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MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY

Mar 1S2 Mrs. S. Peeroo

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INTRODUCTION

Marketing can be defined as a social and managerial process by which individuals and

groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and

value with others. So marketing looks at the customer needs and the ability of the

company to satisfy them. Thus, marketing plays a key role in the strategic planning of thecompany. The strategic plan defines the companys overall mission and objectives. Then

the marketer must decide on the marketing mix, which will enable the company to reach

its objectives. We define marketing mix as the set of controllable, tactical marketing tools

that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target market. In simpler

terms the marketing mix is everything the firm can do to influence the demand for its

product. There are 4 variables, which marketers can use and they are known as the 4 Ps:

product, price, place and promotion. A marketing mix means that the business must have

a high-quality product, for sale at a price that is reasonable and at places where people

can easily buy it. Promotion informs customers about the product and tries to encourage

them to buy. In this module we are going to study in detail the 4 th P i.e. promotion.

Promotion means activities that communicate the merits of the product and persuadetarget consumers to buy it. Promotion is also known as Marketing Communications.

The marketing communications mix also known as the promotion mix consists mainly of

tools, which are used to communicate to the customers. They are namely advertising,

sales promotion, direct marketing, personal selling and Public Relations.

Integrated marketing communications can be defined as the strategic choice of elements

of marketing communications, which will influence transactions between an organisation

and its customers effectively and economically. Integrated marketing communications

involves coordinating the various promotional elements and other marketing activities

that communicate with a firms customers. The aim of integrated marketing

communications is to present a consistent image and consistent message to customers.

In this module we are going to learn how to plan a promotional campaign, how to

implement and evaluate the campaign. We will also see the various tools available to

marketers to communicate to their customers.

Definition of Marketing Communications

Promotion can be defined as the coordination of all seller initiated efforts to set up

channels of information and persuasion to sell goods and services or promote an idea.

1. Functions of Marketing CommunicationsIn general terms the purposes of marketing communications are

To inform customers: to provide them with information about the availability of a

product, its contents and its design.

To persuade consumers: to tell them that the product that they have purchased or that

they are about to buy is the best one.

To remind consumers: To tell them that the product that they last used was of that

particular name.


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Without an effective promotional effort, even the best conceived products at the most

attractive prices will hardly attract customers and will stay on the shelves.

Elements of promotional strategy.

Promotional strategy is the process of developing and maintaining a communications mixthat utilizes company resources to their full potential in a way that is competitively

attractive to target markets while contributing to the companys short run and long run

marketing and organizational goals.

Advertising is a paid non-personal communication from an identified sponsor using

mass media to persuade or influence an audience.

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

product or service.

Personal selling can be defined as a personal presentation by the sales force of a firm forthe purpose of making sales and building customer relationships.

Direct marketing consists of direct communications with carefully targeted individual

consumers to obtain an immediate response.

Public Relations: Building good relations with the companys various publics by

obtaining favourable publicity, building up a good corporate image, and handling or

heading off unfavourable rumours, stories and events.

Promotional management: It involves coordinating the promotional mix elements to

develop a controlled, integrated program of effective marketing communications.

Promotion is all those means by which marketers communicate to their target market. To

be able to design the proper promotional mix the marketer must have a sound knowledge

of what promotion can and cannot do and knowledge of the nature of each tool.

Promotion can:

communicate product benefits to consumers

help to increase sales

create awareness and establish favourable attitudes towards new products

help to create brand preference among consumers

help to secure distribution in outletshelp to obtain greater cooperation and support from middlemen

Promotion cannot:

make consumer buy a product for which there is no need perceived

persuade consumers that a product is superior when consumer experience with the

product reveals the opposite.


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influence consumers to pay a higher than reasonable price when there is no greater

value perceived by them.

convince buyers to make extraordinary shopping efforts when competitive products

are readily available at local outlets.

So a promotional strategy no matter how brilliantly conceived, no matter how creatively

executed cannot be expected to overcome fundamental weaknesses in the rest of themarketing strategy.

Impact of the environment on the promotional strategy

Before sending messages to the consumers, the promotional planner must analyze the

different factors that will affect its promotional campaign. These factors are found in the

environment of the company. The environment may facilitate or restrict the success of a

given strategy. The environment is dynamic. The environmental context of promotion

can be viewed at 2 levels depending on the degree of control the company may exercise

over individual factors.

External Environment

The external environment is uncontrollable by the individual company. (PEST)

The macro-environment e.g. Political (and legal) forces, Economic forces, Sociocultural

forces, and Technological forces. These are known as PEST factors.

Political and Legal Factors

The political arena has a huge influence upon the regulation of businesses, and the

spending power of consumers and other businesses. You must consider issues such as:

1.How stable is the political environment?

2.Will government policy influence laws that regulate or tax your business?

3.What is the government's position on marketing ethics?

4. What is the government's policy on the economy?

5. Does the government have a view on culture and religion?

6. Is the government involved in trading agreements such as EU, NAFTA, ASEAN, or

others?

Food Act, Laws and rules concerning advertisements, international relationships

Government legislates on matters such as price controls, equal employment opportunity,safety and health at work, the amount of noise that the product can make e.g. vacuum

cleaner

Governments are large purchasers of goods and services

Governments subsidize firms and industries and they help them survive and prosper.

Governments protect home producers against unfair foreign competition


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Economic Factors

Marketers need to consider the state of a trading economy in the short and long-terms.

This is especially true when planning for international marketing. You need to look at:

1. Interest rates

2. The level of inflation Employment level per capita

3. Long-term prospects for the economy Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, and

so on

recession, inflation, interest rate, growth rate, level of investment., GDP, GNP, monetary

policy, BOP, exchange rate

Sociocultural Factors

The social and cultural influences on business vary from country to country. It is very

important that such factors are considered. Factors include:

1.What is the dominant religion?

2.What are attitudes to foreign products and services?

3.Does language impact upon the diffusion of products onto markets?

4.How much time do consumers have for leisure?

5.What are the roles of men and women within society?

6.How long are the population living? Are the older generations wealthy?

7.Do the population have a strong/weak opinion on green issues?mobile phones, SMS, internet

most women are working so affect door to door selling e.g. AVON

Drought will affect food processors because of inadequate supply

Technological Factors

Technology is vital for competitive advantage, and is a major driver of globalization.

Consider the following points:

1. Does technology allow for products and services to be made more cheaply and to a

better standard of quality?

2.Do the technologies offer consumers and businesses more innovative products and

services such as Internet banking, new generation mobile telephones, etc?

3.How is distribution changed by new technologies e.g. books via the Internet, flight

tickets, auctions, etc?

4.Does technology offer companies a new way to communicate with consumers e.g.

banners, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), etc?


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Introduction of new products: PCs, digital camera, webcam, DVD

Changing ways of doing business email facilitates direct marketing

It shortens the life cycle of products

Operating Environment

The operating environment of the company is semi controllable since actions by the

company can affect or change the key elements within this environment though mostly in

the long run.

