Improve Your Advertising and Promotions Strategies

Course Duration: 100 hours

Course Structure

There are ten lessons in this course.

1. Analysing the Market
   • Role of Marketing
   • Approaches to Marketing
   • Goals of Marketing
   • What makes people buy (Attitude, Defining attitudes, How attitudes form, Changing attitudes)
   • Practical Applications
   • Decision-Making Processes
   • Understanding Communication (Types, Methods, Channels)
   • Managing the Marketing Process
   • Market Research (Types of research, Gathering data), Managing the Marketing Plan
2. Target Marketing
   • The Process of Identifying a Target Market
   • Micro marketing
   • Developing a Marketing Plan
   • Organising a Planning Process,
   • Reviewing (Mission statement, Goals & Objectives)
   • Establishing Market Objectives
   • Increasing Market Share
   • Expanding Product Mix
   • Broadening Geographic Range
   • Expansion through Export
   • Maximising Customer Service
   • Increasing Market Share
   • Analysing Opportunities
   • External Influences
   • Internal Influences
   • Selecting Target Markets –Market Segmentation, Mass Marketing, Concentrated or Niche Markets, Differentiated Markets
   • Physical Basis for Segmentation, Behavioural basis for Segmentation, Developing a Marketing Mix
   • Brand Names, Symbols, Logos, Packaging, Positioning and Image, Providing warranties;
   • Price (Pricing Objectives, Pricing Methods, Cost-Price margin, Competition based Pricing, List and Discount Pricing)
3. Display and Display Techniques
   • Channels of Distribution,
   • Market Coverage (Intensive, Selective, Exclusive Distribution)
   • Warehousing
   • Physical Distribution and Coverage
   • Inventory Control
   • Determining Emphasis within the Marketing Mix
   • Product Life Cycle
   • Product Strategy
   • Shop Layout, Fixtures and Fittings, Space Available, Displaying Products for Sale
   • What Sells Best
   • Spacing, Quantity Displayed
   • Merchandising Suggestions, Stock Control
   • Merchandising Program
   • Signs, Signposting
4. Advertising and Promotions Strategy
   • Promotional Element
   • Publicity
   • Public Relations
   • Forms of Advertising
   • Sales Promotion
   • Personal Selling Method
   • Promotion Principles
   • Scope of PR,
   • Steps in Designing a PR Strategy (Advertising Objectives, Decide Advertising Budget, Decide Advertising Message, Decide Media to Use, Evaluate Advertising Effectiveness)
5. New Product Development
   • Product Line Decisions
   • New Products
   • Tracking Trends
   • Knowing Your Customers
   • Packaging
   • Cost-Benefit Analysis
   • Financial Forecasting
   • Project Revenues and Costs
   • Expenditure Breakdown
   • Revenue Breakdown
6. Sales Techniques - General
   • Promotion and Sales
   • Steps in the Sales Order
   • Understanding Persuasion
   • Materials of Persuasion (Know the Audience, Subject and Yourself, Influencing Opponents, Influencing Neutrals, Handling Criticism, Logical Persuasion)
   • Questioning
   • Sales Staff Training, Theory of Helping, Strategies (Traditional Approach, Task Approach), Common Strategies for Staff Training and Teaching
7. Writing Advertisements
   • Purpose of Advertising
   • Writing an Effective Advertisement
   • Structure of an Ad
   • Importance of Colour and Size
   • Advertisement Creation (Develop Product Awareness, Provide Information, Develop a Desire, Develop Conviction, Differentiate Brand, Make a Decision)
   • The Advertising Message, Message Generation, Combining Rewards and Experiences to design a message, Delivering the Message
   • Advertisement Creation Checklist
   • Verification and Proofing
8. Electronic Marketing: Telephone & Email
   • Telephone Manner
   • Managing an Unmanned Phone
   • Internet Promotions (Larger audience, Lower Conversion Factor, Different Etiquette, Different Cost Structures, etc)
   • Netiquette
   • Ways of Using Web, Web sites
   • Site Construction, Site Use
   • Emails
9. Direct Mailing
   • Types of Direct Mailing (The Direct, The Informative. The Reminder, The Utility)
   • Advantages
   • Disadvantages
   • Appropriateness
10. Exhibitions & Shows
    • Types of Exhibitions
    • Judging it’s Value
    • Catering for People Overload
    • Measuring Success
    • Organising an Event
    • Planning a Display

