MKT_VI

MKT 5301, Advanced Marketing 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit VI Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

2. Synthesize the use of marketing research to predict global business outcomes. 2.4 Develop a global marketing presentation using business research.

7. Explain the key aspects in managing marketing promotions through traditional and digital methods.

7.1 Discuss traditional and digital marketing methods used by a company. Required Unit Resources Chapter 12: Managing Marketing Communications Chapter 13: Designing an Integrated Marketing Campaign in the Digital Age Unit Lesson Promotion is defined as the communication of information between a seller or company and a potential buyer. This communication not only parlays necessary information about the product and/or service but also typically uses an influencing tone in order to encourage the potential buyer to purchase the product or service. When you think of promotions, the first thing that may come to your mind is the commercials we see on television. This is indeed a segment of the promotional process. The methods of promotion include personal selling, mass selling, and sales promotion.

Personal Selling Personal selling involves the direct spoken communication between a company representative and the consumer. This is typically a face-to-face venture, but the use of technology, such as Zoom, Skype, or a variety of other electronic methods, could be viewed as personal selling. With this method, the salesperson has the advantage of being able to modify his or her message based on the consumer and will also receive immediate feedback. While this is a huge advantage, this method is one of the most expensive methods because it requires hiring and training personnel. Salespeople tend to take on one of the three following approaches in their presentation style. Prepared approach: This is a memorized presentation that is identical to every potential buyer. This approach is most useful for the following scenarios:

• when a prospective sale has a low-dollar value, and • when the salesperson is not very skilled.

Consultative approach: This is when the presentation is completely based on the client’s needs. After a few introductory comments, the salesperson will ask the potential buyer what his or her needs might be. This approach is most useful for the following situations:

• when the purchase is a high-ticket item, and • when the salesperson possesses a high level of experience and knowledge.

UNIT VI STUDY GUIDE Traditional and Digital Communications

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Selling formula approach: This is when the presentation begins with a short, memorized approach but moves quickly into customer interaction needs. This approach is most effective when you need a middle ground where company information is employed with customer needs.

Mass Selling Mass selling involves communicating with large numbers of potential customers simultaneously. As you can imagine, this method is particularly effective if the message to be delivered is similar for all and if the target market is geographically dispersed. Within the mass selling category, there are two methods that are typically used: advertising and publicity. Advertising is the paid form of marketing and typically uses media such as television, radio, magazines, billboards, direct mail, and the internet. The National Football League (NFL) Super Bowl is one of the most coveted days in the marketing and advertising world. While this day includes a day of good football, it also represents one of the largest audiences of consumers who are all viewing the commercials at the same time. Because of this, companies produce the biggest and best commercials. They pay extremely high placement costs to the networks, and production costs are enormous. In spite of this, companies believe this is one of the best deals in the advertising world with consumers anxiously looking to see the ads and talking about them with their friends for weeks after. YouTube provides a second life for these commercial messages as well. Publicity, on the other hand, is an unpaid form of mass selling. This could include a local newspaper running a story about a company’s new product introduction. Outwardly, this method is the most economical, but it does not allow the marketer to maintain any control on the message being delivered.

Sales Promotion Sales promotion involves all other promotion activities besides personal selling, advertising, or publicity. These tend to be less costly in nature and are intended to remind and stimulate interest. Sales promotions can be aimed at consumers through contests, coupons, aisle displays, samples, consumer trade shows, banners, or frequent-buyer programs. This tool is ingenious at reaching the target market of young people who prefer to live in small urban apartments. These young people frequent train stations, thus the exposure to the correct target market is right. Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is a concept that suggests that a company needs to coordinate all of its promotional efforts to present a consistent message portrayed across all traditional and nontraditional marketing efforts. This will provide a consistent brand image for the company by encouraging greater brand equity among the members of the target market. A company such as Toyota is attempting to make a minivan fun by creating a theme for the balance of its marketing and, ultimately, its IMC efforts. Promotional marketing objectives need to be well-thought-out and align with the overall strategies of the marketing program. Take a look at several objectives that could be incorporated by a marketing department:

• positioning the brand (communicating product/service benefits to maintain a certain position or status within the market),

• introducing new products (providing the consumer with information about new product offerings), • obtaining outlets (informing customers where they can purchase the product/service), • maintaining ongoing contact with the customer (facilitating a good customer relationship), • supporting the sales force (providing the consumer with additional information that will support the

sales force for past or future visits), and • requesting immediate action (asking that the customer buy the product/service).

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Thinking back to previous units and our discussion on the product life cycle, how might a marketer plan promotional efforts differently at different stages of the product life cycle? In review, the product life cycle demonstrates the four stages that a product moves through after the product is commercialized.