It consists of those factors that relate directly to the particular product business of the

company

CompetitorsChanges in the number of competitors, changes in competitive strategy, changes in

product positioning

Direct v/s indirect competitors

Companys goals and objectives

They serve as boundaries or constraints. They are set for the long term.Market share, return on investment, earnings per share, employee turnover

Companys resourcesFinancial resources

Physical resources: plants, equipment

Human resources

COMMUNICATION

The prime aim of marketing communications is to influence consumers buying

behaviour. Because of this marketer need to know how communication works.

Communication is defined as the sharing of meaning.

The communication process

Communication can best be summarized as the transmission of a message from a sender

to a receiver in an understandable manner.

The communication process is the guide toward realizing effective communication. It is

through the communication process that the sharing of a common meaning between the

sender and the receiver takes place. Effective communication leads to understanding.

The communication process is made up of five key components. Those componentsinclude encoding, medium of transmission, decoding, response and feedback. There are

also two other factors in the process, and those two factors are present in the form of the

sender and the receiver. The communication process begins with the sender and ends

with the receiver.

The sender is an individual, group, or organization who initiates the communication.

This source is initially responsible for the success of the message. The sender's


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experiences, attitudes, knowledge, skill, perceptions, and culture influence the message.

"The written words, spoken words, and nonverbal language selected are paramount in

ensuring the receiver interprets the message as intended by the sender". All

communication begins with the sender.

The first step the sender is faced with involves the encoding process. In order to convey

meaning, the sender must begin encoding, which means translating information into a

message in the form of symbols that represent ideas or concepts. This process translates

the ideas or concepts into the coded message that will be communicated. The symbols

can take on numerous forms such as, languages, words, or gestures. These symbols are

used to encode ideas into messages that others can understand.

When encoding a message, the sender has to begin by deciding what he/she wants to

transmit. This decision by the sender is based on what he/she believes about the

receivers knowledge and assumptions, along with what additional information he/she

wants the receiver to have. It is important for the sender to use symbols that are familiar

to the intended receiver. A good way for the sender to improve encoding their message is

to mentally visualize the communication from the receiver's point of view.

To begin transmitting the message, the sender uses some kind of channel (also called a

medium). The channel is the means used to convey the message. Most channels are either

oral or written, but currently visual channels are becoming more common as technology

expands. Common channels include the telephone and a variety of written forms such as

memos, letters, and reports. The effectiveness of the various channels fluctuates

depending on the characteristics of the communication. For example, when immediate

feedback is necessary, oral communication channels are more effective because any

uncertainties can be cleared up on the spot. In a situation where the message must be

delivered to more than a small group of people, written channels are often more effective.

Although in many cases, both oral and written channels should be used because onesupplements the other.

If a sender relays a message through an inappropriate channel, its message may not reach

the right receivers. That is why senders need to keep in mind that selecting the

appropriate channel will greatly assist in the effectiveness of the receiver's understanding.

The sender's decision to utilize either an oral or a written channel for communicating a

message is influenced by several factors. The sender should ask him or herself different

questions, so that they can select the appropriate channel. Is the message urgent? Is

immediate feedback needed? Is documentation or a permanent record required? Is the

content complicated, controversial, or private? Is the message going to someone inside or

outside the organization? What oral and written communication skills does the receiver

possess? Once the sender has answered all of these questions, they will be able to choose

an effective channel.

After the appropriate channel or channels are selected, the message enters the decoding

stage of the communication process. Decoding is conducted by the receiver. Once the

message is received and examined, the stimulus is sent to the brain for interpreting, in

order to assign some type of meaning to it. It is this processing stage that constitutes

decoding. The receiver begins to interpret the symbols sent by the sender, translating the


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message to their own set of experiences in order to make the symbols meaningful.

Successful communication takes place when the receiver correctly interprets the sender's

message.

The receiver is the individual or individuals to whom the message is directed. The extent

to which this person comprehends the message will depend on a number of factors, which

include the following: how much the individual or individuals know about the topic, their

receptivity to the message, and the relationship and trust that exists between sender and

receiver. All interpretations by the receiver are influenced by their experiences, attitudes,

knowledge, skills, perceptions, and culture. It is similar to the sender's relationship with

encoding.

After receiving a message, the receiver responds in some way and signals that response

to the sender. The signal may take the form of a spoken comment, a long sigh, a written

message, a smile, or some other action. "Even a lack of response, is in a sense, a form of

response". Feedback is the final link in the chain of the communication process.

Feedback is the part of the receivers response that the receiver communicates back to the

sender. Without feedback, the sender cannot confirm that the receiver has interpreted themessage correctly.

Feedback is a key component in the communication process because it allows the sender

to evaluate the effectiveness of the message. Feedback ultimately provides an opportunity

for the sender to take corrective action to clarify a misunderstood message. "Feedback

plays an important role by indicating significant communication barriers: differences in

background, different interpretations of words, and differing emotional reactions".

The communication process is the perfect guide toward achieving effective

communication. When followed properly, the process can usually assure that the sender's

message will be understood by the receiver. Although the communication process seems

simple, it in essence is not. Certain barriers present themselves throughout the process.

Those barriers are factors that have a negative impact on the communication process.

Some common barriers include the use of an inappropriate medium (channel), incorrect

grammar, inflammatory words, words that conflict with body language, and technical

jargon. Noise is also another common barrier. Noise can occur during any stage of the

process. Noise essentially is anything that distorts a message by interfering with the

communication process. Noise can take many forms, including a radio playing in the

background, another person trying to enter your conversation, and any other distractions

that prevent the receiver from paying attention.

Noise and Selectivity

The communication process is not carried out in isolation. There are many senders

competing with their messages for the attention of the receiver. As a result there is

considerable noise in the environment and an individual may be bombarded by thousand

messages each day. The task of the sender is to get his message to the receiver but there

are a number of reasons why the target audience may not receive the message.


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Selective attention

A receiver will not notice all the commercial messages that he encounters, so the sender

must design the message in such a way so as to win attention in spite of the surrounding

noise.

Selective distortion

In many cases receivers may change the information received if that information does notfit in with their existing attitudes, beliefs and opinions. People hear what they want to

hear. 2 types of distortion:

Amplification where receivers may add things to the message that are notthere

Levelingwhere the receivers do not notice other things that are there.The task of the sender is to produce a message that is clear, simple and interesting.

Selective recall

A receiver will retain in his permanent memory only a small fraction of the messages that

reach him. The senders aim therefore is to get the message in to the receivers long term

memory.

The three forms of marketing communications systems

Oral communication

Written communication

Audiovisual system

Factors affecting the choice of communication systems

The firms promotional objectives

The budget factor

The proximity of the target audience

The availability of communications infrastructure

The familiarity of the target audience with the system

Cost effectiveness of the technology used

Mass Communication

Mass communication refers to the different media which aim at addressing or

communicating to a large undifferentiated market with a view to providing information to

its members and favouring a commonness of thought, behaviour once the

communications have had an impact or influence on the people.

Word of mouth communication

It is personal communication about a product between target buyers and neighbours,

friends, family members and colleagues.


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Word of mouth is the passing of information by verbal means, especially

recommendations, but also general information, in an informal, person-to-person manner,

rather than by mass media, advertising, organized publication, or traditional marketing.

Word of mouth is typically considered a spoken communication, although web dialogue,

such as blogs, message boards and emails are often now included in the definition.

