MK0016 Advertising Management And Sales Promotion

1. Describe the benefits of Direct Marketing. List all the methods and media used for it.

Direct marketing is a channel-agnostic form of advertising that allows businesses and nonprofits to communicate straight to the customer, with advertising techniques such as mobile messaging, email, interactive consumer websites, online display ads, fliers, catalog distribution, promotional letters, and outdoor advertising. Direct marketing messages emphasize a focus on the customer, data, and accountability. Characteristics that distinguish direct marketing are: 1. Marketing messages are addressed directly to customers. Direct marketing relies on being able to address the members of a target market. Addressability comes in a variety of forms including email addresses, mobile phone numbers, Web browser cookies, fax numbers and United States and international postal addresses. 2. Direct marketing seeks to drive a specific "call to action." For example, an advertisement may ask the prospect to call a free phone number or click on a link to a website. 3. Direct marketing emphasizes trackable, measurable responses from customers regardless of medium. Direct marketing is practiced by businesses of all sizes from the smallest start-up to the leaders on the Fortune 500. A well-executed direct advertising campaign can prove a positive return on investment by showing how many potential customers responded to a clear call-toaction. General advertising eschews calls-for-action in favor of messages that try to build prospects emotional awareness or engagement with a brand. Even well-designed general advertisements rarely can prove their impact on the organizations bottom line

Benefits
Direct marketing is attractive to many marketers because its positive results can be measured directly. For example, if a marketer sends out 1,000 solicitations by mail and 100 respond to the promotion, the marketer can say with confidence that campaign led directly to 10% direct responses. This metric is known as the 'response rate,' and it is one of many clearly quantifiable success metrics employed by direct marketers. In contrast, general advertising uses indirect measurements, such as awareness or engagement, since there is no direct response from a consumer. Measurement of results is a fundamental element in successful direct marketing. The Internet has made it easier for marketing managers to measure the results of a campaign. This is often achieved by using a specific website landing page directly relating to the promotional material. A call to action will ask the customer to visit the landing page, and

the effectiveness of the campaign can be measured by taking the number of promotional messages distributed (e.g., 1,000) and dividing it by the number of responses (people visiting the unique website page). Another way to measure the results is to compare the projeDirect

Marketing Channels

Any medium that can be used to deliver a communication to a customer can be employed in direct marketing, including:
[edit] Email Marketing

Sending marketing messages through email or Email marketing is one of the most widely used direct-marketing methods.[citation needed] One reason for email marketing's popularity is that it is relatively inexpensive to design, test, and send an email message.[citation needed] It also allows marketers to deliver messages around the clock, and to accurately measure responses.[citation needed]
[edit] Online Tools

With the expansion of digital technology and tools, direct marketing is increasingly taking place through online channels. Most online advertising is delivered to a focused group of customers and has a trackable response.

Display Ads are interactive ads that appear on the Web next to content on Web pages or Web services. Formats include static banners, pop ups, videos, and floating units. Customers can click on the ad to respond directly to the message or to find more detailed information. According to research by eMarketer, expenditures on online display ads rose 24.5% between 2010 and 2011.[11] Search: 49% of US spending on Internet ads goes to search, in which advertisers pay for prominent placement among listings in search engines whenever a potential customer enters a relevant search term, allowing ads to be delivered to customers based upon their alreadyindicated search criteria.[12] This paid placement industry generates more than $10 billion dollars for search companies. Marketers also use search engine optimization to drive traffic to their sites. Social Media Sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, also provide opportunities for direct marketers to communicate directly with customers by creating content to which customers can respond.

[edit] Mobile

Through mobile marketing, marketers engage with prospective customers and donors in an interactive manner through a mobile device or network, such as a cellphone, smartphone, or tablet. Types of mobile marketing messages include: SMS: (short message service) marketing communications are sent in the form of text messages, also known as texting. MMS: (multimedia message service) These messages use elements such as images, video, and audio; Mobile Applications: Smartphone-based mobile apps contain several types of messages. Push

