MARKETING COMMUNICATION

Course Code: MKT. 331.

Course Title: Marketing Communications

Course Objective: After studying this course, the student should be able to;

- appreciate the practice of marketing

- describe the philosophy and practice of an integrated marketing communication (IMC)

- understand the key features of IMC

- recognize the activities involved in developing an integrated communications program

- identify obstacles to implementing an IMC program

- understand and appreciate the components contained in an integrative model of decision

making process.

Course Content:

- Definition and scope of an integrated marketing communication: IMC system.

- Tools of marketing communication: targeting, positioning objective selling and budgeting.

- Advertising management.

- Sales promotion management.

- Other marketing communication tools: public relations, word-of-mouth, event and cause
sponsorship, signage and point of purchase communication.

- Marketing communication constraints.

- The integrated marketing communication process.

- The fundamentals of the marketing communication decision: targeting, positioning objective

selling and budgeting.

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- Traditional advertising media

- Media planning and analysis

- Internet advertising

- Sales promotion management: role of sales promotion, sampling and couponing, premiums, etc.
- Ethical, regulatory and environmental issues.

Course Status: R

Course Credit: 4

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 CHAPTER 1: INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION

(IMC)/MARKETING COMMUNICATION

Introduction

Integrated marketing communication (IMC) is the combination of all marketing

communications efforts in an integrated way, in order to maximize the communication effects that
promote company goals. The concept of integrated marketing communications has become well
known on an international level, since the 1990’s among practitioners and academia. IMC remains
a popular and widely researched topic. However, its agreed-upon conceptualization is still unclear.

The conceptualizing of IMC will be discussed in the following sections – by defining the
discipline, discussing the application of key IMC principles to advertising media planning and
integration, as well as the levels of IMC implementation.

i. Defining the Discipline

An overview of some of the earliest to the more recent definitions of IMC is necessary, in order
to establish the origins of this approach. The way that IMC has been conceptualized and developed
- from the 1990’s up to the present – should facilitate an understanding and application in the
context of this study. Some influential descriptions and proposed conceptualizations of pioneers
in IMC, driving the field from the 1990s to the present, will be presented - in order to understand
the development of the discipline, while emphasizing some of the key features of IMC.

Academics and practitioners still disagree on definitional issues concerning IMC, as well as
the scope of IMC. Varying terminologies have been given to IMC, such as ‘new advertising’,
‘orchestration’, ‘360 branding’, ‘total branding’, ‘whole egg’, ‘seamless communication’,
‘relationship marketing’, ‘one-to-one marketing’, ‘integrated marketing’ and ‘integrated
communications’ (Kliatchko, 2005:7).

The core dimension of a discipline is agreement on its definition. Despite a lack of consensus
over a definition for IMC, there has been no lack of suggestions. One of the first and most widely
quoted definitions of IMC was proposed by the American Association of Advertising Agencies
(AAAA) in 1989:

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 “A concept of marketing communications planning that recognises the added value
of a comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a variety of
communication disciplines (for example, advertising, direct response, sales
promotion, and public relations), and then combines these disciplines to provide
clarity, consistency and maximum communication impact”.

In this definition, IMC is regarded as a theory or idea. It emphasizes the added value aspect
of a complete IMC plan, to combine, but also to integrate, the various marketing communication
functions (tactics) and vehicles – in order to ultimately convey a unified and consistent message.
This added value applies not only when integrating multiple marketing communication techniques
(e.g., advertising is combined with public relations), but also when integrating multiple media (e.g.,
outdoor advertising is combined with transit advertising media). In other words, the combined effect
of multiple activities exceeds the sum of their individual effects; this phenomenon is known as
synergy.

This definition has viewed IMC from an agency perspective and referred to managing the
traditional marketing communication mix in an integrated fashion, rather than seeing the whole as
being constituted by separate practices. It does not, however, specify towards whom IMC should be
directed, or what the intended measurable objectives should be.

During the early nineties, various definitions were developed to describe the relatively new
concept of IMC. In 1991, Schultz (in Duncan & Caywood, 1996:15) put forward a definition,
specifying that IMC should be directed at the customers, or at the prospects of the company: “IMC
is the process of managing all sources of information about a product or service to which a customer
or prospect is exposed, which behaviourally moves the consumer towards a sale, and maintains
customer loyalty”. According to this definition, IMC is an on-going process that should be
controlled and managed; it should bring about behavioural and long-term changes in the behaviour
of consumers. It should also bring to the fore a cultivation of the relationship between customer and
brands – aiming at loyalty.