Word of mouth promotion is highly valued by marketers. It is felt that this form of

communication has valuable source credibility. People are more inclined to believe word

of mouth promotion than more formal forms of promotion because the communicator is

unlikely to have an ulterior motive (i.e. they are not out to sell you something). Also

people tend to believe people that they know.

Word of mouth communication is also known as buzz.

Buzz marketing organizations either pay people, or seek volunteers, to try new brands

and then have agents talk them up among their social networks.

Opinion leaders

They are those people who act as leaders and who can influence other peoples decision

about the purchase of a product or a commodity. These people are members of reference

groups which consist of people having a set of common values and who probably stand

out of the rest.

Opinion leaders appear to exercise a disproportionate influence in forming and shaping

the opinions of other people. These people will then orientate their behaviour towards

that of the reference group.

They are influential because:

They are psychologically receptiveThey are perceived as authoritative

Authoritative role Personality Age Experience Qualification

CONSUMER DECISION MAKING PROCESS

To be able to influence consumer behaviour, a promotional plan must take into account

how purchase decisions are made. Knowledge of the activities and thought processes

Problem

recognition

Information

search

Alternative

evaluation

Purchase

decision

Postpurchase

evaluation


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leading up to and after the act of purchase determines what type of promotion effort is

needed and when it is needed.

High Involvement Process

Low Involvement Process

Characteristics affecting consumer behaviour

Culturalculture, subculture, social class

SocialReference groups, Family, Roles and status

PersonalAge and life cycle stage, Economic situation, Lifestyle, Personality and

self concept

Psychological. -. Motivation, Perception, Learning, Beliefs and Attitudes

Types of buying decision behaviour

HIP LIP

Significant differences between brands

Few differences between brands

Problem recognition/Need recognition

The buyer recognizes a problem or need. The buyer senses a difference between his

actual state and his desired state. Need can be triggered by internal stimuli (hunger, thirst,

sex) or by external stimuli (advertisement, opinion leaders)

Information search

It is the stage where the consumer is aroused to search for more information.

Sources of information:

Problemrecognition

Informationsearch

Alternativeevaluation

Purchasedecision

Postpurchaseevaluation

Problem

recognition

Purchase

decision

Postpurchase

evaluation

Complex

buying

behaviour

Habitual

buying

behaviour

Dissonance -

reducingbuyingbehaviour

Varietyseeking buying

behaviour


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Personal sources: family, friends, neighbours and acquaintances

Commercial sources: advertising, salespeople, packaging and displays

Public sources: mass media and consumer organisations

Experiential sources: handling, examining, using the product e.g. test drive

Evaluation of alternatives

The consumer uses information to evaluate alternative brands in the choice set. The

consumer ranks the brands.

The consumer fact-finding activities help form opinions or attitudes toward alternatives.

An attitude is a summary judgement reflecting a predisposition or feeling. It comes from

beliefs or perceptions formed about a product according to specific attributes known as

evaluative criteria. Beliefs are what the decision-maker considers to be facts about

product performance. The evaluative criteria are those characteristics that a decision-

maker considers relevant and important in judging a product.

Purchase decision

The consumer takes the decision of buying the product.

Post purchase evaluation

Stage in which consumers take further action after purchase based on their satisfaction or

dissatisfaction.

Consumers expectations = products perceived performance satisfaction

Consumers expectations > products perceived performance dissatisfaction

Consumers expectations < products perceived performance delighted

Decision processes

The difference between LIP and HIP stems from the kinds and numbers of activities the

consumer will engage in and the sequence of these activities.

HIP

The decision making process begins with recognition of a problem. The consumer

conducts a search for alternative solutions, evaluates these alternatives, and makes a

choice. Finally, the consumer experiences the outcome of his/her choice.

The process is extensive when an individual views the consequences of a decision as

serious and important. Hoping to avoid the serious consequences of a poor decision, the

consumer commits himself or herself to a high level of personal involvement. Time and

effort are focused on gathering and evaluating all the relevant information. The process of

information gathering and analysis will continue until the decision-maker is satisfied that

additional time and effort will not yield a better decision.


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Implication for promotion

Problem recognition

Problem recognition may arise from within the individual or from prompting by

promotional activity.

The formidable task faced by a salesperson soliciting new business is persuading the

prospective client that a problem exists and needs to be addressed. Unless this is

accomplished, the prospect has no reason to purchase.

Successful Marketing communications require an understanding of the prevalent needs of

the market place. The focus of the communications campaign is to show the consumer

that the product or service promoted addresses a need of some significance

Information search

When the consumer is willing to search for external information, the marketer now has anopportunity to provide information on how its product might solve the consumers

problem.

Alternative evaluation

An understanding of the attitude formation process increases the likelihood of persuasive

communications. Persuasion may come about through control of consumer perceptions

about product performance, and the importance attached to attributes entering in the

evaluation process.

Beliefs about product performance are affected by promotional messages. Favourable

perceptions about product attributes lead to favourable attitudes. (E.g. orange is

fashionable)

Promotion may aim at changing the weight placed on evaluative criteria. (Colour, price,

performance)

Purchase decision

While promotion is traditionally a persuasive activity prior to purchase, it may also be

useful in a purchase decision. For e.g. pop display materials can generate awareness or

reinforce beliefs at the purchase location. Special discount coupons may be the effort that

convinces the consumer that it is the right time to buy.


Dealing with the customer does not stop after the completion of a sale. Where there are

opportunities for repeat sales, ongoing communications may be necessary.

Satisfactions should be reinforced. Dissatisfaction should be reduced or eliminated.


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LIP

In LI decisions, the consequences of quick decision making do not seem to be serious.

The consumer does not expect that additional effort will mean any significant

improvement in the quality of the decision. Many LIPs are similar, and extended

evaluation of competing brands would not identify a significantly better item amongalternatives

The LIP decision process begins with problem recognition. Purchase decision occurs

without conducting any alternative evaluation. The experiences with the purchase

decision provide the basis for formulating an attitude toward a product.

Implication for promotion

Problem recognition

Problem recognition is temporal. It fades quickly from memory because more importantthoughts take its place. The probability of action to fulfill a need diminishes rapidly after

recognition. Unless purchase opportunities occur at the time of problem recognition, it

may be that no action will take place. Since the need is relatively unimportant, one can

postpone action and eventually just forget the need. Thus, advertising for LIP may not

lead directly to purchase. Such advertising will build recognition of product benefits only

after significant repetition.

Marketers can take advantage of a given situation to stimulate problem recognition and

immediate action. Pop displays are effective in attracting attention to a product and aiding

recall of needs for LIPs.

Purchase decision

It is influenced by easily recallable information that an individual has stored in memory.

Recognition of the brand is a key factor in the choice among LIP. Since there is little

importance attached to the product, little or no serious product evaluation takes place.

Consequently, items with distinctive features such as unusual package shapes, eye-

catching colours or memorable brand names have an edge over competitors s products,

since choice is often directed toward the item that comes to mind first.

Advertising is used to create awareness of the product. Sales promotion such as pop and

other merchandising devices is designed to trigger recall of the advertised product. The

availability of the product and the immediate recall of the advertised product combined

lead to purchase.


A favourable attitude influences future product choice but does not ensure that brand

insistence will take place. Difficult to have brand loyalty for LIP as customers stay with

the brand because the consumer simply does not want to spend time looking for better

alternatives.


