MARK 3

Mass Media:

channels that are ideal for reaching large numbers of anonymous audience members; include national newspapers, magazines, radio, and television

Pulsing:

combines the continuous and flighting schedules by maintaining a base level of advertising but increasing advertising intensity during certain periods (Ex: airlines, hotels, and car rental companies - continuously advertise for brand awareness but increase in spikes during certain low-demand periods)

Informative Advertising:

communication used to create and build brand awareness, with the ultimate goal of moving the consumer through the buying cycle to a purchase; used to tell customers about an upcoming sales event or arrival of new merchandise; early stages of PLC

The Importance of Marketing Channel/Supply Chain Management:

Despite all other efforts, firms are likely to fail unless they are able to secure the placement of products in appropriate outlets in sufficient quantities exactly when customers want them (Place in the 4 P's)

FTC

is the primary enforcement agency for most mass media advertising, occasionally cooperating with other agencies to investigate and enforce regulations on particular advertising practices

Point-of-Purchase (POP) Displays:

a merchandise display located at the point of purchase, such as the checkout counter in a grocery store; provides high visibility

Salespeople Provide Information and Advice:

customers find value in and are willing to pay for the education and advice that salespeople provide

Assurance:

customers must be assured through adequate guarantees that their purchase will perform as expected

Receivers Decode Messages Differently:

each receiver decodes a message in his/her own way, which is not necessarily the way the sender intended; sender has little, if any, control over what meaning any individual receiver will take from the message

How Consumers Perceive Communication:

each receiver may interpret the sender's message differently, and senders often adjust their message according to the medium used and the receivers' level of knowledge about the product or service

The Communication Process:

model that describes how communications go from the firm to the consumer and the factors that affect the way the consumer perceives the message

Step 1: Identify Target Audience:

firms conduct research to identify their target audience, then use the information to set the tone for the advertising program and help them select the media they will use to deliver the message; firms must keep in mind that their target audience may or may not be the same as current users of the product

Newspapers:

flexible; timely; able to localize; can be expensive in some markets; advertisements have short lifespan

Flighting:

implemented in spurts, with periods of heavy advertising followed by periods of no advertising; generally functions for products whose demand fluctuates (Ex: suntan lotion)

Product Placement:

inclusion of a product in nontraditional situations, such as in a scene in a movie or television program

Tangibles:

reflect the physical characteristics of the seller's business; customers are more pleased with a purchase if it is produced with high quality and displayed in an aesthetically pleasing manner

Radio:

relatively inexpensive; can be selectively targeted; wide reach; no video which limits presentation; consumers give less focused attention than TV; exposure periods are short

Outdoor/billboard:

relatively inexpensive; offers opportunities for repeat exposure; is not easily targeted; has placement problems in some markets; exposure time is very short

Continuous schedule:

runs steadily throughout the year and therefore is suited to products and services that are consumed continually at relatively steady rates and that require a steady level of persuasive or reminder advertising (Ex: Tide laundry detergent)

The Sales Force and Corporate Policy:

sometimes salespeople face a conflict between what they believe represents ethical selling and what their company asks them to do to make a sale; salespeople must live within their own ethical comfort zone, as they can be held accountable for illegal actions sanctioned by the employer

Sales Promotions:

special incentives or excitement-building programs that encourage the purchase of a product or service, such as coupons, rebates, contests, free samples, and point-of-purchase displays; designed to build short-term sales and customer loyalty

Loyalty Programs:

specifically designed to retain customers by offering premiums or other incentives to customers who make multiple purchases over time; create loyalty and encourage repurchase

Return on marketing investment (ROMI):

the amount of profit divided by the value of the investment; (Sales revenue generated by ad - Ad's cost) / Ad's cost

Public Relations (PR):

the organizational function that manages the firm's communications to achieve a variety of objectives, including building and maintaining a positive image, handling or heading off unfavorable stories or events, and maintaining positive relationships with the media

Empathy:

the salesperson and support group must have a good understanding of the problems and issues faced by their customers, otherwise, they cannot give them what they want

Salespeople Build Relationships:

the salesperson is the frontline emissary for the firm and the most successful are those who build strong relationships with their customers; relationship selling: a sales philosophy and process that emphasizes a commitment to maintaining the relationship over the long term and investing in opportunities that are mutually beneficial to all parties

Step 4: Closing the Sale:

obtaining a commitment from the customer to make a purchase; the most stressful part of the process; must view losing a sale as part of the progression toward ultimately making the sale or building the relationship