The suggested objective of customer loyalty implies that this process should be long term
and customer-focused. It also includes all sources of information or brand contact points.

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 Several others have also adopted a more holistic approach to integration than simply the
integration of the different marketing communication elements, as was suggested in some of the
earlier literature on IMC. Duncan and Moriarty (1997:18) stated that: “IMC is the process of
strategically controlling or influencing all messages, and encouraging purposeful dialogue to create
and nourish profitable relationships with customers and other stakeholders.” This exceptionally
broad definition of IMC recognises that is not merely a tactical, but rather a strategic process. This
should promote the interchange of information when there is a need for it by the customers, as
opposed to one-way communication from the company only.

The relationship should extend to customers, as well as to other stakeholders, such as

employees, regulators or any other parties coming into contact with the company. A worthy
contribution of this definition is the emphasis on the strategic aspects of IMC, regarding IMC as a
business process, rather than its initial conceptualisation as the mere co-ordination of marketing
communication techniques.

Schultz (2006:10) states that: “IMC is a strategic business process used to plan, develop,
execute and evaluate co-ordinated, measurable, persuasive marketing communications programs
over time with consumers, customers, prospects, employees and other targeted, relevant external
and internal audiences.” This confirms that the goal of IMC is to generate both short-term financial
returns and to build long-term brand and stakeholder value. This definition also recognises IMC as
a business process, and the importance of stakeholders’ internal employees, as well as externally,
such as customers, prospects, suppliers, investors, interest groups, and the general public.

A more recent and revised definition by Kliatchko (2008:140) states that: “IMC is an
audience-driven business process of strategically managing stakeholders, content, channels, and the
results of brand communication programs.” The emphasis is that IMC has moved from being
perceived as a mere communication process, to developing into a strategic management process that
is ‘audience-driven’, proposing that this should be client-centred, and focusing on the relevant
stakeholders including customers, and not inwardly on the company.

The discussion on these definition offerings demonstrates an evolution in the understanding

of the concept of IMC, and collectively they express several key principles of IMC, including
customer focused/audience-centred, recognising all brand contact points, integration to obtain
synergy, a behavioural and relational focus by building relationships between customers and brands

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and other stakeholders, and a strategic business process. These principles should guide the planning
of an advertising campaign as part of an overall IMC plan.

However, some crucial aspects, such as the implementation of IMC on corporate strategic
level, the long-term relationship between a company and its customers, and external stakeholders,
brand contact points that are not part of advertising media, planning of the overall branding,
marketing and IMC strategy, would all fall beyond the scope of advertising media planning.

Marketing Communication

The main purposes of marketing communication are to inform, persuade or remind the
selected target audience of the market offering (Lamb et al., 2003:329). However, Bearden et al.
(2007:403) emphasise that marketing communication’s ultimate role is to influence the behaviour
of the target market, and not only to inform, persuade or remind the consumers.

Communication objectives, such as creating awareness of or interest in the marketing offer,

are certainly not enough. Marketing communication should, in fact, lead to changes in the behaviour
of the target market in the purchase of products or loyalty towards the brand. Marketers can use the
marketing communication strategy to convince the selected target market(s) that the products or
services offered provide a significant and competitive advantage over those of their rivals.

Duncan (2005:15) acknowledges that marketing communication can add value for
customers, because customers need to be informed on aspects, such as the features and potential
benefits of a product, where it can be bought, and whether it is a well-known brand with a good
reputation, or whether it has already formed a positive association in the minds of the consumers.
In other words, marketing communication can influence the target audiences’ perceptions of crucial
features and symbolic associations that are superior to those of the competitors.

Marketing communication can also add value for the company/advertiser by building brands
and creating brand equity. Since marketing communication mainly occurs at brand level, it can be
used by companies to create popular, well-known or valued brands. Branding can also bring in
economic advantages for companies, because of the potential to produce in vast quantities and to
create barriers for new brands trying to enter the market.

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 All advertising, public relations, personal selling, direct response marketing and sales
promotion, and all other communication elements are collectively known as the marketing
communication mix. Dramatic changes in the marketing environment over the past decade have
however forced organisations to adapt in certain ways to survive in this environment. The marketing
communication manager of the 21st century has to keep in mind that there are multiple markets,
multiple customers, multiple channels and multiple media. The focus is now on the retention rather
than on the acquisition of customers and alongside this is media proliferation, audience
fragmentation, advance of information technology, consumer empowerment, increased advertising
clutter, shift in channel power and desire for more accountability – all considered to be driving
forces leading towards IMC.

