Understanding the Functions of Marketing and PR

Use this work book to help you explain the functions of marketing and public relations.

You should ensure you use additional examples to support your explanations.

Marketing

Explain what market research is, how it can be carried out and why it could be important. Market research is generally very important to a lot of companies/organizations – this is because it gives companies important information in relation to things such as: market need, size and competition. Without this, it would be quite difficult for a company to be competitive with others that aim for the same or similar target audience/market, thus meaning that market research ensures the company maintains a good level of competitiveness, which in turn will keep it thriving. Market research is an organized effort to collect information on markets or customers/consumers – this is done to gain insight and keep the company moving forward and up to date, also ensuring that it doesn’t crash and burn, also ensures they’re aware of what the market/audience needs/wants so they can make changes that apply to them – also keeps an eye on other companies/competition so they can stay up to date and produce products that are on par with rivals. The way that market research is usually carried out can vary; there are a few different methods when it comes to the gathering and dissection of information on people or organizations, whether that be statistical or analytical methods, such as: Secondary Market Research which is using existing research/data to answer questions, this is often free and easy to find, depending on how easy it is to find existing research that could be applied to the project at hand; it can be as simple as twitter responses. There are more common methods which are generally primary research, such as: Surveys, Focus Groups (Gathering a group of people who fit a target demographic to have a discussion – usually guided by a moderator of sorts with the goal of getting the group to discuss the topic amongst themselves – notes are taken, by the company or group) or through interviews (much like focus groups, instead of a group it’s a one on one discussion betwixt the participant and the moderator, these can be fairly free flowing conversations or they can be very specific questions.) Explain market analysis. Why is it done and who could carry it out for you? Market analysis is similar to market research yet it aims at an entirely different area. Market analysis studies the attractiveness of a certain market, it assesses: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and potential threats. It’s also known as a ‘documented investigation of a market that is used to inform a firm’s planning activities.’ It’s usually based around decisions for: purchase, promotional activities, work force contraction/expansion and so on. Market analysis has a series of elements that a company needs to keep on top of in order to thrive and survive, it’s what is primarily used during market analysis, these include: Market size, market trends, market growth rate, market opportunity, market profitability, industry cost structure, distribution channels, success factors and applications. All of these contribute to keeping a company on top of competition, help with planning strategies, make decisions based on gathered Intel, predict future data,

find potential opportunities and keep on top of the needs of consumers, therefore market analysis is done to help further improve the company and keep it modern and active within it’s own market. Chances are, a company would have their own market analyst, their job is: gathering and interpreting information/data for the business/company, which gives them the power to make recommendations (based on these findings) via communicating with the clients, they generally make the presentations of these findings to present to clients so they know where a company stands. Source for initial information (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_analysis) Source for market analyst job: (https://www.marketresearchcareers.com/jdmarketresearchanalyst.aspx)

Explain marketing strategy using examples. Marketing strategy is about increasing sales and ensuring an ever-lasting competitive advantage – this also means analyzing the initial situation of a company, evaluating market oriented strategies will contribute to the companies goals and/or objectives. These strategies are: internal environments (marketing mix, performance analysis and strategic constraints), external environments (customer analysis, competitor analysis and target market analysis) and possibly environments that might cause problems for success (technological, economic, cultural and political/legal.) For example, the Colloquy Grog Shop is a bar/coffee shop where single people can meet. They ensure that they exist to attract and maintain customers. For marketing mix, they chose the following approaches: pricing – the pricing scheme is based on standard industry prices. Distribution – all services and products will be distributed from the shops retail space. Advertising and promotion – the most successful advertising will be with Willamette Weekly. For their performance analysis, they use a sales forecast – using a chart and a table to show their expected earnings based on previous data – much like market analysis.

For external environments, when it comes to customer/target market analysis they break their customers down in to two groups, ‘singles’ and ‘non-singles.’ They conclude that the larger group is the singles and therefore the demographics are as follows: Single – self-evident. Professional – this characteristic is intuitive since the underlying

