Advertising Ideas
      Advertising is impersonal,  usually  paid  communication  intended  to
inform, educate, persuade, and remind.
      Advertising is a sophisticated form of communication  that  must  work
with  other  marketing  tools  and  business  elements  to  be   successful.
Advertising must be interruptive — that is, it must make you  stop  thumbing
through the newspaper or thinking about your day  long  enough  to  read  or
hear the ad. Advertising must also be credible,  unique,  and  memorable  in
order to work.
      And finally, assuming the actual advertising is  built  upon  a  solid
positioning strategy,  enough  money  must  be  spent  to  provide  a  media
schedule for ad frequency, the most important element for ad memorability.
                           History of Advertising
1. Introduction
      Marketing is more than just distributing goods from  the  manufacturer
to the final customer. It comprises all the stages between creation  of  the
product and the after-market which follows the eventual sale. One  of  these
stages is advertising. The stages are like links in a chain, and  the  chain
will break if one  of  the  links  is  weak.  Advertising  is  therefore  as
important as every other stage or link, and each depends on  the  other  for
success.
The  product  or  service  itself,  its  naming,  packaging,   pricing   and
distribution, are all reflected in advertising, which has  been  called  the
lifeblood of an organization. Without advertising, the products or  services
cannot flow to the distributors or  sellers  and  on  to  the  consumers  or
users.
2. Early forms
      Advertising belongs to the  modern  industrial  world,  and  to  those
countries which are developing and  becoming  industrialised.  In  the  past
when a shopkeeper or stall-holder had only to show and shout  his  goods  to
passers-by, advertising as we know it today hardly existed. Early  forms  of
advertising were signs such as  the  inn  sign,  the  red-and-white  striped
barber's  pole,  the  apothecary's  jar   of   coloured   liquid   and   the
wheelwright's wheel, some of which have survived until today.
      3. Effect of urban growth
      The need for advertising developed with the  expansion  of  population
and the growth of towns with their shops and large stores;  mass  production
in factories; roads and railways to convey goods; and popular newspapers  in
which to advertise. The large quantities of goods being produced  were  made
known by means of advertising to unknown customers who lived  far  from  the
place of manufacture.
      Advertising grew with the development of media, such  as  the  coffee-
house newspapers of the seventeenth century, and the arrival of  advertising
agencies nearly 200 years ago, mainly to handle government advertising.
      4. Advertising and the modem world
      If one looks at old pictures of horse buses in, say, late  nineteenth-
century London one will see that  they  carry  advertisements  for  products
famous today, a proof of the effectiveness of advertising. Thus  the  modern
world depends on advertising. Without it, producers and  distributors  would
be unable to sell, buyers would not know  about  and  continue  to  remember
products or services, and the modern industrial  world  would  collapse.  If
factory output is to be maintained profitably, advertising must be  powerful
and continuous. Mass production requires  mass  consumption  which  in  turn
requires advertising to the mass market through the mass media.
      16. Advertising involvement
      Although advertising is listed as a single element  it  is  associated
with almost every other element, borrowing from them or interpreting them.
      (a) The volume, emphasis and timing of advertising will depend on  the
product  life  cycle  situation.  For  instance,  at  the  introductory   or
recycling stages, the weight of advertising will  be  heavier  than  at  the
maturity or decline stages.
      (b) Marketing research will provide evidence of  motives,  preferences
and  attitudes  which  will  influence  not  only  the  copy   platform   or
advertising theme but the choice of media through which to express it.
      (c) Naming and branding may be initiated by the advertising department
or agency, and clearly plays an important role in advertisement design.
      (d) The product image will be projected by advertising.
      (e) The market segment will decide the tone or style  of  advertising,
and the choice of media.
      (f) Pricing can play an important part in the appeal of the  copy.  Is
the product value for money, a bargain or a luxury? Pricing can  be  a  very
competitive sales argument. People are very price conscious.
      (g) The product mix has many applications. In advertising, one product
may be associated with  another,  or  each  brand  may  require  a  separate
campaign.
      (h) Packaging can be a vital  aspect  of  advertising,  as  when  pack
recognition is sought. It is itself a form  of  advertising,  especially  at
the point-of-sale, as in  a  supermarket  when  the  package  often  has  to
identify the product and literally sell it off the shelf.
      (i) Distribution involves trade advertising such as by direct mail, in
the trade press and at exhibitions.
      (j) The sales force has to be familiarised with advertising  campaigns
which will support their efforts in the field.
      (k) Market education is a public relations activity aimed at  creating
a favourable market situation in which advertising will work.
      (1) Corporate and financial public relations often uses  institutional
advertising in the business press.
      (m)  Test  marketing  requires  a   miniature   advertising   campaign
simulating the future national campaign.
      (n)  Advertising  research  includes  copy-testing,  circulation   and
readership surveys and statistics, recall tests, tracking studies and  cost-
per-reply and cost-per-conversion-to-sales figures.
      (o)  Sales  promotion  can  augment  or   even   replace   traditional
advertising.
      (p) The after-market calls for advertising to make customers aware  of
post-sales services.
      (q) The maintenance of customer interest and loyalty may  be  achieved
by advertising which promotes additional uses  and  accessories,  or  simply
reminds.
                                 ADVERTISING
  Advertising is used to create consumer interest in a product and also to
     increase the sales of that product. It may be described under three
                                  headings:
                         1 descriptive advertising;
                          2 persuasive advertising;
           3 both descriptive and persuasive advertising together.
                           Descriptive advertising
 This type of advertising gives the most: important facts about the product.
    It is the cheapest form of advertising and is used a lot by the small
        trader selling through the local paper. It will usually say:
                           1 what the product is;
                          2 how much it will cost;
                         3 where it may be obtained.
           Example: 1972 Ford Escort Ј500. Telephone London 1234.
                           Persuasive advertising
 This type of advertising tries to persuade people that the product which is
  being advertised has a special quality or usefulness which makes it much
     better than other similar products. It is used a lot in television
  advertising where consumers arc persuaded to think that if they buy that
       product they will become very popular or very happy. This is a
 psychological approach, and it is hoped by the advertiser that people will
  be persuaded to buy the product. The method uses 'association of ideas'.
  Brand names such as Guinness and Oxo are used in persuasive advertising.
  Example: 1983 Ford Capri Ј2000 — good condition — low mileage, a bargain,
                 first to see will buy this attractive car.
                              Advertising media
                                 Newspapers
 There are both national newspapers and local newspapers. Advertising in the
 national press is usually much more expensive than advertising in the local
   press. Both types of advertising are sold by the column centimetre, the
    half page and the page. A page in a national newspaper may cost many
  thousands of pounds for one day. This is because national newspapers have
         very large circulations (they are read by a lot of people).
                                 Television
 Television advertising in Great Britain is controlled by the Television Act
 1954. It is the most expensive kind of advertising and costs many thousands
   of pounds (on a national network) for just a few seconds of television
  time. Charges are made by the second. If the advertisement is shown at a
  time when relatively few people are watching, then it will be cheaper. If
  it is shown — at a time when many people are watching (peak viewing time)
 then the charges are much higher. Television advertising is mostly used by
            large organizations and the nationalized industries.
                                    Radio
 This kind of advertising is much cheaper than television advertising. It is
 very popular in the United States. The most popular radio station in Europe
   is Radio Luxembourg, which carries a lot of commercial advertising. In
   Great Britain radio advertising is usually carried by local independent
                               radio stations.
                                  Hoardings
 Hoarding advertisements are usually put up in eye-catching positions at the
  side of the road. The cost of the advertisement will depend on where the
 hoarding is and how large it is. If it is in a very good position and near
  the centre of the city where it will be seen by many potential customers,
 then it will probably be quite expensive. The sites are usually rented out
           to clients on a monthly basis by an advertising agency.
                                  Handbills
  These are quite often used by local traders to advertise their goods and
  services. They are expensive in labour costs and are not very effective.
                                  Transport
   The inside and outside of buses, trains, vans and other kinds of public
 transport are used in transport advertising. The most expensive position is
 where the advertisement is most likely to be seen by the public such as the
   back of a bus or the inside of a bus, especially at the front where the
    potential customer will be seated looking at it. The most inexpensive
    position is upstairs on the bus or at the back inside the bus. It is
        difficult to tell whether transport advertising is effective.
                                   Cinemas
  The cinema screen is used for advertising by local and national traders.
  Like transport advertising, it is difficult to judge how effective cinema
                               advertising is.
