Task 1
- 1. Understanding the Functions ofMarketing and PR Marketing The oxford dictionary defines market research as the action or activity of gathering information about consumers' needs and preferences. The Collins dictionary goes to say that it is the study of influences upon customer and consumer behaviour and the analysis of market characteristics and trends. There are a lot of techniques involved in gathering the research for businesses. AllBusiness.comexplained the most important and focused on 5 main aspects on how to get the information. Surveys, focus groups, personal interviews, observation, and field trials are all part of good market research. This way you look at the customer and how they are influenced. These 5 are very different in approach but so similar in success rate. Surveys for example. Concise and straightforward questions can help you get a good quick response. The success of this technique will be in relation to quantity and how many responses are taken. This will give you a much greater understanding. With all these 5 aspects there are many other sections within. When looking into Surveys and how they are taken you can explore the multiple approaches. Telephone surveys, Face to face, Mail and online are all a range of ways in gathering the data from the consumer. It is from this where the characteristics and trends are found. A successful survey is dependant on the reliability of the responses as well as the huge numbers in replies. With online surveys. They are inexpensive to create, however as you obviously do not see or meet the person you cannot judge how reliable that data is. More data will be collected due to being available to more however this might not help the product or business you are setting up. In relation to face to face surveys, they are the most expensive way of getting the point across, however if you are located near somewhere where the demographic is based you can gather much more valid results. When looking at Telephone and Mail Surveys, these are seen as less successful. This is due to not being able to convince the public to take part. This can be due to the length of them or as they simply do not have the time. As both are low cost an advantage of this can be to produce thousands of the surveys. Having a cheap way of market research can allow the business to spend more else where. Market research is important as this provides the platform for your product or business to take off. Without this or with poor research into the market and competitors the
- 2. business will not survive. When starting a business or service understanding the market is important however understanding your demographic is the main priority. If you cannot entice your audience then you cannot be successful. Learning early what the customer’s behavior is like can allow you to place your product in areas where they can notice it. Focus Groups are a great way of understanding the consumer. Placing a small amount of people from the actual target audience to voice their opinion can give you a indication on where and how to take the business forward. This is a good way of looking specifically at the audience and understanding them. How an actual business goes about Market Research One method employed by the company is its checkout survey. This is a simple but highly effective survey that is carried out with customers at the till. By collecting the customer’s home postcode, gender and age and matching this data to the products purchased, JD can build up detailed consumer profiles. (The Times Business case study) The ‘shopping bag’ survey – the JD research team monitors what carrier bags customers entering JD stores are carrying. This helps identify what other stores JD customers use and are spending money in. It provides competitor insight and an idea of which retailers attract a similar customer profile to JD, a variable that can influence the location of new JD store openings. Market analysis according to Wikipedia is a study to see the attractiveness and the dynamics of a special market within a special industry. It is from the analysis of the market that organisations can look into the future of the product and see what strengths it has and what can be improved. ‘The market analysis is a section in a business plan that presents information about the commercial market in which your business operates, the purchasing habits of customers in that market, and information about competitors’. (wikiHow)
- 3. StengelSolutions.com describes a good approach to market analysis. Something that segments the market. By this they mean looking into age, income, product type, buying patterns and customer needs. Example: A local computer store defines its customer segments as “high-end home office” and “high-technology small business’’. This segmentation says a lot about whom it is aimed towards. It is important to create a knowledgeable plan in order to understand it in the future and if you want potential buyers to come in the business. There are many steps that can help you create good informative market analysis. Firstly, describe the market in general terms. In addition to the obvious demographic you include, make sure to have information about industry in the area and the location as a whole. Secondly, you take that location and explain which sector within it you will be contributing towards. For example a business selling second hand cars will be working in the automotive sector. Identifying competitors is something of great importance. This should have been done through market research initially. Competitors of that market you are in. Explore their weaknesses and strengths. Compare and contrast with your own. If you’re in the restaurant business watch other competitors once a month, rotating through different establishments. If you own a shoe store, shop your competition monthly and visit different stores. Park across the street and count the customers who go in. From this look at your own business and how you can improve the business plan in the future. Also, providing a brief overview of market trends can give you a lot of needed information in the future. Look for clusters of strengths that may give you a competitive advantage StengelSolutions.com go on to expand on the point about segmentation. They make it clear in their study that you should prioritise the market segments.
