Advertising and Sales Essay

Assignment Q1. What is the meaning of advertising? Explain the advertising pyramid with a neat diagram. â€Å"Advertising is the non-personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media to reach broad audiences† The five basic element of this pyramid are: attention, interest, desire, action and satisfaction. Attention: The first objective of advertising is to capture attention of the consumer. The job is easy as even shouting or clapping can draw attention. Therefore, the copywriter usually makes the headline very catchy by using the bigger fonts. The other techniques are to use short punch lines in conversational language. Interest: The advertisement’s next objective is to create interest in the readers about the product. After giving a good headline, their interest is retained by elaborating on the key features of the product. This is usually incorporated in the body copy. Desire: In this step, the advertisement creates a situation for the prospective customer to enjoy benefits of the product vicariously. The writer creates a situation that makes the reader feel as though there is a lot that is being missed if one does not use the product. Action: The purpose of this step is to motivate people to do something. No advertisement is successful if it cannot induce any action. This is not a difficult step because if the copy is clear then surely the reader will act. Satisfaction: The tip of the pyramid is satisfaction. After the product is bought, the buyer should have a feel of satisfaction. The customer should always feel that it has got the appropriate returns for the money spent. Q2. What do you understand by integrated marketing communication (IMC)? What are the various roles? â€Å"IMC is a strategic business process used to develop, execute, and evaluate coordinated, measureable, persuasive brand commun ications programs over time with customers, prospects, employees, associates, and other targeted relevant internal and external audiences. The goal is to generate both short-term financial returns and build long-term brand and share-holder value.† Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is a process involving coordination of various promotional elements and other  marketing activities that communicate with a firm’s customers. It includes managing customer relationships that drive brand value through communication efforts. The role of IMC can be discussed with the following points:  · Identifying the target audience  · Specifying promotion objectives  · Setting the promotion budget  · Selecting the right promotional tools  · Designing the promotion  · Scheduling the promotion Identifying the target audience: IMC’s first function is to identify the right audience. It is very important to deliver the message to the right audience. Specifying promotion objectives:  · Designed for a well-defined target audience  · Measurable  · Cover a specified time period Hierarchy of effects: Sequence of stages a prospective buyer goes through Use as a tool to develop objectives  · Awareness – Ability to recognize and remember the product or brand  · Interest – Increase in desire to learn about the product features  · Evaluation – Consumer’s appraisal of the product on important attributes  · Trial – Consumer’s actual first purchase and use  · Adoption – Repeated purchase and use of the product or brand Setting the promotion budget:  · Percentage of sales: Funds are allocated as a percentage of past or anticipated sales  · Competitive parity: Matching the competitor’s absolute level of spending Selecting the right promotional tools  · Specify the combination of the five basic IMC tools – advertising, Personal selling, sales promotion, public relations and direct marketing  · Promotion mix can vary  · Assess the comparative importance of the various tools Designing the promotion:  · Design of the promotion plays a primary role in determining the message that is communicated to the audience  · Design activity is viewed as the step requiring the most creativity  · Design each promotional activity to communicate the same message Scheduling the promotion:  · Determine the most effective timing  · Promotion schedule describes  · Factors such as seasonality and competitive promotion activity can influence the schedule. Q3. While developing an advertisement, some theories are useful. Discuss the two theories to design an advertisement. In developing an advertisement for an advertising campaign, several theoretical frameworks are useful. The first theory is the hierarchy of effects model. The second is a means to an end chain. Both the hierarchy of effects model and a means to an end chain can be used to develop leverage points. 1. Hierarchy-of-Effects Model Among advertising theories, the hierarchy-of-effects model is predominant. It helps clarify the objectives of an advertising campaign as well as the objective of a particular advertisement. The model suggests that a consumer or a business buyer moves through a series of six steps when becoming convinced to make a purchase. These six steps are as follows: Awareness – If most of the target audience is unaware of the object, the communicator’s task is to build awareness, perhaps just name and recognition with simple messages repeating the product name. Consumers must become aware of the brand. Knowledge – The target audience might have product awareness but may not know much more; hence this stage involves creating brand knowledge. This is where comprehension of the brand name and what it stands for become important. What are the brand’s specific appeals, its benefits? Liking – If target members know the product, how do they feel about it? If the audience looks unfavorably towards the product then the communicator has to find out why. If the unfavorable view is based on real problems, communication campaigns alone cannot do the job of erasing it. Preference – The target audience might like the product but not prefer it to others. In this case, the communicator must try to build consumer preference by promoting quality, value, performance and other features. Conviction – A target audience might  prefer a particular product but not develop the confidence about buying it. The communicator’s job is to build conviction among the target audience. Purchase – Finally, some members of the target audience might have conviction but not quite get around to making the purchase. Th ey may wait for more information or plan to act later. 2. Means-End Theory A second theoretical approach a creative (team) can use to design an advertisement is a means-end-chain. This approach suggests that an advertisement should contain a message or means that lead the consumer to a desired end state. Means – end theory is the basis of a model called the Means-End Conceptualizations of Components for Advertising Strategy (MECCAS). The MECCAS model suggests using five elements in creating advertisements.  · The product’s attributes – delicious and refreshing are the products attribute.  · Consumer benefits – delicious and refreshing are linked with the benefit of freshness and good taste.  · Leverage point – the leverage point in the advertisement is the link between the benefit of delicious drink and the personal value of choosing the right drink of an athlete.  · Personal Values – the value of the consumer, the reason of buying Coca Cola. He could value the ’refreshing’ or the ’delicious’ attributes. The marketers need to understand the personal value so that the message will hit the right target. Q4. What do you mean by public relations(PR)? What are the difference between PR and advertising? â€Å"Public relations† is used to build rapport with employees, customers, investors, voters or the general public. Public Relations (PR) is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual etc. in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers etc. The most comprehensive definition is as follows: â€Å"Public relation is the management function which evaluates public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an organization with the public interest and executes a program of action and communication to earn public understanding and acceptance.† The following are the differences between advertising and public relations. Advertising 1. The company pays for advertising the company. Hence the focus is on getting its products or  services. 2. Since you are paying for the space, you have creative control on what goes into that advertisement. 3. Advertisements can be published or run repeatedly. An advertisement generally has a longer shelf life than one press release. 4. In advertising, you get to exercise your creativity in creating new advertising campaigns and materials. 5. If you are working at an advertising agency, your main contacts are yours-workers and the agency’s clients. 6. You are looking out your target audience and advertise accordingly. You would not advertise a kid’s Product in a business magazine. 7. Some industry professionals such as Account Executive have contact with the clients. Others like Copywriters or Graphic Designers in the agency may not meet with the client at all. 8. â€Å"Sales!, 20% discount, Buy this product! Act now! Call today!† These are the things you can say in an advertisement. You want to use those buzz words to motivate people to buy your product. Public relations 1. The objective is to get free publicity for space. You know exactly when that advertisement will on air to be published. 2. You have no control over how the media presents your information, if they decide to use your information at all. They are not obligated to cover your event or publish your press release. 3. You submit a press release about a new product or about a news conference once. The PR exposure you receive is only circulated once and the editor will not publish more than once. 4. In public relations, you have to have a nose for news and be able to generate buzz through that news. You exercise your creativity in the way you search for new news to release to the media. 5. In PR, the main contacts will be people in the area of publications and broadcast media. 6. It is generally not possible to segment, target or position the product or service. 7. In public relations, you are very visible to the media. PR professionals are not always called on for the good news. In an emergency you may have to give a statement or on-camera interview to journalists. You may represent your company as a spokesperson at an event. 8. You are strictly writing in a no-nonsense news format. Any blatant commercial messages in your communications are disregarded by the media. Q5. What are the four types of annalists used to develop a comprehensive model for evaluation of a sales organization? There are mainly four factors or types of analysis that are usually needed to  develop a comprehensive model for evaluation of a sales organization. They are: 1) Sales analysis 2) Cost analysis 3) Profitability analysis 4) Productivity analysis 1) Sales analysis: It is an important factor for evaluating the effectiveness of a sales organization. Sales analysis detects strengths and weaknesses of the organization. Sales analysis is described as a detailed inspection of a company’s sales data, which includes assimilating, classifying, comparing and drawing conclusions. Sales analysis is done based on the following parameters: a) Levels in sales organization: Sales analysis should be done at all levels of the sales organizations. This includes evaluation of sales performance from the company level down to the last level. b) Types of sales: The analysis of different types of sales at different organizational levels definitely increases the sales manager’s ability to detect problem areas in the company’s sales performance. For example, analysis can be done: a. Based on type of products b. By distribution channels types c. By type of customer classifications d. By size of orders 2) Cost analysis: Cost analysis is the analysis of costs that affect sales volume. The purpose of marketing cost analysis is to determine the profitability of sales control units, like market segments, sales territories and products. This is done by subtracting the marketing costs from the sales revenues, associated with the sales control units. 3) Profitability analysis: Profitability analysis of marketing units (that is, regions, branches, channels, products or customer groups) can be developed by preparing profit and loss (or income and expense) statements for marketing units. However, the question arises as to how to allocate indirect or shared expenses to various marketing units. There are two approaches for profitability analysis 4) Productivity analysis: Productivity is usually measured by ratios between outputs and inputs. For example, sales per salesperson are used by many companies as a measure of productivity. There  are other productivity ratios such as selling expenses per salesperson, sales calls per salesperson, and quotations submitted per salesperson. Q6. Describe the meaning and importance of media fix decisions. A media mix is the way various types of media are strategically combined in an advertising plan, such as using newspaper and posters to announce a new product as the iPod managers did, followed by television advertising that shows how to use the product and billboards that reminded people to look for it when they go out to the store. A media vehicle is specific TV program (Comedy Circus, CID), newspapers (The Telegraph, Mumbai Mirror), magazines (The Sport star, Elle). Media planning is the way advertisers identify and select media options based on research into the audience profiles of various media; planning also includes scheduling and budgeting. Media buying is the task of identifying specific vehicles, such as TV channels/programs or websites, negotiating the cost to advertise in them and handling the details of billing and payment. Frequency refers to the number of times a person is exposed to the advertisement. An impression is one person’s opportunity to be exposed one time to an advertisement in a broadcast program, newspapers, magazines or outdoor locations. Circulation means the number of copies sold. In the media industry, there are professionals who do both, sell and buy advertising. Media sales people work for a medium, such as a magazine or television channel and their objective is to build the best possible arguments to convince media planners to use the medium they represent. There are also media reps, who are people or companies that sell space (in print) and time (in broadcast) for a variety of media. The rate base is the real number of copies of a newspaper or magazine that gets printed and sold. Readership is the average number of readers per copy sold.