                                Neon displays
  These are mostly used by large firms. The signs are usually displayed in
                                city centres.
                             Technical journals
  These are mostly used as an advertising medium by large manufacturing and
   distributing companies. They are read by persons and companies who are
  interested in this particular kind of product, and the journals will also
 contain other information that is useful to the readers. Technical journals
  are usually printed once a month. Examples are The Hairdresser, The Radio
 and Television Magazine and the Farmers Live Stock Journal. Advertising in
          technical journals is a very good method of advertising.
                            Trade fairs and shows
      The Motor Show, the Boat Show, the Radio Show and the Ideal Homes
 Exhibition are a few examples of trade fairs and shows. Dairy products may
     be advertised at agricultural shows. Aircraft may be advertised and
  displayed at the Farnborough Air Show. The disadvantage is that the shows
                 and exhibitions are expensive to organize.
      It is very difficult for advertisers to tell whether a particular
 advertisement or method of advertising has been effective, but there is no
    doubt that without advertising the customer would never hear of some
       products. Perhaps the most effective advertising of all is the
    recommendation of the product by a satisfied customer to a potential
                  customer – advertising by word of mouth.
                         The language of advertising
      Here are some  methods  used  in  persuasive  advertising.  Read  them
quickly. Decide which appeal to  you  and  which  don’t.  Now  think  of  an
example for each type from your country.
                           persuasive advertising
               1. Repetition The simplest kind of advertising. A slogan  is
                  repeated so often that we begin to associate a brand name
                  with a particular product or service.
               2.  Endorsement  A  popular  personality  is  used  in   the
                  advertisement.
               3. Emotional appeal Advertising often appeals to basics such
                  as mother-love, sex, manliness, feminity.
               4. Scientific authority Sometimes the advert shows a  person
                  in a white coat (i.e. a scientist) telling us  about  the
                  product. More often it mentions “miracle ingredients”  or
                  “scientific testing” to persuade us.
               5. “Keeping up with the jones’s”  An  appeal  to  pure  snob
                  value. You want to appeal to be richer or more successful
                  than your neighbours.
               6. Comparison The advert lists the qualities of a product in
                  direct comparison with rival products.
               7. An appeal to fear or anxiety This type is similar  to  3,
                  but works on our fears.
               8. Association of ideas This is  usually  visual.  Until  it
                  became illegal in Britain, cigarette  advertising  showed
                  attractive, healthy people  smoking  in  beautiful  rural
                  situations.
               9. Information If a product is new, it may be enough to show
                  it and explain what it does.
              10. Special offers/free gifts  This  is  a  very  simple  and
                  direct appeal – it’s half a price!
              11. Anti-advertising This is a modern version  which  appeals
                  to the British sense of  humour.  It  makes  fun  of  the
                  techniques of advertising.
Do you agree that the only background for  the  problems  with  brand  names
would be:
            — wrong pronunciation;
            — wrong association;
            — wrong translation.
Types of advertising
Introduction
1. Scope of advertising
Advertising serves many purposes and many advertisers, from the individual
who places a small classified advertisement in his local newspaper to the
big spender who uses networked TV to sell popular brands to the nation's
millions.
2. Types
It is possible to identify seven main categories of advertising, namely
consumer, industrial, trade, retail, financial, direct response and
recruitment.
Consumer advertising
3. Different kinds
There are two kinds of goods bought by the general public, consumer goods
and consumer durables, which together with consumer services are advertised
through media addressed to the appropriate social grades.
4. Consumer goods
These are the numerous goods to be found in the shops, those which enjoy
repeat sales like foods, drinks, confectionery and toiletries being called
Fast Moving Consumer Goods, (FMCGs).
5. Consumer durables
Usually more expensive and less frequently bought, consumer durables are of
a more permanent nature than consumer goods and include clothes, furniture,
domestic appliances, entertainment goods like radio, television and video,
and mechanical equipment from lawn-mowers to motor-cars.
6. Consumer services
They include services for security and well-being like banking, insurance,
investment, repairs and maintenance, and those more to do with pleasure
such as hotels, restaurants, travel and holidays.
7. Social grades
The social grades system makes it possible to identify certain groups of
people—prospective buyers—and then to pinpoint the media which will reach
them most effectively.
8. Media of consumer advertising
The media of consumer advertising will tend to be those with wide appeal,
and even when more specialist journals such as women's magazines are used
they will still have large circulations. In fact, the term 'consumer press'
is applied to the publications which are displayed for sale in newsagents
shops, on news-stands and on newspaper vendors' pitches'
Most of the trade, technical and professional journals have other forms of
distribution such as special orders placed with newsagents, postal
subscription or free postal controlled circulation. Controlled circulation
are not to be confused with membership or subscription magazines. They are
mailed (free of charge) to selected readers plus those who have requested
copies.
In Britain there are also hundreds of 'free' local newspapers which are
delivered door-to-door every week. With saturation coverage of urban areas
they provide good advertising media for many local businesses.
The primary media of consumer advertising are the press, radio, television,
outdoor and to a limited extent cinema, supported by sales literature,
exhibitions and sales promotion. We should not forget sponsorship,
especially the sponsorship of many popular sports which in turn can be
supported by arena advertising at the sports venue.
Industrial advertising
9. Purpose
The purpose of industrial advertising is twofold:
(a) to promote sales of equipment and services used by industry—machinery,
tools, vehicles, specialist consultancy, finance and insurance come within
this category;
(b) to promote sales of raw materials, components and other items used in
industrial production—under this heading come metals, timber, plastics,
food ingredients, chemicals and parts for assembly into finished equipment
from watches to aircraft.
Hardly any of these products and services will be bought by consumers,
except as replacements as when a motor-car needs a new battery or tyres.
Unless the formula or specification is stated, consumers will be unaware of
most industrial products.
10. Media of industrial advertising
The suppliers of services, equipment, raw materials and components will
usually advertise in media seldom seen by the general or consumer public.
The media used will consist of trade and technical journals, technical
literature and catalogues, trade exhibitions, direct mail, and technical
demonstrations and seminars. Technical journals will have smaller
circulations than the consumer press, and exhibitions will tend to have
fewer exhibitors and smaller attendances than public exhibitions open to
the general public; in fact, admission is usually by ticket or business
card. The amount of money spent on advertising will be far less, and there
may be more reliance on market education using public relations techniques
such as video documentaries, external house journals and technical feature
articles.
11. Special characteristics
Industrial advertising differs in yet another way. Whereas consumer
advertising may be emotive, industrial advertising has to be more detailed
and informative, although not unimaginative. Trade journals provide
valuable international market-places for thousands of products and
services, maintaining sales of long-established ones and introducing new
ones.
Public relations activities, while not to be regarded as free advertising,
may be more effective and economical, especially when the need is to
educate the market and create knowledge and understanding.
Trade advertising
12. Definitions
Trade advertising is addressed to distributors, chiefly wholesalers,
agents, importers/exporters, and numerous kinds of retailers, large and
small. Goods are advertised for resale.
13. Purpose
The purpose of trade press advertising is to inform merchants and traders
about goods available for resale, whether it reminds them about well-
established brands, introduces new lines or, as is often the case,
announces special efforts to help retailers sell goods, e.g. price
reductions, better trade terms, new packages, consumer advertising
campaigns or sales promotion schemes. Such advertising invites enquiries
and orders and also supports the advertiser's field salesmen when they call
on stockists.
14. Media of trade advertising
The trade press may or may not be used for this kind of advertising. There
could be a mix of two or three media addressed to the trade. Direct mail is
often used, especially when it is necessary to provide a lot of information
such as consumer advertising campaign schedules giving dates and times when
and where advertising will be taking place in the press or on radio and/or
television.
Another useful medium is the trade exhibition, sponsored by a trade
magazine or trade association, which will be attended by distributors. Some
of the larger exhibitions may also be open, or open on certain days, to the
general public as well, e.g. motor-car and furniture exhibitions.
Occasionally, commercial television time may be bought to tell retailers
about new lines, or retailers may be mailed to tell them that consumer
advertising campaigns are about to appear on TV.
15. Special characteristics
Since the object of trade advertising is to encourage shopkeepers (whether
large chains or one-man businesses) to stock up the product (especially to
achieve adequate distribution in advance of a consumer advertising
campaign), emphasis will be placed on the advantages of so doing. The
advantages will be higher sales and more profits, and the appeal will be to
the retailer's desire to make money. In so doing, trade advertising will
also have to compete with the 'selling-in' activities of rival
manufacturers.
