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Assignment No 02
Describe the role of marketing communication mix whilst
highlighting the role and characteristics of each of the primary tool
of communication mix. Discuss the criteria that should be used for
selecting right communication mix and investigate the changes
happening in media and communication landscape.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:............................................................................................................... 3
Marketing communication Mix:................................................................................... 3
Role of marketing communication Mix:......................................................................4
1.

Advertising as Non personal communication tool:...............................................5

ROLE & Characteristics of Advertising:....................................................................7
Demerits of advertising:.......................................................................................... 8

2: Sales promotions as Non Personal Communication tool:........................................8

Roles and Characteristics and objectives of sales promotions................................9
Demerits of sales promotion.................................................................................10
Advertising versus sales promotions:....................................................................10
3: Direct Marketing:.................................................................................................. 11
Characteristics of direct Marketing:.......................................................................11
Demerits of Direct Marketing:...............................................................................12
4: Personal selling:................................................................................................... 12
Roles and Characteristics of personal selling:.......................................................12
Demerits of personal selling:................................................................................. 13
5: Personal Relations :.............................................................................................. 13
Characteristics of PR:............................................................................................ 14
Selecting the right communication mix:...................................................................15
1.

Nature of product:........................................................................................ 16

2. What are the objectives/the hierarchy of effects and determining the

consumers when they show purchase intention?...............................................16
3.

Push versus Pull promotion strategy:...........................................................18

4.

Buyer readiness stage:................................................................................ 19

5.

Product life cycle:......................................................................................... 20

Changes happening in media and communication landscape:.................................22

Conclusions:............................................................................................................. 24
List of References:.................................................................................................... 25

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Introduction:
Out of the thousands of brands on store shelves today, what is the chance that a
consumer will see any one particular item, much less buy it? In todays society,
consumers are rushed for time. They do not have any time to leisurely walk up and
down every aisle, perusing all of the wares. A brand may be of high quality or fairly
valued, but nonetheless it will fail to achieve sales and profit objectives if potential
customers are unaware of it or do not perceive it favourably. Effective advertising
and other forms of marketing communications are absolutely crucial to creating
brand awareness, establishing positive brand identities and moving products from
distributors, warehouses and off store shelves.
regardless of the nature of the products category or the type of the business,
marketing communications are key to a companys overall marketing mission and
represent a major determinant of its success; indeed, it has been claimed that
marketing and marketing communications are inseparable. : [M]arketing ........is
communication and communication is marketing. (Don.E., Schultz., et.al, 1993).

Marketing communication Mix:

The marketing mix is the set of controllable tacticle marketing tools that the firm
blends to produce the response it wants in the target market (Melewar. T.C., &
Saunders.J, 2000)
Marketing communications are the means by which firms attempt to inform,
persuade, and remind consumersdirectly or indirectlyabout the products and
brands that they sell. A companys total marketing communication mix also called
promotion mix (Kotler, 2005) consists of specific blending of advertising, personal
selling, sales promotion, public relations, and direct marketing tools that are used
by company to pursue its advertising and marketing objectives.
The following figure No 01 shows the marketing communication activities which
contribute to the marketing of any new or existing product: by creating awareness
of the brand; linking the right associations to the products image in the consumers
memory, facilitating stronger consumer-product connection etc.

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Advertising
Print and
broadcast ads
Packaging-outer
Motion pictures
Brochures and
booklets
posters and
leaflets
Directories
Reprinting of ads
Billboards
Display signs
Audio-visual
materials
Symbols and
logos
Videotapes
Facebook, twitter

Sales
promotions
Contests,
games
Premiums and
gifts

Events/experi
ence

Public
Relations

Sports

speeches

entertainment

press- kits

Sampling
Fair and
tradeshows

festivals

Seminars

arts

Exhibitions
Demonstratio
ns

factory tours
Company
museums
street
activities

Annual reports
Charitable
donations

Coupons
Rebates
Entertainment
Tie-ins

Publications
Community
relations
Lobbying
Identity media
company
magazine

Personal
selling
sales
presentations

Direct
marketing

sales meetings
face to face
meetings
incentive
programs

mailings

samples
fairs and trade
shows

TV shopping

catalogs

telemarketing
electronic
shopping

Fax mail
e-mail
voice mail

facebook,
twitter

Figure 01: Common Communication Platforms Adapted from: Lane.K & Kotler.
P., .,(2006). 12ed.Marketing management 12e, Pearson Prentice Hall: new Jersey

Role of marketing communication Mix:

The traditional role of marketing communications was largely concerned with
providing the mechanism by which the features and benefits of the product or the
service could be promoted as inexpensively as possible by using the promotion mix
as in personal selling, advertising, sales promotion and personal relations, with the
ultimate purpose of persuading customers to buy specific products. However, the
marketing communication mix is becoming more important within the marketing
mix, as they include the need to communicate with a more diverse range of
stakeholders and it builds higher levels of customer service through interactive or
relationship marketing. (Doole. I & Lowe. R, 2003)
Moreover,

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In a way marketing communications represent the voice of the brand and

are a means by which it can establish a dialogue and build relationships with
consumers.
Marketing communications allow companies to link their brands to other
people, places events, brands, experiences, feelings, and things.
Marketing communications perform various functions for the consumers;
Customers can be told or shown what a product is about, What kind of
person use this product, and consumer can be given reward for usage or trial.
Marketing communications can contribute to brand equity by establishing the
brand in memory and crafting a brand image.
Promotion describes the communications activities of advertising, personal
selling, sales promotion and publicity/public relations

1. Advertising as Non personal communication tool:

Advertising is a form of communication intended to persuade an audience
(viewers, readers or listeners) to take some action. It includes the name of a product
or service and how that product or service could benefit the consumer, to persuade
potential customers to purchase or to consume that particular brand. (Oxford
journals.org)
The institute of practitioners in advertising defined advertising as Advertising
presents the most persuasive possible selling message to the right prospects for the
product or service at the lowest possible cost.(Yadien. D & Jefkins. F., 2000)
Advertising objective is a specific communication task to be accomplished by with a
target audience within specific time-whether the aim is to perform inform, persuade
or remind.
Table No 02 lists the examples of the advertising objectives.
Possible Advertising Objectives are:
To inform (informative advertising)
Telling the market about a new product
Suggesting new uses for a product
Informing the market of a price change
Explaining how the product works
To persuade (persuasive advertising)
Building brand preference

Describing available sources

correcting false impressions
Reducing buyer's fears
building a company image

Persuading buyers to purchase now

persuading buyers to receive a sales
Encouraging switching to your brand
call
Changing buyer perceptions of product attributes
To remind (Reminder advertising)
Reminding buyers that the product may be keeping the product in buyer's mind
needed in the future
during off seasons
Reminding buyers where to buy the
Maintaining top-of-mind product
product
awareness
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Table 02: Possible advertising objectives. Adapted from kotler.P., (2005)

Following are the tools/mediums of the advertising:

Newspap
ers

Direct
mail
Magazines

Radio
Advertising
Mediums

Professional &
technical
magazines

Outdoor &
Transport
advertising
cinema

Television

Figure 03: Adapted from: Kotler. Philip, et. al (2005). Principles of Marketing ,
Pearson Education Limited: England.
Newspapers: Faster and more efficient circulation is possible. Many
international newspapers e.g.; International herald Tribune, financial Times,
Asahi Shim bun, Wall Street Asian, Jung, are printed simultaneously in many
countries.
Magazines: Many journals and magazines carry ads that target regional,
international or global customers. Examples are Fortune, The economist.
Many womens magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Elle, Vogue, and Harpers
Bazaar are printed in many countries in many languages.

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Television & Radio: There is almost no country where advertising through

TV is not carried out. CNN, BBC World wide, NBC, CNBC, WWE, etc are well
recognized international media channels.
Outdoor & Transport advertising: Examples are Metro bus, park benches,
trucks, Taxis, bus stop shelters.
Direct mail: Postal services vary from country to country. This advertising
technique is good for local market. Adding to this media, internet is growing
fastly and direct mail is shifted to emails and is more personalized now.(That
is direct marketing).

Advertisers use a vast array of techniques to present their brands in the most
favourable light and persuade customers to contemplate purchasing these brands.
Frequently employed techniques are:
Informational ads (such as automobile ads in the classified pages of the
newspaper)
Humorous executions (e.g; Little Caesar Pizza ads)
Sex appeals (e.g. Calvin Klein ads)
Celebrity endorsements ( e.g.; using ex-athletes such as Michael Jordan or
some entertainer like bill Cosey)
Various emotional appeals (nostalgia, romance, excitement etc)
Effective advertising is usually creative. Advertising which is the same as most of
the other advertising is unable to get customers attention and is unable to break
through the competitive clusters. ( Jewler. J.A , 1985) some of the examples of
creative and effective advertising are:
The long pink bunny campaign for Energizer batteries
Absolut vodkas continuing campaign that focuses on this brands hip image.
The milk-mustache campaign that associates drinking milk with a wide
variety of interesting and respected celebrities.