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Brand switching can easily be triggered by aggressive promotion efforts (coupons,

premiums) to encourage product trial.

Promotional effort:

Maintain or build top of mind awareness Vigilant about the promotional activities of competitors to avoid brand switching.

Brand switching from competitors product to marketers product.

Characteristics affecting consumer behaviour

Consumer purchases are influenced strongly by cultural, social, personal and

psychological characteristics. Marketers cannot control these factors but must take them

into account.

Cultural factors

Culture: The set of basic values, perceptions, wants, and behaviours learned by amember of society from family and other important institutions.

Subculture: A group of people with shared value systems based on common life

experiences and situations.

Social class: Relatively permanent and ordered divisions in a society whose

members share similar values, interests and behaviours.

Social factors

Group: 2 or more people who interact to accomplish individual or mutual goals.

Family

Roles and status: persons position in each group and status is the general esteemgiven to it by society.

Personal factors

Age and family life cycle

Occupation

Economic situation

Lifestyle: a persons pattern of living as expressed in his or her activities, interests

and opinions.

Psychological factors

Motive: a need that is sufficiently pressing to direct the person to seek satisfaction

of the need.

Perception: The process by which people select, organize, and interpret

information to form a meaningful picture of the world.

Perception depends on selective attention, selective distortion, and selective

retention.

Learning: Changes in an individuals behaviour arising from experience.


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Belief: A descriptive thought that a person holds about something.

Attitude: A persons consistently favourable or unfavorable evaluations, feelings,

and tendencies toward an object or idea.

Types of buying decision behaviour

Complex buying behaviour: consumer-buying behaviour in situations characterised by

high consumer involvement in a purchase and significant perceived differences among

brands.

Dissonance reducing behaviour: consumer-buying behaviour in situations characterised

by high involvement but few perceived differences among brands.

Habitual buying behaviour: consumer-buying behaviour in situations characterised by

low consumer involvement and few significant perceived brand differences.

Variety seeking buying behaviour: consumer-buying behaviour in situations

characterised by low consumer involvement but significant perceived brand differences.

Impact of culture on promotion

Culture: The set of basic values, perceptions, wants, and behaviours learned by a member

of society from family and other important institutions. Whilst on the surface most

countries of the world demonstrate cultural similarities, there are many differences,

hidden below the surface. One can talk about "the West", but Italians and English, both

belonging to the so called "West", are very different in outlook when one looks below the

surface. The task of the global marketer is to find the similarities and differences inculture and account for these in designing and developing marketing plans. Failure to do

so can be disastrous. Culture also reveals itself in many ways and in preferences for

colours, styles, religion, family ties and so on. The colour red is very popular in the west,

but not popular in Islamic countries, where sober colours like black are preferred. The

major elements of culture are material culture, language, aesthetics, education, religion,

attitudes and values and social organisation. Language reflects the nature and values of

society. Language can cause communication problems - especially in the use of media or

written material. Values often have a religious foundation, and attitudes relate to

economic activities. It is essential to ascertain attitudes towards marketing activities

which lead to wealth or material gain, for example, in Buddhist society these may not be

relevant.

Therefore the marketing communications planner must be very careful when designing

the message to send to the customers so as not to offend them.

A joke : A disappointed salesman of Coca Cola returns from his Middle East (Dubai)

assignment.

A friend asked, "Why weren't you successful with the Arabs?"


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The salesman explained, "When I got posted in Dubai, I was very confident that I will

make a good sales pitch as Cola is virtually unknown there. But, I had a problem; I didn't

know to speak Arabic. So, I planned to convey the message through 3 posters. First

poster: a man crawling through the hot desert sand, totally exhausted and fainting.

Second, the man is drinking our Cola and third, our man is now totally refreshed. Then

these posters were pasted all over the place.""That should have worked," said the friend.

The salesman replied, "Well, not only did I not speak Arabic, I also didn't realize that

Arabs read from right to left..."

MARKETING COMMMUNICATIONS PLANNING

To have an effective campaign, the promotion planner must know whom to contact and

what to say to them. There are 3 related activities critical to the planning of a promotion

campaign: Market segmentation, target selection, and product positioning.

Market segmentation

It is the partitioning of a large market with diverse needs and wants into sub markets or

segments. These segments consist of individuals with similar needs and wants.

Criteria when segmenting a market

A relatively distinctive behaviour characterizes each group.

One may describe each group by referring to measurable and understandable

dimensions.

Marketplace potential achieves reality when the marketer is able to locate and

communicate with the consumers. The marketer needs a profile of the target group.

Without a clear idea of who is a qualified prospect and who is not, the marketers

message may be wasted on individuals who have little or no interest in the product

The market potential has an appropriate size.

Segments should define groups having sufficient demand to justify marketing effort.

A groups demand emerges from population size and its purchasing power.

There is a means of communicating with the segment.

The marketer must discover effective and efficient means for communicating with

that segment.

Target market selection

After segmenting the market, the marketer has to decide on which segment the marketing

effort will be concentrated.

Target market selection is the result of assessing the identified segments as to their

potentials for the achievement of marketing and corporate goals.


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4 factors that influence the choice of the target market:

1. Determining the appropriate effortEffective segmentation identifies segments with different response tendencies. A

marketer must consider each segments potential with a specific marketing effort.

For e.g. in the toothpaste market there are 2 segments : decay prevention segment andeconomy segment. For the 1st

segment the message should concentrate on the product

benefit of decay prevention by creating awareness of the products decay prevention

attributes. The other segment will respond to a campaign promising product value. The

delivery of a message to each group may call for the use of different media.

To know which effort will be more appropriate, research and analysis is conducted.

2. Assessment of the costsDifferent marketing efforts require different budgets. If a segment can be tapped/reached

with pop materials, the cost to the marketer will be much less than the cost of a campaign

directed to a segment that can be reached only with national prime time TV ads. Themarketer must define the cost of the efforts necessary to produce the desired market

response from a segment.

3. Analysis of the competitive environmentThe evaluation focuses on the no of competitors selling to a market, the market share, the

degree of loyalty that competitors establish within the segment. Lots of competitors but

no market leader, a new supplier will enter the market. If 1 supplier dominates the

market, another supplier may enter the market if research shows customers will switch

brands.

4. Projection of performanceThe assessment of the competitive environment together with the identification of the

cost and effort needed to penetrate a segment help to predict accomplishment. The

projected achievements can be expressed in the form of sales, market share, profitability,

or some combination. If one projects that, a segment will meet or exceed established

goals for sales, market share, or profitability, then the company selects that segment.

Product positioning

If a customer buys a product it implies that the product by itself is appealing to the

customer and also more appealing than competitors products.

Product positioning analysis determines the product image-the impression of a product

held in a consumers mind- that one wants to communicate to the target market. This

image, if it is appealing and distinctive, occupies a place or niche in the mind and has a

strong influence when a product choice occurs. PC IBM


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The product positioning decision is especially important for promotional strategy.

Promotion communicates ideas, and these ideas in turn influence market response. The

basic message idea about the product depends on the product image, those impressions

about the promoted product that influence choice. Positive, distinctive impressions about

a product increase the chances of its selection. The message that the promotional planner

will send to customers depend on the positioning of the product. It will be that messagethat will create an image in the mind of customers.