Integrating the marketing communication elements has moved from being a planning
process to a strategic process and is described by Schultz and Kitchen (2000:10) as a “strategic
business process used to plan, develop, execute and evaluate coordinated measurable, persuasive
brand communication programmes over time – with consumers, customers, prospects, and other
targeted, relevant external and internal audiences.”

TOOLS OF MARKETING COMMUNICATION

The tools of marketing communication are: targeting, positioning objective selling and
budgeting.

i. Target the Audience: The process must start with a clear target audience in mind:
potential buyers of the company’s products, current users, deciders, or influencers, and
individuals, groups, particular publics, or the general public. The target audience is a
critical influence on the communicator’s decisions about what to say, how, when, where,
and to whom. Though we can profile the target audience in terms of any of the market
segments identified, it’s often useful to do so in terms of usage and loyalty. Is the target
new to the category or a current user? Is the target loyal to the brand, loyal to a
competitor, or someone who switches between brands? If a brand user, is he or she a
heavy or light user? Communication strategy will differ depending on the answers. We
can also conduct image analysis by profiling the target audience in terms of brand
knowledge.

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ii. Budgeting in Marketing Communications: One of the most difficult marketing
decisions is determining how much to spend on marketing communications. John
Wanamaker, the department store magnate, once said, “I know that half of my
advertising is wasted, but I don’t know which half.” Industries and companies vary
considerably in how much they spend on marketing communications. Expenditures
might be 40 percent to 45 percent of sales in the cosmetics industry, but only 5 percent
to 10 percent in the industrial-equipment industry. Within a given industry, there are
low- and high-spending companies. We will describe four common methods used by
companies in budgeting: the affordable method, the percentage-of-sales method, the
competitive-parity method, and the objective-and-task method.
a. Affordable Method: Some companies set the communication budget at what they
think the company can afford. The affordable method completely ignores the role of
promotion as an investment and the immediate impact of promotion on sales volume.
It leads to an uncertain annual budget, which makes long-range planning difficult.
b. Percentage-of-Sales Method: Some companies set communication expenditures at
a specified percentage of current or anticipated sales or of the sales price. Automobile
companies typically budget a fixed percentage based on the planned car price. Oil
companies appropriate a fraction of a cent for each gallon of gasoline sold under their
own label. Supporters of the percentage-of-sales method see a number of advantages.
First, communication expenditures will vary with what the company can afford. This
satisfies financial managers, who believe expenses should be closely related to the
movement of corporate sales over the business cycle. Second, it encourages
management to think of the relationship among communication cost, selling price,
and profit per unit. Third, it encourages stability when competing firms spend
approximately the same percentage of their sales on communications.

c. Competitive-Parity Method: Some companies set their communication budget to

achieve share-of-voice parity with competitors. There are two supporting arguments:
that competitors’ expenditures represent the collective wisdom of the industry, and
that maintaining competitive parity prevents communication wars. Neither argument
is valid. There are no grounds for believing competitors know better. Company

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 reputations, resources, opportunities, and objectives differ so much that
communication budgets are hardly a guide. And there is no evidence that budgets
based on competitive parity discourage communication wars.

d. Objective-and-Task Method: The objective-and-task method calls upon marketers

to develop communication budgets by defining specific objectives, determining the
tasks that must be performed to achieve these objectives, and estimating the costs of
performing them. The sum of these costs is the proposed communication budget.

The Marketing Communication Mix

The various elements of the marketing communication mix are the major techniques that
marketers use to communicate with customers as well as other relevant audiences.

Most authors agree on five of these elements, specifically: advertising, sales promotion,
public relations and publicity, personal selling and direct-response marketing. These elements are
all common to the marketing communication mix. Although these elements are regarded as the
primary techniques or traditional elements of marketing communication, some additional elements,
such as E-marketing, digital media, buzz-marketing, viral-marketing, guerrilla-marketing, event-
marketing, product placements and branded entertainment are suggested by later sources. This trend
of expansion of the marketing communication mix options is expected to continue in the future.
This is evident from the ever-increasing number of new media options that are now available and
discussed below:

a. Advertising: it is defined as any paid form of non-personal communication about an

organisation, product, service, or idea by an identified sponsor. The goal of advertising is to
increase demand of a certain service or good either short or long term. But at the same time
it is expected that the advertisements integrate into the overall strategy of the brand and
delivers a message that is balanced between the tactical goal of the current campaign and the
strategic goals for the corporate brand. In order for an marketing activity to be classified as
advertising, advertising space must be bought, it must be non-personal, as in mass-media or
the likes of it, which usually leaves no option for feedback.