ROLE & Characteristics of Advertising:

1. Pervasiveness: Seller can repeat a message many times. Buyers when
receive message they can compare that product with messages of many
other competitors. Example is Nike ad while watching a cricket match.
2. Amplified expressiveness: Advertising provides opportunities for
dramatising the company and its product through artful use of print, sound,
and colour.
3. Impersonality: audience does not feel obligated to pay attention or respond
to advertising. it is a monologue in front of, not a dialogue with, the audience.

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4. Advertising adds value to brands by influencing consumers perception. it
causes brands to be viewed as more elegant, more stylish, more prestigious.
When advertising is done effectively, brands are perceived as higher quality
or of better value, which results in increased market share and greater
profitability. It is little wonder that Proctor & Gamble, leading consumersgood firm fully appreciates advertising value-adding role. Vice President of P
& G , hence, characterized strong advertising as deposit in the brand equity
bank. (Sanisi. J., 1992)
5. On the one hand, advertising can be used to build up a long- term image
for a product (such as Mercedes-Benz ads). On the other hand, advertising
can trigger quick sales (as when department stores like Debenhams and
Selfridges advertise a weekend sale. (Kirmani. A., 1990)
6. Advertising can be considered as an economic investment. Some American
companies invest over $1 billion a year on domestic advertising. in the year
1997, for example, proctor & gamble spent $2.6 billion; General Motors spent
$2.4 billion, Time Warner spent $1.4 billion. (Advertising Age, September 29,
1997, p 04)

Demerits of advertising:
1. Although it reaches many people quickly, advertising is impersonal and
cannot be as persuasive as company salespeople.
2. Advertising is only able to carry on a one-way communication with the
audience, and the audience does not feel that it has to pay attention or
respond.
3. In addition, advertising can be very costly. Although, some advertising
forms such as newspapers and radio advertising can be done on smaller
budgets, other forms, such as network TV advertising, requires very large
budgets.
4. In most of the cases, managers and the advertisers have to rely heavily on
large doses of judgement along with more quantitative analysis when they
are setting advertising budgets. This intuition based advertising budget may
not be always right. (Ehrenberg. A., et.al .,1997)
5. Some critics claim that large consumer companies use lots of image
advertising extensively without really knowing its effects and they overspend
as a form of insurance against not spending enough.

2: Sales promotions as Non Personal Communication tool:

Kotler., et.al (2005), defined this as Short term incentives which are used to
encourage purchase or sales of a product or a service. sales promotions are the
tools of marketing, which are added benefits offered by the companies to encourage
the purchase or sales of a product or a service.
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Advertising in contrast with sales promotions offers the reasons to buy the product
where as sales promotions offers the reasons to buy now.
Sales promotions includes the wide variety of promotion tools designed to stimulate
earlier or stronger market response. It includes:
Consumer promotionsamples, coupons, rebates, prices offs, premiums,
contests, and others.
Trade promotion-- buying allowances, free goods, merchandise allowances,
cooperative advertising, push money, dealer sales contests etc.
Sales force promotionsbonuses, contests, sales rallies etc.

Figure 00: shows the common Sales promotion tools:

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sampl
es

Lotteri
es and
game
s

coupo
ns

Compet
itions,
sweep
stakes

cash

Sales promotion
Tools

Point

refund
offers

price

of
purchas
e

packs
Advert
ising
specialiti
es

premi
ums

Figure 04: Adapted from: Kotler. et.al (2005). Principles of Marketing. 4th edition.
pearson education limited: England: Harlow.

Roles and Characteristics and objectives of sales promotions:

1. Facilitating the Introduction of New products to Trade: Many retailers
refuse to carry new products unless they receive extra compensation in the
form of trade allowances, display allowances and other forms of allowances.
2. Reinforcing advertising: a final can do capability of sales promotion is to
reinforce advertising. An advertising campaign can be strengthen by wellcoordinated sales promotion.
3. Obtaining purchases from Trial consumers: Marketers depend on free
samples, coupons, and other sales promotions to encourage trial purchases
of new products. Many consumers would never try a new product without
these promotions.
4. Increasing on and off shelf Merchandising space: trade oriented sales
promotions enable a manufacturer to obtain extra shelf space for a
temporary period. this space may be in the form of extra facing (i.e., rows of
shelf space) or off- shelf space in a gondola or an aisle-display.
5. Neutralizing competitive advertising and sales promotions: sales
promotions can be used to offset competitors advertising and sales
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promotions efforts. For example, one companys 50 cents-off coupon loses
much of its appeal when a competitor simultaneously comes out with a $1
coupon.
(Schultz.D & Robinson. W., 1986)
6. Moreover, sales promotions can build customer relationships. examples
include all the frequency marketing programs, loyalty card schemes and
clubs that have mushroomed in recent years.