Types of positioning

1. Product attribute imagesMany brands appeal to consumers because of benefits that stem directly from product

features. The promotion message concentrates on the consumer gains resulting from

product performance.

2.

Images based on symbolism

When there are no significant differences between products, the position arises from

broad symbolism rather than product performance.

3. Direct competitive positioningIn a highly competitive setting a product may not be successful simply by being

distinctive. It may have to convince consumers explicitly that it has adv over competitors

product. E.g. 7up is an uncola.

PROMOTIONAL PLANNING PROCESS

Promotional management involves coordinating the promotional mix elements to

develop a controlled, integrated program of effective Marketing communications .

A promotional plan provides the framework for developing , implementing, and

controlling the organizations integrated Marketing communications programs and

activities.

Promotional planners must decide on the role and function of the specific elements of the

promotion mix, develop strategies for each element, and implement the plan.

Promotion is only one part of the overall marketing plan and program and should be

integrated into it.

Review of marketing plan

Before developing a promotional plan, marketers must understand where the company

has been, its current position in the market, where it intends to go, and how it plans to get

there.

A marketing plan describes the overall marketing strategy and programs developed for an

organization. There are 5 basic elements:


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Situation analysis (internal marketing audit, external analysis of the market

competition and environmental factors).

Specific marketing objectives

Marketing strategy

Implementation of marketing strategy

Process for monitoring and evaluating performance and controlling programPromotional plan is an integral component of the marketing strategy.

Promotion plan uses the detailed information of the marketing plan.

Promotional program situation analysis

Internal analysis

Assesses the relevant areas involving the product offering and the firm itself.

Capabilities of the firm and its ability to develop and implement a successful

promotional program

The organisation of the promotional department

Review of the successes and failures of past programs

Advantages and disadvantages of performing the program in house v/s advertising

agenciesStrengths and weaknesses of the firms from an image perspective

Adv and disadvantages of the product

Any unique selling points

External analysis

Focuses on such factors such as characteristics of the firms cu stomers, market segments,

positioning strategies and competitors

Customer analysis: customers characteristics and buying patterns and decision process

Customers perceptions, attitudes and lifestyles.

Market analysis

Attractiveness of various market segments and selection of target market

How should the product be positioned i.e. what image or place should it have inconsumers minds

Competitive analysis

Focus is on competitors promotional strategy

Strengths and weaknesses, segmentation targeting and positioning strategies, promotional

strategies, their budget, media strategies and messages they are sending to the market

place.

Analysis of the communication process

How can the company effectively communicate with its target market?

Consumer decision making process: HIP v/s LIP

Which media to use?What are the communications objectives? Awareness, knowledge about benefits of a

product, creating an image, developing favourable attitudes, preferences or purchase

intentions.

Budget determination

What will the promotional program cost?

How will the budget be allocated?


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At this stage the budget determination is only tentative, it may not be finalized until

specific promotional mix strategies are developed.

Develop the Integrated Marketing Communications Program

Decisions have to be made regarding the role and importance of each element and their

coordination with one another.

Each promotional mix element has its own set of objectives and a budget and a strategy

for meeting them. Decisions must be made and activities performed o implement the

promotional programs. Procedures must be developed for evaluating performance and

making any necessary changes

Monitoring evaluation and controlIt is important to determine how well the promotional program is meeting

communications objectives and helping the firm accomplish its overall marketing

strategies. The manager must know the reasons in order to take the right steps to correct

the program.


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Examine overall marketing plan and objectivesRole of advertising and promotions

Competitive analysis

Assess environmental influences

Analysis of promotional situation analysisInternal analysis

Promotional department organisation

Firms ability to implement promotional

program

Agency evaluation and selection

Review of previous program results

External analysisConsumer behaviour analysis

Market segmentation and target marketing

Market positioning

Analysis of communications process

Analyze receivers response processes

Analyze source, message, channel factors

Establish communications goals and objectives

Budget determinationSet tentative Marketing communications budgetAllocate tentative budget

Develop IMC program

AdvertisingSet advertising objectives

Determine advertising budget

Develop message strategies

Develop media strategies

Direct marketing

Set direct marketing objectives

Determine direct marketing budget

Develop direct marketing strategies

Sales promotion

Set sales promotion objectivesDetermine sales promotion budget

Develop sales promotion strategies

Public relations

Set public relations objectivesDetermine public relations budget

Develop public relations strategies

Personal Selling

Set personal selling objectives

Determine personal selling budget

Develop selling roles and responsibilities

Integrate and implement marketing communications strategies

Integrate promotional mix elementsCreate and produce ads

Purchase media time and space

Design and implement direct marketing programs

Design and distribute sales promotion materials

Design and implement public relations program

Monitor, evaluate, and control integrated marketing communications program

Evaluate promotional program results/effectiveness

Take measures to control and adjust promotional strategies


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Directmarketing

ob ectives


Promotional situation analysis

Analysis of communications process

Budget determination

Develop Integrated marketing communications program

Integrate and implement marketing communications strategies

Monitor, evaluate and control integrated marketing communications

Advertising Direct marketing Sales promotion Public relations Personal selling

Advertisingobjectives

Salespromotion

ob ectives

Publicrelations

ob ectives

Personalselling

ob ectives

Message

strategy

Direct

marketingstrate

Sales

promotionstrate

Public

relationsstrate

Personal

sellingstrate

Mediastrategy


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EVALUATION AND CONTROL

Objectives

The task of setting objectives must be done properly, because specific goals and

objectives are the foundation on which all other promotional decisions are made.

Budgeting for advertising and the other tools, as well as creative and media strategies and

tactics, evolve from these objectives. They also provide a standard against performance

can be measured.

Objectives are the goals that the company wishes to achieve.

Objectives are important because

Facilitate the coordination of the various groups working on the campaign i.e.company and advertising agency, Public Relations firms.

All the parities must know what the company hopes to accomplish through its

Marketing communications program. (communications)

Guide the development of the integrated marketing communications plan (planning).All phases of a firms promotional strategy should be based on established objectives.

Objectives are also a guide for decision making. Choices should be based on how

well a particular strategy matches the firms promotional objectives. (decision)

Provide a benchmark against which success or failure of the promotional campaigncan be measured. (measurement and evaluation of results)

Integrated marketing communications objectives should be based on a thorough situation

analysis that identifies the marketing and promotional issues facing the company.

Promotional objectives evolve from the companys overall market ing plan and are rooted

in its marketing objectives.

Marketing objectivesare stated in the firms marketing plan and are statements of what

is to be accomplished by the overall marketing program within a given time period. (sales

volume, market share, profits, return on investment).

Promotional objectives/Marketing communications objectives are stated in the firms

promotional plan and are statements of what is to be accomplished by the promotional

plan within a given time period.

Promotional objectives help to achieve the marketing objectives.

Examples:

To increase awareness.

To position the product as the best value for money deal.To change beliefs of customers.

To change attitudes of customers.

To encourage trial of the product.

To create interest in the product.

To arouse desire for the product.

To trigger action by the customer.


