Unit 18 Advertisement and Promotion in Business Sample Solution

INTRODUCTION

The report is developed in relation with Advertising and promotion in business. To avail appropriate information related with why advertising is necessary for the organization data is gathered from various secondary sources of information. Report include the information related with importance of communication for effective promotion of the products and services, information related with branding will also be shared in this report with the effect of which organization could ensure to provide proper branding to the product before launching it into the market. Apple is taken as the company example in this report. All the aspects are related with Apple Company so that clear and better understanding could be developed with the importance of advertising for the businesses in present scenario. Apple is an American multinational technology company which is headquartered in Cupertino, California, which is indulged in the business of developing and selling consumer electronics, computer software, and various other online services.

TASK 1

1.1Explain the communication process that applies to advertising and promotion.

The means of sharing the information by various means like speaking, writing or using some other medium is known as communication. Communication in present scenario has become a one of the most important aspects in the market which provides variety of benefits to an organization. Managing communication is necessary that Apple should apply an effective communication system at the workplace for it is necessary that it should understand the process of communication that will apply to advertising and promotion of the company (Lehuan, et. al., 2011).

There are various communication models that could be used by Apple to make the communication process more effective they are:
AIDA Model: AIDA model comprise of attention, interest, desire and action. It is the model that helps in making the marketing and advertisement more effective. With the help OF AIDA Model, company could ensure to make the advertisement helps in attracting the attention, interest, fulfill the desires of the customers and analyzing the actions of the people of attracting towards the products and services that are provided to the customers (Hyllegard, et. al., 2012).
IMC Model: IMC Model or integrated marketing model is the model which is being used to develop effective marketing plan and include all the elements of marketing mix which comprise of price, product, distribution and promotion, and also the elements of communication mix which comprise of direct marketing, PR Publicity, Sales Promotion, Advertisement, Personal Selling, Events and Employee behavior, word of mouth etc.
Advertising: Advertising is one of the most effective way to communicate the information related with the products and services of the company. Advertisement is the medium which influence the people available to purchase the products and services availed by the company.
Sales Promotion: There are various sales promotional activities that help in making the communication process of advertisement and promotion more effective. It is necessary that Apple should indulge in various sales promotional activities like providing bonus pack, Price off deal, loyalty programs, event marketing etc to attract customers towards its products and services.
Personal Selling: It is another method with the help of which Apple will be able to build trust among the customers. There are various people who prefer to choose android phones rather than IOS reason behind it is that many of the people have the psychology that Apple phones are not user friendly. So to ensure that people should get effective set of knowledge about the products of Apple and could understand what are the usage of the device that are sold by the company to the market.
Direct Marketing: Apple could also indulge in direct marketing so as to make the effective sale of its products and services. Apple could ensure that it could directly interact with the people so that effective set of information related with the products and services of Apple could be shared. This will help the customers to make effective set of decision regarding what to purchase and what not to (Roshan, et. al., 2011).
Public Relation: Public relation has become one of the most important aspects in present scenario. It has become necessary that positive PR relation should be developed with the people available in the market. Such type of activity helps the general public to build connection with the brand and helps in making effective set of decision regarding the same.

1.2 Explain the organisation of the advertising and promotions industry.

Advertisement and promotion industries help the organization to spread appropriate information related with the products and services to the people available in the market and helps in increasing the sale and assuring the position in the market. There are various organizations of advertising and promotion industry they are:

Advertisers
 

Advertisers bring creative and innovative ideas so as to design the advertisement and suggest from which media advertisement should be done. Collaborating with the creative agencies will be little costlier but will help Apple to attract the customers towards the products of it (MacRury, 2009).

Advertising and Promotion Agency

Advertising agencies design the advertisements to the companies. Apple should collaborate with advertising agencies to provide the attractive advertisement to the target population. It is important that the advertisement which is being advertised should be influential which could attract maximum number of people towards the products and services of the company. There are various contractors available in the market which works towards to help the companies in making effective advertisements so that so that company could succeed to influence more customers towards the products and services of the company.