Notifications are direct messages sent to a user either automatically or as part of a campaign. They include transactional, marketing, geo-based, and more. Rich Push Notifications are full HTML Push Notifications. Mobile apps also contain Interactive ads that appear inside the mobile application or app; Location-Based Marketing: marketing messages delivered directly to a mobile device based on the user's location; QR Codes (quick-response barcodes): This is a type of 2D barcode with an encoded link that can be accessed from a smartphone. This technology is increasingly being used for everything from special offers to product information. Mobile Banner Ads: Like standard banner ads for desktop Web pages but smaller to fit on mobile screens and run on the mobile content network
Direct Mail

The term "direct mail" is used to refer to communications sent to potential customers or donors via the postal service and other delivery services. Direct mail is sent to customers based on criteria such as age, income, location, profession, buying pattern, etc. Direct mail includes advertising circulars, catalogs, free-trial CDs, pre-approved credit card applications, and other unsolicited merchandising invitations delivered by mail to homes and businesses. Bulk mailings are a particularly popular method of promotion for businesses operating in the financial services, home computer, and travel and tourism industries. In many developed countries, direct mail represents such a significant amount of the total volume of mail that special rate classes have been established. In the United States and United Kingdom, for example, there are bulk mail rates that enable marketers to send mail at rates that are substantially lower than regular first-class rates. In order to qualify for these rates, marketers must format and sort the mail in particular ways which reduces the handling (and therefore costs) required by the postal service. In the US, marketers send over 90 billion pieces of direct mail per year [13] Advertisers often refine direct mail practices into targeted mailing, in which mail is sent out following database analysis to select recipients considered most likely to respond positively. For example, a person who has demonstrated an interest in golf may receive direct mail for golfrelated products or perhaps for goods and services that are appropriate for golfers. This use of database analysis is a type of database marketing. The United States Postal Service calls this form of mail "advertising mail" (admail for short).
Telemarketing

Another common form of direct marketing is telemarketing, in which marketers contact customers by phone. The primary benefit to businesses is increased lead generation, which helps businesses increase sales volume and customer base. The most successful telemarketing service providers focus on generating more "qualified" leads that have a higher probability of getting converted into actual sales. The National Do Not Call Registry was created in 2003 to offer consumers a choice whether to receive telemarketing calls at home. The FTC created the National Do Not Call Registry after a

comprehensive review of the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR).[14] The do-not-call provisions of the TSR cover any plan, program, or campaign to sell goods or services through interstate phone calls. The provisions do not cover calls from political organizations, charities, telephone surveyors, or companies with which a customer has an existing business relationship.[15] Canada has its own National Do Not Call List (DNCL). In other countries it is voluntary, such as the New Zealand Name Removal Service.
Voicemail Marketing

Voicemail marketing emerged out of the market prevalence of personal voice mailboxes, and business voicemail systems. Voicemail marketing presented a cost effective means by which to reach people directly, by voice. Abuse of consumer marketing applications of voicemail marketing resulted in an abundance of "voice-spam," and prompted many jurisdictions to pass laws regulating consumer voicemail marketing. More recently, businesses have utilized guided voicemail (an application where pre-recorded voicemails are guided by live callers) to accomplish personalized business-to-business marketing formerly reserved for telemarketing. Because guided voicemail is used to contact only businesses, it is exempt from Do Not Call regulations in place for other forms of voicemail marketing. Voicemail courier is a similar form of voicemail marketing with both business-to-business and business-to-consumer applications.
Broadcast Faxing

Broadcast faxing, in which faxes are sent to multiple recipients, is now less common than in the past.[citation needed] This is partly due to laws in the United States and elsewhere which regulate its use for consumer marketing. In 2005, President Bush signed into law S. 714, the Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005 (JFPA), which allows marketers to send commercial faxes to those with whom they have an established business relationship (EBR), but imposes some new requirements. These requirements include providing an opt-out notice on the first page of faxes and establishing a system to accept opt-outs at any time of the day. Fax senders must begin complying with these new requirements, which are described in this fact sheet. Roughly 2% of direct marketers use fax, mostly for business-to-business marketing campaigns.[16] Also, due to the popularity of a variety of digital communication methods, the overall use of faxes is less than in the past.
Couponing

Couponing is used in print and digital media to elicit a response from the reader. An example is a coupon which the reader receives through the mail and takes to a store's check-out counter to receive a discount. Digital Coupons: Manufacturers and retailers make coupons available online for electronic orders that can be downloaded and printed. Digital coupons are available on company websites, social media outlets, texts, and email alerts. There are an increasing number of mobile phone applications offering digital coupons for direct use.

