Ibrahim Sameer

Introduction
Advertising, sales promotion and public relation forms

three elements of the marketing communication mix.

Communications can be broadly defined as:

The process of establishing a commonality or oneness of thought between a sender and a receiver.

Introduction (cont)
Two ideas are highlighted:
Communication is a process that has elements and inter-

relationships that can be modelled and examined in a structured manner.

Oneness of thought must be develop between sender and

receiver for true communication to occur, which implies

that a sharing relationship must exist between them.
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Marketing Communications Overview

Sender Marketing firm

Message

Receiver

Marketing Communications Overview (cont)

The sender (source) is a person or group having a

thought to share with some other person or group (the

receiver).
The message is a expression of the senders thoughts. It may take the form of the printed or spoken word, a

magazine advertisement or a television commercial.

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Marketing Communications Overview (cont)

More detail Model of the communication process

Source Encoding

Message

Channel

Receiver Decoding

Feedback

Marketing Communications Overview (cont)

Encoding is the process of putting though into symbolic form of

controlled by the sender.

Decoding is the process of transforming message symbols back into

though by the receiver.

The message is the manifestation of the encoding process and the

instrument used sharing thought with receiver.

The channel is the path through which the message moves from sender

to receiver.
Feedback recognize the two way nature of communications.
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Marketing Communications Overview (cont)

In marketing, it is acknowledged that often an

advertising message is not received by customers as originally intended. Based on market feedback, the message can be re examined and corrected.

Marketing Communications Process

Traditionally promotion has been viewed as the organizations

link with prospective buyers.

Promotion is now seen as only one element of an organizations

effort to communicate with customers and to view it simply as

promotion is to take too narrow perspective.
Marketing mix variables, as well as other actions, must be seen as

part of the total message the company conveys to consumers

about its offering.

The Marketing Communications Mix

Advertising is a viable form of mass communications that is

non personal and paid for by an identified sponsor.

Personal selling is communication in which a seller attempts to

persuade prospective buyers to purchase the companys product

or service.
Sales promotion relates to short term marketing activities that

act as incentives to stimulate quick buyer actions. Eg: discount coupons, free samples.
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The Marketing Communications Mix (cont)

These promotional activities (advertising, personal selling and

sales promotion) are variables over which the company has control.
Publicity is a form of non personal communication to a large

group of people, but unlike advertising, it is not paid for by the company.
Publicity is usually in the form of news or editorial comment

about a companys products or service.

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The Marketing Communications Mix (cont)

Marketing effectiveness depends on communication. The buyer perception of

the seller is influenced by the amount and type of information provided by the seller and the buyers reaction to that information.

Marketing involves decision making, whereas marketing communication is the

process of

implementing marketing decisions. Therefore it requires

enactments of communication process. The companys message is a

combination of product, price, place and promotional stimuli to the

marketplace and communication take place when consumers in the market interpret these stimuli.
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Defining Marketing Communications

A practical definition define marketing communication as:

Presenting an integrated set of stimuli to a market target with the intent of evoking a desired set of responses within that market target. Setting up channels to receive, interpret and act on messages from the market to modify current

company messages and identify new communications

opportunities.
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Defining Marketing Communications (cont)

The above definition recognized that the company is both a sender and

a receiver of market related messages.

As a sender, a firm in a competitive environment must attempt to

persuade consumers to buy the companys brands to achieve profits.

As a receiver, the company must attune itself to the market to realign

its messages to its market targets, adapt them to changing market conditions and take advantages of new opportunities.
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Message Source
The nature of the source of a message in the communications

process can have a great influence on receiver.

Some communications are more persuasive than others, and

how successful they are depends on how credible the audience

perceive them to be.
Some television advertisements attempt to increase the

credibility by using candid interviews with householder or customers.

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Message Source (cont)

One approach is to ask consumers to compare their

brand of product with another, both in disguised form. The consumer acts surprised when they learn that the sponsors brand performs better than their regular brand. In these commercials advertisers are

attempting to imply a degree of objectivity to establish

credibility for their message.
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Advertising
A feature of advertising is that it is paid for by a sponsor

attempting to convey a message to the recipient.

Advertising can rarely create sales by itself. Whether or not the

customer buys depends on the product, price, packaging,

personal selling, after sales service, financing and other aspect of marketing.
Advertising is just one element of communications, that perform

certain part of communicating.

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Advertising (cont)
The

amount

of

communication

performed

by

advertising varies, depending on the nature of the

product, frequency of purchase and price.

Where the product is sold through mail order or

direct mail almost the whole task is achieved by advertising.

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Advertising (cont)
The contribution of advertising is likely to be greatest when:
1. 2.

Buyer awareness of the companys product is low. Industry sales are rising rather than remaining stable or declining.

3.

The opportunities for product differentiation are strong.

