Advertising & promotion

Advertising is a collective term for public announcements designed to promote the sale of specific commodities or services. Advertising is a form of mass selling, employed when the use of direct, person-to-person selling is impractical, impossible, or simply inefficient. It is to be distinguished from other activities intended to persuade the public, such as propaganda, publicity, and public relations. Advertising techniques range in complexity from the publishing of simple, straightforward notices in the classified-advertising columns of newspapers to the concerted use of newspapers, magazines, television, radio, direct mail, and other communications media in the course of a single advertising campaign. From its unsophisticated beginnings in ancient times, advertising has burgeoned into a worldwide industry.

My aims of advertising are:

Inform people about the product
Create a image
Increase sales
Compete with other shops
Introduce in products into the market

Informative advertising

Currently in the biggest spender on this form of advertising, is the government this advertising is used to pass on information to the public. The passing on of this information is very important in any advert. In my case when deciding how to advertise I can even use this method as to inform about my newsagents shop and where about its situated etc.

Persuasive advertising

The washing power industry spends as much as the government on advertising, their adverts try to persuade the viewer that their products are much better then the compensation. Their goal is to attract people to buy their products.

There are different types of pervasive advertising:

Adverts that show a famous person using the product.
Adverts that compare one product with another.
Adverts that use sex to sell the product.

I can use this method of advertising to tell people about my product in such a way that the customers are persuaded to actually buy the product, or change their opinion and behaviour.

Public relations

Public relations is the department that try's to promote the product and show the good side of the company to the public. I can use this form of promotion to bring my name and products to the attention of the public and potential consumers. It’s an advantage of creating a good image of my business and this may be done by issuing new stories of events surrounding itself to the press, or by associating my business with an event, such as sporting or celebrity event (rarely used). Other opportunities for Public relations in general include: open days where potential customers are invited into an organisation to see how it operates, in the hose newspapers that are circulated among employees and customers and getting celebrities to endorse a business or product. I will not take this option of having a celebrity to promote my product, as it is very expensive to hire a celebrity and also they wouldn’t be even interested to visit my shop because its not a major large organisation, and there are many retail business like mine situated all over the country. However it will be a bonus if a celebrity visits my newsagents shop and buys a product because fans may feel that they should also use the product too and visit my shop regularly!

I can also use functions like sponsoring e.g. local school football kits (described in “what my customers want” task) with the name and logo of my business. Sponsorship of this kind, may produce a limited amount of promotional opportunity, but are felt to be worthwhile because they help to further human achievement and also to create a better image of my business. Other methods I can use to achieve publicity by issuing a press release to the press. Press releases are only effective if they attract the attention and interest of the reader. I will intend to issue a press release locally as my business would only be applicable to a tiny percentage of people.

Advertising agencies

Advertise is a very expensive business, to make sure that the money is well spent I will hire a company to do it right. For my advertising campaign to be successful it must:

Reach the right audience
Be attractive and appealing
Make the money that the audience cost back in sales.

These agencies decide on the content of the advertisement and the media that will be used to get its message across to my target audience. The message will be sent across through a specific advertising media.

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∙ Control over advertising

Control over advertising ensures that the content of an advert is not offensive, deceiving, misinforming, or misleading. In an advert I cannot just put anything in it, there are certain rules that I must obey and go through, such as:

Code of practice- standards of behaviour in an industry, either voluntary or enforceable in law.
The Trades Description Act 1968-which means I must describe as truthfully to the best of my knowledge.
The Consumer Protection Act 1987- which states that goods must be as described in any promotional material.

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∙ Control over advertising

Code of practice- standards of behaviour in an industry, either voluntary or enforceable in law.
The Trades Description Act 1968-which means I must describe as truthfully to the best of my knowledge.
The Consumer Protection Act 1987- which states that goods must be as described in any promotional material.

I will discuss these and other types of legal constraints that there will be on my advertising in the next section “Legal constraints”.

Advertising Media

The principal advertising media are television, radio, cinema, newspapers and magazines, posters, leaflets and the Internet. I have already studied these types of media in my “What my customers want” section and here I will discuss these issues again including their costs, advantages/disadvantages and also I will conclude what type of media(s) I will use to promote my business and its product. :

Television - Price = £50,000 for a prime-time 30-second advertisement on the national television.

A television advert can reach millions of viewers. It is the form of advertising that is most easily remembered, as it consists of both sound and moving images. Television advertisements can be screened nationally or regionally. Its advertising is principally used for products with wide consumer appeal such as cars, food, clothes etc. Some local businesses like my business that have regional markets may advertise on regional television (very rarely shown). To produce an advert I must take these things: how many adverts I can afford, as there would be no point in only being able to run your advert once, also when will it be shown, and is the advert self correct.

Advantages

Reaches the largest number of people
The adverts can make the product look much nicer, then in print.

Disadvantages

Very expensive

I will not use this method of advertising because it is very expensive and it is a waste of money as my shop is only a local shop that would only be applicable to a tiny percentage of people watching.