Daily Deal Sites offer local and online deals each day, and are becoming increasingly popular. Customers sign up to receive notice of discounts and offers, which are sent daily by email. Purchases are often made using a special coupon code or promotional code. The largest of these sites, Groupon, has over 83 million subscribers.[17]
Direct Response TV

Direct marketing via television (commonly referred to as DRTV) has two basic forms: long form (usually half-hour or hour-long segments that explain a product in detail and are commonly referred to as infomercials) and short form, which refers to typical 30-second or 60-second commercials that ask viewers for an immediate response (typically to call a phone number on screen or go to a website). TV-response marketing i.e. infomercials can be considered a form of direct marketing, since responses are in the form of calls to telephone numbers given onair. This allows marketers to reasonably conclude that the calls are due to a particular campaign, and enables them to obtain customers' phone numbers as targets for telemarketing. One of the most famous DRTV commercials was for Ginsu Knives by Ginsu Products, Inc. of RI. Several aspects of ad, such as its use of adding items to the offer and the guarantee of satisfaction were much copied, and came to be considered part of the formula for success with short-form directresponse TV ads (DRTV)
Direct Response Radio

In direct response radio, ads contain a call to action with a specific tracking mechanism. Often, this tracking mechanism is a "call now" prompt with a toll-free phone number or a unique Web URL. Results of the ad can be tracked in terms of calls, orders, customers, leads, sales, revenue, and profits that result from the airing of those ads.
Insert Media

Another form of direct marketing, insert media are marketing materials that are inserted into other communications, such as a catalog, newspaper, magazine, package, or bill. Coop or shared mail, where marketing offers from several companies are delivered via a single envelope, is also considered insert media.
Out-of-Home

Out of home direct marketing refers to a wide array of media designed to reach the consumer outside the home, including transit, bus shelters, bus benches, aerials, airports, in-flight, in-store, movies, college campus/high schools, hotels, shopping malls, sport facilities, stadiums, taxis that contain a call-to-action for the customer to respond.
Direct Response Magazines and Newspapers

Magazine and newspaper ads often include a direct response call-to-action, such as a toll-free number, a coupon redeemable at a brick-and-mortar store, or a QR code that can be scanned by a

mobile device these methods are all forms of direct marketing, because they elicit a direct and measurable action from the customer.
Direct Selling

Direct selling is the sale of products by face-to-face contact with the customer, either by having salespeople approach potential customers in person, or through indirect means such as Tupperware parties.
Grassroots/Community Marketing

The door-to-door distribution of flyers and leaflets within a local community is a business-toconsumer form of direct marketing used extensively by restaurants, fast food companies, and many other business focusing on a local catchment. Similar to direct mail marketing, this method is targeted purely by area and community, and costs a fraction of the amount of a mailshot, since it is not necessary to purchase stamps, envelopes, or address lists with the names of home occupants. cted sales or generated leads for a given term with the actual sales or leads after a direct advertising campaign
2. Define the term Market Segmentation? List the advantages of Market Segmentation

market segmentation
The process of defining and subdividing a large homogenous market into clearly identifiable segments having similar needs, wants, or demand characteristics. Its objective is to design a marketing mix that precisely matches the expectations of customers in the targeted segment. Few companies are big enough to supply the needs of an entire market; most must breakdown the total demand into segments and choose those that the company is best equipped to handle. Four basic factors that affect market segmentation are (1) clear identification of the segment, (2) measurability of its effective size, (3) its accessibility through promotional efforts, and (4) its appropriateness to the policies and resources of the company. The four basic market segmentation-strategies are based on (a) behavioral (b) demographic, (c) psychographic, and (d) geographical differences.
Advantages of Market Segmentation for a firm: a) Helps in better understanding of the customers needs and wants.

b) Better targeting and position of the product. c) Encourages two-way communication among the potential buyer and the organization. d) Maintaining effective relationship with the customers. e) Retaining the existing customers and attracting new ones. f) Improving service delivery standards. g) Reducing cost / expenses on various marketing activities and increases market share; resulting in higher profits. Finally, Market Segmentation is rightly referred as a marketing term referring to the buyers into groups (segments) that have common needs and will respond similarly to a marketing action, it is an identifiable group of individuals, families, firms, or organizations, sharing one or more characteristics or needs in an otherwise homogenous market. Market Segmentation generally responds in a predictable manner to a marketing or promotional offer.