Demerits of sales promotion:

1. Usually, when a brand is price promoted more often, the consumer begins to
devalue it and buy it mainly when it goes on sales.
2. There is also an evidence that price promotions do not build permanent total
category volume. One study of more than 1000 promotions concluded that
only 16% paid off. (Magid. M . Abraham & Lodish. M. L., 1990, reviewed in
2004)
3. Sales promotions cannot give the trade or consumers any compelling longterm reason to continue purchasing a brand.
4. Moreover, sales promotions cannot permanently stop an established brands
declining sales trend, or change the basic non acceptance of an undesired
brand.

Advertising versus sales promotions:

A decade ago the advertising to sales promotions was about 60:40. Today- in many
consumers-packaged goods companies, sales promotions accounts for 75% of the
combined budget. (Strang. R.,)
With the increasing numbers of brands, , companies use promotions more
frequently, to attract customers as Consumers now are more price oriented, many
brands seem similar, advertising efficiency has declined because of rising costs,
media clutter and legal restraints. There is a danger however, in letting advertising
take too much of a back seat to promotions, because advertising increase or build
up the brand loyalty. Sales promotions, whereas, can devalue the product offerings
in buyers mind as they offer coupons, deals, premiums etc. small share competitors
find it advantageous to use sales promotions, because they cannot afford to match
the market leaders large advertising budgets; nor can they obtain shelf space
without offering trade allowances or stimulate consumer trial allowances without
offering incentives. (Michael. F. Kent, 1985)

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3: Direct Marketing:
Direct marketing is the use of consumer-direct channels to reach and deliver goods
and services to customers without using marketing middlemen.
Companies now a days are trying to increase the productivity by reducing the
personal selling and are seeking to substitute it by mail-and phone by selling units
to reduce the field expenses. Sales produced through traditional direct marketing
tools have been growing rapidly. Whereas US retail sales grow around 3 percent
annually, catalog and direct mail sales grow at double that rate.
all types of marketers use direct mail as a strategically important advertising
medium. Business week magazine claims, albeit with some hyperbole, that
marketers of all types of consumer goods are turning from TV box to the Mail box.
(Business week, 1991)
Some of the tools of direct marketing are as follows:

Direct
mail
Mobile
device
s

Catalo
gs

Website
s

Telemarket
ing

kiosks

12

Interactiv
e TV

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Figure05: Adapted from: Czinkota. M. et.al (2000).

Characteristics of direct Marketing:

1. Customised: The message can be prepared to appeal to the addressed
individual.
2. Up-to date: The message can be prepared very quickly
3. Interactive: The message can be changed depending on the customers
response.

Demerits of Direct Marketing:

1. Invasion of privacy: Every time consumers made an order for products on
internet or by mail or telephone enter a sweep stakes, apply for a credit card,
their names, addresses and purchasing behaviour are added to several
company databases.
2. Unfairness: Some direct marketers take advantage of impulsive or less
sophisticated buyers. TV shopping shows and infomercials may be the worst
culprits with their smooth talking hosts and claims of drastic price reductions.
3. Irritation: Many people do not like the increasing number of hard-sell, direct
marketing solicitations. especially bothersome are dinnertime or late night
phone calls, poorly trained callers and computerized calls placed by auto-dial
recorded message players.

4: Personal selling:
Czinkota. M. et.al (2000) defined personal selling as Direct oral communication
designed to explain how an individuals or firms good, services, or ideas fit the
needs of one or more prospective
Personal selling is one of the most important elements of the promotional mix and a
critical activity of marketing management. It is also one of the most expensive form
of promotion that a firm can undertake.
The selling environment in concern with selling types is in following sheet:
Selling
Environments
Over the counter

Field Selling

13

Selling Types
Order taker
Order Getter
professional sales
people
national Account
managers
Missionary sales
people
support salespeople

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Telemarketing

Outbound
Inbound
Figure 06: selling environments and types of selling in Czinkota. M. et.al (2000).
Marketing best practices: The Dryden Press, Harcourt College Publishers: USA.

Roles and Characteristics of personal selling:

1. It involves direct communication between a sales representative and a
prospective customer. , it is the only form of promotion that allows the firm to
immediately respond to the customer prospects.
2. Personal selling allows for immediate customer feedback, so a firm has timely
information regarding customer satisfaction with its offerings.
3. Personal interaction: It involves an immediate and interactive relationship
between two or more persons. Each party can observe the others reactions.
4. Cultivation: Personal selling permits all kinds of relationships to spring up,
ranging from a matter of fact selling relationships to a deep personal
friendship.

