The factor of place is not on such a large scale, the outlet is the shop and therefore transactions will take place at the shop. However my shop must be in a position in which to offer its services well and easily accessed by the customers. For example there must be plenty of car parking near by so that the customers can easily access the shop, it should be available to as many customers as possible.
Promotion is the fourth element and refers to how the potential customers are made aware for the product and or products. Before the promotion campaign firstly the company must find out who its customers are and whom they are aiming their products at. This would be found out through out throw the use of market research which will not only tell you the market you are looking at but also it gives you a change to develop the product more; knowing that the market for my company is between the age ranges of 14 to about 25 and is mainly based at males with a small female market.
The techniques for promotion is based under five different headings, these are;
· Packaging
· Personal selling
· Public relations
· Sales promotions
· Advertising.
For each of these in turn there are different options that are available,
packaging is how the product is presented to the customers, this is normally the physical appearance and the packaging in which the product is sold, but I will have a few examples of customised trainers on display in a locked, clear mantelpiece. For my company, as the products are bought from manufacturers which sell through many different outlets, the product already comes packaged up and this is not a large concern of the company just to ensure that the packaging stays in good condition.
Personal selling involves communication directly with the customers; this is always one to one contact for example double glazing sales man. This involves the sales man approaching the customers rather than the customers coming to a shop. Potentially this is the promotion technique that is most likely to sell the most products but this is not a good option for my company, as it would involve large amounts of stock being taken to see all the clients.
Public relations are the relations between the company and the public. This is about presenting a caring image to the public and potential customers, of a place were they would want to shop.
This image can be achieved by;
- Through sponsorship of events related to the product or the image that is wished to be portrayed.
- Sponsorship or the setting up of youth teams.
- Making money available for help with community projects such as building a youth centre.
- Buying equipment for schools.
Due to the fact that Ghetto Fabulous is such a small newly opened company, I will not have the large P.R budget to cover these large events. In the future I may be able to put a small amount of money into local schemes or events but this is not in the immediate future.
Sales promotion is also known as point of sale promotions this is because this is where it happens. The different sorts of sales promotion are:
- Buy one get one free - this can also be buy one and get something else free.
- Discounts - where products are reduced in an effort to sell more.
- Competitions - used to get people interested in the shop and products.
- Free gifts - another way to pursued people to buy products.
- Product trials - allows people to try the products before they buy.
- Point of sale displays - special displays to promote the products and gain customer awareness.
For my company, I would expect these to play a major part in the shop. I would use the point of sales displays, as the major part of the sales promotion as this will give reactively cheap and cost effective method.
Advertising is the process of communicating information about the product or service to as many customers in the target market as possible; a way that arouses interest so that the customers are encouraged to buy products. This must be accurate as law states it. The advertising method chosen should suit the size of both the firm and size of its market.
Small firms like mine should consider these options because they are of low cost and are cost effective still:
- Word of mouth
- Local press
- Commercial directories. (e.g. yellow pages)
- Delivering leaflets.
All of the above should be considered as they are all within the small marketing budget that is available to me.
The aims of business advertising is to inform people about your business, introduce products into the market, to gain customers/increase sales and to create a memorable image
The main aim of the advertising that I will do for my shop will be to attract customers and to increase my sales.
The types of advertising media that businesses can use are listed below:
- Television - This will get your business across to millions of people. However it is very expensive and since my shop is only a local shop, and television shows adverts to people all over the country, the advert would only be applicable to a tiny percentage of people watching and a waste of money.
- Radio - This is a cheaper method of advertising than a television advert. Also I could place an advert on local radio for a small cost and it would go out to people all over the local area.
- Posters/billboards - These would be a good idea, since they are a very cheap of advertising form and are usually placed at the side of roads. However people may ignore the adverts because these are seen by everyone, not just the target audience, and if I was to produce posters then detailed information could not be placed on them, only a persuasive type of picture or slogan because they would only be seen for a short amount of time.
- Magazines and newspapers - If I were to place an ad in the local newspaper I know that this would be seen by people all over the local area. It would also be a fairly low cost. However the disadvantages are that readers do not always look at the advert, and if I were to show an ad in a newspaper then it would be limited to black and white.
- Leaflets/direct mail – These can be given out to anyone in the streets and therefore a lot of them will be wasted. But, they can also be delivered to people's home (then called direct mail) and can be targeted at particular neighbourhoods.
- Cinemas – This can be cheap and effective but will only be seen a limited number of people. The genre of film being show affects who is watching and therefore who sees the ad. But this reflects and the low cost and effectiveness of the ad if my target audience is likely to go and see the movie being shown.
The Advertising Standards Authority is the independent body set up by the advertising industry to police the rules for non-broadcast advertisements, sales promotions and direct marketing that are laid down in the CAP Code. The strength of the self-regulatory system lies in both the independence of the ASA and the support and commitment of the advertising industry, through the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP), to the standards of the CAP Code, protecting consumers and maintaining the integrity of marketing communications.
There were criticisms of advertising before this body was set up 41 years ago. These were as follow:
- It may encourage habits and behaviour that are not good for people's health, for example smoking or drinking. It may encourage greed and envy.
- It my tempt people to buy things they cannot afford or do not need.
- Advertising increases firms' costs and may lead to higher prices.
- Firms may be tempted to make false claims for their products or services to mislead the public.
The ASA has been set up to meet these criticisms. That is what I think anyways. It is formed and paid for by the advertising industry itself, for the voluntary self-regulations of the industry. It controls all advertising in the UK, except for that on radio and television, or broadcast advertisements in other words, as mentioned above.
Advertisements on television are controlled by the Independent Television Commission (ITC). Advertising on commercial radio is controlled by the Radio Authority. Unlike the ASA, both these bodies have been set up by Acts of Parliament. They both have codes of practice for advertising that cover the things that can not be included in programmes.