The product is first introduced in the market introduction phase where sales are low, and the consumer knowledge about the product/service is also minimal. The product then advances into the market growth phase where sales are increasing, and product/service knowledge increases. From there, the product moves into the market maturity stage where sales level off, but consumer knowledge is great. Finally, the product moves into the sales decline stage where the sales are declining, and consumer preference is also declining. To apply promotional strategies to the product life cycle, a marketer needs to examine exactly what message should be emphasized during each stage and what level of promotional efforts should be implemented. For instance, in the market introduction stage, the message might be as follows: “This new product is really innovative and something that will change your life for the better.” Information should be detailed and highly informative as the consumer learns about the product/service and its benefits to them. In the market growth stage, the message might revolve around the following theme: “Our product/service is better than our competitors.” The marketer should continue to include detailed information with a tone of influence. This is important as consumers are now aware of not only your product but also the competitor’s products, and the consumer will need to make a choice. During the market maturity stage, all efforts focus on influencing and persuading as sales are beginning to decrease. This could be a result of an enormous number of competitors and/or competitors that are understanding the value proposition of the target market. Finally, in the sales decline stage, the message might resemble the following message: “Stick with us. We have served you for a long time.” Sales are dropping significantly, and extreme promotional efforts are in order. Jingles, which are short musical tunes, are another method used by marketers. The idea behind the use of jingles is to hook the customer and generate a recall function in the mind of the consumer. How many times have you had a commercial jingle get stuck in your head? Search the internet to see if you can find some jingle videos. Why do you think the jingles are so effective and, in many cases, have remained so for many years? Another important concept in the promotional segment of marketing is that of media, which represents the vehicle by which the message is delivered. This includes television/cable, digital mediums, newspapers, radio, magazines, outdoor/cinema, and directories. Each vehicle brings with it advantages and disadvantages that need to be analyzed by the marketer. Take a look at several advantages of each of the forms of media listed below.

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Finally, digital marketing has become a crucial part of marketing strategies within most all organizations. In many circles it is considered to be the connector between all forms of marketing, bringing everything together into one cohesive IMC pattern. In 2016, digital marketing made up about 36% of total media ad spending. Looking forward, it is projected to reach about 50% by 2021 (Kagan, 2019). With this in mind, marketing managers need to understand how search engine marketing forms the basis of all digital marketing strategies. Search engines provide a venue for marketing managers to actually focus on the consumers searching for a product and to provide them with a product or service solution. Within the scope of search engine marketing, search engine optimization (SEO) is a process where certain websites will rank higher in a consumer’s search results. Another form of search marketing is that of pay-per-click advertising (PPC), which uses targeted ads to demonstrate how creative messages perform against selected target keywords. This is also referred to as paid search, as the ad is paid based upon a cost-per-click model. SEO is considered to have a long-term impact while PPC has a more immediate impact. Google is a dominant force with respect to paid searches with their program called AdWords. This program assists marketing managers with placing ads near relevant search results with the ultimate goal of driving sales and leads within their organization. Display advertising began in 1994 with banner advertisements. This medium has rapidly grown with the inclusion of video and the improvements with behavioral targeting. Email marketing is one of the most useful and crucial elements within the digital marketing world. While some consider it worn out, it provides a basis of solid customer relationship management (CRM) and is one of the most cost-effective digital mediums. Email is considered to drive the highest return-on-investment (ROI), generating $38 for every dollar spent (Kagan, 2019). The emergence of social media in marketing has also exploded over the years. The idea of building communities of consumers who build content (user-generated) about a company’s products/services and then share opinions about said products/services is quite extraordinary. Social media provides the opportunity for marketing managers to interact with consumers who have positive experiences with the brand as well as those who have had negative experiences. Tools such as Facebook, Twitter, Word Press, Imgur, Instagram,

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Foursquare, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, Reddit, and Tumblr provide platforms for social media marketing, and it keeps growing. As consumers have become more mobile, marketing needs to adapt and provide marketing content in a more mobile format. Through consumer dependence on cell phones, a personalized marketing channel is born. The use of applications (apps) has provided consumers with significant conveniences and has provided marketers with an extremely targeted audience. Companies monetize their business through advertisements within the apps, which demonstrates why there has been a significant jump in the number of apps available and the amount of advertising within these apps. E-commerce provides another form of digital marketing through the use of a digital storefront for customers to purchase products. While the conveniences of buying products from home provides significant advantages to consumers, the ability to collect detailed behavioral data about potential customers is a huge benefit for marketing managers. Google Analytics is then used to track the behavior of users as they visit the website. Digital marketing is considered to be extremely effective with respect to achieving sales objectives as well as building superior customer relationships. The success of digital marketing could be a result of the access to extreme amounts of data revolving around the implementation of successful marketing campaigns. Kagan (2019) suggests that for marketing to succeed in the digital era, marketing managers need to stop thinking of potential customers as being targeted at and instead think of them as networks to connect with.

Summary In summary, marketers need to incorporate an IMC perspective within their promotional methods, ensuring the use of digital as well as traditional methods within each industry. Understanding the consumer and their needs is crucial as marketing managers strive to reach and engage their target markets.

Reference Kagan, J. (2019). Digital marketing strategy & tactics. Wessex.