Samples:

offers potential customers the opportunity to try a product or service before they make a buying decision; offers directly involvement and encourages trial

Sweepstakes:

offers prizes based on a chance drawing of entrants' names; increases involvement with the product

Step 3: Sales Presentation and Overcoming Reservations: The Presentation:

once all the background information has been obtained and the objectives for the meeting are set, the salesperson is ready for a person-to-person meeting; salesperson gets to know the customer, gets the customer's attention, and creates interest in the presentation to follow; beginning of the presentation is important because it is when the salesperson establishes exactly where the customer is in the buying process; vital for salesperson to ask questions but also listen to answers, as it tells them where the customer stands and exactly what they're looking for; salespeople must communicate their messages and sales pitches in ways that resonate with their audience of potential customers

Interest:

once the consumer is aware that the company or product exists, communication must work to increase the consumer's interest level; consumers must be persuaded that it is a product worth investigating

Awareness:

the best marketing can be wasted if the sender doesn't gain the attention of the consumer first; brand awareness: how many consumers in a market are familiar with the brand and what it stands for; created through repeated exposures (brand name, logo, symbol, character, packaging, or slogan) in the firm's communications to customers; aided recall: an awareness metric that occurs when consumers recognize a name of a brand that has been presented to them; top-of-mind awareness: highest level of awareness; a prominent place in people's memories that triggers a response without them having to put any thought into it; occurs when consumers mention a specific brand name first when they are asked about a product or service

Puffery:

the legal exaggeration of praise, stopping just short of deception, lavished on a product

Social shopping:

using the Internet to communicate about product preferences with other shoppers

Magazines:

very targeted; subscribers pass along to others; relatively inflexible; takes time for magazine to be available

Television:

wide reach; incorporates sound and video; high cost; several channel and program options; may increase awareness of competitors' products

Step 5: Follow-Up:

with relationship selling, it is never really over, even after the sale is closed; the follow-up offers a prime opportunity for a salesperson to solidify the customer relationship through great service quality; the best way to handle any postsale problem is to check with the customer right after he or she takes possession of the product or immediately after the service has been complete

The Importance of Marketing Channel/Supply Chain Management Merchandise and produced and distributed:

(1) in the right quantities (2) to the right locations (3) at the right times

Evaluating Market Size and Population Growth Rate:

(1) today, many less developed nations are experiencing rapid population growth, while many developed countries are experiencing either zero or negative population growth → countries with the highest purchasing power today may become less attractive in the future for many products and services; (2) distribution of the population within a particular region determines where and how products/services can be delivered → long supply chains are often necessary to reach rural areas, which adds to the products' cost

Target Market:

Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning: more complicated than domestic STP because firms must consider the cultural nuances, subcultures within each country, and that consumers often view products and their role as consumers differently in different countries

Contests:

a brand-sponsored competition that requires some form of skill or effort; increases consumer involvement and generates excitement

Strategic Alliance:

a collaborative relationship between independent firms, though the partnering firms do not create an equity partnership; that is, they do not invest in one another (Ex: Uber and Spotify alliance)

The AIDA Model:

a common model of the series of mental stages through which consumers move as a result of marketing communications; Awareness leads to Interests, which lead to Desire, which leads to Action; the Think, Feel, Do model; steps may not always follow the AIDA order

Marketing Channel Management Affects Other Aspects of Marketing: Distribution center:

a facility for the receipt, storage, and redistribution of goods to company stores; may be operated by retailers, manufacturers, or distribution specialists

Designing Marketing Channels: Direct Marketing Channel:

a marketing channel in which there are no intermediaries; the manufacturer sells directly to the buyer (Ex: carpentry business sells bookcases to individual customers)

Advertising:

a paid form of communication delivered through media from an identifiable source about an organization, product, service, or idea designed to persuade the receiver to take some action now or in the future; Important Distinctions: not free, must be carried by some medium (TV, radio, web), source of the message must be known or knowable, represents a persuasive form of communication designed to get the consumer to take some action

Advertising:

a paid form of communication delivered through the media from an identifiable source about an organization, product, service, or idea designed to persuade the receiver to take some action now or in the future; most visible of the IMC channels; extremely effective for creating awareness of a product or service and generating interest

Viral marketing program:

a promotional strategy that encourages people to pass along a marketing message to other potential consumers

