Colegio de San Juan de Letran

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COURSE GS MARKMAN
MARKETING MANAGEMENT

PROMOTION

Lesson Promotion Mix

Integrated Marketing Communications
Steps in Developing an effective integrated communications and promotion program.

Objectives: 1. Explain the concept and need for integrated marketing communications.
2. Summarize the five promotion mix tools for communicating customer value.
3. Discuss the steps in developing an effective integrated communications and
promotion program.

Introductio Having learned the product, price, place variables in the marketing mix are utilized to
n create customer value, the company must also use promotion to clearly and persuasively
communicate the value. The module begins with an introduction to the various
promotion mix tools. Next, we examine the rapidly changing communications
environment and the need for IMC. Finally, the module discusses the steps in
developing marketing communications. Finally, we revisit the basic promotion mix
tools that must be blended into the overall IMC program

Based from your previous lessons and materials provided, it has been established in
Activating your mind that promotion is not a single tool but, rather, a mix of several tools. In
Prior addition, the concept of integrated marketing communications, the company must
Knowledge carefully coordinate these promotion elements to deliver a clear, consistent, and
compelling message about the organization and its brands. To remember on the
foundation topics refresher materials (video and ppt slides) are attached through Google
Classroom for your understanding.

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Analysis In reference to the video, ppt slides screened and other materials, a discussion board will
be posted in our Google Classroom answers to the following questions: fp
Can you think of an ad that recently?
• Got your attention?
• Changed your knowledge?

Acquiring
New
Knowledge THE PROMOTION MIX

A company’s total promotion mix—also called its marketing communications mix—

consists of the specific blend of advertising, sales promotion, public relations, personal
selling, and direct-marketing tools that the company uses to pursue its advertising and
marketing objectives.

The five major promotion tools are defined as follows:

1. Advertising: Any paid form of nonpersonal presentation and promotion of ideas,
goods, or services by an identified sponsor
2. Sales promotion: Short-term incentives to encourage the purchase or sale of a
product or service
3. Personal selling: Personal presentation by the firm’s sales force for the purpose
of making sales and building customer relationships

4. Public relations: Building good relations with the company’s various publics by
obtaining favorable publicity, building up a good corporate image, and handling or
heading off unfavorable rumors, stories, and events
5. Direct marketing: Direct connections with carefully targeted individual
consumers to both obtain an immediate response and cultivate lasting customer
relationships—using telephone, mail, fax, e-mail, the Internet, and other tools to
communicate directly with specific customers.

The Nature of Each Promotion Tool

Each promotion tool has unique characteristics and costs. Marketers must understand
these characteristics in shaping the promotion mix.

Advertising.

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Advertising can reach masses of geographically dispersed buyers at a low cost per
exposure, and it enables the seller to repeat a message many times. For example,
television advertising can reach huge audiences.

Beyond its reach, large-scale advertising says something positive about the seller’s size,
popularity, and success. Because of advertising’s public nature, consumers tend to view
advertised products as more legitimate. Advertising is also very expressive; it allows the
company to dramatize its products through the artful use of visuals, print, sound, and
color. On the one hand, advertising can be used to build up a long-term image for a
product (such as Coca-Cola ads). On the other hand, advertising can trigger quick sales
(as when Kohl’s advertises weekend specials).

Advertising also has some shortcomings. Although it reaches many people quickly,
advertising is impersonal and lacks the direct persuasiveness of company salespeople.
For the most part, advertising can carry on only a one-way communication with an
audience, and the audience does not feel that it has to pay attention or respond. In
addition, advertising can be very costly. Although some advertising forms, such as
newspaper and radio advertising, can be done on smaller budgets, other forms, such as
network TV advertising, require very large budgets.
(See Christopher S. Stewart, “Super Bowl Viewers Set Record,” Wall Street Journal,
February 6, 2012; Lisa de Moraes, “Oscar 2012 Ratings: About 39 Million Viewers,”
Washington Post, February 27, 2012; and Verne Gray, “American Idol: 21.6 Million
Viewers,” Newsday, January 19, 2012, www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/tv-zone-
1.811968/american-idol-21-6-million-viewers-1.3464121.)

Personal Selling.

Personal selling is the most effective tool at certain stages of the buying process,
particularly in building up buyers’ preferences, convictions, and actions. It involves
personal interaction between two or more people, so each person can observe the other’s
needs and characteristics and make quick adjustments. Personal selling also allows all
kinds of customer relationships to spring up, ranging from matter-of-fact selling
relationships to personal friendships. An effective salesperson keeps the customer’s
interests at heart to build a long-term relationship by solving a customer’s problems.
Finally, with personal selling, the buyer usually feels a greater need to listen and
respond, even if the response is a polite “No thank-you.”

These unique qualities come at a cost, however. A sales force requires a longer-term

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commitment than does advertising—although advertising can be turned up or down, the

size of a sales force is harder to change.

See discussions at “The Costs of Personal Selling,” April 13, 2011,

www.seekarticle.com/business-sales/personal-selling.html; and “What Is the Real Cost
of a B2B Sales Call?” accessed at www.marketing-playbook.com/sales-marketing-
strategy/what-is-the-real-cost-of-a-b2b-sales-call, July 2012.