- 4. ‘Discuss why your business is focusing on these specific target market groups. What makes them more interesting than groups you’ve ruled out?’ Examples: A clothing boutique might focus on one set of upper-income customers instead of another for strategic reasons. An office equipment store might focus on certain business people whose needs match the firm’s expertise Some fast-food restaurants focus on families with children under driving age. It if from this that you can the understanding on how difficult and challenging Market analysis can be. This is why many businesses hire outside Analysts to create a plan for them. This can save time however, this costs money and the information is not always relevant and is better when you know the business. Doing your own research and doing something as simple as counting customers going in competitors shops or checking prices can allow you to compare with your own business plan and help you create a better prediction for the future. Market analysis crosses over the market research in the gathering of own information. This has to be done by yourself as that of Primary research as this is very specific to your business/product. It is from this where you can look at previous work from focus groups and surveys and include them to the analysis plan. According to EasyMarketingStrategies.com ‘A marketing strategy is a process or model to allow a company or organisation to focus limited resources on the best opportunities to increase sales and thereby achieve a sustainable competitive advantage’. Your marketing strategy is the way you make sure you’re getting the maximum impact from your limited marketing budget and time. Here on the right is a good image to demonstrate the hierarchy of the marketing and goals within the business. Firstly you need to identify the long-term goals for the business. The mission, the objectives and what you want to achieve. It is only after this where you can look at the strategy. The high-level rules that will govern what marketing efforts you focus on. Once your strategy is complete you can move onto the Marketing Mix as it is called. This looks at the 4 P’s. Price, Product, Place and promotion. Once you have decided how much the product will be you can look into writing a marketing plan in how to achieve these goals set.
- 5. EasyMarketingStrategies.com makes a good point expanding from their definition. ‘’Your first step in developing a marketing strategy that drives significant business results is to make sure you fully understand your market by doing some research: market size and growth, competitors, complementors, and customers’’. All of these points within the Marketing side of ‘Marketing and PR’ refer to good market research. If this is done correctly and up to a very good standard, it is a platform to spring on and become successful. In many cases good research can stop you from building the business as it may provide you with enough to see that the customers will not buy the product in the area it is based in. Strategic Marketing is defined in the "Marketing Concept", of which there are several different definitions, but all of them incorporate the broad definition of marketing. (Ingirum.co.uk) The site goes onto explain the three points to Strategic Marketing. Segmenting, Targeting, and Positioning. All of these are backed up by the points made earlier, The idea of placing a product somewhere where the audience will see it (Marketing Mix- ‘Place’) Knowing whom to target, prioritising one segment of the market over another.
- 6. Advertising is the best way to communicate to the customers. Advertising helps inform the customers about the brands available in the market and the variety of products useful to them. Advertising is for everybody including kids, young and old. It is done using various media types, with different techniques and methods most suited. (ManagementStudyGuide.com) According to this site there are four main objectives in relation advertising. Trial, Continuity, Brand switch, Switching back. The trial objective involves convincing the customers to buy the new product introduced in the market. (In this flashy and attractive ads are used.) Continuity is concerned about keeping the existing customers to stick on to the product. (Adverts will bring something new to the product) Brand Switch is mainly for those companies who want to attract the customers of the competitors. Adverts will be used to show why this brand is better than the other. The fourth objective of switching back is for the companies who want their previous customers back, who have switched to their competitors. This will be in the style of discounts such as this on underneath, new packaging or new advertising to entice the original audience Why is Advertising important? Advertising is important in every aspect in relation to the product or service. The customers. This is important for the customers because at the end of the day, these are the people buying the product. Without advertisement they will have little if no knowledge of that product meaning you will not sell and ultimately fail. Advertising provides the customer with a service. This allows them to compare with all existing brands and see which one suits them. Buy not advertising to them, you may be missing out, as they could be the perfect demographic. Advertising is obviously important to the seller of the product. The most important reason is that is produces sales, which equates to money. With advertising you can see competitors ways of thinking, it is from this where the advertising can provide customer loyalty and keeps them customers for a long period of time.
- 7. Advertising is important for society. This leads away from the business point of view, however it helps educate people. There are some social issues also which advertising deals with like child labour and smoking. Advertising can be used to help charities as well with television ads the most popular. This is a good way of reaching a large amount of people. Brand promotion is a common marketing strategy intended to increase product awareness, customer loyalty, competitiveness, sales and overall company value. (WiseGeek.com) The methods used to promote a brand and make customers aware are to look at the basics. The person cannot buy what they do not know exists. Businesses can communicate with buyers in different ways, such as using print ads, radio commercials or demonstrations. A good example of this is from Apple where they often gather large crowds to announce a new product. This keeps existing customers happy as it is offering something different to what they have at the moment and has the potential to advertise to new customers. Repetition is vital for customer awareness. Keep drilling the point across. According to WiseGeek.com, the average person has to hear or see something more than 5 times for the message to be remembered. It is from this where it becomes clear advertisements must be over a long-term basis and constant reminding of that product is vital. A good example of this comes with Coke.
