Advertising: Principles and Practice: Promoting Products - Essay Example

Promoting Products Products are central to most organizations whether they are in the form of tangible goods or of services. Traditionally, manufacturers have been concerned with the design and production of products, whilst retailers have had the task of gathering together a relevant and inspiring selection of goods and making them available to consumers at convenient locations and times. The aim and task of product promotion is to familiarize the target audience with the product and inform about its benefits and advantages. Marketing mix insists of four Ps: product, price, place and promotion. In this case, marketing management (i.e., analysis, planning, implementation, and control of the marketing mix to reach target market objectives) consists largely of coordinating people, resources, and budgets to communicate to relevant publics about an organization's products and services. Promotion and the coordinating function that integrates and unites the other three P's, is the heart of marketing (Wells et al 34). Marketing communication is sometimes accidental, but should always be intentional to ensure consistent congruence in manufacturers', retailers', and consumers' minds. The six promotional mix factors involve advertising, sales promotions, publicity, display, public relations and personal selling. Advertising is paid, nonpersonal mass communication or direct marketing tools such as flyers, brochures, catalogs, and the like. Sales promotions are marketing events which stimulate purchasing. These include sweepstakes, contests, grand openings, coupons, premiums, samples, price packs, and rebates. Publicity can be explained as free, nonpersonal (but sometimes personal) mass communication. It is composed of press releases and publicity stunts that attract media attention and subsequent coverage in news stories and editorials (Wells et al 36). Public relations encompasses publicity and also includes personal and nonpersonal communication by company speakers through newsletters, lobbying, and contact with media and citizens. Personal selling means personal communication with a sales agent persuading consumers to buy products and services. Display refers to point-of-purchase items such as posters, signs, and other in-store media that direct consumers to buy a particular product (Wells et al 37-38). These six promotional mix factors sometimes run independently yet concurrently, which is fine if that is the intention. In an ideal promotion marketing scenario, all six factors would operate together. Thus, critics admit that traditional ways to promote do not always work: innovation is needed. Consumers and people in general have never been able to discuss their own motivations, because they do not understand them. Nor do they think about them, which is why this part of the mind is referred to as the unconscious. But although consumers do not think about their motives, they do experience them and they do act on them. Advertisers, salespersons, and marketers need to understand motivation to be effective. They especially need to understand the motivation that relates to their (Brock et al 76). In this case, communications uses messages to change both behavior and attitudes, and messages are made up of symbols. Direct marketing is often considered the popular promotional tools aimed to inform consumers about a product, its benefits and uniqueness. For instance, direct marketing through catalog mailings has long been a workhorse marketing method for department stores such as Montgomery Ward, Spiegel, and Sears. It was a good way to tap into the rural market; these people wanted goods but seldom made it to a city to shop at the big stores. With the advent of two cars in every garage, a general and steady rise in population, and migration to suburbia, many believed direct mail was dead. But we consumers and the postal service know differently (Brock et al 28). Television advertising rates increase steadily every year, along with more channels and more clutter. A company can effectively reach target consumers, persuade them to pay attention, and then buy using advertorials or TV infomercials. With the high cost of TV advertising, the numerous TV programs, and the huge increase in sales of remote controls, consumers will simply tune out or zap boring commercials. The same is true of advertising in other media. Clutter is a problem that will get worse before it gets better. Conservative, me-too advertisers will be zapped. Wells et al (2005) comment that baby-boom viewers will stay tuned to quality ads. For this reason, promoting products companies demonstrate brand superiority, promise benefits, center on consumer's problems, build a unique brand image based on product features, and entertain people in original ways that do not stupidly violate obvious and tested principles. So, for a sales promotion, it must cost-effectively achieve its purpose--to encourage immediate trial. Additionally, it must enhance the brand image, shorten the purchase cycle, or at least increase usage at no significant cost to the producer. A final component, it must make the news, in effect, generate publicity. In this chapter, we'll begin with traditional promotional tools such as couponing and end with sensational "promotional events"--the future of sales promotions (Wells et al 41). Consumer sales promotions come in many traditional forms: coupons, rebates, price