Sales Promotion.

Sales Promotion includes coupons, contests, cents-off deals, and premiums that attract
consumer attention and offer strong incentives to purchase, and can be used to dramatize
product offers and to boost sagging sales
• Not as effective at building relationships and brand preference

Sales promotion includes a wide assortment of tools—coupons, contests, discounts,

premiums, and others—all of which have many unique qualities. They attract consumer
attention, offer strong incentives to purchase, and can be used to dramatize product
offers and boost sagging sales. Sales promotions invite and reward quick response.
Whereas advertising says, “Buy our product,” sales promotion says, “Buy it now.” Sales
promotion effects are often short lived, however, and often are not as effective as
advertising or personal selling in building long-run brand preference and customer
relationships.

Public Relations

Public relations is very believable—news stories, features, sponsorships, and events

seem more real and believable to readers than ads do. PR can also reach many prospects
who avoid salespeople and advertisements—the message gets to buyers as “news”
rather than as a sales-directed communication. And, as with advertising, public relations
can dramatize a company or product. Marketers tend to underuse public relations or use
it as an afterthought. Yet a well-thought-out public relations campaign used with other
promotion mix elements can be very effective and economical.

Direct marketing is a non-public, immediate, customized, and interactive promotional

tool that includes direct mail, catalogs, telemarketing, and online marketing.

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Although there are many forms of direct marketing, they all share four distinctive
characteristics. Direct marketing is less public: The message is normally directed to a
specific person. Direct marketing is immediate and customized: Messages can be
prepared very quickly and can be tailored to appeal to specific consumers. Finally,
direct marketing is interactive: It allows a dialogue between the marketing team and the
consumer, and messages can be altered depending on the consumer’s response. Thus,
direct marketing is well suited to highly targeted marketing efforts and building one-to-
one customer relationships.

Promotion Mix Strategies

Marketers can choose from two basic promotion mix strategies: push promotion or pull
promotion. Figure 7.4 contrasts the two strategies. The relative emphasis given to the
specific promotion tools differs for push and pull strategies.

Figure 7.4 Promotion Mix Strategies

A push strategy involves “pushing” the product through marketing channels to final
consumers. The producer directs its marketing activities (primarily personal selling and
trade promotion) toward channel members to induce them to carry the product and
promote it to final consumers. For example, John Deere does very little promoting of its
lawn mowers, garden tractors, and other residential consumer products to final
consumers. Instead, John Deere’s sales force works with Lowe’s, Home Depot,
independent dealers, and other channel members, who in turn push John Deere products

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to final consumers.

Using a pull strategy, the producer directs its marketing activities (primarily advertising
and consumer promotion) toward final consumers to induce them to buy the product.
For example, Unilever promotes its Axe grooming products directly to its young male
target market using TV and print ads, a brand website, its YouTube channel and
Facebook page, and other channels. If the pull strategy is effective, consumers will then
demand the brand from retailers, such as Walmart, who will in turn demand it from
Unilever. Thus, under a pull strategy, consumer demand “pulls” the product through the
channels.

Some industrial-goods companies use only push strategies; likewise, some direct-
marketing companies use only pull strategies. However, most large companies use some
combination of both. For example, Unilever spends more than $8 billion worldwide
each year on consumer marketing and sales promotions to create brand preference and
pull customers into stores that carry its products. At the same time, it uses its own and
distributors’ sales forces and trade promotions to push its brands through the channels,
so that they will be available on store shelves when consumers come calling.

Companies consider many factors when designing their promotion mix strategies,
including the type of product and market. For example, the importance of different
promotion tools varies between consumer and business markets. Business-to-consumer
companies usually pull more, putting more of their funds into advertising, followed by
sales promotion, personal selling, and then public relations. In contrast, business-to-
business marketers tend to push more, putting more of their funds into personal selling,
followed by sales promotion, advertising, and public relations.

INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

Shaping the Overall Promotion Mix

The concept of integrated marketing communications suggests that the company must
blend the promotion tools carefully into a coordinated promotion mix. But how does it
determine what mix of promotion tools to use? Companies within the same industry
differ greatly in the design of their promotion mixes. For example, cosmetics maker
Mary Kay spends most of its promotion funds on personal selling and direct marketing,
whereas competitor CoverGirl spends heavily on consumer advertising. We now look at
factors that influence the marketer’s choice of promotion tools.

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The New Marketing Communications Model

Several major factors are changing the face of today’s marketing communications.

• Consumers are changing. They are better informed and more

communications empowered.
• Marketing strategies are changing. As mass markets have fragmented,
marketers are shifting away from mass marketing. More and more, they are
developing focused marketing programs designed to build closer relationships
with customers in more narrowly defined micromarkets.
• Sweeping changes in communications technology are causing
remarkable changes in the ways in which companies and customers
communicate with each other.

Although television, magazines, and other mass media remain very important, their
dominance is declining. Advertisers are now adding a broad selection of more-
specialized and highly targeted media to reach smaller customer segments.

The new media range from specialty magazines, cable television channels, and made-
for-the Web videos to Internet catalogs, e-mail, blogs, blogs, mobile phone content, and
online social networks.

Companies are doing less broadcasting and more narrowcasting.