3. Describe the Types and Nature of Markets. Explain the four broad bases for segmentation in e-marketing

Types of market
Before delving too deep into the study of marketing, it is worth pausing to consider the different types of market that exist. Markets can be analysed via the product itself, or end-consumer, or both. The most common distinction is between consumer and industrial markets. Consumer Markets Consumer markets are the markets for products and services bought by individuals for their own or family use. Goods bought in consumer markets can be categorised in several ways: Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG's) These are high volume, low unit Examples include: Ready meals; Baked Beans; Newspapers Consumer durables These have low volume but high unit value. Consumer durables are often further divided into: White goods (e.g. fridge-freezers; cookers; dishwashers; microwaves) Brown goods (e.g. DVD players; games consoles; personal computers) Soft goods Soft goods are similar to consumer durables, except that they wear out more quickly and therefore value, fast repurchase

have a Examples include clothes, shoes

shorter

replacement

cycle

Services (e.g. hairdressing, dentists, childcare) Industrial Markets Industrial markets involve the sale of goods between businesses. These are goods that are not aimed directly at consumers. Industrial markets include Selling Examples include office furniture, computer systems Selling raw Examples include steel, coal, gas, timber materials finished goods

or

components

Selling services to Examples include waste disposal, security, accounting & legal services

businesses

Industrial markets often require a slightly different marketing strategy and mix. In particular, a business may have to focus on a relatively small number of potential buyers (e.g. the IT Director responsible for ordering computer equipment in a multinational group). Whereas consumer marketing tends to be aimed at the mass market (in some cases, many millions of potential customers), industrial marketing tends to be focused.

www.ribelz.com
Market Segmentation Online : 4. Segmentation Bases

Online marketing is typically the same as Traditional marketing in terms of the bases. Only exception is that there are numerous different bases that could be adopted in online marketing.

Segmenting bases are 1. Demographics E.g.Age, Income, Gender, Education level, ethnicity

Following are some basic demographics on Linked - In

2. Geographics This is basically the location from which your clients come from. E.g. City, Village, State, Country, Region..etc.

Google Analytics provides a very good tool with which you can even track the city of your site visitors (In Sri Lanka - Only Colombo and Kandy Possible, But in US hundreds of cities possible) Given below are goegraphic data about Facebook users.

3. Psychographics Activation, Interests, opinions, Personality, Values...etc.

4. Behaviour with resepct to the Product Usage, Benefits sought, Brand loyalty, user status..etc. Apart from this basic bases, even combined bases like geo-demographics could be used. Or as i said above numerous bases like Budget can be used. These bases are specially important in Search Engine Optimization and online market research. For e.g. Check out how people visited social networking sites -

4.Discuss media options .List the differences between above-the-line below-theline media Media options

Specific description of the characteristics of an advertisement or commercial excluding the copy and artwork. The media option will detail the size (full page, half page, etc.), color (black-andwhite, or four-color), and location (inside front cover, interior, etc.) of a print advertisement, or the length (60, 30, 10 seconds, etc.) and placement (morning drive, prime time, etc.) of a broadcast commercial. Media options are generally listed in a media plan.
The difference between "Above the Line" and "Below the Line" tracking

"Above the Line" and "Below the Line" are terms used in the advertising business to distinguish between spends that are for branding or awareness and those that are attributable to a specific event, such as a purchase of a particular product. Is anyone distinguishing between the two types of marketing for their online campaigns? Are there other types of marketing we should think about categorizing for the online space - perhaps a "Right on the Line" type of campaign? The reason I am posing this question is to get a dialogue going about how to utilize tracking systems more effectively to produce better ROIs. Share some thoughts. After this forum gets going, I'll move the discussion towards why we should pay particular attention to how we categorize spends and how best to measure them with the tools out there today.
4. Define the term Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) How does SEO work and what are the objectives of SEO?

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of enabling your website to be found by potential customers looking on search engines for the product or service that you provide.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) makes sure that your website is 'optimised' for specific, relevant terms that best describe your business, products and services. So when the search engines send out a call for all companies supplying 'widget A' or 'service X' your website is listed high on the search results - and you stand a better chance of receiving more traffic to your site. Search engines such as Google have certain complex algorithms for ranking websites but are ultimately governed by relevancy. The more relevant, keyword-rich and up-to-date your website is, the more likely it is that search engines will regard you as a relevant website when desirable searches are conduc ed.