- 8. These images show the constantadvertisingCoke has taken part in over the years. Why don’t they stop when they already havea loyal customer base? To keep getting more, a largecompany needs to keep generating more sales and this will happen with more and more people purchasingthe drink. This will allowthem to keep expanding and control the market. Buildinga loyal customer baseis spoken about often however without these you cannot possibly surviveas a business.Onceyou have a brand it is importantto keep getting that out there to the public. Celebrity Endorsements areused in order to make that brand,one that is associated with a certain standard. Former footballer and Match of the day presenter Gary Lineker has been the face of the brand ‘Walkers’for many years and givingthem a huge amount of the market sharewithin the crisps market. Being a popular figureis a good way of brand promotion, as the public will seehimand associatethe brand as quality and high-end produce.
- 9. PR Messagingisthe processof creatinga constantstory arounda product,person,companyor service.Messagingaimstoavoidhavingreadersreceive confusinginformation (Wikipedia/publicrelations) It isfrom thiswhere managingthe message that iscreatedisso vital.The waysindoingso are seeninthe 11 fundamental principles. Communicateearly, Communicateoften (Bythisit issuggestingtogetthe message acrossbefore your competitorsandkeepdrillingthat message inthe viewersheadsuntil they understandit) Communicatewhatyou knowwhen you knowit (Once youhave a grasp on the product or service onlythencanyoustart to communicate with the audience.Youmustbelieveinthe productandthe successof it.If youdo notthe customer will not) Don’tbe afraid to say “I don’tknow”aslong asyou follow that up with “...butI’ll find outand get backto you assoon asI do.” (Thisshowsthatyou care forcustomersatisfactionandwantthe businesstobe successful) Let everyoneknowwhat is happening,why,and whatthey can do to help (Asa businessyoucanbe muchmore efficientinthe runningof itif everypartof the teamis knowledgeable onthe brand) Reinforcewhatis staying thesameas you discusswhatmay bechanging (Thisis importantbecause if youcome across as changingthe full brand,loyal existing customersmaybe putoff and looksto competitors.Itisalsoveryimportanttokeepaddingnew ideasandfeaturestoproductsto keepthemfreshandup to date) Createmultiple, targeted approachesto reach yourvariousaudiences (Have an planand strategyto targeteach audience,make sure youknow where tolook,who will be lookingatit,whytheywouldwantto,isit appealingenough?Itisimportanttoreachout to the audience andtheyhave tonotice the message because if theydonot,theycan not buyor take part in the service) Communicateopenly,honestly,and frequently asthingscontinueto change (Communicationisseenasthe mostimportantpointinmanagingthe message youhave created.It isfromthiswhere youcan decide how successful yourbrandis.Communicate honestlyandclearlyandthe audience will respectthat.Keepingeveryone uptodate isalsoa big factor inretainingthatpleasantatmosphere.
- 10. Fail to do soand the message will alreadybe clearwithoutanyneedtoletthe audience know. You needtobe incharge of your message. Establish feedbackmechanismsfromthoseaffected by thechangesto thosein leadership to informyourongoing decisions (Alwayshave the staff todeal withpeople whohave opinionsorthoughtsonrecentchangesin the runningof the message) Communicatetheinitial results and early progressof yourchangeeffortsto everyone (Keepcommunicatingtoall involvedwiththe message.Managingitcanbe easierbyshowing earlyprogress) Acknowledgeand thankeveryonewho helped contributeto yoursuccess Continueto communicatewell afterthe changesoccurand aslong asthe transition continues Communicationisjustone of several aspectsconcerningthe managementof amessage. Within thisthere comesseveral jobrolessuchasthe Newsbearer,familyliaisonofficer,alead spokespersonandamediamonitor. Accordingto Sans.eduthere are 6 waysincommunicatingproperlyduringacrisis. Preparation Identification Containment Eradication Recovery LessonsLearned Boundless.commade some veryclearpointsinrelationtocommunication. It isfrom thisyoucan see the ideaof communicationisrepetitive withinmanagingthe message and publicrelations. The site goeson to make several more pointsincluding,the speaker,anticipatingthe audience reaction,practical decisionsinthe email applicationandminimizingthe riskof miscommunication.