Many large advertisers are shifting their advertising budgets away from network
television in favor of more targeted, cost-effective, interactive, and engaging media.

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It seems likely that the new marketing communications model will consist of a shifting
mix of both traditional mass media and a wide array of exciting new, more-target, more-
personalized media.

The Need for Integrated Marketing Communications

Customers don not distinguish between message sources the way marketers do. In the
consumer’s mind, advertising messages from different media and different promotional
approaches all become part of a single message about the company. Conflicting
messages from these different sources can result in confused company images and brand
positions.

Too often, companies fail to integrate their various communications channels. Mass-
media advertisements say one thing, while a price promotion sends a different signal
and a product label creates still another message. Company sales literature says
something altogether different and the company’s Web site seems out of sync with
everything else.

The problem is that these communications often come from different company sources.

Today, more companies are adopting the concept of integrated marketing

communications (IMC).

Under this concept, as illustrated in Figure 7.1, the company carefully integrates and
coordinates its many communications channels to deliver a clear, consistent, and
compelling message about the organization and its brands.

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Figure 7.1 Blended Mix of Promotion Tools

IMC calls for recognizing all contact points where the customer may encounter the
company, its products, and its brands. Each brand contact will deliver a message,
whether good, bad, or indifferent. The company must strive to deliver a consistent and
positive message with each contact.

IMC builds brand identity and strong customer relationships by tying together all of the
company’s messages and images. Brand messages and positioning are coordinated
across all communication activities and media.

STEPS IN DEVELOPING EFFECTVE MARKETING COMMUNICATION

There are several steps in developing an effective integrated communications and

promotion program.

Steps in Developing Effective Marketing Communication

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Figure 7.2 Steps in Developing Effective Marketing Communication

We now examine the steps in developing an effective integrated communications and

promotion program. Marketers must do the following: Identify the target audience,
determine the communication objectives, design a message, choose the media through
which to send the message, select the message source, and collect feedback.

1. Identifying the Target Audience

A marketing communicator starts with a clear target audience in mind. The audience
may be current users or potential buyers, those who make the buying decision or those
who influence it. The audience may be individuals, groups, special publics, or the
general public. The target audience will heavily affect the communicator’s decisions on
what will be said, how it will be said, when it will be said, where it will be said, and
who will say it.

2. Determining the Communication Objectives

Once the target audience has been defined, marketers must determine the desired
response. Of course, in many cases, they will seek a purchase response. But purchase
may result only after a lengthy consumer decision-making process. The marketing

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communicator needs to know where the target audience now stands and to what stage it
needs to be moved. The target audience may be in any of six buyer-readiness stages,
the stages consumers normally pass through on their way to making a purchase. These
stages include awareness, knowledge, liking, preference, conviction, and purchase (see
figure 7.3).

Figure 7.3 Six Buyer-Readiness Stages

The marketing communicator’s target market may be totally unaware of the product,
know only its name, or know only a few things about it. Thus, the communicator must
first build awareness and knowledge. For example, Procter & Gamble used a massive
$150 million marketing campaign to introduce consumers to its innovative new laundry
product, Tide Pods, single-use tablets called pods that combine liquid detergent, stain
remover, and brightener. The introductory campaign, themed “Pop in. Stand out,”
showed consumers how simply popping a Tide pod into the washing machine could
clean and freshen clothes while also making colors pop. The extensive introductory
campaign used a broad range of traditional, digital, mobile, social, and in-store media to
quickly create awareness and knowledge across the entire market.

Assuming that target consumers know about a product, how do they feel about it? Once
potential buyers knew about Tide Pods, marketers wanted to move them through
successively stronger stages of feelings toward the new model. These stages include
liking (feeling favorable about Tide Pods), preference (preferring Tide Pods to regular
detergents and competing pod products), and conviction (believing that Tide Pods are
the best laundry product for them).

Tide marketers used a combination of the promotion mix tools to create positive
feelings and conviction. The initial commercials helped build anticipation and an
emotional brand connection. Video clips on YouTube and the Tide Facebook fan page
demonstrated the product’s use and features. Press releases and other PR activities
helped keep the buzz going about the product. A packed microsite (tidepods.com)
provided additional information.

Finally, some members of the target market might be convinced about the product but
not quite get around to making the purchase. The communicator must lead these
consumers to take the final step. To help reluctant consumers over such hurdles, Tide

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offered buyers special promotional prices, samples, and supporting comments from
customers at its website, Facebook page, and elsewhere.

Of course, marketing communications alone could not create positive feelings and
purchases for the new Tide Pods. The product itself must provide superior value for the
customer. In fact, outstanding marketing communications can actually speed the demise
of a poor product. The more quickly potential buyers learn about a poor product, the
more quickly they become aware of its faults. Thus, good marketing communications
call for “good deeds followed by good words.”
(Stuart Elliott, “A Product to Add Sparkle and Pop to Laundry Day,” New York Times,
February 15, 2012, p. B3.

3. Designing a Message

Having defined the desired audience response, the communicator then turns to
developing an effective message. Ideally, the message should get attention, hold
interest, arouse desire, and obtain action (a framework known as the AIDA model). In
practice, few messages take the consumer all the way from awareness to purchase, but
the AIDA framework suggests the desirable qualities of a good message.
When putting a message together, the marketing communicator must decide what to say
(message content) and how to say it (message structure and format).