How does SEO work? Proper SEO (Search Engine Optimization) starts with a research process. This consists of finding keyword phrases that meet a certain criteria: 1.) Relevant to your business 2.) High traffic volume 3.) Qualified (converting) This is a very important part of the process and doing it properly will determine the overall success of your SEO campaign. There is a science to SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and the rest does not matter if this portion is not done properly. From selecting the right set of keyword phrases to optimizing everything to follow search engine guidelines this stage of your SEO campaign will form the rest. You must nail it the first time. Otherwise you essentially start over. Next.after keyword phrases are selected the entire website needs to be optimized internally with them. You must do this right and in the format that Google, Yahoo and Bing like. Next and forever ongoing.You must build a web-wide reputation for your business and website. This is where you are able to separate yourself from the pack. How else would Google figure out who belongs on the front page? Reputation, thats how. There are certain guidelines to be followed and a large number of strategies that are used to get front page rankings. To name a fewSEO optimized online press releases, Forum comments, blog submissions and comments, relevant directory submissions, business classifieds, and a whole lot more. That list can go on and onthere are a lot of techniques used to get front page rankings and tons of qualified traffic from an SEO campaign. SEO done right will show the highest ROI (return on investment) of any form of marketing or advertising. Now what makes it different. Well here is the simplest comparison. There is PPC (Pay Per Click) where you can be on page one of Google. That means every time someone clicks on your listing you pay. When the money runs out you disappear. With SEO also referred to as organic search results, meaning natural. That is the non-paid listing area. You could get 1000 clicks on a single keyword search and pay $2 a click and spend $2000 fast and once that money is gone so are you. SEO on the other hand takes a little time to get you on page one but you could get 10,000 clicks and never pay for one. The longer you run a strong SEO campaign the better it gets. It has a residual effect. When done and maintained properly you can stay ranked in the top ten for a plethora of different searches people type into Google and other search engines to find your type of business. The most important difference is cost. Done properly SEO can cost up to 50% less than PPC. The funny thing is PPC works very effectively as well and shows a good ROI. But you must have at least $2000 a month to spend

on ads with Google and pay an expert to manage it properly or you can throw that money in the trash. Another benefit that SEO gets you that PPC does not is, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is done by creating a ton of external content and optimized links on other websites. This drives clicks from those, posts, articles, blog comments, etc to your website from other places besides the search results. PPC (Pay Per Click) will only run on the search engine you selectGoogle, Yahoo or Bing. So, if you run PPC on Google you are only on Google. To throw the SEO cherry on top SEO done properly like our SEO Company, Green Apple Sales does for our clients, will get you on the front page or top ten results of all the major search enginesGoogle, Yahoo, Bing and many others. True Google is the giant, but you can not count those other players out. Bing in particular is growing fast especially after they came out with the new Windows phones that has Bing search built in to the phone as a default search engine. The same as all Android phones have Google built in by default. Now to end this I would like to point out that the internet is the #1 source in the world for consumers to find businesses. So having yourself on the front page when they look is the most targeted form of marketing there is. it is also by far the most cost efficient
what are the objectives of SEO?

SEO gives surprisingly effective results in a short time if done efficiently, SEO is used for generating traffic to the site but there are also other applications of SEO like branding, marketing and ideological influence of the website. Following are the value generating objectives of SEO 1. Generating Traffic Content that is keyword targeted produces direct traffic to your website. Content provides great results in less time. SEO generates direct traffic to your website when your site is optimized for relevant keywords typed by user. Keywords should be unique, not common, because competition is very high for common and popular keywords rather than unique and different keywords. 2. Branding Branding is less popular application of SEO. Branding means brand recognition or brand awareness among people. A websites pages which are consistently at the top of search engine ranking get traffic, popularity and profit. 3. Marketing SEO is also used for marketing the products and services of any e-commerce website. SEO builds customers and generates revenue for the e- commerce website.

