Various Aspects of Advertising and Promotion - Essay Example

Advertising and Promotion Introduction Advertising and promotion plays an important and vital role in the success of every company, local, regional, or international. A company goes through a number of processes that should be handled and managed efficiently for the effective and long-term standing in the market. In this regard, it is very necessary that managers and executives of a particular company should be well informed regarding the different processes, such as advertising, promotional plan, promotional mix, product life cycle, etc. In this paper, we will try to understand various aspects of advertising and promotion that are necessary for the effective standing in the market. Campaign Management During the running of business, especially the consumer related business, it is very imperative that executives should consider the chances of unexpected events that can occur during the advertising of the new products. In this regard, designing process of a promotional plan should be designed in such a way that it could be implemented in undesirable events. Moreover, every company has to employ some kind of strategy that may result in the effective marketing of the new, as well as, the running products in the market. When a new product is launched in the market, a sequence of stages is passed through by it, which is the main and significant factor of a product’s success. (Stark, pp. 14-17) In specific, such sequence of stages has been considered a major part of campaign management, which plays a vital role in the impact of marketing strategy, as well as, the influence of marketing mix on the target. In brief, some of the major objectives of campaign management are that managers should acquire detailed information related to the market culture, competitors, and customer choices, as all such factors play a crucial role in the success or failure of the promotional plan or campaign. During the campaign management, media plays an imperative role in the distribution of promotional messages in the public through television, newspapers, direct mail, radio, billboards, etc, which should be considered by the executives in an efficient manner. (Dawson, pp. 77-78) Moreover, one of significant factors of campaign management is promotional plan that is affected extensively by promotional mix. One of the significant tools of marketing is the promotional mix that is utilized by the marketers to promote their products or services to the consumers with the help of an effective communication strategy. In specific, some of the major components of marketing mix are direct marketing, advertising, personal selling, sales promotions, and public relations. In wider context, marketing mix is often referred as the promotional mix by a number of experts. It is very important that companies inform their consumers regarding the benefits and specifications of their products or services, as no company can survive without such provision of information to the customers. (Coe, pp. 23-25) One of the significant benefits of effective promotional mix is the generation of sales and high profits. It is very important that an audience should be targeted for the development of an appropriate promotional mix. In this regard, it is significant that all the five factors should be utilized in a balance manner, as the utilization of a single tool has often resulted in failure of the promotional mix. Such strategy can be very effective for the Bear Necessities Limited at the time of introduction of their new series of Mum & Dad, Daughter & Son, and Grandma & Granddad. However, marketing managers should also consider the different processes of product life cycle, which is another major component of effective campaign management. As earlier mentioned in the paper, a company goes through a number of processes during the launching of a new or innovative product in the market. Such sequence of different processes has been referred as product life cycle, which plays a crucial role in the success of a marketing-oriented company. In the case study of the Bear Necessities Limited, it will go through different processes of product life cycle at the launching of its new series, which has been mentioned earlier in the paper. In brief, introduction stage, growth stage, maturity stage, and decline stage are the four significant stages of the product life cycle. During the introduction stage, one of the usual steps that are taken by the companies is that the product is announced in the market, before its introduction, which results in a kind of curiosity among the consumers, which is an effective strategy during the introduction stage of the product life cycle. (Stark, pp. 39-42) During the introductory stage, high costs of advertising are borne by the company; however, such high costs are worth as they play the vital role in informing the consumers regarding the product. Rapid revenue growth is expected during the growth stage of the product life cycle. As more and more consumers are informed about the benefits of the product, high increment is observed in the sales of the company. Once the product is accepted by the consumers and is demanded in the market, more retailers are attracted to buy the product, which results in the increase of sales. During the growth stage of the product life cycle, the distribution plan is expanded by the marketing team, which helps in confronting the price competition with the competitors’ products. (Dawson, pp. 28-30) The most profitable stage of the product life cycle is the maturity stage. While increment is observed in the sales, most of the companies prefer increasing it gradually, in order to ensure consumer relationship. During the maturity stage, reduction is observed in the advertising expenditures due to a strong brand awareness of the product. During the decline stage of the product life cycle, market saturation is observed and decline is observed in the sales eventually. Technologically, most of the experts consider the product as obsolete during this stage, as the tastes of consumers start to change. If brand loyalty has been achieved by the product, profitability can be enjoyed for a longer period. Moreover, decline in the production volumes results in the increase in unit costs, and ultimately, companies make effort to maintain the product’s quality to extend the product life cycle as much as they can. However, the product is discontinued upon zero profit, and a new successor product is usually introduced in the market, which results in the beginning of a new product life cycle. It can be observed that the Bear Necessities Limited has gone through this sequence several times during the introduction of different products; however, ending of decline stage of previous products will result in the beginning of introduction stage by the launching of new series of the company in the market. (Coe, pp. 60-62) It is expected that the company will be able to launch and market their product series in an efficient and effectively manner, if the abovementioned information regarding the campaign management, promotional mix, promotional plan, and especially the product life cycle will be considered by the executives and managers. In brief, all such processes play a vital and crucial role in the success of marketing campaigns of the company. Conclusively, the paper has described and discussed various aspects of marketing, advertising, and promotion that will be beneficial for the executives and marketing managers of the Bear Necessities Limited in the launching of their new and innovative products in the market. Works Cited John Coe. The Fundamentals of Business-to-Business Sales & Marketing. McGraw-Hill Professional, 2003. John Stark. Product Life Cycle Management. Birkhauser, 2004. Michael Dawson. The Consumer Trap. University of Illinois Press, 2003. Read More