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UNIT-1

Syllabus of Unit:
INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS (IMC)
Definition:
"The coordination and integration of all marketing communication tools, avenues,
and sources within a company into a seamless program that maximizes the impact
on consumers and other end users at a minimal cost."
IMC is the development of an Integrated Comprehensive Marketing Communication
(Promotion) Plan that links the marketing function with the communication function
to deliver Effective Marketing Messages capable of (1) informing, [2] convincing and
(3) persuading people to buy.
ELEMENTS OR PARTICIPANT IN IMC
IMC makes use of such Promotion Elements as(1) Advertising
(2)Direct Marketing
(3)Sales Promotion
(4-)Public Relations
(5)Publicity
(6) Personal Selling, and other non-conventional elements like
(7) On-line communications
All above elements help to develop and deliver clear, consistent, and impactful
communications capable of informing, convincing, and persuading customers to
buy.
THE INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION MIX

IMC Mix

Advertising

Direct Marketing

Sales Promotion

Publicity

(1) Advertising
>> any paid form of nonpersonal presentation by a sponsor
>> reaches many buyers
>> expressive
(2) Direct Marketing
>> customized, interactive
(3) Sales Promotion
>> short term incentives to encourage sales
>> generates immediate response
>>short-life
(4-) Public Relations
>>building good relations with various publics
>> more believable, economical, underused by firms
(5) Publicity
>> Non paid form of advertising.
(6) Personal Selling
>>personal presentations by a firm's sales force
>>personal interaction, relationship building
>>costly
(7) Cyber or Internet Marketing
>>Use of internet to persuade customers

Personal Selling

Cyber
Marketing/Intern
et marketing

DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION


> Identifying Target Audience
>
>
>
>
o Determining Communications Objectives
o Buyer Readiness Stages
Designing Message
Message Content
o Message Structure
o Message Format
Media Selection
o personal and non personal communications channels
Message Source
0 Feedback Collection
PROMOTION BUDGET
1 . Affordable
2. Percentage of Sales
PP
Competitive Parity
Objective and Task
EMERGING COMMUNICATIONS ENVIRONMENT
>
V

Shift from mass marketing to segmented marketing


Shift from mass media to focused media
4- STAGES OF IMC SUCCESS
1.
2.
5*?
Identify, coordinate and manage all forms of external communication.
Hand N0tes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh
Extend scope ofcommunication to include everyone touched by the organization.
Using IT to infuse "customer input" into the plan. Db development/tracking/analysis.
Treating IMC as an investment rather than a departmental function.
FACTORS AFFECTING IMC
1.
2.
were
Information Technology
Changes in Channel Power
Increases in Competition
Brand Parity
Integration of Information
Decline in Mass Media Effectiveness
KEY CHALLENGES OF IMC
Across the globe, there is continuity in market deregulation and emergence
ofindividualized segmentation of consumer
tastes and preferences. So IMC being not an easy process has to face internal as
well as external challenges. The challenges
of IMC are:

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MARKETING COMMUNICATION
Marketing communication or promotion is one of the elements of the marketing mix
and is responsible for putting the
marketing offer to the target market. It is the planned and integrated
communication activity that communicates with an
organization's stakeholders.
A shift in market place power from manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer/shift in
channel power.
A movement away from relying on advertising focused approach.
Rapid growth of data base marketing.
A shift in traditional promotions.
Change in the way the advertising agencies compensated.
Rapid growth of internet marketing.
Growing competition in relationship marketing.
Change from mere information delivery to value delivery.
Consumer empowerment.
Fragmentation of media.
Increasing advertising clutter.
Desire for greater accountability.

Hand N0tes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh


Objectives of Marketing Communications:
Marketing Communication has the objective of1. Reach

2. Frequency
. Gross Rating Points
Cost Reduction of Promotion activity
. Continuity
Impressions
?":'*
1. Reach - The number of receivers (e.g. households, people, businesses] exposed
to a communication at least once.
Z. Frequency - The average number of times a receiver is exposed to a particular
communication within a given
period (e.g. a month).
3. Gross rating points rating (% of market exposed] times frequency
Suppose a TV program gets 10% of a market. Run an ad 40 times on that program
during a month, then....
GRPs = 10 X40 = 400
4. Cost Reduction
5. Continuity exposure pattern or schedule used in a campaign. It may beContinuous schedule:
Pulsating schedule:
MM
Discontinuous campaign schedule:
6. Impression an exposure to an ad.
Gross impressions total number ofpeople reached with a communication
[regardless of whether they actually
saw the ad or heard it) number of exposures
How marketing communications work?
No one model can explain how marketing communications work. The AIDA model
was an early attempt to explain how an

advertising's target audience might pass through a number of steps, with attention
being the first and most important one.
Attention
Interest
Action
MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS AND ATTITUDE CHANGE
Marketing communications can change attitudes by modifying negative attitudes,
and which in turn can change purchase
behaviour
Attitudes can be changed by marketing in the following ways:
0 Changing the product itselfand its description
0 Changing misunderstandings
0 Changing attribute priorities
' Changing perception
' Changing brand associations
However, consumers modify or are selective with the messages they absorb.

Hand Notes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh


Unit -2
S llabus of Unit:
Advertising Management: Meaning, Nature and Scope of Advertising, Advertising
Classification of advertising, Types of
advertising, advertising appropriation, advertising campaigns Process ofAdvertising,
Customer and Competitor Analysis,
STP Strategies for Advertising. Advertising Agencies their role, functions,
organisation, Remuneration, client agency

relationship, account Planning; Hoarding Contractors; Printers, etc. Management of


Advertising Agencies, Role of
Advertising in Natural Development, Testing of Advertising Effectiveness,
Preparation and Choice of Methods of
Advertising Budget, Ethical and Social Issues in Advertising
ADVERTISING MANAGEMENT
The term Advertising originates from the Latin word 'advertere' which means "to
turn the mind towards". The dictionary
meaning of the term advertising is "to give public notice or to announce publicity".
This suggests that advertising acts as a
marketing vehicle and is useful for drawing the attention of people [prospects]
towards a specific
product/service/manufacturer.
Definition of Advertising:
"Advertising is the nonpersonal communication of information usually paid for and
usually persuasive in nature about
products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media."
Classification of Advertising
Advertising classification can be done by following methodsA. According to Geographical Spread
On the basis ofgeographical spread, advertising can be classified as:
i) National Advertising: Some manufacturers may think that their target is the entire
country. They select media with a
countrywide base. Generally large, established firms belong to this category. Among
them are Hindustan Lever, Brooke
Bond, Larsen and Toubro, Escorts, Associated Cement Companies and the like.
ii] Local Advertising: Small firms may line to restrict their business to Sate or
regional level. A classic example is Nirma
washing powder, which initially was sold only in Gujarat and subsequently entered
the other markets.

m) Global Advertising: Multinational firms treat the world as their market. Firms such
as National, IBM or Sony or Ford
advertise globally, e.g., in periodicals like Times, Reader's Digest.
B. According to Target Group
On the basis oftarget groups aimed at, advertising can be classified as:
i) Consumer Advertising: A very substantial portion of total advertising is directed to
buyers of consumer products who
purchase them either for their own use or for their households. The preponderance
of such advertising can be seen by
looking into at random any general print media, such as newspapers and magazines
etc.
ii] Industrial Advertising: Industrial advertising on the other hand refers to those
advertisements which are issued by
the manufacturers/ distributors to the buyers of industrial products. This category
would include machinery and
equipment, industrial intermediates, parts and components, etc.
m) Trade Advertising: Advertisements which are directed by the manufacturers to
the distribution channel members,
such as wholesalers or retailers, are called trade advertising. The objective of such
advertising is to promote sales by
motivating the distribution channel members to stock more or to attract new retail
outlets. for eg :- Retail stores like Big
Bazaar, Wall mart.
iv) Professional Advertising: There are certain products for which the consumers
themselves are not responsible for the
buying choice. The classic examples are pharmaceuticals where are decision is
made by doctors while the consumers are
the patients. Such advertising is called professional advertising. for e.g. :- Doctors,
Lawyers, Engineers etc.
C. According to FocusArea

i) Institutional Advertising: Institutional advertising aims at building for a firm a


Positive public image in the eyes of
shareholders, employees, suppliers, legislators, or the general public. Institutional
advertising does not attempt to sell a
particular product; it benefits the organization as a whole for eg :- Bank
ii] Product Advertising: Most advertising is product advertising, designed to promote
the sale or reputation of a
particular product or band. This is true whether the advertising is done by a
manufacturer, a middleman, or a dealer, and
whether the advertising concerns the product itself or some of its features; such as
service, price, or the quality directly
associated with it. Advertisements about lndane Cooking Gas are a case in point.
a] Informative Product Advertising
b) Persuasive Product Advertising
c] Reminder-Oriented Product Advertising

Hand Notes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh


D. Timing of the Response needed
Product advertising has two sub-categories direct and indirect action advertising.
i) Direct Action Advertising: lt aims at generating immediate response. Many retail
messages, for instance, request
consumers to buy now. Other advertisements in the direct category contain
coupons, and request the consumers to
redeem these soon. Finally, numerous mail-order marketers attempt to induce
consumers to order at once.
ii) Indirect Action Advertising: lt does not attempt to bring about an immediate
behavior response. Rather, it attempts to

create favorable attitudes towards the sponsor and his products or services. The
objectives of this form of advertising are
long-run in nature. They include exposure, attention, comprehension, attitude
change, and behavior.
E. According to media type
There are several types of media which can be used by the companies.
Advertisin g
1. Print Advertising - The print media has been used for advertising since long. The
newspapers and magazines are quite
popular modes of advertising for different companies all over the world. Using the
print media, the companies can also
promote their products through brochures and iers. The newspaper and magazines
sell the advertising space and the
cost depends on several factors. The quantity of space, the page of the publication,
and the type of paper decide the cost of
the advertisement. So an ad on the front page would be costlier than on inside
pages. Similarly an ad in the glossy
supplement of the paper would be more expensive than in a mediocre quality paper.
Z. Broadcast Advertising - This type of advertising is very popular all around the
world. lt consists of television, radio, or
Internet advertising. The ads on the television have a large audience and are very
popular. The cost of the advertisement
depends on the length of the ad and the time at which the ad would be appearing.
For example, the prime time ads would
be more costly than the regular ones. Radio advertising is not what it used to be
after the advent oftelevision and Internet,
but still there is specific audience for the radio ads too. The radio jingles are quite
popular in sections of society and help to
sell the products.
3. Outdoor Advertising - Outdoor advertising makes use of different tools to gain
customer's attention. The billboards,

kiosks, and events and tradeshows are an effective way to convey the message of
the company. The billboards are present
all around the city but the content should be such that it attracts the attention of
the customer. The kiosks are an easy
outlet of the products and serve as information outlets for the people too.
Organizing events such as trade fairs and
exhibitions for promotion of the product or service also in a way advertises the
product. Therefore, outdoor advertising is
an effective advertising tool.
c:-N

4-. Covert Advertising - This is a unique way of advertising in which the product or
the message is subtly included in a
movie or TV serial. There is no actual ad, just the mention of the product in the
movie. For example, Tom Cruise used the
Nokia phone in the movie Minority Report.
5. Public Service Advertising - As evident from the title itself, such advertising is for
the public causes. There are a host of
important matters such as AIDS, political integrity, energy conservation, illiteracy,
poverty and so on all of which need
more awareness as far as general public is concerned. This type of advertising has
gained much importance in recent times
and is an effective tool to convey the message.
OBIECTIVES OF ADVERTISING
Four main Objectives of advertising are:
:'*?!-ll"
Trial
Continuity
Brand switch
Switching back

Let's take a look on these various types ofobjectives.


Trial: the companies which are in their introduction stage generally work for this
objective. The trial objective is the one
which involves convincing the customers to buy the new product introduced in the
market. l-lere, the advertisers use
ashy and attractive ads to make customers take a look on the products and
purchase for trials.

