Unit 18 Advertisement and Promotion in Business Sample Assignment

Introduction

Advertising and promotion is the section of the marketing plan which describes that how the seller is going to utilise the unique selling propositions to the customers. The seller uses many medium to advertise their products to maintain an effective image in the minds of the consumers. This report is about the detail study that how the advertising industry uses different channels to reach the target audience and win their confidence towards the particular product. (Ward, n.d.)

1. Communication process that applies to advertising and promotion

Advertising and promotion play a vital role in the marketing mix and in both the cases the communication is the key element to inform the customers about the product. The main ambition of the communication process is to attract and influence the buyer’s behaviour.
In the path of communication process, the marketing manager analysis the market to find out thatwho their customers are, what are their requirements, how they can be contacted, and what impressive message should be sent to them. Following are the main stages to be crossed while following the communication process to advertise and promote the products.
Segmentation: To make the communication message effective, it is essential to divide the customers into discrete groups. This can be done with the help of the market research. The common market research methods are:

• Website statistics especially with the help of social media.
• Analysis of the buying and sales pattern.
• Desk research.
• Specialist market research companies.
• Face to face interviews.

Once the picture of the customer is clear, the research team further drills down in exploring them in detail. (Anon (I), n.d.)
Targeting: As the customers are segmented, the nest step is to target the right audience for the advertisement and promotion to ensure best possible response rate. There are various methods inform and advertise the products to the customers. Let’s discuss the main methods.

• Mass media promotion: In this method, the advertisement and promotion is done via the mass media like newspapers, T.V, Business directories, magazines, radio, outdoor and news agent windows. This is the fastest means of promotion as the media approach is a daily routine in every customer.
• Sales promotion: In this method of promotion the customer is attracted through the discount gift vouchers, discounts, loyalty incentives and comparison competition.
• Promotion through public relations: This is the method where the company sends the word to the customers in the world through press conferences, PR events and Press releases.
• Personal selling:This method promotes one to one communication with the buyers. This can be done through exhibitions, salesmen, experimental marketing, tradeshows and showroom sales with special counters.
• Direct Marketing: This method includes sending the words of promotion directly to the customers E Mails, Mail order catalogue, telemarketing, personalised letters and packaging designs.
• Digital Marketing: This media is new and it targets the internet surfers through blogging, company websites, social media, mobile phone promotion, E-commerce and advertisements on YouTube.

Which media to choose for promotion and advertisement:
Like the completion in the market for the products, the completion of advertising is also getting intense. The traditional promotional media channels are getting saturated. Due to the multi- channel facility, people are not willing to see the advertisements on TV and skip them. In the similar way other medium are also diluting. This makes the research team to be particular in selecting the target audience and segmenting them properly to ensure that which medium would be perfect for the maximum promotion.
Positioning: This is a process for developing an image of the company and the product. The image is maintained and created with the proper advertisement and promotion through correct medium. It is to be taken in consideration that the messages through all the mediums and different advertisements should target the same goal and easy to understand by the consumers.
Development of the Advertising message: The accurate target audience is now selected and now the time is to develop the message to influence them. The message should be informative regarding the awareness of the brand, attractive to get the immediate response and tendency to maintain the interest in the consumer. (Marketing Made Simple, n.d.)

2.Organisation of the advertising and promotions industry

While launching a new product in the market or introduction of the new features in the existing product, the marketing and promotion is the aspect of the marketing help in business. The promotion strategy should be immensely attractive so that it should capture the mind of the consumer and stimulates the continuous demand of it. For this an efficient promotion team is utilised for several potential avenues and they are spilt in many groups which collectively organise the advertising and promotion industry. (Huds, n.d.)
European Federation of Sales and Promotion:
The EFSP was established in 1980. It is a forum under which a lot of countries in Europe, work together, meet and exchange their innovative ideas. It promotes the higher standards of advertising and promotion industry in Europe. Annual and lobbying are the two areas that are especially maintained by EFSP.
European Association of Communication Agency:
The EACA promotes the full service advertising, media advertising as well as agency associations in Europe. Its prime ambition is to promote effective and honest advertising and create awareness regarding the contribution of advertising in the market economy. It helps in enhancing and developing cooperation between the advertising agencies, media and advertisers in Europe.
European federation of sales promotion:
The European federation of sales was established in 1980 and converted its name to Promotional Marketing Council of Europe in 2002. This organisation deals with sales promotion in all over Europe including clients, suppliers and agencies. This organisation estimates 80 per cent of sales promotion in various countries of Europe. (Rodrigo, 2012)
3. How promotion is regulated
Advertising Association established the committee of Advertising Practises in 1961 to set up the British Code of Advertising Practices. The Advertising Standard authority was established in 1962 to adjudicate complains about the advertisements. The ASA is a self- regulatory organisation of the Advertising Industry in United Kingdom. The ASA cannot enforce or interpret the legislation because it is a non- statutory Organisation but its code of Advertising practice reflects the legislation in many terms. It is not financed by the British Government but it is funded by the levy of Advertising Industry.