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 The digital age have somewhat changed this as more and more adverts are published
on websites and social media in addition to being broadcast through mass media, but it does
not changed the fact that advertising is still mostly produced for print and television.
Advertising is the best known form of marketing, it’s pervasive, as it is able to reach
geographically dispersed buyers efficiently. It is a very important promotional tool, as it is
possible to build awareness quickly through adverts run in different outlets. Advertising is
also able to changes the perceptions consumers have of products or brands, and is thus a
valuable tool when trying to build brand equity. This is one of the reason why the majority
of marketing money is spent on advertising. In the United States alone, there are more than
200 companies that each spend more than a $100 million on advertising each year.
A subsection of advertisement is called corporate branding advertisements, and have
the purpose of branding the organisation in its entirety to a much wider palette of
stakeholders than the regular advertisement that usually is very specifically targeted to a
certain audience.

b. Public Relations: it is a very important important tool in the promotional mix. The public
relations discipline can be split into two internal categories Publicity and Public relations.
Publicity is defined as non-personal communication about an organisation, product, service,
or idea not directly paid for or run under identified sponsorship. This is PR in a grey area
between advertisement and the more ‘pure’ PR disciplines.
Publicity usually appears in the form of a news story, an editorial or an
announcement, run in some media outlet. This means that the ad piggybacks on the
credibility of the media and also means that publicity is about creating relations with key
players, so called influencers, in order to blend the brand and marketing activities discreetly
with the values of the cultural segment the company wants to enter. This method poses a
risk due to fact that editors exist, and the influencers are independent people. This means
that the company is not in control of when, where, and how the content is published. More
‘pure’ Public Relations activities include communications within the organisation, investor,
media and NGO relations, crisis handling, issues handling and some forms of CSR activities.
Public relations and publicity have three major qualities that makes it an appealing marketing
tool; as mentioned above the credibility is high, it has an ability to catch consumers off

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 guard, as it is not perceived as advertisements among the general public, and the potential
for dramatisation of the company or product.

c. Personal Selling: it is a direct communication by a sales person made to a single customer

in order to gain a sale. Involves immediate and precise feedback from the customer that
allows the salesman to adjust the pitch on the spot. It is also an effective tool to utilise late
in the purchasing process, as it has the ability to build up buyer preference, conviction, and
ultimately action - closing the sale. The is achieved through personal interaction,
cultivation of the customer by the sales representative and the human need to supply a
response after being courted by the salesman.

d. Direct Marketing: It is the practice of communicating directly with target customers to

create a response, and/or a transaction. Traditionally not considered an element of the
promotional mix, but has become an integral part of IMC strategies for many companies.
Usually direct marketing is associated with direct mail, and mail-order catalogues, but it is
much more. Database marketing, direct selling, telemarketing, and direct response ads. In
the digital space direct marketing has evolved into what has come to be known as targets
advertising. This is basically an evolution of database marketing enabled by big data.
Entities such as Google and Facebook are able to use data collected from users of their
services to sell targeted ads, that build on contexts of previous user actions. An example of
this is Google serving ads based on previous search behaviour. These are also known as
Direct response ads, and are ads were the customer is encouraged to buy the product
directly form the manufacturer, immediately.

e. Online: this is a marketing discipline that is not always incorporated into the promotional
mix. Belch and Belch defines online marketing as marketing activities that takes place on
the internet, on cellphones, through kiosks etc. The point of online marketing is to use the
capabilities of interactive media to entice consumers to interact with brands and products,
and also use the online platform to generate direct sales. Also, this discipline is
incorporated as its own entity in the promotional mix in this thesis because it allows for the
construction of branding platforms discussed in the previous section, and facilitates easy

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 interaction between the consumer and the firm. It is my opinion that online marketing is
becoming pivotal in the marketing mix, and at some point in the future will replace
advertising as the main source of marketing expenses, because it has the ability to envelop
all the other disciplines - every other part of the marketing mix can be conducted through
online channels. Also, as discussed in the previous chapter, cyberspace is an integral part
of society which means that online marketing should take on a more central role in the
marketing mix.