External Facilitators

These are the agencies available in the advertisement and promotion industry which ensures that the information while doing marketing of the products and services should be done in a proper way so that appropriate message could get delivered to the target population. These agencies keeps eye on the messages that are being transmitted because messages should not include any unethical content which could affect the psychology of the people available in the market (Miletsky and Hand, 2009).

Media Organizations

There are various media organizations which help the companies to make decision that which media will be resulted in the most effective media to ensure that the products and services of the company could get promoted and more people could get influenced to the products and services that are being promoted to the market. Media organizations help in making the decision whether the organization should promote the product on social media, T.V., Radio, or via print media (Roshan, et. al., 2011).

Target Audience

Selection of the audience is also necessary for the organization to ensure that which type of promotional and advertisement agency should be selected. Apple will have to make policy for decision making that which type of audience will it have to select so that it could promote the product accordingly it will include business to business, business to customers or business to government.

1.3 Assess how promotion is regulated.

There are no doubt that promotion is one of the most important aspects attached with the sale of the products and services of the company. But on the same page it is necessary that it should get regulated and all the policies and legal frameworks should be followed while promoting the products and services. There are various regulatory organizations that keep eye on the promotional activities of the company (Hyllegard, et. al., 2012). Apple should follow various laws to ensure that promotion could be regulated these laws which are attached with the promotion of the products are:
Sale of Goods Act 1979: The acts suggest that the organization should sale the products and services which are promised to the target customer. Quality of the promoted product and the product that is to be sold in the market should be similar.
Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982: It is necessary that apple should ensure that after selling the product to the customer the product should be delivered carefully to the end customer.Data Protection Act 1998/2003: According to data protection act it is necessary that Apple should take care of the personal information of each and every customer. Information of the customer should not be shared by any unauthorized person. According to the act only authorized person should have the access to the personal information of the customers of Apple.
There are various regulatory bodies that helps in regulating The advertising activities, these are:
ASA: Advertising Standard Authority regulates all the advertisement related aspects and ensures that the companies should do the advertisement which should not affect the mentality or psychology of the people.
OFCOM: Office of communication is a government regulatory organization which works upon the broadcasting, telecommunication, and postal industries to ensure that all the aspects could be managed and issues related with the aspects could get resolved in a proper manner.
There are various other regulatory bodies like OFT (Office of Fair Trading), CAP (Committee of Advertising Practice), etc. that works towards to ensure that fair market practices could incur in the market and advertisements of the products and services should be done in an appropriate manner (Roshan, et. al., 2011).

1.4 Examine current trends in advertising and promotion, including the impact of ICT

Trends in the market keeps on changing and it becomes necessary for the companies like Apple to move with the trend because if they fails to do so then the market of the companies will get affected which will directly affect the position. Information and communication technology is playing a very vital role in advertisement and promotion of the products and services in present scenario. Rapid change has been noticed in the trend of advertisement and promotion of the products and services. No a days people are relying more upon the social media. Advertisement and promotion on the social media influence most of the people in present scenario. It could be analyzed that people now a days believe much upon the products and services which are either promoted on the social media or are advertised on the media like YouTube and various other video sites.
Apple should develop the advertisement and promotional aspects according to the social networking sites as it will help in attracting most of the population towards the products of the company. Providing Advertisements on the social media websites like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc. will help Apple to spread effective set of information and attracting the customers towards the products it is offering in the market (Elengold, 2015). 
Coming to the Information and communication technology, this technology has become one of the most important technologies for the advertisements and promotion of the products and services. Apple should try to improve the information and communication technology so that information related with the product could get reached to across the globe. Collaboration with the virtual organizations like Amazon, Flipkart, Shop Clues, Ebay, etc. will help in promoting the products in an effective manner. These organizations have a strong network of online selling which provides varieties of offers to the customers due to which they get attracted toward the products and services offered by these sites. Home delivery is one of the best option availed by these organizations which helps in attracting more number of customers towards the products and services availed by these websites. Information and Communication Technologies have made the trading system easier and effective which helps in attracting more number of customers towards the products and services and helps the company to grow in the competitive market and deliver the services which are required by the customers available in the market (Nielsen, 2012).