4. Discretionary incomes are high.

5.

A new product or new service idea is being introduced.

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Sales Promotion
Sales promotion is a dynamic and flexible sales tool.

Two related definitions are:

1.

The short term achievement of marketing objectives by schematic means.

2. Immediate

or delayed incentives to

purchase,

expressed in cash or kind.

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Sales Promotion (cont)

The main elements of Sales promotion are as follows:
1. 2. 3.

Self liquidating offer (low price) On pack offer In pack offer

4.
5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Trading stamp
Gift coupons / voucher Premium offer (eg: two for one) Direct mail Packing (eg: pack flashes) In store display materials Exhibitions
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Sales Promotion Planning

A typical planning sequence of stages of sales promotion is:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Analyze the problem / task Define objectives Set the budget Examine the type of promotion likely to be used Define support activities (eg: advertising, incentives) Testing (eg limited stores or panel test for short period) How to measure success of the campaign Plan time table

9.
10. 11.

Present details of the sales promotion to sales force, retailer etc

Implement the promotion Evaluate the results

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Importance of Sales Promotion

Advantages:
1. 2. 3.

Easily measured response Quick achievement of objectives Flexible application

4.
5.

Can be relatively cheap

Direct support of sales force

Disadvantages:
1. 2. 3. 4.

Price discounting can be cheapen brand image Short term advantages only Retailer might not want to corporate Difficulty in communicating brand image
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Public Relation (PR)

The Institute of Public Relation (IPR) defines PR as:

PR practice is the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish & maintain mutual understanding between an organization and its

public
Communication is central to PR, whose purpose is to establish a two

way communication to resolve conflicts of interest by seeking common ground of mutual interest.
A further implication is that PR exists whether an organization want it

or not.
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Public Relation (PR) (cont)

Simply by carrying out day to day operations, an

organization communicates certain messages to those

who interact with the organization & they will form

opinions about the organization & its activities.

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Past Paper Q & A

December 2009 / Q3
(a) Identify and briefly describe the five elements of the marketing communications mix. (10 marks) (b) For a clothing brand, demonstrate how each of the five elements of the marketing communications mix, that you have identified in (a) above, can be effectively used. Justify your answer. (15 marks)

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Past Paper Q & A (cont)

Answer (a) The five elements of the marketing mix are: Advertising: this is a paid for communication using a medium such as television, radio or press. Sales Promotion: These are communications activities with the purpose of temporarily increasing sales revenue. Sales promotion activities include: activities like buy one get one free, discounts and coupons. Public Relations: These are communications activities undertaken to in order to build a relationship with an organization's stakeholders (customers, suppliers, general public etc.). Public relations activities can include press releases, media interviews and corporate hospitality events. Direct Marketing: These are activities whereby an organization communicates directly with their customers, tailoring the communication as closely as possible to the individual customer segment. Direct marketing activities can include: direct mail shots and email marketing campaigns. Personal Selling: This is a face to face communication between the organization (sales person) and the customer with the objective of persuading a customer to make the purchase decision.

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Past Paper Q & A (cont)

Answer (b)

Advertising: Customers will need to be aware of the clothing brand and recognize the brand in the retail store. Also, it will be important for an organization to build an image for its clothing brand that matches the profile of the target market. As building awareness of and image for clothing require visual communication, media such as television and press are best suited. The organization should choose media that are aimed at the profile of the target market, such as lifestyle magazines.

Public Relations: In order to build awareness, recognition and an image for the clothing brand, the organization will wish to ensure as much press coverage as possible, and to position its brand as a fashion brand. Public relations activities can help achieve these objectives by, for example, sending press releases and free samples to the appropriate media for the fashion editors to use in their photo shoots, arranging fashion shows for the press, and even sending free samples to celebrities hoping they will be photographed wearing them. Sponsorship and celebrity endorsements can also be sought to help develop a brand image for the clothing brand.
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Past Paper Q & A (cont)

Answer (b) cont..

Sales Promotion: Sales promotions can be aimed at the customers but also at the staff in the retailers in order to encourage them to sell more products. Sales incentives such as winning free holidays, or free gifts could be offered to staff who make the most sales. Sales promotions can also be offered to customers to try and encourage them to purchase products, such as buy one get one half price; however, the organization must take care not to devalue the brand, because in fashion, high price is often associated with quality. Personal Selling: Fashion brands are usually sold via a retailer and therefore the organization is dependent on the retailers staff to sell the product. It is important that the clothing organizations try to ensure that they choose retail outlets that employ staff with good personal selling skills and also spend time ensuring their staff are as familiar with the products and comfortable in recommending them to their customers. The organization can also work with retail outlets to ensure retail sales staff are well trained and incentivised to sell the products with activities such as staff training and sales promotions as mentioned above. Direct Marketing: Direct mail activities can also be used to gain awareness and recognition and build an image. The clothing organization can send customers leaflets and catalogues containing photos of the clothing range. Direct marketing techniques can also be adopted, such as developing a website to promote the clothing range, enabling customers to view products online, and email marketing campaigns can be used to inform customers of new range launches and sales promotional incentives. 29

Past Paper Q & A (cont)

December 2008 / Q 8 (a) Using a model of your choice, explain the stages in the communications process. (15 marks)

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Past Paper Q & A (cont)

Answer
The communications process involves the following stages:

A Sender - is the communicator or person who has a message to send. It is important the sender understands the process of communication and any barriers to communication when he is planning the message and the medium he will use.