When putting a message together, the marketing communicator must decide what to say
(message content) and how to say it (message structure and format).
The marketer has to figure out an appeal or theme that will produce the desired
response. There are three types of appeals: rational, emotional, and moral.

Message Format

The marketing communicator also needs a strong format for the message. In a print ad,
the communicator has to decide on the headline, copy, illustration, and colors. To attract
attention, advertisers can use novelty and contrast; eye-catching pictures and headlines;
distinctive formats; message size and position; and color, shape, and movement. If the
message is to be communicated by television or video, the communicator must
incorporate motion, pace, and sound. Presenters plan every detail carefully, from start to
finish.
If the message is carried on the product or its package, the communicator must watch

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texture, scent, color, size, and shape.

Rational appeals relate to the audience’s self-interest. They show that the product will
produce the desired benefits. Examples are messages showing a product’s quality,
economy, value, or performance.

Emotional appeals attempt to stir up either negative or positive emotions that can
motivate purchase. Communicators may use emotional appeals ranging from love, joy,
and humor to fear and guilt. Advocates of emotional messages claim that they attract
more attention and create more belief in the sponsor and the brand. The idea is that
consumers often feel before they think, and persuasion is emotional in nature. Good
storytelling in a commercial often strikes an emotional chord.

Moral appeals are directed to an audience’s sense of what is “right” and “proper.” They
are often used to urge people to support social causes, such as a cleaner environment or
aid to the disadvantaged. For example, An Earth Share ad urges environmental
involvement by reminding people that “We live in the house we all build. Every
decision we make has consequences. . . . We choose the world we live in, so make the
right choices. . . .”

4. Choosing the Media

Personal Communication Channels

In personal communication channels, two or more people communicate directly with

each other. They might communicate face to face, on the phone, via mail or e-mail, or
even through texting or an Internet chat. Personal communication channels are effective
because they allow for personal addressing and feedback.

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Some personal communication channels are controlled directly by the company. For
example, company salespeople contact business buyers. But other personal
communications about the product may reach buyers through channels not directly
controlled by the company. These channels might include independent experts—
consumer advocates, online buying guides, bloggers, and others—making statements to
buyers. Or they might be neighbors, friends, family members, associates, or other
consumers talking to target buyers. This last channel, word-of-mouth influence, has
considerable effect in many product areas.

Choosing Media Personal Communication

Opinion leaders are people within a reference group who, because of their special
skills, knowledge, personality, or other characteristics, exerts social influence on others.

Buzz marketing involves cultivating opinion leaders and getting them to spread
information about a product or service to others in their communities.

Non-personal communication is media that carry messages without personal contact or

feedback, including major media, atmospheres, and events that affect the buyer directly.

Major media include print, broadcast, display, and online media

Atmospheres are designed environments that create or reinforce the buyer’s

leanings toward buying a product

Events are staged occurrences that communicate messages to target audiences

• press conferences, grand openings, exhibits, public tours

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5. Selecting the Message Source

The message’s impact on the target audience is affected by how the audience views the
communicator
• Celebrities
– Athletes
– Entertainers
• Professionals
– Health care providers

In either personal or non-personal communication, the message’s impact also depends

on how the target audience views the communicator. Messages delivered by highly
credible sources are more persuasive. Thus, many food companies promote to doctors,
dentists, and other health-care providers to motivate these professionals to recommend
specific food products to their patients. And marketers hire celebrity endorsers—well-
known athletes, actors, musicians, and even cartoon characters—to deliver their
messages. But companies must be careful when selecting celebrities to represent their
brands. Picking the wrong spokesperson can result in embarrassment and a tarnished
image. For example, more than a dozen big brands—including Nike, Gatorade, Gillette,
EA Sports, and Accenture—faced embarrassment when golfer Tiger Woods’ personal
problems were publicly exposed, tarnishing his previously pristine image.

Collecting Feedback

Collecting feedback involves the communicator understanding the effect on the target
audience by measuring behavior resulting from the behavior.

After sending the message, the communicator must research its effect on the target
audience. This involves asking target audience members whether they remember the
message, how many times they saw it, what points they recall, how they felt about the
message, and their past and present attitudes toward the product and company. The
communicator would also like to measure behavior resulting from the message—how
many people bought the product, talked to others about it, or visited the store.
Feedback on marketing communications may suggest changes in the promotion program
or in the product offer itself.

Setting the Total Promotion Budget

How does a company determine its promotion budget? Here, we look at four common

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methods used to set the total budget for advertising: the affordable method, the
percentage-of-sales method, the competitive-parity method, and the objective-and-task
method.