The Appeal:

advertisers use different appeals to portray their products or services and persuade consumers to purchase them, though advertising tends to combine the types of appeals into two categories:(1) informational appeals: used in a promotion to help consumers make purchase decisions by offering factual information and strong arguments built around relevant issues that encourage them to evaluate the brand favorably on the basis of the key benefits it provides (2) emotional appeals: an appeal that aims to satisfy consumers' emotional desires rather than their utilitarian needs; focuses on feelings about the self; key is to create a bond between the consumer and the brand; appeals include: fear/safety, humor, happiness, love/sex, comfort, nostalgia

Desire:

after the firm has piqued the interest of its target market, the goal of subsequent IMC messages should move the consumer from "I like it" to "I want it"

Step 2: Set Advertising Objectives:

all advertising campaigns aim to inform, persuade, and remind customers; objectives appear in the advertising plan: a subsection of the firm's overall marketing plan that explicitly analyzes the marketing and advertising situation, identifies the objectives of the advertising campaign, clarifies a specific strategy for accomplishing those objectives, and indicates how the firm can determine whether the campaign was successful or not; pull strategy: a strategy in which the goal is to get consumers to pull the product through the marketing channel by demanding it; push strategy: a strategy designed to increase demand by motivating sellers - wholesalers, distributors, or salespeople - to highlight the product, rather than the products of competitors, and thereby push the product onto consumers

Feedback Loop:

allows the receiver to communicate with the sender and thereby informs the sender whether the message was received and decoded properly

Search Engine Marketing (SEM):

an activity used in online searches to increase the visibility of a firm by using paid searches to appear higher up in search results

Internet/mobile:

can be linked to detailed content; highly flexible and interactive; allows for specific targeting; becoming cluttered; the ad may be blocked by software on the computer

Niche Media:

channels that are focused and generally used to reach narrow segments, often with unique demographic characteristics or interests

Reminder Advertising:

communication used to remind consumers of a product or to prompt repurchases, especially for products that have gained market acceptance and are in the maturity stage of their life cycle; hope buyer uses top-of-mind awareness to buy product without putting any thought into it

Global Pricing Strategies:

competitive factors, tariffs, quotas, currency fluctuations, and anti-dumping laws all affect pricing decisions globally

Power in the Marketing Channel:

conflict in a marketing channel is mitigated by the degree to which one channel has power over another; power: a situation that occurs in a marketing channel in which one member has the means or ability to have control over the actions of another member in a channel at a different level of distribution, such as if a retailer has power or control over a supplier; corporate vertical marketing system: a system in which the parent company has complete control and can dictate the priorities and objectives of the supply chain; it may own facilities such as manufacturing plants, warehouse facilities, retail outlets, and design studios (Ex: Tesla); independent (conventional) marketing channel: a marketing channel in which several independent members - a manufacturer, a wholesaler, and a retailer - attempt to satisfy their own objectives and maximize their profits, often at the expense of the other members

Analyzing Sociocultural Factors:

culture exists on two levels: visible artifacts (behavior, dress, symbols, physical settings) and underlying values (thought processes, beliefs, and assumptions); a lot easier to understand and market visible artifacts than it is for underlying values

Salespeople Save Time and Simplify Buying:

customers perceive value in time and labor savings

Quota:

designates the minimum or maximum quantity of a product that may be brought into a country during a specified time period

Getting Merchandise to Customers: Delivery Merchandise Directly to Customer from Fulfillment Center:

driverless delivery vehicles and drones are currently in the experimentation phase, but safety and federal regulations are still a consideration

Measuring Success Using Marketing Metrics:

each step in the IMC process can be measured to determine how effective it has been in motivating consumers to move to the next step ; measures become challenging when marketing efforts include creative and new forms of communication; the lagged effect influences and complicates marketers' evaluations of a promotion's effectiveness Because of the cumulative effect of marketing communications, it may take several exposures before consumers are moved to buy, so firms cannot expect too much too soon.

