MARKETING MANAGEMENT ON PRODUCT PROMOTION

MEENU.K.MOHAN Reg No: S1BA8A621740

GREAT EASTERN MANAGEMENT SCHOOL THRISSUR 2011-2016

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the Project work of Marketing Management submitted to the College by the candidate MEENU.K.MOHAN,is the product of bonafide research carried out by the candidate under my supervision in Marketing Management

Thrissur February 2012 (GUIDE) Mrs.Clelia Jaison, Lecturer, Marketing Management

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The Project work was carried out under the remarkable guidance of Mrs.Clelia Jaison, Lecturer, Great Eastern Management School. I am grateful for his guidance and valuable suggestions and for the constant encouragement and cooperation. I also express my sincere gratitude and thanks to all the teachers who helped me to complete this project.

CONTENTS
1. Introduction 2. Marketing 3. Further definitions 4. Marketing orientations 5. Product orientation 6. Contemporary approaches 7. Customer orientation 8. Organizational orientation 9. Mutually beneficial exchange 10.Marketing research 11.Marketing environment 12.Market segmentation 13.Marketing information system 14.Marketing planning 15.Product Life Cycle 16.Marketing mix 17.Marketing communications 18.International marketing 19.Political and legal factors 20.When You Need Assistance for Product Promotion 21.Benefits of online video sharing 22.Effective Editing How it spells the Difference 23.Cash Out and No Closing Cost 24.Where Do I Go To Sell My Home For Free? 25.Role of Promotion 26.Nine elements to the communication process. 27.Promotional Mix 28.Public Relations/Publicity: 29.Selecting Promotional Tools 30.Nature of Sales Promotion 31.Scope and importance of sales promotion: 32.Sales Promotion Methods

33.Publicity 34.What Makes Your Product Special? 35.The Integrated Management Mechanism of Trademark and Brand 36.The Four-in-one Brand Promotion Strategy 37.Brand Protection vs. Infringement 38.Conclusion 39.Bibliography

INTRODUCTION
We introduce a medicine to the market only if we believe it addresses unmet patient needs. Once a product is approved for use, we communicate its benefits and risks; market it in compliance with our code of business conduct, company policies, and applicable legal requirements; and closely monitor results. Providing trusted and timely information about our products is a vital part of our engagement with customers. Patients and prescribers need to navigate complex medical information to understand the benefits and risks of a medicine for a particular individual and condition, compared to alternative treatments. Purchasers of health care services and regulators need the same kind of information to provide a macro view of patient populations needs. Our understanding of a drugs efficacy and safety can change over time as a result of additional research and real-world clinical experience, so our customers need to receive regularly updated information. We communicate product information to our customers in several ways. These include: direct interaction between our sales representatives and prescribers and payers; information provided to patients and physicians through the medicines package label and inserts; product websites; and in some markets, direct-to-consumer advertising. All communications about our products are reviewed and approved internally before use. Some communications, such as advertising, are also reviewed by regulators. We support the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and its revised Code on Interactions with Healthcare Professionals which sets a new standard for appropriate sales and marketing practices. We also maintain compliance programs tied to a Corporate Integrity Agreement.

Marketing
Marketing is a "social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and values with others." It is an integrated process through which companies create value for customers and build strong customer relationships in order to capture value from customers in return. Marketing is used to create the customer, to keep the customer and to satisfy the customer. With the customer as the focus of its activities, it can be concluded that marketing management is one of the major components of business management. The evolution of marketing was caused due to mature markets and overcapacities in the last decades. Companies then shifted the focus from production more to the customer in order to stay profitable. The term marketing concept holds that achieving organizational goals depends on knowing the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions. It proposes that in order to satisfy its organizational objectives, an organization should anticipate the needs and wants of consumers and satisfy these more effectively than competitors Further definitions Marketing is defined by the American Marketing Association as "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large." The term developed from the original meaning which referred literally to going to a market to buy or sell goods or services. Seen from a systems point of view, sales process engineering views marketing as "a set of processes that are interconnected and interdependent with other functions, whose methods can be improved using a variety of relatively new approaches." The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing as "the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably." A different concept is the value-based marketing which states the role of marketing to contribute to increasing shareholder value. In this context, marketing is defined as "the management process that seeks to maximize returns to shareholders by developing relationships with valued customers and creating a competitive advantage." Marketing practice tended to be seen as a creative industry in the past, which included advertising, distribution and selling. However, because the academic study of marketing makes extensive use of social sciences, psychology, sociology, mathematics, economics, anthropology and neuroscience, the profession is now widely recognized as a science, allowing numerous universities to offer Master-of-Science (MSc) programs. The overall process starts with marketing research and goes through market segmentation, business planning and execution, ending with pre and post-sales promotional activities. It is also related to many of the creative arts. The marketing literature is also adept at re-inventing itself and its vocabulary according to the times and the culture. Marketing orientations An orientation, in the marketing context, relates to a perception or attitude a firm holds towards its product or service, essentially concerning consumers and end-users. Earlier approaches

The marketing orientation evolved from earlier orientations namely the production orientation, the product orientation and the selling orientation.

Orientation

Profit driver

Western European timeframe

Description

Production

Production until the methods 1950s

A firm focusing on a production orientation specializes in producing as much as possible of a given product or service. Thus, this signifies a firm exploiting economies of scale, until the minimum efficient scale is reached. A production orientation may be deployed when a high demand for a product or service exists, coupled with a good certainty that consumer tastes do not rapidly alter (similar to the sales orientation).

Product

Quality of the product

until the 1960s

A firm employing a product orientation is chiefly concerned with the quality of its own product. A firm would also assume that as long as its product was of a high standard, people would buy and consume the product. A typical example for a successful launch of a new product which based not on previous researched market needs was the Sony Walkman and the advertising of the Apple iPod.

Selling

Selling methods

A firm using a sales orientation focuses primarily on the selling/promotion of a particular product, and not determining new consumer desires as such. Consequently, this entails simply selling 1950s and an already existing product, and using promotion techniques to 1960s attain the highest sales possible. Such an orientation may suit scenarios in which a firm holds dead stock, or otherwise sells a product that is in high demand, with little likelihood of changes in consumer tastes diminishing demand. The marketing orientation is perhaps the most common orientation used in contemporary marketing. It involves a firm essentially basing its marketing plans around the marketing concept, and thus supplying products to suit new consumer tastes. As an example, a firm would employ market research to gauge consumer desires, use R&D to develop a product attuned to the revealed information, and then utilize promotion techniques to ensure persons know the product exists.

Marketing

Needs and wants of customers

1970 to present day

Product orientation In a product innovation approach, the company pursues product innovation, then tries to develop a market for the product. Product innovation drives the process and marketing research is conducted primarily to ensure that profitable market segment(s) exist for the innovation. The rationale is that customers may not know what options will be available to them in the future so we should not expect them to tell us what they will buy in the future. However, marketers can aggressively over-pursue product innovation and try to overcapitalize on a niche. When pursuing a product innovation approach, marketers must ensure that they have a varied and multi-tiered approach to product innovation. It is claimed that if Thomas Edison depended on marketing research he would have produced larger candles rather than inventing light bulbs. Many firms, such as research and development focused companies, successfully focus on product innovation. Many purists doubt whether this is really a form of marketing orientation at all, because of the ex post status of consumer research. Some even question whether it is marketing. Contemporary approaches Recent approaches in marketing is the relationship marketing with focus on the customer, the business marketing or industrial marketing with focus on an organization or institution and the social marketing with focus on benefits to the society. New forms of marketing also uses the internet and are therefore called internet marketing or more generally e-marketing, online marketing, desktop advertising or affiliate marketing. It tries to perfect the segmentation strategy used in traditional marketing. It targets its audience more precisely, and is sometimes called personalized marketing or one-to-one marketing.

Orientation

Profit driver

Western European timeframe

Description

Relationship marketing / Relationship management[8]

Building and keeping good customer relations

Emphasis is placed on the whole relationship between 1960s to suppliers and customers. The aim is to give the best possible present attention, customer services and therefore build customer day loyalty.

Business marketing / Industrial marketing

Building and keeping 1980s to relationships present between day organizations

In this context marketing takes place between businesses or organizations. The product focus lies on industrial goods or capital goods than consumer products or end products. A different form of marketing activities like promotion, advertising and communication to the customer is used.

Social marketing

Benefit to society

Similar characteristics as marketing orientation but with the 1990s to added proviso that there will be a curtailment on any harmful present activities to society, in either product, production, or selling

day

methods.