element of Colloquy Grog Shop is thoughtful conversation, and most professionals appreciate thought-provoking conversation. Income over $40,000 – this to a large degree is correlated to the fact that they are professional. Age 25-45 – is the largest group of singles looking for companions, which is the target market. Competitor analysis: bars – there are many different types of bars or taverns. However, none of them have the business mission to bring together singles. Coffee shops – typically an easy-going social setting that does lend itself for people to meet others. Coffee shops rarely have any type of organized activities to bring singles together. Other events/activities aimed at bringing together singles – One activity/phenomenon that has started in New York City and moved to a few other larger cities is an activity that has a long rectangular table that always has one seat opposing the other. People sit down with females on one side and males on the other to chat. Another activity might be some sort of outdoor activity like hiking or rafting and it is organized as a singles event. Colloquy Grog Shop predicts singles will abandon, or at least supplement, their current method of meeting people with the Grog Shop’s activities as they are thoughtfully designed to achieve the goal of introducing like-minded individuals. Colloquy Grog Shop Source: http://www.mplans.com/coffee_bar_marketing_plan/situation_analysis_fc.php Why is advertising so important to an organization? Use examples to help you explain. Advertising is important because it’s the best way to communicate to the consumers, it gives them information about brands that are available in the market and a variety of products that would be useful to them. It’s also for everybody, it’s not just one aimed at one target audience. There are four different objectives of advertising, this is: Trial – companies that have just started up generally work for this objective – it’s the one which involves convincing customers to buy the product that has been newly introduced in to the market. The advertisers use modern, attractive ads to entice customers, for example: bringing out a new advertisement for the whole family i.e. Sky Movies, where a ‘family set off on a whistle-stop movie tour, transformed into animated versions of themselves along the way’ this featured films such as: LEGO movie, Amazing Spider-man 2, Frozen and Muppets, which primarily applies to younger audiences, but also family, if there are younger audiences, it’s bound to be in a family situation, since it’s around Christmas, it’s a perfect opportunity to sell products like this so it can be used as a form of present.

Continuity – keeping existing customers interested in the product. Advertisers will usually bring something new in the product, for example: Apple upgrading their phones a few times every year, this always brings back a reliable demographic, especially

when the company upgrades something like: camera quality, initial design, faster connection, better battery life, increased storage and so on.

Brand switch – this objective is based on companies who intend to attract the customers of their competitors. The advertisers try to convince customers to switch from the existing brand they are using to their companies product, for example: Supermarkets always compete with the others; ASDA usually uses a comparison advertisement to try attract the competitions customers, it can work and there can be an influx in customers or the competition can create an advertisement that makes their products look lame in comparison.

Switching back – for the company who wants their previous customers back, this would be the customers that fell for the brand switch objective, therefore the advertisers use different ways to get their customers back, this includes: discount sales, new advertisements and things like re designing packaging in the hope that their once faithful customers will return to them.

There are a few reasons why advertising is so important, for example, today it plays a very important role of this ages competition, it’s something that has become somewhat of a necessity in some peoples day to day life, whether it’s the producer, the traders or

the customer themselves. For customers, these are the people who buy the products only after being made aware of where the products are readily available. If the product isn’t advertised, no customers will know what products are actually available and thus will not buy the product, whether it be for their benefit or not. Advertising also helps them find the best for themselves, their kids or their families. Advertising is also very important for the seller/companies who produce/sell them. Advertising helps increase sales, helps producers of the companies to know the competition and plan to match with their levels, if any company would like to launch a new product in the market, advertising will definitely get the product out there, it also gains customer loyalty and the demand for the product tends to keep on reciprocating thanks to advertising. It’s also very important for society, it helps to educate people. There are a bunch of social issues which advertising tends to deal with, such as: child abuse with Childline advertisements, drink driving, smoking, safety, money saving, important health information, animal cruelty awareness such as the RPSCA adverts or Dogs Trust, general information and so on – therefore advertising plays a very important role in society. Sky movies advertisement source: (http://www.sky.com/tv/channel/skymovies/video/step-into-the-adventure-with-the-new-sky-movies-christmas-advert) Apple iPhone Update source: (https://www.apple.com/iphone-5s/powerful/) ASDA comparison photograph source: (http://www.retail-week.com/attachments.aspx?js=yes&height=auto&width=724&storycode=5030243&attype=P&atcode=1255168) Variation in Packaging designs source: http://www.orioncreative.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/samboys-concept1-171x250.jpg

What is brand promotion and what methods could you use to promote a brand? Brand promotion is a common strategy used by companies to gather more publicity and get their products out there with more sales. They focus on a variety of areas that will help keep their company competitive and successful – this can vary, depending on if they’re having difficulties with any particular areas. It’s important to increase product sales, they company ensure this by making the customers aware of products they sell and what quality they are expected to be sold in, it is imperative not to use false advertising when trying to do this, this can cause repercussions that might have a devastating effect later on. They also measure peoples brand awareness by using a promotion method which involves: surveys or general shopping experience surveys to receive feedback on customer service, products and areas to improve on after every sale. They also measure customer loyalty by becoming competitive with products – making sure that they are of a higher quality or a better price to ensure customers don’t become more attracted to competitors products instead, for example: mascara manufacturers can focus on one key selling point, i.e. ‘longer lashes’ whereas others might choose to expand and talk about increased volume or shine, this keeps the customers keen and may even attract new ones. This is also the brand switch objective as mentioned in the advertisement section. The main idea is, the business shows off