Trade advertising will be seen as part of the total advertising campaign
for the product and so will be produced by the same advertising agency that
handles the consumer advertising. However, whereas consumer advertising
aims to persuade the consumer about the benefits to be gained from buying
the product, trade advertising aims to persuade the retailer about the
benefits which will result from selling the product. Trade advertising
supports distribution. It prepares the way. There is no point in
advertising products and encouraging consumers to buy them if the goods are
not in the shops. The demand created by consumer advertising must be
satisfied by the availability of the goods in the shops. That is what is
meant by 'adequate distribution'. If the advertised goods cannot be bought,
customers will buy either nothing or, worse still, a rival product!
Retail advertising
16. Introduction
Here we have a form of advertising which lies between trade and consumer
advertising. The most obvious examples are those for department stores and
supermarkets, but it can include the advertising conducted by any supplier
including a petrol station, restaurant or insurance broker.
A major form of retailing nowadays is direct response marketing or
retailing without shops. This is the modern form of mail-order trading
which has moved from the traditional club catalogues to sophisticated off-
the-page and direct mail campaigns for products and services, of which
financial houses and department stores have become leading participants.
17.  Purpose
The purpose of retail advertising is threefold, as outlined below.
(a) To sell the establishment, attract customers to the premises and, in
the case of a shop, increase what is known as 'store traffic', that is the
number of people passing through the shop. If they can be encouraged to
step inside they may possibly buy something which they would not otherwise
be tempted to buy.
(b) To sell goods which are exclusive to the shop. Some distributors are
appointed dealers for certain makes, e.g. the Ford dealer. Others, such as
supermarkets, sell 'own label' goods, having goods packed by the
manufacturer in the name of the retailer. All the goods in the shop may
bear the same brand, or certain lines such as tea, coffee, biscuits or
baked beans may bear the retailer's own label.
(c) To sell the stock of the shop, perhaps promoting items which are
seasonal, or presenting a representative selection, or making special
offers. The latter could be regular policy, or could be organised as
shopping events such as winter or summer sales.
18.  Media of retail advertising
The principal of media for retail advertising are:
(a) local weekly newspapers, including numerous free newspapers which gain
saturation coverage of residential areas by being delivered from door to
door;
(b) regional daily newspapers, of which most are 'evenings';
(c) public transport external posters and internal cards, and arena
advertising at sports grounds;
(d) direct mail to regular or account customers, and door-to-door leaflet
distribution;
(e) regional commercial television;
(f) independent local radio;
(g) window bills and point-of-sale displays within the shop;
(h) window and in-store displays;
(i) catalogues.
The shop itself is a considerable advertising medium, and it may well be a
familiar landmark. Marks &: Spencer rarely advertise, but their shops are
so big they advertise themselves. With retail chains, the corporate
identity scheme will quickly identify the location of a branch.
19. Special characteristics
Retail advertising is characterised by four main aspects: creating an image
of the shop, establishing its location, variety of goods offered, and
competitive price offers. Nearly always, the object of the advertising is
to persuade people to visit the shop, although telephone ordering and the
use of credit accounts and credit cards is a growing feature.
Financial advertising
20.  Introduction
It is probably difficult to put a limit on what can be contained under this
heading, but broadly speaking financial advertising includes that for
banks, savings, insurance and investments. In addition to advertising
addressed to customers or clients it can also include company reports,
prospectuses for new share issues, records of investments in securities and
other financial announcements.
Some, like building society and National Savings advertisements, may be
addressed to the general public while others will appear in the financial
and business press only.
21.  Purpose
The object of financial advertising may be to borrow or lend money, conduct
all kinds of insurance, sell shares, unit trusts, bonds and pension funds
or report financial results.
22.  Classes of financial advertising
The main categories in this field are as follows.
(a) Banks advertise their services which today are not confined to
traditional bank accounts but include deposits, loans, insurance, house
purchase, wills and executorship and advice on investment portfolios. Some
banks specialise in certain areas of banking, and others concentrate on
certain kinds of business.
(b) Friendly societies and private medical care organisations like BUPA
offer schemes to provide insurance in time of illness.
(c) Building societies both borrow money from savers and lend money to
house-buyers. Most of their advertising is directed at not only raising
funds but keeping funds so that they have sufficient money to meet loan
applications. Competitive interest rates are important sales points, and
today in Britain there is rivalry between building societies, banks and
insurance companies for the same kind of business.
(d) Insurance companies exist to insure against almost any risk from big
commitments like ships and aircraft worth millions to covering [he risk
that rain may stop play. Some insurance not only covers risks but provides
benefits to savers or pensions in old age. In the cases of fire and theft,
insurance companies are also selling peace of mind should damage or loss be
suffered.
(e) Investments are offered, not only in share issues but in unit trusts
and other investments in which smaller investors can share in the proceeds
of a managed portfolio of shares.
(f) Savings and banking facilities are offered through post offices which
sell National Savings certificates and various bonds and operate the Giro
and Post Office banks.
(g) Brokers offer insurance, pension and investment schemes and advise
their clients on how to manage such financial commitments. The Automobile
Association acts as a broker for motor insurance.
(h) Credit and charge card companies, such as Access, and Barclaycard,
American Express and Diners' Club, promote plastic money facilities, often
on an international scale.
(i) Local authorities borrow money from the public, usually on short-term
loans which are advertised.
(j) Companies announce their intentions and final dividends, giving
summaries of annual reports, and often offering copies of annual reports
and accounts.
23.  Media of financial advertising
Choice of media will depend on the target audience. Building societies
appeal to small savers and therefore use the mass media of the popular
press and television. The big national banks with branches everywhere also
use the national press and television. Investment advertising will appear
in the middle-class and business press. Prospectuses for share issues,
which usually occupy two or more pages, appear in newspapers like The Times
and Financial Times. Banks may take stands at exhibitions. They also
produce sales literature about their services, as do insurance companies
especially in the way of proposal forms.
24.  Special characteristics
Financial advertising in the press, and especially the business press,
tends to occupy large spaces and contain detailed information necessary to
explain schemes and achieve confidence. The emphasis is generally on
benefits which are usually represented by figures such as interest rates
and returns on investments. Profit, benefits, security, confidence,
credibility and reputation are the keynotes of the copy appeals.
Recruitment advertising
25. Introduction
This form of advertising aims to recruit staff (including personnel for the
police, armed forces and other services) and may consist of run-on
classified advertisements or displayed classified, although other media
such as radio and television are sometimes used.
26.  Different kinds
Recruitment advertising is mainly of two kinds, that inserted by employers
whether identified or using box numbers, and that placed by employment or
recruitment agencies which have been commissioned to fill vacancies.
27.  Media of recruitment advertising
Except for the occasional recruitment advertisement on radio and
television, the media are mainly made up of the following categories of
press.
(a) National newspapers. Different newspapers appeal to different target
groups, e.g. the managerial advertisements in the Daily Telegraph and
Sunday Times and the teacher advertisements in the weekly education feature
in the Guardian and the Independent.
(b) Trade, technical and professional journals. These are the more obvious
market-places for recruitment advertising addressed to those with special
skills, qualifications and experience.
(c) Regional press. Local dailies and weeklies are used to advertise jobs
offered by local employers.
(d) Free publications. A number of freely distributed publications gain
their revenue chiefly from recruitment advertising, e.g. those which are
distributed in the street to office workers such as secretaries.
Recruitment advertising is also featured in the free newspapers delivered
weekly to homes.
28.  Special characteristics
The art of recruitment advertising is to attract the largest number of
worthwhile applications at the lowest possible cost. The advantage of using
a recruitment or selection agency is that applications can be obtained
discreetly and they can be screened to provide employers with a short list
of the best candidates. Two skills have to be applied. The advertisements
must be so worded that they both sell the job and attract the best
applicants, while correct choice of media will bring the vacancy to the
notice of the largest number of good applicants as economically as
possible.
The Higher Purpose of Marketing
What is the higher purpose of marketing? What should an enlightened
marketer try to accomplish?
This question is raised because managers sometimes lose sight of their
ultimate goals and settle for short-term gains of dubious benefit to
themselves and others. When they lose a sense of higher purpose, their work
becomes unsatisfying and their attitude cynical.