f. Sales Promotion: it is also sometimes referred to as trade promotion, as it is a discipline

that focuses as much on the distributors as on the consumers. A definition of Sales
promotions are that they are marketing activities which provide extra value or incentives
for either the customers, the distributors or the sales force the respectively buy, distribute
and sell the products. One of the strengths of sales promotion is that it has the ability to
stimulate immediate sales. An example of how sales promotion works in Denmark is the
weekly printed advertisements that are sent out to households from supermarkets and the
likes. These are wholly sponsored by the product manufactures, but are distributed by the
retailer. On a more general level, examples of consumer-oriented sales promotion and trade
oriented slew promotions are respectively: coupons, sampling, and premiums and
promotion and merchandising allowances, price deals, sales contests and trade shows.
Trade-oriented sales promotions does not stimulate the immediate sale as the consumer
oriented version. Instead the point of the activity is to persuade retailers to stock, a lot shelf
space to, sell, and promote products. Sales promotion is in particular useful for short-term
effect such as dramatising product offers and boosting sales.

g. Word-of-Mouth Marketing: 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.

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 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.

h. Events and Experiences: 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.”

The integrated marketing communication process.

The IMC communication process is eight in total (08). We begin with the basics: identifying
the target audience, determining the objectives, designing the communications, selecting the
channels,and establishing the budget.
A. Identify the Target Audience:
The process must start with a clear target audience in mind: potential buyers of the company’s
products, current users, deciders, or influencers, and individuals, groups, particular publics, or the
general public. The target audience is a critical influence on the communicator’s decisions about
what to say, how, when, where, and to whom.

B. Determine the Communications Objectives:

As we showed with Pottsville College, marketers can set communications objectives at any
level of the hierarchy-of-effects model. John R. Rossiter and Larry Percy identify four possible
objectives, as follows:
1. Category Need: Establishing a product or service category as necessary to remove or
satisfy a perceived discrepancy between a current motivational state and a desired
motivational state. A new-to-the-world product such as electric cars will always begin with
a communications objective of establishing category need.

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 2. Brand Awareness: Fostering the consumer’s ability to recognize or recall the brand within
the category, in sufficient detail to make a purchase. Recognition is easier to achieve than
recall - consumers asked to think of a brand of frozen entrées are more likely to recognize
Stouffer’s distinctive orange packages than to recall the brand. Brand recall is important
outside the store; brand recognition is important inside the store. Brand awareness provides
a foundation for brand equity.
3. Brand Attitude: Helping consumers evaluate the brand’s perceived ability to meet a
currently relevant need. Relevant brand needs may be negatively oriented (problem
removal, problem avoidance, incomplete satisfaction, normal depletion) or positively
oriented (sensory gratification, intellectual stimulation, or social approval).Household
cleaning products often use problem solution; food products, on the other hand, often use
sensory-oriented ads emphasizing appetite appeal.
4. Brand Purchase Intention: Moving consumers to decide to purchase the brand or take
purchase-related action. Promotional offers like coupons or two-for-one deals encourage
consumers to make a mental commitment to buy. But many consumers do not have an
expressed category need and may not be in the market when exposed to an ad, so they are
unlikely to form buy intentions.

C. Design the Communications

Formulating the communications to achieve the desired response requires solving three
problems: what to say (message strategy), how to say it (creative strategy),and who should say it
(message source).
1. Message Strategy: In determining message strategy, management searches for appeals,
themes, or ideas that will tie in to the brand positioning and help establish points-of-parity
or points-of-difference. Some of these may be related directly to product or service
performance (the quality, economy, or value of the brand), whereas others may relate to
more extrinsic considerations (the brand as being contemporary, popular, or traditional).
Researcher John C. Maloney felt buyers expected one of four types of reward from a
product: rational, sensory, social, or ego satisfaction. Buyers might visualize these rewards
from results of-use experience, product-in-use experience, or incidental-to-use experience.
Crossing the four types of rewards with the three types of experience generates 12 types of