Customer orientation A firm in the market economy survives by producing goods that persons are willing and able to buy. Consequently, ascertaining consumer demand is vital for a firm's future viability and even existence as a going concern. Many companies today have a customer focus (or market orientation). This implies that the company focuses its activities and products on consumer demands. Generally there are three ways of doing this: the customer-driven approach, the sense of identifying market changes and the product innovation approach. In the consumer-driven approach, consumer wants are the drivers of all strategic marketing decisions. No strategy is pursued until it passes the test of consumer research. Every aspect of a market offering, including the nature of the product itself, is driven by the needs of potential consumers. The starting point is always the consumer. The rationale for this approach is that there is no point spending R&D funds developing products that people will not buy. History attests to many products that were commercial failures in spite of being technological breakthroughs. A formal approach to this customer-focused marketing is known as SIVA (Solution, Information, Value, Access). This system is basically the four Ps renamed and reworded to provide a customer focus. The SIVA Model provides a demand/customer centric version alternative to the well-known 4Ps supply side model (product, price, place, promotion) of marketing management.

Product

Solution

Promotion Information

Price

Value

Placement Access

Organizational orientation In this sense, a firm's marketing department is often seen as of prime importance within the functional level of an organization. Information from an organization's marketing department would be used to guide the actions of other departments within the firm. As an example, a marketing department could ascertain (via marketing research) that consumers desired a new type of product, or a new usage for an existing product. With this in mind, the marketing department would inform the R&D department to create a prototype of a product/service based on consumers' new desires. The production department would then start to manufacture the product, while the marketing department would focus on the promotion, distribution, pricing, etc. of the product. Additionally, a firm's finance

department would be consulted, with respect to securing appropriate funding for the development, production and promotion of the product. Inter-departmental conflicts may occur, should a firm adhere to the marketing orientation. Production may oppose the installation, support and servicing of new capital stock, which may be needed to manufacture a new product. Finance may oppose the required capital expenditure, since it could undermine a healthy cash flow for the organization. Mutually beneficial exchange A further marketing orientation is the focus on a mutually beneficial exchange. In a transaction in the market economy, a firm gains revenue, which thus leads to more profits/market share/sales. A consumer on the other hand gains the satisfaction of a need/want, utility, reliability and value for money from the purchase of a product or service. As no one has to buy goods from any one supplier in the market economy, firms must entice consumers to buy goods with contemporary marketing ideals. Herd behavior Herd behavior in marketing is used to explain the dependencies of customers' mutual behavior. The Economist reported a recent conference in Rome on the subject of the simulation of adaptive human behavior. It shared mechanisms to increase impulse buying and get people "to buy more by playing on the herd instinct." The basic idea is that people will buy more of products that are seen to be popular, and several feedback mechanisms to get product popularity information to consumers are mentioned, including smart card technology and the use of Radio Frequency Identification Tag technology. A "swarm-moves" model was introduced by a Florida Institute of Technology researcher, which is appealing to supermarkets because it can "increase sales without the need to give people discounts." Other recent studies on the "power of social influence" include an "artificial music market in which some 14,000 people downloaded previously unknown songs" (Columbia University, New York); a Japanese chain of convenience stores which orders its products based on "sales data from department stores and research companies;" a Massachusetts company exploiting knowledge of social networking to improve sales; and online retailers who are increasingly informing consumers about "which products are popular with like-minded consumers" (e.g., Amazon, eBay).

Further orientations

An emerging area of study and practice concerns internal marketing, or how employees are trained and managed to deliver the brand in a way that positively impacts the acquisition and retention of customers, see also employer branding. Diffusion of innovations research explores how and why people adopt new products, services and ideas. With consumers' eroding attention span and willingness to give time to advertising messages, marketers are turning to forms of permission marketing such as branded content, custom media and reality marketing.

Marketing research Marketing research involves conducting research to support marketing activities, and the statistical interpretation of data into information. This information is then used by managers to plan marketing activities, gauge the nature of a firm's marketing environment, attain information from suppliers, etc.

Marketing researchers use statistical methods (such as quantitative research, qualitative research, hypothesis tests, Chi-squared tests, linear regression, correlation co-efficients, frequency distributions, Poisson and Binomial distributions, etc.) to interpret their findings and convert data into information. The marketing research process spans a number of stages including the definition of a problem, development of a research plan, collecting and interpretation of data and disseminating information formally in form of a report.

A distinction should be made between marketing research and market research. Market research pertains to research in a given market. As an example, a firm may conduct research in a target market, after selecting a suitable market segment. In contrast, marketing research relates to all research conducted within marketing. Thus, market research is a subset of marketing research.

Marketing environment The term marketing environment relates to all of the factors (whether internal, external, direct or indirect), that affect a firm's marketing decision-making or planning and is subject of the marketing research. A firm's marketing environment consists of two main areas, which are: Macro environment On the macro environment a firm holds only little control. It consists of a variety of external factors that manifest on a large (or macro) scale. These are typically economic, social, political or technological phenomena. A common method of assessing a firm's macro-environment is via a PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Ecological) analysis. Within a PESTLE analysis, a firm would analyze national political issues, culture and climate, key macroeconomic conditions, health and indicators (such as economic growth, inflation, unemployment, etc.), social trends/attitudes, and the nature of technology's impact on its society and the business processes within the society. Micro environment A firm holds a greater amount (though not necessarily total) control of the micro environment. It comprises factors pertinent to the firm itself, or stakeholders closely connected with the firm or company. A firm's micro environment typically spans:

Customers/consumers Employees Suppliers The Media

By contrast to the macro environment, an organization holds a greater degree of control over these factors.

Market segmentation Market segmentation pertains to the division of a market of consumers into persons with similar needs and wants. As an example, if using Kellogg's cereals in this instance, Frosties are marketed to children. Crunchy Nut Cornflakes are marketed to adults. Both goods aforementioned denote two products which are marketed to two distinct groups of persons, both with like needs, traits, and wants. The purpose for market segmentation is conducted for two main issues. First, a segmentation allows a better allocation of a firm's finite resources. A firm only possesses a certain amount of resources. Accordingly, it must make choices (and appreciate the related costs) in servicing specific groups of consumers. Furthermore the diversified tastes of the contemporary Western consumers can be served better. With more diversity in the tastes of modern consumers, firms are taking noting the benefit of servicing a multiplicity of new markets. Market segmentation can be defined in terms of the STP acronym, meaning Segment, Target and Position. Segment Segmentation involves the initial splitting up of consumers into persons of like needs/wants/tastes. Four commonly used criteria are used for segmentation, which include:

Geographical (e.g. country, region, city, town, etc.) Psychographic (i.e. personality traits or character traits which influence consumer behavior) Demographic (e.g. age, gender, socio-economic class, etc.) Behavioral (e.g. brand loyalty, usage rate, etc.)

Target Once a segment has been identified, a firm must ascertain whether the segment is beneficial for them to service. The DAMP acronym, meaning Discernible, Accessible, Measurable and Profitable, are used as criteria to gauge the viability of a target market. DAMP is explained in further detail below:

Discernable - How a segment can be differentiated from other segments. Accessible - How a segment can be accessed via Marketing Communications produced by a firm. Measurable - Can the segment be quantified and its size determined? Profitable - Can a sufficient return on investment be attained from a segment's servicing?

The next step in the targeting process is the level of differentiation involved in a segment serving. Three modes of differentiation exist, which are commonly applied by firms. These are:

Undifferentiated - Where a company produces a like product for all of a market segment. Differentiated - In which a firm produced slight modifications of a product within a segment. Niche - In which an organization forges a product to satisfy a specialised target market.

Position
Positioning concerns how to position a product in the minds of consumers. A firm often performs this by producing a perceptual map, which denotes products produced in its industry according to how consumers perceive their price and quality. From a product's placing on the map, a firm would tailor its marketing communications to suit meld with the product's perception among consumers. Marketing information system A marketing information system (MKIS) is an information system that is commonly used by marketing management to analyze and view information pertaining to marketing activities. As the label suggests, an MKIS is a computer-based information system therefore used to input, store, process and output marketing information. An MKIS spans four subset components, which are detailed below: Marketing intelligence system This sub-system stores information gathered from a firm's marketing intelligence activities. Marketing intelligence consists of actions a firm would undertake within its own market or industry, geared towards information existing within its markets. This can be obtained via communication with suppliers, consumers or other bodies within a market. Internal processes system The internal processes system catalogues all internal marketing processes within a firm. Marketing research system This section of the overall system contains data from a firm's marketing research activities. Analytical system The analytical system is the only sub-system which does not store data or information. It's function is to analyze and process data from the other three systems, into reliable, timely and relevant information for the perusal and use of marketing management.

Types of marketing research Marketing research, as a sub-set aspect of marketing activities, can be divided into the following parts:

Primary research (also known as field research), which involves the conduction and compilation of research for the purpose is/was intended. Secondary research (also referred to as desk research), is initially conducted for one purpose, but often used to support another purpose or end goal.