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Characteristics of objectives

Objectives should be SMART

Specific specific end results

Measurable must be quantified wherever possible and can be measuredAchievable should be realistic

Relevant should be in line with the overall marketing strategy

Timed and targeted within a timeframe and should target particular customers

For e.g. Create awareness of the product among non-users by 20% within 6 months.

Ways of generating promotional objectives

The individual elements of one the communication models should be considered.

AwarenessInterest

Desire

Action

Budget

Once the objectives are set the promotional planner must see how much the campaign

will cost and how much the company is willing to spend on the campaign.

There are different methods, which are used to calculate the amount of money to be spent

on the integrated marketing communications program.

Same as last time method SALTThis method produces an expenditure level that is the same as the previous budget period,

subject only to adjustments for special circumstances such as product introductions or

special promotional activities.

Yr. 1 budget Rs 500 000.

Cost of introducing new product Rs 100 000

Yr. 2 budget = 500 000 + 100 000 = Rs 600 000

Percentage of sales methodIt is a percentage of the forecasted sales. The historical percentage is calculated by taking

the previous periods ratio of promotional expenditure to sales.

All that can be afforded methodThis method is based on current financial circumstances The company allocates the fund

that is left to promotional activities. It is calculated as follows:

revenueexpensesprofit = amount to be spent on promotion.

Competitive parity method

With this method, the promotional planner will find out how much competitors are

spending and they would allocate the same amount for their budget.


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Objective and task methodThe promotional planner establishes specific goals and objectives for the promotional

effort for the period. Once these have been determined, management defines the actions

necessary to achieve these tasks. Then the promotional planner allocates a cost to each

task. The sum of these costs is the amount that should be allocated as promotional

budget.

Evaluation and Control

To ensure an effective and efficient promotional effort the promotional planner should

concentrate on the evaluation of performance and the exercise of necessary control. Good

promotional management will detect problems as soon as possible and will identify the

appropriate corrective action. Promotional campaigns can be very expensive in time and

money and it is much less costly to prevent major problems than to remedy those

problems after the fact.

The value of a campaign is its ability to improve the companys competitive position. Toestimate the value of a campaign, evaluation procedures must consider past efforts and

performance and conclude whether or not the most recent campaign has contributed to

the improvement of the companys position.

A complete evaluation of performance considers not only how an organisation is doing

relative to its own past but also how it is doing compared with its competitors.

Goals of an evaluation and control system

1. To determine what has occurred, is occurring and will occur during the course of thecampaign

To give a true picture of activity taking place as a result of the promotional effort. The

system seeks to monitor the performance and provide an accurate picture of what has

happened, is happening and will probably happen in the market place because of the

organisations communications efforts.

2. To measure the quality of the occurrencesThe evaluation system must make a statement of the worth of the promotional

performance i.e. whether the performance is a good one or not.

3. To identify appropriate courses of action.Following the judgement of the performance, a corresponding action will be identified.

There must be an action after getting the judgement on the results of the promotional

effort. The basic objective of the control system is to provide clear signals of necessary

actions to ensure that the promotion program is on the right track.


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Characteristics of an effective evaluation and control system

1. It incorporates into its evaluation and control procedures the objectives of thepromotion.

The performance of the campaign is judged against the objectives of the campaign.

Therefore the objectives act as a benchmark for evaluating the program. Objectivesshould be SMART to enable a good judgement of the performance.

E.g. increase in awareness level. If not precise then 3% may be good for someone or

disappointing for someone else.

2. It measures areas of performance critical to the success or failure of the program.It is not economically feasible to track all possible results in the market place. Most of

those factors will have no impact on the overall success or failure of the program. An

effective evaluation system uses its financial and human resources efficiently by

concentrating on the relevant rather than the trivial determinants of promotion

performance.

3. It has the capacity to either initiate the necessary control action itself or provideindications as to the nature of those actions.

A good control system minimises the amount of time between analysing a situation and

effecting the appropriate actions. As more time passes between the recognition of an

opportunity or problem situation and the taking of appropriate action the cost goes up.

An evaluation and control system is a process. The process consists of stages of

activities that occur sequentially or simultaneously.

Steps

1. Defining the promotional effortThe marketers principal objective is to find true indicators of promotional effort. The

manager needs a measure or a set of measures that accurately reflects the work actually

done with the 5 tools.

expenditures

the amount of money spent. It facilitates the comparison of effort levels across

promotional elements. e.g. 100000 advertising and 200000 personal selling therefore 2

times more effort on ps.

activity by medium

Communication activity may be a more desirable measure of communications effort than

just expenditures. Activity means the type of work being done, the type of services being

employed, and the amount of such work and services for e.g. advertising on TV no of

gross rating points purchased, personal selling number of calls per day, sales promotion

number of samples distributed.

use of multiple measures of effort

A combination of the above measures is a better way of defining the promotional effort.

2. Selecting performance measuresWe need a precise knowledge of what has happened among the target audience.

Performance measures are measures of communication and persuasion effects.


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A promotion program is directed towards a defined specific audience with the intent of

causing a specific response. The statement of the programs objectives reflect this; the

objectives identify who is to be reached and what is to be the response (awareness,

comprehension, conviction or purchase). Therefore the measurement of performance

should be based on the goals.

Specific performance measures1. Audience analysis to determine whether the campaign has reached theintended audience.

2. Awareness measures to determine the degree of knowledge of the sellersofferings by the audience. (unaided recall measures and aided recall measures)

3. Comprehension measures to determine the amount of attention that theaudience devoted to the promotional message.

4. Conviction measures to determine the judgements or conclusions that peopledraw from information.

5. Intentions measures to determine what a person or organisation expects to dowithin a given time.

6.

Purchase measures to determine the events that are taking place in themarketplace.

3. Establishing standardsA company derives the expectations of performance principally from the statement of

objectives. If projected conditions are similar to the actual conditions of operation, then

the objectives must be the standards on which to judge performance.

4. Comparing performance with standardsThe marketer must determine the direction and magnitude of the difference between

expectation and performance.

performance > expectation good

performance < expectation bad

We should determine whether there are significant differences, differences that exceed

acceptable limits. It is necessary to establish decision rules to define the tolerable limits

of deviation.

5. Executing appropriate actionThe control system identifies activities necessary to ensure that the program

accomplishes its ultimate objectives.

No action

(i) When there is no significant deviation of actual performance from establishedgoals.

(ii) No action is taken in cases of differences when the manager concludes that such adeviation is only temporary.

(iii) No action is taken if the cost of action outweighs the projected gains in therelevant period.

Remedial/corrective action

Addresses those areas where there are undesirable results.

Preventive action


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Preventive actions do not address any immediate deficiencies in the program. Their

purpose is to check a problem before it has developed.

Preventive actions are less costly to the company than remedial actions.

The evaluation and control process

No corrective Consider No corrective Undertake Lower Take corrective

action raising action preventive expectation action

Standards action forfuture

More intensive Differenteffort effort

Define the promotional effort under evaluation Type of effort (national television, regional magazine coverage,

coupons) Intensity of effort (by expenditure levels, or by activity for e.g.

number of product samples distributed)

Identify relevant measures and standardsBased largely on promotional objectives set before the campaign

Compare performance with standards

Execute appropriate action

Performance betterthan expectations

Performance equal toexpectations

Performance less thanexpectations


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ADVERTISINGDefinition

Advertising is a paid non-personal communication from an identified sponsor using mass

media to persuade or influence an audience.