- 11. An example of how a business can manage a message, in particularly when in crisis comes from The Southwest Airlines. “Quick response time, open, honest communication on Facebook and Twitter were key in helping the brand control the story and maintain good faith with its customers”. (Stephanie Fisher) The brand managed to keep their message about being honest with customers and putting their needs first. This was seen through the quick response to inform all that needed to know. This can tie in with damage limitation/control due to preventing the brand from being harmed. ThefreeDictionary.com defines Publicity as public interest, notice, or notoriety generated or gained by disseminating information through various media. Positive publicity therefore is focusing on doing an action to make the brand look in a certain light. It is from this where celebrity endorsements are used to create a more noticeable product or service, using their achievements to psychologically reflect on the business. A good example of positive publicity comes from charities. Doing work for those who need it can make the brand/business look better and could persuade customers to choose this over competitors. There are many advantages for a business to sponsor charitable organisations. According to smallbusiness.comthe main advantage of this is Increased Visibility And Revenue
- 12. ‘’Perhaps the biggest advantage given to businesses that sponsor charitable organizations and events is the increased visibility gained throughout the community. In exchange for a financial donation, a corporation's name and logo are included on all mailings, advertisement and other promotional material produced by the nonprofit. In some cases, a large donation may even culminated in property, such as a conference room, garden or computer laboratory being named in honor of the donating corporation’’. They go on to say, ‘’the increase visibility of a company’s name and logo leads to increased brand recognition throughout the community. An easily recognized brand makes closing sales all the more effortless. Increased sales equals increased revenue’’. Another advantage would be that of the charitable image that comes across. “When a business donates to worthy local causes, such as those that fight poverty or disease, as well as cultural institutions, such as the ballet, opera or art museum, its image is often enhanced in the public’s perception. No longer considered as simply a profit-seeking corporation, a business’ investment in the community signals a commitment and concern for its neighbors”. Many consumers make purchasing decisions based upon this quality. Residents of a community will often show favor to local businesses. In many cases, they will go out of their way to support companies that support that community” This last paragraph above is a good understanding towards consumers and their actions. A good example of positive publicity comes from 1996 and the Taco Bell Corp. Taco Bell is an American chain of fast-food restaurants based in Irvine, California. (Wikipedia.org) Their attempt at ‘Positive publicity’ (According to entrepreneur.com) In the morning, an ad appeared in The New York Times with a headline that read: "Taco Bell Buys the Liberty Bell." The advert went on to say how the bell was to renamed “Taco Liberty Bell” and was still available for public viewing. After this, thousands of people complained (can relate to managing the message and having staff ready to deal with possible misinterpreted messages) It was later revealed to be an Aprils fool joke on the public and media. It however was not a joke for the business in terms of revenue. The company's revenue increased by $500,000 that day, and by $600,000 more the following day, compared to the previous week's sales.
- 13. This shows that placing the product or business in a popular area or like this a famous object, it can attract publicity in terms of earning more revenue. Not everyone will agree with the idea behind it, however the managing of the message aspect is important and to respectfully deal complaints. Boundless.com suggests Spin in a marketing sense is, an effect that colours the truth by selectively presenting facts that support a desired position and can sway public opinion. Princeton.edu say that In public relations, spin is a form of propaganda, achieved through providing an interpretation of an event or campaign to persuade public opinion in favor or against a certain organization or public figure. There are many forms of spin in the media. A good example was mentioned in Yahoo.com. “One of the most common forms of spin or PR in politics is in the form of 'leaks'. For example if the government is about to raise taxes they will leak false information to the media about it being higher than it is actually going to be. The public will get upset but their expectation of the tax has been raised. Then when the tax raise is announced but not as high as people are expecting the disappointment is lessened. Or another common form of spin is simply using statistics to make an argument, you can get statistics to say what ever you want within reason, it's just how you use them”. A good point is made. When looking further into Spin, we can understand the different approaches and techniques involved. According to Princeton.edu the techniques that are used in Spin are: Selectively presenting facts and quotes that support ones position. (Or “Cherry Picking”) Non- Denial denial (According to Wikipedia.org- Non-denial denial is a statement that seems direct, clear- cut and unambiguous at first hearing, but when carefully parsed is revealed not to be a denial at all, and is thus not untruthful. It is a case in which words that are literally true are used to convey a false impression; analysis of whether or when such behavior constitutes lying is a long-standing issue in ethics) London's newspaper The Sunday Times has defined it as "an on-the-record statement, usually made by a politician, repudiating a journalist's story, but in such a way as to leave open the possibility that it is actually true." Euphemisms to disguise or promote ones agenda.