The most common view is that the marketer's goal is to maximize the
market's consumption of whatever the company is producing. In this view,
the marketer is a technician who engineers sales gains. Marketing success
means selling more and more gum, cars, and ice cream bars as if the
consumer were a huge consumption machine that must constantly be stuffed
with goods and services. Even if consumers don't want this much
consumption, it is good for the economy and creates jobs. Yet Adam Smith
observed that hunger is limited by the size of the human stomach. More
generally, people will eventually run out of time to consume all that they
could buy. They may rebel against overeating and overdressing, and start
thinking «enough is enough» or even «less is more.» Frederick Pohl wrote a
science-fiction short story, «The Midas Touch,» in which factories are
completely automated and the goods roll out continuously and people consume
as much as they can in order not to be buried under the goods. In the
story, ordinary people are given high consumption quotas, while the elite
are excused from having to consume so much. Furthermore, the elite are
given the few jobs that are still left to do, so that they don't have to
face the bleakness of no work.
A sounder goal for the marketer is to aim to maximize consumer
satisfaction. The marketer's task is to track changing consumer wants and
influence the company to adjust its mix of goods and services to those that
are needed. The marketer makes sure that the company continues to produce
value for the target customer markets.
Even consumer satisfaction, however, is not a complete goal for the
marketer. The act of creating «goods» to satisfy human desires also creates
some «bads» in the process. Every car that is produced satisfies a
transportation need and at the same time contributes to the level of
pollution in society. The economist Kenneth Arrow noted that high gross
national product also means high gross national pollution. The sensitive
marketer has to take responsibility for the totality of outputs created by
the business. First, the marketer is a member of the public and therefore
victimizing himself to some extent. Second, the society has spawned
consumerists, environmentalists, and other public-action groups, who make
life difficult for those firms that are indifferent to the «bads» they
create in the process of pursuing profits.
Ultimately, the enlightened marketer is really trying to contribute to the
quality of life. The quality of life is a function of the quantity and need-
satisfying quality of goods and services, the quality of the physical
environment, and the quality of the cultural environment. Too often the
firm rests its case on its ability to produce great quantities of goods and
services and does not pay enough attention to its impact on the other
components of life quality.
Marketing
Marketing is the cornerstone discipline of some of the most successful
companies in America and a discipline of growing interest to companies and
nonprofit organizations throughout the world. All organizations face the
problem of how to increase value for target markets that are undergoing
continuously changing needs and wants. Organizations must thoughtfully
define their products, services, prices, communications, and distribution
in a way that meets real buyer needs in a competitively viable way. That is
the task of marketing.
Although selling is a very old subject, marketing is a relatively new
subject. It represents a higher-order integration of many separate
functions — selling, advertising, marketing research, new-product
development, customer service, physical distribution — that impinge on
customer needs and satisfaction. Many organizations at first resist
marketing because it threatens vested interests within the organization and
their own concepts of how to manage the organization effectively. Marketing
gradually gets established, however, first as a promotion function, later
as a customer service function, still later as an innovation function, then
as a market positioning function, and ultimately as an analysis, planning,
and control function. Few companies understand and install marketing in its
full form when first considering it. Even after marketing is effectively
implemented in an organization, there is a tendency for many managers to
forget its main principles in the wake of success.
Marketing's task in the organization is not only to help it recognize
business opportunities and serve the various publics but also to harness
the organization's energy to enhance the quality of life in society.
Marketing is human activity directed at satisfying needs and wants through
exchange processes.
Human Needs and Wants
The starting point for the discipline of marketing lies in human needs and
wants. Mankind needs food, air, water, clothing, and shelter to survive.
Beyond this, people have a strong desire for recreation, education, and
other services. They have strong preferences for particular versions of
basic goods and services.
There is no doubt that people's needs and wants today are staggering. In
one year, in the United States alone, Americans purchased 67 billion eggs,
250 million chickens, 5.5 million hair dryers, 133 billion domestic air
travel passenger miles, and over 20 million, lectures by college English
professors. These consumer goods and services led to a derived demand for
more fundamental products, such as 150 million tons of steel and 3.7
billion pounds of cotton. These are a few of the wants and needs that get
expressed in a $1.3 trillion economy.
A useful distinction can be drawn between needs, wants, and intentions,
although these words are used interchangeably in common speech. A need is a
state of felt deprivation of some generic satisfaction arising out of the
human condition. People require food, clothing, shelter, safety, belonging,
esteem, and a few other things for survival. People actually need very
little. These needs are not created by their society or by marketers; they
exist in the very texture of human biology and the human condition.
Wants are desires for specific satisfiers of these ultimate needs. A person
needs food and wants a steak, needs clothing and wants a Pierre Cardin
suit, needs esteem and buys a Cadillac. While people's needs are few, their
wants are many. Human wants are continually shaped and reshaped by social
forces and institutions such as churches, schools, corporations, and
families.
Intentions are decisions to acquire specific satisfiers under the given
terms and conditions. Many persons want a Cadillac; only a few intend to
buy one at today's prices.
These distinctions shed light on the frequent charge by marketing critics
that «marketers create needs» or «marketers get people to buy things they
don't need.» Marketers do not create needs; needs preexist marketers.
Marketers, along with other influentials in the society, influence wants.
They suggest to consumers that a particular car would efficiently satisfy
the person's need for esteem. Marketers do not create the need for esteem
but try to point out how a particular good would satisfy that need.
Marketers also try to influence persons' intentions to buy by making the
product attractive, affordable, and easily available.
Products
The existence of human needs and wants gives rise to the concept of
products. Our definition of product is very broad:
A product is something that is viewed as capable of satisfying a need or
want.
A product can be an object, service, activity, person, place, organization,
or idea. Suppose a person feels depressed. What might the person do to get
out of his or her depression? What products might meet the need to feel
better? The person can turn on a television set (object); go to a movie
(service); take up jogging (activity); see a therapist (person); travel to
Hawaii (place); join a Lonely Hearts Club (organization); or adopt a
different philosophy about life (idea). All of these things can be viewed
as products available to the «feeling depressed.» If the term product seems
unnatural at times, we may substitute the term resource or offer or
satisfier to describe that which may satisfy a need.
In the case of physical objects, it is important to distinguish between
them and the services they represent. People do not buy physical objects
for their own sake. A tube of lipstick is bought to supply a service:
helping the person look better. A drill bit is bought to supply a service:
making a needed hole. Every physical object is a means of packaging a
service. The marketer's job is to sell the service packages built into
physical products.
Exchange
Marketing exists when people decide to satisfy needs and wants in a certain
way that we shall call exchange. Exchange is one of four ways in which a
person can obtain a product capable of satisfying a particular need.
The first option is self-production. A hungry person can relieve hunger
through personal efforts at hunting, fishing, or fruit gathering. The
person does not have to interact with anyone else. In this case there is no
market and no marketing.
The second option is coercion. The hungry person can forcibly wrest food
from another. No benefit is offered to the other party except the chance
not to be harmed.
The third option is supplication. The hungry person can approach someone
and beg for food. The supplicant has nothing tangible to offer except
gratitude.
The fourth option is exchange. The hungry person can approach someone who
has food and offer some resource in exchange, such as money, another good,
or some service.
Marketing centers on that last approach to the acquisition of products to
satisfy human needs and wants. Exchange assumes four conditions:
There are two parties.
Each party has something that could be of value to the other.
Each party is capable of communication and delivery.
Each party is free to accept or reject the offer.
If these conditions exist, there is a potential for exchange. Whether
exchange actually takes place depends upon whether the two parties can find
terms of exchange that will leave them both better off (or at least not
worse off) than before the exchange. This is the sense in which exchange is
described as a value-creating process; that is, exchange normally leaves
both parties with a sense of having gained something of value.
Market
The concept of exchange leads naturally into the concept of a market:
A market is the set of all actual and potential buyers of a product.
An example will illustrate this concept. Suppose an artist spends three
weeks creating a beautiful sculpture. He has in mind a particular price.
The question he faces is whether there is anyone who will exchange this
amount of money for the sculpture. If there is at least one such person, we
can say there is a market. The size of the market will vary with the price.
The artist may ask for so high a price that there is no market for his
sculpture. As he brings the price down, normally the market size increases
because more people can afford the sculpture. The size of the market
depends upon the number of persons who have (1) an interest in the object,
(2) the necessary resources, and (3) a willingness to offer the resources
to obtain it. These three things make up the level of demand.