the merchandise, customers see value in the key selling point; have a good purchasing experience and decide to come back. Another thing they focus on is sales, the previous points: ‘customer loyalty and product awareness’ connects to profits, awareness and loyalty mean an increase in sales, because of this increase; there are larger financial gains which means more improvements or projects to entice customers, not only do they see this as innovative but it also improves stock prices overall. The last thing they focus on is overall value, this is stuff like maintaining the image, for example: if certain figures (sales for example) aren’t as high as they were before, it should be the company’s sole purpose to improve that. There are a few different methods of brand promotion, these are: contests – for example there is the ‘New Gadget for a New Year’ advert with the chance to win a gadget, the choices are between a KOMANDO tablet, security camera, dual lens dash cam and an Epson printer, this is often seen as an exciting way to win free stuff – especially by consumers, it also means that the company receives a bit more recognition and the consumer might choose to buy other products from the same company if they’re impressed with the results of the free one, they might even recommend it to friends. There is also the use of social media to get products out there or make younger generations aware of a product, they could post a lot of statuses with new offers and valuable information or they could use humour to attract old and new customers – much like Taco Bell uses on their Twitter account, they regularly make jokes with famous people or just make general jokes – this receives a lot of attention from customers and potential customers, especially on Twitter and other social media websites where posts can be easily shared.

Taco Bell & Dillon Francis Twitter source: (http://firstwefeast.com/eat/dj-dillon-francis-love-affair-taco-bell/) Contest example source: (http://www.komando.com/contests)

PR

What are some of the key principles involved in managing the message? When creating a message for any form of public relations, its important to create a story around a product, person or company that continues to stay consistent, this also influences whether the product is seen in a good or bad light. One of the key principles is ’communicate what you know, when you know it’ – this means it’s important to know exactly what you need to say and when it needs to be said, it’s also ensuring that the readers don’t receive any sort of information that could confuse readers or cause doubt when it comes to purchasing choices or any other kind of impact it could have on the company/person/product if something contradictory was said. Another key principle is to not be afraid to say, “I don’t know” as long as you follow it up with “…but I’ll find out and get back to you as soon as I do.” This ensures a strong form of communication whilst proving to the reader that the company/person is innovative and willing to find out the information the readers require. ‘Reinforce what is staying the same as you discuss what may be changing’ is another

key principle, it’s important when talking about changes being made to a product/company that the message clearly explains what is staying the same and what is potentially changing so there are no major changes or problems that could affect the company or consumer.

What is positive publicity? Find an example of it to help explain. Negative publicity occurs when a company/person attracts a lot of media attention after doing something they shouldn't have or getting caught in the act - this can be disastrous for them and they could lose sales, customer loyalty and could potentially run their company in to the ground. When a company/person receives positive publicity, it would be after they pulled some kind of stunt which got them a lot of media coverage, due to this, the company receives an influx in sales, consumer loyalty and general publicity altogether. Here are a few examples of stunts that have brought about positive publicity for companies: Message in a bottle (1959): Guinness dropped 150,000 bottles with 'messages' from

no other than King Neptune in each, in to the ocean. They did this to raise awareness and hoped that people combing the beach would stumble upon one and spread the word.

Guinness source: (http://www.guinntiques.com/thebottledrop.aspx) Human Chain for Charity (1986): More than 7 million people in the USA joined arms

to form a chain - it stretched across 16 states - this was to raise money for the hungry and the homeless. Everyone involved had to pay $10 for a spot in the line, even

president Reagan joined in.

Source: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hands_Across_America) Racing to Victory: 1900's France there was a newspaper - The Bicycle - which broke up in to another newspaper - the Car - to gain dominance in the newspaper industry and broaden it's market. They organized a bicycle race, which covered over 1500 miles; this was the first Tour de France. Because the bicycle race is still a modern success and event, the company ended up with 6x as many followers as they previously expected to gain.