The Sales Manager and the Sales Force:

fairness must apply to hiring, promotion, supervision, training, assignment of duties and quotas, compensation and incentives, and firing (Ex: Equal Employment Opportunity laws)

The Importance of Marketing Channel/Supply Chain Management: Wholesalers

firm engaged in buying, taking title to, often storing, and physically handling goods in large quantities, then reselling the goods (usually in smaller quantities) to retailers or industrial or business users; retailers sell products bought from wholesalers directly to consumers (Ex: Walmart, the retailer, buying products from Proctor and Gamble, the wholesaler)

Traditional Media:

firm should measure when and how often consumers have been exposed to various marketing communications; marketers measure the frequency of exposure - how often the audience is exposed to a communication within a specified period of time; marketers also use reach: the percentage of the target population exposed to a specific marketing communication, such as an advertisement, at least once; gross rating points (GRP): measure used for various media advertising - print, radio, or television; GRP = Reach x Frequency

Relevance:

in the context of SEM, it is a metric used to determine how useful an advertisement is to the consumer

Step 4: Convey the Message:

in this step, marketers determine what they want to convey about the product or service

Event sponsorship:

popular PR tool that occurs when corporations support various activities (financially or otherwise), usually in the cultural or sports and entertainment sectors (Ex: Red bull sponsoring various sports events)

Exporting:

producing goods in one country and selling them in another; requires the least financial risk but also allows for only a limited return to the exporting firm; difficult to achieve economies of scale when everything has to be shipped internationally

Coupons:

provides a stated discount to consumers on the final selling price of a specific item; the retailer handles the discount; used to stimulate demand; allows for direct tracking of sales

Getting Merchandise to Customers: Customer Store Pickup:

retailers that offer this option drive additional sales, as customers who come into the store to pickup online orders are more likely to make additional purchases; retailers need to ensure that the products that show up as being available online will actually be available in stock; mobile task management: wireless network and mobile device that receives demand notification and enables speedy response; allows the associate closest to the ordered item to physically pull it and verify its availability

Making Information Flow Through Marketing Channels: Flow 1 (Customer to Store):

sales associate scans the Universal Product Code (UPC) tag or Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) and the customer receives a receipt; UPC or RFID indicates the manufacturer of the item, a description of the item, and information about special packaging and promotions

Making Information Flow Through Marketing Channels: Flow 4 (Store to Manufacturer):

sales transaction data are sent directly from the store to the manufacturer, and the manufacturer decides when to ship more merchandise to the distribution centers and the stores

Getting Merchandise to Customers: Ship Merchandise to Stores:

shipping merchandise to stores from a distribution center has become increasingly complex; centers use sophisticated routing and scheduling computer systems to develop the most efficient routes possible

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC):

the promotion dimension of the four P's; encompasses a variety of communication disciplines - general advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing, and electronic media - in combination to provide clarity, consistency, and maximum communicative impact

When to Skip the Distribution Center:

If the retailer has few outlets and/or the stores are consolidated If you are selling perishable goods, items that help create the retailer's image of being the first to sell the latest products (Ex: video games), or fads

Rebates:

a consumer discount in which a portion of the purchase price is returned to the buyer in cash; the manufacturer, not the retailer, issues the refund

Designing Marketing Channels: Franchising:

a contractual agreement between a franchisor and a franchisee that allows the franchisee to operate a business using a name and format developed and supported by the franchisor; can be direct or indirect; franchisee pays a lump sum plus a royalty on all sales in return for the right to operate a business in a specific location; also agrees to operate the outlet in accordance with the procedures prescribed by the franchisor

Supply chain management/marketing channel management:

a set of approaches and techniques firms employ to efficiently and effectively integrate their suppliers, manufacturers, warehouses, stores, and transportation intermediaries into a seamless value chain in which merchandise is produced and distributed in the right quantities, to the right locations, and at the right time, as well as to minimize system wide costs while satisfying the service levels their customers require.

Web-Based Media:

assessing the effectiveness of any web-based communication efforts in an IMC campaign generally requires web-tracking software: software used to assess how much time viewers spend on particular web pages and the number of pages they view

Evaluating Real Income:

firms can make adjustments to an existing product or change the price to meet the needs of a particular country market; bottom of the pyramid: economic settings in which consumers earn very low wages

Joint Venture:

formed when a firm entering a new market pools its resources with those of a local firm to form a new company in which ownership, control, and profits are shared; a local partner offers the foreign entrant greater understanding of the market and access to resources such as vendors and real estate; problems can arise if the partners disagree or if the government places restrictions on the firm's ability to move its profits