By these definitions, an example of primary research would be market research conducted into health foods, which is used solely to ascertain the needs/wants of the target market for health foods. Secondary research, again according to the above definition, would be research pertaining to health foods, but used by a firm wishing to develop an unrelated product. Primary research is often expensive to prepare, collect and interpret from data to information. Nonetheless, while secondary research is relatively inexpensive, it often can become outdated and outmoded, given it is used for a purpose other than for which is/was intended. Primary research can also be broken down into quantitative research and qualitative research, which as the labels suggest, pertain to numerical and non-numerical research methods, techniques. The appropriateness of each mode of research depends on whether data can be quantified (quantitative research), or whether subjective, nonnumeric or abstract concepts are required to be studied (qualitative research). Marketing planning The area of marketing planning involves forging a plan for a firm's marketing activities. A marketing plan can also pertain to a specific product, as well as to an organization's overall marketing strategy. Generally speaking, an organization's marketing planning process is derived from its overall business strategy. Thus, when top management are devising the firm's strategic direction or mission, the intended marketing activities are incorporated into this plan. Within the overall strategic marketing plan, the marketing planning process contains the following stages:

Mission statement Corporate objectives - These are the broad-based objectives resulting from the firm's mission statement. Marketing audit - a marketing audit is an audit of all marketing processes within a firm. It's purpose is to highlight which areas require improvement, and which ones require modification, prior to the establishment of the marketing plan. SWOT analysis Assumptions arising from the marketing audit and SWOT analysis Marketing objectives derived from the assumptions An estimation of the expected results of the objectives Identification of alternative plans or mixes Budgeting for the marketing plan A first-year implementation program

There are several levels of marketing objectives within an organization. As stated previously, the senior management of a firm would formulate a general business strategy for a firm. However, this general business strategy would be interpreted and implemented in different contexts throughout the firm.

Corporate
Corporate marketing objectives are typically broad-based in nature, and pertain to the general vision of the firm in the short, medium or long-term. As an example, if one pictures a group of companies (or a conglomerate), top management may state that sales for the group should increase by 25% over a ten year period.

Strategic business unit An SBU is an autonomous entity within a firm, which produces a unique product/service. It could be a single product, a product line, or a subsidiary of a larger group of companies. The SBU would embrace the corporate strategy, and attune it to its own particular industry. For instance, an SBU may partake in the sports goods industry. It thus would ascertain how it would attain additional sales of sports goods, in order to satisfy the overall business strategy. Functional The functional level relates to departments within the SBUs, such as marketing, finance, HR, production, etc. The functional level would adopt the SBU's strategy and determine how to accomplish the SBU's own objectives in its market. To use the example of the sports goods industry again, the marketing department would draw up marketing plans, strategies and communications to help the SBU achieve its marketing aims. Product Life Cycle The Product Life Cycle or PLC is a tool used by marketing managers to gauge the progress of a product, especially relating to sales or revenue accrued over time. The PLC is based on a few key assumptions, including that a given product would possess an introduction, growth, maturity and decline stage. Furthermore it is assumed that no product lasts perpetually on the market. Last but not least a firm must employ differing strategies, according to where a product is on the PLC. In this stage, a product is launched onto the market. To stimulate growth of sales/revenue, use of advertising may be high, in order to heighten awareness of the product in question. Growth The product's sales/revenue is increasing, which may stimulate more marketing communications to sustain sales. More entrants enter into the market, to reap the apparent high profits that the industry is producing. Maturity A product's sales start to level off, and an increasing number of entrants to a market produce price falls for the product. Firms may utilize sales promotions to raise sales. Decline Demand for a good begins to taper off, and the firm may opt to discontinue manufacture of the product. This is so, if revenue for the product comes from efficiency savings in production, over actual sales of a good/service. However, if a product services a niche market, or is complementary to another product, it may continue manufacture of the product, despite a low level of sales/revenue being accrued.

Marketing mix In the early 1960s, Professor Neil Borden at Harvard Business School identified a number of company performance actions that can influence the consumer decision to purchase goods or services. Borden suggested that all those actions of the company represented a Marketing Mix. Professor E. Jerome McCarthy, at the Michigan State University in the early 1960s, suggested that the Marketing Mix contained 4 elements product, price, place and promotion. Product The product aspects of marketing deal with the specifications of the actual goods or services, and how it relates to the end-user's needs and wants. The scope of a product generally includes supporting elements such as warranties, guarantees, and support. Pricing This refers to the process of setting a price for a product, including discounts. The price need not be monetary; it can simply be what is exchanged for the product or services, e.g. time, energy, or attention. Methods of setting prices optimally are in the domain of pricing science. A number of modes of pricing techniques exist, which span:

Elasticities (whether Price Elasticity of Demand, Cross Elasticity of Demand, or Income Elasticity of Demand) Market skimming pricing Market penetration pricing

Elasticities are a microeconomic concept, which gauges how elastic demand is for a given good/service. In a marketing context, its usefulness relates to the suitable level at which a product can be priced, in accordance with price, a product's complements and substitutes, and the level of income a consumer possesses. Market skimming pertains to firm releasing a good in a "first to market" scenario. As an example, picture a company which releases a new type of personal media playing system. It may set the good at an initially high level, but reduce it over time, once the level of demand gradually rises. Market skimming is best operable within a first to market scenario, since there would be few competitors within the company's industry. This pricing strategy is also best implemented within a market of high entry barriers (such as a monopoly or an oligopoly). This is so since the high barriers to entry discourage competitors into the industry for the product. Market penetration concerns pricing policies for late entrants to a market. As another example, a company could release a product into a market years after it is initially introduced, but at an artificially low price in order to stimulate demand. The result of such a pricing strategy would be to draw consumers from competitors and into purchasing its own product. Market penetration, in contrast to market skimming, best functions within a market form with low barriers to entry (such as perfect competition or monopolistic competition). Low barriers to entry facilitates a company's ability to sell goods at a price lower than its market clearing point.

Placement (or distribution) This refers to how the product gets to the customer; for example, point-of-sale placement or retailing. This third P has also sometimes been called Place, referring to the channel by which a product or service is sold (e.g. online vs. retail), which geographic region or industry, to which segment (young adults, families, business people), etc. also referring to how the environment in which the product is sold in can affect sales. Promotion This includes advertising, sales promotion, including promotional education, publicity, and personal selling. Branding refers to the various methods of promoting the product, brand, or company. These four elements are often referred to as the marketing mix, which a marketer can use to craft a marketing plan. The four Ps model is most useful when marketing low value consumer products. Industrial products, services, high value consumer products require adjustments to this model. Services marketing must account for the unique nature of services. Industrial or B2B marketing must account for the long term contractual agreements that are typical in supply chain transactions. Relationship marketing attempts to do this by looking at marketing from a long term relationship perspective rather than individual transactions. As a counter to this, Morgan, in Riding the Waves of Change (Jossey-Bass, 1988), suggests that one of the greatest limitations of the 4 Ps approach "is that it unconsciously emphasizes the insideout view (looking from the company outwards), whereas the essence of marketing should be the outsidein approach". In order to recognize the different aspects of selling services, as opposed to Products, a further three Ps were added to make a range of Seven Ps for service industries:

Process - the way in which orders are handled, customers are satisfied and the service is delivered. Physical Evidence - is tangible evidence of the service customers will receive (for example a holiday brochure). People - the people meeting and dealing with the customers.

As markets have become more satisfied, the 7 Ps have become relevant to those companies selling products, as well as those solely involved with services: customers now differentiate between sellers of goods by the service they receive in the process from the people involved. Some authors cite a further P Packaging - this is thought by many to be part of Product, but in certain markets (Japan, China for example) and with certain products (perfume, cosmetics) the packaging of a product has a greater importance - maybe even than the product itself. Marketing communications Marketing communications is defined by actions a firm takes to communicate with end-users, consumers and external parties. A simple definition of marketing communication is "the means by which a supplier of goods, services, values and/or ideas represents themselves to their target audience with the goal of stimulating dialog leading to better commercial or other relationships". Marcoms is a frequently used short-form for marketing communications. Marketing communications can be seen as a part of the promotional mix as the exact nature of how to apply marketing communications depends on the nature of

the product in question. Accordingly, a given product would require a unique communications mix, in order to convey successfully information to consumers. Some products may require a stronger emphasis on personal sales, while others may need more focus on advertising.

The process in which the differing modes of marketing communications are complemented and synthesized is called integrated marketing communications (IMC). It is used in order to create a single and coherent marketing communications process. As an example, a firm can advertise the existence of a sales promotion, via a newspaper, magazine, TV, radio, etc. The same promotion can also be communicated via direct marketing, or personal selling. The aim of IMC is to lessen confusion among a product's target market, and to lessen cost for the firm. Several different subsets of marketing communications can be distinguished.
Personal selling Oral presentation given by a salesperson who approaches individuals or a group of potential customers. Personal selling is often used in business to business (i.e. "B2B") settings, in addition to business to consumer (,i.e. "B2C") scenarios in which a personal and face to face medium is required for the communication of the product. In B2B situations, personal selling is preferred if the product is technical in nature. Personal selling can compose of the use of presentations, in order to convey the benefits of a firm's good/service. In B2C settings, personal selling is utilized if the product requires to be tailored to the unique needs of an individual. Examples of this include car (and other vehicle) sales, financial services (such as insurance or investment), etc. Personal selling involves the following points:

Live, interactive relationship Personal interest Attention and response Interesting presentation Clear and thorough.

Sales promotion Short-term incentives to encourage buying of products.