TASK 2

2.2 Explain Branding And How It Is Used To Strengthen A Business Or Product.

The process of providing the unique name to the product with the help of which product could be identified in the competitive market is known as branding. It is the method which provides an identity to the product which helps the people in making the decision of what to purchase and what not to purchase.
One of the most important tools for the advertising is branding because if no name will be provided to the product them people will not be able to purchase it from the market. Apple itself is a brand in the mobile phone market in present scenario but still if it will not give a unique name to the mobile phones then it will not be able to make effective sell in the market.
With the help of branding Apple could attain competitive advantage in the market. customer available in the market will be able to identify the series of mobile phones launched by Apple in the market and will be able to make decision to buy the phones of Apple (Brooks, et. al., 2012).
Branding works as a stable asset for the companies because products of particular brand keeps on coming and going from the market but brand remains stable which enhances the goodwill of the company. For example: I phone 4 is a product of Apple which is now been discontinued, then I phone 5 entered into the market which was grab the market due to the loyal customers of Apple, likewise presently Apple has launched I phone 7 and I phone 7 Plus which are giving tough competition to other mobile phone companies because people knows that Apple provide quality in its products and people prefer to purchase the products of Apple.
Branding also provides economic value to the company in the market. It is being analyzed that the brands are considered as the intangible assets for the company and with the survey it was being analyzed that from over 30 years the value of intangible assets have increased from 17% to 80% which is a huge change. Hence, it could be said that branding helps in strengthening the business as well as its products and helps the company to sustain in the market (Londhe, 2014).

2.3 Review the creative aspects of advertising.

Creativity helps in making the advertising more effective and influential, it helps in attracting the people towards the products and services availed by the organization. It is necessary that Apple should bring creativity to the advertising to make it more appealing. Developing the creative strategies will help Apple to make advertisements more appealing and influential. Some of the creative strategies are:Segmenting the Market: It is necessary that market should be segmented. Market segmentation will help the
Segmenting the Market: It is necessary that market should be segmented. Market segmentation will help the organization to develop the advertisement according to the requirements of the people available in the market. Market segmentation includes demographic, geographic, behavioral and psychographic aspects.  Developing the strategies according to the segments will help the organization and will help in attracting effective number of people towards the products of Apple. Gaining information related with the choice and preferences of the people and developing the advertisement helps the target population in making decision of what to purchase and what not to (Lehuan, et. al., 2011).
Targeting: Targeting is another strategy that will help in making the advertisement creative; it helps in attracting the people that are being targeted by the company. Targeting include gathering the information of the needs and preferences of the people with the effect of which advertisements could be developed accordingly which will help in increasing the sale of the products and services in the market.
Market Survey: Market survey also helps in making the advertisements more creative and influential. Gathering information from the customers related with the choice and preferences and likes and dislikes helps in modifying the advertisements according to them. It helps in making the advertisements customized so that effective number of people could get attracted towards the products offered by Apple (Wendell, 2011).
Creativity of the advertisements depends upon the types of advertisements that are shown on the media. Selection of media should
also be done in a wise manner. To promote the advertisement it is necessary that correct media should be selected by Apple which could help in spreading the information in a most effective and attractive manner.

2.4 Examine ways of working with advertising agencies.

Working with leading people, and the advertising agencies helps the company to develop the strategies which will ensure the success of the company in the competitive market. Collaborating with the advertising agencies will help the company to grow and develop in the market. To work with the advertising agencies it is necessary for Apple to remain flexible because rigid nature of the company hinders in smooth flow of the work process. Whole promotional activity could get spoiled because of the rigid behavior of the companies (Miletsky and Hand, 2009). It is necessary that Apple should ensure that it should formulate the advertisements strategies according to the advertisements agencies so as to make the advertisements more influencing. Creativity should be focused upon by Apple so that it could sustain and attract more people towards the products and services of the company. Innovative thinking will also help in developing the attractive and creative advertisements in the market.
For Apple it is necessary to determine that which type of advertisement should be developed because bifurcating the advertisement according to the needs and wants of the people will help in attracting more customers towards the products and services of the company.
Another aspect that should be focused upon is choosing the advertisement agencies. Apple should choose the advertisement agencies in a wise way. Choosing the advertisement agency which has the positive image in the market will help Apple to develop the positive position in the market (MacRury, 2009).
Market survey will help in making appropriate selection for the advertisement agencies. Collaborating with the advertisement agencies will help in developing the most effective promotional activities and making the influential advertisements for Apple.

