and pull
strategies. The promotional mix chosen will be greatly influenced by whether the company
chooses a push or pull strategy to create sales.

Push Strategy: A push strategy involves promoting a product to businesses (middlemen), such as
wholesalers and retailers, who then push the product through the channel promoting it to final
consumers. Manufacturers may set up displays in retail outlets for new products or provide
incentives such as price discounts to the retailer so the retailer can promote or push the product
to consumers. Some of the tools to be used are sales force and trade promotion.

Pull Strategy: Companies use a pull strategy when they target final consumers with promotions.
In other words, a company promotes its products and services to final consumers
to pull consumers into the stores or get the consumers asking for the product. If a company sends
coupons to the consumers, hopefully the consumers will take the coupons (sales promotion) to
the store and buy the product. A manufacturer promotes its new product on television to
consumers and places coupons in the newspaper inserts, hoping consumers will demand the
product. Their pull causes wholesalers and retailers to buy the product to try to meet the demand.
Therefore, a pull strategy is a promotional strategy that calls for spending a lot on advertising
and consumer promotion to build up consumer demand. If the strategy is successful, consumers
will ask their retailers for the product, the retailers will ask the wholesalers, and the wholesalers
will ask the producers.

Many manufacturers use both a push strategy and a pull strategy, promoting their products and
services to both final consumers and their trade partners (e.g., retailers and wholesalers).

Buyer Readiness stage

Below is the table showing promotional tool effectiveness at different stages of buyer readiness.

Product Life Cycles stage

Below is the table showing promotional cost effectiveness at different stages of the product life
cycle.

Product Life Cycle Order of Promotional Tool

Stage effectiveness
Introduction Advertising and Publicity
Personal selling
Sales Promotion
Growth Advertising and Publicity
Personal selling
Sales Promotion
Maturity Advertising and Publicity
Sales Promotion
Personal selling
Decline Sales Promotion
Advertising and Publicity
Personal selling

Company Market Rank

Market leaders companies tend to advertise more compared to using sales promotion tool.

11.6.7 Measuring Promotion Results

The marketer should then monitor to see how much of the market becomes aware of the product,
tries it, and is satisfied in the process. Finally, all of the communications effort must be managed
and coordinated for consistency, good timing, and cost effectiveness.

Promotion campaigns are evaluated on two parameters namely:

a) Communication effects: Is the ad communicating very well.
b) Sales effects: Is the ad increasing sales.
This involves asking the target audience whether they recognize or recall the message, how
many times they saw it, what points they recall and how they felt about the message, and their
previous and current attitudes towards the product company.

The results indicate that:

i) Communication program more effective in creating awareness in case of brand A than brand
B. Thus the communication effects are very well.
ii) Communication needs to take advantage of the brands satisfaction generating power in brand
B.

11.6.8 Organizing and Managing Integrated Marketing Communication

Many companies still rely primarily on one or two communication tools to achieve their
communication aims despite changes taking place in the market place. Therefore, companies
must give thought to a fresher and fuller use and orchestration of communication tools. Today, a
growing number of companies are adopting the concept of integrated marketing communications
(IMC). IMC will produce more message consistency and greater sales impact. IMC will improve
the company ability to reach the right customers with the right messages at the right time and in
the right place. Finally, all of the communication must be managed and integrated for
consistency, good timing, and cost effectiveness.

11.7 Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Customer relationship management helps companies retain customers and boost the effectiveness
of their marketing strategies. Customer relationship management is guided by technology to
provide the most appropriate level of customer service. Using technology as a tool, CRM helps
marketers grow relationships with existing customers through personalized service and identify
the most valuable customer relationships to target more direct marketing strategies.

In essence, customer relationship management ensures that all customers feel like they're
receiving quality customer service while identifying the best customers on which to concentrate
marketing efforts. The overall goal of customer relationship management is to increase customer
retention and maximize the effectiveness of marketing strategies.
Since it's crucial to strike a balance between delighting customers and the costs that might come
along with that task, marketers often use technology to pinpoint the best customers to apply more
elaborate marketing techniques on.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Provide an example of how an organization, such as your university, uses different

media to present a consistent message using integrated marketing communications
(IMC). Who is their target, what is their message, and what media should they use?
2. In your opinion, what are the advantages and disadvantages of advertising on the
radio, in magazines, on television, through direct marketing, and on the Internet?
3. Give an example of an organization’s promotional strategy and how it gets
consumers to select it, pay attention to it, and retain it as intended.
4. Give an example of the unique selling proposition for one of your favorite brands.
What is your unique selling proposition?
5. Explain why companies might use different budgeting methods to set their
promotional budgets.
6. Think about and provide examples of two different message strategies you’ve seen in
commercials in the last year. Why do you think they were or were not effective?
7. As the manufacturer of small appliances, explain how you might plan to use both a
push strategy and pull strategy.
8. What type of sales promotions do you feel are most effective for college students?

ACTIVITIES

1. Identify your three favorite and least favorite commercials and explain why you like
or don’t like each one. Notice whether there are similarities in your preferences. In other
words, are your favorite commercials humorous? Are your least favorite commercials
annoying?
2. Create a message strategy for a cover letter to go with your résumé.
3. Outline three message strategies that you feel would get consumers’ attention in
television commercials and in print ads.
4. Create a sales promotion you think will attract a lot of students to your favorite fast-
food restaurant.
5. You are applying for a job in an advertising agency. Write an ad about yourself,
explaining your unique selling proposition and why they should hire you.
6. Watch television at three different times (late night, mid-day, and prime time). What
types of commercials were shown at each time? Did you notice a difference in quality,
products/services advertised, or creativity? Why do you think there was a variance?
7. What media do you think would be most (and least) effective for college students?
Why?
CASE STUDY 1

FREE FLIGHTS PROMOTION ENDS IN DISASTER

The Hoover company's attempts to sell more vacuum cleaners by offering an incentive of free
flights has become a legendary disaster in the field of sales promotions. An examination of the
case is useful for highlighting some of the problems of planning, implementing, and monitoring
sales promotions.