Hand N0tes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh


Continuity: this objective is concerned about keeping the existing customers to stick
on to the product. The advertisers
here generally keep on bringing something new in the product and the
advertisement so that the existing customers keep
buying their products.
Brand switch: this objective is basically for those companies who want to attract the
customers of the competitors. Here,
the advertisers try to convince the customers to switch from the existing brand they
are using to their product.
Switching back: this objective is for the companies who want their previous
customers back, who have switched to their
competitors. The advertisers use different ways to attract the customers back like
discount sale, new advertise, some
reworking done on packaging, etc.
Basically, advertising is a very artistic way of communicating with the customers.
The main characteristics one should
have to get on their objectives are great communication skills and very good
convincing power.
NATURE OF ADVERTISING
1. Advertising provides information

Paid form of communication


Non-personal presentation
Gives publicity to goods, services and ideas
Basically for persuasion
Target oriented
An Art, Science and Profession
Important element in marketing mix
Creativity the essence of advertising
>9>'9S":PP!"-
SCOPE OR FIVE M'S OF ADVERTISING
Like other areas of marketing management, decision-making is necessary in
advertising. This relates to Five Ms - mission,
money, message, media and measurement. An advertiser has to take decisions on
these areas:
1. Mission: This refers to the purpose/objective behind advertising. The objectives
behind advertising are varied in
character. They include sales promotion, information and guidance to consumers,
developing brand loyalty,
market goodwill, facing market competition effectively, making the products
popular/successful and introduction
of a new product. Decision in regard to mission is a basic one as other decisions are
to be adjusted as per the
mission or objective or purpose of advertising decided. For consumer products like
chocolate, tooth paste, soap,
the mission/objective include facing market competition, sales promotion and
making the product popular in the
market.
2. Money: This refers to the finance provided for advertising purpose (advertising
budget]. It means the budget

allocation made by the company for advertising. Money provided is a limiting factor
as effectiveness of
advertising, media used, coverage of advertising, etc. are related to the funds
provided for advertising purpose.
Advertising is costly and companies have to spend crores of rupees for this purpose.
Advertising should be always
within the limits of funds provided. Naturally, decisions on advertising package
should be adjusted as per the
budget allocation for advertising.
3. Message: Message is provided through the text of advertisement. The message is
given through written words,
pictures, slogans and so on. The message is for the information, guidance and
motivation of prospective buyers.
Attractive and meaningful messages give positive results and the advertising
becomes result-oriented. The
services of creative writers, artists, etc. are used for giving attractive message to
the consumers. Here, the
advertiser has to decide the message to be given, the media to be used for
communicating the message, the extent
of creativity, the specific customer group selected for giving the message and so on.
The message is also related to
the decisions taken as regards mission and money provided for advertising.
4-. Media: Media of advertising are already noted previously. The advertiser has to
take decision about the media to
be used for advertising purpose. Media differ as regards cost, coverage,
effectiveness and so on. The selection of
media depends on the budget provided, products to be advertised, and features of
prospective buyers and so on.
Wrong decision on media may make advertising ineffective and money spent will be
wasted. This suggests that
media should be selected properly and decision in this regard is important and
critical.

5. Measure: Measure relates to the effectiveness of advertising. An advertiser will


like to make evaluation of
advertisement in order to judge its effectiveness. If an advertisement is not
effective /purposeful, it will be
modified or withdrawn. This is necessary for avoiding expenditure on the
advertisement which is not effective or
is not likely to give positive results. An advertiser has to measure the effectiveness
of his advertisement
programme/ campaign and take suitable decisions. This decision-making as regards
effectiveness of advertising is
equally important and essential. Such testing facilitates introduction of suitable
remedial measures, if required.

Hana Notes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh


IMPORTANCE/ROLE OF ADVERTISING
Advertising plays a very important role in today's age of competition. Advertising is
one thing which has become a
necessity for everybody in today's day to day life, be it the producer, the traders, or
the customer. Advertising is an
important part. Lets have a look on how and where is advertising important:
1. For the customers:
1.1 Information and guidance
1.2 Acts as reminder
1.3 Special attraction to consumers
1.4- Raises living standards
1.5 Effective product use
1.6 Removes misunderstanding

2. For the seller or Manufacturer [companies producing the products):


2.1 Large scale production and marketing
2.2 Introduction ofnew products
2.3 Creates new demand
2.4- Facilitates effective personal selling
2.5 Builds brand image
2.6 Reduces cost of production
2.7 Facing competitionSales promotion
2.8 Goodwill builder
3. For the society:
3.1 Instrument of Social Inuence and Control
3.2 Component ofthe educational System
3.3 Upholds the Culture of a Nation
3.4- Uplifts the Standard of Living
3.5 Social Guide
3.6 Generates Employment Opportunities
3.7 Fosters Economic Growth
LIMITATIONS OR CRITICISM OR EVILS OF ADVERTISING
1. Increase in Unnecessary Wants
2. Increase in Costs and Prices
3. Creates Indecisiveness
4-. Too Much Puffery and Deception
5. Arouses Emotions
6. Obscene and Unethical
7. Promotes Social Evils
8. Endangers Competition

9. It is Wasteful
10. Creates Worries and Discontent
11. Encourages Materialism
12. Hampers Consumer Choice
13. Other Evils and Limits:
(a) Advertising has a harmful effect on children as it can easily inuence the
delicate feelings of children.
(b) Many ads are uensive and exercise high pressure on consumers.
(c] It leads to industrial concentration.
(d) Advertisements are rigid. The message once set cannot adjust to the reactions
of consumers.
(e] They may cause raad accidents as people see hoardings and posters while
driving the vehicles or walking on roads.
Types of Advertising Media
Advertising media are as noted in the chart given below:
Class of Media Tuna included
mm Ncwsfipers. Mag.mnes, lournalz and other publications.
Broadcast Radio, TV [Nahhnal Network}, STAR TV, DD Satellite Channels
Ntm-broadcast Video, Cable ,lCIosed Circuit TV and Cinnrna
Outdoor Pootwfi. Hoardings, Neon signs. Sky advertising etc.
Trmsitl Vol-dndar Railway traim, Bu-1:-s and Trams, Taxis and Auto-rickshaws, P1lvah: \'el1icJu\:
Point of Purchase Banners. I-Iangiings, Paclcaggg. Stickers. Painted figns. Window
display
Speciality Media T-shirts, but-runs, caps, slickma, badgezt diaries, key-d1.-iins,
calandmsi, elr.
Miscelhmcous Direct mail advu-lising, Trolleys at airpmm, etc.

Hand N0tes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh


STEPS IN ADVERTISING PROCESS
For the development of advertising and to get best results one need to follow the
advertising process step by step.
The following are the steps involved in the process ofadvertising:
Step 1 - Briefing: the advertiser needs to brief about the product or the service
which has to be advertised and doing the
SWOT analysis ofthe company and the product.
Step Z - Knowing the Objective: one should first know the objective or the purpose
of advertising. i.e. what message is to
be delivered to the audience?
Step 3 - Research: this step involves finding out the market behavior, knowing the
competitors, what type of advertising
they are using, what is the response of the consumers, availability ofthe resources
needed in the process, etc.
Step 4 Target Audience: the next step is to identify the target consumers most
likely to buy the product. The target
should be appropriately identified without any confusion. For e.g. ifthe product is a
health drink for growing kids, then the
target customers will be the parents who are going to buy it and not the kids who
are going to drink it.
Step 5 Media Selection: now that the target audience is identified, one should
select an appropriate media for
advertising so that the customers who are to be informed about the product and are
willing to buy are successfully
reached.
Step 6 Setting the Budget: then the advertising budget has to be planned so that
there is no short of funds or excess of
funds during the process of advertising and also there are no losses to the company.

Step 7 - Designing and Creating the Ad: first the design that is the outline of ad on
papers is made by the copywriters of
the agency, then the actual creation of ad is done with help ofthe art directors and
the creative personnel of the agency.
Step 8 - Perfection: then the created ad is re-examined and the ad is redefined to
make it perfect to enter the market.
Step 9 - Place and Time ofAd: the next step is to decide where and when the ad will
be shown.
The place will be decided according to the target customers where the ad is most
visible clearly to them. The finalization of
time on which the ad will be telecasted or shown on the selected media will be done
by the traffic department of the
agency.
Step 10 - Execution: finally, the advertise is released with perfect creation, perfect
placement and perfect timing in the
market.
Step 11 - Performance: the last step is to judge the performance of the ad in terms
of the response from the customers,
whether they are satisfied with the ad and the product, did the ad reached all the
targeted people, was the advertise
capable enough to compete with the other players, etc. Every point is studied
properly and changes are made, if any.
lfthese steps are followed properly then there has to be a successful beginning for
the product in the market.
THE CUSTOMER AND COMPETITION
It is very important to analyse the target customer as well as the market before
deciding upon the advertising strategy. The
advertisement should suit the customer and be written according to the need of the
customer. We shall discuss the
customer and competition separately.
THE CUSTOMER

CustomerAnalysis
It is necessary to know the target customer and his NEEDS. The customer consists
of male, female, child, veterans, youth,
etc. They have their demographic characteristics which must be considered. The
characteristics can be his age, income,
status, sex, occupation, etc. Customers may be classified according to their
psychographic classification which are their
activities, interest and opinions known as [AlO).First we have to find out the target
market and their characteristics and
keeping the market forces into consideration the advertisement is created.
Suppose we take the example of shoes. We can have shoes for schoolgoing
children. In this add, the advertisement should
show children wearing school uniforms, shoes and going to school and looking
happy with the brand that is advertised.
Shoes for Oioe-going Personnel
The shoes should be comfortable, reasonably priced giving a formal look. The
advertisement will depict these features in
the advertisement.
Shoes for Execufives and Party Shoes
These shoes have to be more expensive and better looking, depicting a different
image. The Ad for these shoes will be
directed on the higher income segment of the society.
Ladies Shoes
This will show beautiful ladies and celebrities wearing shoes keeping with the
fashion. The ads can be of different nature
keeping with fashion trend.
Makey0urselfm0re acceptable with X brand ofshoes"
\

Hand Notes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh


Spo11sShoes
Sports shoes are shown with ADS of sportsman like Agassi, Sehwag, Lara etc. These
shoes are very expensive and project
brands like NIKE, ADIDAS etc.
Industry or Safety Shoes
For workers working in the industry exposed to fire, and other hazards have
different shoes and these ads are usually
given in magazines and journals and are directed at the industry.
Slogans:
Similarly, no matter what product is advertised it is essential to know the
characteristics of the customers. This has to be
analysed and accordingly the Ad is created and a copy is written for release.
Examples:
"Indian oil gives more mileage".Close up a paste and a mouth wash"Close up in
for close ups." "Things go better with
coke" "Don't say INK say QUINK. Kelvinator refrigerator is the coolest one." Public
sector banks touching your life,
everyday, everywhere." "Complan"the complete planned food." Advertising
creates competition so that the firms vie
with each other to provide the best product and services to buyers. They try to
create and sustain Brand loyalty. The
customer is greatly affected by advertising.
THE COMPETITION
Competition in the market is essential for a healthy growth of the economy,
competition leads to innovation, efficient use
of resources and reasonable price determination. If creates competition for different
brands. In the absence of competition

the consumer has no choice but to buy the goods that are available. Advertising has
become an integral part of marketing.
The objective is to maintain greater sales and greater profits. The marketing cost
includes the advertising cost. If mass
marketing is done the cost of distribution and promotion is reduced leading to
increase in profits. Advertising helps the
buyers to understand product differentiation and use them to their advantage.
Consumers, through advertising, learn
about the offerings ofthe leader firms and niche firms and their ofjudgment
becomes easier.
Competitive Analysis
We have got strengths and we have our weaknesses but so have our competitors.
But if we sell our strength
against their weakness, we will win".
Competitive analysis means the analysis of competitors, their strengths and
weaknesses and comparing them to your
own strengths and weaknesses."
Whenever we advertise our products we create a positive impact on our product
and may leave a negative impact on the
competitor's products and market. Advertising encourages competition and forces
themselves and their rivals to make
better products for buyers and to serve them better. It also creates Brand loyalty.
The firms, therefore, undertake
advertising research and make products according to consumer needs.
In competitive advertising, we have to consider the following points0 What should be the mix of advertising for our products.
' How much funds should be allotted to Print-media, Radio, Periodicals, Newspapers,
Magazines, lournals, and
Pamphlets etc.
What is the pattern of competition exisisting in the market.

0 What media-vehicle should be chosen. There are audio and audio-visual media,
electronic media etc. We have to
choose among these Media Vehicles.
0 What are the situations of the competitive firms along with the place or the city,
where their product is in great
demand.
We have to compare their product, package etc., and highlight by advertising our
strengths or the extra benefits provided
by our firm. The advertisement competition should be healthy. We should highlight
our strength without naming or
condemning the other firms or their brands.
METHODS OF COMPETITORS ANALYSIS
1. CONSTRUCTION or COMPETITOR ARRAY
One common and useful technique is constructing a competitor array. The steps
include:
a) Define your industry - scope and nature ofthe industry
b) Determine who your competitors are
c) Determine who your customers are and what benefits they expect
d) Determine what the key success factors are in your industry
e) Rank the key success factors by giving each one a weighting The sum ofall the
weightings must add up to one.
f] Rate each competitor on each of the key success factors
g) Multiply each cell in the matrix by the factor weighting.