Remit:

• Direct marketing: The advertising tools like direct mailing, leaflets, circulars, brochures, catalogues, unsolicited mails all fall under the ASA remit. But the price lists and timetables are kept outside the remit. The private correspondence is kept outside the remit but if the leaflet promotes a new product, it will fall in the remit.
• Printed Media: The magazines published in UK and the paid off advertisements in the newspapers fall under ASA remit. All the Advertorials are under remit apart from the Advertorials that have control of the editors because then then those advertorials are editorials.
• Internet: If there are the online sale promotions on the British web page, they are under ASA remit. Apart from this all the company’s websites, paid on advertisements on web pages including the pop ups, sponsor links and banner ads fall under ASA remit since March 2011.
• Broadcast Media: In 2004 the control of the regulation of Broadcast advertising was handed over to ASA. The sponsorships of the programmes are outside the remit but the advertising programmes and shopping channels fall under ASA remit. The complaints regarding the not delivery of the product is tackled by ASA.
• Sales promotion: The sales promotion rules are made by the Institute of sales promotion which work on the same code of ASA.

Complaint procedure:

• Data protection: The ASA require full name of the person who is filing the complaint. The details are never revealed without the person’s permission. The cases when the person needs the money back or not received the goods the ASA can request to reveal the identity.
• Investigations: The investigators talk to the advertisers for their views on the advertisements and a recommendation is drafted for both the advertiser and complainant. This recommendation is then submitted in the independent Advertising Standards Authority Council. The Adjudication is posted on the ASA’s website and is available for the press and general public.
• Appeals process: If the case is strong and has grounds, the appeal can be filed against the adjudication. The case is reviewed by the independent reviewer. (ASA, n.d.)

4. Current trends in advertising and promotion including the impact of ICT

In today’s scenario the advertising and promotion of the products are mainly media oriented. The main ambition of advertising and promotion is to retain the old and attract the new customers with pleasing merchandise. Maximum population these days are internet surfers because of which the information and communication technology is leaving the biggest impact on the advertising industry. Therefore the advertising is done through ICT programmes which are broadcast on the internet.

Websites: Recently the trend of advertising though the official web page of the company is very effective. This is a cheap mean of advertising of the company is advertising through its own page. The web developers create the web page with the help of web authoring package.
Internet Advertising: Different websites give banner advertisements at the top, side or bottom of the web page. Others are in the form of pop -up windows. Bulk E mail advertisements also allow people to understand the latest trends in the market.
The online promotion is most popular among the online site visitors around the official sites. This makes the customer aware of the new products with the details of the features. The customer can do the comparison with the other products instantly on the internet. (Slideshare, n.d.)

5. Role of advertising in an integrated promotional strategy for a fast food business

Fast food is liked by the consumers of all ages especially the children and adolescents. The advertising agencies promote the product in such a way that it attracts the fast food lovers of every generation. The restaurant franchisees and owner use their own techniques to advertise their products according to the budget, target market and brand awareness in the people. But the companies target the youth because they can be influenced, spending power and are the future adult consumer. They collectively use the online, television, print media, radio and many other strategic methods to reach to their customers. After hearing the criticism over the years for promoting the Fast food the modern campaign is working on the promotion of healthy options. (Story and French, 2004)

Role of advertisements in the promotion of the fast food business

Online promotions: The advertising industry target the people using internet withinteractive techniques. The internet promotion is different than the television promotion where the website contents and the advertisements are integrated and published. The innovative methods of entertainment, animation, quiz, riddles, e mails, clips of commercials, screensavers and provision of discount coupons and special offer on specific days attracts the people for the purchase of the fast food.
Viral Videos: The attractive and humorous videos on YouTube and television capture the mind of the people regarding the taste of the fast food. The sales rate if products have extensively increased with the video publicity as the kids want to watch such videos again and again and demand their parents for that.