4. Ideological Impact Who want public opinion about their websites on a particular topic, SEO is very powerful tool to promote your ideas and content of your website. 5. E- Commerce Purpose SEO drives relevant traffic to e-commerce websites, which boosts the sale of the products and services offered by the websites. SEO should be done after identifying the goals or objectives of company. All goals should be given importance in optimization so that the site may get proper attention of users or customers in all services offered by the company.

6. List the factors that affect advertising and marketing .Describe

Factors that affect Advertising and Marketing

There are some factors which deeply influence advertising thinking in India and which are entirely different from the last century and perhaps other developing countries. These should be monitored constantly, even when one is not directly dealing with these products or segments, because the whole economy is an integrated whole and that affects all of us. There is a lot of movement within each of these domains, sometimes situations changing totally as quickly as in three months, creating a profound impact on the entire economy. Often unobserved and not very well understood, but critical nonetheless. But by and large, these factors control and influence Indian economy far more than they are credited with and thus should be watched keenly.

1. Industrial growth It is difficult to measure in absolute terms because when one sector is doing well, another may not. Industrial lending is a key indicator. Big industries are in especially tight spot in 2008-09 onwards due to global recession, forcing closures and retrenchments. And the financial health of the urban industrial worker segment is a major influencer of the urban market.

Medium and small scale industries have been in trouble for some time some 44,000 closed down in 2004-06. But that does not always show up in research data since this segment is not given the correct weightage in aggregate growth. In May 2003 ICRA report was based on four industry groups food products, beverages, tobacco and basic metals, which is a distorted view. The health of Pepsi, TISCO, ITC, and TELCO does not represent total Indian industry. Most small and medium industries are located in small towns and semi-rural areas, and the purchasing power of their employees is as important as that of the farmer or the urban industrial worker.

2. The China factor As Chinas so-called over-heated economy that grew at over 10% of GDP for several years slows down, it has many implications for Indian market. Unable to compete with Chinas subsidized production, many Indian industries are manufacturing their products in China, taking advantage of the same subsidies and importing them back into India, still at a price cheaper than domestically produced goods.

China is also always trying to flood the Indian market with industrial intermediary products and cheap consumer products for the lower end of the market. It provides India with more product options at lower prices. But it curtails our industrial growth and reduces jobs in India and thus buying power. China is also a very big trade partner of India and even a slight slowdown there will impact Indias industry and market economy in a chain reaction and thus advertising. 3. Elections Not very well documented for obvious reasons, but election expenditures are a major factor in Indian economy. The Loksabha and state legislature elections, as well as the smaller local ones like byelections, panchayat, and municipal ones are going on all the time. For the advertising industry, the amount of print ads, banners, hoardings, posters, plastic danglers, booklets, CDs, video and music vans, films, SMS, commercials and absolutely rubbishy press and electronic communications that are produced is truly mind numbing. The two major parties will do

just one national campaign each and most advertising professionals will not participate in that. But many agencies will work on local election campaigns for individual candidates in every constituency. These release an enormous amount of unaccounted cash into the market, which in turn goes to buy goods and services immediately for a very large number of people. And they are all advertised, one way or another.

4. Monsoon rains It used to be said that the rain is the real finance minister of India, because it controls the entire economy. The dependence on rain is not so great now, partly due to irrigation and partly because agriculture accounts for only 17% of GDP now. An ETIG analysis of 10 years of rainfall data and key economic indicators show that during 2004-06 rainfall had been below normal, yet these years have shown the highest economic growth. But still rain matters a lot, because in the end even ground water based irrigation depends on recharging by rain water. India probably will not see a famine again, due to its ability to import food in difficult years now. But nor will the farmers buy anything when their harvest is poor. 5. Disposable income The great debate goes on about the percentage of Indians living below the poverty line. But where is the poverty line? As mentioned elsewhere, in 2004-05 it was 21.8% national average, based on consumer expenditure data collected from 30-day recall period. Apparently village folks do not remember what they did a month ago, and data came out skewed. In the last three years researchers have lived with families and collected data on 7-day recall basis. The new data place population below poverty line at about 19%, still horrendous in absolute numbers. Though these people do not buy advertised products right now, they do aspire to in future and thus of interest to the advertising industry.

