Marketing Communication Tools Briefing Document - Essay Example

Marketing Communication Tools Briefing Document A Direct Marketing refers to a type of marketing tool that is used by the producer to reach the market where there are no intermediaries involved. The radical changes in communication and improvement in the Information technology transport and technology has promoted the use of direct technology (Chandrasaker, 2010, pp.363). Direct marketing is always aimed at direct communication with the consumers with the aim of obtaining an immediate response and foster a good lasting customer relations (Talloo, 2007, pp. 204). Direct marketing is usually executed through telephone, direct mail, online computer shopping, direct broad cast advertising through the radio and television and through home shopping networks (Talloo, 2007, pp. 204). Public relations are an intentional plan by the business to create good relations with the suppliers, customers, creditors, shareholders and any social organization. The business tries to improve the relations with the above mentioned clients as they are able to determine the future business prospects either directly or indirectly (Chandrasaker, 2010, pp.363). Public relations also refer to all the marketing activities that are involved in sensitizing the public about a certain product, individual, service or issue. This is usually concerned with the management of the company’s image that assists the public understand the company and its products (Talloo, 2007, pp. 204). In Direct marketing, the customers enjoy convenience because they do not fight with traffic jams, spend time looking for a place to shop and park. The customers will be able to order online or shop from catalogues available in their phones and the goods delivered in their door step. Purchasing through direct buying is easy and private and does not require direct face to face interaction with the sales person as many people may not be interested in dealing with sales personnel. Direct marketing also provides a chance to have a direct communication with the customers thus strengthening the relationship (Talloo, 2007, pp. 204). Because direct marketing is interactional, the business can use the information or the views expressed by the customers to improve on the products to fulfill the customer’s desires (Boone, 2011, pp. 505) Public relations and publicity, an important part of public relations, are important methods of product and service promotion where a favorable word of mouth can be generated if both were used in a market. These two will influence the customer prospects as direct campaigns lack the ability to convince the customer as they will provide tangibility of the product or service to the customers and the consumers (Chandrasaker, 2010, pp.363). Direct marketing covers a larger target market than Public relations and allows a complete, customized message for the different clients while public relations rely heavily on the ability of the sales personnel. (Boone, 2011, pp. 503) Communication Mix This refers to the combination of all the marketing communication tools. These tools include advertising, public relations, direct marketing and sales promotion. There are various factorsthat the business should put into consideration before selecting the tools. The business should ensure that the tools are simpatico with its products and services, the chain of distribution, the stage of the business in its business life cycle and how the target market responds to media and communications (Talloo, 2007, pp. 205). In this case, we have to ensure the combination of the various tools will adhere to the chain of distribution, stage of business and the response of the target market to media and the communications. For this communication mix to be effective there are various factors that will need to be considered i.e. customer characteristics, product factors, distribution factors and company factors. The consumer characteristics will assist in knowing the tools to use according to the geographical area covered by the consumers and the social status of the group (Talloo, 2007, pp. 206) An effective communication mix should be oriented to the features, characteristics and the application of the company products. If the company has or had introduced a new product, the communication mix may use illustrations on the usage and the benefits or advantages of the product. In this case the company will need to use both the visual media i.e. the television and print media, and the in-store demonstrations (Talloo, 2007, pp. 206). Since this company is large company covering the whole of the country, our product promotion budget is high enough to afford brochures, direct mailing to the customers and personal selling. This means that the promotion budget of the company will determine the communication mix that a company can use in promoting its products in the market (Talloo, 2007, pp. 206). The company may have to consider the competitor’s communication mix. Though our company cannot be the same as our competitors, this will help our company get a good idea on how we can improve on our communication mix (Talloo, 2007, pp. 206). Our company’s goal is differentiation and we may need to be different from our competitors. In making the decision on an effective communication mix, it is also important to consider the strengths and the weaknesses of the various communication tools. After coming up with the promotion mix, we will have to come up with the best approach on how to employ the various communication tools to maximize on the return to investment. We will be required to balance the communication tools to devote enough resources for each component and also to generate an incorporated approach to the marketing communication (Talloo, 2007, pp. 207). In coming up with the promotion mix, we may have to consider madia