Major Decisions in Advertising

1. Objective Setting
An advertising objective is a specific communication task to be accomplished with a specific target audience during a
specific period of time
Advertising objectives can be classified by purpose; whether their aim is to inform, persuade or remind
o Inform Telling the market about a new product. Suggesting new uses for a product. Informing the market
of a price change. Explaining how the product works. Describing available services.
o Persuade Building brand preference. Encouraging switching to your brand. Changing buyer perceptions of
product attributes. Persuading buyers to purchase now.
o Remind Reminding buyers that the product may be needed in the future. Reminding buyers where to buy
this product. Keeping the product in the buyers minds during off seasons.
2. Budget Decisions
After determining its ad objectives:
o The company can next set its advertising budget for each product
o The role of advertising is to affect demand for a product
o The company wants to spend the amount needed to achieve the sales goal
Factors to consider when setting the advertising budget
o Product differentiation
o Stage in PLC
o Market Share
o Competition and Clutter
o Advertising Frequency
3. Message Decisions
A large advertising budget does not guarantee a successful advertising campaign
The first step in creating effective advertising messages is to decide what general message will be communicated to
consumers
Message Execution
o Slice-of-life: Shows one or more people using the product in a normal setting
o Lifestyle: Shows how a product fits in with a lifestyle
o Fantasy: Creates a fantasy around the product or its use
o Mood or image: Builds a mood or image around the product, such as beauty, love or serenity
o Musical: Shows one or more people or cartoon characters singing a song about the product
o Personality Symbol: Creates a character that represents the product
o Technical Expertise: Show the companys expertise in making the product
o Scientific Evidence: Presents survey or scientific evidence that the brand is better or better liked than one or
more other brands
o Testimonial Evidence: Features a highly believable or likeable source endorsing the product
4. Media Decisions
The advertiser next chooses advertising media to carry the message
The four major steps in media selection:
o Deciding on reach, frequency and impact
o Selecting major media types
o Selecting specific media vehicles
o Deciding on media timing

Advertising Evaluation
Measuring the communication effect (copy testing)
Three major methods of advertising pre-testing:
o Direct rating
o Portfolio tests
o Laboratory test
Two popular methods of post-testing advertisements:
o Recall tests
o Recognition tests

International Advertising Decisions

 The major decision is the degree to which global advertising should be adapted to the unique characteristics of various
country markets
Standardisation has benefits such as lower costs and greater coordination of global efforts but ignores cultural
differences
Most companies think globally and act locally
Costs and legislative requirements in different countries need to be considered

Public Relations Decisions

A major mass-communication tool
Aims at building good relations with the companys various publics using different tools:
o Press relations
o Product publicity
o Corporate communication
o Lobbying
o Counselling
Major public relations tool include:
o News
o Speeches
o Special Events
o Written Materials
o Audiovisual Materials
o Corporate Identity Materials
o Community Service Activities

Socially Responsible Marketing Communication

Advertising
o Avoid false or deceptive advertising
o Must not create ads that have the capacity to deceive
o Avoid bait-and-switch advertising that attracts buyers under false pretences
Personal Selling
o Must ensure their salespeople follow the rule of faire competition when they sell the products directly
Direct and Online Marketing
o Develop mutually rewarding relationships
o Avoid unfairness, deception and fraud
o The direct marketing industry has also faced growing concerns about invasion of privacy issues

IMC and the whole Marketing Mix

An IMC approach is not just concerned with advertising and sales promotion
o It covers all the traditional areas of marketing mix strategy product, price, place/distribution and promotion

Sales Promotion
The act of influencing customer/consumer perception and behaviour to build market share and sales to reinforce brand
image
o Closely linked with direct and online marketing, but has its origins in FMCG
o Has many meanings. It covers a range of incentives that are used with products promoted via either mass
media ads or by direct and online methods
Main tools include:
o Samples
o Redeemable coupons
o Cash-bash offers
o Cent-off deals or price packs
o Premium offers
o Advertising specialties
o Patronage rewards
o Point of purchase promotions
o Contests and games of chance and skill
Purpose of Sales Promotion
To attract new triers
To reward brand-loyal customers and thereby retain them
To reduce the time between purchases
To turn light users into medium or heavy users
The aim might also be to regain past purchasers who have ceased buying