Instant appeal Anxiety to sell

An example is coupons or a sale. People are given an incentive to buy, but this does not build customer loyalty or encourage future repeat buys. A major drawback of sales promotion is that it is easily copied by competition. It cannot be used as a sustainable source of differentiation. Sales promotions are typically used to heighten sales/revenue, especially if a firm holds dead/excess stock, or if the market for a product has matured. Public relations Public Relations (or PR, as an acronym) is the use of media tools by a firm in order to promote goodwill from an organization to a target market segment, or other consumers of a firm's good/service. PR stems from the fact that a firm cannot seek to antagonize or inflame its market base, due to incurring a lessened

demand for its good/service. Organizations undertake PR in order to assure consumers, and to forestall negative perceptions towards it. PR can span:

Interviews Speeches/Presentations Corporate literature, such as financial statements, brochures, etc.

Publicity Publicity involves attaining space in media, without having to pay directly for such coverage. As an example, an organization may have the launch of a new product covered by a newspaper or TV news segment. This benefits the firm in question since it is making consumers aware of its product, without necessarily paying a newspaper or television station to cover the event. Advertising Advertising occurs when a firm directly pays a media channel to publicize its product. Common examples of this include TV and radio adverts, billboards, branding, sponsorship, etc. Direct marketing Direct marketing is a process where a firm uses communication channels to attain and retain consumers for its product. It is a comparatively new mode of marketing communications (when compared with forms such as advertising, sales promotions, personal selling, etc.) Direct marketing involves carefully seeking out persons within a target market, and communicating to them about the nature of a product. This process is signified by brochures sent via the mail, e-mails from companies, etc. It can also constitute the use of telemarketing, in order to communicate with a target market. International marketing International marketing can be defined as the application of marketing strategies, planning and activities to external or foreign markets. International marketing is of consequence to firms which operate in countries and territories other than their home country or the country in which they are registered in and have their head office. The factors influencing international marketing are culture, political and legal factors, a country's level of economic development and the mode of involvement in foreign markets. The reasons why a firm would engage in international markets are numerous, including:

Maturity within domestic markets To increase general market share, sales or revenue

Culture Social norms, attitudes towards buying foreign goods, and the working practices of foreign markets are all cultural factors when opting to invest in foreign markets. Social norms affect business practices, since social norms are one factor in the demand for a product. A company marketing pork would experience less sales in an Islamic country, than it would in China (which is the world's largest consumer of pork). In Western societies, sexuality and sexual topics are often used in marketing communications (such as

advertising, for instance). However, in a comparatively more conservative society (such as India for instance) social attitudes may shun the use of sexual topics to advertise products. Political and legal factors The following political/legal factors are of bearing in international marketing:

Government attitude to business The level of governmental regulations, red-tape and bureaucracy Monetary regulations Political stability

Not all governments are as open to foreign investment as others, nor are all governments equally favorable to business. Typically, a firm may opt to invest in an economy in which the government is more inclined to support business activity in a country. In other words, the "business-friendliness" of a foreign government is paramount in this instance. Additionally, some economies are more "liberal" and less regulated, by comparison to other economies. Excessive regulations can be a hindrance on a firm, since they contribute to additional costs to a firm. Conversely, regulations can aid in assisting firms, by easing the path of doing business. A firm seeking to invest in foreign markets must gauge the regulatory arrangement of the economy it is looking to invest in. Monetary regulations, akin to the above points, can hinder the ability to do business. A high level of monetary regulations can hamper foreign investment within an economy. Lastly, the political stability of a country is also a key factor in foreign investment decisions. Nationstates experiencing continual coup-d'etat can appear unattractive to invest in, since the continual changes in political system can compound the inherent risk in investing. Typically, a firm would opt to invest in a country which had a stable mode of government, in which handovers of power were peaceful and nonviolent. Even if a country is not a liberal democracy, the level of political stability within a country may supersede the political system (or, more accurately, the perceived immorality of a government's policies/constitutional structure) of a given nation-state. Level of economic development The level of economic development of an economy can affect foreign investment decisions. Within the field of developmental economics, differing modes of economic development can be identified. These are:

Developing economy Newly-Industrialized country Industrialized country (also known as a developed country, advanced economy or first world economy)

A developing economy has a comparatively low general living standard (as defined by material lifestyle/level of material possession). Moreover, a developing economy may also be at subsistence level, or possess a large share of its Gross Domestic Product in primary industries. Accordingly, a developing country would not be a profitable market for high-end consumer goods, or fast-moving consumer goods commonly found in developed/advanced economies. Exports of machinery (related to the extraction and processing of raw materials) may be viable for a developing economy, due to primary industries possessing a large share of national income.

A newly-industrialized economy is an economy which has experienced high recent economic growth, and thus has experienced a rise in general living standards. Coupled with the rapid economic growth, the emergence of a middle class leads to the development of a consumerist culture in the society. A newlyindustrialized economy would consequently possess a small general demand for high-end consumer goods, but not to the extent of an advanced economy. A newly-industrialized economy may export manufactured goods to other countries, and often possess secondary sector industries as a high percentage of its economic output. An industrialized economy is typically identified via a high Gross Domestic Product per capita, a high United Nations Human Development Index rating and a high level of tertiary/quaternary/quinary sector industries in the context of its national income. Thus, the high general living standard denotes the highest generalized demand for goods and services within all modes of economic development. Commonly, developed/advanced economies are high exporters of high-tech manufactured goods, as well as service sector products (such as financial services, for instance). When You Need Assistance for Product Promotion Promoting products need a major thrust to catch the attention of common people. Many activities come under product promotion programs. These include leaflet distribution, alcohol promotions, tasting sessions, arranging corporate events, car and boat shows, trade shows, corporate golf days and many others. But without professional staffs, managing all such events is truly a hard nut to crack. In such cases, a promotional agency brings a sigh of hope to the customers. With these agencies, all such programs can be scheduled and accomplished with the help of skilled promotional staffs. So, if you want to launch a product with a true glitter and glamour, taking the help of a promotional agency would be the best alternative for you. All these promotional model agencies take care of all nitty-gritty of promotional issues. Glamour model agency, as these model agencies are also often called, provides customers with the right model for promoting their brands. No matter whether you want to promote newly launched ladies sunglasses or kids wear, to get a right model for that, you can easily depend on all these fashion model agencies. Event management, on the other hand, holds immense importance in promotion. For promoting products, many corporate houses arrange some events and launch their respective products. An event should be well-arranged and must be handled with a master hand. Interestingly, all these promotional agencies also work as event staffing agencies. They provide skilled staffs for various occasions who take the responsibility to make the event a sure success. So, if the idea of throwing a lavish event for promoting your next product is cooking in your mind, make it larger and brighter in cooperation with all these event staffing agencies. But, you may wonder thinking about the whereabouts of all such fashion model agencies or events staffing agencies. If you are Internet savvy, make the proper use of it. Most of these fashion model agencies have their online presence. You may come to know about their services by visiting their web sites. You can directly apply to these event staffing agencies through the Internet. In all these sites, a special section (mostly contact us) is made for the customers, who can contact them by filling up their easier and secure contact us form. And after that, each one of these glamour model agency

will contact you with their quotes and program plans. Isnt it as easy as clicking the mouse? Then what else! Start searching for the promotional agency for promoting your products.

Benefits of online video sharing It is now possible to live comfortably and peaceful as the advanced technology gives you all the comforts and joys you always dreamt of. Today, Online presence has become the basic requisite for growth of any business as Internet has assisted to give higher exposure to small, medium or large scale businesses because of the concept of online video sharing. To attain the company's objectives and to make huge income easily, the creative and effective concept of video sharing is been used greatly. Due to this incredible technology, there are several opportunities to take the current business to greater levels. Online video sharing is a great way to get greater online exposure which helps to promote the business and helps to sell the product successfully. It is possible for the net users to browse, navigate and find effective online videos that are shared on the web through chief video search engines. You will be amazed to know that it is possible to promote the online business successfully as there are many online websites that let you upload your video streams. Online video sharing has become the most essential and useful marketing strategy for almost all the internet marketers across the world. Whether you want to watch or upload music videos, movies streams, or just your personal video about your business or family, you can do it easily and quickly without investing much. Further, if you want to advertise your business and earn huge amount of revenue conveniently and instantly, you can do this with the help of online video sharing. You also enjoy several other benefits of online video sharing, like: - Online video sharing produces a great influence on browsers as compared to other marketing tools. A video clipping plays an important role to promote the product as it gives greater details about the product which truly impresses the customers. You can target potential customers as online video promotion is specifically meant for people who are really interested in the product. This will attract several customers worldwide who surely log on to your site to know more about the product and ultimately buy it. - Making and uploading online video streams is very cost-effective as there is no major investment required. A little bit of experience in shooting videos and some knowledge in uploading the videos captured by you on popular video search engines, this is all you need. Hence, it is an easy and economic way of marketing a product online. - Your company and your product get greater exposure within a short period. As soon as you upload an informative video to any popular video search engine, you start diverting prospective clients to your site. This helps you to divert your target audience to your website who help to increase the conversion rate and finally improve your business returns. The popular video sharing websites assist to attain your business objectives conveniently and instantly without investing much. This is truly a great marketing strategy that has proved its significance by helping several business owners attain business goals in short span. - Sharing videos online conveys the perfect idea about the product, thereby aiding the business owner to sell the product effectively. With the help of online video sharing, the customers are quite satisfied as they get all the product details as well as they understand if the product is worth the investment. So online video sharing is beneficial for both, the client and the business owner.