TASK 3

3.1 Explain primary techniques of below-the-line promotion and how they are used in an integrated promotional strategy for a business or product.

Below the line Advertising

The advertising strategy in which product is being promoted in the mediums which are other than radio, television, billboards, print and films. Below the line advertising include direct mailing, trade shows and catalogs.
There are various techniques that are used for the below the line promotion which will help Apple to sustain and increasing the sale which is required to grow in the market.Door to Door selling is a technique of below the line promotion in which sales man visits the home of the people and explains each and every features and aspects of the product. Door to door selling helps the customers to make the decision of purchasing particular product about which is explanation is being provided to the target customer (Hyllegard, et. al., 2012). 
Offering the free extra products is another below the line promotional activity which could be adopted by Apple. Although apple prefer to maintain its dignity in the market but it is necessary that it should offer some free products with the mobile phone so that more and more people could get attracted towards the products and services. It is psychology of the people to attract towards the products which offers the free gifts with it.
Direct mailing is another technique that could be adopted by Apple to promote its product in the market. Apple should keep the track record of the loyal customers who prefer to buy the products of Apple only. Doing so will help in providing best offers to such type of customers which will help in making them loyal. It is necessary that Apple should mail directly to such type of customers regarding the exciting offers it could avail to them (Roshan, et. al., 2011). Direct mailing will help in retaining the old customers and enhancing the goodwill of the company in the market.
Trade Show is another below the line promotional technology that will help Apple to attract more customers towards its products and services. With the help of trade shows Apple could avail effective set of information regarding the products it offers to the market and could help people in developing the understanding why they should purchase the products of Apple only.
Personal selling is another aspect that should be taken into consideration by Apple. Personal selling helps in differentiating the product with other similar products which helps the customers in making decision of what to purchase and what not to. Virgin Broadband, Sky, Avon, and Talk-Talk are some of the organizations which are indulged in personal selling aspects (Elengold, 2015).
Direct Marketing: Direct marketing will also help Apple to ensure that it could succeed in attracting effective number of people towards the products and services it is offering in the market. Loyal customers of Apple will also remain stay connected with the company; Apple could offer Loyal Cards subscription which will help in ensuring that the business could attract effective number of people towards the products and services it is offering in the market.

3.2 Evaluate Other Techniques Used In Below-The-Line Promotion

Below the promotion really helps the company to increase its sale in the market and attract more customers towards the products and services that are offered by the company to the target customers. There are several other techniques of below the line promotion that will help Apple to move on the path of success and sustainability these techniques are as follows:
Rebate is another effective below the line technique that will help Apple to increase its sale and promote its product in the market. Rebate is the technique in which products are offered by the company at the lower cost at which it was previously being sold. Apple could lower down the prices of its product in the market it increase its sale and could ensure to generate more revenue from the sale of the products and services (Elengold, 2015).
Promotional pricing is also a below the line promotional technique that will help the company to promote its products in an influential way. It is same as rebate system but this technique is being adopted at the launching of the product. Prices of the products are kept low while launching it so that product could acquire the market and could gain competitive advantage.  It could be evaluated that products of Apple are really very costly as compared to other mobile phones in the market so adopting the promotional pricing will really help it to grab the market and attract more customers towards the mobile phones of Apple.
Rebate: Providing coupons, offer value to the purchaser by providing the products and services at lower costs. First rebate are generally handed or offered directly to the customer after it makes the purchase. The coupons are provided which cannot be used after the immediate saving, at the next purchase customer could use the coupon and enjoy its benefits. Another rebate include the entry of the personal data of the customer in which customer identification is to be done which includes name of the customer, address, and contact information so that exciting offers and benefits could be availed to the customer.
Loyalty Programs: There are various promotions that offer rewards to the customers like discount on price, providing free products for the purchases one by the customer such type of promotion are known as loyalty programs. Loyalty programs are treated as the general practice by Apple.
Trade in: Trade in is the technique of sales promotion. This technique allows the buyers to be offered with the specific percent of discount on the purchase of the new phone if the buyer sells old phone to the seller.
Personal selling: Personal selling is the technique that helps to interact directly to the consumers to sell the product. Apple can also use this technique to persuade its consumers in order to buy the product.