Affordable budget method sets the budget at an affordable level

• Ignores the effects of promotion on sales

Percentage of sales method sets the budget at a certain percentage of current or

forecasted sales or unit sales price
• Easy to use and helps management think about the relationship between
promotion, selling price, and profit per unit
• Wrongly views sales as the cause rather than the result of promotion

Percentage of sales method sets the budget at a certain percentage of current or

forecasted sales or unit sales price
• Easy to use and helps management think about the relationship between
promotion, selling price, and profit per unit
• Wrongly views sales as the cause rather than the result of promotion

Competitive-parity method sets the budget to match competitor outlays

• Represents industry standards
• Avoids promotion wars

Objective-and-task method sets the budget based on what the firm wants to
accomplish with promotion and includes:
• Defining promotion objectives
• Determining tasks to achieve the objectives
• Estimating costs

Now that we’ve examined the concept of integrated marketing communications and the
factors that firms consider when shaping their promotion mixes, let’s look more closely
at the specific marketing communications tools.

ADVERTISING AND PUBLIC RELATIONS

Advertising

Advertising is the primary means by which a company communicates to its customers

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about its products and brands and position in the marketplace. If ads claim that a brand
is an exclusive, premium brand, the product needs to be of high quality, priced relatively
high and distributed relatively exclusively. Advertising is the most direct
communication link between a company and its customers.

TV commercials and print ads (magazines, billboards, etc.) represent much of the
typical advertising budget. But companies also advertise their brands in everything they
do—including event sponsorship, the packaging that encloses their products, the price
points for those products, etc. Thus, many advertising gurus prefer the more general
term “Integrated Marketing Communications” (IMC) which is broad enough to include
other media (e.g., public relations, direct marketing), and it reminds the marketer to be
sure the message has a holistic nature, consistent and complementary, across all media
choices and executions.

Importance of Advertising

• Advertising facilitates customers’ awareness, as well as the positioning of a

brand.
• Advertising attempts to persuade potential customers that the featured brand is
superior to competitors’ market offerings. This is not necessarily true, but traditional
advertising and marketing both encouraged brands promote themselves as being better,
if not the best, and generally offer some sort of reason to believe. Advertising does not
have to be persuasive, and arguably, if someone has strongly held beliefs, an
advertisement is unlikely to change them. If you look at ads from long ago and compare
them with recent ads, it can be seen that many brands have evolved from persuasive
advertising to more playful, emotional appeals (Nike and Coke, for example).

Advertising has both short-term and long-term effects. Several of the short-term effects
of advertising can be shown. For example, customers’ memory of ads and brands and
attributes are easily measured. Attitudes are also easily surveyed and may be compared
to prior attitudes (measured previously) to assess any change in valence.

Various goal models exist

AIDA: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action
e.g., an infomercial is designed to:
 Capture your attention
 Keep you interested enough to continue watching it
 Make you desire the product
 Get you to act by picking up the phone and ordering the product
• Getting consumers to act is not simple; even for simple products

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Figure 7.5: The Goal of an Ad Campaign: To Affect Consumer Decision Making

The figure shows the three camps that all advertising goals fit into.
1. Cognition: increase awareness and knowledge about our brand
2. Affect: enhance attitudes and positive associations about our brand
3. Behavior: encourage more buying of our brand.

These goals are correlated with the product life cycle:

Introduction: awareness and information
Growth: enhance positive attitudes
Maturity: remind consumers
Decline: reductions in ad spending

In general, the goal of “getting the consumer to purchase” is not easily achieved, or
measured, but that does not necessarily render an ad ineffective. Even though a product
may be simple (familiar, inexpensive, etc.), nevertheless most purchases are
complicated.
It is good to remind students from time to time that marketing is a combination of many
things – a great product alone may not be enough, and advertising cannot make up for a
poor product or lack of distribution – the recipe requires a balance, yet sadly there is no
perfect recipe.

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Major Advertising Decision k

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The four decisions to make when developing an advertising program as shown below:
1. Setting advertising objectives
2. Setting the advertising budget
3. Developing advertising strategy
4. Evaluating advertising campaigns

Figure 7.6 Major Advertising Decision

Setting Advertising Objectives

Advertising objectives should be based on past decisions about the target market,
positioning, and the marketing mix, which define the job that advertising must do in the
total marketing program.

An advertising objective is a specific communication task to be accomplished with a

specific target audience during a specific period of time.

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Advertising objectives can be classified by primary purpose (Table 6.2):

• Informative advertising is used heavily when introducing a new product
category.
• Persuasive advertising becomes important as competition increases. Here, the
company’s objective is to build selective demand.
• Comparative advertising is directly or indirectly comparing one brand with
another.
• Reminder advertising is important for mature products—it helps to maintain
customer relation-ships and keep consumers thinking about the product.

Setting the Advertising Budget

Specific factors to consider when setting the budget include:
• Stage of the PLC
• Market share

Developing Advertising Strategy

Advertising strategy consists is the strategy by which the company accomplishes its
advertising objectives and consists of two major elements:
• Creating advertising messages
• Selecting advertising media

Advertisers are orchestrating a closer harmony between their messages and the media
that deliver them.

Creating the Advertising Message

No matter how big the budget, advertising can succeed only it gains attention and
communicates well. Good advertising messages and content are especially important in
today’s costly and cluttered advertising environment.
Consumers are exposed to as many as 3,000 to 5,000 commercial messages every day.

Breaking Through the Clutter. Ads are sandwiched in with a clutter of other
commercials, announcements, and network promotions, totaling nearly 20 minutes of
nonprogram material per prime-time hour with commercial breaks coming every six
minutes on average.