Hand N0tes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh


Z. COMPETITOR PROFILING

The strategic rationale of competitor profiling is powerfully simple. Superior


knowledge of rivals offers a legitimate source
of competitive advantage. The raw material of competitive advantage consists of
offering superior customer value in the
firm's chosen market.
Profiling facilitates this strategic obiective in three important wa_\Is_First, profiling can reveal strategic weaknesses in rivals that the firm may exploit.
Second, the proactive stance of competitor profiling will allow the firm to anticipate
the strategic response of their rivals
to the firm's planned strategies, the strategies of other competing firms, and
changes in the environment.
Third, this proactive knowledge will give the firms strategic agility. Offensive
strategy can be implemented more quickly
in order to exploit opportunities and capitalize on strengths. Similarly, defensive
strategy can be employed more deftly in
order to counter the threat of rival firms from exploiting the firm's own weaknesses.
A common technique is to create detailed profiles on each of your major
competitors. These profiles give an in-depth
description of the competitor's background, finances, products, markets, facilities,
personnel, and strategies. This involves:
a) Background
0 location of offices, plants, and online presences
0 history - key personalities, dates, events, and trends
0 ownership, corporate governance, and organizational structure
b) Financials
0 P-E ratios, dividend policy, and profitability
0 various financial ratios, liquidity, and cash ow
profit growth profile; method ofgrowth [organic or acquisitive]
c) Products

0 products offered, depth and breadth of product line, and product portfolio balance
0 new products developed, new product success rate, and R&D strengths
0 brands, strength of brand portfolio, brand loyalty and brand awareness
0 patents and licenses
' quality control conformance
' reverse engineering
d) Marketing
segments served, market shares, customer base, growth rate, and customer
loyalty
' promotional mix, promotional budgets, advertising themes, ad agency used, sales
force success rate, online
promotional strategy
0 distribution channels used [direct & indirect), exclusivity agreements, alliances,
and geographical coverage
0 pricing, discounts, and allowances
e) Facilities
0 plant capacity, capacity utilization rate, age ofplant, plant efficiency, capital
investment
' location, shipping logistics, and product mix by plant
1] Personnel
0 number of employees, key employees, and skill sets
strength of management, and management style
' compensation, benefits, and employee morale & retention rates
g) Corporate and marketing strategies
0 objectives, mission statement, growth plans, acquisitions, and divestitures
0 marketing strategies
3. MEDIA SCANNING

Scanning competitors ads can reveal much about what that competitor believes
about marketing and their target market.
Advantages of Media ScanningChanges in a competitor's advertising message can be benefitted in the following
ways
a] Reveal new product offerings, new production processes, a new branding
strategy, a new positioning strategy, a
new segmentation strategy, line extensions and contractions, problems with
previous positions, insights from
recent marketing or product research, a new strategic direction, a new source of
sustainable competitive
advantage, or value migrations within the industry.
b) Indicate a new pricing strategy such as penetration, price discrimination, price
skimming, product bundling, joint
product pricing, discounts, or loss leaders.
c] Indicate a new promotion strategy such as push, pull, balanced, short term sales
generation, long term image
creation, informational, comparative, affective, reminder, new creative objectives,
new unique selling proposition,
new creative concepts, appeals, tone, and themes, or a new advertising agency.
d) Indicate a new distribution strategy, new distribution partners, more extensive
distribution, more int 've
distribution, a change in geographical focus, or exclusive distribution.

Hand N0tes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh


e) Reveals budget allocation, segmentation and targeting strategy, and selectivity
and focus.
I] help a manager implement his own media plan. By knowing the competitors
media buy, media selection,

frequency, reach, continuity, schedules, and ights, the manager can arrange his
own media plan so that they do
not coincide.
Little of this intelligence is definitive. Additional information is needed before
conclusions should be drawn. Other sources
of corporate intelligence include trade shows, patent filings, mutual customers,
annual reports, and trade associations.
Some firms hire competitor intelligence professionals to obtain this information. The
Society of Competitive Intelligence
Professionals maintains a listing of individuals who provide these services.
4. New COMPETITORS
In addition to analysing current competitors, it is necessary to estimate future
competitive threats. The most common
sources of new competitors are:
a) Companies competing in a related product/market
b) Companies using related technologies
c) Companies already targeting your prime market segment but with unrelated
products
d) Companies from other geographical areas and with similar products
e) New start-up companies organized by former employees and/or managers of
existing companies
The entrance of new competitors is likely when:
0 There are high profit margins in the industry
0 There is unmet demand (insufficient supply] in the industry
0 There are no major barriers to entry
0 There is future growth potential
0 Competitive rivalry is not intense
0 Gaining a competitive advantage over existing firms is feasible
SEGMENTATION. TARGETING. POSITIONING (STP) STRATEGIES FOR ADVERTISING

Before start think about marketing (4P), we must understand what is STP. Terms of
STP include market segmentation;
targeting; andpositinning.
(1) Segmentation
Segmentation is identifying all segments for the product/service. To be useful,
segments should be
0 Measurable
0 Accessible [can you reach them]
0 Profitable
0 Distinct from one another
The objective of segmentation is to find attractive markets. Strategies include0 Break market into components
' Regroup into market segments
' Select which segment to target
[2] Targeting:
Target is the real goal/objective in market that marketer want to reach. As simple
questions are:
0 What percent of the population uses the product at all?
0 What percent uses your brand?
0 How does that compare to competing brands?
' What is the demographic profile of the product category?
0 Which media reach the users of this category?
(3) Positioning:
Positioning is an essential component and skill in good marketing. Perceptual maps
are used to determine the position
ofa product, firm, person, service or idea. One definition of Positioning Theory is: the
science ofperceptualstrategy. It is
based on a theory that strategy can only be planned in the mind of the consumer,
not the marketplace.

Levels of positioning Product Level (e.g., Pepsi vs. Coke)


I Category Level [e.g., Cola vs. Root beer]
Corporate Level [e.g., Pepsi Inc. vs. Coca Cola Company]
Industry Level [e.g., Beverage Industry vs. Snack food Industry)
Bases for Segmentation
There are various bases for segmentation. These are as under:
(1) Geographic Segmentation
Region North, South, East, West
City Size - Major metropolitan areas, small cities, towns
Density ofArea - Urban, suburban, exurban, rural

Hand N0tes- IMC, By: Gdrgee Singh


Climate - Temperate, hot, humid
(2) Demographic Segmentation
Age - Under 11,1217,1834-, 35-4-9, 50-64, 65-74, 75+
Sex - Male, Female
Marital Status - Single, married, divorced, living together, widowed
Income - Under Rs. 15000, Rs.15000-Rs.24999, Rs.25000-$39999, Rs/10000 and
over
Education - Some high school, high school graduate, some college-graduate,
postgraduate
Occupation - Professional, blue-collar, white-collar, agricultural
(3) Psychological/Psychographic Segmentation
Needs Motivation - Shelter, safety, security, affection, sense of self worth

Personality - Extroverts, introverts, aggressives, complaints


Perception - Low risk, moderate risk, high risk
Learning - InvolvementLow involvement, high involvement
Attitudes - Positive attitude, negative attitude
Psychographic (Lifestyle) - Swingers, straights, conservatives, status seekers
(4-) Socio-cultural Segmentation
Culture - American, Italian, Chinese, Mexican
SubcultureReligion lewish, Catholic, Protestant, Other
Race/Ethnicity - African-American, Caucasian, Oriental, Hispanic
Social Class - Lower, middle, upper
Family Lifestyle - Bachelors, young marrieds, empty nesters
(5) Use-Related Segmentation
Usage Rate - Heavy users, medium users, light users, nonusers
Awareness Status - Unaware, aware, interested, enthusiastic
Brand Loyalty - None, some, strong
(6) Use-Situational Segmentation
Time - Leisure, work, rush, morning, night
Objective - Personal use, gift, snack, fun, achievement
Location - Home, work, friend's home, in-store
Person - Self, friends, boss, peer
(7) Benefit Segmentation
Convenience prestige, economy, value-for-the money
(8) Hybrid Segmentation
Demographic/Psychographic - Combination of demographic and psychographic
characteristics
Geo-demographics - Young Suburbia Blue-Estates
VALS 2 - Actualizer, fulfilled, believer, achiever, striver.

ADVERTISING BUDGET
Advertising Budget is the amount of money which can be or has to be spent on
advertising of the product to promote it,
reach the target consumers and make the sales chart go on the upper side and give
reasonable profits to the company.
Factors Affecting Advertising Budget
Before finalizing the advertising budget of an organization or a company, one has to
take a look on the favorable and
unfavorable market conditions which will have an impact on the advertising budget.
The market conditions to watch out for are as follows:
1. Frequency ofthe advertisement
2. Competition and Clutter
3. Market Share of the Product
4. Product Life Cycle Stage
1. Frequency of the Advertisement
This means the number of times advertise has been shown with the description of
the product or service, in the granted
time slots. S0 here, if any company needs more advertising frequency for its
product, then the company will have to
increase its advertising budget.
2. Competition and Clutter
The companies may have many competitors for its product. And also there are
plenty of advertisements shown which is
called clutter. The company has to then increase their advertising budget.
3. Market Share
To get a good market share in comparison to their competitors, the company should
have a better product in terms of
quality, uniqueness, demand and catchy advertisements with resultant response
ofthe customers. All this is possible i the

advertisement budget is high.

Hand N0tes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh


4. Product Life Cycle Stage
lfthe company is a newcomer or if the product is on its introduction stage, then the
company has to keep the budget high
to make place in the market with the existing players and to have frequent
advertisements. As the time goes on and
product becomes older, the advertising budget can come down as then the product
doesn't need frequent advertising.
Methods Advertising Budget
When the market conditions are studied thoroughly, then the company has to set up
its advertising budget accordingly.
There are several allocation methods used in developing a budget. The most
common are listed below:
1. Percentage of Sales method
2. Objective and Task method
. Competitive Parity method
Market Share method
. Unit Sales method
All Available Funds method
Affordable method
It is important to notice that most of these methods are often combined in any
number of ways, depending on the
situation. Because of this, these methods should not be seen as rigid but as building
blocks that can be combined, modified,
or discarded as necessary.

1. Percentage of Sales Method


Due to its simplicity, the percentage of sales method is the most commonly used by
small businesses. When using this
method an advertiser takes a percentage of either past or anticipated sales and
allocates that percentage of the overall
budget to advertising. But critics of this method charge that using past sales for
figuring the advertising budget is too
conservative, that it can stunt growth. However, it might be safer for a small
business to use this method if the ownership
feels that future returns cannot be safely anticipated. On the other hand, an
established business, with well-established
profit trends, will tend to use anticipated sales when figuring advertising
expenditures. This method can be especially
effective ifthe business compares its sales with those ofthe competition [if available)
when figuring its budget.
2. Objective and Task Method
Because ofthe importance ofobjectives in business, the task and objective method is
considered by many to make the most sense and is
therefore used by most large businesses. The benefit of this method is that it allows
the advertiser to correlate advertising expenditures
with overall marketing objectives. This correlation is important because it keeps
spending focused on primary business goals.
.\lP":>*
With this method, a business needs to first establish concrete marketing objectives,
often articulated in the "selling proposal," and then
develop complementary advertising objectives articulated in the "positioning
statement." After these objectives have been established,
the advertiser determines how much it will cost to meet them. Of course, fiscal
realities need to be figured into this methodology as well.
Some objectives [expansion of area market share by 15 percent within a year, for
instance) may only be reachable through advertising

expenditures beyond the capacity ofa small business. In such cases, small business
owners must scale down their objectives so that they
reect the financial situation under which they are operating.
3. Competitive Parity Method
While keeping ones own objectives in mind, it is often useful for a business to
compare its advertising spending with that
of its competitors. The theory here is that if a business is aware of how much its
competitors are spending to advertise
their products and services, the business may wish to budget a similar amount on
its own advertising by way of staying
competitive. Doing as one's competitor does is not, of course, always the wisest
course. And matching another's
advertising budget dollar for dollar does not necessarily buy one the same
marketing outcome. Much depends on how that
money is spent. However, gauging one's advertising budget on other participants in
the same market is a reasonable
starting point.
4-. Market Share Method
Similar to competitive parity, the market share method bases its budgeting strategy
on external market trends. With this
method a business equates its market share with its advertising expenditures.
Critics of this method contend that
companies that use market share numbers to arrive at an advertising budget are
ultimately predicating their advertising
on an arbitrary guideline that does not adequately reect future goals.
5. Unit Sales Method
This method takes the cost of advertising an individual item and multiplies it by the
number of units the business wishes
to sell. This method is only effective, ofcourse, when the cost of advertising a single
unit can be reasonably determined.
6. All Available Funds Method

This aggressive method involves the allocation of all available profits to advertising
purposes. This can be risky for a
business of any size it means that no money is being used to help the business
grow in other ways (purchasing new
technologies, expanding the work force, etc.]. Yet this aggressive approach is
sometimes useful when a start-up business is
trying to increase consumer awareness of its products or services. However, a
business using this approach needs to make
sure that its advertising strategy is an effective one and that funds which could help
the business expand are not being
wasted.

