Advertising and promotion - Essay Example

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ADVERTSING AND PROMOTION …………………………………… College ………………………………………... …………………………… Words count- 3112 Table of Contents Words count- 3112 1 Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Scope of Marketing Communication 3 The Process of Marketing Communication 4 The organisation of the advertising and promotion industry 5 The Promotion Strategy 6 Current trends in advertising and promotion, including impact of ICT 7 Brand Communication process of Tesco 7 Role and Importance of Advertising 8 Role of Integrated Promotional Strategy 8 Branding and its impact on Business 9 Creativity aspect of advertising 10 Working with advertising agencies 10 Below-the Line Techniques 11 Below the line techniques and integrated promotional tools 12 Integrated Promotional Strategy of Tesco 12 Planning the integrated promotional strategy 13 Developing the integrated promotional strategy 13 Evaluation and Controlling the integrated promotional strategy 15 Conclusion 15 References 16 Introduction Advertising and promotion are an integral part of the economic and social system and have recently become extremely important elements of the strategic marketing process. The business environment is largely influenced by competition and many other challenges and therefore almost all the marketers are considering advertising and promotion as vital communication system, mainly for delivering the brand and other messages to the targeted customers. Both advertising and promotion play pivotal role in the marketing process as they both serve to be effective channels that customers get regular, constant and timely messages about the brands, values, utilities, features, prices and other relevant information about the product or services that they are interested in. This research paper addresses the marketing concepts of advertising and sales promotion and explain the scope of marketing communication in relation to the marketing examples of Tesco Plc. The paper also talks about the role and importance of advertising, below-the line techniques and integrated promotional strategies. Scope of Marketing Communication Marketing communication is basically a marketing function by which business firms attempt to inform, persuade and remind consumers about the products that they want to sell to them (Kotler and Keller, 2006, p. 536). When it comes to a marketer, one of the most important aspects of his business function is value creation through the products or service that he is selling, and it is critically important that the value he created should be communicated to the proposed customers. The messages a marketer has to communicate may vary from firm to firm. It may be about the features, price and other significant elements of the product or service. Marketing communication is a collective term for all different types of messages that are used to establish a brand. The various communication modes are; 1- Advertising: It is non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or service by the marketer. Advertising is generally defined as spreading of information. 2- Sales Promotion: It involves variety of short-term incentives to encourage trial or purchase of a product or service. 3- Events and experiences: these are company-sponsored activities or programs designed to create brand related interactions, 4- Personal selling: That is face-to-face interaction with one or more customers for encouraging the purchases. 5- Public Relation: It involves programs designed to promote a product or service, 6- Direct marketing: It is the use of mail, fax, telephone, internet etc to communicate with customers to make them aware of and to promote to purchasing a product or service (Duncan, 2004, p. 7- 12). The Process of Marketing Communication Communication is transmitting, receiving and processing the information. When it comes to the marketing communication, the marketer or communication agency that has been assigned by the marketer attempts to transfer an idea or message to a receiver in a way that the receiver will be able to process the information being communicated to him (Clow and Baack, 2004, p. 6). As illustrated below, communication process is concerned with conveying a message to others. The process requires basically six elements, they are a source, a message, channel of communication, the receiver, and the processes of encoding and decoding. The source is normally the marketer who has to convey the message. The message will be something about the company, product or service etc. channel of communication will be advertising media or direct personal contacts in case of promotions. Encoding and decoding are critically important elements in the marketing communication process. Encoding is the process by which the sender of the message transforms the ideas in to set of symbols, and decoding is the process by which the receiver takes a set of symbols, or message and transform them back to the central idea (Kerin, Hartley and Berkowitz, 2005, p. 471, Clow and Baack, 2004, p. 6). The organisation of the advertising and promotion industry Though generally the marketer is the main source for giving the advertising or conducting the promotion activities, more often them marketing department is looking for an agency or organization that can help them in advertising and promotion. Advertising and promotion industry consist of large numbers of organizations such as Television channels, radio stations, new paper companies, film companies, websites and other firms that facilitate bulleting or digital billboard advertising etc. For a marketer who likes to advertise or promote his products or services has wider choices such as broad casting media, print media, internet advertising, direct personal contacts, personal selling, public relation etc and therefore he can select the best fitting media according to his requirements. There are a number of factors that affect his choice of media for promotion and advertising. Main factors that are to be considered while selecting the organization for advertising and [promotion are flexibility, cost, life span of the media, nature of product or service, market extent that he targets to reach, attractiveness, need for audio and visual effects etc. As Belch and Belch (2007, p. 72) detailed, there are many factors that determine how a company organizes it advertising and promotion. These factors include its size, numbers of products it markets, role of advertising and promotion in marketing mix, budget for both, and the marketing organizational structure. The Promotion Strategy One of the most critically important element in the marketing mix is promotion. In general marketing terms, promotion comprises of all advertising and promotional tools, but promotion is one of the effective communication strategies by which the marketer is able to communicate brand messages to the prospective customers in order to boost up the sales. Sales promotion is a marketing activity that provides an extra value or incentive to the customers and thus they are encouraged to buy more. Normally, promotion is regulated either as consumer oriented promotion or trade oriented