Just to gain and hold attention, today’s advertising messages must be better planned,
more imaginative, more entertaining, and more emotionally engaging to consumers.

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Merging Advertising and Entertainment

To break through the clutter, many marketers are now subscribing to a new merging of
advertising and entertainment, dubbed “Madison & Vine.”

The aim of advertainment is to make ads themselves so entertaining, or so useful, that

people want to watch them.

Branded entertainment (or brand integrations) involves making the brand an inseparable
part of some other form of entertainment.

1. Message Strategy

The first step in creating effective advertising messages is to plan a message strategy—
the general message will be communicated to consumers.

Developing an effective message strategy begins with identifying customer benefits that
can be used as advertising appeals.

The advertiser must next develop a compelling creative concept—or “big idea”—that
will bring the message strategy to life in a distinctive and memorable way. Creative
concept is the idea that will bring the message strategy to life and guide specific appeals
to be used in an advertising campaign

Advertising appeals should have three characteristics:

1. They should be meaningful
2. Appeals must be believable
3. Appeals should be distinctive

Message Execution. The advertiser has to turn the big idea into an actual ad execution
that will capture the target market’s attention and interest.

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Execution styles include the following: k

1. Slice of life: This style shows one or more “typical” people using the product in a
normal setting.
2. Lifestyle: This style shows how a product fits in with a particular lifestyle.
3. Fantasy: This style creates a fantasy around the product or its use. For instance,
many ads are built around dream themes.
4. Mood or image: This style builds a mood or image around the product or service,
such as beauty, love, or serenity.
5. Musical: This style shows people or cartoon characters singing about the product.
6. Personality symbol: This style creates a character that represents the product.
7. Technical expertise: This style shows the company’s expertise in making the
product.
8. Scientific evidence: This style presents survey or scientific evidence that the brand
is better, or better liked than one or more other brands.
9. Testimonial evidence or endorsement: This style features a highly believable or
likable source endorsing the product.

The advertiser must choose a tone, words, and format for the ad.

Message execution is also a key concept. Many students will have trouble with the
various execution styles and will particularly have difficulty with slice of life versus
lifestyle. There may also be difficulty in understanding the difference between fantasy
and mood or image. Again, use examples of your own and from the class, as well as

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those shown in the text.

Consumer-Generated Messages. Taking advantage of today’s interactive technologies,

many companies are now tapping consumers for message ideas or actual ads.

If done well, consumer-generated advertising efforts can produce big benefits.

• For little expense, companies can collect new creative ideas.

• These campaigns can boost consumer involvement and get consumers talking
and thinking about a brand and its value to them.

Selecting Advertising Media

The major steps in advertising media selection are:

(1) defining reach, frequency, and impact;
(2) choosing among major media types;
(3) selecting specific media vehicles; and
(4) choosing media timing.

1) Defining Reach, Frequency, and Impact.

Reach is a measure of the percentage of people in the target market who are exposed to

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the ad campaign during a given period of time. Frequency is a measure of how many
times the average person in the target market is exposed to the message.

The advertiser must determine the desired media impact—the qualitative value of a
message exposure through a given medium.

Typically, the advertiser wants to choose media that will engage consumers rather than
simply reach them.

2) Choosing Among Major Media Types. The media planner has to know the reach,
frequency, and impact of each major media type. As summarized in Table 15.2, the
major media types are newspapers, television, direct mail, radio, magazines, outdoor,
and the Internet. Each medium has advantages and limitations.

Media planners must also decide between narrowcasting and shotgun approaches.

More and more, advertisers are turning to alternative media in an effort to get their
message through.

3) Selecting Specific Media Vehicles. The media planner now must choose the best
media vehicles—specific media within each general media type.

Media planners must compute the cost per 1,000 persons reached by a vehicle.

The media planner must also consider the costs of producing ads for different media.

The media planner must balance media costs against several media effectiveness
factors:
• Audience quality
• Audience engagement
• Editorial quality

4) Deciding on Media Timing. The advertiser must decide how to schedule the
advertising over the course of a year.

Some marketers do only seasonal advertising.

The advertiser has to choose the pattern of the ads.

• Continuity means scheduling ads evenly within a given period.
• Pulsing means scheduling ads unevenly over a given time period.

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Evaluating Advertising Effectiveness and Return on Advertising Investment

Measuring advertising effectiveness and the return on advertising effectiveness has

become a hot issue for most companies.

Measuring the communication effects of an ad or ad campaign tells whether the ads and
media are communicating the ad message well.

Sales and profit effects of advertising are often harder to measure. Sales and profits are
affected by many factors besides advertising—such as product features, price, and
availability.

One way to measure the sales and profit effects of advertising is to compare past sales
and profits with past advertising expenditures.

PERSONAL SELLING AND SALES PROMOTION

• Personal Selling
• Managing the Sales Force
• The Personal Selling Process
• Sales Promotion

The Nature of Personal Selling

Personal selling is the interpersonal part of the promotion mix and can include:
• Face-to-face communication
• Telephone communication
• Video or Web conferencing

The people who do the selling go by many names: salespeople, sales representatives,
district managers, account executives, sales consultants, sales engineers, agents, and
account development reps to name just a few.