- 14. The most common is seen as “Burying bad news”- Announcing one popular thing at the same time as several unpopular things, hoping the media will focus on the most popular one. The objectives behind using spin often include promotion. Here are a few more reasons. Buy a product or service, or Vote in a certain way, or Support a policy such as a war, or an economic decision such as a tax measure, or a change in- law; or, Not support the competition; or, Not take action that would prevent the spinner having something that he/she wants etc (Image and reasonsforSpin takenfrom http://www.truthliesdeceptioncoverups.info) The Collins dictionary defines ‘Damage Limitation’ as an action that is taken to make the bad results of something as small as possible, when it is impossible to avoid bad results completely. In terms of PR, damage limitation or control can be important to save the reputation. Referring back to smallbusinesss.com. They explain damage control to be “minimizing the negative perception caused by a crisis-situation”. An example of damage limitation/control in relation to a business could be. Public relation department's response to an oilrig sinking off the coast of California. The oil company's public relations department controls the flow of information released about the catastrophe, and works to convince the public that the oil company is working in the best interest of the public and environment, as opposed to being a self-serving company only concerned with company profits. This might include a series of commercials showing company employees and officers actively cleaning up the oil spill and saving local wildlife. It is from this where the reputation is almost saved and perhaps even made to look better in some cases, such as the response and looking after the wildlife very early on. How to plan for PR Damage control? Sam Ashe-Edmunds at eHow believes that “The key to minimizing damage when something bad happens to your business is to be proactive in sending a message, rather than reactive in responding to queries” He talks through the stages on how a business should plan for a crisis and what the best course of action is. Firstly, form the response team way before a problem arises, project potential problems before anything happens, Plan, Prepare, Rehearse and create your own response procedures so you know exactly what to do.
- 15. What benefit could there be to an organisation to create an event? Use an example of a marketing or PR event to support your responses. An event is described as a thing that happens or takes place, especially one of importance. What benefit could creating one have on a business? According to Marketo.com “Event marketing describes the process of developing a themed exhibit, display, or presentation to promote a product, service, cause, or organization leveraging in-person engagement”. On there site they go onto explain Events can occur online or offline, and can be participated in, hosted, or sponsored. Why are they important? Events offer a unique opportunity for customers to interact with brands to get a firsthand sense of a company’s focus, perspective, and personality. The benefits of creating an event are that of brand awareness, customer engagement and education. An example of a marketing event was seen in 2012 when Samsung related their brand with that of the Olympics. According to econsultancy.com, ‘Samsung created brand experiences at various destinations around London. From July to September Samsung Studios were offering their Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note. Visitors coming over were able to play with the Olympic game app or have their photo taken on the S3, which later turned it into a personalised badge. To add further incentive to purchase the product, Samsung offered the product on display and an around the world trip if people came their every day and collected special badges. Not one person returned to take part in the competition however the awareness of the brand was put out to a much wider audience. The use of the ‘Olympic app’ on the phones added that personalised touch which related to why the people were coming over to London. The benefits events such as these can have is that they bring in a much wider audience and which ultimately means more custom.
- 16. The analysis showed that half of the visitors spent between 6 and 10 minuet at the Samsung Studio, while the average interaction was 7 minuets 45 seconds. This was in stark contrast to those in the market for a new phone and the time their took 8 minuets 15 seconds. Was the event successful? 9 out of 10 people that were asked said they were much more likely to buy a Samsung phone as a result of the interaction they had. And just over a third (35%) of people asked claimed to be more likely to ‘consider’ buying the phone. This shows that you can be successful when using events to advertise your product. However, it must be in the correct location and the people targeted must be interested in it. Placing the product near where you know people are travelling for a certain event such as the Olympics shows great market research and initiative. What is lobbying and who is most likely to be influenced by it? Businessdictionary.com explains Lobbying to be the act of attempting to influence business and government leaders to create legislation or conduct an activity that will help a particular organization. People who do lobbying are called lobbyists. HansardSociety.org.uk make a good point about Lobbying, particularly in the UK. An extract from their site explains this. Wfh.org explains that Lobbying is more likely to be successful when many people are involved. It can be designed to set the agenda (proactive) or respond to someone else’s agenda (reactive). Lobbying is most effective when it is based on facts, draws on practical experience, and offers proof for claims it makes. An example of an organisation or business coming together with the world of politics
- 17. would be Greenpeace UK. On their website they said, “Decision-makers (like politicians or industry leaders) have both the resources and the responsibility to make positive change happen. In our lobbying work, we target and engage those in positions of power and pressure them to take the bold steps needed to protect the planet. We make sure that our campaign demands are clearly heard by decision-makers, and we ask them to translate these demands into real action that protects the environment” Lobbying is often seen in a bad light, however when a good organisation with the right intensions comes forward to attempt to work with those ‘Decision makers’ in the country then it can only be a good thing.