TASK 4

4.1 Follow an appropriate process for the formulation of a budget for an integrated promotional strategy.

Before indulging in the integrated strategy it is necessary that an organization should prepare a budget which could help the organization to manage its funds accordingly. Budget helps in providing the direction to the organization with the effect of which it could manage its future aspects and could ensure to move on the path of success and sustainability. There are various steps that will help Apple to prepare budget for an integrated promotional strategy these steps are as follows:

Problem Definition 

It is necessary to identify the investment proposal, because identifying the investment proposal helps in evaluating the purpose of the investment and helps in gathering information related with the benefits that will be availed to the organization (Brooks, et. al., 2012).

Establishment of Detailed Objectives

It is necessary to evaluate the proposal; evaluation of the cost of the proposal will help the Apple to manage its funding and finances to manage the work in near future. Establishing the detailed objective of the company will help in evaluating the type of promotional activity that is to be used by the company to promote the products and services.

Design of Promotion Mix

Then the promotional mix should be designed by the company so as the company could focus on various aspects which will help in the promotion of the products and services of the market. It is necessary that all the elements of promotion mix should be included in the plan to ensure that company could promote the products in a proper manner.

Screening

Screening of the proposal should be done in which benefits that the organization will have in near future should be evaluated with the effect of which organization will be able to grow in near future (Miletsky and Hand, 2009).

Set Priorities

The priorities should be set by the organization and list should be prepared of the things that should be kept on the priorities. Setting up the priorities will help in completing each and every task in a proper and effective way.

Budgetary methods used

Percentage of Sales Method: It is the method which is used by the company to develop the pro forma of income statement according to which company develop the advertisement of the products and services. It is the advertising expense budgeting method which helps in forecasting the advertising expenses that helps in estimating the expenses that would incur in the advertisement of the products and service.
Comparative Parity Method: The method which helps in setting the promotional budget in which expenditure of the competitors are being matched by the marketed to estimate the expenses that the company have to do in the advertisement of the products and services (Nielsen, 2012).
Objective and Task Method: It is the method that helps in allocating marketing budget that is based on set objectives. Apple will have to set certain set of objectives for the growth of the organization and will have to estimate the advertisement accordingly so that those objectives could get fulfilled.

Final Approval

Then the final approval should be made regarding the plan whether it will be successful or not, whether it will help the organization to sustain or not, whether it will help the organization to attain competitive advantage or not (Londhe, 2014).
Some of the budgeting methods that could be used by the Apple are percentage of sale method, competitive parity method, All You Can Afford Method and Objective Task Method.

Sales Budget of Apple

Marketing Channels	Expenditure
Circular	$100,000
Television	$200,000
Digital	$60,000
Social	$15,000
Email	$25,000
Mobile SMS	$10,000
Total Budget	$410,000

Above is the budget prepared for Apple for the marketing of its products and services. It is important for Apple to make sure that it should do proper marketing of the products and services because it is dealing in a highly competitive market. Making proper budget and planning to invest will help the company to increasing its sales in  the market and attracting effective number of customers towards the products of Apple.