Demerits of personal selling:

1. Due to the costs associated with the personal selling, this form of promotion
is not used as often for consumer markets where there are many ,
geographically dispersed buyers whose individuals purchases do not support
the average cost of a sales call
2. A sales person, if not trained, sometimes get humiliated and react to
customers, which is sometimes bad PR for the company he working for.
3. Because selling is instrumental in generating revenue for an organization,
sales management requires the skills of planning, directing, controlling and
implementing the personal selling function, which could be too expensive at
times and not too efficient.

5: Personal Relations :
Personal relations is building new relations with the companys various publics by
obtaining favourable publicity, building up a good corporate image and handling or
heading off unfavourable rumours, stories and events. (Kotler.P; Wong Veronica;
Saunders. J;Armstrong Gary.,2005)
Personal relations involves a variety of programs designed to promote or protect
a company image or its individual products.
PR is similar to advertising because both are forms of mass communication; the
difference is that the publicity generated by PR receives free news space or air time
in comparison to the paid-for-space and time in the case of advertising.
Some tools of the Public relations are as follows:

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Speeche
s
special
events

news

Sponsorshi
p

public
service
activiti
es

Tools of
PR

corpora
te
identity
materia
ls

written
materials

audiovisual
materials

Figure07: Kotler. et.al (2005). Principles of Marketing. 4th edition. pearson

education limited: England: Harlow.

Reactive PR or Bad Public relations:

Reactive Pr is the negative publicity. For example:
Audi of America experienced and irreversible loss in sales after news report
were disseminated claiming that the Audi 5000-S sometimes lunged out of
control when shifted into drives or gears. Sales plummeted from approx.
74000 units in 1985 to sales of approx.12000 in 1991.
(Kiley.D., 1991)
Food Lion, a regional supermarket chain, suffered grave losses and was
forced to close some stores after news reports charged that the stores are
unsanitary and they sell out-of-date meat, fish and other poultry products.
Cans of Pepsi cola were rumoured to be contaminated with hypodermic
needles, but skilfully conceived public relations quickly dispelled this hoax.
(Magiera.M, 1993)

Characteristics of PR:
1. Press relations: Presenting news and information about the organization in
the most positive light.

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2. Product publicity: Sponsoring efforts to publicize specific products. for
example different brands have their own ambassadors , which are popular
celebrities , such as Christiano Ronaldo sponsored by CK.
3. Corporate communications: promoting understanding of the organization
through internal and external communications.
4. Counselling: Advising management about public issues and company
positions and image during good times and bad.
5. Assisting in the launch of new products: The amazing commercial
success of toys such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, mighty Morphin Power
Rangers, Beanie babies,
6. Assisting in repositioning a mature product: New York City had
extremely bad press in the 1970s until the I love new York campaign.
7. Influencing Specific target groups: McDonalds sponsors special
neighbourhood events in Latino and African American communities to
produce good will.
8. Defending Products that have encountered public problems: PR
professionals must be adept at managing crisis, such as the Coca Cola
incident in Belgium over allegedly contaminated soda, and Fire stones crisis
with regard to the tire tread separation problem.
9. Building the corporate image in a way that reflects favourably on its
product: Bill Gates speeches and books have helped to create an innovative
image for Microsoft Corporation.
10.Dramatization: Public relations has the potential for dramatizing a company
or a product.

Selecting the right communication mix:

Companies in the past often treated the marketing communications as virtually
separate activities, whereas current marketing philosophy holds that integration of
all elements is absolutely imperative for success. The emergence of integrated
marketing communications (IMC) has become one of the most significant examples
of development in the marketing discipline. (Kitchen, 2003)
Smith et al. (1999) have defined IMC as
Management and control of all market communications,
The strategic analysis, choice, implementation and control of all elements of
marketing communications which efficiently,
Ensuring that the brand positioning, personality and messages are delivered
synergistically across every element of communication.
IMC is a powerful tool in reaching target audiences with persuasive messages. One
of the great strengths of IMC is its flexibility. A finely crafted IMC effort can influence
those audiences which were otherwise unreachable. (Pitta.D. et. Al, 2006)

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Moreover, in determining an appropriate mix of marketing communications
elements, the product or brand manager must weigh the variety of factors related
to the category, brand and the market. A marketing manager should consider it first
whether the entire budget goes towards the supporting of sales force or should
some of it be allocated to the television advertising? Will coupons or bonus packs or
gift vouchers help to move a product more? There is no right formula. The decision
could be guided by addressing the following issues.

Criteria involved in selecting right communication mix are:

1. Nature of product:
The importance of different communication and promotion tools varies between
consumer and business markets. It may happen that advertising is a major
promotion tool for one and for the other it have less importance. It all is dependent
on the nature of the product. Consumer goods companies usually put more of their
funds into advertising, followed by sales promotion, personal selling, and then
public relations. In general, personal selling is used more heavily with the expensive
and risky goods and in markets with fewer and larger sellers.
Following are the graphs of relative importance of some of marketing
communication mix as for consumer and industrial goods.