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 messages. For example, the appeal “gets clothes cleaner” is a rational-reward promise
following results-of-use experience. The phrase “real beer taste in a great light beer” is a
sensory-reward promise connected with product-in-use experience.
2. Creative Strategy: Communications effectiveness depends on how a message is being
expressed, as well as on its content. If a communication is ineffective, it may mean the
wrong message was used, or the right one was poorly expressed. Creative strategies are the
way marketers translate their messages into a specific communication. We can broadly
classify them as either informational or transformational appeals.
a. Informational Appeals: An informational appeal elaborates on product or service
attributes or benefits. Examples in advertising are problem solution ads (Excedrin stops
the toughest headache pain), product demonstration ads (Thompson Water Seal can
withstand intense rain, snow, and heat), product comparison ads (DIRECTV offers
better HD options than cable or other satellite operators), and testimonials from
unknown or celebrity endorsers.
b. Transformational Appeals: A transformational appeal elaborates on a nonproduct-
related benefit or image. It might depict what kind of person uses a brand (VW
advertised to active, youthful people with its famed “Drivers Wanted” campaign) or
what kind of experience results from use.

D. Select the Communications Channels:

Selecting an efficient means to carry the message becomes more difficult as channels of
communication become more fragmented and cluttered. Communications channels may be
personal and non-personal. Within each are many sub-channels.
a. Personal Communications Channels: Personal communications channels let two or more
persons communicate face-to-face or person-to-audience through a phone, surface mail, or
e-mail. They derive their effectiveness from individualized presentation and feedback and
include direct and interactive marketing, word-of-mouth marketing, and personal selling.
We can draw a further distinction between advocate, expert, and social communications
channels. Advocate channels consist of company salespeople contacting buyers in the
target market. Expert channels consist of independent experts making statements to target

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 buyers. Social channels consist of neighbors, friends, family members, and associates
talking to target buyers.
b. Non-personal (Mass) Communications Channels: Non-personal channels are
communications directed to more than one person and include advertising, sales
promotions, events and experiences, and public relations. Much recent growth has taken
place through events and experiences. Events marketers who once favored sports events
are now using other venues such as art museums, zoos, and ice shows to entertain clients
and employees.
c. Integration of Communications Channels: Although personal communication is often
more effective than mass communication, mass media might be the major means of
stimulating personal communication. Mass communications affect personal attitudes and
behavior through a two-step process. Ideas often flow from radio, television, and print to
opinion leaders, and from these to less media-involved population groups.

E. Establish the Total Marketing Communications Budget:

One of the most difficult marketing decisions is determining how much to spend on marketing
communications. John Wanamaker, the department store magnate, once said, “I know that half of
my advertising is wasted, but I don’t know which half.” Industries and companies vary
considerably in how much they spend on marketing communications. Expenditures might be 40
percent to 45 percent of sales in the cosmetics industry, but only 5 percent to 10 percent in the
industrial-equipment industry. Within a given industry, there are low- and high-spending
companies.

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 CHAPTER 2: MEDIA PLANNING AND ANALYSIS

Introduction:
This section discusses the most important media types in marketing communication. It will be
explained with their benefits and risks.
Advertising is mostly used with medias such as TV, magazines, newspapers, radio, outdoor
media (e.g. billboards) or Internet. In the case of advertising message being action focused and
directed to influence customers and prospects behaviour, newspapers or Internet are chosen. When
a thematic message is chosen in order to change customers or prospects attitude towards a brand
or a company, TV and magazines are usually chosen, but if the main goal is to get more brand
awareness, radio and outdoor media are chosen for this (Entrepreneur1 2017; The Balance1 2016;
Floor & Van Raaij 2011: 478).

Sales promotion may be used with various medias such as, magazines, newspapers, e-mails,
direct mails, demonstrators, hostesses, specialty media, exhibition stands or Internet. Because
promotion can be used for many things such as: to attract more customers; increase spending;
stimulate product trial; retain customers; improve trade relations etc., there are different medias
used. When sales promotion is done through coupons, magazines or newspapers, direct mail or
Internet is used. When a new product is demonstrated in exhibitions, demonstrators are used as
well as exhibition stands and specialty media might be used to attract more customers and nurture
customer relationship.
Public relations are usually used with medias such as press release, specialty media, individual
approach, demonstrators, brochures and leaflets. When company is introducing a new product or
service demonstrators, brochures, leaflets and press release is used. When a specific target market
is the focus (e.g. possible B2B partners), an individual approach might be the most suitable or if
the main goal is to strengthen the advertisement campaign speciality media (e.g. pens, mugs,
watches with an advertisement message on them) is used.