During the early 1990s, Hoover was faced with a period of economic recession in which
discretionary expenditure on consumer durables was held back. In these conditions, most
vacuum sales were replacements for worn out machines or first-time buys for people setting up
home. The challenge was to increase the sales of machines bought to upgrade existing
equipment.

The company came up with the idea of offering free airline tickets to America for anybody
buying one of its vacuum cleaners. For many people, a holiday in the USA may have been
perceived as an unnecessary and unaffordable luxury during a period of recession, but one that
might be justified if it came free with the purchase of an 'essential' vacuum cleaner.

The immediate result of the sales promotion was to boost the company's sales of vacuum
cleaners to more than double the level of the previous year. So far so good, but then serious
problems set in. The first problem occurred when Hoover could not satisfy demand for its
vacuum cleaners and had to resort to paying its staff overtime rates of pay in order to increase
supply. It should be remembered that the initial objective of the promotion was to utilize existing
spare capacity rather than adding to that capacity. The company had carried out insufficient
research prior to launching its incentive. Had it done so, it may have reached the conclusion that
the incentive was too generous and likely to create more demand than the company could cope
with.
A second problem occurred during subsequent periods when sales fell to below their pre-
incentive levels. Many people had simply brought forward their purchase of a vacuum cleaner.
Worse still, many people had bought their cleaner simply to get the free tickets, which at £70 for
a cleaner with a free £250 ticket made sense. These people frequently disposed of their cleaner as
they had no need for it. The classified ads of many local newspapers contained many adverts for
'nearly new, unused' vacuum cleaners at discounted prices and this further depressed sales of new
machines once the sales promotion had come to an end.

A third and more serious problem occurred when large numbers of buyers tried to use their free
flight vouchers. All sales promotions are based on an assumption of take-up rates, which can be
as low as 5-10 per cent. Anything higher and the cost of the incentives actually given away can
wipe out the benefits arising from increased sales. In this case, Hoover had carried out
insufficient pre-testing of the sales promotion in order to assess the likely take-up rate and was
surprised by the actual take-up which subsequently occurred. In an attempt to control costs, the
company became notorious for its attempts to 'suppress' take-up of free flights. Many claimants
complained that telephone lines were constantly busy and, when they did get through, they were
offered the most unattractive flights possible. It was reported that claimants from the south-east
of England were only offered flights departing from Scotland and those from Scotland only
offered flights from London, done to reduce the attractiveness of the free offer. These activities
attracted high levels of coverage in the media and left a once highly respected brand as one with
a perception of mistrust. Five years after the initial débâcle, the Hoover Holiday Pressure Group
continued to be an awkward reminder for the company.

The free flights promotion eventually cost Hoover a reported £37 million in redemption charges,
without bringing about any long-term growth in sales. With appropriate pre-testing, these costs
could have been foreseen. Worse still, the company's brand image had been tarnished in a way
that would take many years-if ever-to recover from.

CASE STUDY REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What are the inherent problems for a company such as Hoover in assessing the
effectiveness of sales promotion activity?
2. Identify a programme of research that Hoover could have undertaken in order to avoid
the costly failure of its free flights promotion.
3. What alternative methods of promotion might have been more suitable to achieve
Hoover's objective of utilizing spare capacity during a period of economic recession?
 C ASE STU DY 2
CASE STUDY 2

The ‘Green’ House

In Denmark environmentally friendly houses are commonplace but in the UK they are the
exception. The vision of two builders in northern England, however, led to the building of a rare
‘green’ house. The task of building it was daunting but so too was the challenge of advertising it
to potential buyers.

Scientists have shown that conventional houses play a major part in global warming, depleting
the ozone layer and destroying tropical rain forests. Consequently, the builders believed that a
new type of consumer was emerging: one who is prepared to make choices based on what is best
for the planet, but who demands that the product does not cost too much.

The ‘green’ house emits only three tons of carbon dioxide a year, just half that of a traditional
house. There is also twice the regulatory amount of loft insulation and the walls and floors are
three times better insulated than a standard new home. The cavity walls have 15 cm (rather than
the standard 5 cm) filled with rock wool. The loft has 30 cm of non-irritant brown cellulose,
made from recycled newsprint. Under the floor there is a 10 cm layer of CFC-free polystyrene.
The house also features a high-efficiency gas condensing boiler which extracts more of the heat
from the flue gases and uses 15 per cent less gas for the amount of heat generated than the
standard boiler, so only half the heating energy should be used. The home is built on a south-
facing slope and most of its windows are on the south side to take maximum advantage of the
sun. They are all double-glazed with Pilkington ‘K’ glass which has an extra copper film to
reflect heat back into the room reducing heat loss by 40–50 per cent.

The efficiency of the house is reflected in the award by the National Home Energy Foundation,
which awarded the house almost its maximum rating (9.3 out of 10).
The price of the home is £105000, which is £5000 more expensive than if it did not have all of
these extras. But the builders believe that buyers will make big savings on heating and lighting
besides playing their part in making the world a healthier place.
Questions

1. Who is the type of buyer likely to be interested in buying a ‘green’ house?

2. Develop an advertising platform to appeal to them.
3. Bearing in mind that funds restrict the advertisement to a maximum of 8 cm 10 cm wide,
design an advertisement for the house. Note that space precludes the use of a photograph.