Evaluating the General Economic Environment:

healthy economies provide better opportunities for global marketing expansions; trade deficit: results when a country imports more goods than it exports; signals the potential for greater competition at home from foreign producers; trade surplus: preferred by firms; country has a higher level of exports than imports; gross domestic product (GDP): most common way to gauge size and market potential of an economy; market value of the goods and services produced by a country in a year; gross national income (GNI): consists of GDP plus the net income earned from investments abroad; purchasing power parity: theory that states that if the exchange rates of two countries are in equilibrium, a product purchased in one will cost the same in the other, expressed in the same currency; Big Mac Index: metric that employs PPP to assess the relative economic buying power among nations; suggests that exchange rates should adjust to equalize the cost of a basket of goods and services, wherever it is bought around the world; helps marketers understand the relative wealth of a particular country

Direct marketing:

highly targeted; allows for personalization; cost can vary depending on type of direct marketing used; traditional media, like mail, will be more expensive than newer media

Trade Agreement:

intergovernmental agreement designed to manage and promote trade activities for specific regions; trading bloc: consists of those countries that have signed a particular trade agreement (Ex: EU, NAFTA, CAFTA, etc.)

Marketing Channel Management Affects Other Aspects of Marketing: Just-in-time (JIT) inventory system:

inventory management system designed to deliver less merchandise on a more frequent basis than traditional inventory systems; the firm gets the merchandise "just in time" for it to be used in the manufacture of another product, in the case of parts or components, or for sale when the customer wants it, in the case of consumer goods; known as quick response (QR) inventory system in retailing

The Salesperson and the Customer:

long-term relationships can deteriorate quickly if customers believe that they have not been treated in an ethically proper manner; important for sales managers to lead by example to ensure the image of themselves and their team

Using Sales Promotion Tools:

marketers must be careful in their use of sales promotions, especially those that focus on lowering prices; coupons could cause consumers to stockpile on non-perishable items, but could work well for perishable items; cross-promoting: efforts of two or more firms joining together to reach a specific target market; to be successful, the two products must appeal to the same target market and together create value for consumers

Communications:

media access must be sufficiently developed to allow consumers to find information about the products and services available in the marketplace

Marketing Channel Conflict: Horizontal Channel Conflict:

members at the same level of a marketing channel, for example, two competing retailers, or two competing manufacturers, are in disagreement or discord, such as when they are in a price war (Ex: Amazon's "Prime Effect" gives retailers little choice but to offer rapid delivery)

Distribution channels:

must exist to deliver products in a timely manner and at a reasonable cost

Ethical and Legal Issues in Personal Selling:

particularly important in personal selling as the sellers' actions are not only highly visible to customers, but also to other stakeholders

The Message:

provides the target audience with reasons to respond in a desired way; logical starting point for deciding on the advertising message is to communicate the product or service's problem-solving ability in a clear, compelling fashion; advertisers must remember that products and services solve problems, whether real or perceived; marketers must convey that their product/service will satisfy the needs of their customers; unique selling proposition (USP): a strategy of differentiating a product by communicating its unique attributes; often becomes the common theme or slogan in the entire advertising campaign (Ex: Oreo... Milk's Favorite Cookie)

Making Information Flow Through Marketing Channels: Flow 3 (Buyer to Manufacturer):

purchase information from each store is aggregated by the retailer as a whole, which creates an order for new merchandise; buyer at the retailer may also communicate directly with the manufacturer to get information and negotiate prices, shipping dates, promotional events, or other merchandise-related issues

Global Distribution Strategies:

some global channels are very long and complex, which adds to cost and ultimately increases the final selling price of a product; infrastructure issues can impact channels, such as how rural areas lack adequate transportation to shop at central areas or large malls → shop at small family-owned stores

Making Information Flow Through Marketing Channels: Flow 5 (Store to Distribution Center):

stores communicate with distribution centers to coordinate deliveries and check inventory status; when the store inventory drops to a specified level, more product is shipped to the store, and the shipment information is sent to the retailer's computer system

The Sender:

the message originates from the sender, who must be clearly identified to the intended audience

Making Information Flow Through Marketing Channels: Flow 2 (Store to Buyer):

the point-of-sale (POS) terminal records the purchase information and electronically sends it to the buyer; sales information is incorporated into an inventory management system and used to monitor and analyze sales; buyers also send information to stores about overall sales for the chain, ways to display merchandise, upcoming promotions, etc.