advertising based on geographical reach of the media, cost, class of people using the media etc. Also, personal selling may be effective to use as it allows for customer response and changes. Sales promotion attracts attention, boosts drooping sales and offers firm purchase incentives (Talloo, 2007, pp. 207). Building trust between the company and the advertising client Trust has been said to be an attitude towards the future (Luhmann, 1979, pp. 19-20). The trust between the company and the advertising agent can be improved through learning more about each other. The advertising agent must be able to know about our company and our company must too be well informed about the advertising agent. This will well boost our understanding of the agency and help us evaluate the effectiveness of using such an advertising agency. The trust can also be improved through honoring promises made by the advertising agency and our company too. These promises include the payment of money in time for the adverts and the timely advertising of the company products by the advertising agency. Breach of the promises renders the absence of trust between the two (Luhmann, 1979, pp. 88). Transparency between the advertising agency and the company greatly improves the trust between the two. This is because nothing will be done without the consent of the other party. This then means that if the advertising agency were to make changes to the advertisements advanced to it, it will have to seek the acceptance of the company. 2. A Transactional advertising is a marketing approach that focuses on a single sale formula. This pushes the sales via a great deal of marketing and promotions of the product (Vilcox, 2007, pp. 53). It focuses on the enlisting and recruitment of customers for single sale. Also, transaction marketing is tailored on the product characteristics (Vilcox, 2007, pp. 53). Transactional Marketing is short lived i.e. it has a diminutive time horizon and has little focus on the customers (Vilcox, 2007, pp. 53). Relationship marketing on the other hand focuses on the retention and satisfaction of the customers as well as recruitment of more customers. The emphasis of this kind of marketing is focused on the improvement of a long-term relationship with the customers (Chandrasekar, 2010). Relationship marketing is oriented towards product benefits and system solutions and has a long term time horizon (Chandrasekar, 2010). Relationship marketing has a high commitment towards the customers and the business models employed are humanistic and relationship based (Chandrasekar, 2010 2. B. There are various ways in determining the communication mix budget. Percentage of sales method is a budget determination method that entails setting the budget as a straight ratio of sales. This is where the company may decide to allocate a certain percentage of the sales to the promotion mix. This method is comparatively a safe way to handling the budgeting because it is easy to calculate and understand. The only limiting factor of this method is that the amount that will be used in marketing will be determined by sales (Sahaf, pp. 333). All-you-can-afford are another method where the marketer decides on the amount of money that he can and will afford to use in marketing communication. This method is used by the firms that lack financial resources. It also lacks a logical foundation for financing marketing and may lead to over spending or under spending (Sahaf, pp. 333). Comparative parity is another method which involves emulating what the company’s competitor budgets. This method assumes blindly that the methods used by the competitors are right. Return on investments is a method that assumes that the promotion mix should be based on the projected return on investment. In this case, the marketing communication will compete for the allocation of the available profits with the other purposes and needs such as building constructions and plant expansion (Sahaf, pp. 333). Objective and task method is a method that assumes that the marketing and communication of the company has definite set objectives which have to be met and the finances should be allocated according to the achievement of these aims (Sahaf, pp. 333). Incremental method is a method used in the determination of the budget allocated to marketing communication mix. This is where the company sets its budget according to the previous expenditures. The current budget will thus be made and altered according to the future changes in the marketing environment to form a budget that will too be used in the future (Sahaf, pp. 334). Desired customer growth is another method used in the determination of marketing communication mix. The company may have a given number of new customers that they have to gain. The company will have to come up with the cost of gaining an additional customer then calculate the estimated amount from the multiplication of the number of customers and the cost. This method is accurate and also depends on the accuracy of the data (Sahaf, pp. 334). Objective and task method is the appropriate method of determining the budget allocation. This is because the company will need to evaluate its progress towards the set marketing and communication goals and then allocate the funds accordingly (Sahaf, pp. 334). References Sahaf. Strategic Marketing: Making Decisions for Strategic Advantage. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. Luhmann, N. 1979. Trust and power. Great Britain. John Willey and Sons Vilcox, Mary W., Thomas, O. Mohan, 2007. Contemporary Issue in Business Ethics. Nova Publishers. Boone E. Louis, Kurtz L. David. 2011. Contemporary Marketing. Cengage Learning Chandrasekar. 2010. Marketing Management: Text & Cases. Tata McGraw-Hill Education Talloo. 2007. Business Organization and Management. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Read More