1. Types of advertising1.1 Brand advertising

Focuses on the development of a long term brand identity and image. It tries to

develop a distinctive brand image e.g. Coca Cola

1.2 Retail advertisingFocuses on the store where a variety of products can be purchased. The message

announces products that are available locally, tries to develop a distinctive image

for the store e.g. Spar

1.3 Political advertisingUsed by politicians to persuade people to vote for them

1.4 Directory advertisingHelps people to find out how to buy a product or service e.g. yellow pages

1.5 Direct response advertisingIt may use any medium including direct mail. It tries to stimulate a sale directly.

The consumer can respond by telephone or mail and the product is delivered.

1.6 Business to business advertisingIncludes messages directed at retailers, wholesalers, distributors and professionals

(lawyers). It tends to be concentrated in business publications or professional

journals.

1.7 Institutional advertising/Corporate advertisingThe focus of this message is on establishing a corporate identity.

1.8 Public service advertisingCommunicates a message on behalf of some good cause e.g. stopping drunk

driving. These ads are created for free by advertising professionals and the space

and time are donated by the media.

2. Roles of advertising2.1 Marketing role

Helps satisfy customer needs.

2.2

Communication roleProvides information that helps match buyers and sellers in the market place.

2.3 Economic roleMarket power school: advertising is a persuasive communication tool used by

marketers to distract consumers attention from the price of the product.

Market competition school: advertising is a source of information that increases

consumers price sensitivity and stimulates competition.


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2.4 Societal roleInforms us about new and improved products and teaches us how to use these

innovations. It helps us compare products and features. It mirrors fashion.

3.

Functions of advertising

There are 2 basic functions that advertising attempts to do: institutional advertising and

product advertising

3.1 Institutional advertisingIt is designed to create a positive attitude toward the seller. The intent is to promote the sponsoringorganisation rather than the products it sells.

3.2 Product AdvertisingIt aims to inform or to stimulate the market about the sponsors product. The

intent is clearly to sell a particular product to the exclusion of competitorsproduct.

It can be classified as follows:

3.2.1 Direct action advertising v/s Indirect action advertisingDirect action advertising is intended to produce a quick response e.g. ads with

expiry date.Indirect action advertisingis designed to stimulate demand over a longer period of time. These ads

inform customers that the product exists, indicate its benefits, state where it can be purchased, remind

customers to repurchase and reinforce this decision.

3.2.2 Primary advertising v/s Selective advertisingPrimary advertisingaims to promote demand for a generic product e.g. chickenSelective advertisingattempts to create demand for a particular brand

3.2.3 Commercial advertising and Non commercial advertisingCommercial advertisingpromotes a product with the intent of making a profit.

Non commercial advertising tends to be sponsored by organisations that are not in

business to make money e.g. charity organisations

4. Overview of advertising managementAdvertising management entails analysis, planning, implementation and control activities

directed towards objectives, budgets, message development and media decision.

Set objectives

Estimate budget

Devise advertising strategy

Implement advertising plan

Evaluate advertising program


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ADVERTISING MANAGEMENT

1. The advertising objectivesAn advertising objective is a specific communication task to be accomplished with a

specific target audience during a specific period of time.

Steps to achieve effective communications:

Identify target audience

The audience will affect the decisions on what will be said, how it will be said, where

it will be said and who will say it.

Determine communications objectives i.e. what is the response sought

Final response is purchase. The communicator needs to identify in which stage the

target audience is and to which stage the target audience will be after the message.

Design a message (message content, message structure, message format)

The message should get attentionThe message should hold interest

The message should arouse desire

The message should obtain action

Message content (what to say)

The communicator has to figure out an appeal or theme. There are 3 appeals

Rational appealsrelate to the audiences self interest.

Emotional appealsattempt to stir up positive or negative emotions.

Moral appealsare directed to the audiences sense ofwhat is right and proper.

Message structure (how to say the message)

3 message structure issuesShould the message draw a conclusion or leave it to the audience?

Should the message present only a one sided argument or should it also admit

its shortcomings?

Should the message present the strongest arguments first or last?

Message format (how to say the message)

Depends on the media chosen. The communicator has to decide for

Print media: headline, copy, illustration and colour.

Radio: words, sounds and voices.

TV: all previous elements and body language.

Choose media

2 main types of channel of communications:Personal channel of communications

Non-personal channel of communications

Collect feedback

Market research


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Purpose/Aim of advertising:

Informative advertisingaim is to build primary demand. Persuasive advertisingaim is to build selective demand Reminder advertisingaim is to keep consumers thinking of the product2. The advertising budget Affordable method % of sales method Competitive parity method Objective and task method Same as last time methodFactors to be considered when setting advertising budget

Stage in product life cycleNew products typically need large advertising budgets as a ratio to sales than do low

market share brands to build awareness and gain consumer trial. Mature brands

usually require lower budgets as a ratio to sales.

Market shareHigh market share brands usually need more advertising spending as a percentage of

sales than do low market share brands. Building the market or taking share from

competitors requires larger advertising spending than does simply maintaining current

share.

Competition and clutterIn a market with many competitors and high advertising spending, a brand must be

advertised more heavily to be noticed above the noise in the market.

Advertising frequencyWhen many repetitions are needed to present the brands message to consumers, the

advertising budget must be larger.

Product differentiationA brand that closely resembles other brands in its product class requires heavy

advertising to set it apart. When the product differs greatly from competitors,

advertising can be used to point out the differences to consumers.

The advertising strategy

2 major elements:

1. Creating advertising messages2. Selecting advertising media


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Creating advertising messages

The message of an advertisement is the impression that the advertiser wants to leave in

the audiences mind.

Distinction between LIP and HIP will determine the content of the message and the

amount of information to be given

Message determinants:

Target audience

The advertiser should focus on the group with which he wishes to communicate. The

developers of the message should understand the target audience thoroughly.

Knowledge of the audiences decision process gives the advertiser an idea of the

opportunities for advertising to influence product choice.

Product

The distinction here is whether the product is HIP or LIP

LIPs are those products for which consumers will buy without paying attention to the

information given. In fact the consumer does not require any information on theproduct to convince him to buy the product. The customers are familiar with the

brand. So the message can be simple and memorable. The low involvement decision

maker may find interest in the central values Attention is paid to an ad because of

interest in the ad setting rather than in the product. The good feeling evoked by the admay then carry over to the product. The ad will be full of imagery.

HIPs are those products which customers will buy only if the information provided

has convinced them. Product choice in a high involvement decision depends on

attitudes formed through the processing of information. The theme for these products

tends to be more complex. Advertisements promoting HIPs are more likely to

influence market place decisions by stressing product attributes. The decision maker

needs, wants and is very interested in product information so as to make a correctselection. For HIPs the message should present appealing information on product

attributes. The advertiser must understand the important features of the product.

Proper presentation of the product requires comprehension of what it does and how it

does what it does. The product features are the springboard of message ideas. Themessage should concentrate on benefit that can come from these features.