Effective editing how it spells the Difference If you think proofreading equals editing, then you are wrong Editing is a lot more than just scrutinizing your manuscript for misspelled words or missing punctuation marks.

As a whole Edit only after you have written the whole piece. If you stop to edit after every paragraph or sentence, you will disrupt the flow of your thoughts. It is better to take a break before starting to edit a long manuscript so you will have a fresh perspective. Revise only hard copy especially if your manuscript is quite long. Revising from a monitor is confusing. Verify the spelling of names, figures, dates, and addresses. These are the most murdered items in manuscripts. Be sure of what you put between those quotation marks Otherwise, rephrase the line and omit the quotation marks. Did you follow the writer guidelines e.g. number of words required, font and font size specified, spacing, margins. Edit your content Be sure that you did not stray from your topic. Are your paragraphs coherent. Did you fulfill your purpose for writing that piece Is your entertainment feature article entertaining enough Did your personality sketch bring out your subjects unique and distinct qualities If necessary, did you provide enough supporting data graphs, charts, figures for your piece If applicable, did your article answer the 5 Ws and H, Who, what, why, were, when and how. Edit for tightness Remove redundant and useless words. What about diction did you use the right word to express what you mean For example, He stared at her is more intense than He looked at her. Devour is not the same as eat. Did you vary the length of your sentences combining long with short sentences makes your article easier and more natural to read? Did you check that the body of your article is longer than the introduction lead Some writers get carried way. They focus on an effective lead to hook the readers but neglect the body of the article What about tone and style Does your work reflect your writing style or does it sound like a copied work Did you use the active voice Are you consistent with the point of view you used Do your title and the words you used match the tone of your piece

Cash Out and No Closing Cost To replace an existing debt with a fresh debt obligation bearing different terms, is referred as refinancing. A common refinancing for the consumers is the home mortgage. Advantages of Refinancing Refinancing at a lower rate may be undertaken to reduce interest costs, to extend repayment time, to pay other debts, to reduce ones periodic obligations of payment by taking convenient long term loans, to alter or reduce risk by refinancing from variable rate to fixed rate loans or vice versa, and to raise cash for investment or

consumption or the payment of a dividend. In a nut shell, refinancing is capable of changing the monthly payments owed on the loan by changing the interest rate of the loan or by altering the maturity term of the loan. Favorable conditions of lending will reduce overall cost of the borrowing.

Another important factor associated with refining is it reduces the risk factor of the existing loan. The matter is especially significant in case of adjustable rate loans and mortgages fluctuating up or down based on the movements of various indices used to calculate them. By refinancing an adjustable rate mortgage to fixed rate , the risk of dramatic escalation of interest rate is totally removed. Thus a steady interest rate for the entire period of loan repayment is ensured. But, the same flexibility if somebody wanted in the original loan condition, the lender would have asked for a hefty premium for the same. So far as personal refinancing is concerned, refinancing a loan or a series of debts assist in paying high interest debt such as credit card debt or low interest debt such as fixed rate home mortgage. This allows a lender also to reduce borrowing costs by aligning the borrowing cost with general credit worthiness and collateral security available from the borrower. In the United States for home mortgages , there are some tax advantages available for refinancing in case of non payment . Risks associated with Refinancing Fixed term debt mostly contains penalty clauses that are triggered by early payment of the loan, either fully or a specified portion. There are also closing and transaction fees typically associated with refinancing loan. These fees sometime outweigh the savings generated through refinancing the loan itself. One can think of refinancing only if there is substantial cost savings or if there is a need to extend the loan period due to lack of sufficient cash flow or due to other non recurring commitments. Further, some refinanced loans, while having lower initial payments, may end up larger interest costs over the life of the loan period. Some of the refinanced loans exposes the borrower to greater risks than the earlier loan, depending upon the type of loan taken to refinance the existing debt. Therefore, whether or not to refinance depends on certain important criteria like calculating the up front, ongoing and potential variable cost of refinancing. Types of Refinancing There are two types of refinancing namely, Cash Out and No Closing Cost. In Cash out refinance may not help lower the monthly payment or shorter mortgage periods. If the borrower qualifies to get, it can be beneficially used by the borrower for home improvements, credit card and other debt consolidation and also keep the cash balance. In No Closing Cost refinance, the borrower has to pay some upfront fees to get the new mortgage loan.

Where Do I Go To Sell My Home For Free? There are plenty of options which are available when you are considering what the best way may be to sell your home. If you contact a real estate agency, you could find someone to do the work for you. The only problem is that you will need to pay them a large chunk of money for this service, which cuts back on your total profits. Instead, if you want to find a way to sell my home for free, you will want to turn to a listing which allows you to advertise without taking anything from you. One of these sources can also help you to sell my car for free, making it incredibly easy to get your listings out there!

The real estate market is one which is always in business, even if times are slow and money is tight. People will still have a need to buy houses and rent properties, even if they cannot afford to pay as much as they could have before. Considering that this is the case, you will want to find the cheapest method to sell my house for free. You will already be getting a lower profit out of the sale, don't spend even more of your money to pay a realtor. If you instead look for the best way to sell my house for free, you should be able to get a better deal on the transaction. The same holds true when you are trying to sell my car for free. If you sell the car to a dealership, you will typically get a much lower price than the car is actually worth. Most used car dealerships will actually get their vehicles through auctions or a trade-in. You'll do much better trying to sell the car on your own, as you'll get more from the sale and the person buying will typically pay less than they would at a dealership. If you want to find a way to sell my car for free, turn to the same resource that you would for a house. Websites can be a particularly good place to list your houses or cars. They will help you to sell my house for free because they may not charge you for the listing, simply allowing you to make the post without taking a fee for it. When you are looking to sell my car for free, you can make a listing with the description of the vehicle as well as pictures to help people see what they are buying. If, after time, you cannot sell my house for free, or you are having problems trying to sell my car for free, you may wish to turn to other options. This is typically not the case, however, as people understand that turning to the Internet for help with sales on such important items as a car or a house can be incredibly profitable. Using these sources, you should easily be able to make a profit and a sale that you are happy with. Online Dog Boutiques Helping You In Providing Luxury Life to Your Doggies Leading a luxury life is not only right of human beings. Nowadays, even your doggies can lead a luxury life just like you. Being a member of your family, your doggies also deserves same treatment like others. Nowadays, giving a luxury life to your doggies is very easy with help of online dog costumes and accessories stores. At online stores selling different kind of objects meant for your dogs, you have enough options to choose for your dog. You can select designer dog costumes specially designed for your doggies, or you can think of buying a luxury diamond studded dog collar to give distinguished look to your lovely dog. These online stores also offer different solutions for dog loving people on move. They can get luxury carriers for their dogs. The options also include airline approved carriers that means you can take your doggies with you when travelling. To give the most stylish look to your dog, you can select designer dog costumes. Online dog boutiques present wide collection of designer dog costumes from different prominent dog fashion designers at one place. Depending upon your choice, you can purchase them and give posh look to your dogs.

Dog fashion designers present everything in the most exclusive form for your doggies. Dog boutiques present everything for your doggies ranging from designer dog costumes, to comfortable beds, stylish dog collars, dog carriers, and dog feeders. What else you need to help your dog in living a luxury life. To reduce your shopping burdens some prominent dog boutiques offer the facility of personalized shopping, where they have someone to assist you in shopping for designer dog products. In case, you are not able to find the products on online dog boutiques website that you are looking for, you can take opt for personalized shopping. A customer centric salesperson will assist you in finding your desired product. Such personalized shopping services are offered for free by popular online dog boutiques. In summary, giving a luxury life to your loving dogs was never so easy. Nowadays, you dont have to worry about anything required for your dog. As a sensible dog lover, you can find everything in place and give the best luxury life to your doggies. Role of Promotion Definition: To communicate with individuals, groups or organizations to directly or indirectly facilitate exchanges by informing and persuading one or more audiences to accept an organization's products. -Companies must communicate with their customers; this communication should not be left to chance. Design communication to your specific target audience:

Target Market Part of Target Market Different stakeholders of your organization.

Promotion and Society Marketers need to communicate, therefore need a medium to facilitate communication. $235 bn predicted to be spent in 1994 on advertising WW $94 bn in US. Pay for media (1994)

TV $27.1b 1994 Newspapers $25b*1993 Radio $9.57 b 1993 Magazines $7.62 b 1993

Marketers need to communicate, therefore provide funds for Event Sponsorship Nine elements to the communication process. Sender Chrysler and Receiver Target Market (35-50yr aspire BMW/Lexus) are the major parties in the communication process. Message New Car, Cirrus, comfort of a Lexus and handling of a BMW for less money and the media TV, direct mail, Brooks Brothers etc are the major communication tools.