Hand N0tes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh


7. Affordable Method
With this method, advertisers base their budgets on what they can afford. Of
course, arriving at a conclusion about what a
small business can afford in the realm of advertising is often a difficult task, one
that needs to incorporate overall
objecfives and goals, competition, presence in the market, unit sales, sales trends,
operating costs, and other factors.
ADVERTISING AGENCY
Advertising agency is an independent business organization specialized in
advertising work which undertakes the work of
planning, preparing and executing advertising campaign for its clients. lt is a body
of experts who specialize in advertising.
1] Planning: Planning here referred to study of client's product, or services, to
identify its inherent qualities in relation to
compen'tor's product, analysis of various components of marketing environment
and formulation of advertising plan.

2] Preparing: It refers to writing, designing and producing the advertisement. lt is


mainly related to formation of ad-copy.
3) Executing: It means contacting right kind of media for time and space, delivering
the ads in appropriate form, checking
and verifying advertisement release in media, paying the media, billing the clients
etc.
Definition of Advertising Agency
According to American Marketing Association, An advertising agency is:
i] An independent business organization,
ii] Composed of creative and business people,
m) Who develop, prepare and place advertising in advertising media,
iv) For sellers seeking to find customers for their goods and services."
ROLE OF ADVERTISING IN NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Advertising plays a very crucial role in the National Development:
I lt is a major component of the Promotion Mix.
I It is also the tool of communication and gives awareness to the masses.
I lt enables the consumers to exercise their right of free choice.
I lt is the most economical method of communicating to the consumer.
I lt promotes social awareness by communications.
I It deters the public from indulging in anti-social activities and educates them about
social issues.
I lt communicates about family planning issues which are very crucial for our nation.
I lt educates people about health hazards, and safety norms.
I It is a very powerful source of communication. lt improves the economic
development of our country.
I It stimulates production and brings in more employment.
I lt helps in establishing prices and brings contentment to the public.
I lt leads to wider distribution and makes goods available at the right time and at
the right place.

I It is essential to marketing system and is its integral part.


I lt promotes social and economic growth. It disseminates technology and creates
favourable conditions for the
acceptance ofinnovative approaches.
I It leads to greater sales growth for the firms spending more on advertising.
I It can help in lowering prices by reducing the cost of production and distribution
and expanding the market.
I It encourages mass consumptions and leads to increase in production there by
lowering the prices.
I lt encourages competition so that the customer is benefited. The firms which are
forced to undertake consumer
research come out with better products for the consumer.
I lt improves product quality through competition and induces firms to maintain
quality as promised. It promotes
the brands with the improvement in the quality so that the customer is satisfied.
I It makes people adopt new products and plays a greater role in diffusion ofthe
message so that the product gets a
boost and starts selling.
Functions of Advertising Agency
1) Contacting Clients: Ad-agency's first and foremost task is to contact and select
clients who are desirous of advertising
their products or services. The preference in choosing the clients is given to those
firms which are financially sound, make
good quality products and services and have efficient management.
2) Advertising Planning: Another function ofadvertising agency is planning the ad for
its clients. For this, the agency has
to perform following tasks:
i] Study of client's product to identify its inherent qualities in relation to competitor's
product.
ii] Analysis of present and potential market for the product

m) Study of'o'ade and economic conditions in the market.


iv) Information about season when maximum sale can be made.
v] Information about level of competition, competitor's spending on advertising.
vi) Knowledge of channels of distribution, their sales, their methods of operation,
etc.
vii) Formulation ofadvertising plan.
3] Creative Function: According to David Ogilvy, "Creative function is the most
important of all advertising functions.
The copywriters, artists, artdirectors and graphic-specialists are referred as
creative people."

Hand N0tes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh


4) Developing and Preparing Advertising Copy: Ad-agency is a specialized
organization and involves specialists such as:
writers, artists, market-analysts, website-designers, animators, graphic-designers,
researcher, film director etc.
i) Ad-Copy for PrintMedia
ii) Ad-Copy for Broadcast Media
5) Approval of Client: After that the ad-copy is prepared, it is shown to client for his
approval.
6) Media Selection and Media Scheduling: Another important function of adagency
is selecting appropriate media for
its clients. Various factors like media cost, media circulation, media coverage,
nature of product, nature of customers, adbudget of client, needs of clients, etc., are considered by ad-agency for selecting
media for its clients.
7) AdExecution: After obtaining approval from client, the advertising copy is
handed over to media for its execution.

8) Evaluation Function: The next major function of ad-agency is to evaluate the


effectiveness of advertisement for the
benefits of its clients.
9) Marketing Function: The advertising agency also performs marketing functions,
such as selecting target-customers,
designing products, packages, developing channels of distribution, determining
prices; new product development,
conducting marketing research, sales promotion, publicity, improving public
relations, etc.
10) Research Function: lt includes continuous research regarding different media,
their circulation, media-cost, entry of
new newspapers/magazine, collecting information about rating of various TV
programmes, serials so that time of ad can
be decided.
11) Accounting Function: Accounting function of agency includes checking bills
received from media, cash discount
allowed by media billing to client, collection of dues from clients, making payment
to media, payment to outside
professionals likewriters, film-producers, models, making payment for purchasing
advertising materials, salary to staff,
etc. Thus, practically ad-agency performs all the advertising functions for advertiser.
Types of Advertising Agencies
There can be following types of advertising agencies:
1] Full service agency,
Z] In house agency,
3] A creative boutique,
4) Media buying services,
5) The La carte agency,
6) Special service agency [Group]
7) Sweet shops

1) Full-Service Agencies: Many companies employ what is known as a full-service


agency, which offers its clients a full
range of marketing, communications, and promotions services, including planning,
creating, and producing the
advertising; performing research; and selecting media. A full-service agency may
also offer no advertising services such as
strategic market planning; sales promotions, direct marketing, and interactive
capabilities; package design; and public
relations and publicity.
2) In-I-louse Agencies: An inhouse agency is often referred to as the advertising
department in a firm and takes
responsibility for the planning and preparation of advertising materials. This option
has the advantage of greater
coordination and control in all phases of the advertising and promotion process.
Some prominent advertisers who do most
oftheir work in=house are Gap, Calvin Klein, and Revlon.
3) Creative Boutiques: A creative boutique typically emphasizes creative concept
development, copywriting, and artistic
services to clients. An advertiser can employ this alternative for the strict purpose
of infusing greater creativity into the
message theme or individual advertisement. As one advertising expert put it, "lf all
clients want is ideas, lots of them, from
which they can pick and mix to their hearts delight, they won't want conventional,
full-service agencies. They all want fast
ashy fee-based idea factories." Creative boutiques are these idea factories.
A creative boutique is an agency that provides only creative services. These
specialized companies have developed in
response to some clients desires to use only the creative talent of an outside
provider while maintaining the other
functions internally.
4) Media Buying Services: Media buying services are independent companies that
specialize in the buying of media,

particularly radio and television time. The task of purchasing advertising media has
grown more complex as specialized
media proliferate, so media buying services have found a niche by specializing in
the analysis and purchase of advertising
time and space. Agencies and clients usually develop their own media strategies
and hire the buying service to execute
them.
5] A La Carte Agency: Some advertisers prefer to order a la carte rather than using
all of an agency's services. A la carte
services can be purchased from a full service agency or from an individual firm that
specializes only in creative work,
media, production, research, or new product development.
6] Special Service Agency (Group): Some agencies focus their efforts only in some
selected areas and then become
specialists in those areas. These firms collectively are called special service groups
and they are by far the least known
component of the advertising industry. For example, if an agency is specializing in
direct response advertising eit in

Hand N0tes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh


media or direct mail, knowledge of their availability and function is vital if the
structure of the advertising business is to b
fully understood.
7] Sweet Shops: These agencies are very small agencies, which operate only in one
city. Their cost is less and their service
personalized. These agencies are very useful for small clients, who want to issue
ads in local media, like as in local cable,
pamphlets, banners, evening newspapers etc.
Basis of Selection of an Advertising Agency

The advertiser should select that advertising agency whose talent, experience,
record matches with the requirements of
advertiser. Following factors should be considered while selecting an advertising
agency:
1) Location: A major consideration in the choice of an advertising agency is location
of office of agency. Local and nearby
ad-agencies should be preferred. A considerable amount of communication is
required at various stages of decision
making with regard to ad-planning and ad-execution. Outstation advertisers are at a
disadvantage as the costs of regular
visits may be high. So it is desirable that office of adagency is located nearby and
is easily accessible.
2] Size: Both large size-agencies and small-size agencies have their own merits and
demerits. Large-agencies provide wide
range of facilities, services and have more experienced staff. But large-size
agencies have certain limitations viz. these are
costly, these cannot give personal attention to all clients because of large number
of clients, these don't give much
attention to small clients as these agencies have many big clients.
3) Agency Working for Competitors: Advertiser should avoid giving his advertising
work to an agency that handles the
advertising work of his competitor. Because in that case ad agency may not be in a
position to prepare ads which help the
advertiser to take an edge over competition and agency will not prepare such ads
which go against advertiser's
competitors, i.e., agency will not make competitive ads for advertiser.
4) Image of Agency: Before selecting the adagency advertiser should enquire
about its image, integrity, its ethical
standards, and its relation with clients, etc.
5) Services Offered by Adagency: Now-a-days ad-agency give wide range of
services like planning and preparation of

ad, execution of ad, selection of media, follow-up to evaluate ad effectiveness,


salespromotion, publicrelation, publicity,
market analysis, market-research, etc.
6) Rates Charged: The rates charged by the advertising agency should be quite
reasonable. These rates should suit the
pocket ofclient and should be within ad-budget of client.
7) Creative Skills and New Ideas: Creativity is the main element of advertising. If the
ad agency is capable of generating
new ideas which are creative and unique then its ads will be
more successful in attracting the attention oftarget audience.
8) Past Record ofAgency: Past record of ad-agency should be checked to know:
i) Who were the past clients of agency; why they left the agency; how long were
they with agency, how big were they?
ii] Who are the present client, how big are they; since how long are they with
agency, their relationship with agency?
m) Brandimage of products ofagency's clients.
9) Quality and Caliber of Staff: Ad-agency has various specialists like copy-writers,
market analysis, media experts, artdirectors, researchers, artists, models, etc.
10) Financially Sound: The ad-agencies which are financially sound-and have good
turnover have better contacts with
media-owners. Financially sound agencies can afford better infrastructure, wellequipped-ad labs, and specialists, national
and international image.
11) Agency Experience: Agency which has long existence generally performs better
because of its experience and
familiarity with different components of marketing environment like competitor's
policies, tastes of consumers, income of
consumers, fashions and trends, circulation and reputation of different media.
ETHICAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES IN ADVERTISING

ADVERTISING AND SOCIETY


' Advertisements are not just the selling techniques.
0 They reect the society.
0 Whatever is used in society is reected in advertising. e.g.
i Indian society is highly family oriented (example ads: savingsfar children,
daughter's marriage]
i Indian society is people-oriented, and not selforiented
is For the sake ofour family and others, we Indians can postpone our own
gratification
~&~ We are also fun loving (example ads: Lux, Coke, Denim leans etc]
ETHICAL ISSUES IN ADVERTISING
ASCI (Advertising Standards Council ondiaj regulates the advertising in India. ASCI
has the set guidelines.
' Ad should not mislead the consumer.
0 What it promises must be there in the performance ofproducts.
O Ad should not be indecent and obscene.

Hand Notes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh


' As advertising is also a social process, it must honor the norms of social behavior,
and should not offend our moral
sense.
0 Some other common examples of ethical issues in advertising are give below:
+ Vulgarity/Obscenity used to gain consumers attention
i Misleading information and deception
Puffery
Stereotypes

Racial issues
Controversial products (e.g. alcohol, gambling, tobacco etc]
'I'l!
Advertising Agencies
An ad agencyis independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to
the effort of selling the client's
products or services. An agency can also handle overall marketing and branding
strategies and sales promotions for its
clients.

