Contemporary Marketing: Edition 16 - Chapter 16 - Integrated Marketing Communications

Discuss the factors that influence the effectiveness of a promotional mix and how marketers measure effectiveness.

Marketers face the challenge of determining the best mix of components for an overall promotional strategy. Several factors influence the effectiveness of the promotional mix: (1) the nature of the market, (2) the nature of the product, (3) the stage in the product lifecycle, (4) price, and (5) the funds available for promotion. Marketers may choose among several methods for determining promotional budgets, including percentage-of-sales,fixed-sum-per unit, meeting competition, or task-objective, which is considered the most flexible and most effective. Today, marketers use either direct sales results tests or indirect evaluation to measure effectiveness. Both methods have their benefits and drawbacks because of the difficulty of controlling variables. The effectiveness of advertising can be measured by pretesting and posttesting. Pretesting assesses an ad's effectiveness before it is actually used. Posttesting assesses an ad's effectiveness after it has been used. Commonly used posttests include readership tests, unaided recall tests, inquiry tests, and split runs.

split runs

Methods of testing alternate ads by dividing a cable TV audience or a publication's subscribers in two, using two different ads, and then evaluating the relative effectiveness of each

Describe the communication process and how it relates to the AIDA concept.

In the communication process, a message is encoded and transmitted through a communications channel; then it is decoded, or interpreted by the receiver; finally, the receiver provides feedback, which completes the system. The AIDA concept (attention, interest, desire, action) explains the steps through which a person reaches a purchase decision after being exposed to a promotional message. The marketer sends the promotional message, and the consumer receives and responds to it via the communication process.

Define integrated marketing communications and explain how it relates to the development of an optimal promotional mix.

Integrated marketing communications (IMC) refers to the coordination of all promotional activities to produce a unified, customer focused promotional message. Developing an optimal promotional mix involves selecting the personal and nonpersonal selling strategies that will work best to deliver the overall marketing message as defined by IMC.

Identify the elements of the promotional mix.

The elements of the promotional mix are personal selling and non personal selling (advertising, product placement, sales promotion, direct marketing, and public relations). Guerrilla marketing is frequently used by marketers with limited funds and firms attempting to attract attention for new-product offerings with innovative promotional approaches. Sponsorship occurs when an organization pays money or in-kind resources to an event or activity in exchange for a direct association with that event or activity.

promotion

communication link between buyers and sellers; the function of informing, persuading, and influencing a consumer's purchase decision

message

communication of information, advice, or a request by the sender to the receiver

advertising

paid, nonpersonal communication through various media about a business firm, not-for-profit organization, product, or idea by a sponsor identified in a message intended to inform or persuade members o fa particular audience

elements of promotional mix

personal selling, advertising, sales promotion, and public relations

institutional advertising

promotion of a concept, an idea, a philosophy, or the goodwill of an industry, company, organization, person, geographic location, or government agency

nonpersonal selling

promotion that includes advertising, product placement, sales promotion, direct marketing, public relations, and guerrilla marketing—all conducted without being face-to-face with the buyer

trade promotion

sales promotion that appeals to marketing intermediaries rather than to consumers

communication process

sender, encoding by sender, channel, decoding by receiver, response, and feedback

sender

source of the message communicated to the receiver

AIDA concept

steps through which an individual reaches a purchase decision: attention, interest, desire, and action

promotional mix

subset of the marketing mix in which marketers attempt to achieve the optimal blending of the elements of personal and nonpersonal selling to achieve promotional objectives

types of media

television, radio, newspapers, magazines, direct mail, outdoor advertising, and interactive media

guerrilla marketing

unconventional, innovative, and low-cost marketing techniques designed to get consumers'attention in unusual way

posttesting

Research that assesses advertising effectiveness after it has appeared in a print or broadcast medium

pretesting

Research that evaluates an ad during its development stage

interactive advertising

Two-way promotional messages transmitted through communication channels that induce message recipients to participate actively in the promotional effort

Describe the major types of advertising appeals, and discuss their uses.