CONSUMER GOODS
INDUSTRIAL GOODS
Advertising

Sales promotion

Personal
selling
Public
relations

17

Personal selling
Sales promotion

Personal selling

Public
relations

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Relative importance of promotional tool

Relative

importance of
Promotional tool
Figure 08: Relative importance of promotion tools in consumer versus industrial
markets Adapted from: Armstrong.G.,(2005).
2. What are the objectives/the hierarchy of effects and determining the
consumers when they show purchase intention?
Figure 00: presents the framework, which is called as hierarchy of effects that
provides a useful way of thinking about the objectives that marketing
communication is designed to accomplish. Different stages in hierarchy are
best understood by examining actual communications situation. Consider
again the magazine advertisement that was presented in the opening vignette
(Gardenburgers Equity-Enhancing Effort). In the case of Gardenburger
efforts, they created consumer awareness by presenting a small story about
Lucy the lion tamer wanting to eat a meaty burger but not wanting lions to
smell meat on her breath. Moreover, consumer awareness is not only the
single factor; advertising should persuade the consumers that in reality,
Garden burger veggie patties taste like real meat. Other clever fictive devices
are designed to influence consumers beliefs/knowledge to encourage the
formation of positive attitude and purchase intentions towards the product.
The process is shown in the following figure No 09:

Purchase

Purchase Intention

Attitude

Beliefs/Knowledge

Awareness

Unawareness
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Figure 09: Hierarchy of effects

Examples of the consumer awareness as in Hierarchy effects:
Following are the two different examples of two different products but with the same
approaches: one of the ad is about a fizzy drink seltzer that is making the
consumers aware about the thing that sugary beverages and soda can make them
fat, they should go for either water, seltzer (which is zero sugar) or low fat milk
instead. Moreover the word POUNDS is highlighted in other colour giving
customers the knowledge that they could save the pounds as in money and as in
body fats.

Figure 00: Adapted from: http://boulderbite.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/NYCanti-soda-ad1-285x300.jpg & http://images.google.co.uk/images?

um=1&hl=en&rlz=1I7AD BR_en&tb s=isch:1&q=
gardenburger+ads&sa=N&start=100&ndsp=20
3. Push versus Pull promotion strategy:
Both of the push and pull strategies utilize personal selling, advertising, sales
promotion mostly. Some small industrial goods companys uses only push
strategies; some direct marketing companies use only pull strategies. Most of
the large companies use the combination of both. For example, RJR/Nabisco
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uses mass media advertising to pull its products, and a large sales force and
trade promotions to push its products through the channels. It all depends on
the nature of the market and the product for which strategies to use, be it
push, pull or both and the product life cycle.
(Armstrong.G & Kotler.P., 1994)

PUSH STRATEGY
Producer marketing

Resellers

activities

Produc
er

Activities (personal selling,

Trade promotions, Retailers
etc)
and
Wholesal

(Personal selling,
Consum etc)
advertising
ers

PULL STRATEGY
Demand
Retailers
Consum
&
ers
Wholesal
Producer marketing activities
(Consumer advertising, sales
promotions and other)
Figure 10: Push versus Pull strategy Adapted from: (Kotler.P; Wong Veronica;
Saunders. J;Armstrong Gary.,2005)
Produce
r

Demand

4. Buyer readiness stage:

These are the stages that normally consumers pass through on their way to
purchase, including awareness, knowledge, liking preference, conviction and
purchase. This process can begin with simple messages that repeat the company or
product name. For example, when Orange introduced its mobile phone network, it
began with an extensive teaser advertising campaign to create name familiarity.
Initial ads for Orange created curiosity and awareness by emphasizing brand name.

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The effects of the promotional tools vary for the different buyer readiness stages.
(Armstrong. G, 1994)

Liking

Preference

Conviction

Purchase

Figure 11: shows Buyers readiness Stage:

5. Product life cycle:

For the product life cycle stage it should be noted that is the brand well established
or is the new product in the introduction stage? Thi9s is the crucial point as if to
understand the product life cycle, for where it lies in the cycle and then marketing
tools are used as per need:

Figure 12: Product life cycle: Adapted from:

http://www.davedolak.com/advtg.htm :
Accessed on: March15, 2010.