Hand N0tes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh


Unit-3
Considerations for creative idea Visualization. Creative planning, creative strategy
development, Communications appeals
and execution, Message strategy design considerations, Source of the message,
Message integration, Advertorials and
infomercials, Evaluation of Creative Strategy/work. Campaign Planning: Message
Creation, Copywriting. Role of Creativity
S llabus of unit:
Message Design-The Creative concept development; the creative processes of the
different forms of IMC; AIDA model
in Copywriting
Message Design
A message design concept involves the careful integration of words images motion
sounds into a message that easily and
clearly conveys an idea to relevant publics. The essence of an IMC program is
designing messages that reach the target

audiences. Many of these messages are, in a very real sense, quite personal. They
are designed to change or shape
attitudes. They must be remembered; they should lead to some kind of short or long
term action.
Marketing messages can reach the targeted customers in two ways:
1. A personal message can be delivered through a person such as a sales rep, repair
department personnel, or customer
service report.
2. Marketing messages can reach targeted audience through a variety of ad media.
Creative concept development
The creative concept is developed by the creative team and forms the core
foundation or theme for an advertising
campaign. The creative concept is essentially the story behind the messages
presented in an ad or series of ads. It ties
together the characters and elements in advertisements to help convey a
memorable and effective message that will create
the desired behavioral response from the target market. Humor, drama and action
are often elements of a creative
concept, depending on what the company is attempting to communicate.
MESSAGE CREATION
Message Creation stage consists ofthree stages:
1) Idea Generation
2) Copywriting
3) Layout
1) Idea Generation Stage
1.1 Orientation: Before deciding on a creative idea for the purpose of
communication, it is important to identify the
purpose behind the communication, whether the aim is to solve a problem or to
capitalize on an opportunity.

1.2 Preparation: Those involved in the creative process should gather as much
information as possible.
1.3 Analysis: Once information is collected, it should be organized under different
heads technical information,
consumer behavior information, competitors information and so on.
1.4 ldeation: Ideation is the generation of actual ideas by trying different
combinations of facts and information
available.
1.5 Incubation: Once ideas are generated, they are kept aside to incubate, i.e., to let
the subconscious mind work on
them for some time.
1.6 Synthesis: When the team arrives at this step, it is equipped with a number of
ideas. In this stage, the emphasis is
on combining these ideas and evolving something substantial from it.
1.7 Evaluation: The various ideas generated in the previous steps are evaluated
here. The criteria used for evaluation
are described here. The idea should be:
i] Relevant to the communication objectives.
ii] Original and capable ofcatching the attention of the viewer.
m] Flexible so that they can be modified or extended to other advertisements in the
future.
2) Copy Writing/Advertisement Copy
The work copy has specific meaning in the world of advertising. Copy is the soul of
advertisement. An advertising copy is
all the written or spoken matter in an advertisement expressed in words or
sentences and figures designed to convey the
desired message to the target consumers. In a print media an advertisement copy is
made-up of head-line, sub-headlines,
both ofthe copy, illustration, long-type, slogan and brand name.
Approaches to Copy Writing

A successful copy writer is to answer the following questions to get much out of it.
These questions are:
1) What am l advertising?
2] To whom am I advertising?
3] How can I convey best the advertising message to my readers?
4] Where and how the product is being sold? Q

Hand N0tes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh


5] When the product is purchased and used?
6] What legal implications are involved?
3) Layout
A layout is a miniature sketch or the proposed advertisement. A rough layout is first
prepared in which the headline and
subheads are lettered in artwork and photographs are drawn or provided, and the4
position of the copy is indicated. The
rough layout is tested and modified to prepare the final layout. The final layout is
appended with many explanations and
mechanical designs to give a comprehensive view. It refers to specifications for
estimating costs, guidance for engravers
and blueprints for advertisers.
Layout means two things; in one sense, it means the total appearance of the
advertisement its design and the
composition of its elements; in another sense, it means physical rendering of the
design for the advertisement its
blueprint for production purposes.
Functions of the Layout
1] It Organizes all the Elements

2] It Brings Together Copy Writer and Art Director


3] It Enables the Advertiser to Visualize his Future Advertisement.
4] ItActs as a Guide to the Copy Specialists.
Creativity in Copywriting
Creativity is the use of imagination or original ideas in order to create something. It
is also an Art. The advertisement must
be creative, innovative and must have something unique and special about it. It
should also be appealing and credible. The
creation of an advertising message commences with the overall marketing and
advertising goals and also with the
objecfives ofthe advertising campaign. e.g., Vimal sarees made by Reliance Textiles
Ltd. came out with the slogan.
"A woman expresses herselfin many ways and Vimal is one of them."
Principles of Creativity
For creativity in Ads the following principles should be followed:
1. Positioning ofthe product with clarity.
Z. It should project and show the benefits ofthe product.
3. It should have a powerful idea, Power to attract attention.
4-. It must be different to catch the eye and hold the attention ofthe audience.
Differentiation is important.
5. It should revolve round a single thing, a big thing and a big idea.
6. The ad should reward the prospect and give him pleasure, a smile, a tear or a
stimulus to see it again and again.
7. It should catch or hold the attention of the audience.
8. It should match with the personality of the prospect.9.It should be supplemented
by music, visuals lighting and other
effects.10.It should be able to dramatize the audience.
Roles Creatives Play
a] The Explorer

b] The Artist
c] The ]udge
d] The Warrior
a) The Explorer Role
I Examine existing information
I Review marketing and advertising plans
I Study the market, product, and competition
I Develop insight
Research
Brainstorming
b) The Artist Role
I Develop the BIG Idea
Visualization/ conceptualization
- Transform or incubate the concept
I Implement the BIG Idea
c) The Iudge Role
I Evaluate the practicality of the ideas
I Decide whether to implement, modify, or discard ideas
I Be self-critical
I Avoid stiing artists's imagination
I Assess risk involved with idea
e) The Warrior Role
I Carries the concept into action

Hand N0tes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh


I May require battles win approval for the concept
I Help the account managers sell the campaign to the client
CAMPAIGN PLANNING
Meaning of and Definition of Campaign Planning
A campaign is an organised effort or course of action to achieve the
objectives/goods of an organisation. It is done in a
systematic manner to include a series of ads placed in various media after making
an analysis of the market. A campaign
can be a time-bound programme.
Steps In Campaign Planning
It consists of several steps:
Step-1 ~ Analysing the market opportunity
Step-2 - Setting advertising objectives.
Step-3 - Allocating a budget for the campaign.
Step-4 - Deciding the media.
Step-5 - Creating Ads
Step-6 - Testing of Advertising effectiveness.
Step-1 - Analysing the market opportunity
When the winds of change are blowing you need to know which way and how fast"
These factors are interdependent. The choice of the media and the budget are
related to each other. The creation of
message also incurs expenses. In advertising campaign, the other Marketing Mix
tools are also to be considered. There
should be some Opportunity for market analysis.
While designing an advertising campaign, the target market has to be chosen or
selected on which the campaign is to be
directed. A lot of consumer research is to be done to find out

(i) who buys the product?


(ii) When do customers buy?
(m) What do they buy?
(iv) How do they buy and how do they use these products.
Step-2 - Setting advertising objectives.
After carrying out the market opportunity analysis, objectives have to be set.
Whenever we talk of objectives we have to
decide whether it is to communicate the benefits ofthe products, whether it is
awareness advertising, repetitive
advertising or advertising for boosting sales. The message has to be creative. It
should hold the interest of the audience.
We can understand the objectives of many ads.
(i]Yeh Dil Mange More.
(ii)Thanda Matlab Coca Cola.
(m)Maggie 2 minute Noodles. The ad is directed both on the mother [for the case of
preparation] and children [for the
excitement and taste).
Step-3 - Allocating a budget
Budget or the money spent is the most important part of the advertising campaign
which to be carried out for a specific
period of time. Duration ofthe ad decides the budget. The budget can be fixed in a
number of ways. These method could be
the
~Comparative parity method
~ Affordability
- A fixed percentage ofturnover
-Budget based on functions to be performed
~Regression analysis
~ Adaptive control method

-Compromise method
Step-4 - Deciding the media.
It is also a part of the advertising campaign. There are different kinds of media. A
simple medium may be chosen or a
combination of various media can be chosen. There can be varied choices from
amongst the Television, Radio, Cinema,
Magazines, Newspapers etc., while choosing a media we also have to decide the
media vehicle. e.g., Newspaper is one
medium the media vehicle could be Hindustan Times or any other newspaper.
Step-5 - Creating Ads
For the advertising transmission to be successful, the audience must see the
advertisement, be attracted to it, understand
and comprehend it. The ad should be in the manner that the message gets diffused
in their minds so that they can take
favourable decisions. The Ad must capture the attention of the audience by giving
new information and by supporting
information through data or by stories. It should appeal and inuence the audience.
The main aim is to bring attitudinal
changes favoruably.
\

Hand N0tes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh


Step-6 - Testing or Measuring Advertising effectiveness
Before and after releasing the Ad it is necessary to test the message for its
effectiveness, attractiveness and memorable
value. As the preparation of ad requires a lot of time money and resources,
pretesting and post-testing of the Ad is
necessary.

Testing ofadvertisement is basically done by two methods


a] Pre testing,and
b] Post testing.
a) Pre-testing
Pre-testing is also known as copy testing. Pre-Testing can be done by showing the Ad
to a selected knowledgeable
audience before release and changes are incorporated if necessary.
After the ad has been released marketer wants to see the effectiveness of the ad.
This is a diagnostic tool rather than an
evaluative tool. This is done by the results of sales, the demand of the product and
also by various tests such as day-afterrecall (DAR) test etc.
Pre testing is essential to see how effective the advertisement will be. Since a lot of
money is spent on making the
advertisement copy etc., it is essential to gauge what impact will it have on the
audience.
b) Post testing
Post-testing or Tracking studies provide either periodic or continuous in-market
research monitoring a brand's
performance, including brand awareness, brand preference, product usage and
attitudes. Some post-testing approaches
simply track changes over time, while others use various methods to quantify the
specific changes produced by
advertisingeither the campaign as a whole or by the different media utilized.
Overall, advertisers use post-testing to plan future advertising campaigns, so the
approaches that provide the most
detailed information on the accomplishments ofthe campaign are most valued.

Hand N0tes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh


Unit-4
S llabus of Unit:
Media Management - Media Types and their characteristics; Setting Media
objectives; Considering key media concepts;
Media planning; Media Strategy; Media buying; Cross media concept; and media
research.
Media management
Media management is seen as a business administration discipline that identifies
and describes strategic and operational
phenomena and problems in the leadership ofmedia enterprises. Media
management contains the functions strategic
management, procurement management, production management, organizational
management and marketing of media
enterprises.
Advertising media selection is the process of choosing the most cost-effective media
for advertising, to achieve the
required coverage and number of exposures in a target audience.
Types of Media:
There are some types of media that are as follows.
1. Press: In India, spending is dominated by the newspapers. The magazines and
trade or technical journal markets are
about the same size as each other, but are less than that of the newspaper sectors.
2. Television: This is normally the most expensive medium, and as such is generally
only open to the major advertisers,
although some regional contractors offer more affordable packages to their local
advertisers. It offers by far the widest
coverage, particularly at peak hours [roughly 7.0010.3O p.m.] and especially of
family audiences. Offering sight,
sound, movement and colour, it has the greatest impact, especially for those
products or services where a

'demonstration' is essential.
3. Radio: Radio advertising has increased greatly in recent years, with the granting
of many more licenses. It typically
reaches specific audiences at different times of the dayadults at breakfast,
housewives during the day, and
commuters during rush hours. lt can be a costeffective way of reaching these
audiencesespecially since production
costs are much cheaper than for television, though the lack of visual elements may
limit the message. In radio
advertising it is important to identify the right timing to reach specific radio
listeners. For instance, many people only
listen to the radio when they are stuck in traffic, whereas other listeners may only
listen in the evenings.
4-. Cinema: Though national audience numbers are down, this may be the most
effective medium for extending coverage
to younger age groups, since the core audience is 15 to 35.
5. Internet/Web Advertising: This rapidly growing marketing force borrows much
from the example of press
advertising, but the most effective use, adopted by search engines, is interactive.
6. Mobile Advertising: Personal mobile phones have become an attractive
advertising media to network operators, but
are relatively unproven and remain in media buyers sidelines.
Merits and Demerits of Advertising
Merits of Advertising
Advertising as a means of communication has numerous advantages. The merits of
advertising can be summarized
below:
1. Mass Reach- Advertising is a communication medium which can reach a wide
range of people over a broad geological
region. For example- advertising via a daily newspaper reaches millions ofpeople all
over the country.

2. Boosting customer contentment and confidence- It creates a sense of assurance


amidst potential customers as they
are contented and comforted about the quality of the product and thus feel more
relaxed.
3. Expressiveness- As because of the progress of graphic designing, art and
computer skills, advertisement has changed
into one of the most aggressive weapon of communication. A simple product can
look attractive with all the special
effects and modern computer skills.
4. Economy- Advertising by far is the most economic medium of communication for
creating mass awareness. AS a
result of it wide reach, the total advertising cost gets stretched over several
communication links recognized. This
ultimately lowers per unit cost for advertising.
Demerits of Advertising
Though advertising has many advantages, it also has several disadvantages. The
demerits of advertising as a medium of
communication are listed below:
1. Less Forceful- Being an impersonal medium of communication, it is less forceful
when compared to personal selling.
Advertising is a common message and you are not compelled to pay attention to
the message conveyed.
2. Lack of feedback- It is not possible to study the efficiency of advertising message
as it is not possible to gather
immediate and precise feedback ofthe message communicated.
3. lnexibility- Advertising is not very exible because of non-standardization and is
not custom made to meet the
necessities of the various groups of customers.