Developing Sales Promotion Programs

A number of decisions must be made in order to define the full sales promotion program:
o Size of the incentive
o How to promote and distribute the program
o The length of the promotion
o Sales promotion budgeting

The Role of Personal Selling

Many types of personal selling jobs; the role of personal selling can vary greatly from one industry/company to another
The people who do the selling go by many names:
o Salespeople
o Sales representatives
o Account executives / representatives
o Agents
o District managers
o Marketing representatives

The Role of the Salesforce

Personal selling is the interpersonal arm of the promotion mix
o Involves two-way, personal communication between salespeople and individual customers whether
Face-to-face
By telephone
Video conference
Or by other means
Personal selling can be more effective than advertising in complex selling situations
The sales-force serves as a critical link between a company and its customers
o Represents the company to the customers
o Represents the customers to the company
o Are concerned with producing sales but should also be concerned with customer satisfaction and profit

Personal Selling and Relationship Marketing

Relationship Marketing (RM) is the process of creating, maintain and enhancing strong, value-laden relationships with
customers and other stakeholders
o RM emphasises building and maintaining profitable long-term relationships with customers by creating
superior customer value and satisfaction
o More companies are realising that winning and keeping accounts require more than making good products
and closing lots of sales
It requires a carefully coordinate, whole-company effort to create value-laden satisfying relationships with important
customers

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

One-to-one marketing
Direct marketing or direct-order marketing
E-Marketing
Interactive marketing
Todays information age allows many marketers (and often their products) to communicate with customers in real-
time and to obtain a measured response for a measured input of expenditure

Direct Marketing and Online Marketing

 Direct marketing is an interactive system of marketing which uses one or more advertising media to effect a
measurable response and or transaction at any location
Online marketing entails information with known customers and others in the marketing channel, on a one-to-one
basis, often in real time, to maintain value-laden relationships and to generate a measurable response and or
transactions using electronic network tools and technologies
Sales Promotion Electronic dispensing & kiosks
Direct print and reproduction Direct selling
Direct-response TV & radio Electronic shopping
Telemarketing Telesales
Integrated database marketing

Direct and online database marketing entails development and maintenance of electronic databases to interact with past,
present and or potential customers and others in the marketing channel, on a one-to-one basis, often in real time, and where
the databases are used to maintain value-laden relationships and to generate a measurable response and or transactions
through the integrated use of electronic network tools and technologies
Marketing Organisations Use Their Databases in a number of Ways:
How are Databases Used?
1. Identifying prospects
Many companies generate sales leads by advertising their products or offers. Ads generally have a response feature,
such as a business reply card or toll-free phone number. The database is built from these responses
2. Deciding which customers should receive a particular offer
Companies identify the profile of an ideal customer for an offer. Then they search their databases for individuals most
closely resembling the ideal type. By tracking individual responses, the company can improve its targeting precision
over time
3. Deepening customer loyalty
Companies can build customers interest and enthusiasm by remembering their preferences and by sending them
appropriate information, gifts etc.
4. Reactivating customers
Helping a company make attractive offers of product replacements, upgrades, or complementary products just when
customers might be ready to act
5. Data mining
Entails checking databases for patterns and trends that are hypothesised to exist or in order to find new connections
between data item. Modern software enables open-ended queries that involves systematic searches for relationships
and patterns within and between databases

Direct and Online Tools and Techniques

1. Direct Print and Reproduction
2. Direct Mail
3. Catalogues
4. Direct-response television, radio and print marketing
5. Telemarketing
6. Telesales
7. Electronic Dispensing and Kiosks
8. Direct Selling
9. Electronic Shopping

Evaluating Direct Marketing Results Measures of Performance

Sales lead generation
Database generation
Fulfilment response
Product inquiries
Sales response
Profitability
Return on the investment made in programs and campaigns
Lifetime custom

Evaluating Online Marketing Results

 Online marketing communications measures
o Web-centric measure (log files, page impressions)
o Audience Centric (cookies)
o Network Centric
Online Channel Performance
CRM
Customer Lifetime Value

Evaluating Database Performance

Recency of purchase
Frequency of purchase
Monetary value of purchase

Privacy
Privacy concerns cover such aspects as cross-referencing data on individuals, access to lists by the unscrupulous and the
issue of unwanted mail
Spamming: sending unsolicited email to large numbers of people with a view to making a sale
One solution is to ask people which product categories if any they would like to receive information about