Wherever there is a potential for trade, there is a market. The term
«market» is often used in conjunction with some qualifying term that
describes a human need or product type or demographic group or geographical
location. An example of a need market is the relaxation market, which
exists because people are willing to exchange money for lessons on yoga,
transcendental meditation, and disco dancing. An example of a product
market is the shoe market, so defined because people are willing to
exchange money for objects called shoes. An example of a demographic market
is the youth market, so defined because young people possess purchasing
power that they are willing to use for such products as education, bikinis,
motorcycles, and stereophonic equipment. An example of a geographic market
is the French market, so defined because French citizens are a locus of
potential transactions for a wide variety of goods and services.
The concept of a market also covers exchanges of resources not necessarily
involving money. The political candidate offers promises of good government
to a voter market in exchange for their votes. The lobbyist offers services
to a legislative market in exchange for votes for the lobbyist's cause. A
university cultivates the mass-media market when it wines and dines editors
in exchange for more publicity. A museum cultivates the donor market when
it offers special privileges to contributors in exchange for their
financial support.
The Marketing Concept
The marketing concept is a management orientation that holds that the key
task of the organization is to determine the needs and wants of target
markets and to adapt the organization to delivering the desired
satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than its competitors.
In short, the marketing concept says «find wants and fill them» rather than
«create products and sell them.» This orientation is reflected in various
contemporary ads: «Have it your way» (Burger King); «You're the boss»
(United Airlines); and «No dissatisfied customers» (Ford).
The underlying premises of the marketing concept are:
Consumers can be grouped into different market segments depending on their
needs and wants.
The consumers in any market segment will favor the offer of that
organization which comes closest to satisfying their particular needs and
wants.
The organization's task is to research and choose target markets and
develop effective offers and marketing programs as the key to attracting
and holding customers.
The selling concept and the marketing concept are frequently confused by
the public and many business people. Levitt draws the following contrast
between these two orientations:
Selling focuses on the needs of the seller; marketing on the needs of the
buyer. Selling is preoccupied with the seller's need to convert his product
into cash; marketing with the idea of satisfying the needs of the customer
by means of the product and the whole cluster of things associated with
creating, delivering and finally consuming it.
The marketing concept replaces and reverses the logic of the selling
concept. The selling concept starts with the firm's existing products and
considers the task as one of using selling and promotion to stimulate a
profitable volume of sales. The marketing concept starts with the firm's
target customers and their needs and wants; it plans a coordinated set of
products and programs to serve their needs and wants; and it derives
profits through creating customer satisfaction
Among the prime practitioners of the marketing concept is McDonald's
Corporation, the fast-food hamburger retailer.
In its short, twenty-year existence, McDonald's has served Americans and
citizens of several other countries over 27 billion hamburgers! Today it
commands a 20 percent share of the fast-food market, far ahead of its
closest rivals, Kentucky Fried Chicken (8.4 percent) and Burger King (5.3
percent). Credit for this leading position belongs to a thoroughgoing
marketing orientation. McDonald's knows how to serve people well and adapt
to changing needs and wants.
Before McDonald's, Americans could get hamburgers in restaurants or diners,
but not without problems. In many places, the hamburgers were poor in
quality, service was slow, decor was poor, help was uneven, conditions were
unclean, and the atmosphere noisy. McDonald's was formulated as an
alternative, where the customer could walk into a spotlessly clean outlet,
be greeted by a friendly and efficient order-taker, receive a good-tasting
hamburger less than a minute after placing the order, with the chance to
eat it there or take it out. There were no jukeboxes or telephones to
create a teenage hangout, and in fact, McDonald's became a family affair,
particularly appealing to the children.
As times changed, so did McDonald's. The sit-down sections were expanded in
size, the decor improved, a very successful breakfast menu featuring Egg
McMuffin was added, and new outlets were opened in high-traffic parts of
the city. McDonald's was clearly being managed to evolve with changing
customer needs and profitable opportunities.
In addition, McDonald's management knows how to efficiently design and
operate a complex service operation. It chooses its locations carefully,
selects highly qualified franchise operators, gives them complete
management training and assistance, supports them with a high-quality
national advertising and sales promotion program, monitors product and
service quality through continuous customer surveys, and puts great energy
into improving the technology of hamburger production to simplify
operations, bring down costs, and speed up service.
A marketing orientation is also relevant to nonprofit organizations. Most
nonprofit organizations start out as product oriented. Thus many colleges
facing declining enrollments are now investing heavily in advertising and
recruitment activities. These organizations begin to realize the need to
define their target markets more carefully; research their needs, wants,
and values; modernize their products and programs; and communicate more
effectively. Such organizations turn from selling to marketing.
Marketing
In recent years marketing has become a driving force in most companies.
Underlying all marketing strategy is «The Marketing Concept», explained in
this diagram:
THE MARKETING CONCEPT (We must produce what people want, not what we want
to produce) — This means that we PUT THE CUSTOMER FIRST (We organize the
company so that this happens) — We must FIND OUT WHAT THE CUSTOMER WANTS
(We carry out market research) — We must SUPPLY exactly what the customer
wants.
We can do this offering the right MARKETING MIX «The Four P's». The right
PRODUCT at the right PRICES available through the right channels of
distribution: PLACE, presented in the right way: PROMOTION.
Nowadays, all divisions of a company are used to «Think Marketing». To
think marketing we must have a clear idea of:
what the customer needs,
what the customer wants;
what cruses them to buy.
What the product is to the customer: functional, technological, economical,
aesthetic, emotional, psychological aspects.
«FEATURES» (what the product is) + «BENEFITS» (which means that a company
that believes in marketing is forward thinking and doesn't rest its past
achievements: it must be aware of its strengths and weaknesses as well as
the opportunities and threats it faces in market (remember the letters
«SWOT»)).
More about «The marketing Mix» and the «Four P's»
PRODUCT: the goods or service that you are marketing. The product is not
just a collection of components, but includes its design, quality and
reliability.
Products have a life cycle, and forward-thinking companies are continually
developing new products to replace products whose sales are declining and
coming to the end of their lives. A «total product» includes the image of
the product as well as its features and benefits (see below). In marketing
terms, political candidates and non-profit-making public services are also
«products» that people must be persuaded to «buy» and packaged attractively
(see Promotion below).
PRICE: making it easy for the customer to buy. The marketing view of
pricing takes account of the value of a product, its quality, the ability
of the customer to pay, the volume of sales required, the level of market
saturation and the prices charged by the competition. Too low a price can
reduce the number of sales just as significantly as too high a price. A low
price may increase sales but not as profitably as fixing a high, yet still
popular, price. As fixed costs stay fixed whatever the volume of sales,
there is usually no such thing as a «profit margin» on any single product.
PLACE: getting the product to the customer. Decisions have to be made about
the channels of distribution and delivery arrangements. Retail products may
go through various channels of distribution:
1. Producer — sells directly to end users via own sales force, direct
response advertising or direct mail (mail order).
2. Producer — retailers — end-users.
3. Producer — wholesalers/agents — retailers — end-users.
4. Producer — wholesalers — directly to end-users.
5. Producer — multiple store groups/department stores/mail order houses —
end-users.
6. Producer — market — wholesalers — retailers — end-users.
Each stage must add, «value» to the product to justify the costs: the
middleman is not normally someone who just takes his «cut» but someone
whose own sales force and delivery system can make the product more easily
and cost-effectively available to the largest number of customers. One
principle behind this is «breaking down the bulk» the producer may sell in
minimum quantities of, say, 10000 to the wholesaler, who sells in minimum
quantities of 100 to the retailer, who sells in minimum quantities of 1 to
the end-user. A confectionery manufacturer doesn't deliver individual bars
of chocolate to consumer: distribution is done through wholesalers and then
retailers who each «add value» to the product providing a good service to
their customers and stocking a wide range of similar products.
PROMOTION — presenting the product to the customer. Promotion involves
considering the packaging and presentation of the product, its image, the
product name, advertising and slogans, brochures, literature, price lists,
after-sales service and training, trade exhibitions of fairs, public
relations, publicity, and personal selling's, where the seller develops a
relationship with the customer.
Every product must process a «unique selling proposition» (USP) — features
and benefits that make it unlike any other product in its market.
In promoting a product, the attention of potential customers is attracted
and an interest in the product aroused, creating a desire for the product
and encouraging customers to take prompt action («AIDA»).
