Advertising, Sales Promotion or Public Relations - Term Paper Example

? Advertising, Sales Promotion and Public Relations Inserts His/Her Inserts Grade Inserts (25.07.11) Introduction Advertising, sales promotion and public relations are the main tools of promotion for companies whereby they communicate with customers in varied ways to achieve their corporate goals. The four elements of marketing are product, price, place and promotion, which can be combined in making an efficient and effective marketing strategy. It is thus important to examine the interaction of these elements and how a company can make a successful marketing strategy by interconnecting the different elements of promotion and marketing. This paper will analyze the significance of advertising, sales promotion and public relations and their role in allowing companies to achieve their organizational goals. Advertising, Sales Promotion and Public Relations Advertising is understood as different forms of paid promotion and communication strategies for products and services. Sales promotion is a marketing tool that is used to increase sale of goods and services in the short term. While advertising focuses on creating a reason for consumers to make purchases, promotion focuses on creating incentives so that consumers make purchases. The incentives for consumers could be in the form of samples, free trial offers, gift coupons and demonstration of products by company representatives. Sales promotion activities are carried out to attract new customers, give rewards to current customers or to enhance consumption by infrequent users. Sales promotion uses strategies to target customers that are prone to switch brands and these activities are selected in keeping with the over all marketing objectivities of the firm. The selection process of promotional tools considers competitive responses, budget, target audience and the tool’s objective. Public relations is very important for firms as they have to constantly interact with stakeholders, workers and customers in order to survive in the market. The main objective of public relations is to efficiently deal with the media, create a good corporate image, to deal with the government and to guide management in regard to public matters (Halpert, 2010). Firms are always on the lookout to combine marketing and public relations functions to effectively support product branding and corporate actions. Advertising, sales promotion and public relations play crucial roles in assisting firms to achieve their marketing goals. Advertising is very important for firms in communicating with customers in different ways. Impersonal communication is done through promotions and point of sale practices while personal communication is done through direct person to person contact. Assuming that a buyer is impacted by four sources of information such as media, sales calls, exhibitions and direct mail, it implies that several people in the firm are engaged in influencing purchases. Sales people are not able to come in contact with all people that impact sales decisions but firms get information from different sources. The buying process is considered to be quite complex as there is a great deal of commercial uncertainty relative to the purchase outcomes. Specifications have to be drawn in regard to characteristics of design and processes relating to operating conditions, size, weight, performance etc. Potential suppliers will provide product details and evaluation plans, and after trials by the firm, the supplier will be selected. Advertisement Goals The uniqueness of any product is determined by its complexity and the commercial uncertainty relative to its purchase outcome. It was believed for several years that advertising is a simple process whereby the firm simply advertised and customers took note of the message and made decisions accordingly in keeping with their aspirations and needs. However, the process is very exhaustive, in that before any objectives can be set for advertising, the firm has to take decisions about advertising budget and determine who will be its target audience. Decisions have to be taken about advertisement content, which media to use, the frequency of the advertisement and what measure will be used to determine the effectiveness of the advertisement (Kaiser et al, 2009). It is known through research that companies set advertising goals that cannot be achieved with advertising alone. Many companies realize that even after spending heavily on advertising that focuses on the reliability and high quality of products, very little headway is made in the market. Research has revealed that advertisement does not work in isolation because customers may be dissatisfied because of issues relating to customer service and delivery. This is an example of how advertising is wasted because other customer issues are ignored (Edelman, 2009). A major issue for firms, relative to advertising, is to frame realistic objectives in regard to the advertising strategy. Marketing objectives cannot be achieved with advertising only and advertisements should be resorted as a practice only if they supported with other strategies such as sales promotion and public relations. Media advertising has the potential to impact perceptions and attitudes, provide the required information, create aspirations, establish connection, give reassurance and generate enquiries. It is thus of prime importance to set reasonable goals, which is the first and most significant step in making an advertisement plan. Advertising is mostly employed aggressively and the strategy has to be changed over time in terms of its creative content. Advertisement roles change over time depending on the product’s life cycle. The course of action is best illustrated through the following table. Who Target audience; what knowledge they have about the products and services?  