Hand N0tes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh


4-. Low effectiveness- Because of the growth in volume of advertising is becoming
impossible to make advertising
message heard by the prospective group ofconsumers. This ultimately inuences
the efficiency ofadvertising.
Setting media Objective
Higher-level goals can be supported by smart objectives so that we can properly
track our progress in meeting the goals:
0 Specific: Describe your objectives specific to the results you want. Go deeper than
"increase brand awareness" to
"increase brand awareness by 10% in the next six months via a targeted social
media campaign."
0 Measurable: You want to use these metrics in the review process to see if you
were effective. Having a specific
objecfive will clearly show whether results were met.
0 Achievable: Often 100% customer satisfaction" isn't realistic. Your goal of 90%
customer satisfaction may be more
plausible so consider what's really possible when setting your objectives.
0 Realistic: Ensure you have the resources, tools and staffing to meet your
objectives, or you'll just frustrate yourself.
0 Timed: Get specific with your objectives and incorporate a time frame. This makes
them real and tangible.
Media Planning
Media planning is generally the task of a media agency and entails finding media
platforms for a client's brand or product
to use. The job of media planning is to determine the best combination of media to
achieve the marketing campaign
objecfives.
Definition of Media Planning
"The process of establishing the exact media vehicles to be used for advertising.
Component of Media Planning

The three components ofa media plan are as follows:


Defining the marketing problem. Do you know where your business is coming from
and where the potential for
increased business lies? Do you know which markets offer the greatest opportunity?
Do you need to reach everybody or
onlya select group of consumers? How often is the product used? l-low much
product loyalty exists?
Translating the marketing requirements into attainable media objectives. Do you
want to reach lots of people in a
wide area (to get the most out of your advertising dollar]? Then mass media, like
newspaper and radio, might work for
you. lfyour target market is a select group in a defined geographic area, then direct
mail could be your best bet.
Defining a media solution by formulating media strategies. Certain schedules work
best with different media. For
example, the rule of thumb is that a print ad must run three times before it gets
noticed. Radio advertising is most effective
when run at certain times of the day or around certain programs, depending on
what market you're trying to reach.
Factors Considered in Media Planning
When comparing the cost and effectiveness of various advertising media, consider
the following factors:
Reach. Expressed as a percentage, reach is the number of individuals (or homes)
you want to expose your product to
through specific media scheduled over a given period oftime.
Frequency. Using specific media, how many times, on average, should the
individuals in your target audience be exposed
to your advertising message? It takes an average of three or more exposures to an
advertising message before consumers
take action.
Cost per thousand. How much will it cost to reach a thousand of your prospective
customers (a method used in

comparing print media]? To determine a publication's cost per thousand, also known
as CPM, divide the cost of the
advertising by the publication's circulation in thousands.
Cost per point. How much will it cost to buy one rating point for your target
audience, a method used in comparing
broadcast media. One rating point equals 1 percent of your target audience. Divide
the cost of the schedule being
considered by the number of rating points it delivers.
Impact. Does the medium in question offer full opportunities for appealing to the
appropriate senses, such as sight and
hearing, in its graphic design and production quality?
Selectivity. To what degree can the message be restricted to those people who are
known to be the most logical
prospects
Media Planning Process
The media planner/buyer's decision process, then, would go something like this:

Hand N0tes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh


ltlentif-;
Problem."Op
/' portunity \
Evaluate ListCr|ter|a
l\
Prioritize
Criteria
\/

Conslcl e r
A Ite rn ative s
q__
Decide
Evaluate
Identify the Problem/Opportunity: Need to raise awareness for a new business, or
promote a sale.
List Decision Criteria: For advertising, among the decision criteria would be reach
and frequency , CPM, CPP, GRP, total
impressions, ad placement, content relevancy to the target audience, and of course,
overall cost.
Prioritize Decision Criteria: What matters more, CPM or ad placement? To help
compare and evaluate qualitative and
quantitative decision criteria together, assign a numeric weight to each criterion [for
example. $25-$40 CPM = 10, $41-63
CPM = 7; primetime = 10, front page = 8, etc.) and create a decision matrix to help
evaluate the information collected in the
RFP and advertising rate request process.
Consider the Alternatives: Have all available media channels and relevant media
partners been evaluated for the
campaign? What local online advertising placements would complement the offline
campaign? Are there any cost-effective,
niche local advertising opportunities to consider in the media mix?
Evaluate: Compared against the weighted decision criteria, which advertising
opportunities best meet campaign goals,
within budget? How would the campaign budget best be allocated across media
channels?
Make Decisions: Based on the evaluation, choose the best-performing options to
build the media mix for the advertising
campaign.
Execute, evaluate, optimize, evaluate.

Media Strategy
Use ofappropriate media mix to achieve optimum results from an advertising
campaign. It involves: identifying the characteristics of the
target audience or market, who should receive messages and defining the
characteristics ofthe media that will be used for the delivery
ofthe messages, with the intent being to inuence the behaviour ofthe target
audience or market pertinent to the initial brief.
Essential element of Media Strategy
Identify Business Goals
Every piece of your social media strategy serves the goals you set. You simply can't
move forward without knowing what
you're working toward.
Set Marketing Objectives
Goals aren't terribly useful if you don't have specific parameters that define when
each is achieved. For example, if one
ofyour primary goals is generating leads and sales, how many leads and sales do
you have to generate before you consider
that goal a success. Makeyaur objectives specific, measurable, achievable, relevant
and time-bound.
Identify Ideal Customers
If a business is suffering from low engagement on their social profiles, it's usually
because they don't have an accurate
ideal customer profile.
Buyer personas help you define and target the right people, in the right places, at
the right times with the right messages.
Research Competition
When it comes to social media marketing, researching your competition not only
keeps you apprised of their activity, it
gives you an idea of what's working so you can integrate those successful tactics
into your own efforts. l

5.
6.
7.
8.
(1)
(Z)
Hand N0tes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh
Start by compiling a list of at least 3-5 main competitors. Search which social
networks they're using and analyze their
content strategy. Look at their number of fans or followers, posting frequency and
time of day.
Choose Channels and Tactics
Many businesses create accounts on every popular social network without
researching which platform will bring the most
return. You can avoid wasting your time in the wrong place by using the information
from your buyer personas to
determine which platform is best for you.
Create a Content Strategy
Content and social media have a symbiotic relationship: Without great content
social media is meaningless and without
social media nobody will know about your content. Use them together to reach and
convert your prospects.
There are three main components to any successful social media content strategy:
type of content, time ofposting and
frequency ofposting.
Allocate Budget and Resources

According to recent data from Google, 30% of respondents say that social media
has its own new and distinct budget. Of
those respondents, 8.7% say their social media budget is pulled from traditional
marketing media
Assign Roles
Knowing who's responsible for what increases productivity and avoids confusion and
overlapping efforts. Things may be a
bit messy in the beginning, but with time team members will know their roles and
what daily tasks they're responsible for.
Media Buying
Media buying, a sub function of advertising management, is the procurement of
media real estate at an optimal placement
and price. The main task of media buying lies within the negotiation of price and
placement to ensure the best possible
value can be secured for an advertisement. The type of people who negotiate the
price of these advertisements are labeled
"Media Buyers" in the workplace. Increasingly, the job of a Media Buyer online is
being done in real-time with advanced
algorithms.
Cross Media Concept
Cross Media is a media property, service, story or experience distributed across
media platforms using a variety of media
forms. lt refers to the journey or linkages across devices and through forms and is
most evident in branded entertainment,
advertising, games and quest based forms such as Alternate Reality Games where
there are a range of dependencies
between the media placed across devices and fragments thereof.
Media research
It is a systematic, empirical research used as a basic for media planning by media
companies. lt conducts a survey to

investigate what segment of consumers read which periodicals, listen to or watch


radio or television programs.
Scope of Media Research
Media Selection.
Media Scheduling.

Hand N0tes- IMC, By: Gorgee Singh


Unit-5
Commerce in Marketing Communication. Corporate Communication, Public Relations
Types of PR, Sales Promotion
Different types of Sales Promotion, relationship between Sales promotion and
advertising, Publicity Types of Publicity,
relationship between advertising and publicity, Personal Selling, Direct marketing
and direct response methods, Event
Management
S llabus of Unit:
| Emerging Concepts and Issues in Marketing Communications Sponsorship: POP:
Supportive Communication, Role of ESPONSORSHIP
Sponsorship can be defined as follows:
"Sponsorship is supporting an event, activity or organisation by providing money or
other resources that is of value to the
sponsored event This is usually in returnfor advertising space at the event or as part
ofthe publicityfor the event.
Kinds of sponsorship
There are many kinds of sponsorship:

~ Television and radio programme sponsorship: The increasing fragmentation of


television in the India. through new
digital channels is providing many more opportunities for sponsorship of this kind
~ Sports sponsorship: Major sporting events have the advantage of being attended
and (more importantly] watched by
large numbers ofpeople. They also attract significant media coverage.
I Arts sponsorship: arts events or organisations are not as well attended as sports
events but are often regarded as more
"worthy" and more in keeping with the image of certain businesses and brands.
I Educational sponsorship: this can take several forms from the sponsoring of
individual students at college through to
the provision of books and computers nationwide using the redemption ofproduct or
store-related vouchers.
PROCESS OF SPONSORSHIP PROMOTION
Smith suggests a six-stage process to decide what and how to sponsor:
(1] Analyse the current situation: look at which other businesses are sponsoring in
the target area. Are competitors
already doing this and is it providing them with an advantage?
(2) Define the sponsorship objectives: e.g. raise awareness ofthe brand; build an
image; promote a new product
(3) Agree the strategy: how does the sponsorship fit in with any other promotional
activity?
(4-] Develop the tactics: agree the details ofwhat to sponsor, price, timing etc
(5) Define the target audience
(6) Consider what resources are needed to make the sponsorship a success.
POINT OF PURCHASE PROMOTION [POP]
POP (Point-of-Purchase) or also known as POS (Point-of-Sale) advertising is category
in Marketing communication
specialized for sales promotion to attract shoppers. This kind of advertising serves
as a promoter-reminder for the loyal

customers and attracting new ones. It is also used for promotion of special events.
The goal is to create short-term impact
preserving the long-term brand name and short increase of selling products. The
POP communication attempts to
inuence customer buying decisions, and also presenting the products to new
customers to convey primary brand
benefits. Point-of-sale or Point-of-purchase strategy belongs to the category of
Direct Marketing.
Purposes ofPOP
The main goal of POP displays, like that of most promotions, is to boost immediate
sales. Apart from this POP displays can
serve a number of purposes:
I To build store traffic
I Attract attention to a specific brand
I To remind and maintain purchase activity among loyal customers
I To attract new Customers
I Advertise a brand
I To stimulate trial use for the promoting brand in target audience that uses
competitive brands
I Cue recall of brand advertising the buyer may have seen elsewhere.
I to maintain the brand image that is developed already by advertising.
Though the POP display environment has become cluttered, studies show that
welldesigned and located POP displays can
increase sales, sometimes dramatically. This depends on a number of factors
including the type of product being
promoted, the nature of the decision environment (novel or repeat), and the product
knowledge and brand loyalty of the
buyer
Q

Hand N0tes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh


POP promofion has also found utility in recruiting line employees. Many foodservice
operations, particularly in the quick
service and fast casual segments, use a variety of POP materials to inform
customers that job openings exist. The most
common of these is window signage and messages printed on the sales receipt.
Researchers believe the POP recruiting is
effective since such messages build on the given brand. Furthermore, potential
employees see what the job entails thereby
creating accurate job expectations.
E-COMMERCE
Electronic commerce [e-commerce] is a systems that support electronically
executed business transactions. The
fundamental purpose of e-commerce is to execute transactions through internet.
Types of E-Commerce
(1) Businessto-consumer ecommerce [BZC]
Connects individual consumers with sellers, cutting out the middleman
E.g. Amazon.com
[2] Business-to-business e-commerce (B2B)
Supports business transactions on across private networks, the Internet, and the
Web
(3] Consumer-to-consumer e-commerce [C2C)
Connects individual sellers with people shopping for used items
E.g. ebay.com
FORMS OF ONLINE MARKETING COMMUNICATION
1) Display and rich media ads
2) Search engine advertising: Paid search engine inclusion and placement

