The Skills of Creating and Promoting Products - Essay Example

Content Page This document contains the following heading Definition of marketing. 2) Advertising and copy writing. 3) Page layouts and editing. 4) Packaging design. 5) Press release and P.O.S material. Definition of marketing:- "Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, services, organizations, and events to create and maintain relationships that will satisfy individual and organizational objectives. In other words we can say that marketing refers to promotion and can also involve pricing, product placement and distribution when relevant. Promotion can be limited to a specific target group, or it can be aimed at the general public. Although marketing is often interchangeably used with the word advertising, marketing can be more specifically described as the game plan by which the advertising will be carried out, as in a marketing strategy. It is also concerned with anticipating the customers' future needs and wants, often through market research." Its specialist areas include: Advertising and Branding Direct Marketing International Marketing Public Relations Communications Strategic Management Market Research Events Organization Database Marketing Search Engine Marketing It stresses (emphasize) the following:- The four Ps are - Product, Pricing, Promotion and Placement. Additional three Ps are - People, Process and Physical evidence. Web marketing Ps is - Personalization, Participation, Peer-to-Peer, Predictive modeling. These are the main key factors on which one should concentrate and thus opening the new doors of success in the field of marketing and in this field one should be adaptive to innovations and able to grasp the marketing trends and finally understanding the graph of success & failure of the best applied method. Advertising and copy writing (plays vital role in marketing):- "Advertising is a one-way communication whose purpose is to inform potential customers about products and services and how to obtain them. Every major medium is used to deliver these messages, including: television, radio, movies, magazines, newspapers, video games, the Internet and billboards." But before choosing the advertising media one should concentrate on the following questions and try to answer these questions - What target markets I am trying to reach with my ads What would I like them to think and perceive about my products (this should be in terms of benefits to them, not you) What communications media do they see or prefer the most Consider TV, radio, newsletters, classifieds, displays/signs, posters, word of mouth, press releases, direct mail, special events, brochures, neighborhood newsletters, etc. What media is most practical for me to use in terms of access and affordability (the amount spent on advertising is often based on the revenue expected from the product or service, that is, the sales forecast) Lastly, successful advertising depends very much on knowing the preferred methods and styles of communications of the target markets that you want to reach with your ads. A media plan and calendar can be very useful, which specifies what advertising methods are used and when. "Effective copywriting (also known as business writing) is any writing that sells a product, a service, or even a person. The radio commercial you hear on your way to work is an example of copywriting. The sales letters and advertisements you receive in the mail are examples as well. Even the billboards you see on the highway are examples of copywriting. In other words it means the effective use of words to communicate a sales message. The objective of is to generate leads which are in turn converted to sales. It's only a way, how much footage a person can earn for his products through his ads or the way he presents it to the whole world i.e. attracting customers with the help of words within fractions of seconds." Some strategies are: - 1) Use attention grabbing text to keep users in the site. 2) Avoid making the websiteappear like an advertisement and use a conversational tone. 3) Make the screen real estate i.e. place prominent headlines into the visualhierarchy of the screen. 4) Sprinkleuser testimonials strategically. Page layouts and editing:- "Page layout is the part of graphic design that deals in the arrangement and style treatment of elements (content) on a page. A page layout may be designed in a rough paper and pencil sketch before producing, or produced during the design process to the final form. Both design and production may be achieved using hand tools or page layout software. Producing the most popular electronic page (the web page) may require knowledge of markup languages. Special considerations must be made for how the layout of an HTML page will change (reflow) when resized by the end-user. Cascading style sheets are often required to keep the page layout consistent between web browsers." "Editing is the process of preparing language, images or sound for presentation through correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications. A person who edits is called an editor. An important part of editing is the idea conception angle, and having the judgment to assign who does the work. Editing is therefore also a modality that applies human relations and creative skills as well. In a sense, the editing process originates with the idea for the work itself, and in the relationship between the author and the editor." Technical writers have potential, special skills and expertise in designing page layouts and in editing the document. A team of technical writers are appointed for this particular job because they know what is relevant and what is irrelevant. They charge huge bugs for this work. Their main aim is to "explain the whole in small." A customer should be fully satisfied and impressed after viewing the small caption. The choice of the words, language and graphics used should have a positive impact on the viewers and listeners as this is the prime duty of the technical writer. No censorable word or visual should be promoted as they spoil the image of the organization in the society. A dog watch should be kept on the business ethics, social issues and environmental issues. Packaging design:- "Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of design, evaluation, and production of packages. Packaging is heavily integrated into our daily lives; we see it all around us, on everyday items. The main use for packaging is protection of the goods inside, but packaging also provides us with a recognizable logo, or packaging, we instantly know what the goods are inside." Purposes of packaging:- Physical Protection Containment or Agglomeration Information transmission Marketing. Security Convenience Portion Control Packaging types:- There are 3 types of packing. Primary packaging is the material that first envelops the product and holds it. This usually is the smallest unit of distribution or use and is the package which is in direct contact with the contents. Secondary packaging is outside the primary packaging - perhaps used to group primary packages together. Tertiary packaging is used for bulk handling and transport shipping. Packaging a product is an important part of marketing because it provides us the vital information of the product like manufacturing date, expiry date, manufacturing unit, price, quantity etc and aware us about our health issues and keep the product intact and secure it from destroying. It also helps us to keep a record and register a complaint in consumer forum about the incorrectness of the product if any. Press release and P.O.S material:- "A press release is a written or recorded communication directed at members of the news media for the purpose of announcing something claimed as having news value. Commercial press-release distribution services are also used to distribute news releases. The use of news releases is common in the field of public relations, the aim of which is to attract favorable media attention to the PR firm's client, and publicity, the aim of which is to attract favorable media attention for products marketed by the clients." The main limitation of press release is that it is totally dependent on the reporter's point -of-view how he will write and think about the product. This shows his way of thinking rather than focusing on the usefulness and concept behind releasing the product. "A point-of-sale display is a special advertising vehicle that is found near, on, or next to a checkout counter. This is meant to entice the customer into buying more products, or products that are on a special offer. Such displays are colorful, to draw the customer's attention while waiting in line. They are meant to stand out from other items." Benefits of P.O.S.:- 1) Grasping total control on the business and increasing sales and profit. 2) Enhancing customer and inventory tracking capabilities. 3) Tighten up on security and employees tracking. 4) Reduce costly inventory overheads. 5) Make better buying decisions. 6) Saves time in automating P.O.S task. 7) Speed up checkout lines. 8) Increase customer service level. 9) Use the system generated customer information to process direct marketing campaigns. 10) Increase traffic in the stores. 11) Reduce the time spent on Back Office and Inventory functions. References: Names of Url:- 1) www.yahoo.com 2) www.altavista.com 3) www.search.com 4) www.google.com 5) www.wikipedia.com Read More