Encoding:

the process of converting the sender's ideas into a message, which could be verbal, visual, or both; the most important facet of encoding is not what is sent but rather what is received

Globalization:

the processes by which goods, services, capital, people, information, and ideas flow across national borders

Exchange Control:

the regulation of a country's currency exchange rate; controlled by the Federal Reserve in the U.S.; exchange rate: the measure of how much one currency is worth in relation to another; prices are nearly always lower in the country of origin because there are no customs or import duties to pay, and international transportation expenses are less than domestic ones

Responsiveness:

the salesperson and support group must be ready to deal quickly with any issue, question, or problem that may arise

Step 3: Sales Presentation and Overcoming Reservations: Handling Reservations:

the salesperson is very likely to encounter reservations or objections during the sales presentation, most often times relating to value/price; effective salespeople can anticipate and handle reservations; the best way to handles reservations is to relax and listen, then ask questions to clarify any reservations

Making Merchandise Flow Through Marketing Channels:

Merchandise from the manufacturer can go to distribution/fulfillment centers or directly to stores If the merchandise goes through distribution centers, it is then shipped to stores, and then to the customer Or fulfillment center ships directly to customer

Advantages of a Distribution Center:

More accurate sales forecasts are possible when retailers combine forecasts for many stores serviced by one distributor Enables retailers to carry less merchandise in the store Easier to avoid running out of stock Retail store space is more expensive than space at the distribution center

Setting and Allocating the IMC Budget:

Objective-and-task method: an IMC budgeting method that determines the costs required to undertake specific tasks to accomplish communication objectives; process entails setting objectives, choosing media, and determining costs Rule-of-thumb methods: budgeting methods that base the IMC budget on either the firm's share of the market in relation to competition (competitive parity), a fixed percentage of forecasted sales (percentage-of-sales), or what is left after other operating costs and forecasted sales have been budgeted (available budget)

Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions:

Power distance: willingness to accept social inequality as natural Uncertainty avoidance: the extent to which the society relies on orderliness, consistency, structure, and formalized procedures to address situations that arise in daily life Individualism: perceived obligation to and dependence on groups Masculinity: the extent to which dominant values are male oriented; lower masculinity ranking indicates that men and women are treated equally in all aspects of society; higher masculinity ranking suggests that men dominate in positions of power Time orientation: short- versus long-term orientation; a country that tends to have a long-term orientation values long-term commitments and is willing to accept a longer time horizon for, say, the success of a new product introduction Indulgence: the extent to which society allows for the gratification of fun and enjoyment needs or else suppresses and regulates such pursuits

Global Product or Service Strategies: there are three potential global product strategies -

Sell the same product or service in both markets (home country and host country) (Ex: Apple's iPhone); glocalization: process of firms standardizing their products globally, but using different promotional campaigns to sell them (Ex: Pringles flavors) Sell similar product to that in home country but include minor adaptations (Ex: Campbell's soup) Sell totally new products or services (Ex: Heinz sauces)

Deals:

a type of short-term price reduction that can take several forms, such as a "featured price," a price lower than the regular price; a "buy one, get one free" offer; or a certain percentage "more free" offer contained in larger packaging; can involve a special financing arrangement, such as reduced percentage interest rates or extended repayment terms; encourages trial and reduces consumer risk

Focus of Advertisements:

an ad campaign's objectives determine each specific ad's focus; product-focused advertisements: used to inform, persuade, or remind consumers about a specific product or service; institutional advertisement: promotes a company, corporation, business, institution, or organization; unlike product-focused advertisements, it is not intended to sell a particular product or service; public service advertising (PSA): category of institutional advertising; focuses on public welfare and generally is sponsored by nonprofit institutions, civic groups, religious organizations, trade associations, or political groups; form of social marketing: application of marketing principles to social issue to bring about attitudinal or behavioral change among the general public or a specific population segment

The Transmitter:

an agent or intermediary with which the sender works to develop the marketing communications; for example, a firm's creative department or an advertising agency

Determining the Advertising Schedule:

another important decision for the media planner is the advertising schedule, which specifies the timing and duration of advertising

Noise:

any interference that stems from competing messages, a lack of clarity in the message, or a flaw in the medium; difference between encoding (what sender intends to say) and decoding (what the receiver hears)

Goals:

firms need to understand the outcome they hope to achieve before they begin; can be short or long term goals; should be explicitly defined and measured

Step 3: Determine the Advertising Budget:

first, firms must consider the role that advertising plays in their attempt to meet their overall promotional objectives; second, advertising expenditures vary over the course of the PLC; third, the nature of the market and the product influence the size of advertising budgets and determine the amount of money spent on advertising (more money is spent on B2C advertising than on B2B advertising)