packs, premiums, samples, and in-store displays. I would not consider any of these prime candidates for promotional status, but they can be quite effective if tied in with advertising and trade promotion, and if they match consumers' needs and are well-timed. Samples are also attached to packages of other products, given out, or even featured in an ad (e.g., a scratch-and-sniff perfume ad). The potential promotional aspect of samples is that they induce trial, which is very important to packaged-goods items that have a short purchase cycle. The problem is that samples cost too much money, even though they feature relatively low unit value. The solution is to offer self-liquidating samples, that is, samples that are sold (cheaply), near or slightly below manufacturer's cost. That way, the consumer gets to try a bit of the product, but it doesn't cost much. Most people are willing to shell out coins for a sample of something they might like (Wells et al 42). The best example is travel-size samples of shampoos and lotions that sell for under a buck. Shoppers buy them for travel kits, and if they like them, purchase the larger quantities next time. Free samples and price discounts are expensive-and then customers go back to their old brands right after the sales promotion. Since 1990, over 2,000 new magazines have appeared (many have since disappeared). Most new magazines specialize, which means print advertising dollars are spent only on targeted consumers. Except for national newspapers, most newspapers serve local and regional advertisers (Wells et al 43). Outdoor advertising (signs and billboards) has been expanded to include transit advertising (on and in buses, cabs, and subway trains), wall murals, skywriting, and aerial displays (blimps, inflatable or floating icons), among others (including innovative new examples). The outdoor advertising category comprises less than 2 percent of all advertising. “Some of the advantages of outdoor media such as handbills are their ability to reach consumers in specific geographic areas (i.e., spatial reach) and their ability to create awareness fast” (Man and Prendergast 124). Radio is one medium that is just waiting for a local or national advertiser to take advantage of its power. More than $7 billion is spent annually on radio advertising. These dollars are divvied up among 10,000 FM and AM stations across the U.S. And if an ad campaign is well thought out, matches the company's objectives and image, is designed for maximum sales and communication impact, and is executed effectively. Following Bates (2000): “retailers and media buyers often request radio stations to include a "remote" broadcast as part of an advertising schedule. Many stations offer a remote with marketing proposals as a promotional tool” (716). Internet promotion is another tool which helps marketers to promote their products. The importance and success of this medium can be explained by increasing role of publicity and the Internet in marketing. Today's consumers and other publics, the receivers of marketing communication, are a sophisticated lot. People are exposed to a vast array of information from early childhood on. This information represents a combination of personal product/service experience, sales promotion effort, word-of-mouth information, and hefty helpings of multiple media advertising (Wells et al 47). After customers graze these informational pastures, they engage in input interweaving as predicted by integration theory. As they weave mental fabrics from their foraged facts, they become aware of any breaks in the consistency of those fabrics. Critics (Brock et al 1994) admit that a promotional campaign is a marketing communication event or system that promotes products in a way that surpasses normal marketing objectives. A promotional campaign is excellent advertising, sales promotions, displays, publicity, public relations, and personal selling. It entails excellent use of the communicative aspects of the marketing mix. Excellent means that marketing objectives are met in an outstanding way. To capture important brand insights, promotion planners are becoming involved at an earlier and more important stage in the overall strategic planning process. Improvements in sales data reporting has given media planners a source of stronger quantitative information that allows for direct media and regional sales matches. Many clients have developed incredible sophistication in tracking sales. When shared with members of the account team, these data can provide sales on a market-by-market basis. To minimize waste and hopefully maximize sales, media parallels that information source for each brand. Promotion helps marketers to inform general pubic about products and persuade them to buy the goods, Works Cited 1. Bates, B.J., Chambers, T., Mcclung, S. T., Wilkinson, J.S. What Makes a Good Radio Remote: Factors Leading to Perceived Cost-Effective and Well-Received On-Site Radio Promotional Sales Events. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 44, (2000): 716. 2. Brock, T. C., Clark, E. M , Stewart, D. W. Attention, Attitude and ffect in Response to Advertising. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1994. 3. Man, Y.S., Prendergast, G. Perceptions of Handbills as a Promotional Medium: An Exploratory Study. Journal of Advertising Research 45 (2005): 124-127. 4. Wells, W.P., Mariarty, S., Burnett, J. Advertising: Principles and Practice. Prentice Hall; 7 edn, 2005. Works Cited Read More