A Message - is the information to be communicated. It is important that the communicator is clear on the communication objectives he wishes to achieve, e.g. informing a customer about a new product so that he can ensure his message is clear.

A Medium - is the mechanism a sender will use to communicate his message, such as the television or press. The sender needs to understand the advantages and disadvantages of each medium and ensure that the medium is suitable for the message to be communicated, for example it is not appropriate to use a 30 second television advertisement to communicate detailed technical information.

An Audience/Receiver - is the receiver of the message and in marketing terms is known as the target audience. Once the target audience is identified it is easier to choose an appropriate medium or method of communication and also to produce an appropriate message, e.g. if the target audience is children then the right television channel and timing of the message can be chosen, e.g. cbeebies childrens channel at 4pm (not 9pm at night) and the message should be simple and clear enough for them to understand.

Feedback - is an important part of the communication process and one that is often forgotten. It is important for marketers to know if their message has been received and understood by their target market, or if it has generated the required response, e.g. trial of a new product. Therefore senders need to consider mechanisms for feedback when developing a message and communication. An example of how this is done is by sometimes testing the message or advertisement in advance on a sample target audience to measure their response.

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Past Paper Q & A (cont)

June 2008/ Q4

(a) Explain what is meant by sales promotion and give three examples of sales promotion tools. (5 marks) (b) Outline four advantages and four disadvantages of using sales promotion as a marketing

tool. (8 marks)
(c) Using a product or brand of your choice, describe how a sales promotion campaign could be developed. Your answer should include:
objectives for your sales promotion

sales promotion tactics

consideration of how you would measure success implications for other elements of the marketing communications mix. (12 marks)
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Past Paper Q & A (cont)

Answer (a)
Sales promotion is part of the Promotion element of the marketing mix. It is a promotional tool often used to generate short-term revenue by offering incentives for customers to purchase, repeat purchase or

purchase larger quantities.

Sales promotion objectives are set in terms of amount of revenue to be generated, amount of trial of a product, amount of sales units etc. Examples of sales promotion include: money-off coupons, discounts, loyalty cards, free samples, in-store demonstrations.
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Past Paper Q & A (cont)

Answer (b) Advantages: Generation of immediate revenue Increase in market share, sometimes in the short term, but if customers are happy they may switch product in the long term. Cash flow; as sales promotion generates immediate revenue it is a good tool to use if an organization has cash flow problems. Stock clearance; sales promotion such as discounting can be used to clear old stock, which is particularly useful for perishable products such as fashion. Disadvantages: Any revenue or market share gain may be short term and could be lost when the sales promotion finishes. It is easy for competitors to react quickly. Long-term damage may be done to the position of a product or brand as it may be devalued during the promotion. Sales promotion does not generate customer loyalty and indeed can encourage customer disloyalty as they wait for sales promotions before purchasing.

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Past Paper Q & A (cont)

Answer (c) The example I would like to use is Pampers nappies. Pampers is an established brand in the UK for selling nappies for babies and toddlers. It also has the highest market share and therefore at first glance it may appear that sales promotion is not necessary. However, the objective for Pampers nappies is to retain their market share and therefore customer retention is a priority. As nappies are a commodity item there is a danger that the product is price elastic and customers will switch to competitive brands if they are cheaper. Pampers therefore use sales promotion to encourage customers to continue to purchase their brand. The main way they do this is to issue money-off tokens to existing customers, which have to be spent within a certain time. The aim is that customers will wish to cash in the token and therefore are likely to repeat purchase. It should be noted that in order for this sales promotion to be effective it does rely on support from other elements of the promotional mix such as direct mail as the tokens are often sent by post to customers whose details have been captured through sources such as loyalty cards. Pampers nappies will be able to measure the effectiveness of this promotion because each money-off token contains a bar-code and therefore the organization is able to capture the information to see how many tokens have been used. Finally, it is worth noting that Pampers do use other forms of sales promotion such as free samples which are distributed via magazines, baby clinics etc.

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Past Paper Q & A (cont)

June 2008 / Q 5 (c)
Briefly describe the five elements of the marketing communications mix. (10 marks)

Answer : Refer slide 28

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Q&A
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