4 more major functions:

Encoding--putting thought into symbolic form. Advertising Agencies creating radio commercials, TV commercials, prepare direct mail pieces, sales pitch etc Decoding--consumer interprets message. Understanding the target market's perception process is critical. Response--reaction of the receiver to buy or not to buy, take next step down AIETA, go to the showroom etc. Feedback--response communicated back to the sender 1-800 #s, increase in sales. Number of customers in show room etc. Better for Personal Selling, not advertising

Last element is Noise in the system, more noise with non-personal communication Sender needs to know:

what audiences they want to reach what responses they want. how the target audience decodes messages what media will effectively reach the target audience

Promotional Mix Organizations combine specific ingredients of the promotional mix to promote a particular product. All promotional tools (promotional mix):

Advertising Sales Promotion Publicity

must blend harmoniously into an effective communication strategy, to meet the promotional objectives.

ADVERTISING
Definition: Paid form of non personal communication about an organization or its products that is transmitted to a target audience through a mass/broadcast medium. Pros

Flexibility allows you to focus on a small, precisely defined segment (School newspapers) or a mass market (baseball show = Males, 35-50). Cost efficient-reach a large number at a low cost per person, allows the message to be repeated, and can improve public image. Allows for repeating the message-lets the buyer receive and compare the messages of various competitors. Very expressive, allows for dramatization.

Also used to build a long term image of a product. Trigger quick sales, Sears advertising a weekend sale.

Cons

Absolute $ outlay very high, make a national TV ad. approx $150,000, local ad. $60,000. 30 second spot, Superbowl $1.1 m 1995 Rarely provides quick feedback, or necessarily any feedback Less persuasive than personal selling Audience does not have to pay attention Indirect feedback (without interactivity)

Cirrus...used national advertising, local, direct mail, posters etc. Personal Selling: Occurs through personal communication in an exchange situation.

More specific communication aimed at one or more persons. Effective at building buyers preferences, convictions and actions. Cost per person is high, most expensive promotional tool. Greater impact on consumers Provides immediate feedback Allows marketers to adjust message quickly to improve communication. Buyer feels a great need to listen and respond. Long term commitment is needed to develop a sales force.

Public Relations/Publicity: News story form about an organization or its products or both (MBA, Philadelphia Inquirer), through mass medium at no charge. Sponsor does not pay (generally), may be expected/required to run advertisements in the media. Can be positive and negative. Pepsi Syringe. Believable Cirrus...Articles in Car and Buyer, WSJ, and this article etc.

SALES PROMOTION
Definition: Materials that act as a direct inducement, offering added value, or incentive for the product, to resellers, sales persons or consumers. Designed for immediate (short term) increase in product sales. Cirrus...Sweepstakes, cocktail parties, test drives

Selecting Promotional Tools A marketer must do the following while planning and sending communications to a target audience: 1. Identify the Audience Individuals, groups, special publics or the general public. Intermediaries vs Consumer 2. Identify the Stage of Product Life Cycle o Introductory Inform Publicity/Advertising/Sales force (interm.)/Sales promotion (free samples) o Growth Persuade Differentiate from competitors offering o Maturity Remind Reminder advertising, Sales promotion (coupons) o Decline Cut budget 3. Product Characteristics o Complexity How much information must be communicated. The more complex the message, the greater the need to use personal selling. o Risk Greater risk, greater need for personal selling 4. Stages of Buying Decision In many cases the final response sought is purchase, but purchase is the result of a long process of consumer decision making. Need to know where the target audience now stands (in the process), and what state they need to be moved to. Adoption Process
o o o o o o

Not Aware--Advertising/Publicity Aware--no knowledge Advertising/Publicity Interest--how do they feel? Personal Selling/Sales Promotion/Advertising Evaluation--should they try? sales promotion/personal selling Trial--test drive/sales promotion Adoption--do they purchase? Reminder/reinforce--advertising

Communication programs goal must lead consumers to take the final step. 5. Channel Strategies -Push Vs Pull Policy o Push-promotes product only to the next institutions down the marketing channel. Stresses personal selling, can use sales promotions and advertising used in conjunction. o Pull-promotes directly to consumers, intention is to create a strong consumer demand, primarily advertising and sales promotion. Since consumers are persuaded to seek products in retail stores, retailers will in turn go to wholesalers etc (use channels overhead)

Nature of Sales Promotion Encompasses all promotional activities and materials other than personal selling, advertising and publicity. Grown dramatically in the last ten years due to short term focus on profits. Funds are usually earmarked for advertising are transferred to sales promotion.

Often used in conjunction with other promotional efforts.

Scope and importance of sales promotion:

o o o

323 billion coupons were distributed 1993 nationally annually (3,200/household), only 2.3% are redeemed. 9000 trade shows containing 10 exhibits or more/year. New York auto show attracts more than a million people per year. $15-20 billion/year spent on point of purchase material in stores.

Why??
o o o o o

companies are looking to get a competitive edge quick returns are possible for short term profits more consumers are looking for promotions before purchase channel members putting pressure on mf. for promotions advances in tech. make SP easier (ie coupon redemption)

Sales Promotion Opportunities and Limitations

o o o o o o o o o o o o

Increase in sales by providing extra incentive to purchase. May focus on resellers (push), consumers (pull) or both. Objectives must be consistent with promotional objectives and overall company objectives. Balance between short term sales increase and long term need for desired reputation and brand image. Attract customer traffic and maintain brand/company loyalty. Reminder functions-calendars, T Shirts, match books etc. Impulse purchases increased by displays Contests generate excitement esp. with high payoffs.

LIMITATIONS
Consumers may just wait for the incentives May diminish image of the firm, represent decline in the product quality. Reduces profit margins, customers may stock up during the promotion. Shift focus away from the product itself to secondary factors, therefore no product differential advantage.

SALES PROMOTION METHODS

Consumer Sales Promotion Techniques -encourage/stimulate customers to patronize a specific retail store or to try a specific product.
o

Coupons:

Usually reduce the purchase price or offered as cash. Need to state the offer clearly and make it easy to recognize. Handout...Awash in Coupons... Look at the volume of coupons (323 bn) and the poor redemption rate (less than 3%). Looks at more innovative media to deliver coupons (currently over 80% are delivered via the Sunday paper)....in store by the products, as customers exit the store based on purchases...discussed delivering coupons to customers as they enter the store, using a card that swipes to indicate past purchases. Past buying behavior is the best predictor of future buying patterns!! Also discussed that they may be delivered via TV, in conjunction with an advertisement. Users only redeem coupons they would ordinarily purchase. 75% of the coupons are redeemed by consumers who would buy the brand already. Stores/marketers are honoring competitors coupons etc. Stores often don't have enough of the couponed item in stock.

DEMONSTRATIONS:
. Frequent User Incentives: Major airlines, helps foster customer loyalty to a specific company. Credit card companies. Trading stamps-Co-ops back in England, foster retail loyalty. Blockbuster's new credit card offers company products based on card usage. Cindy Crawford "Why wait for what coming to you" Co-Branded with immediate rewards...this is what is very appealing about this card...immediate reward, as opposed to having to build up points for an air flight etc. Airlines have had to raise the threshold of their award programs 35,000 from 20,000, 2 free round trip tickets due to $3+trillion liabilities Long Distance telephone also offer free air miles, >$25/mo = air miles Frequent User cards are used to collect information for companies enabling them to better target their customers.
o

Point of Purchase Display: Outside signs, window displays, counter pieces, display racks. 90% of retailers believe that point of purchase materials sell products. Essential for product introductions. Also with 2/3 of purchasing decisions made in the store, they are important.

o o

Free Samples:
Stimulate trial of product. Increase sales volume at the early stage of the product life cycle and obtain desirable distribution. Most expensive sales promotion technique. Not appropriate for mature products and slow turnover products. Handout...With Sampling there is too a free lunch Discusses the pros and cons of free sampling.

Money Refunds/Rebates: Submit proof of purchase and mail specific refund, usually need multiple purchase for refund. Helps promote trial use, due to the complexity of the refund, it has little impact. Customers have a poor perception of rebate offered products. Used extensively in the Auto and Computer industry.
o

Premium Items: Offered free or at minimum cost as a bonus. Used to attract competitors customers, different sizes of established products. Gas stations give free glasses--basics buy!! McDonalds premium items are considered collectors items by some! Flintstones program last year with McDonalds. Burger King with the Lion King movie Last summer the following tie-in premium programs. Casper with Pepsi, Pizza Hut, Choice Hotels Congo with Taco Bell Batman Forever with McDonalds, Kelloggs, Six Flags, Sears Pocahontas with Chrysler, Nestle, General Mills, Burger King Mighty Morphin with McDonalds Cents-off Offer: Strong incentive for trying a product-very similar to coupons, but are a part of the package.