6. Employment

As per 2001 census, Indian population is still growing at 2.1% and jobs at 2.05% or perhaps less, since there is no reliable data. Complicating the matter even more hugely is the massive job loss that has been going on all over the world for almost a decade, largely due to automation, and now because of the recession. India has no employment data, but by one estimate, there has been nearly 10 million job losses up to 2008-09, taking unemployment to over 10% of employable population, not counting the partially or inappropriately employed people or people who just do not even seek work considering the market conditions, but are consumers nevertheless. Unemployed people do not buy too many things, advertised or otherwise. Therefore marketing and advertising industries have to plan their turnover target and strategy accordingly. 7. Inflation and consumer basket Since India publishes only Wholesale Price Index and people buy at consumer prices at retail level, urban or rural, it is difficult to figure out what is happening to the shifting consumer basket, which has seen major changes in the last decade. Indians spend a much lesser percentage on food now, at any level, and more on durables, like education, housing, electronic goods, vehicles, and utilities like power, water, telephone, etc. So the target profile and techniques to sell to them also have changed.

8. Economic cycle and managing change The economic cycle of boom and bust is a fact of life, whether at personal, national or global level. Since the world started keeping record of it, economists have been trying to discover a pattern, or more important, time scale of this curious phenomenon. No success. It just happens. Our job on the ground is to deal with it.

9 .Consumer mind share The core of advertising does not change ever, which is trying to touch the self-interest of the consumer in order to make him buy the advertised brand. But due to mind blowing changes happening at the speed of light all the time, the techniques and strategies, as well as the budget needs to change too to adapt to the changing attitudes, mindsets and market conditions.

10. Rising prosperity and spending power The growing money power in all classes of society changes the tone and approach of advertising too. The target demands to be treated with respect and not lectured or talked down to or bullied about, and he is prepared to pay for it. A nation that had a permanent begging bowl after independence is today a net food exporter, not to mention its Chandrayaan spacecraft. Incidentally, the moon craft is not just a piece of national pride but a serious commercial product duly advertised globally in appropriate media it carried experimental instruments for eight nations who paid for the service, apart from Indias own instruments.

11. Government control on ads In spite of truly huge liberalization and globalisation, India remains government controlled. There is still a ban on advertising of alcoholic drinks and the state is trying for years to do the same for tobacco products and may succeed yet. And rightly so. The USA just passed in June 2009 a law banning the advertisement of tobacco products, especially the ones directed towards the vulnerable young. India may follow soon. What will happen then? These two industries are not going to be extinct, unless production itself is banned. In order to be sold, brand differentiation still has to be achieved.

12. The power of vernacular languages India speaks in some 17 official languages and over 4,000 dialects. In the last century, advertising was completely dominated by English. Campaigns were written in English and then translated into the other required state languages, often with indifferent accuracy, commitment and result. Not anymore. Partly fueled by the explosion of regional language media print, radio and television alike India today is proud of her multi lingual culture and demands to be catered to in them. And for very good reasons. This shift is not patriotism or culture driven but market driven. The natives now have

the big time money power, like in rural and semi-rural regions, and not the minuscule English speaking city folks.

13. Innovative media In the infinite clutter of easily produced mass communication messages due to easy to use computer technology, everybody is desperate to find new vehicles of communication that will stand out from the crowd. It is the job of the advertising professionals to think up new but cost effective media, which will grab the eyeballs, however briefly, before they too get copied. Two most eye catching innovations in recent times had been the panels of stunningly alive visuals on the sides of the dedicated delivery trucks of companies, mostly processed food products, Pepsi to biriyani. These company owned trucks always had these panels with large surfaces to cover the sides, but alas of dull dirty metal surfaces only. Then some genius made moving hoardings out of them with special photography alive with colour and movement. And history was made.

14 Happiness quotient Desperate to reach out to the target group, strategy planners are using humour more and more and getting results. Even 15 years ago, humour in Indian advertising was an absolute no. The very brave agencies who tried it regardless, paid dearly by getting poor or even negative response. India is a young nation today and youth does not mind laughing at them, because they are more confident and feel good about them. Humour makes an instant emotional connect with the reader or viewer and it is totally classless.

15. Good advertising is more than hard sell messages To achieve these new modes of subtle communications, understanding the customers deep emotional needs and preferences, or may be insecurities and fears, it is essential to connect

emotionally. Joy, hope, faith, desire, longing and confidence are only some of ways to connect. And they are eternal in their appeal.

80

com_content

1.