Step 2: Preapproach and the Use of CRM Systems:

in the personal selling process, the preapproach occurs prior to meeting the customer for the first time and extends the qualification of leads procedure; in this step, the salesperson conducts additional research and develops plans for meeting with the customer; salespeople can record transaction information, customer contact information, customer preferences, and market segment information about the customer in CRM systems; it is often good to practice the presentation prior to the meeting, using a technique known as role playing, in which the salesperson acts out a simulated buying situation while a colleague or manager acts as the buyer

Marketing Channel Conflict: Vertical Channel Conflict:

supply chain members that buy and sell to one another are not in agreement about their goals, roles, or rewards; buyers and vendors all must understand what drives the other party's business, their roles in the relationship, each firm's strategies, and any problems that might arise over the course of the relationship (Ex: DeWalt selling tools to Home Depot)

Tariff/Duty:

tax levied on a good imported into a country; intended to make imported goods more expensive and thus less competitive with domestic products; might also be used to penalize another country for trade practices that the home country views as unfair

Analyzing Infrastructure and Technological Capabilities:

the basic facilities, services, and installations needed for a community or society to function, such as transportation and communications systems, water and power lines, and public institutions like schools, post offices, and prisons is referred to as infrastructure; marketers are concerned with four key elements of a country's infrastructure -

Commerce:

the commercial infrastructure, which consists of the legal, banking, and regulatory systems, allows markets to function

Step 5: Evaluate and Select Media:

the content of an advertisement is tied closely to the characteristics of the media that firms select to carry the message, and vice versa; media planning: the process of evaluating and selecting the media mix - the combination of the media used and the frequency of advertising in each media - that will deliver a clear, consistent, compelling message to the intended audience (Ex: Macy's determines that a heavy does of TV, radio, print, and billboards is appropriate for the holiday selling season between Thanksgiving and the end of the year); media buy: the actual purchase of airtime or print pages; generally the largest expense in the advertising budget (TV the most expensive)

Economic Analysis Using Metrics:

the greater the wealth of people in a country, the better the opportunity a firm will have in that particular country; a firm conducting an economic analysis of a country market must look at three major economic factors -

Global Communication Strategies:

the major challenge in developing a global communication strategy is identifying the elements that need to be adapted to be effective in the global marketplace - (1) literacy levels vary by country (2) differences in languages and customs (3) cultural and religious differences

The Communications Channel:

the medium - print, broadcast, the Internet - that carries the message; media chosen must be appropriate to connect the sender with the desired recipients

Personal Selling:

the two-way flow of communication between a buyer and a seller that is designed to influence the buyer's purchase decision; most efficient way to sell certain products and services

Action:

the ultimate goal of any form of marketing communications is to drive the receiver to action; lagged effect: a delayed response to a marketing communications campaign; multiple exposures are often necessary; difficult to determine which exposure led to the purchase

Transportation:

there must be a system to transport goods throughout the various markets and to consumers in geographically dispersed marketplaces

Distribution Centers vs. Direct Store Delivery:

to determine which distribution system (distribution centers or direct store delivery) is better, retailers consider the total cost associated with each alternative and the customer service criterion of having the right merchandise at the store when the customer wants to buy it

Marketing Channel Management Affects Other Aspects of Marketing: Fulfillment center:

warehouse facilities used to ship merchandise directly to customers

Direct Investment:

when a firm maintains 100% ownership of its plants, operation facilities, and offices in a foreign country, often through the formation of wholly owned subsidiaries; requires the highest level of investment and exposes the firm to significant risks, including the loss of its operating and/or initial investments; no potential profits must be shared with other firms and offers the firm complete control over its operations in the foreign country

Designing Marketing Channels: Indirect Marketing Channel:

when one or more intermediaries work with manufacturers to provide goods and services to customers; wholesalers are prevalent in less developed economies, in which large retailers are rare

Making Information Flow Through Marketing Channels: Flow 6 (Manufacturer to Distribution Center and Buyer):

when the manufacturer ships the product to the distribution center, it sends an advanced shipping notice to the distribution center (tells retailer exactly what to expect in the shipment); distribution center makes appointments for trucks to deliver at specific times, dates, and loading docks; when shipment is received at the distribution center, the buyer is notified and authorizes payment to the vendor

Marketing Channels Add Value:

while each step in the process of getting the product to the consumer makes it more costly, it also becomes more valuable to the consumer; less channel members involved in the process → less cost, but more channel members involved in the process → increased value