Consumer Contests and Sweepstakes: Consumers compete based on their analytical or creative skills. Must be accurate or you will anger customers/retailers. Sweepstakes are prohibited in some states.

Trade Sales Promotion Techniques Push Policy emphasizes promotions focused on the next intermediary. Trade Sales Promotion Techniques-stimulate wholesalers and retailers to carry products and to market them aggressively. Producers use sales promotion techniques to encourage resellers to carry their products and to promote them more effectively.
o

Allowances and Discounts: Merchandise...reimburse for extra retail support, i.e. advertising, shelf space Case...discount on cases ordered in specific period. Finance...Paying for financial costs/losses associated with consumer sales promotions. Cooperative Advertising:

o o o o

Manufacturer agrees to pay a certain amount of retailers media.

Training of Sales Staff

PUBLICITY
At no charge (most of the time) Part of public relations, a broad set of communication activities used to create and maintain favorable relations between the organization and its publics:
o o o o o

customers employees stockholders government officials society in general

Need to cultivate effective media relations, and targeting publicity to key markets are viewed as the highest priorities. Handout...Communicators Guide To Publicity What is news? Planning Publicity Program Writing a news release Photographs Radio and TV News

Publicity and Advertising compared

o o o

Publicity is primarily informative Advertising is informative and persuasive Publicity is more subdued

o o o o o o

Publicity does not identify the sponsor Publicity is free (??!) Publicity is part of a program or print story and appears more objective Publicity is not subject to repetition Publicity is more credible Little control over publicity

Dealing with Unfavorable Publicity Handout...The Right Moves Babes Discusses how Pepsi dealt with the Syringe incident, using primarily publicity to overcome bad publicity. Bad news receives much attention in the media. Need to deal with bad publicity. First, need to try to reduce the # of incidents that produce negative publicity (effective TQM etc.), use policies and procedures to cover negative publicity. Expedite coverage as opposed to blocking it. Avoid rumors and misinformation.

What Makes Your Product Special? 1. Everyone has something to sell. The market is saturated with offers and ideas that can often turn into white noise for the consumer. How do you break away from the pack of screaming ads and get your target audiences' attention? What makes your product special? By asking yourself why is your product special, you will begin to extract the essence of what separates you from the pack. For example, if you want to promote a checking account you need to examine the product and determine why customers would find this attractive. One way to help you identify differentiators in your product is to shop the competition. Choose several market competitors and learn as much about their product as you can. Compare and contrast your product to theirs, and determine if your product is even ready for marketing. Some companies determine, after close examination, that they need to revise their product before promotion in order to elevate it from the competition. However, once you feel confident that your product has something to offer that the rest can't, write down what makes your product special and focus on those differentiators throughout the promotion. Additionally, some companies will add a special limited-time component to their campaigns. For example, if you are a candle company you might offer a 20-percent discount for a few weeks. The 20percent discount would be a great way to boost your visibility. Launch Your Promotional Campaign 2. Once you have your differentiators in mind you can now build your promotion. Think of your audience when choosing marketing mediums. You want to make intelligent decisions on which media you purchase and where your message is heard.

There are endless communication channels, which include direct mail, newspapers and magazines, television, radio, Internet or new media marketing, sales and in-store incentive programs. For example, if you are marketing kids T-shirts you may want to try some of the new media channels such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. You may also want to run a newspaper ad, send direct mail to your best customers and even hold in-store promotions. On the contrary, if you were promoting investment accounts you would stick primarily to direct mail and hit the customers most likely to use your services. You could also hold a cocktail party for your top investment customers and use it as a sales forum. Tracking Your Results are Critical to Determining Success 3. If you track your promotional channels you extract a wealth of information relating to whether your product was well received and if your promotional channels reached your audience. Some companies will track results manually and have their sales force ask customers where they heard of the promotion. Other companies that promote their product online are at an advantage because they can download, click through and visit reports. Other ways to track is through using a coupon or including a response mechanism on direct mail, newspaper or television advertising. The customer needs to bring the ad or coupon into the store to earn the discount. Post campaign you can evaluate the promotion as a whole. Identify what worked and what didn't work. Then ask why it didn't work or work well. Evaluating the campaign will allow you to improve upon your product and your promotional skills to receive a higher ROI next time. The Integrated Management Mechanism of Trademark and Brand As one of the most successful enterprises in China, Lenovo has unique experiences in exploring the most effective IPR protection mechanism. When it comes to IP, our first impression is that the protection of a patent right is more complicated than other IP branches. But Mr. Yan holds a different viewpoint. At the start of the interview, Mr. Yan expressed his view as to which is more complicated, a patent system or trademark system. He said: For a long time, there has been a misconception in our mind that a trademark is simple. But in practice, a trademark is more closely and directly linked with business activities, and thus the forms it assumes in legislation, judicial work and practices are more complicated, various and unstable. In comparison with patent systems, trademark systems are more complicated and harder to make uniform. Up to now, great progress has been achieved in the unification of patent systems around the world, whereas advances made in the area of trademarks are quite limited. There has only been some progress in registration procedures by international organizations and conventions. If we seriously study the 30 years development of IPR legislation and judicial practices of various countries, we can easily find this phenomenon: the emergence of new changes in legislation, law enforcement and judicial cases concerning trademarks sees a much higher rate than that of patents and copyrights. This is the reason why to this day some of the most basic problems are still under debate, such as what a trademark is and what can become a trademark? Lenovo, in the course of its internationalization, needs to pay special attention to the large disparities among the relevant trademark systems and practices of various countries so as to effectively circumvent risks and take advantage of the relevant legal systems for commercial interests. Based on the above considerations, work around trademark occupies a very important position in Lenovos IPR protection scheme.

If it can be said that treating trademarks as a priority for IPR protection is one of Lenovos outstanding features, then another characteristic is it links up trademark protection with brand promotion. According to Mr. Yan, different from the traditional practice of delegating trademark management to the legal department, Lenovo developed its own unique style by establishing an integration model for the management of its trademark and brand. As a matter of fact, Lenovos Brand Communication Department, where Mr. Yan works, is mainly responsible for brand management, which is independent of the legal department. Lenovo thinks that there is a close relationship between its trademarks and brands, and the incorporation of both actually means that the Brand Communication Department is in charge of both brand promotion and trademark protection. By so doing, trademark management personnel will assume the function of brand management and be able to come up with professional views from legal and brand perspectives to most effectively reduce the communication links between the two and ensure that the operation of the whole brand is sounder and closer to the actual needs, so as to enable the naming and protection of a trademark to more closely meet the actual requirements. This model has been in operation for several years, and we are satisfied with it, Mr. Yan said, because first, it can guarantee that the naming of new trademarks is consistent with Lenovos brand architecture under the premise of compliance with law; second, it can realize the integration of the following four in a smoother and more advantageous development: coordination of trademark protection, brand strategy, media promotion and marketing activities. The Four-in-one Brand Promotion Strategy In the opinion of Mr. Yan, currently in the Chinese region, Lenovo has relatively sound brand architecture with its sub-brands reaching every level of the market. To be specific, Lenovo is the master brand name for Lenovos products, and under it there are some sub-brands. These sub-brands boast technological highlights or service features, and are developed for a specific consumer group. Meanwhile, Lenovo conducts or participates in a series of activities to strengthen the marketing promotion for its sub-brands. For example, among its desktop sub-brands, Yangtian, which is targeted at small and medium-sized enterprises, has the function of one-touch restoration and flash scanning of viruses. To publicize these highlights, Lenovo launched a campaign named Lenovo Yangtian Science and Technology Olympics Express. For the Fengxing series designed for computer game players, Lenovo sponsored the International Electronic Sports Tournament (IEST). For family users, Lenovo has the Plan for Family Enjoyment and Dream Realization. For Chinese rural consumers, it has a Heavenly Pleasure Strategy for a New Countryside. In this way, a solid chain of support is established for the building of its brands. This will ensure that each of our brands has an outstanding feature and a good image, Mr. Yan said. It is very important for an enterprise to build its own brand architecture, but the promotional effect of its product names cannot be ignored. Mr. Yan has much to say about this. Besides the competency for registration, the most fundamental requirement for a trademark, the acceptability of a trademark and the convenience for its market promotion deserve much consideration. Zhaoyang, Xuri, Kaitian and Qitian were named prior to 2004. Since 2005, all names are half descriptive. For example, Jiayue (family enjoyment) is targeted at family users, while Tianjiao is targeted at students. Lenovos main products, high-end laptops, employ Tianyi for their name. This kind of naming maintains Lenovos tradition of using Tian (sky) in its brands, while the use of the word Yi (an easy and comfortable life) conveys a positive attitude toward life. In the course of naming each of their brands, they have noticed that the promotional effect of brands and try to make their brand names more three-dimensional and more pertinent. In the international market, the promotion of Lenovos brands is mainly focused on the sports field. For example, in 2004, Lenovo signed up as the top sponsor of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games; in October 2006, Lenovo announced its Yangtian Tomorrow Superstars Plan, the first plan related to NBA,

immediately after it became the top global official PC partner of NBA. In February 2007, Lenovo announced a top sponsorship agreement with the AT&T Williams team competing in the Formula One World Championship. When asked about whether Lenovo would use sports marketing as its way to promote its brands in the international market, Mr. Yan said, Lenovo has no mature pattern for international market promotion due to such limits as market share and development time. Now we do international market promotion by modeling on the Chinese pattern.