Direct marketing communication is used most often with medias such as direct mails, e-mails,
telephone, magazines, newspapers and Internet. Magazines and newspapers are used to collect
personal data of a prospect. After this, these prospects may be contacted through medias such as

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direct mails, e-mails or telephone and Internet might be used for example to match the customer
requirements for a specific product.

Sponsorship may come in different forms such as sports, community and culture. Large
proportion of sponsorship is done through sports sponsorship what means that mostly used medias
are TV, outdoor media and displays in order to gain brand awareness and positive attitude towards
a company or a brand.

Personal selling and exhibitions are both used mainly with medias such as sales staff, hostesses
and demonstrators. This type of selling is usually complemented by medias such as exhibitions
stands, brochures, leaflets, displays etc. Sales people are used when the main goal is to increase
turnover. However when the goal is to gain brand knowledge and influencing attitudes of prospects
and customers, hostesses and demonstrators may be used.

A. Television
Television advertising is the best way to reach mass audiences. It does not matter what target
audience the company is after, every TV station reaches every audience daily. For most consumers
television is the main source of news as in average a person watches TV 2-3 hours a day. Television
is a media channel with impact, due to the combination of moving images, colours, sounds and
emotions.

TV advertising is a really good way to demonstrate company’s product or service while still
reach mass audiences. No other channel can reach mass audiences through auditory and visual
senses and this generates high levels of awareness. TV advertisements are a good way to interact
through colours, sounds, sight and emotions in order to ensure that the message what a company
wants to convey will be strong and persuasive. The greatest advantage of using TV advertising,
however, is the ability to achieve impact to activate consumers. Last, TV advertisements are also
effective with company’s own sales force and its retailers (trade). For sales staff it is easier to sell
their products or services to retailers when a major advertisement campaign is planned.

However, there are a couple limitations such as rapidly growing advertisement costs for
example the most expensive airtime is during super bowl, and it can cost around 2,7 million dollars

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in average. Nowadays, advertisers cannot expect to attract large homogeneous audiences when
advertising during a specific program due to a huge amount of programs being available. Attention
to commercials is limited due to the fact that there are so many TV programs. This makes it easy
for a consumer to switch channels whenever TV program is airing advertisements. Due to TV
advertisements need to be conveyed in a really short time (approximately 20-30 seconds) it might
be difficult to convey the intended message.

B. Magazines

The goal of magazine advertising is mostly about capturing and sustaining brand image, so it
is important to consider your brand image and how you want to portray that image to target
audience (All Business2 2017). Yearly world wide magazine advertisement expenditure has fallen
during last years but it is still around 22 billion U.S. dollars.

Magazine advertising’s main benefit to a company is the higher quality images than in
newspapers or direct mails. This allows a clearer picture of your image and gives public a better
idea of the company. In addition, magazines usually target a specific target groups, and this almost
guarantees a company to reach its intended audiences. Also magazines advertisements will be
relevant for a longer time than newspaper because they are kept for a longer time and last .

Main disadvantages magazine advertisements have are: take time to schedule; may be limited
geographically; ads may be put together into one section. Magazines usually need advertising
material well in advance (minimum of 2 weeks) and this might cause problems for a company.
Another disadvantage is that magazines might be limited geographically, or even if its not, the
advertisements in the magazines might be geographically put in place. In some magazines all
advertisements are put together into one section. This however, is bad for a company because a
consumer can just skip these pages or not notice the advertisement due to the large amount of
advertisements.

C. Newspapers

Newspaper advertising is the longest advertising form and it is still one of the most important
ones as the main goal is to get more and more customers. Also this is a good way to reach mass
audiences, especially people who are over 45 due to the fact that they read newspapers more
frequently than younger demographic groups (Entrepreneur3 2017). Even though newspaper

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advertisements expenditure has fallen approximately 5-10% in the last 10 years, it is still high. In
2015 worldwide expenditure spent on newspaper advertisements was 60,57 billion U.S. dollars
(Statista4 2017).

Main benefit in newspaper advertising is that it covers mass audiences. It is a good way to
reach customers with temporary sales promotions. Also it is possible to target company’s
advertisements to appropriate markets through sections such as sports, lifestyle or business
(Entrepreneur3 2017). Newspapers have a really short lead-time, what ables companies to submit
their advertisements one or two days before the publication (Pickton & Broderick 2005: 114;
Shimp 2010: 362). Newspaper advertisements have also disadvantages or limitations. Low
younger demographic readership is one of them, due to the popularity of Internet. Another
disadvantage is that the print quality is poor, so the company cannot give the same visuals as they
can in magazines. And last, short shelf life, due to what companies may need to advertise more
than just once and that can be costly.

