Public relations and publicity The appeal of public relations and publicity is based on three distinctive qualities:

News stories and features are more authentic and credible to readers than ads.

—Public relations can reach prospects who prefer to avoid mass media and targeted promotions.

—Public relations can tell the story behind a company, brand, or product.

Direct and interactive marketing messages take many forms—over the phone, online, or in person. They share three characteristics:

Word-of-mouth marketing Word of mouth also takes many forms both online or offline. Three noteworthy characteristics are:

Personal selling Personal selling has three notable qualities:

can occur across and within media types, but marketers should combine personal and nonpersonal communications channels through multiple-vehicle, multiple-stage campaigns to achieve maximum impact and increase message reach and impact.

can be a cost-effective way to disseminate messages, whether to build a brand preference or to educate people.

is a specific communications task and achievement level to be accomplished with a specific audience in a specific period of time:

aims to create brand awareness and knowledge of new products or new features of existing products.

aims to create liking, preference, conviction, and purchase of a product or service.

aims to stimulate repeat purchase of products and services

• aims to convince current purchasers that they made the right choice.

Deciding on the Advertising Budget Factors affecting budget decisions

—The number of repetitions needed to put the brand’s message across to consumers has an obvious impact on the advertising budget.

—Brands in less-differentiated or commodity-like product classes (beer, soft drinks, banks, and airlines) require heavy advertising to establish a unique image.

is finding the most cost-effective media to deliver the desired number and type of exposures to the target audience.

is a broad category including many creative and unexpected forms to grab consumers’ attention.

have been transformed and now use colorful, digitally produced graphics,backlighting, sounds, movement, and unusual—even 3D—images.

a key ingredient in marketing campaigns, consists of a collection of incentive tools, mostly short term, designed to stimulate quicker or greater purchase of particular products or services by consumers or the trade. Whereas advertising offers a reason to buy, sales promotion offers an incentive.

is any group that has an actual or potential interest in or impact on a company’s ability to achieve its objectives.

includes a variety of programs to promote or protect a company’s image or individual products.

public relations They perform the following five functions:

is the use of consumer-direct (CD) channels to reach and deliver goods and services to customers without using marketing middlemen. Direct marketers can use a number of channels to reach individual prospects and customers: direct mail, catalog marketing, telemarketing, interactive TV, kiosks, Web sites, and mobile devices.

Different direct marketing channels

marketing means sending an offer, announcement, reminder, or other item to an individual consumer.

, companies may send full-line merchandise catalogs, specialty consumer catalogs, and business catalogs, usually in print form but also as DVDs or online.

is the use of the telephone and call centers to attract prospects, sell to existing customers, and provide service by taking orders and answering questions

Public and Ethical Issues in Direct Marketing

Interactive Marketing Communication Options

are a means for consumers to share text, images, audio, and video information with each other and with companies and vice versa.

There are three main platforms for social media:

The term sales representative covers six positions, ranging from the least to the most creative types of selling:

—A salesperson whose major task is the delivery of a product (water, fuel, oil).

—An inside order taker (standing behind the counter) or outside order taker (calling on the supermarket manager).

—A salesperson not permitted to take an order but expected rather to build goodwill or educate the actual or potential user

—A salesperson with a high level of technical knowledge

—A salesperson who relies on creative methods for selling tangible products or intangibles

—A salesperson whose expertise is solving a customer’s problem, often with a system of the company’s products and services (for example, computer and communications systems)

Sales Force Objectives and Strategy Regardless of the selling context, salespeople perform one or more specific tasks:

Various policies and procedures guide the firm in recruiting, selecting, training, supervising, motivating,and evaluating sales representatives to manage its sales force

Reps are taught the SPIN method to build long-term relationships,with questions such as:

—These ask about facts or explore the buyer’s present situation.

—These deal with problems, difficulties, and dissatisfactions the buyer is experiencing.

—These ask about the consequences or effects of a buyer’s problems, difficulties, or dissatisfactions.

—These ask about the value or usefulness of a proposed solution.