4.2 Carry Out The Development Of A Promotional Plan For A Business Or Product.

Planning is one of the most effective strategies that could be adopted by any organization. For Apple it is a most important aspect to plan the promotional activities that are to be adopted for the welfare of the organization. Developing a proper plan will help in implementing the promotional activities in a smooth manner. Planning promotional plans includes a set process this process is as follows:
Setting objectives: First step is to identify the objective of the plan. Every plan includes certain set of objectives which provides various benefits to the companies. It is necessary that Apple should identify the objectives hidden behind the promotional plans. The objective of Apple is to promote it new Ipod.
Selection of promotional tools: There are various promotional methods available for Apple to promote its products such as:

Traditional Components

Advertising
Sales Promotion
Personal Selling
Direct Marketing

Modern Interactive

Internet Advertising
Internet Public Relation
Online Sales Promotion
Internet Direct Marketing
Online Marketing
For promoting ipod, it is feasible for Apple to use modern techniques of online sales promotion by using some of the internet mediums such as social networking sites and channels.
Planning the sales promotion program: The major decisions that need to be made when designing the sales-promotion program relate to the timing of the promotion and how long this tool is to be used. The promotion for ipod would last for a month.
Pre-testing: This needs to be undertaken to ensure that potentially expensive problems are discovered before the full launch of a promotion. Testing in selected market segments can highlight problems of ambiguity, response rates and give an indication of cost effectiveness.
Implementation: It is the most crucial stage as it requires implementing the overall program.
Evaluation: Evaluation of the promotional program can be done by monitoring the process results as well as by comparing the output sales and level of awareness among the people.

4.3 Plan The Integration Of Promotional Techniques Into The Promotional Strategy For A Business Or Product.

Planning the promotional techniques into the promotional strategy will help the organization to sustain in near future and will help in attracting effective number of people towards the products and services it is offering to the target customers which will ensure that the company could sustain and attain competitive advantage in the market. For such promotion Apple will have to formulate promotion mix which includes, advertising, public relation, personal selling, and sales promotion. Integration of the promotion mixes with the promotion techniques will help Apple to develop a creative and innovative promotional strategy with the help of which it will be able to sustain in the market.
Apple should try to advertise on social media, doing so will help in influencing many of the people in present scenario. Presently people are getting attracted towards the products and services which are being advertised on social media (Miletsky and Hand, 2009).
Cause of charity is another technique which will help in attracting the people towards the organization. It is necessary that the organization should contribute in the charity or should organize the charity events so that people could get attracted towards the products and services so that they could also make their contribution in the welfare of the society in near future.
Vodafone is indulged in personal selling as it offers its devices directly to the customers in which it explains the customer what are the usage and benefits of the devices of Vodafone and ensures that the customer could make effective set of decision regarding the purchase of products and services.
Apples Mac Book is the product of Apple in which company indulges in the trade shows and offers the opportunity to the general public to gather effective set of information related with the product and could know about the usage of it. Trade Shows helps Apple to promote its products and services in an effective way (MacRury, 2009).
Beats Headphones indulges in the process of door to door sale in which sales man of the company visits to the customers and avails the information related with products and helps them in making decision whether to purchase headphones or not.

4.4 Use Appropriate Techniques For Measuring Campaign Effectiveness.

After formulating the successful plan and working on various other aspects it is necessary to measure the campaign of effectiveness so that Apple could gather the information related with the benefits it will get in near future and the return on investment it will gain after investing in the promotional activities. Comparison and reaction test are the two aspects that will help the organization to evaluate the effectiveness. Comparing the sales record of previous year with the present year will help in gathering information related with the effectiveness of the promotional activities on the sale of the company.
Reaction test is another technique that could be used to measure the campaign effectiveness. Analyzing the reaction of the customers present in the market will help in measuring how effective was the promotional activities that were used by the organization.
There are certain other aspects also that helps in measuring the campaign effectiveness they are Level of sale in which sales of the products and services is being evaluated and comparison of the present sale is done with the previous sale with the effect of which effectiveness of the promotion and advertisements is being evaluated, then customer response is being evaluated in which increase in number of customers of apple are being seen, then recall level is being checked to measure the effectiveness of the campaign in which old customers are being evaluated which had purchased the product again from the market (MacRury, 2009).

Conclusion

With the help of this report could be understood that advertising plays a very vital role for every organization. With the help of advertising organizations could gain competitive advantage in the market as it helps in adding the value to the brand of the company. It is necessary that proper channels should be selected by the company to promote its products and services because selection of wrong channel will not provide any benefit to the organizations. It is also important that organizations should develop proper plan before advertising the products and services in the market.