Source: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1903_Tour_de_France)

In public relations terms, what is spin? Find an example to help you with your response. Spin is a form of propaganda; it's a misleading persuasion tool used by companies to twist the truth in to making something look better or worse than it actually is. It's usually defined by: exaggeration, euphemisms, inaccuracies and excessively emotional appeals. For example: during an episode of the comical animated sitcom, the Simpsons - a 3 eyed fish was found in a water source by Mr. Burns' power plant, where chemical waste was being dumped, the plot develops and soon Burns’ becomes desperate to take over health and safety so that he can change/edit the regulations to keep himself safe, so he decides runs for governor. He hires a campaign team which includes: a spin doctor (provides a favorable view on an item in the news), a joke writer, make-up man, muck raker, mud slinger and a garbologist (the study of material discarded by society to reveal social/cultural patterns) these are like the lowest of the low in political views. Despite the spin doctor affectionately naming the fish 'Blinky' so it appears more loveable and friendly whilst it spins the actual hazard in to a positive light and then coming up with the defense that the fish is an ‘evolutionary necessity' - Marge Simpson manages to 'out spin' them and actually serves Blinky to Mr. Burns during his televised dinner where he publically spits the fish out in disgust! Overall, despite the actually health and safety risks present; Mr. Burns and his team tried to spin the 3 eyed fish in to a good light even though it really wasn’t - the truth being that the hazardous chemicals being pumped in to the water where Blinky was found had begun to actively mutate organisms it came in to contact with - therefore there was a risk for humans too.

http://www.truthliesdeceptioncoverups.info/2013/05/spotting-spin-some-tricks-of-trade.html source

Why might a person or a company engage in damage limitation? Using an example will improve your grade. Damage limitation is 'the process of limiting the damaging effects of an action or mistake' the government uses damage limitation to avoid the effects of scandal and it's also the attempt in war to use careful planning to avoid unnecessary death. It's basically taking steps and precautions when it comes to people or companies, this could include: minimizing damage by creating a positive culture and training employees on how to properly use social media. Monitoring social media 24/7, for example: A McAfree flagged one of Chitika's ad's and the network endured a bunch of McAfree antivirus alerts - Daniel Ruby - the marketing director of Chitika actually found out from their publishers on a social networking site, Twitter. Chitika responded to concerned users via twitter - they kept them up to date with steps on how to fix the problem - this takes us in to the next step: Reply to the social media world: once, during a meeting of Ignite Phoenix in Tempe, Arizona (which was attended by over 600 people), a few par takers had their cars towed because they had parked it on a private lot. The social media response was immediate and the story spread like wild fire. (It went from Twitter to mainstream TV within a day.) The city worked with organizers to resolve the issue and tweeted responses - because it was fast and it saved their reputation quite a lot and kept the consumers happy and consistent. A company would use damage limitation to make sure they have a contingency plan in case a public speaker, a social media post or an action goes bad - the plan should also include steps to ensuring this doesn't happen in the first place, that's why a person/company would engage in damage limitation. Source: (http://mashable.com/2009/07/09/social-media-damage-control/)

What benefit could there be to an organization to create an event? Use an example of a marketing or PR event to support your responses. The Strategic Internal Communications 10th Annual 1-day-conference (27/Nov/14) in London is an event created by a media organization that:

• Provides companies with advice/actions to further develop internal communications and ensure a united, committed and high performing work force

• Provides in depth case studies, practical solutions and vital strategies to drive employee engagement.

The conference explores issues such as: • Communicating companies values, culture and purpose • Innovative techniques on enhancing staff engagement like: story telling and

visual communications, building managers leadership capability • Traditional vs. digital - joining channels effectively

The event is seen as 'not-to-be-missed' Events benefit organizations because it not only gets the company out there but also

shares company ideas with other organizations whilst also receiving feedback which is beneficial in both ways. This new information can then be used to make the organization a better place for employees, visitors and other members of staff; whilst offering the same to other ally organizations. Events can also improve important relationships and also bring a more passionate work force - especially as the Strategic Internal Communications conference offers.

Source: (http://www.prweek.com/uk/strategic-internal-comms)

What is lobbying and who is most likely to be influenced by it? Lobbying is often aimed at political bodies, this is because lobbying is the influence over these bodies to put forward an idea/legislation or change a law in favor of their company. A 'lobbyist' is a 'paid persuader whose job is to influence the decisions of the government.' Usually they offer money or freebies to sweeten the deal. For example: the former vice president of Monsanto (a publicly traded American

multinational agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation) is now an adviser to US Food and Drug Administration. Turns out the former vice president plan to sell genetically modified crops to a body that advises on food safety. Therefore, politicians are the most heavily influenced because they are who get generally targeted, there's never one type of body that is particularly aimed at because there is a large variety of different lobbyists who need the influence for their own reasons. Source: (http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/12/lobbying-10-ways-corprations-influence-government) Source for Monsanto: (http://newint.org/features/2011/01/01/10-worst-corporate-lobbyists/)