Step 6: Create Advertisements:

Overriding principles for an advertisement: (1) the execution style must match the medium and the objectives (2) creativity should not overshadow the message (3) message and appeal translated into actual words and images; headline: large type designed to draw attention and identify the product; subhead: an additional smaller headline in an ad that provides a great deal of information through the use of short and simple words; body copy: the main text portion of an ad that explains in more depth what the headline and subheads introduce; brand elements: characteristics that identify the sponsor of a specific ad

Premiums:

an item offered for free or at a bargain price to reward some type of behavior, such as buying, sampling, or testing; build goodwill among consumers, who often perceive high value in them

Blogs:

an online diary with periodic posts that allows people to share their thoughts, opinions, and feelings with the entire world; can communicate trends, announce special events, create positive word of mouth, connect customers by forming a community, allow the company to respond directly to customers' comments, and develop a long-term relationship with the company

Cause-related marketing:

commercial activity in which businesses and charities form a partnership to market an image, a product, or a service for their mutual benefit; a type of promotional campaign (Ex: donating to St. Jude at a Chili's restaurant)

Persuasive Advertising:

communication used to motivate consumers to take action; attempts to accelerate the market's acceptance of the product; growth and early maturity stages of PLC when competition is intense - may also be used in later stages to reposition an established brand

Senders Adjust Messages According to the Medium and Receivers' Traits:

marketers make adjustments to their messages and media depending on whether they want to communicate with suppliers, shareholders, customers, the general public, or even specific segments of those groups

Direct Marketing:

sales and promotional techniques that communicate directly with target customers to generate a response or transaction; growing element of IMC; ability to carefully target customers; includes email and mobile marketing: marketing through wireless handheld devices such as cellular telephones

Primary federal agencies that regulate advertising activities are

the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Step 7: Assess Impact Using Marketing Metrics:

the effectiveness of an advertising campaign must be assessed before, during, and after the campaign has run; pretesting: assessments performed before an ad campaign is implemented to ensure that the various elements are working in an integrated fashion and doing what they are intended to do; tracking: assessments that monitor key indicators, such as daily or weekly sales volume, while the advertisement is running to shed light on any problems with the message or the medium; posttesting: the evaluation of an IMC campaign's impact after it has been implemented; can be challenging because of the many influences other than advertising on consumers' choices; lift: additional sales caused by advertising

Step 1: Generate and Qualify Leads:

the first step in the selling process is to generate a list of potential customers (leads) and assess their potential (qualify); salespeople who already have an established relationship with a customer will skip this step; not used extensively in retail settings, but important in B2B situations; can generate leads by talking to current customers, research on the Internet, or networking at events such as trade shows, industry conferences, or chamber of commerce meetings; can also use social media or cold calling; inbound marketing: marketing activities that draw the attention of customers through bogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other online sources, rather than using more traditional activities that require having to go out to get customers' attention, such as making a sales call; trade shows: major events attended by buyers who choose to be exposed to products and services offered by potential suppliers in an industry; cold calls: a method of prospecting in which salespeople telephone or go to see potential customers without appointments; telemarketing: a method of prospecting in which salespeople telephone potential customers; should check to see that the potential customer has a need for the item or service, the ability to purchase it, and the willingness to buy it

Click-through-rate (CTR):

the number of times a user clicks on an online ad divided by the number of impressions

Impressions:

the number of times an advertisement appears in front of the user

Social Media:

the online and mobile technologies that distribute content to facilitate interpersonal interactions, with the assistance of various firms that offer platforms, services, and tools to help customers and firms build their connections; three most popular are YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter

Public Relations:

the organizational function that manages the firm's communications to achieve a variety of objectives, including building and maintaining a positive image, handling or heading off unfavorable stories or events, and maintaining positive relationships with the media; support the other promotional efforts by the firm by generating free media attention

The Receiver:

the person who reads, hears, or sees and processes the information contained in the message or advertisement; decoding: the process by which the receiver interprets the sender's message

Reliability:

the salesperson and the supporting organization must deliver the right product or service on time

Personal selling:

the two-way flow of communication between a buyer and a seller that is designed to influence the buyer's purchase decision; considered most expensive form of promotion; can take place on the Internet, face-to-face, or on the phone; makes sense when item is expensive, item is complex or needs explanation, and customer is a business or organization