promotion. While preparing and designing the promotion strategy, including various its elements such as advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, direct marketing etc, it is important that the marketer may target ultimate users of the products or service or the marketing intermediaries such as wholesalers or retailers. If the promotion is targeted for the ultimate users of the product or service, the promotion is termed as consumer oriented promotion, or if it is to target the intermediaries such as wholesalers, retailers or other middlemen, then it is referred as trade-oriented promotion (Belch and Belch, 2007, p. 22). Current trends in advertising and promotion, including impact of ICT In recent years, there have been greater developments and trends in the field of advertising and promotion. Internet advertising, Digital billboard advertising, point of sale advertising are some of the recent trends in advertising. Similarly, free tour package, one or few free items along with others, free services and extra benefits are some of the major promotions that many marketers apply in recent years. Out of many recent trends, Integrated Communication Technique seems to be on of the most effective strategies that helped many companies achieve greater sustainable competitive advantage. Integrated marketing communication is a process by which there is a careful coordination of all the promotional messages such as traditional advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relation, even marketing etc. The integrated approach to using several promotional techniques will be successful only if it is developed with a view to assure the consistency in every message at each and every contacts with company’s prospective customers (Lamb, Hair and McDaniel (2008, p. 413). Brand Communication process of Tesco Tesco is the market leader in Grocery and retail business in the UK. Its marketing vision is “to create value for customers to earn their lifetime loyalty” (Annual Report, 2011). The company keeps consistency in delivering the messages, regardless of the advertisement or promotion it conducts. Its message is ‘Most Highly Valued’ business in the world and it repeats the same message in all of its different advertising and promotions. Tesco thrives to keep consistency in the messages it communicates to its people. Role and Importance of Advertising Advertising and promotion play vital roles in marketing communication. Advertising is a strategic method that a marketer is able to target its segmented customers and deliver proper messages through proper channels. Advertising helps the marketer approach right customers, in right time, to inform, persuade or remind them right things about the products, service and other relevant facts. Advertising also plays key role in communicating the brand messages to its customers. When it comes to the case of Tesco, its new marketing vision is ‘Most Highly Valued Business’ in the world, but it is important that the message is to be communicated to the prospective customers in order to make them aware of the vision it holds. For proper communication, the company has to approach any of the informative, persuasive or reminding advertising through any of the available media such as print or broadcast media, billboards, website, etc. Role of Integrated Promotional Strategy Integrated Promotional strategy enables a marketer accelerate his business returns by aligning communication objectives with the business, and in particular marketing objectives (Schultz and Schultz, 2004, p. 3). It has been found that integrated promotional strategy, or as commonly termed as integrated marketing communication helps a marketer gain competitive advantage, build brand loyalty, improve the marketing efficiency and marketing performance, maintain loyal customers and create a strong market share. One of the very fundamental goals of integrated promotional strategy is to develop a marketing communication strategy that coordinates and integrates all different components of promotional activities like advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relation and direct marketing effectively (Clow and Baack, 2004, p. 8), as depicted in the figure above. Integrated promotional strategy entails planning, designing, integration, creation and coordination of diverse forms of advertising and promotional activities that are meant for informing, persuading and reminding the customers of a marketer for a given period of time. (Shimp, 2008, p. 10). Branding and its impact on Business Branding is a very basic and strategic decision in marketing a product or service by which the marketer uses a name, image, symbol, phrase, design or combination of these to make its customers identify the goods or service or their major features and to distinguish them from that of competitors’ (Kerin, Hartley and Berkowitz, 2005, p. 299). According to Ferrell (2008, p. 38), branding plays crucial role in communicating brand related messages to the customers and thus in establishing brand loyalty, brand equity and brand image among the customers. Branding is a key role player in the positioning as well. How does effective branding impact the business? Branding, if it is successfully designed and established, will help the company achieve its marketing goals very easily. As branding is a key role player in the positioning, branding helps create brand image, brand loyalty and brand equity and they in turn help the company achieve sustainable competitive advantage. As Belch and Belch (2007, p. 15) emphasized, by positioning a strong brand name and image through effective communication, the company will be able to build strong brand name and turn it to long term profitability. Creativity aspect of advertising Many companies succeed in its marketing with its advertising whereas many others fail in its marketing due to that it has wrong advertising and wrong plan for it. Creativity is a major factor that helps an advertising to be successful. The main purposes of advertising are providing information, persuading or reminding the customers about the product or service. In order these to be carried out, customers are to be attracted well to the subject matter of the advertising and for that creativity in advertising is an essential element. An attractive advertising is more appealing to customers than those that are less attractive and are less creative. While designing the texts or images of the advertising, the advertiser must ensure that the matter of advertisement will attract maximum numbers of people to whom the company targets. Using creativity for adding strategic elements and making changes in the way it is commonly advertised is therefore an important aspect to increase the market potential of advertising. Working with advertising agencies Advertising agencies are middlemen between advertising media and advertisers. They are the professional team who assist companies in developing, preparing and executing the promotional programs. Since they are the experts in the field, it is beneficial for the companies to make use of their service. Since they are market researchers, they will be more experts in selecting right media for right advertisement and also to evaluate which specific advertisement can reach the maximum numbers of the customers the company targets. Below-the Line Techniques Above the line and below the line are commonly used terms for classifying the channels of advertising in the literatures. Above the line advertising techniques involve conventional impersonal mass media to promote the products or services. Above the line techniques are TV, Cinema, Print advertising of magazine or new paper, internet banner advertising etc. Below the line techniques of advertising are non-conventional techniques for advertising. The major below the line advertising techniques are: 1- Direct Mail- Direct mail advertising involves sending of leaflets, brochures, flyers etc to the prospective customers, but they represent a very less percentage of the total sales in the markets. 