Stages of product life cycle versus Marketing communication tools:

Introduction stage of product: Heavy use of advertising is used, public relations
are generated for awareness of the product and to involve buyers readiness stage,
sales promotions could be used for trial too, to know where the product would lie.
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Growth stage of product: The marketing tools which should be used are more
advertising, public relations, branding and brand marketing, and personal selling for
distribution of the product or brand.
Maturity stage of product: Not much advertising be done at this stage. Some
reminder and persuasive techniques should be used the marketing tools to make
the consumers and other customers realize that you do sell too.
Decline stage of product: Advertising and public relations decreases at this point.
Limited sales promotion can be used depending on the nature of product. Personal
selling should be used as the tool for distribution of product.
(Dolak.D., 2009)

Some of the examples of selecting Specific and right

Communication Mix according to the situation and the product life
cycle are:

To reach target markets and build brand equity, holistic marketers are
creatively employing multiple forms of communications. In Introducing the
Mini cooper which originally was sold for only seven years and withdrawn in
1960s due to stiff emission regulations and introduced in market again in
March 2002, BMW did not even use TV advertising. Different poster ads for
Mini Cooper proclaimed unusual texts as THE SUV BACKLASH OFFICIALLY
STARTS NOW, GOLIATH LOST, XXL-XL-L-M-S-MINI, PONY-UP. WITH A
SMALLER AMOUNT OF PONY etc. (Levin.K. & Kotler. P., 2006)
Two of the poster ads examples are as follows:

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Figure 13: Adapted from: http://images.google.co.uk/images?
um=1&hl=en&rlz=1I7ADBR_en&tbs=isch:1&q=Mini+cooper+ads&sa=N&start=80
&ndsp=20 , Accessed on: March 10, 2010.

To launch its new Kleenex soft pack product, Kimberly-Clark budgeted 75

percent of its overall advertising dollars to television, 23 percent to print, and
2 percent online to build awareness and drive trial. Online ads were found to
help reach an audience that TV might have overlooked, and online and
magazine ads were found to be the most effective mix for brand awareness.
(Brand week, 2003)
Supermarket chain Sainsburys used seamlessly integrated offline and online
communications to promote its Sainsburys To You home delivery service. A
consistent message was used to promote a consistent offer of 5 [7] off the
customers first online shop via online and offline advertising, the Sainsburys
website, email outs and in-store events. Although it seems obvious, according
to John Baker, head of digital services at media agency Proximity London, it is
not uncommon to find the online agency saying they will offer a discount of
5 to shop online, and the offline ad saying 10 off.
(David Murphy., 2003)

Changes happening in media and communication

landscape:
Twenty years ago, 75 percent of marketing budgets went to advertising in the US.
Today, 50 percent goes into trade promotions, 25 percent into consumer promotions
and less than 25 percent into advertising (Kitchen, 2003). The allocation of
communication budgets away from mass media and traditional advertising has
obviously promoted IMC in recognition and importance for effective marketing. The
emergence of IT has fundamentally changed the media landscape, contributed to
an extensive deregulation of markets and individualized patterns of consumption
and increased the segmentation of consumer tastes and preferences (Eagle and
Kitchen, 2000; Kitchen, 2003).
On a macro level, we can distinguish three factors which have fundamentally
changed the conditions for IMC; deregulations of markets, globalization of economy
and individualization of consumption. The emergence of IT is another underlying
factor. Communication always built upon tree systems which are sound image and
writing. All these systems depend on technological development. Previously these
three systems were separate. IT revolution has made a total communicative
integration possible, which in turn have changed business structures. These large
business areas are now integrated: telephone, television and the computer industry
(Liber & Malmo., 2002) as the total number of internet hosts expanded from
4852,000 in 1995 to 9472,000 in 1996- with estimates of total users at 30 million
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and higher and now they are not even the double in spite much much more than
that. (Network Wizards)
The fundamental consequence of this integration is that the traditional emphasis on
heavy-weight mass communication campaigns (so-called above-the-line) has been
replaced by more direct and highly targeted promotional activities using direct
marketing and other tools aimed to reach the smallest of all target groups and the
single individual. (Engel, Et.al, 1994)
Suitability of modern marketing percentage superiority over traditional marketing to
meet the objectives of marketing communication mix could be seen in the following
table:

Percentage superiority of.

live
communica
tion
Awareness phase
Increase brand
awareness
Familiarity phase
Cultivate brand image
Foster trust in brand
Preference phase
set brand apart from
competition
demonstrate brand
quality
24