Brand Protection vs. Infringement At present, Lenovo possesses more than 2200 registered trademarks worldwide with 200 to 300 new trademarks registered every year. If trademarks under application are included, the trademarks that Lenovo owns worldwide will reach 2600 to 2700 (including the circumstance where the same trademark is registered in different fields). After more than 20 years of development, Lenovo has accumulated substantial experience in IPR protection. But when it comes to the issue of infringement, Mr. Yan still has headaches. He told us that due to changes in Lenovos trademark in 2003, Lenovo was snatched in many countries in 2005 and 2006 particularly. Lenovo eventually solved these problems through objection procedures. In complicated cases, as in the Ukraine, Lenovo managed to get the problem solved by resorting to judicial procedures. With the reinforcement of trademark protection after 2007, the phenomenon of Lenovo trademarks being snatched is gradually declining. According to Mr. Yan, currently the main problems encountered by Lenovo are infringements and trademark disputes. There are three types of infringements: counterfeit products, unauthorized stores, and fraudulent acts in the pure sense. Presently, counterfeited Lenovo products are chiefly external enclosures and digital products, focused on mouse, keyboards, storage devices, hard disks, flash disks and handwriting pads. There are more complaints with mouse; among the mouse returned for repair, nearly 30% to 40% are counterfeit products. In certain specific markets, it is likely that 20% of flash disks bearing Lenovo trademarks are counterfeit products. More surprisingly, Lenovo has never manufactured a handwriting pad product. However, some companies have manufactured handwriting pad products under the Lenovo brand. Mr. Yan said, We received a report in 2006, showing that handwriting pad products made under the Lenovo name had a market share of 8%. Such a high market share of the fakes does deliver blew to us and causes heavy losses to our brands. According to Lenovos estimate, currently there are several thousand stores in China selling Lenovos products without authorization from Lenovo. Mr Yan said that presently Lenovo has no other solution, but to work together with the administration for industry and commerce to crack down on these stores. These unauthorized stores have caused heavy losses to Lenovos brands and consumer trust. However, some law enforcement personnel for industry and commerce fail to realize this point, thinking that it is good for Lenovo that these unauthorized stores sell Lenovos products and publicize Lenovo free of charge with their own shops. Mr. Yan said, Actually Lenovo has suffered heavy losses with respect to its brands, image, service and sales teams. These seemingly invisible losses have terribly affected Lenovo. With respect to the third type of infringement, Mr. Yan said, Presently, every year there are four to five fraud cases involving a lucky draw held under the name of Lenovo. We only calculate those comparatively major cases in our statistics where more than two persons are deceived and we have received feedback. Certainly there are some cases for which feedback is not available. Actually, we feel that four to five fraud cases each year are not a small number. Recognizing Difficulties and Advocating Brand Alliance

In response to such infringements, Lenovo took positive countermeasures. But, Mr. Yan admitted that difficulties exist for brand protection. First, expense is always a big problem for Chinese enterprises. Infringements do harm to brands and markets. However, it is hard to find a quantitative indicator to assess these losses. Therefore, the cost attributed to the crackdown on infringements and the illegal gains thereof cannot be ascertained. Second, when confronted with infringement, Chinese enterprises have to face a longer time cycle and more difficulties for dealing with the infringement as they lack knowledge of other countries laws. In view of this, Lenovo is seeking cooperation with large domestic companies and other companies needing IPR protection, such as China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Imp. & Exp. Corp. (COFCO) and Konka Group Co., Ltd. Taking advantage of the platform of the China Trademark Association (CTA), Lenovo now advocates an alliance be established for brand protection. The alliance, as desired, will be aimed to inform the relevant legislative and law enforcement departments of the enterprises actual needs by uniting with domestic companies and law firms, and providing Chinese enterprises with better services by cooperating with excellent agencies abroad. A dual-track mechanism will be arranged for domestic and foreign markets. For the domestic market, first, in view of the serious counterfeit problems in China, the alliance will actively cooperate with local IPR law enforcement agencies and protect its members IPRs. Second, it will select three to five agencies from the several thousand domestic agencies to conduct collective bargaining and establish a uniform standard before recommending it to its members, ensuring the members can save costs while enjoying good services. Third, a mechanism will be established for regular communication with law enforcement and legislative agencies and precisely conveying the enterprises actual needs. Meanwhile, in the course of the amendment of the Trademark Law and Copyright Law, the issues arousing the most concern among enterprises will be placed on the alliances work agenda, and the legislatures will be kept informed of these issues so as to achieve the maximum interests for the enterprises. In terms of the plan abroad, the first and the most basic work is to build a database with which one can research overseas trademark-related legislation, judicial decisions, typical cases, as well as the problems that need to be recognized in the course of trademark use. The scope of the database needs to be continuously expanded from the trademark area to other IPR areas such as patents, copyrights and commercial legislation. Second, a global office network will be built by spending a longer time selecting agencies and conducting collective bargaining, and establishing a uniform service standard to ensure that its members shall, when applying for trademark registration abroad, have access to risk assessment or instructional materials (instruction booklets) concerning the local use of IPRs, so as to make better use of the local legislation and law enforcement environment. In selecting agencies, the alliance shall, among fees and services, take into account the professional influence of various agencies in the locality. When mentioning the original intention to establish the alliance, Mr. Yan said that any enterprise, large, medium-sized or small, is actually limited by its own IPRs personnel quality, scale, budget, and so on. On the one hand, it is impossible for an enterprise to establish a cooperative relationship within the countrys 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, as well as 2200 counties and districts, and to assert its claims before legislatures and law enforcement sectors. On the other hand, currently, the services abroad available to most Chinese enterprises are not good. First, fees are high. For example, in Indonesia, if an enterprise goes to an agency for trademark registration via normal procedures, the fees needed for completing the registration is US$550 to US$700 without any official opinions or rejection decision. But actually the fee can be reduced to US$300 or less. Second, Chinese enterprises lack experience. Often they cannot define their own actual needs, and thus are unable to obtain the services they really need from overseas agencies.

Normally, Chinese enterprises will, when confronted with infringement cases abroad, communicate with overseas agencies via their domestic agencies. Some enterprises may, out of cost considerations, directly negotiate with the overseas agencies by circumventing their domestic agencies. But the actual effect is not good. Even though the enterprise finds an agency that is less expensive, the services it receives may be quite poor. Moreover, if all actual expenditures are included, such as phone and material translation fees, the entire cost may be higher than that of contacting an overseas agency via its Chinese agency. In addition, nowadays China lacks a mechanism for Chinese enterprises to communicate with the law enforcement organs and legislatures regularly to inform them of the problems they have encountered in foreign trade. Thus, it is necessary and important to establish such an alliance. According to Mr. Yans design, via the platform of the alliance, enterprises will achieve good results with less input, and thus can focus their attention on other matters. Second, if the cases encountered by Chinese enterprises in a foreign country reach 50 every year, the alliance will conduct collective bargaining with local law firms and negotiate the charges for each case and make payments annually or semiannually. This can not only improve the credit rating of Chinese enterprises, but also reduce their expenses. Finally, they will organize some special training programs with strong interaction to enable students from higher educational institutions, enterprises legal personnel and the relevant law enforcement personnel to understand the relationship between an enterprises brands promotion and trademark protection, and regularly hold high-level conferences to bridge the gap between the enterprises and the relevant ministries and commissions for law enforcement. These activities will be beneficial to the improvement of the work efficiency of the government and help meet the enterprises needs for their IPR protection. Mr. Yan advised that the alliance is now calculating its members and the result is expected to come out in December. Concrete implementation steps will be taken accordingly. Mr. Yan said: Our objectives are to first, make the alliance pursue collective actions and convey a collective voice; and second, to have the alliance really fulfill its function.

CONCLUSION
To own a brand is not difficult, but to establish a brand is very difficult, and to build a brand with worldwide influence is even more difficult. With the acceleration of economic integration, todays world has entered a competitive era of brand internationalization. To an enterprise, a brand does not merely reflect the product itself, but is more a comprehensive embodiment of the enterprises culture, influence and social value. On Dec. 8, 2004, Lenovo Group officially announced in Beijing that it had completed its acquisition of IBMs PC-making business for US$1.25 billion, and taken ownership of the gold-lettered signboard Think, IBMs long-time established trademark. As a leading enterprise in Chinas IT field, did Lenovo encounter any problems in the course of its brand management? If so, how did it solve these problems if there were any? With these questions, we arranged an interview with Mr. Yan An, manager of brand asset management at Lenovos Brand Communication Department.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Textbook on Marketing Management(MBA) Textbook on Marketing Management(B.COM) Book on Marketing Strategies www.google.com www.productpromotion.com