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Improving Visibility is Key to Successful Business

There is an old rule in marketing that still applies. Be seen in three places. If potential customers see your name in three places, they are more likely for that information to go into their memory. Websites are a helpful way to get your product out there.

Businesses can use websites in a variety of ways:

• Own Website – They may have their own website, which advertises their products or services. They may also sell their goods or services online.
• Listing sites – where people can view many professionals in the same area. For example, a listing site of all plumbers in the London area of the UK. Some listing sites are free, others require payments for advertising.
• Review websites

Social Media

Social media is a rapidly changing environment, with many new social media coming out almost weekly, so it is important to keep up to date on the important ones. Social media are a way for people to communicate with others online. They may communicate with their own close friends or people throughout the world. Different social media work in different ways. There are websites where people can put up their photos and show others. There are other sites where people may share things about themselves to the public or friends. Firms may use these forms of social media to inform their potential clients. For example, a knitting shop may put messages on social media about a new colour of wool or a new knitting machine, or a jumper that a pleased customer has made, or a new knitting pattern. This can be an easy and quick way to keep potential customers interested in their products.

It is important to consider the time you have available for social media. Some organisations employ people who will spend their whole working day adding postings and blogs to social media. They may use many different forms of social media. Other organisations may not have the same time, so it is then important to focus on the social media that can reach the most potential clients. This will require market research. It is no good maintaining a high presence on Social Media A if people looking for your services tend to go to Social Media B.

Print Media

Print media includes books, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, handbooks, brochures, leaflets etc. At one time, most advertising occurred in print media or on bill boards, but with the advent of radio, then television and now the internet, the opportunities for advertising have increased. Whether print media is a suitable area for a business to advertise in will really depend on the business and who they are target marketing. Going back to the ecologically friendly terrycloth nappies, this business may find it cost effective to advertise in green parenting magazines.

Broadcast Media

Broadcast media includes mainly television and radio. This is interlinked with the internet now as many TV and radio stations offer some programmes online, so there is also an online presence. Television and radio advertising can be very expensive, but with so many channels and stations now available, it has become cheaper. Again, it is important to consider if this is cost effective. An expensive advert on a prime time popular TV programme or a cheaper advert at 2am in the morning on a channel with a very small audience, which would work best for the business will be determined by the business themselves.

Signs, Billboards, Posters & Shop fronts

We still see billboards and signs. For example, in the UK, it is possible to sponsor flowers in the middle of traffic islands, so people driving around the island will see your sponsorship sign. They can be a way to draw the attention of potential customers. Shop fronts can also be effective. Many book stores will have displays of new books and popular books in their windows, which draw the attention of potential customers. This can work. If a customer is walking past the shop and notices the new book, they may go in and buy.

Shows, Exhibitions, Events, Conferences

There are many conferences and shows available. They can be expensive, so it is important to determine which would be the most effective use of your time and finances. Again, this requires market research in your field of business. But saying that, they can be a very effective way for businesses to draw attention to their services. For example, an agricultural college may attend an agricultural fair as a way to attract potential students on their courses.

Sponsorships

Some firms and businesses will sponsor sporting events, TV programmes, books, traffic islands, flower shows, village fetes, conferences and so on. Again, these can be costly, so this should be undertaken with great market research.

Direct Mail, Letterbox dropping, Visiting homes or Workplaces

Leaflets and direct mailings can still work. We still get leaflets in the letterbox almost daily. This can be effective if you attract the attention of the householder. Linked to this, there can also be direct emailing, where we send information regarding services and goods advertising that can be sent direct to potential customers.