Direct Mail and Direct Response
Direct Mail
Shopping without shops or direct marketing has become very big business,
aided by direct mail, TV commercials and teletext, off-the-page selling,
the telephone, the computer, and the credit card. Mail order nowadays
better known as direct or direct response marketing. In Britain, direct
mail takes third place to press and television and takes up 10 per cent of
the total advertising expenditure. It is also an excellent medium for
international advertising when it is more economical to airmail selected
prospects than to advertise in the press which may be very limited anyway.
Confusion of terms can be avoided by remembering that direct mail is an
advertising medium but mail order (or direct response) is a form of
distribution, that is, trading by mail whatever medium is used for
advertising sales offers. Consequently, direct mail is not limited to
direct marketing: a retailer can use direct mail to attract shoppers to his
store.
Characteristics of direct mail
It is addressed to selected, named recipients or at least to chosen people
at selected addresses whether they be householders or managing directors.
The quantity can be controlled, the message can be varied to suit different
groups of people, and the timing can be controlled or at any rate estimated
within postal limits.
Because of the controls mentioned above, it is economical in the sense that
even the selected lists can be culled of unwanted addresses. De-duplication
can be applied when a number of lists are being used in which certain names
are repeated. It is also economical because in a mail shot more copy and
illustrations can be used than would fill a whole page broadsheet
newspaper, and at a fraction of the cost.
Unlike any other medium, except possibly the telephone, it is a one-to-one
personal medium, like a conversation on paper. Generally, people like
receiving mail, and if the recipient is well-chosen the mail shot will be
welcomed. This medium is also personal in the sense that sales letters and
envelopes can be addressed by name (personalised). Using special techniques
like laser printing, dramatic and colourful effects can be achieved with
the recipient's name inserted at various points in the body of the letter
itself.
A direct mail campaign can be mounted very quickly, in a few hours if
necessary given the facilities to write and reproduce a sales letter, and
pack and post it with or without an enclosure. It is therefore a very
flexible medium which can be used in an emergency.
For those advertisers who (a) have or can hire a reliable mailing list and
(b) need to supply considerable information, direct mail can be their first
line or primary advertising medium. In fact, they may use no other, except
perhaps sales literature as enclosures. Others may use press advertising to
produce enquiries or initial orders which provide a mailing list for future
use.
A direct mail shot is usually consists of sales letter and enclosures. A
sales letter is not just a business letter. It is a special form of
copywriting with its own techniques. The length of the letter will depend
on the extent to which the reader's interest can be sustained The letter
may present a complete selling proposition, or it can be a covering letter
referring the reader to an enclosure. The latter should not laboriously
repeat the contents of the enclosure but highlight special features of it.
Writing a sales letter we have a pattern to follow.
The main parts of a sales letter.
Introductory opening paragraph needs to capture reader’s attention.
The proposition is the heart of the letter.
Convincing the reader. There may be a price concession if the offer is
taken up quickly, or the offer may have a time limit.
Final paragraph consists of instructions on how to respond or order.
Adopting the above four-point formula, here is an example of how a sales
letter might be written.
Dear Mr. Brown
What do you do when your wife says the lawn needs cutting? Do you turn over
a new leaf in the book you are trying to read? Or maybe you take the dog
for a walk? If you haven't got a dog perhaps you pray that it will rain?
That's if you have an old back-breaker of a lawnmower that's agony to push
up and down the lawn on a hot day.
With the new Smith and Jones electric lawnmower you don't have to push. You
simply steer! The machine does all the work. It's a pleasure, really.
Your wife will be surprised how willingly you take your Smith and Jones out
of the garden shed. She'll probably have a drink waiting for you
afterwards, not that you'll be hot and weary. It will just be nice to sit
down with her in the deckchairs and admire that neat, trim lawn. Nice work,
Mr. Brown!
You can see the new Smith and Jones electric lawnmowers at the New Town
Garden Centre – open  all weekend sо you can call in when it suits you. It
comes in a box you can put in the boot, and it's very easy to assemble. Why
not bring the wife along?
Yours sincerely John Donaldson
Manager
When writing a sales letter it is necessary to use language which is
appropriate to the medium, the product and the reader. The contents of the
envelope should be kept to a minimum. Some mailings consist of so many
items of different shapes and sizes that the recipient is bewildered and
may well discard the whole lot! Good enclosures are those which supplement
the sales letter. Some of the best examples of well-planned shots are the
one-piece mailers which contain all the necessary information and the order
form, making an accompanying sales letter unnecessary.
A printed envelope can be an advertisement just like the packaging of a
retail product. It is the first thing people see. It can attract attention
and invite curiosity about the contents, and if sufficiently interesting to
the recipient the printed envelope could achieve priority over other
correspondence received at the same time.
The size of envelopes can be controlled by the format of printed
enclosures. Large leaflets in large envelopes can arrive in a very battered
state whereas smaller leaflets in smaller envelopes are more likely to
arrive in the same condition as when packed. So it’s better to use the
small ones.
In order to send direct mail shots the company should create mailing lists.
There are a lot of ways of creating or obtaining mailing lists. The
information may be took from sales bills bearing the names and addresses of
purchasers, from the response to advertisements, from yearbooks, annuals,
directories and membership lists. They may be created by using a direct
mail house or by hiring a list from list-brokers who specialize in this
service. There are also firms which specialize in client's lists on
computerized databases, adding and deleting names as requested, and so
managing and maintaining a client's own list.
It is important to have an up-to-date mailing list, and it is bad policy to
build a continuous mailing list which is never checked or revised. People
do move, change their names or die. A mailing list of customers can be out-
of-date after two years and in some cases in six months.
Not all direct advertising, or distribution of materials, is sent by post.
A large volume is delivered door-to-door to houses, shops or offices. There
are three types of mail-drop service:
by specialist door-to-door distributors;
by the Post Office;
in conjunction with the delivery of free newspapers.
Direct Response Marketing
Direct response is a form of distribution as I’ve mentioned above. The
reasons for  its growth and success are lack of personal services in self-
service stores and supermarkets, problems of car-parking and road
congestion near shopping centres, popularity of credit and charge cards.
Today the variety of means by which 'armchair' shopping can be conducted
are only limited by the ability of modern mail order traders to conceive
yet another technique of what is now called direct response marketing. We
have moved a long way from the mail-order bargains of the popular press or
the mail order club catalogues, although both still exist. It is now a
sophisticated business extending rapidly into the realms of alternative
television, micro-computers and videodisc catalogues. At the same time,
traditional media continue to be used, but this does now include commercial
television, as with recorded music producers. The largest single user of
direct response is insurance.
Direct response has become a very substantial area of agency business,
conducted either by specialist agencies, or by specialist subsidiaries of
well-known agencies. A major reason for the expansion of direct response
marketing has been the demand from clients for 'accountable advertising'
where they can measure the response in enquiries, sales leads or sales.
From small black and white ads in the popular press to full-colour, full-
page ads in the weekend colour supplements, a huge variety of goods and
services arc sold off-the-page. Most hobby and enthusiasts magazines carry
ads offering goods by post, from foreign stamps to computer software. The
business pages offer unit trusts, and even the popular papers offer life
insurance, motor-car and private hospital insurance. Correspondence courses
have long been sold this way. Even the sale of shares is conducted by
prospectuses published in The Times and Financial Times.
A number of commercial and non-commercial organisations sell from
catalogues which may be advertised in the press and on TV or sent to
regular customers, members or donors, or direct mailed against selected
mailing lists. Such catalogues are usually distributed annually or
seasonally, but some are issued more frequently. They may be for specific
products or services such as garden seeds, bulbs or roses; foreign stamps
or coins; fashion goods; wines; pipes; or perhaps tour holidays.
There are two kinds of clubs, those for club agents who enrol a circle of
members, with the agents earning commission on the sales; and clubs for
individual members who usually undertake to buy a minimum number of books,
records, cassettes or CDs a year. Some airlines operate mail order clubs
for passengers.
The first group enrol agents by means of ads in the women's press and in
family magazines like TV Times and Radio Times. The reader should note the
special wording of the application coupons in these ads. Particular
information is requested such as whether the applicant has a telephone, and
there is generally an age limit and perhaps geographical limits.
Also television, telephone and teletext may be used as the method of
distributing. Advertisers quote the Teledata (ВНР) number to make enquiries
or order goods. It is a 24-hour personalised telemarketing service, making
it unnecessary for customers to mail coupons and for advertisers to handle
them. All the sales information is held in a computer. For example, an
advertisement for the Hyundai Stella 1.6 motor car, concluded with: 'phone
Teledata 071-200-0200 for a brochure and the name and address of your
nearest dealer'. The teledata receptionist gives the addresses of the
nearest dealers, and note the caller's address in order to send the
brochure, and asks where the advertisement has been seen and the make and
year of the caller's present car.