How much they are aware of competitors’ activities? What is their customer profile? How is it possible to get details about them and to identify them? What What kind of responses can be expected Response do we wish to achieve through advertisements? Are these objectives specifically concerned with objectives of communication? How How can the firm create its communication objectives so that they appeal to consumers? How can the firm ensure that the present strategy is acceptable and proper for the given target audience? Where What are the most cost effective strategies to employ communication strategies? When At what stage will the communications make a difference to customers? Why the present advertising schedule has been adopted. Proper reasoning has to be given for the schedules in respect of advertisements and communications during a given time period. Outcomes What are the expected results? How will the results be measured over time and in regard to different campaigns? Does the firm have intentions to measure outcomes and if so does itrequire any resources before undertaking the campaign? Budget What is the amount of capital and other resources required for such activities? What is the present financial status of the firm and how much can be allocated presently? How does the firm plan to control expenditure? Schedule What is the plan for particular people to do particular jobs and when will they be done? What is the break up of allocation of resources at different stages of the campaign? Sales Promotion Advertisements are forms of non personal communication in different forms of media such as print, radio, cinema, television and outdoor media. However, it is difficult to define sales promotion in clear terms. It is a specific activity in practice and is understood as the creation of a specific offer to specific customers that are targeted at any given time and place for a particular product or service. Sales promotion entails that a customer or group of customers should be provided with something that is unique instead of something that is part of the normal trade practice. Therefore, sales promotion is often considered a problem solving action that is devised to make consumers to act in conformity with the financial objectives of the firm. Typically, the major expectation from sales promotion is to improve the performance of slow moving goods, check competition from other firms, encourage repeat purchases, induce trial purchases and secure even small buyers. But it is important to understand that sales promotion cannot replace selling activities or create customer loyalty. It also does not have the potential to alter long term sales patterns (McChesney, 2008). In view of the fact that sales promotion is primarily used as a tactical measure, it mostly relates to a chain of unrelated publicity stunts that lack consistency. In contrast, advertising is believed to be a planned strategy that builds brand value in the long term. It can thus be said that in comparison with advertising, sales promotion is mostly used by firms to hold on to their tactical advantages. However, firms stand to gain by framing a plan for sales promotion because every sales promotion activity enhances the impact of the next activity. In the context of industrial products, it is known that they are always marketed to other businesses, which creates an impact whereby there is change in the focus that is placed on some aspects of the marketing mix. Therefore, it does not come as a surprise to know that if adopted suitably, most sales promotion methods can be made applicable to industrial products. It is widely recognized that in comparison with other marketing functions, sales promotion activities are mostly mismanaged. This is because of uncertainty about the objectives of sales promotion as it mostly results in expenses that are not accounted for properly. Many firms are known to record sales promotion costs under advertisement expenses while some record them as expenses on sales or general marketing. The revenue losses occurring to firms on account of specific price reductions are mostly not accounted for. Conclusion It can be concluded that advertising is a major element of the promotion mix and is mostly considered as the most important in the over all marketing mix. Advertising is characteristic of having high visibility because of its repeated occurrence in different forms of media that have made it an important social topic in most societies. Sales promotion is the coordinated seller efforts of setting up means of information and influence to affect sales of goods and services. Sales promotion is mostly used as a supporting element in the marketing mix. Advertising is used by firms as a fundamental tool for achieving short and long term objectives relative to awareness, brand building, customer loyalty and repositioning of brands. Advertising is a tried measure that assists in adding durability and long term values for goods and services. It is therefore an indirect means to lure customers into buying the advertised product. Sales promotion is a tool that supplements advertising and helps in personal selling. It is a tested way to enhance sales immediately and helps in transforming the short term and current price value relationships of the good or service. Sales promotion is recognized as an effective method to induce customers into trying the product on the spot. In view of these observations, it is clear that the most effective means to market a product in the short term and to get immediate increase in sales is to use sales promotion strategies. Works Cited Halpert, Julie. Redefining PR. Newsweek, December 07, 2010 McChesney, Robert W. “The Political Economy of Media: Enduring Issues, Emerging Dilemmas”. Monthly Review Press, New York, May 1, 2008. Kaiser, Ulrich; Song, Minjae. "Do media consumers really dislike advertising? An empirical assessment of the role of advertising in print media markets". International Journal of Industrial Organization 27 (2): pp.292–301, 2009. Edelman, Benjamin. The Dark Underbelly of Online Advertising, Harvard Business Review, November, 17, 2009. 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