3) Sponsorships
4-) Referrals [affiliate relationship marketing)
5) E-mail marketing
6) Online catalogs
7) Online chat
8) Blog advertising
BENEFITS OF E-COMMERCE
The benefits of e-commerce can be seen to affect three major stakeholders:
organisations, consumers and society.
A. Benfits of e-commerce to organizations1. International marketplace: What used to be a single physical marketplace located
in a geographical area has now
become a borderless marketplace including national and international markets. By
becoming e-commerce enabled,
businesses now have access to people all around the world. In effect all e-commerce
businesses have become virtual
multinational corporations.
Z. Operational cost savings: The cost of creating, processing, distributing, storing
and retrieving paper-based information
has decreased.
3. Mass customization: Ecommerce has revolutionised the way consumers buy
goods and services. The pull-type
processing allows for products and services to be customised to the customer's
requirements. In the past when
Ford first started making motor cars, customers could have any colour so long as it
was black. Now customers can
configure a car according to their specifications within minutes on-line via the
www.ford.com website.
4-. Enables reduced inventories and overheads by facilitating pull'type supply
chain management this is based on

collecting the customer order and then delivering through ]IT (just-in-time)
manufacturing. This is particularly beneficial
for companies in the high technology sector, where stocks of components held
could quickly become obsolete within
months. For example, companies like Motorola [mobile phones), and Dell
[computers] gather customer orders for a
product, transmit them electronically to the manufacturing plant where they are
manufactured according to the
customer's specifications [like colour and features) and then sent to the customer
within a few days.
5. Lower telecommunications cost: The Internet is much cheaper than value added
networks (VANs] which were based
on leasing telephone lines for the sole use of the organisation and its authorised
partners. It is also cheaper to send a fax or
e-mail via the Internet than direct dialling.
6. Digitisation of products and processes: Particularly in the case of software and
music/video products, which can be
downloaded or e-mailed directly to customers via the Internet in digital or electronic
format.
7. No more 24-hour-time constraints: Businesses can be contacted by or contact
customers or suppliers at any time.
B. Benefits of e-commerce to consumers1. Z4/7 access: Enables customers to shop or conduct other transactions 24 hours a
day, all year round from almos ny
location. For example, checking balances, making payments, obtaining travel and
other information. In one case a v 0 :

Hand Notes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh

set up web cameras in every room in his house, so that he could check the status of
his home by logging onto the Internet
when he was away from home on tour.
Z More choices: Customers not only have a whole range ofproducts that they can
choose from and customise, but also an
international selection of suppliers.
3. Price comparisons: Customers can shop around the world and conduct
comparisons either directly by visiting
different sites, or by visiting a single site where prices are aggregated from a
number of providers and compared [for
example www.moneyextra.co.uk for financial products and services).
4-. Improved delivery processes: This can range from the immediate delivery of
digitised or electronic goods such as
software or audio-visual files by downloading via the Internet, to the on-line tracking
of the progress of packages being
delivered by mail or courier.
5. An environment of competition where substantial discounts can be found or value
added, as different retailers vie for
customers. It also allows many individual customers to aggregate their orders
together into a single order presented to
wholesalers or manufacturers and obtain a more competitive price [aggregate
buying), for example www.letsbuyit.com.
C. Benefits of e-commerce to society1. Enables more exible working practices: It enables more exible working
practices which enhance the quality of life
for a whole host of people in society, enabling them to work from home. Not only is
this more convenient and provides
happier and less stressful working environments, it also potentially reduces
environmental pollution as fewer people have
to travel to work regularly.

Z. Connects people: Enables people in developing countries and rural areas to enjoy
and access products, services,
information and other people which otherwise would not be so easily available to
them.
3. Facilitates delivery of public services: For example, health services available over
the Internet (on-line consultation
with doctors or nurses], and filing taxes over the Internet through the Inland
Revenue website.
CORPORATE COMMUNICATION
Communication means the exchange of thoughts, messages, or the like, as by
speech, signals or writing to express oneself
in such a way that one is readily and clearly understood.
Corporate means related to corporation increasing the GDP of nation.
Corporate communication is managing an organization's internal and external
communications. It includes> Advertising
Marketing Communications
Marketing
Public Relations
W/W
'1' Advertising is paid and controlled mass communication with a purpose to inform.
'1' Marketing Communication is the branding of products, services, and
organizations including such areas as
consistency, differentiation, equity, identity, imaging, loyalty, positioning, publicity,
promotion, relationships, and
reputation.
'1' Marketing is the management function which creates products or services to fill
public needs and then persuades the
public to buy the products or services.

'1' Public Relations are the management function which creates policies and actions
to fill public demands and then
persuades the public to approve the policies and actions.
Definitions of Corporate Communication
1. Corporate communication is a set of activities involved in managing and
arranging all internal and external
communications aimed at creatingfavorable point ofview among stakeholders on
which the company depends.
2. Corporate communication is a managementfunction that offers afrarneworkfor
the efective coordination ofall internal
and external communication with the overall purpose of establishing and
maintaining favorable reputations with
stakeholdergroups upon which the organization is dependent.
TYPES OF CORPORATE COMMUNICATION
Corporation communication is classified in to two types
1. Internal communication: Internal corporate communication means the
communication within a particular company.
EX:- business meetings, conferences, interviews, presentations or print media like
brochures, newsletters.
2. External communication: The external corporate communication process includes
elements like advertising,
marketing and public relations.

STRUCTURE OF THE INTERNAL COMMUNICATION


Hand N0tes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh
Leaders- Leaders Employee - Leaders - Leaders - Internal
employee leaders employee trade union Owners organisation

Aid
Policiy
Crisis
Management
STRUCTURE OF THE EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION
IIIIIII
lndustrial Professional Consumer Media Financial P bl. A .
relations relations Relations Relations Relations u [C 3'
Crisis
Management
1 Issue
management
Aid
Poiiciy
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MARKETING AND CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS
Flarketing cummimimuun
Q Custom er
8 Defined set of channels
t Controlled colnlnunicatiun
s Position 3 product or service
Q More room for creativity
t Needs Do be consistent with product / brand
attributes
IMPORTANCE OF CORPORATE COMMUNICATION
Cnrpltlralze comuiimimtiim
Multiple stakeholders

Multiple channels
Variety of communication types
Positions an entire organisation
Less room for creativity
Needs to be consistent with corporate
identity/corp crate brand attributes
Communication is the key to build and manage a successful business. Here are
some of the most important effects of
encouraging communication in a business.
1) Helps Build a Good Team
Building a good team requires a leader that communicates with each individual who
is a part of it. Taking everybody with
you, requires personal attention from the leader and addressing of their issues and
concerns. By eliminating fear and
instilling confidence in their abilities through direct communication, a leader can
create a team that can outperform and
excel in every department.
Z) Avoids Misunderstanding & Miscommunication
With regular communication, many misunderstandings and miscommunication
issues can be resolved amicably. This
makes it easier for any employee to cut out unnecessary friction and free his or her
mind to focus on the task at hand. l

Hand Notes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh


3) Helps in Improving Business Process
No business process is perfect and there is always room for improvement. There are
various separate departments that

work together to create a finished product and each member of the team has
concerns. If communication channels are
opened through weekly or monthly interaction meetings and issues are discussed, a
more smoother and efficient business
process can be developed.
4) Improves Quality of Service
From the point of view of a business and customer relationship, interaction with
customers can help a business provide
better service. When customers issues are resolved promptly through immediate
communication, he is bound to continue
buying your product or service.
5) Creates an Inclusive Culture in the Workplace
When there is communication from the top level management with junior most of
the employees and there is interaction
between different management hierarchies of a business, everyone feels included
and looked after. This feeling of included
in the scheme of things, makes an employee feel more encouraged to work.
Appreciation of work objectives achieved by
employees through personal meetings can help boost his or her performance to
higher levels. A pat on the back for a job
done well goes a long way!
6) Creates a Positive Atmosphere
Positive communication among the various team members that make up business
departments, helps sort out internal
problems quite easily and smoothen the rough edges that create friction in a
business process. Most importantly, when
doubts, misunderstanding and other such issues are sorted out through, a positive
atmosphere is automatically created as
everyone focuses on their work and feels like he or she is a part ofthe big picture.
7) Interaction with Customers Benefit Marketing & Sales

With better communication models that establish interaction channels with


customers, the marketing and sales teams can
implement a more focused approach, which can bring in rich dividends in the long
term, in the form of improved sales
figures and soaring profit margins. Customer surveys and feedback from the
distributors of company product can provide
an insight into the customer psyche, which can help the company in improving their
products and meeting customer
products. For software development companies, interaction with their customers
and understanding their business
models through communication is vitally important to provide better software
solutions, tailor made to their
requirements.
8) Better Understanding of Market Conditions
Communicating with the customers through surveys can help understand the
market conditions in a better way. Whats
lacking in a product is best pointed out by a customer. When the management team
has a better understanding of market
conditions and reads the mind of the consumer, coming up with the right product is
easier.
To conclude, in every aspect ofa business, communication holds the key to
improving cooperation and understanding.
Public Relation
Public relations is defined as "the practice of creating, promoting or maintaining
goodwill and a favourable image among
the public towards an institution, public body etc"
Types of Public Relation
Media relations: this is traditional PR and makes use of the media to communicate
your brand to the public. It is the
process of spreading information via television, the internet, radio and in
newspapers. In order to maintain integrity and

provide credibility, many media outlets refuse to accept payment for this; the secret
is to have an interesting story that
they would cover naturally. Business history, tradition, quirks and customers are
taken into consideration.
- Media Tours: This requires a larger budget and is essentially the hiring of a
company spokesperson to travel around
during interviews and attend events. For a small business this might not be the best
form of PR as it requires a larger
budget, however for large companies it can be incredibly effective and is a great
way to publicise a business.
- Newsletters: start collecting email addresses for customers and potential clients
and build a data base. A newsletter is a
great way of keeping people up to date and in the loop on your latest events,
achievements and plans. A fun, light hearted
and newsworthy letter is essential.
- Special Events: These can be anything to a market day, consumer appreciation
day, running a discount or hiring a band.
They are used to target a group of people who you want to speak to within a
location that you can utilise creatively and
effectively.
CORPORATE COMMUNICATION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
The role ofthe public relations, in many ways, is to communicate with the general
public in ways that serve the interests ofthe
company. Personal Relation, therefore, consists ofnumerous specialty areas that
convey information about the company to
the public, including sponsorships, events, issues management and media relations.
It involves two activities-

Hand N0tes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh

1. Issues management
A key role of the PR specialist is to make the company better known for traits and
attributes that build the company's
perceived distinctiveness and competitiveness with the public. In recent years, PR
specialists have become increasingly
involved in helping companies manage strategic issues public concerns about
their activities that are frequently
magnified by special interest groups and NGOs. The role of the PR specialist
therefore also consists of issues management,
namely the set of organizational procedures, routines, personnel, and issues".A
strategic issue is one that compels a
company to deal with it because there is a conict between two or more
identifiable groups over procedural or
substantive matters relating to the distribution ofpositions or resources".
Z. Media relations
To build better relationships with the media, organizations must cultivate positive
relations with inuential members of
the media. This task might be handled by employees within the company's media
relations department or handled by a
public relations firm.
Sales Promotion
Sales promotion is one of the five aspects of the promotional mix. [The other 4 parts
of the promotional mix are
advertising, personal selling, direct marketing and publicity/public relations.) Sales
promotions can be directed at either
the customer, sales staff, or distribution channel members (such as retailers). Sales
promotions targeted at
the consumer are called consumer sales promotions. Sales promotions targeted at
retailers and wholesale are
called trade sales promotions. Some sale promotions, particularly ones with unusual
methods, are

considered gimmicks by many.


Types of Sales promotion
1. Demos and Sampling
According to the Business Owner amp;#O39;s Toolkit website, 51 percent of
shoppers purchased a product they normally
would not have purchased when given a free sample. Samples are most commonly
used in grocery stores to introduce a
new food product. A demo is another form of sampling when a product or service is
demonstrated during actual use. A
small business owner such as a home improvement contractor could work with a
local hardware store to demonstrate a
home improvement project.
2. Coupons
Coupons can be used as a way to attract new customers or to develop customer
loyalty. Mail coupons to targeted
households as an incentive for someone to shop at your store or purchase your
product. You can also place them on
products on your store amp;#039;s shelves to provide customers with an
immediate savings at the cash register. The
latter method encourages customers to keep coming back to your business.
3. Price Reduction
A price reduction allows customers to buy your products at a lower price for a
specified period of time. A price reduction
may take the form of a sale or an in-store event like an unadvertised special on
certain items. A price reduction may also be
used to take attention away from a competitor. For example, if you operate a dry
cleaning business and a new dry cleaner
opens a store down the street, you can offer a price reduction to lure customers
away from the new store amp;#039;s
grand opening event.
4. Free Products

Giving something away is another way to lure customers to your place of business.
For your grand opening event, you can
provide everyone who attends with free food or drink or free merchandise. You can
also give away items containing your
brand or slogan such as coffee mugs or tshirts. Another idea is to give away prizes
to the first 25 people who enter your
place ofbusiness on a given day.
The Relationship Between Advertising & Sales Promotion
Small-business owners want to measure the impact of advertising on sales
performance. Knowing which ads drive sales
helps owners focus their advertising budgets on promotions that bring the greatest
return on investment.
1. Survey Customers
One of the simplest yet most effective ways to find out what role advertising played
in a purchasing decision is to ask the
customer who made the purchase. Train retail clerks to ask customers why they
visited the store and whether they
remember seeing an advertisement for the product. For an online store, update the
checkout process so that it includes a
question about how customers heard about the website. To get more detailed
information, ask customers to complete an
advertising survey or print an online survey address at the bottom of every sales
receipt; send online buyers a survey link
by email.