The term salesperson covers a wide range of positions. At one extreme, a salesperson

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might be an order taker, such as the department store salesperson standing behind the
counter. At the other extreme are order getters, whose positions demand creative selling
and relationship building for products and services ranging from appliances to industrial
equipment.

The Role of the Sales Force

Personal selling is the interpersonal arm of the promotion mix. The role of personal
selling varies from company to company.

Some firms have no salespeople at all—for example, companies that sell only online or
through catalogs, or companies that sell through manufacturer’s reps, sales agents, or
brokers. In most firms, however, the sales force plays a major role.

Coordinating Marketing and Sales

A company can take several actions to help bring its marketing and sales functions
closer together.

• It can increase communications between the two groups by arranging joint

meetings and by spelling out when and with whom each group should communicate.
• The company can create joint assignments.
• The company can create joint objectives and reward systems for sales and
marketing.
• They can appoint marketing-sales liaisons—people from marketing who “live
with the sales force” and help to coordinate marketing and sales force programs and
efforts.
• The firm can appoint a high-level marketing executive who oversees both
marketing and sales.

Managing the Sales Force

Sales force management is defined as the analysis, planning, implementation, and

controlling of sales force activities.

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Figure 7.7 Sales Force Activities

Personal Selling Process

The goal of the personal selling process is to get new customers and obtain orders from
them

Figure 7.8 Personal Selling Process

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Steps in the Selling Process

The selling process consists of seven steps:

1. Prospecting and qualifying

2. Preapproach
3. Approach
4. Presentation and demonstration
5. Handling objections
6. Closing
7. Follow-Up

Personal Selling and Managing Customer Relationships

Transaction orientation: The purpose is to help salespeople close a specific sale with a
customer.

Relationship orientation: The purpose is to serve the customer over the long haul in a
mutually profitable relationship.

Today’s large customers favor suppliers who can sell and deliver a coordinated set of
products and services to many locations, and who can work closely with customer teams
to improve products and processes.

Checkpoint - Self-Assessment Question:

1. Discuss how the salesperson is a critical link between the company and the customer.
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

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SALES PROMOTION

Sales promotion consists of short-term incentives to encourage purchase or sale of a

product or service now.

Rapid Growth of Sales Promotion

Sales promotion tools are targeted toward final buyers (consumer promotions), retailers
and wholesalers (trade promotions), business customers (business promotions), and
members of the sales force (sales force promotions).

Several factors have contributed to the rapid growth of sales promotion:

1. Product managers face greater pressures to increase their current sales.

2. The company faces more competition and competing brands are less
differentiated.
3. Advertising efficiency has declined.
4. Consumers have become more deal oriented.

The growing use of sales promotion has resulted in promotion clutter. Consumers are
increasingly tuning out promotions, weakening their ability to trigger immediate
purchase.

Sales Promotion Objectives

Sales promotion objectives vary widely.

 Consumer promotions: Urge short-term customer buying or to enhance customer

brand involvement.
 Trade promotions: Get retailers to carry new items and more inventory, buy
ahead, or promote the company’s products and give them more shelf space.
 Business promotions are used to generate business leads, stimulate purchases,
reward customers, and motivate salespeople.
 Sales force: Get more sales force support for current or new products or getting
salespeople to sign up new accounts.

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Sales promotions should help to reinforce the product’s position and build long-term
customer relationships.

Major Sales Promotion Tools

Many tools can be used to accomplish sales promotion objectives. Descriptions of the
main consumer, trade, and business promotion tools follow.

Consumer Promotions

Consumer promotions include a wide range of tools.

Samples are offers of a trial amount of a product.

Sampling is the most effective—but most expensive—way to introduce a new product

or to create new excitement for an existing one.

Coupons are certificates that give buyers a savings when they purchase specified
products.

Most major consumer goods companies are issuing fewer coupons and targeting them
more carefully.

Rebates (or cash refunds are like coupons except that the price reduction occurs after
the purchase rather than at the retail outlet.

Price packs (also called cents-off deals) offer consumers savings off the regular price of
a product.

Premiums are goods offered either free or at low cost as an incentive to buy a product.

Advertising specialties, also called promotional products, are useful articles imprinted
with an advertiser’s name, logo, or message that are given as gifts to consumers.

Point-of-purchase (POP) promotions include displays and demonstrations that take

place at the point of sale.

Contests, sweepstakes, and games give consumers the chance to win something.

 A contest calls for consumers to submit an entry to be judged.

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 A sweepstakes calls for consumers to submit their names for a drawing.

 A game presents consumer with something every time they buy.

Event marketing (or event sponsorships) allows companies to create their own brand
marketing events or serve as sole or participating sponsors of events created by others.

Trade Promotions

Trade promotions persuade resellers to carry a brand, give it shelf space, promote it in
advertising, and push it to consumers.

Manufacturers use several trade promotions tools:

 A straight discount (also called a price-off, off-invoice, or off-list)

 An allowance (usually so much off per case)
 Free goods
 Push money
 Free specialty advertising items

Business Promotions

Business promotions are used to generate business leads, stimulate purchases, reward
customers, and motivate salespeople.

Conventions and trade shows: Firms selling to the industry show their products at the
trade show.