Electronic mail is a system whereby mail is received on a Telex or non-
Telex computer terminal with a modem which permits a print-out on a
printer. This system is limited to recipients who have the necessary
receiving equipment. But the growth of such office facilities is making
electronic mail a viable direct response medium especially since there is
the interaction facility to respond directly and quickly.
Direct marketing relies on trust. Customers have to send money in advance
and do not see the goods until they arrive. That is why this form of
trading is less common in developing countries. In Britain, the Mail Order
Protection Scheme means that customers are protected by the publishers who
do not wish to receive complaints from readers.
In Britain there are many laws which could concern the direct response
marketer, and some may be of general application wherever the goods are
sold. To these may be added the common law of contract. Most of these laws
apply to off-the-page direct response, some apply to all forms of direct
response marketing.
Exhibitions
Importance of exhibitions
Exhibitions are popular throughout the world and have a long history,
originating with old trading markets such as the 'marts' in what are today
Belgium and the Netherlands, where British merchants sold their wool and
woollens in the fourteenth century. The exhibition developed into the show
attended by either the trade or the general public. London for many years
became a major exhibition centre, to mention only the Great Exhibition of
1851, the Wembley Exhibition of 1924, and the Festival of Britain in 1951.
In recent years the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham has rivalled
London although many events are held at Olympia, Earls Court, the
Horticultural Halls and the Barbican Centre in the City.
Throughout the world there are major exhibition centres, often government
supported (unlike Britain!), the chief ones in Europe being Frankfurt,
Basle and Milan. Many exhibitions are nowadays held in the Gulf states, an
indication of the need to develop their emergent economies. Permanent trade
exhibition centres exist in developing countries such as Malaysia and
Nigeria.
Types of exhibition
1. Public indoor
Usually held in specially built halls, the public show is based on a theme
of public interest such as food, the home, do-it-yourself, gardening or
holidays and travel.
2. Trade or business indoor
A more specialised type of exhibition, this will probably have a smaller
attendance consisting of bona fide visitors who are invited, given tickets
in their trade journal or admitted on presentation of their business card.
3. Private indoor
These are usually confined to one sponsor, but occasionally consist of a
few sponsors with associated but not rival interests Venues are usually
hotels, local halls, libraries, building centres or company premises if
suitable.
4. Outdoor
Certain subjects lend themselves to outdoor exhibitions, for instance
aviation, farm equipment (at agricultural shows) camping and large
construction equipment. Exhibition stand may also be available at outdoor
or tented events like flower shows and horse shows. In hotter countries
exhibitions normally held indoors in the northern hemisphere will be held
out-of-doors.
5. Travelling
Mobile exhibitions can be transported by caravan, specially built
exhibition vehicles, converted double-decker buses, trains aircraft and
ships. British Rail has its special Ambassador exhibition train which can
be used by a single client and taken to a choice of railway stations
throughout the country where visitors can be received. It can also be taken
to European countries Mobile van shows are common in developing countries,
travelling from town to town and village to village.
6. In-store
These are popular with foreign sponsors who organise weeks in different
towns to display foods, wines, fabrics, pottery, glassware or tourist
attractions. The displays are usually in appropriate stores, but a special
entertainment evening may be organised for the public in a theatre or hall,
when singers, dancers and/or films may constitute the programme.
7. Permanent exhibitions
Some large organisations may hold exhibitions within their premises or in
special halls or parks. A particularly attractive one is Legoland, a
children's park at Billund, Denmark, which demonstrates Lego toys.
The following are well worth visiting, combining as they do well mounted
exhibits with video shows:
The Thames Barrier Exhibition, near Woolwich. The Mary Rose Exhibition,
Portsmouth Dockyard. The Eurotunnel Exhibition, Folkestone.
8. Conferences
In association with annual conferences there is often an exhibition
supported by suppliers which delegates may visit between and after
conference sessions. Some of them are quite small, perhaps arranged in an
ante-room or in the foyer of the hotel, but others are as big as the
conference itself. The larger exhibitions are usually held at venues like
Brighton or Harrogate where there are combined conference and exhibition
facilities.
Characteristics of exhibitions
Exhibitions are unlike any other forms of advertising and can include
selling direct off-the-stand to visitors. The special characteristics of
exhibitions are summarised in 16-21.
The chief value of an exhibition is that it draws attention to it subject
and so attracts people, often from great distances. Thus the exhibitor has
the opportunity of meeting people he would never meet nor have time to
contact. The message of the exhibition, and often that of individual
exhibitors, spreads far beyond the even itself, and coverage is possible
throughout the appropriate media at home and abroad.
An exhibition requires a lot of time for its preparation, and for manning
the stand. It is essential that the stand is manned by knowledgeable people
capable of answering visitors' questions.
Exhibitions provide opportunities to display prototypes of new products,
and to receive visitors' comments and criticisms.
Confidence, credibility and goodwill can be established by meeting
potential customers face-to-face. This applies to both distributors and
consumers.
There are ideal opportunities actually to show the product which is more
authentic than describing and illustrating it in advertisements, catalogues
and sales literature. Similarly, sampling provides a good sales promotion
opportunity.
The atmosphere of an exhibition is very congenial, even though a long visit
may be hard on the feet. For many people it is an outing to be enjoyed and
there is an atmosphere of entertainment like going to the circus or the
theatre.
Using exhibitions
There are many trade papers which give forward dates of exhibitions, the
most complete details appearing in Exhibition Bulletin. Other publications
which announce some exhibition details are British Rate and Data,
Conferences and Exhibitions International and Sales and Marketing
Management.
The following points should be borne in mind before booking space in an
exhibition,
(a) Organisers. Is the event organised by a responsible firm? Are they
members of the Association of Exhibition Organisers? Have they run this or
other shows before?
(b) Date. What is the date, is it convenient and does it clash with any
other event?
(c) Venue. Is it a good venue, that is one likely to attract a good
attendance? Is it a convenient one for transporting exhibits to and from?
Some foreign venues may impose transportation and customs problems. Does it
have good transport links? Is there adequate car-parking? Are there nearby
hotels?
(d) Cost of sites. What is the charge per square metre and are, perhaps,
modestly priced shell schemes available?
(e) Facilities. Are all the necessary facilities available such as water,
gas or electricity, if they are required?
(f) Publicity. How will visitors be attracted?
(g) Build-up and knock-down. Is there adequate time allowed before and
after the show for erection and dismantling of stands?
(h) Public relations. What press office and press visit facilities will
there be?
This is an aspect of exhibitions which is overlooked by many exhibitors. It
pays to co-operate with the exhibition press officer months before the
event. Valuable press, radio and television coverage can be gained from
exhibitions, and this is a valuable bonus. Hundreds of journalists visit
shows, looking for good stories and pictures. They do not carry suitcases
and will shun clumsy press kits packed with irrelevant material.
(i) Associated events. Are there any associated events like a conference or
film/video shows?
(j) Is it justified? Is the cost of designing and constructing a stand,
renting space, printing sales literature, providing hospitality (especially
at a trade show) and taking staff away from their regular work justified?
Has the company something new to show, does it need to meet distributors
and/or customers, must it compete with rival exhibitors? What value may be
anticipated for the money spent—in goodwill or sales, including perhaps the
finding and appointing of new agents or distributors?
In his very useful book, Exhibitions and Conferences from A to Z, (Modina
Press, 1989) Sam Black makes the following comment:
'Exhibitions are visited by people expecting to see actual objects.
Photographs, diagrams and illustrations play an important part in conveying
technical or general information but they should be subsidiary to the three-
dimensional exhibits. People will read quite detailed explanatory copy on
an exhibition stand if it explains an exhibit which has attracted their
curiosity, but isolated panels of text will rarely be read.'
Sponsorship
Sponsorship consists of giving monetary or other support to a beneficiary
in order to make it financially viable, sometimes for altruistic reasons,
but usually to gain some advertising, public relations or marketing
advantage.
The beneficiary could be an organisation or individual. While some sponsors
may simply wish to be philanthropic, this is seldom so today when the
object is more often deliberately commercial.