Hand N0tes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh


2. Track Promotions
Advertisers may also use promotions that contain a unique identifier to help
business owners compare the effectiveness of

two or more ads. The advertiser places a print ad that contains a coupon with a
specific discount code in one publication
and a different discount code in another. By tracking the codes as customers
redeem their coupons, the advertiser can
determine which advertisement generated the most sales. Business owners obtain
similar results by including different
telephone numbers in different ads and measuring the number of calls customers
make to each number. Advertisers track
online traffic by advertising different website addresses in different publications. All
the different URLs redirect to the
main business site and the business owner tracks how much incoming traffic comes
from each ofthe referring Web pages.
3. Build Brand Awareness
The relationship between advertising and sales performance is sometimes subtle.
Many consumers decide to purchase
goods for nuanced reasons such as familiarity with a brand. Brand advertisements
don't tout a particular product. Instead,
they provide information about the business that offers the product and help clarify
its brand identity. Researchers
measure the effectiveness of brand advertising by asking consumers to thumb
through a magazine that contains a print ad
or view or listen to television or radio content that contains the advertisement.
Researchers then ask consumers questions
about ads they remember seeing or hearing. If a consumer mentions the sponsor's
ad, researchers ask follow-up questions
to find out how the consumer perceived the ad and to determine her knowledge and
perception ofthe sponsor.
4. Study Conversion Rate
One of the metrics advertisers use to measure the effectiveness of advertising is
the conversion of visits - to a brickand
mortar store or to a website -- to sales. It is difficult to discern precisely what drives
a consumer to make a purchase, but

measuring a company's conversion rate immediately before and after an


advertising campaign helps the sponsor assess
the effectiveness of its marketplace advertising and in-store promotions.
Publicity
Publicity is the movement of information with the effect of increasing public
awareness of a subject. The subjects of
publicity include people (for example, politicians and performing artists],goods and
services, organizations of all kinds,
and works of art or entertainment.
Publicity is gaining public visibility or awareness for a product, service or your
company via the media. It is the publicist
that carries out publicity, while PR is the strategic management function that helps
an organization communicate, establish
and maintain communication with the public. This can be done internally, without
the use of media.
Types of Publicity
Publicity can range from a message conveyed across the backyard fence to skywriting in letters a mile high. But let's
consider standard outlets
1. Newspaper - The basic medium for conveying a message to the general public is
the daily or weekly newspaper. We
will make a closer study oftheir operation, and the preparation of news releases,
later.
2. Magazines - Another form of the print medium, but secondary in importance for
the community booster club except
where special circumstances apply.
3. Radio and Television - These are extremely effective media for communications.
An "in-depth" account of your club's
activity can be especially useful on radio or TV, and we'll discuss how to set that up.
4-. Displays - Here is a very effective and often overlooked source of publicity. You
can promote a "Booster Club Week"

and, as a part of the program, obtain from a merchant (or merchants] the use of a
showcase window to tell your story.
Sporting goods stores are naturals for this. And don't forget the county fair booth
and church bazaars. You might
consider appointing a special committee just to work on displays. Most malls
welcome community groups to set
displays.
5. Posters - Show card posters for shop windows and public bulletin boards have
some effectiveness for promoting
special events. In a world filled with advertising billboards and neon signs, however,
posters seem to have lost much of
their power except in smaller, tightly-knit communities.
6. Direct Mail- Here is the sure-fire way of getting your full story told in a one-on-one
situation. Preparation and
distribution of the message can be somewhat costly, but it's worth it if the message
is written well and designed to
catch attention. The cost of mailing can also be lightened if student volunteers can
be recruited to distribute yers to
neighbors.
Relationship between advertising and Publicity
1. Advertising is paid form ofideas, goods and services
While publicity is not paid by the sponsor.
2. Advertising comes from an identified sponsor
While publicity comes from a neutral and impartial source.
32

Hand N0tes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh

Advertising is controllable by the organization


While publicity is not controllable because it comes from a neutral source.
Advertising is less credible in comparison to publicity
While publicity is more credible because it comes from an impartial source.
Advertising is what you or your organization says and promotes about you or your
organization
But publicity is what others say for you or your organization.
In advertising same content is repeated by the sponsor
While in publicity it is not generally possible.
Advertising always carries a positive message about your organization because it is
the content you pay for
But publicity can be positive or negative because it comes from an impartial source.
In advertising you have full chance to show your creativity
But in publicity creativity is limited because it comes from non paid source.
Advertising is targeted to the particular audiences by the sponsor
While in publicity it is not focused.
Most ofthe times in advertising social responsibility is ignored
While in publicity special focus is given on social responsibility.
Personal selling
Face-to-face selling in which a seller attempts to persuade a buyer to make a
purchase. Personal selling occurs where
an individual salesperson sells a product, service or solution to a client. Salespeople
match the benefits of their offering
to the specific needs ofa client. Today, personal selling involves the development of
longstanding client relationships.
Importance of personal Selling
Personal selling is an important element of promotion mix and an effective
promotional tool. Personal Selling offers the
following compensation.

It is a exible tool: Personal selling involves individual and personal communication


as compared to the mass and
impersonal communication of advertising and sales promotion. Therefore, personal
selling is most exible in
operation. A salesman can tailor his sales presentation to fit the needs, motives and
attitudes of individual customers
can observe the customer's reaction to a particular sales approach and thus make
necessary adjustments right on the
spot. Face-to-face contact with customers is the most effective means
ofcommunication and persuasion.
It involves minimum wasted effort: ln personal selling, a salesman can select the
target market and concentrate on
the prospective customers. He need not communicate with the people who are not
the real prospects. Therefore,
personal selling involves minimum wastage of effort.
It results in actual sale : Advertising and sales promotion techniques can only attract
attention and arouse desire. By
themselves they cannot create actual sale. Personal selling in most cases leads to
actual sale. A salesman can find
prospective buyers, demonstrate the product, explain its operation, and convince
customers to buy it, install it at the
customers place and provide after-sale service. No other method of promotion can
perform all these functions.
Therefore, personal selling does the entire job of selling. Personal Selling is a
complete promotional technique of
keeping customers satisfied.
It provides feedback: Personal selling involves two-way ow of communication
between the buyer and the seller. It
is a useful method of understanding the needs and behavior customers. lt provides
knowledge about the tastes, habits
and attitudes ofthe prospective customers.

It complements advertising : In most situations, there is a need for explaining the


quality uses and price of the
product. Salesmen can persuade the prospective customers to buy a product.
Advertising attracts customers but their
doubts and questions about the product are answered by salesmen. In this way
personal selling supports advertising.
Salesmen educational the consumers about new products and about new uses of
existing products.
It educates customers : Salesmanship is not simply a tool of convincing people to
buy certain products. It assists
customers in satisfying their wants. A salesman provides: information, education
and guidance to customers. He
handles their complaints and assists them in getting value for their money. He can
clear their doubts on the spot.
It assists the society: Salesmen help to increase aggregate sales and production in
the country thereby incr 'ng
employment opportunities. They help to maintain equilibrium between demand and
supply.

Hand N0tes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh


8. Managing the Sales Cycle
Personal selling is important to companies marketing products that require a long
sales cycle. In business-tobusiness
marketing, prospects move through a buying process that involves a number of
stages, including identification of a
need, development of a specification, selection of potential suppliers, evaluation of
suppliers offerings and a final
purchasing decision. Sales representatives can inuence each stage of the process
by ensuring that prospects are fully

aware ofa supplier's capability and product benefits. They also ensure that
prospects receive the product, pricing and
technical information they need to make a decision, and they maintain contact with
the important decision-makers
throughout the sales cycle.
9. Developing Customer Relationships
To build long-term revenue for the future, representatives use personal selling skills
to develop strong relationships
with customers. By contacting customers after they make a purchase, for example,
representatives can demonstrate
that their company offers high levels of customer care. They also maintain contact
between sales to ensure that
customers consider their company when they are planning their next purchase.
Direct Marketing
A form of advertising in which physical marketing materials are provided to
consumers in order to communicate
information about a product or service. Direct marketing does not involve
advertisements placed on the internet, on
television or over the radio. Types of direct marketing materials include catalogs,
mailers and iers.
with advertising techniques that can include cell phone text messaging, email,
interactive consumer websites, online
display ads, database marketing, iers, catalog distribution, promotional letters,
targeted television commercials,
response-generating newspaper/magazine advertisements, and outdoor advertising.
Amongst its practitioners, it is also
referred to as Direct Response.
i Advantages
(il Flexible positioning- directly identify, isolate and communicate clearly with
defined target market.
[ii] Multi-purpose- For trial, sale, or test new market

(m]Easy to manage- Easier to direct marketing activities, future planning,


forecasting and budgeting.
(iv) Prompt delivery Achieve results quickly and exibly
[V] Easy Detection- Easy test and re-test, adjustment, and measurement of the
variables, such as time, lists,
messages, mail
[vi] Relationship with customers- more effective to initiate and develop a
meaningful dialogue with new customers.
(vii) Target different messages to different recipients different image, design and
provide a direct Mailer, and
personalized e-mail
i- Disadvantages
(i) Costly
(ii) For specific type of products
(m) Lack of customer loyalty
(iv) Potential poor returns
Direct Response Marketing Methods
Direct response marketing is designed to elicit an immediate response from
consumers who might be interested in your
product. As the name implies, this strategy prompts customers to take some action
to obtain the product or service that's
on offer. ln this way, it's a technique that lets you know immediately how effective
your marketing is. Direct response
marketing can be carried out through TV or radio ads, print ads, yers or email.
1. Make It Easy
All direct response marketing must reduce the barriers to response. Make it very
clear to the consumer what she needs to
do in order to respond to your marketing. Give lots of ways the consumer can
respond, and spell them out simply and

often. Make the phone number, the email address and the website easy to
remember. Have your phone number be toll
free, and make sure online ordering is a oneclick process.
2. Be Specific
Cite statistics about the success of your product. Emphasize positive results and
stress the popularity of whatever you're
selling. Many consumers like the sense of reassurance this gives them that other
customers have enjoyed the product
they're considering. You also can compare your price to similar products from
conventional retail outlets. Direct marketing
is generally a cheaper sales model, so you should compare favorably.
3. Have a Giveaway
People love to get something for free. ln addition to your product or services, bundle
in a freebie, such as a sample, booklet,
newsletter or free webinar. Assign this extra product or service a dollar value, so
consumers can quantify what they're
getting for free. This serves as an extra inducement to value-oriented consumers
who otherwise might be undecided . s ut
responding.

Hand Notes- IMC, By: Gargee Singh


4. Seta Time Limit
Create a sense of urgency around your product in your ad or message. Note the
discount price offer and explain it's good
only for a short period. This is a way of encouraging your customers to stop
procrastinating and make a decision. Make
sure the end date to your offer is displayed prominently and repeated several times.
Emphasize what will happen if the

consumer doesn't respond to the offer in time.


Event Management
Event planning is the process of planning a festival, ceremony, competition, party,
concert, or convention. Event planning
can include budgeting, establishing dates and alternate dates, selecting and
reserving the event site,
acquiring permits (alcohol permits, insurance licenses, etc), coordinating
transportation and parking, developing a theme
or motif for the event, arranging for speakers and alternate speakers, coordinating
location support (such as electricity
and other utilities], and arranging decor, event support and security, catering,
emergency plans, aid stations, and cleanup.
Event Management as a Marketing Tool
Event management is considered one of the strategic marketing and
communication tools by companies of all sizes. From
product launches to press conferences, companies create promotional events to
help them communicate with clients and
potential clients. A number of elements such as music, live entertainment or even
the particular venue may be used to
inuence the tone and atmosphere ofan event.
Event managers may also use news media to target their audience, hoping to
generate media coverage which will reach
thousands or millions of people. They can also invite their audience to their events
and reach them at the actual event.
Event Manager
The event manager is the person who plans and executes the event, taking
responsibility for the creative, technical and
logistical elements. This includes overall event design, brand building, marketing
and communication strategy, audiovisual production, scriptwriting, logistics, budgeting, negotiation and client service.
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