Traditional
communication

46

54

58.2
87.8

41.8
12.2

75.2

24.8

83.8

16.2

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deliver brand experience
68.3
31.7
Purchase phase
directly increase sales
74.9
25.1
Loyalty phase
Increased brand loyalty
81.3
18.7
Improve customer
retention
84.7
15.3
Figure 14: Suitability of live communication to meet the objectives of marketing
communication: Adapted from: Kirchgeorg. M et.al (2010). Objectives for
successfully participating in trade shows: Journal of Business and industrial
marketing. 25/1 (2010) pp 63-72. Emerald Publishing Limited. [ISSN-0885-8624]
Proforma, a franchise business that provides promotional products, is spending a
couple of millions dollars to create a custom software system for its database
marketing, as is said by Banning the concerned person at Proforma. In his view
Twitter and LinkedIn are helping in making more of their annual sales. Marcy
Shinder, VP-brand manager at American Express OPEN, expressed on the
changes of landscape. In her view the marketers in old economy had time to rely
on agencies and partners to package thinking and to present points of views on the
latest trends. But the new economy is moving so rapidly, Marketers to keep pace
with the fast moving trends, have to work hard on the research and on the
advertising communication mix for which one to use, to make that brand more cost
effective in less possible time. (Maddox.K, 2009)
Another example is of Virgin America airlines, where people once only griped
about their lost bags, crowded flights and cattle-call boarding. Virgin America flyers
are now tweeting and telling anyone who will listen about in-flight Wi-Fi, spacious
leather seats, mood lighting, and in seat food and beverage ordering through touch
screens control panels. They began their new operations little over two years ago
and are now enjoying the emails receivings and other feedback from customers
wishing that may their flights would have lasted longer. All this was made possible
by relying heavily on the marketing mix as on PR, social media, word-of-mouth and
partnerships with properties such as Google and HBOs entourage. (Bush.M, 2009)
One other example of changing media is of viewers of recent episodes of Warner
Bros. syndicated Ellen DeGeneres Show watched as Jeannie, one of the programs
production assistants, drove across the country in a new 2010 Terrain from General
Motors GMS. But fans that follow the shows twitter feed, @ The Ellen Show, also
had the chance to participate in a gas-card giveaway from GMC. As of Nov. 06,
2009, Ms Degeneres has 3.6 million followers on Twitter, third only to Ashton
Kutcher and Britney spears, Warner Bros said. (SteinBerg. B., 2009)

Conclusions:
Out of the thousands of brands on store shelves today, what is the chance that a
consumer will see any one particular item, much less buy it? In todays society,
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consumers are rushed for time. They do not have any time to leisurely walk up and
down every aisle, perusing all of the wares. A brand may be of high quality or fairly
valued, but nonetheless it will fail to achieve sales and profit objectives if potential
customers are unaware of it or do not perceive it favourably. Some of the promotion
mix (Kotler, 2005) consists of specific blending of advertising, personal selling, sales
promotion, public relations, and direct marketing tools that are used by company to
pursue its advertising and marketing objectives and to reach the customers in this
busy world. The traditional role of marketing communications was largely concerned
with providing the mechanism by which the features and benefits of the product or
the service could be promoted as inexpensively as possible. Today these, marketing
communication play different roles, as in Advertising is a form of communication
intended to persuade an audience (viewers, readers or listeners) to take some
action. When advertising is done effectively, brands are perceived as higher quality
or of better value, which results in increased market share and greater profitability.
Some demerits of advertising are being impersonal, one-way communication,
and more over advertisers have to rely heavily on large doses of judgement.
Sales promotions are the tools of marketing, which are added benefits offered by
the companies to encourage the purchase or sales of a product or a service.
Advertising in contrast with sales promotions offers the reasons to buy the product
where as sales promotions offers the reasons to buy now. Other marketing tools are
direct marketing, personal relations, personal selling etc. Direct marketing is the use
of consumer-direct channels to reach and deliver goods and services to customers
without using marketing middlemen. Personal selling is one of the most important
elements of the promotional mix and a critical activity of marketing management.
Because personal selling is instrumental in generating revenue for an organization,
sales management requires the skills of planning, directing, controlling and
implementing the personal selling function, which could be too expensive at times
and not too efficient. To be sure, the internet and other web tools promises exciting
marketing communications potential. However, marketers trying to use the web
alone to build brands face many challenges. One limitation is that the internet does
not build mass brand awareness. The web simply cannot match the impact of World
cups, Olympic games or six nation Rugby, where tens of millions of people see the
same 30-second Nokia or Nike-ad at the same time. Instead, it is like millions of
private conversations. Using the web only, it is hard to establish universal meanings
such as Nokia connecting People or Just Do It that are at the heart of brand
recognition and brand value. For using the web based tools or internet, the
marketing communication should be integrated with other marketing
communication mix to make the customers aware at the most possible level and to
make them realize the attributes of the product so they could choose it. IMC
produce better communication existency and greater sales impact. They lead to a
total marketing communication strategy aimed at showing how the company and its
products can help customers solve their problems.
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