Telephone

Cold calling or arranged calls can market a product very effectively, but this should be used carefully as cold calling has developed a very negative reputation over recent years. It can be effective, if wielded properly.

Word of mouth or referral

This is obviously very effective. If someone recommends your business to another person, this can be a powerful way of marketing your products.

Blogs, Digital Magazines, eBooks

Blogs, magazine platforms, and eBooks are other ways to market to potential customers. A blog is an online story about a person or business. Blogs can appear on specialist blog websites or on a business’s own website. A blog can draw attention to a business. For example, a veterinary surgery may write a blog post about animal health care, such as how to groom dogs, cutting guinea pigs’ claws, brushing dogs’ teeth etc. This draws attention to the vets. If a person goes online to find out how to cut their guinea pig’s claws, they may come across the blog and then look at the vets that wrote the blog. Then the vets are in their mind and they become a potential client. Some people may write blogs about themselves. For example, a travelling salesman may write about the places he visits and who he sees (maintaining confidentiality of course) as a way to draw attention to what he does.

A business may produce a magazine online every week/month/year to inform new customers and potential customers about what they are doing, new products and so on. These are simple and easily produced or a highly produced marketing tool.

eBooks move beyond magazines. A person or people in a business who may be a specialist in their field may produce eBooks as a way to advertise their business. For example, the veterinary surgery may write an eBook about Caring for Hamsters. They eBook would also contain information on the veterinary surgery and who wrote the book. The eBook can also be sold to potential customers.

Networking

Networking involves developing and nurturing contact with a group of people or organisations who may lead directly or indirectly to marketing opportunities.

In the past, networking may have been achieved by joining a group such as a Rotary Club, a professional association, or a trade consortium. It would have involved making yourself visible amongst peers by getting things you write published, or by physically talking to and being heard by people.

Modern business is more starved for time than in the past; and every minute needs to be as productive as possible. Time can be lost travelling to and from meetings, or waiting for an opportunity to talk about your goods or services. Modern marketing is about finding faster ways of reaching more people, building more personal relationships and raising awareness about more things in a shorter period of time; by using tools such as web sites, apps and social media.

The Role of Marketing?

Marketing today places a strong emphasis on viewing the business through the customer’s eyes or customer-oriented marketing. A market-focused business will want to create products that customers want to buy.

The business needs to see itself as a customer-satisfying process rather than a production process. It also needs to be aware of what is happening in the market and market trends.

In developing a new product, to achieve financial goals and make a profit, the product would need to generate sales and this would require the development of a business plan.

To achieve the goal of profit, the business plan and specifically the marketing plan should be the focus of all short-term planning for three reasons:

• The marketing plan outlines the strategies to be used to bring the buyer and seller together. The business needs to be able to identify:
  1. where the market is
  2. who will buy the product
  3. why they will buy the product

A business, therefore, must determine what the customer wants, how the market is selling now, and develop a product and marketing plan to satisfy these wants.

In order to create a marketing strategy, data needs to be collected and analysed on markets, consumers and customers. This information then needs to be used to guide business decisions as to which products should be produced and the best methods to do this.

So whichever approach to marketing is adopted, whether it is production, product, sales or marketing oriented, the fact is marketing will still deal with customers more than any other section of a business. This means that marketing will acquire a greater understanding of the needs of potential and existing customers, which will have an important role in decision making across the whole business.

Internal marketing audits will raise awareness within the business of any strengths and weaknesses. Whilst marketing techniques such as SWOT (Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analyses will be used to make the business look outside its own environment and identify opportunities and threats in the external environment. In today’s market it is also important to note and look at the internal structure of the business as well.

The role of marketing requires that plans are made, targets set and reviews of performance against the targets made regularly. Basically, the role of marketing is to influence everything that a business does, so it ensures it meets the needs and wants of customers in a way that is profitable to the business. The strength of the influence of the marketing department will depend on the individuals involved and the marketing approach used by the business. The marketing section and department also need to analyse the data and information to make sure that the business is heading in the right direction.