ADVERTISING & MARKETING THEORY

Isha Jain
MFA previous year

Q1.Discuss in detail the importance of advertising as a tool of marketing?

Advertising is a single component of the marketing process. It's the part that involves
getting the word out concerning your business, product, or the services you are offering.
Advertising and marketing are key elements in a company's success. One cannot be used
without the other.

This essentially is charged with having a product or service and creating a need or a
perceived desire of the consumer to buy it. The message is designed to create
awareness that the product exists, how it will be of value to the consumer or make their
lives easier because they have it and explain why they should buy it immediately.

Advertising, personal selling, publicity, and public relations form the components of the
marketing communication or promotional mix.

Adverting is only one element of the promotion mix, but it often considered
prominent in the overall marketing mix design. Its high visibility and pervasiveness
made it as an important social and encomia topic in Indian society. It is a single aspect of
marketing, which involves spreading the word about a business, product, or service
offered to the public. Strategy is definitely a key part here, as there are many avenues to
use. Advertising can serve for marketing well if it is suitable for the marketing strategy. It
is a way to marketing the products or service of a company. Advertising is one of the
keys to a successful business.

Q2.What is marketing mix? Discuss the role of promotional mix in marketing with
recent example.

The marketing mix refers to the set of actions, or tactics, that a company uses to
promote its brand or product in the market. The 4Ps make up a typical marketing mix -
Price, Product, Promotion and Place. However, nowadays, the marketing mix increasingly
includes several other Ps like Packaging, Positioning, People and even Politics as vital mix
elements.

Price: refers to the value that is put for a product. It depends on costs of production,
segment targeted, ability of the market to pay, supply - demand and a host of other
direct and indirect factors. There can be several types of pricing strategies, each tied in
with an overall business plan. Pricing can also be used a demarcation, to differentiate
and enhance the image of a product.

Product: refers to the item actually being sold. The product must deliver a minimum
level of performance; otherwise even the best work on the other elements of the
marketing mix won't do any good.

Place: refers to the point of sale. In every industry, catching the eye of the consumer and
making it easy for her to buy it is the main aim of a good distribution or 'place' strategy.
Retailers pay a premium for the right location. In fact, the mantra of a successful retail
business is 'location, location, location'.

Promotion: this refers to all the activities undertaken to make the product or service
known to the user and trade. This can include advertising, word of mouth, press reports,
incentives, commissions and awards to the trade. It can also include consumer schemes,
direct marketing, contests and prizes

All the elements of the marketing mix influence each other. They make up the business
plan for a company and handled right, can give it great success. But handled wrong and
the business could take years to recover. The marketing mix needs a lot of
understanding, market research and consultation with several people, from users to
trade to manufacturing and several others.
The promotion mix is the blend of different methods and tools of communication you
use in presenting your company, products or services to target customers. Effective
promotion is a key component of the marketing mix, as it is the element that helps you
attract customers, persuade them to buy, and generate loyalty.

Four P's
Promotion is one of the four primary strategic components of the marketing mix, often
called the "4 P's." Essentially, the role of the promotion mix is to create synergy with the
other three elements -- product, place and pricing -- such that you optimize your
company's customer and profit potential. Promotion brings together the strengths of
your product, its availability, and the fairness of your benefits at a particular price.

Elements
The promotion mix is broad, but generally includes techniques in three broad areas:
advertising, public relations and personal selling.

Advertising is often the most expensive part of promotion, as it includes paid messages
delivered through media such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines, billboards
and the Internet.

Public relations includes efforts to promote goodwill through media exposure, press
conferences, news announcements and community involvement.
Personal selling is more interactive and is common when you sell complex or expensive
products that require more assertive persuasion.

Sales Promotion

1)While much of the promotion mix centers on long-term communication, sales

promotions are a specific strategy used when you want to generate immediate traffic,
revenue or cash flow.

2)This is common for new companies or companies in highly competitive industries

trying to lure customers.

3)Overuse of sales promotions can restrict profit that you may earn by being patient
with higher prices. You can also instill a strong price orientation in customers' minds.

Example(Reliance Jio)

Product
Reliance Jio

Price: Reliance Jio promised to its customers to get the cheapest (low price)
As cheap as in range of Rs. 50 per GB.

Place: For the availability of product distribution channels were well planned.
Reliance Jio planned distribution strategy in such a manner that, though Jio was new
enterant but still already had reached to 18000 cities and over 2 lac villages across
nation. Jio was aiming to cover around 90 percent of India

Promotion:
Promotion plays a major role in creating pull from buyer side. In the promotion strategy,
Jio has made Shahrukh Khan as it's brand ambassador. TVC, Banners, hoardings and print
media advertisement. On digital platforms social media promotion was also done.
‘Jio Digital life' was the tagline used by brand which was aligned to #DigitalIndia
campaign of Modi Government

In other words 4Ps of Marketing is a framework to design the strategy related to

product, price, place and promotion as per the opportunities available in the market.
Reliance Jio has amazed everyone for a promising entry into an industry which is highly
competitive and high market share percentage is only viable option to exist.

Q3.What is personal selling? Discuss its process, advantages and disadvantages.

Personal selling can be defined as: direct person-to-person communication between
sellers and potential customers, with the aim of persuading potential customers to
purchase products

Personal selling is an effective way to promote and sell high priced and/or complex
products. This is because the person-to-person approach allows for detailed explanation
of products and any individual questions or concerns the customer has can be
immediately addressed.