The development of ads across consumer decisions differs in the balance between

stress on product attributes and stress on advertising mood. The graph on the next

page suggests that mood and product information are basic elements in

advertisements.


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High

Imagery

Product attributes

Low High

Degree of consumer involvement with product

Competitive positioning

In a competitive environment the audience is exposed to hundreds of messages daily.

The audience cannot remember all messages. As a result selective attention and

selective retention occurs.Positioning is important in a competitive environment. To have a good positioning

the advertiser has to point out the benefits considered desirable by the target audience

but more importantly benefits considered superior to those of competitors. The

advertising message should present an image sufficiently distinctive to be

remembered by the consumer. The product should occupy a unique place in the

audiences mind so that when a choice has to be made, the advertised product comes

up quickly and in a favourable light.

Approaches to a message

Effective communication results not only from what an ad says but also from how it saysit i.e. the tone used or the manner of presentation. There are several approaches.

Informative approachThe audience receives an objective statement of facts or evidence. This approachis successful if the audience is actively seeking information from the advertiser,the assessment of facts is straightforward for the audience and the judgement isfavourable to the advertiser.

Relative

Stress of

advertisingmood


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Argument approach (reason why)

It presents not only facts but also judgements or evaluation of facts. This approachis desirable in a situation in which the benefits from the features are not thatobvious to the reader and that the advertiser cannot be reasonably confident thatthe receiver will deduce those benefits. This is the case for innovative products.

This approach is appropriate for high involvement decisions where the consumerwants to evaluate the information, so here the advertiser guides the evaluation.

Psychological appealIn this approach, emphasis on product attributes is secondary. Emphasis will beon emotions, the mood that the ads settings convey. It is believed that an adsinfluence on the audience is more likely through an emotion appeal than throughan objective rational highlighting of product features. (Low involvement product)

Repeated assertionThe basic message is usually very simple and appears repeatedly throughout theads in words, graphics and sounds. This approach is appropriate where thefrequency of the message idea is more apt to influence consumers than is the

substance of the message particularly with LIP.

Command approachIt explicitly states the course of action the audience is expected to undertake andleaves no question as to what that is. Take a break, have a kitkat. This approach

promotes familiar products or services where the directed behaviour is appealingand acceptable.

Symbolic associationAn ads message draws upon connotations from its association with a symbol.The aim is to trigger ideas through the use of a symbol, word, illustration, person,music. With symbolic association, the advertiser must be certain that a link doesindeed exist between the symbol and ideas. The use of symbols to present amessage generally occurs with reminder advertising for familiar products.Symbols are frequently used for LIP where easy product recall is important forthe sale.

Imitation approachAssumes that the principal motivation for behaviour is the desire to associate witha person or group. This approach often appears in ads containing endorsements ortestimonials from presumably admirable individuals and this approach assumesthat there is social influence on the consumer decision.

The message strategy

The first step in creating effective advertising messages is to plan a message strategy

which will determine what general message will be communicated to consumers. Thepurpose of advertising is to get consumers to think about a product in a certain way.

People will react only if they believe that they will benefit from doing so. In the search

for benefits to features, many creative people start by talking to consumers, dealers,

experts and competitors or others put themselves in the place of consumers and try to

figure out the benefits consumers seek.


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Message strategy statements tend to be plain, straightforward outlines of benefits and

positioning points that the advertiser wants to stress. These strategy statements must be

turned into advertisements that will persuade consumers to buy or to believe something.

The advertiser then must develop a compelling creative concept or big idea that will

bring the message strategy to life in a distinctive and memorable way. A creative concept

must have relevance, originality and impact. At this stage, simple message ideas becomegreat advertisement campaigns.

All agencies have copywriters and art directors who are responsible for dreaming up the

creative concept and crafting the execution.

The concept may come to mind as a visual, a phrase or a thought that uses both visual

and verbal expression. The creative concept will guide the choice of specific appeal to be

used in an advertisement campaign. Advertising appeals should have 3 characteristics:

Meaningful pointing out benefits that make the product more desirable to

consumers

Believable consumers must believe that the product will deliver thepromised benefits

Distinctive they would tell how the product is better than the competing

brands

For e.g. a watch is expected to give accurate time, but advertisers cannot tell this to

customers!!! Therefore advertisers use themes.

SWATCHstyle and fashion ROLEXluxury and statusThe creative concept then becomes the springboard for the execution of the

advertisement.

The message execution

The word execution refers to all the details & decisions involved in production of the

advertisement. The impact of the message depends not only on what is said but also how

it is said. The creative people must find the best technique, style, tone and format for

executing the message.

TechniqueThere are 2 basic literary techniques: lecture and drama

1. LectureA lecture is a serious structured instruction given verbally to present

knowledge and facts. Lectures are a form of direct address,. The speaker

addresses the audience form the TV or written page and the audience receives

the message at a distance. The speaker presents evidence and employs such

techniques as an argument to persuade the audience.

Advantages

Cost less to produce More compact and efficient


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Get right to the pointDisadvantages

Audience often becomes distracted by other matters

Audience makes fun of the source

Audience disputes every point

These responses dilute or even cancel the message the advertiserwants to convey

2. DramaA drama is a story or play built around characters in some situation. A drama

is a form of indirect address like a movie or a play. In a drama the characters

speak to each other and not the audience. The audience is just an

eavesdropper. Advertising dramas are essentially stories about how the

world works. Viewers learn from these commercial dramas by inferring

lessons from them and by applying those lessons by their everyday lives. A

commercial drama can be very powerful as the viewer gets involved in the

story development. The drama should be inherent to the product. From the

viewers perspective conclusions drawn from dramas are their own, whereasconclusions urged in lectures are ideas that other people are trying to impose

on them.

Many TV ads combine lecture and drama. One common format begins as a drama, which

is then interrupted by a short lecture from the announcer, after which the drama

concludes.

Styleo Straight forward factual message the advertisement usually conveys

information. Such ads are rational rather than emotional

o Demonstration and comparisono Problem solutionalso known as product as hero technique. The messagebegins with some problem and the product is presented as the solution to

that problem.

o Slice of life shows one or more typical people using the product in anormal setting.

o Life styleshows how a product fits in with a particular lifestyle.o Fantasycreates 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 Musicalshows one or more people or cartoon characters singing a songabout the product.

o Personality symbol creates either an animated or real character thatrepresents the product.

o Technical expertise shows the companys expertise in making theproduct.

o Scientific evidencepresents survey or scientific evidence that the brandis better or better liked than one or more other brands.


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o Testimonial evidence features a highly believable or likable sourceendorsing the product.

ToneThe advertiser must also choose a tone for the ad. Message tone reflects the emotion

or attitude behind the ad. Ads can be funny, serious, sad, fearful. The advertiser mustuse memorable and attention getting words in the ad The uncola has more impact

than 7up is not a cola.

FormatFormat elements make a difference on an ads impact as well as its cost. The

illustration is the first thing the reader notices, it must be strong to draw attention. The

headline must attract the right people to read the copy. The copy must be simple but

strong and convincing. These 3 elements must work effectively together.

Selecting advertising media

4 major steps in media selection

Deciding on reach, frequency and impact

To select media, the advertiser must decide what reach and frequency are needed to

achieve advertising objectives.

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

Impactis the qualitative value o

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