BUSINESS (INDUSTRIAL) COMMUNICATION

Learning Objectives :
1. Develop an effective communication (or
promotional) program.
2. Understand the role of advertising
3. Understand the importance of sales
promotion, publicity, public relation
(PR), and direct marketing.
 DEVELOPING AN EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION /
PROMOTIOAL PROGRAMME FOR BUSINESS MARKETS

The steps involved are :

(i) Decide communication objectives.
(ii) Identify the target audience.
(iii) Decide the promotional budget.
(iv)  Develop the message strategy.
(v)   Select the media.
(vi)  Evaluate the promotion’s results.
(vii) Integrate the promotion’s programme
 Promotional Tools and Media in Business
Markets
P rom otional A d vertising Sales P. R . and D irect P ersonal
Tools P rom otion P ub licity M ark eting Selling

Prom otional  Print M edia  Trade show s  C haritable  D irect m ail  Sales calls
M edia  B usiness  E xhibitions donations  Telem ar-  Sales
& Publications  C atalogues  A dopting keting presentations
Supports  Trade  Sales C onsents villages  O n-line  Team selling
Journals  Prom otional  C om m unity m arketing  R elationship
 Industrials novelties (gifts) relations m arketing
directories  Sem inars  N ew s item in
 D em onstration press
 Prom otional  Technical
letters articles in
 E ntertainm ent journals
 ROLE OF ADVERTISING IN BUSINESS
MARKETING
While advertising is relatively less important than
personal selling in business marketing, it is used
as support to personal selling. The functions
performed by advertising are
 
(i)     Creating awareness.
(ii)    Reaching members of buying center.
(iii)  Increasing sales efficiency and effectiveness.
(iv)  Efficient reminder media.
(v)    Sales – lead generation.
(vi)  Support channel members.
 ADVERTIING MEDIA USED AND SELECTION CRITERIA
The media generally used for industrial advertising are:
(i)     Business Publications.
(ii)    Trade journals/ publications – Horizontal and
Verticalpublications.
(iii)  Industrial directories – published by government and
private publishers (e.g. Tata Yellow pages).

Criteria used for selection of advertising media are:

(a) Target audience and their media habits.
(b)    Promotional objectives and goals.
(c)  Expenditure budget, by using the following formula:
C o st p er pag e
=
C irculation in tho usand
 IMPORTANCE OF SALES PROMOTION

• Sales promotion consists of short-term incentive

tools to stimulate greater or faster purchase of a
product / service by business customers.

• Some of the business promotion tools are :

Trade shows (or exhibitions), sales contests,
promotional novelties (or specialty
advertising, or gifts), seminars, catalogues,
promotional letters, demonstration, and
entertainment. Some of the frequently used tools
are trade shows, sales contests, catalogues,
demonstrations, and promotional novelties (gifts).
 IMPORTANCE / ROLE OF DIRECT MARKETING (DM)
• Definition Direct marketing is an interactive marketing system that
seeks a measurable response and /or transaction. Direct marketing
is also referred to as direct response marketing.
• Benefits For business marketers, benefits of DM are many : Can
personalise / customise communication messages, builds a
continues relationship with each customer, can measure responses
from alternative media, and direct relationship marketing
company strategy less visible to competitors.
• Main Channels or tools of DM. Direct mail, telemarketing and on-
line marketing. In addition, kiosk marketing and catalog marketing
are also DM channels, but are less popular in India.
• Direct mail is not only paper based postal service or courier
service, but can be fax mail, e-mail, or voice mail. Direct marketers
send not only letters, but also audio and videotapes, CDs, and
diskettes. Response rate is about 2%.
• Telemarketing uses telephone to contact existing customers,
to attract new customers, or to take orders. Telemarketing
gives immediate feedback, identifies and qualifies prospects,
and reduces sales force travel costs. Both inbound (incoming
calls from prospects / customers) and outbound (out going
calls) are important. Practice, training, pleasant voices and
right timing (late morning to afternoon) are needed for
effective telemarketing.

• On-Line Marketing can be done by establishing an electronic

presence (by opening own website or buying space on a
commercial on-line service), placing ads on-line, and using e-
mail. A web site should be attractive on first view and
interesting enough to encourage repeat visits. Marketers use
on-line marketing to find, reach, communicate and sell to
business customers.
 
• Major Benefits to marketers are: Lower costs,
relationship building and quick adjustments to
changing market conditions. Major Benefits
for buyers are: convenience, information
availability, and less hassle. Although small &
medium size marketers can reach global
markets at affordable costs, there is chaos and
clutter as the internet offers millions of web
sites, and also as concerns on security and
privacy
 ROLE OF PUBLICITY & PUBLIC RELATIONS (PR)

• Public Relations (PR) performs certain tasks to promote or

protect a company’s image or its products. The tasks /
functions performed by PR are: press relations, corporate
communication, lobbying, and counseling. PR department
deals with various categories of people like press,
legislators, Govt. officials, public, employees, suppliers,
customers, and hence it tends to neglect marketing
objectives.
 
• Publicity or Marketing Public Relations (MPR) has more
credibility and lower cost compared to advertising, MPR
includes placing technical articles from the company’s
technical persons in trade journals, business magazines, and
/ or news papers. MPR should be planned with advertising
and should be given larger budget allocation
 Summary of Chapter

• Steps involved in developing an effective communication programme for

business markets are (i) decide communication objectives, (ii) identify the
target audience, (iii) decide the promotional budget, (iv) develop the
message strategy, (v) select the media, (vi)evaluate the promotions
results, (vii) integrate the promotional Programme.
 
• Advertising is used in business marketing mainly as a support to personal
selling.
• Media used for industrial advertising are: business publications, trade
journals / Publications, and industrial directories.
• Sales promotion consists of short – term incentive tools to stimulate
greater or faster purchase of a product / service by business customers.
• Direct marketing and publicity ( also called as marketing public relations –
MPR) have important roles. However, public relations (PR) tends to
neglect marketing objectives, since it has to deal with several category of
people.