Main Steps in the Personal Selling Process

There are many steps involved in the process of personal selling: prospecting, pre-
approach, approach, sales presentation, handling objectives, and follow up.

Prospecting
The first step of the personal selling process is called ‘prospecting’. Prospecting refers to
locating potential customers. There are many sources from which potential customers
can be found: observation, social contacts, trade shows, commercially-available
databases, commercially-available mail list and cold calling.

Pre-Approach
The next step in the personal selling process is called the ‘pre-approach’. The pre-
approach involves preparation for the sales presentation. This preparation involves
research about the potential customers, such as market research. Research is useful in
planning the right sales presentation. During the pre-approach the salesperson may also
plan and practice their sales presentation.

The Approach
The next step in the personal selling process is called the ‘approach’. The approach refers
to the initial contact between the salesperson and the prospective customer. During this
stage the sales person takes a few minutes for “small talk” and get to know the potential
customer. The goal of the approach is to determine the specific needs and wants of the
individual customer, as well as allowing the potential customer to relax and open up.

Sales Presentation
The next step in the personal selling process is called the ‘sales presentation’. The sales
presentation involves the salesperson presenting the product or service, describing its
qualities and possibly demonstrating features of the product. Ideally the sales
presentation will be individualized to match the needs and desires of the potential
customer.

Handling Objectives
In some cases, after receiving the sales presentation, the potential customer will have
some questions or concerns. In order to secure a sale, the salesperson must address
these questions or concerns; this step is referred to as ‘handling objectives.’

Closing the sale

The next step in the personal selling process is referred to as ‘closing the sale’. ‘Closing
the sale’ refers to finalizing the sale and persuading the potential customer to make the
purchase. During the ‘closing the sale’ step, prices and payment options may be
negotiated.

Follow up
The final step in the personal selling process is referred to as the ‘follow up.’ The follow
up involves the salesperson contacting the customer after the sale to ensure that the
customer is satisfied. If the customer has any existing issues with the product, the
salesperson will address them. A successful follow up stage of personal selling can be
very effective in ensuring repeat sales, evaluating the effectiveness of the salesperson,
and obtaining additional referrals from the satisfied customer.

Merits:
The strength of personal selling is measured in terms of the merits to its credit as a
distinct form of promotion. These are:

1. Flexibility and adaptability:

Personal selling by its very nature is capable of providing more flexibility, being
adaptable. A salesman can adjust’ himself to the varying needs, moods, motives,
impulses, attitudes and other behavioural variables of the prospects with a view to
communicate effectively and effect the sales for the unit.

2. Minimum waste:
The efforts put in by the salesman are highly focused on a single customer or a small
group of customers. The message is likely to reach them without distortion and
diffusion. This is perhaps the greatest merit in contrast to advertising where the ad
message is released en-masse resulting in message diffusion and distortion causing more
wastage or promotional efforts.

3. Acts as a feed-back:
The salesman is, in effect, a researcher. Being in direct contact with the consumers, he
has the advantage of collecting and transmitting the relevant market information
affecting his company.

Such timely, authentic and verifiable data is the basis of vital decisions, strategies, and
tactical adjustments. Thus, he feels the pulse of the market that is ever changing.

4. Creates lasting impression:

The personal selling process is so direct and penetrating that lasting business relation
can be developed between the selling house and the client. In case of advertising, it acts
like a flash of a thunder-bolt from the blue. The light though very powerful, lasts only for
a few seconds. The light of salesmanship is like an electric current that lasts longer.

5. Pulls through logical sequence:

The personal selling follows a logical selling process which matches to the reasoning of
one and all. A salesman pulls through the customer in the step-by-step selling process
starting with attention and ending with satisfaction with interest, desire, conviction and
action juxtapositioned between.

Further, he detects loss of consumer attention and interest and brings the consumer
back to the track by repetitions and reinforcements.

Limitations:
However, all is not well with process of personal selling. There are certain limitations
which one should take into account before giving the conclusion as to its real worth.
These limitations are:

1. It is expensive:
Personal selling as a method of promotion is quite expensive. Getting salesman is one
thing and retaining him for long is another. Further, there are no definite correlations
between his stay and cost of retaining and the contributions of his, in return, to the firm,
for such costs.

2. Difficulty of getting right kind of salesmen:

Though, theoretically certain guidelines are prescribed for getting right kind of salesmen
from the potential candidates, it is really very difficult to get suitable salesmen from
company’s point of view. The potential salesmen so selected, trained and placed, do not
guarantee loyal service to the company.

3. Stake in consumer loyalty:

Personal selling is such a process-direct and close between the customer and salesman
that the consumer loyalty depends on the presence of such a salesman. The firm’s
fortunes are tied to the loyalty of consumers which, in turn, depends on the very
presence of salesman. The moment the salesman moves out, the clientele drops down
to the detriment of the firm.

4. More administrative problems:

Personal selling involves more of administrative problems than impersonal selling. Since,
the firm is to deal with manpower a driving force behind sales the company has to meet
the challenges in the areas of manpower-planning, organizing, directing, coordinating,
motivating and controlling. The solutions to these problems, even if found out, are not
everlasting because, human content in management is unique.