D. Radio

According to Radio Advertising Bureau, radio is still a strong media channel with continued
growth in advertising expenditure. Due to the radio being available also in smart phones and
Internet, it gives advertisers access to audiences with new mobile phones as well as traditional
audience (Chron6 2017). The worldwide expenditure in radio advertisements has stayed relatively
same during last years. In 2016 radio advertisements worldwide expenditure was 29,39 billion
U.S. dollars (Statista5 2017). Radio divides audiences into different age groups (18-34, 18-49, 25-
54, 45+ etc.) and also in gender. Each station delivers to a specific audience and after a company
knows the age and gender of its target prospects and customers, it is possible to serve the target
audience (Entrepreneur4 2017).

Main advantages of radio advertisements are: extensive reach to mass audiences; relatively
cheap; brand awareness; different target groups; sponsoring possibility; short lead times. Radio
advertisements reach out to over 2,5 billion people yearly. Also producing a radio advertisement
as well as airing it is relatively cheap. Radio advertising is a good way to generate brand awareness
in a short time. Radio is a easy way to deliver company’s advertisement message to target
audiences, once the company knows the gender and age of the desired target market.

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 However, couple of disadvantages can be identified in radio advertisements. Advertisers are
limited to audio, as there is no visual product or service to support it. Need to air the advertisement
many times in order to achieve an extensive coverage and strong effect. Usually it is not possible
to reach many different audiences at the same time due to the radio stations being divided into
groups based on age and gender.

E. Outdoor media

While some traditional advertising media are in decline, outdoor advertising is still growing
and in 2016 it was approximately 35 billion U.S. dollars (Statista6 2017). Outdoor advertising is a
good way to promote your products in specific geographic areas. Often, the first thing a prospect
sees is an outdoor sign, so it needs to catch attention, be sufficiently bright and it should contain
enough information about the product or the company (Entrepreneur5 2017). There are two types
of outdoor advertising: static outdoor advertising (e.g. billboards and posters) and moving outdoor
advertising. Billboards and posters are highly eye-catching when done correctly and it does not
require prospects to do anything to access it (Marketing Donut1 2017). Billboards and posters can
be found at sport events, next to the roads, bus and tram shelters, inside busses and trams etc.
Moving outdoor advertising can be found on public transport (e.g. taxis, busses) or during events
such as World Rally Championship (WRC) you can find advertisement on the rally cars.

The main advantages in using outdoor media are: reaches broad and diverse audiences; high
contact frequency at relatively cheap price; may be used geographically, for example they may be
used in areas next to the store. The main disadvantages are vandalism and damage (e.g. posters
might get stolen or ruined by graffiti artists) and the message must be brief because on average a
person puts his/hers attention to billboards only for 3 seconds in average.

F. Internet

The newest growing global media channel for communicating and selling directly to customers
is Internet. Internet has many marketing functions such as building demand, conducting
transactions, filling orders, providing customer service and it provides advertisers a cost-effective
way of reaching its customers. Advertising on Internet is almost necessary for companies in 21st
century who do business outside their local area. Companies spent approximately 200 billion U.S.
dollars in 2016 on Internet advertisements (Statista7 2017). Consumers use the Internet for a lot

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more than entertainment as they use it to assist them in many aspects of life, providing advertisers
with a lot of opportunities to target their messages.

Internet has two key features: individualisation and interactivity. Individualisation means that
Internet users have control over the amount of information they want to access and this leads
advertisements and promotions that are relevant to the consumers. Interactivity allows users to
perceive whatever information they decide to perceive and for a company it gives the ability for a
two-way communication. The Internet advertisers use different advertising formats in order to
reach their customers. Even though e-mail and search engine advertising is used most in Internet
advertising, table 6 lists the main forms of Internet advertising.

Main advantages Internet advertising has are: possible interactivity; large audience potential;
high information content possibility; messages can be changed quickly; it is cost efficient. There
may be a large audience coverage due to information in Internet is available world wide regardless
of the time or geographical position. Internet gives a possibility for a two-way communication
between the company and prospects/customers. It is possible to have a lot of detailed information
on a website or an email or whatever format advertiser uses and this is extremely good when a
highly technical products are sold. It is also possible to change the information quickly based on
the market situation and it may be really cheap to get an advertisement on a website or to create a
website itself.

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