Vendors receive many benefits:

 Opportunities to find new sales leads

 Contact customers
 Introduce new products
 Meet new customers
 Sell more to present customers
 Educate customers with publications and audiovisual materials

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 Reach many prospects not reached through their sales forces

Sales contests: Contests for salespeople or dealers to motivate them to increase

their sales performance over a given period.

Developing the Sales Promotion Program

Marketers must decide:

1. Size of the incentive

2. Conditions for participation
3. Promotion and distribution
4. Length of the promotion
5. Evaluation

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Public relations is designed to build good relations with the company’s various
publics by obtaining favorable publicity, building a positive corporate image, and
managing unfavorable rumors, stories, and events.

Public relations departments may perform any or all of the following functions:

• Press relations or press agency: Creating and placing newsworthy

information in the news media to attract attention to a person, product, or service.
• Product publicity: Publicizing specific products.
• Public affairs: Building and maintaining national or local community
relations.
• Lobbying: Building and maintaining relations with legislators and
government officials to influence legislation and regulation.
• Investor relations: Maintaining relationships with shareholders and others
in the financial community.
• Development: Working with donors or members of nonprofit
organizations to gain financial or volunteer support.
Public relations is used to promote products, people, places, ideas, activities,
organizations, and even nations.

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The Role and Impact of PR

Public relations can make a strong impact on public aware-ness at a much lower
cost than advertising can.

The company does not pay for the space or time in the media.

If the company develops an interesting story or event, it could be picked up by

several different media, having the same effect as advertising that would cost millions of
dollars. And it would have more credibility than advertising.

Public relations is sometimes described as a marketing stepchild because of its

often limited and scattered use.

Advertising and public relations should work hand in hand within an IMC
program to build brands and customer relationships.

Major Public Relations Tools

Public relations professionals use several tools:

• PR professionals find or create favorable news about the company and its
products or people.

• Another common PR tool is special events, including news conferences,

press tours, or educational programs designed to reach and interest target publics.

• Public relations people also prepare written materials to reach and

influence their target markets. These materials include annual reports, brochures,
articles, and company newsletters and magazines.

• Audiovisual materials, such as slide-and-sound programs, DVDs, and

online videos are being used increasingly as communication tools.

• Corporate identity materials can also help create a corporate identity that
the public immediately recognizes.

• Companies can improve public goodwill by contributing money and time

to public service activities.

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As discussed above, the Web is also an increasingly important PR channel, Web

sites, blogs, and social networks such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter are providing
interesting new ways to reach more people.

A company’s Web site can be a good public relations vehicle. Web sites can also
be ideal for handling crisis situations.

As with the other promotion tools, in considering when and how to use product
public relations, management should set PR objectives, choose the PR messages and
vehicles, implement the PR plan, and evaluate the results. The firm’s PR should be
blended smoothly with other promotion activities within the company’s overall
integrated marketing communications effort. Michael Bush, “P&G’s Marc Pritchard
Touts Value of PR,” Advertising Age, October 27, 2010,
http://adage.com/article/news/p-g-s-marc-pritchard-touts-pr/146749/.

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Summative assessment to gauge understanding of the lesson will be posted to our

Application Google Classroom
Suppose you are the marketing coordinator responsible for recommending a
sales promotion plan for the market launch of new brand of energy drink sold in
supermarkets. What promotional tools would you consider for this task and what
decisions must be made? K

2. Developing your Marketing Plan applying the promotion strategies. TBA

4. Promotion Strategies for your chosen product

 What will be your communication objectives?

 What will be your message design?
 What will be your Promotion Mix Strategies
(Advertising, Sales promotion, personal selling, public
relations, Direct/Online Marketing to achieve the
marketing objectives?
o Advertising,
o Sales promotion,
o personal selling,
o public relations,
o Direct
 Are you going to use the Social Networks and Digital
Marketing? Specify.

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Exemplar Proficien Intermedi Novice

Marginal
DIMEN y t ate TOT
SIONS (2-1 AL
(4-3 pts.)
(10-9 pts.)(8-7 pts.) (6-5 pt.) pts.)
Rubric
Content scoring
Outstandi Well- Adequate Marginal Poor 10
Focus ng points develope points points points
and were d points were were were
Direction noted. were noted. noted. noted.
noted.
Details Contains Contains Contains Contains Contain 10
detailed detailed detailed analysis s little
analysis analysis analysis with or no
with high with good average analysis
with a high
level level of level of level of
of synthesis synthesis synthesis.
synthesis.
Organizat Excellent Very Good flow Evident Lacks 10
ion and flow and good and flow and flow
Diagram structural flow and structural structural and
compositi structural compositio compositi structur
on. compositi n. on. al
Transition on. Transitions Transitio composi
s are well Transitio are evident ns are tion.
made and ns are and follow evident. Poor
follow well an transitio
appropriat acceptable ns are
made in an
e sequence. evident.
sequences. appropria
te
sequence.
Mechanic Correct Correct Acceptable
Acceptab Poor 10
s spelling spelling spelling
le spelling
Spelling and and and
spelling and
Grammar grammar grammar grammarand gramma
were were were
grammar r were
evident. Page 36evident.
evident. of 38
were evident.
With no With few With few evident. With
errors errors. errors With many
found. found. many major
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