2- Direct e-mail: This is one of the recent techniques that has widely been practiced by large numbers of internet based businesses. This can attract people only if the advertisement comes with some strategies. 3- Sales promotion; some of the sales promotion tools such as point of sale advertising are part of it. 4- Pubic relation: This is about creating publicity about the business among the customers. 5- Blogs: This is also one of the most widely used below-the line technique in very recent years. Companies post various write ups of the products or services they offer to customers in blogs that they created or already created by others in the wide area network. Below the line techniques and integrated promotional tools Integrated promotional strategy is a marketing process of integrating of various advertising and promotional strategies. No matter whether the advertising techniques are below the line or above the line, a marketer may select any of the advertising tools that are fit for the marketing communication objectives. For instance, Tesco is a leading grocery retailer and the company may find point of sale and television as more convenient and effective techniques for communicating its brand message. But, more importantly, the company will have to maintain the consistency in the messages it wants to communicate to its targeted customers, irrespective of the media it advertises and tools it uses to promote the sales. Integrated Promotional Strategy of Tesco Tesco plc is perhaps the most efficient and successful brands in the world. In order to attract more customers and create a better marketing zeal among the customers, the company may use integrated promotional strategy by using various different promotional components and communicating the marketing objectives to its customers. In planning and formulating the strategy for integrated promotion, Tesco has to necessarily consider basic three factors, they are personality, positioning and proposition. Positioning is what the company likes its customers perceive and feel about the company and personality is related to how Tesco wants its people feel about the brand, Tesco. Proposition refers to the way that the company believes its customers bring about the other two elements (Brannan, 1995, p. 2). In planning, designing and developing the integrated promotional strategy, Tesco will have to combine various promotional mix elements, considering and evaluating the strength and weaknesses of each element and their fitness for the marketing objectives. The major three steps involves in formulating the integrated promotional strategy are 1) planning the strategy, 2) developing it and 3) evaluating and controlling the strategy. Planning the integrated promotional strategy While planning for the strategy, Tesco is required to review the marketing plan and the marketing objectives. The company must also be able to review and analyze both internal and external factors such as strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats by using the tools such as SWOT, PESTEL etc. The company must evaluate marketing objectives and marketing strategies with a view to how they will be impacted by the integrated promotional strategy (Belch and Belch, 2007, p. 25- 26). While planning the strategy, the company is also required to consider various advertising and promotional tools that are available to the company and analyze which specific advertising technique will be more suitable to the project. Assessing and determining the budget for the program also will be an important requirement in the planning stage. Developing the integrated promotional strategy Once plan is complete, it is important that the marketing communication department in Tesco will have to develop the strategy. Tesco will have to consider print media, public relations, broadcast media, direct marketing, internet, sponsorship, sales promotion, point of sale, word-of-mouth, and personal selling as major available promotional techniques and to select the few that will be more effective and profitable for the company. When it comes to a grocery retailer like Tesco, television advertising, point of sale, word of mouth and event marketing will be of greater importance than others. It is important to develop the strategy by evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of each of the available advertising technique and their appropriateness to the company’s objectives. The figure above illustrates the three major steps involved in formulating the integrated promotional strategy for Tesco. Evaluation and Controlling the integrated promotional strategy Once the program has been developed and implemented, it is important for Tesco to evaluate the process results of the program. In evaluating the analyzing the results, the marketer would compare and contrast standards that are set in the planning stage with those that are achieved when the program has been implemented. Conclusion This piece of research paper explained theoretical perspectives of marketing communication and its importance in today’s marketing environment. Advertising and most importantly the integrated approach to promotion have recently become central strategies to effective marketing since they are found to have helped many companies in helping them achieve sustainable competitive advantage. This paper has presented brief plan of the integrated promotional strategy of Tesco considering both below the line and above line techniques for advertising. This paper has highlighted that integrated approach to marketing promotion is a careful coordination among most effective tools of promotion with emphasis on ensuring the consistency in messages being delivered to the customers. References Annula Report, 2011, Annual report and financial statements 2011, Tesco plc. Brannan T (1995), A practical guide to integrated marketing communications, Illustrated and revised edition, Kogan Page Publishers Belch, G. E and Belch, M. 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A (2008), Advertising Promotion, and Other Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications, Illustrated eighth edition, Cengage Learning Schultz D.E and Schultz H.F (2004), IMC, the next generation: five steps for delivering value and measuring returns using marketing communication, illustrated edition, McGraw Hill Professional Read More