Mobile applications:Mobile application publicity has helped in increasing the sale of the products. The companies having a brand name in the fast food market develop the mobile application. Consumers have installed these applications in their mobiles and get discount offers and gift points regularly which can be checked and redeemed from the restaurants. This has increased the craze in the consumers to install such applications and buy the products to earn points and avail discounts.
Advergames for kids:The online advergames to kids influence a lot and make their mind as if this is the product they have searched for. This has enhanced the sales of the fast food in the market. The fast food chains like McDonald’s, Burger King,etc.provide toys and playing stuff to the kids so that the kids want to visit those restaurants again. (Brookins, n.d.)

6. How is branding used to strengthen a business or product

Branding:
Branding is a process to develop the company’s asset in the form of good reputation in the market and among consumers. It develops the expectation about the company’s services and products and encourages the company to maintain, exceed and bring out better products to earn the customer’s loyalty. This is done by creating a unique image in the consumer’s mind about the products through advertising campaigns and consistent performance. (Brick Marketing, n.d.)
The use of branding to strengthen the business or product:

• Confirms company’s credibility: The credibility of the company is delivered to the customer with the help of the brand’s name. This enhances the customer’s believe in the organisation. The company needs to remain in consistent research to maintain the credibility of the company as the consumer does not take much time to switch to the other brands. (Saunders, 2011)
• Deliver’s the message clearly: The branding with its logo, name, and striplings communicates and delivers the exact message about the product to the consumers.
• Connect to the audience psychologically: The campaigns about the brands are done in such a way that the customer feels connected to the brand emotionally. They increase the confidence and relate them to the relationships. The brand image is designed by keeping the target audience in mind and is designed as the magnetic material for them. (Anon (I), 2008)
• Motivates the buyer: People with the successive use of a particular brand are always comfortable and confident in using the same brand. If the brand has won the loyalty of the customer, it is very difficult to convince them to change the brand. So the consistent brand performance makes the business more strong. (Ben, 2013)
• Secures users loyalty: The companies with the analysis if the market try to build up, maintain and exceed the brand value to stick their loyal customers with them and attaining their mind set for consuming their products only. The companies stay connected with the consumers through, phones, messages, e mails and make them feel their importance and encourage a lifetime brand loyalty which helps in enhancing the business and promoting it. (Moore, n.d.)

7. Creative aspects of advertising

There are certain creative aspects of advertising in the advertising and promotion help industry that helps in the marketing of the product efficiently.

• Creative brief: The outlined instruction of the creative work to be done by the creative team of the company is the creative brief. The copywriters and graphic artists are informed about the work required for the client and the strategies of the agencies in designing the particular ad. (WiseGeek, n.d.)
• Communication brief:The thorough discussion about the positioning the product, targeting the particular audience, the message to be sent in the public and the designing of the message is the process of communication brief with the creative team.
• Advertisements designed by professional using ICT: The Photoshop advertisements leave a negative impact on the consumers. The advertising needs to be short, specific and original. The usage of ICT is flourishing the business because it is the easiest mean of sending the messages to the target audience. (Gourmet Ads, n.d.)

8.Ways of working with advertising agencies

Every company whether it is big or small want to flourish their business and premier services and goods to the customers.
The small business outsources the designing of the advertisements and promotions to the advertising agencies and wants to create an impact on the public. For this the companies need to have good relationship with the agencies to be mutually beneficial.
There are some ways to work efficiently with the advertising agencies.

• Set clear goals: The Company should have a specific goal and must be aware of that like the company wants to target the new audience, retain the existing or want to have a strict sale. Be sure that the agency knows what exactly is there in the mind of the company and its expectations. Without clearing the goals it is impossible to judge the effectiveness of the advertisements, slogans, banners, designs and the campaign.
• Cover the budget basis: The money matters need to be clear. The company should plan a specific budget for each part of the campaign and discuss it with the agencies and tell them an overall budget of the project for the marketing of the small business. The budget should be reviews timely for specific printing projects, designing, administrative cost and agency advertising commission.
• Establish specific timelines: The Company should be specific about the launch of the product and analysing the intermediate work to eradicate any hassle and save time. The Company should be quick in providing all the information required by the agencies and proof read of the work shown by them.
• Stay in touch: Communication plays the vital role in maintaining the business relationships. The company should remain in a regular contact with the agency staff while developing and designing the project. The company needs to be specific about its work and ask for the changes in between. The comments should be constructive and the mails and phones need to be answered quickly. (Montgomery, 2009)

9. Primary techniques of below-the-line promotion and how to use them in an integrated promotional strategy for your business

Below the line promotion refers to the non- media promotion technique of promotion. This means the promotion is done other than the mediums like radio, television, print, and internet. The techniques used in above the line promotions are discussed below:

• Sales promotion: This is the best marketing activity to boost the sale of the cosmetics company. There are two sales promotions. Trade and consumer sales promotion. The sales promotion increases the sales of the cosmetics in specific seasons like the wedding and festivals. Special offers and packages can be offered according to the requirement of the cosmetics for specific occasion. This sale gives a good discount to the consumers. But static sales promotion will damage the brand of the company. Therefore the sales promotion should be tactic. (The Economic Times, n.d.)
• Public relation:This will be done by the person to person conversation about the product with demonstrations of the cosmetics at different places like the showrooms, parlours etc. This activity is to make the people understand the usage of the products and how it is utilised in the correct form. (Lake, n.d.)
• Loyalty scheme:The loyalty schemes will be utilised for retaining the customers. We will plan the reward points to the consumers of the cosmetics and offer them the cards with the complete information about their loyalty points and purchasing. The activity of loyalty scheme retains the customer with the specific brand for years. (The Marketing Donut, n.d.)
• The sponsorship marketing will be done with the campaign of the cosmetics on a large scale and the sponsors will help us out in enhancing the promotion budget. (Nxt Concepts, n.d.)
• Product placement:The activity of product placement in which a fee will be paid to display , use or feature the cosmetic product in any show, movie or vehicles.(Business Dictionary, n.d.)

10. Evaluation of other techniques used in below-the-line promotion

The target of our cosmetics company is to advertise using below the line promotion. Apart from the primary techniques used for the promotion of the cosmetics brand we will use some other techniques used in below the lime promotion strategy.

• Corporate communications: The exact information of the cosmetics business will be shared with the stakeholders. The manager should have the good speaking and writing and listening skills to assist the complete information shared with in the company. (Anon II, 2010)
• Image and identity: This is the core of our cosmetic company which involves the history, belief, Philosophy, technology, people, values and strategies. The Identity will help us to determine the positioning of our organisation. (Stellenbosch University, n.d.)
• This is a very influential marketing strategy which we can utilise with the help of our satisfied customers. We can ask them for the written or oral recommendation of the prospective customers of our cosmetics. (Business Dictionary (II), n.d.)
• Personal selling:This is the advertising activity in which one party will sell the product to the other party and both the parties will obtain value. For this the salesperson of our cosmetic industry should have the complete knowledge of the product to settle down all the queries regarding the products to the consumer. This develops a relationship between the company and the consumer. (Know This, n.d.)

11. How to design an appropriate process for the formulation of a budget for an integrated promotional strategy

The marketing plan is the document which helps to get the strategies applicable in life. Budgeting is also a marketing plan which helps in maintaining and allocating the budget for the promotional strategy.
There are various points which should be kept in mind while the formulation of the budget.

• Determine the budget process: In this method the whole budget of the individual activity or the work process will be discussed and estimated to establish a Cost line for the project. For developing the budget, the data of the last year and the current market conditions will be taken into account. (Tap University, 2009)
• Guidelines for Budget Allocation: The main point while allocating the budget is that we cannot spend more than the money we have for the usage of a specific project. So planning the budget according to the money we have and history and current condition of the market, spending the budget wisely and revisit the plans again and again to analyse the proper usage of the budget. (Beesley, 2013)
• Overview of Media Cost:While planning the budget for the promotion, with the complete market analysis an overview will be taken that how much money would be spent on the media advertising like the advertisements on the TV, Radio, Internet and a specific budget will be planned. (Small Business Notes, n.d.)
• Relative costs of various promotional techniques:The cost of all the paid promotional techniques like press release, sales promotion, direct marketing, public relations, promotional gifts etc. will be analysed and considered in the promotion plan budget. (Customer Loyalty Tactics, n.d.)
• Comparing low and high-budget campaigns:While planning the budget for the campaign, a research would be done and market analysis will help us out in determining that the product launching needs a low or a higher budget Campaign.
• New product considerations: Finally when the budget is ready and getting out of the budget, the plan will be reconsidered and some of the budget will be cut down or else the same plan will be finalised.

12.FollowingAnchor an appropriate process for the formulation of a budget for an integrated promotional strategy

The development of the market plan is the initial step. The final work is to implement it.
Once the Budget is finalised, according to the plan of the company, the selection of the advertisement agency or the in-house advertising plan will be finalised and the budget would be discussed with them, with the special instructions that we cannot go out of the budget.
The timely analysis of the money spent on the development of the project will be done to make sure that the budget is not exceeding.
The market analysis would be done for the satisfaction that we are not overcharged for anything.
Finally when the budget is out for the launch, we will be prepared in advance for the plus and minus of the budget so that the company can make the smooth financial decisions. (Jones and Bartlett Learning, n.d.)