At present, the bulk of sponsorship money is spent on sport, and while this
support is given mainly to the major sports of motor-racing, horse-racing,
football, cricket, tennis, golf, a number of other sports have become
popular through sponsorship and television coverage, to mention only bowls,
snooker, and darts. For example, Canon were the origional sponsors of the
football League and at the end of their three — year sponsorship, costing f
3mln they were able to boast that there was hardly an office in Britain
which didn't have a Canon machine. The strength of this sponsorship was
that British football is played of many months of the year by 92 teams,
this producing constant media coverage.
What can be sponsored?
a) Books and other publications such as maps.
b) Exhibitions which may be sponsored by trade associations and
professional societies.
c) Education, in the form of grants, bursaries and fellowships.
d) Expeditions, explorations, mountaineering, round-the-world voyages and
other adventures.
e) Sport.
f) The arts such as music, painting, literature and the theatre.
g) Charities, especially by helping them to promote their activities.
The aim of a sponsorship is to gain results associated with the
advertising,
public relations or marketing strategy.
Advertising objectives:
a) When media advertising a banned. The product may be banned by certain
media, e.g. cigarettes cannot be advertised on British TV, although this
may not apply in other countries. Cigarette manufactures have succeeded in
gaining considerable TV programme coverage by sponsoring cricket, golf and
motor-racing.
b) In association with sponsorship, arena advertising in the form of boards
and bunting can be displayed at racecourses, sports stadiums, motor-racing
circuits and other venues so that they are inevitably picked up by the TV
cameras covering the event, apart from being seen by spectators on the
spot.
Public relations objective:
Public relations objectives do not seek to advertise in order to persuade
and sell, but aim to develop knowledge and understanding of the
organisation. An important public relations objective may be to create
goodwill towards the company, locally, nationally or internationally. A
large corporation, making big profits, may adopt a social conscience by
donating funds or gifts to society. It might give financial aid to a
library, college, theatre, hospital or medical research fund. When a
foreign company enters export markets, where it may be unknown or greeted
with prejudice or suspicion, sponsorship can help create a friendly
attitude without which it would be impossible to sell.
Very popular is the presenting the awards to journalists for their skill
and knowledge when writing about the sponsor's subject or industry. At to
marketing objectives sponsorship helps to position a product, to support
dealers, to establish a change in marketing policy, to launch a new
product, to establish the product in international markets.
Types of stores
Retailers can be classified by the length and breadth of their product
assortment. Among the most important types are specialty stores, department
stores, supermarkets, convenience stores and superstores.
A specialty store carries a narrow product line with a deep assortment
within that line. Examples include stores selling sporting goods,
furniture, books, electronics, flowers or toys. Today, specialty stores are
flourishing for several reasons. The increasing use of market segmentation,
market targeting, and product specialization has resulted in a greater need
for stores that focus on specific products and segments. And because of
changing consumer life styles and the increasing number of 2-income
households, many consumers have greater incomes but less time to spend
shopping. They are attracted to specialty stores which provide high quality
products, nearly locations, good store hours, excellent service and quick
entry and exit. The shopping centre boom has also contributed to the recent
growth of specialty stores, which occupy 60 to 70% of the total shopping
centre space.
A department store carries a wide variety of product lines-typically
clothing, home furnishing, and household goods. Each line is operated as a
separate department. The first department stores appeared and grew rapidly
through the first half of the century. But after World War II, they began
to lose ground to a growing list of other types of retailers, including
discount stores, specialty stores, and *off-price* retailers.
Department stores are today waging a *comeback war*. Most have opened
suburban stores, and many have added «bargain basements» to meet the
discount threat still others have remodelled their stores or set up
«boutiques» that compete with specialty stores. Many are trying mail order
and telephone selling.
Supermarkets are large, low-cost, low-margin, high-volume, self-service
stores that carry a wide variety of food, laundry, and household products.
Most US supermarkets are owned by supermarket chains like Safeway, Kroger,
A&P, Winn-Dixie & fewel. Chains account for almost 70% of all supermarket
sales. Most supermarkets today are facing slow sales growth because of
proliferation of stores, slower population growth, & the appearance of
innovative competitors such as convenience stores, discount food stores &
superstores. They have also been hit hard by the rapid growth of out-of-
home eating. Thus, supermarkets are looking for new ways to build their
sales. They practice «scrambled merchandising», carrying many non-food
items-beauty aids, toys, house wares, prescriptions, appliances,
videocassettes, sporting goods, garden supplies — hoping to find high —
margin lines to improve profits. Many supermarkets are moving «upscale»
with the market. Retailers are adding such amenities as full-service
seafood departments, «from scratch» bakeries, gourmet prepared foods & in
store restaurants complete with bars, jazz pianists, & wine stewards.
Finally, to attract more customers, large supermarket chains are starting
to customize their stores for individual neighbourhoods. They are tailoring
store size, product assortment, prices & promotions to the economic &
ethnic needs of local markets.
Convenience stores are small store that carry a limited line of high-
turnover convenience goods. Examples include 7-Eleven, Circle K, & Open
Pantry. These stores locate near residential areas & remain open long hours
& seven days a week. Convenience stores charge high prices to make up for
higher operating costs & lower sales volume. But they satisfy an important
consumer need. Consumers use convenience stores for «fill-in» purchases at
off hours or when time is short, & they are willing to pay for the
convenience.
Superstores are almost twice the size of regular supermarkets & carry a
large assortment of routinely purchased food & non-food items. They offer
such services as laundry, dry cleaning, shoe-repair, check cashing, bill
paying & lunch counters. Because of their wide assortment, superstore
prices are 5 to 6% higher than those of conventional supermarkets. Many
leading chains are moving towards superstores.
Hypermarkets are in size up to about 6 football fields. The hypermarket
combines supermarket, discount & warehouse retailing. It carries more than
routinely purchased goods, also selling furniture, appliances, clothing, &
many other things. The hypermarket offers discount prices & operates like a
warehouse. Customers select items from bulk displays, & the store gives
discounts to customers who carry their own heavy appliances & furniture out
of the store.
Most stores today cluster together to increase their customer pulling power
& to give customers the convenience of on-stop shopping. A shopping centre
is a group or retail businesses planned, developed, owned & managed as a
unit. A regional shopping centre is like a mini downtown. At contains from
40 to 100 store & pulls customers from a wide area.
Public Relations
PR is often confused with advertising, and sometimes wrongly termed
«publicity». PR is wrongly regarded as «free advertising». The two are very
different forms of communication, but advertising is likely to be more
effective if PR is well carried out.
Briefly, PR aims to create understanding through knowledge, it must be
factual, credible and impartial. Advertising has to be persuasive in order
to sell and it may be emotional, dramatic and certainly partial. Thus, a
basic difference is that in order to succeed PR must be unbiased while
advertising has to be biased. PR may be thought to consist only of press
relations, or rather media relations since radio and television are also
involved. Modem PR extends into all the functions of commercial and
noncommercial, public and private organisations. It deals with matters far
removed from marketing and advertising to mention only community, employee,
share holder and political relations. A major area of public relations in
recent years has been the handling of crisis situations such as strikes,
disasters and take over bids. The creation of understanding is best
explained by the «PR transfer process». A company, product or service may
be subject to some negative states as hostility, prejudice, apathy,
ignorance. PR is concerned with changing them into positive attitudes such
as sympathy, acceptance, interest, knowledge. There may be hostility
towards a company because its behaviour has been criticised, a product has
performed badly, a company personality has received bad publicity , the
company is of foreign origin or simply because it is very big. There may
also be hostility towards the industry because it is believed to be
hazardous or endangers the environment. Prejudice is a more difficult
obstacle to overcome, and is usually long-standing and derived from family,
education, ethnic or even geographical influences. Many people are still
prejudiced about flying, holidays abroad, foreign foods, computers, etc.
Disinterest and apathy is very hard to overcome. People tend to be
conservative, set in their ways and unwilling to try new things. They may
be apathetic about things that could benefit them such as banking
insurance, savings, diet, holidays or different kinds of clothes. In a
complex world everyone is ignorant about many things. It is inevitable.
There was a time when most people were ignorant about detergents, air
conditioning, video-cassettes, all of which large number of people take for
granted today. These are all negative attitudes which PR has to change into
positive ones. From what has been described it is seen that PR concerns the
total communications of the total organisation. It is not confined to
marketing nor it is a form of advertising. Nevertheless, advertising can
benefit from PR activity. In fact advertising may well fail because of lack
of PR. PR has its own communication techniques and it can contribute to the
success of advertising just as it can contribute to good management-
employee relations or good financial relations. The chief benefit lies in
the creation of understanding.