Advertisements often appeal to consumers' emotions, and these appeals to fear, humor, or sex can be effective. However, marketers need to recognize that fear appeals can backfire; people's sense of humor can differ according to sex, age, and other factors; and use of sexual imagery must not overstep the bounds of taste.

retail advertising

Advertising by stores that sell goods or services directly to the consuming public

media research

Advertising research that assesses how well a particular medium delivers an advertiser's message, where and when to place the advertisement, and the size of the audience

message research

Advertising research that tests consumer reactions to an advertisement's creative message

comparative advertising

Advertising strategy that emphasizes messages with direct or indirect promotional comparisons between competing brands

reminder advertising

Advertising that reinforces previous promotional activity by keeping the name of a good, service, organization, person, place, idea, or cause before the public

sponsorship

Relationship in which an organization provides funds or in-kind resources to an event or activity in exchange for a direct association with that event or activity

nonmarketing public relations

Organizational messages about general management issues

persuasive advertising

Promotion that attempts to increase demand for an existing good, service, organization, person, place, idea, or cause

cross-promotion

Promotional technique in which marketing partners share the cost of a promotional campaign that meets their mutual needs

Explain the roles of public relations, publicity, cross-promotion, and ethics in an organization's promotional strategy.

Public relations consists of the firm's communications and relationships with its various publics, including customers, employees, stockholders, suppliers, government, and the society in which it operates. Publicity is the dissemination of newsworthy information about a product or organization. This information activity is frequently used in new-product introductions. Although publicity is welcomed by firms, negative publicity is easily created when a company enters a gray ethical area with the use of its promotional efforts. Cross-promotion, illustrated by tie-ins between popular movies and fast-food restaurants, permits marketing partners to share the cost of a promotional campaign that meets their mutual needs. Marketers should be careful to construct ethically sound promotional campaigns, avoiding such practices as puffery and deceit. In addition, negative publicity may occur as a result of some action a firm takes—or fails to take—such as a product recall.

advertising campaign

Series of different but related ads that use a single theme and appear in different media within a specified time period

media scheduling

Setting the timing and sequence for a series of advertisements

cooperative advertising

Strategy in which a retailer shares advertising costs with a manufacturer or wholesaler

List and compare the major advertising media.

The major media include broadcast (TV and radio), newspapers and magazines, direct mail, outdoor, and interactive. Each medium has benefits and drawbacks. Newspapers are flexible and dominate local markets. Magazines can target niche markets. Interactive media foster two-way communication. Outdoor advertising in a high-traffic location reaches many people every day; television and radio reach even more. Direct mail allows effective segmentation. Once advertisers select the media that best matches their advertising objectives and promotional budgets, their attention shifts to setting the time and sequence for a series of ads.

Identify the major advertising strategies and the process of creating an advertisement.

The major strategies are comparative advertising, which makes extensive use of messages with direct comparisons between competing brands; celebrity, which uses famous spokespeople to boost an advertising message; retail, which includes all advertising by retail stores selling products directly to consumers; and interactive, which encourages two-way communication via the Internet, social media sites, or kiosks. An advertisement evolves from pinpointing goals, such as educating consumers, enhancing brand loyalty, or improving a product's image. From those goals, marketers move to the next stages: creating a plan, developing a message, developing and preparing the ad, and selecting the appropriate medium (or media).

Name the three major advertising objectives and the two basic categories of advertising.

The three major objectives of advertising are to inform, persuade, and remind. The two major categories of advertising are product advertising and institutional advertising. Product advertising involves the nonpersonal selling of a good or service. Institutional advertising is the nonpersonal promotion of a concept, idea, or philosophy of a company or organization.

integrated marketing communications (IMC)

coordination of all promotional activities to produce a unified, customer-focused promotional message

direct marketing

direct communications, other than personal sales contacts, between buyer and seller, designed to generate sales, information requests, or store or website visits

types of advertising appeals

fear, humor, and sex

public relations

firm's communications and relationships with its various publics

marketing public relations (MPR)

focused public relations activities that directly support marketing goals

product placement

form of promotion in which a marketer pays a motion picture or television program owner a fee to display a product prominently in the film or show

types of advertising

institutional and product

personal selling

interpersonal influence process involving a seller's promotional presentation conducted on a person-to person basis with the buyer

sales promotion

marketing activities other than personal selling, advertising, guerrilla marketing, and public relations that stimulate consumer purchasing and dealer effectiveness

marketing communications

messages that deal with buyer- seller relationships

product advertising

nonpersonal selling of a particular good or service