13. Development of a promotional plan for the new brand of car called ‘’Cricket’’ recently launched by the company

To develop the promotional plan for ‘Cricket’ certain steps will be followed.

• Create the look: The first impression of the image of the car is very essential. A thrilling image of the car will be portrayed in the customer’s mind. These will be created with the big banners with the attractive half image of the car with the short text like ‘coming soon’ along with the special features. The clients will look at the car with curiosity and wait for the release of ‘Cricket’.
• Picture of the look: During the launch, the complete picture of the car with lucrative and exciting look will be published. The image should be attractive to capture the customer’s mind.
• Sales brochure: The sales brochure of the car will be sent to all the relative showrooms and a front copy with the image of the car and special features will be published in the magazines and newspapers so that the word is spread about the cricket among the people.
• Additional promotion: The help of the broadcasting media, internet, catalogues, and view cards will be taken for the further promotion of the car. The information of the car should be in easy words and captivating so that it captures the mind of the people and they talk and discuss about its features.
• Monitoring the promotional plan: Only planning is not sufficient. The monitoring of the plan is required timely so that the promotion is not stopped till the car is established in the market.

14. How would you plan the integration of promotional techniques into the promotional strategy for a chocolate bar

Integrated market strategy is the combination of the communication tools and media to spread the information related the chocolate bar. By the combination of various tools like the television, radio, internet, newspapers, magazines etc., the marketing of the specific product is planned.

• Situation analysis: In the chocolate industry there are the three environmental forces that effect the chocolate production and that is the price of the coco, transportation and competition in the market. 
• Target Audience: First of all the target audience will be selected for the planning of the promotional strategy of the chocolate bar. The kids will play the major role as the target audience.
• Pricing strategy: The Pricing strategy will be selected so that the product penetrates in the market and is not ignored because of the higher cost.
• Distribution channel: The proper distribution channel to launch the chocolate bars in the market will be selected. For the chocolate bars the wholesalers and retailers will be the distribution channel.
• Integrated market communication: This will include the high spending of advertising. This will be a combination of the production of the chocolate bars along with the publicity of the product to create a strong customer’s demand. This will include the promotional mix strategy and the message strategy.  (Rock, n.d.)

15. What appropriate techniques would you use for measuring campaign effectiveness

After the completion of the campaign, every week the survey should be conducted to analyse its effectiveness. After the consecutive surveys for five weeks the following points out to be checked.

• Profits: The net profit of the company will be checked after the promotion and will be compared to the profit earned prior the promotion. If the profit is more, this shows that the campaign was effective or else there were flaws in the campaign.
• Sales: The Sales rate of the product will be high after the promotion. It will be analysed that whether the high sales rare remains constant or have fallen down in a few days. If the rate is high and constant, this shows that the promotion was effective.
• Customer Response: This shows that how convinced the client remains after the promotion. This can be checked by calculating the number of new clients following the promotion. The customer rate should be more than the prior 5 weeks before the promotion shows the campaign’s effectiveness.
• Communication: If the more customers are approaching at the company’s customer desk or customer support for the queries of the product, this shows that the campaign was effective and more customers are willing to know about the product.
• Attention: If the visit of the customers on the company’s website is increased then the campaign for the product was effective. (Guest Author, 2011)

Conclusion

This report helps in understanding the working of the advertising and promotion industry. This enables us to understand about the various methods and the efficient work of all the people related to the advertising company. This shows that the advertisements we watch and get attracted to buy the products shown in them is not an overnight job and requires day and night efforts to design them so they can capture our minds. This report makes us to understand the planning strategies to design these advertisements and the budgeting related to them.

References

• Anon (I), (2008), Connecting with your Customers Through your Brand Identity, [Article], Available: http://biznik.com/articles/connecting-with-your-customers-through-your-brand-identity [Accessed 21 May 2014]
• Anon (II), (2010), Defining Corporate Communication, [Pdf], Available: http://www.sagepub.in/upm-data/39352_978_0_85702_243_1.pdf [Accessed 22 May 2014]
• ASA, UK’s Independent Regulator for Advertising across all Media, [Online], Available: http://www.asa.org.uk/ [Accessed 20 May 2014]
• Beesley, C., (2013), How to Set a Marketing Budget that Fits your Business Goals and Provides a High Return on Investment, [Online], Available: http://www.sba.gov/community/blogs/how-set-marketing-budget-fits-your-business-goals-and-provides-high-return-investmen [Accessed 23 May 2014]