Radio – Price = £100-500 depends on the stations

This method of advertising is very similar as television adverting, but it is cheaper and sound/tune is used instead of visual images. It is also targeted at smaller, selective audiences.

Advantages

Cheaper than television.
This type of advertising is very good for local shops.
The advert can be repeated many times.

Disadvantages

People may switch station when the advert comes on.
If there is poor reception then the listener may miss the advert.
There are no radio stations that take adverts that span the whole country.

I am thinking of using this method of advertising because it is quite cheap and seems reliable; also this method is suitable for a local business like mine.

Cinema – Price = (To find out price, contact this number 01902 306 922)

Cinema advertising uses both sounds and moving images in the same way as television advertising. However, cinema advertising reaches a far smaller local audience (the people who are in cinema at the time the advertisement is shown). For this reason local firms often use cinema advertising. Some national businesses, such as banks and car manufacturers, increase the size of the audience reached by advertising in cinemas throughout the country.

Advantages

This is a good method for a local business to advertise.
The advert will have a big impact, because of the size of the screen and the quality of the sound.
Very good to target a young audience.
Easy to target an audience, by the film.

Disadvantages

People may dislike the fact that they have to wait for your advert before they can watch the film.
Only seen by a limited number of people.

I am also thinking to use this method of advertising because this method is suitable for my business and is very good to target a younger audience, which means that younger customers may visit my newsagents shop and buy my products. This could lead to an increase in profit, as there are a number of younger customers in my local area. Not only I am targeting at my younger customers, but also the older customers who are going to use my product, which is going to be used by them in their daily lives.

Newspaper/Magazines – Price = £150 per advert (suitable size) in Express & star.

Newspapers are normally produced and bought every day, so people will see your advert daily. Magazines on the other hand are normally produced weekly, or monthly. Newspapers can be aimed at different people; some are aimed at business owners, whilst others are aimed at the general public. A newspaper can be local, national; the difference is that a national paper is available all over the country whereas a local paper is aimed at the local area. It is easy to see that social groups read a national paper, whereas this is harder with a local paper. As magazines are normally aimed at specific groups, the adverts also do the same. This basically means that if your shop sells computer parts, then you advertise in a computer magazine.

Advantages

An advert in print is normally kept for longer, so it may be seen many times by different people.
Colour printing is now available at a much reasonable cost.
Coupons can be in the advert so that the person can cut them out.
Easy to reach a target group with magazines.

Disadvantages

Reader most of the time will skip the advert.
You may have to design different adverts for different newspapers, or magazines.
In some newspapers/magazines the advert may be surrounded by others, thus causing the advert to loose its affect.
Magazine adverts cost more then newspapers.
Newspaper adverts are not normally in colour.

I am thinking to use newspaper as a method of advertising because if I placed an Ad in the local paper, I know that people all over the local area would see this, also it’s quite cheap to use this method. But it seems quite expensive for a retail business like mine, I will be better of introducing more leaflets and posters. However I will not use magazines as a method of advertising as they are normally nationally presented and quite costly. When my business grows I may use magazines as an option for advertising because at that stage my business will be popular and widely known for its products all over the county/country.

Posters – Price = 15p per poster if done by myself, or 40p per poster if produced by specialists (in colour).

These adverts are normally in a permanent place, and seen by every one. This means that these are good method of advertising if trying to target a large number of people.

Advantages

A poster will be visible for a long time.
The posters are normally big, colourful so they grab people attention.
They can be placed on buses, trains, and in stations.
Very good to advertise in the local area.
Quite cheap.

Disadvantages

Posters may be ignored by drivers, or pedestrians.
Message must be brief, or it will not work.
Adverts may be damaged by vandals.
No detailed information can be placed on the advert.

Posters is not a suitable, reliable option for advertising because people may ignore my adverts, and if I was to produce posters then detailed information could not be placed on them as they would only be seen for a short amount of time, and also people are likely to forget the information. Nevertheless I can take this option by advertising on local transport, as people in the local area will see them.

Leaflet/junk mail – Price = 15p per leaflet if done by my self, or 40p if produced by specialists (in colour).

This method of advertising often has an informative as well as persuasive material, and can be distributed generally or targeted at a specific market segment. Therefore it means they are good to target certain groups.

Advantages

Very good to target a certain group.
Are relatively cheap.
Can include coupons for the reader.
May be kept around for a long time by the reader

Disadvantages

May not be read

This method of advertising would be a good idea, since it is very cheap to produce and I can place them anywhere in the local area, or hand them out to people.

Internet – Price =A professional 2 page website starts at £350 + VAT including website design (including graphics), domain name and 1st year’s web hosting. This service is offered by a popular company “ECWEBS”.

The Internet is increasingly being used as medium for advertising for advertising. Many businesses have their own website, on which they can advertise and tell customers and potential customers about themselves and their products. Most Internet Service Providers search engines and other Internet utilities also carry advertisements that help to pay for the services they provide.

Advantages

High visual impact.
Interactive.
Can link directly to buying the product.

Disadvantages

There is a lot of competition so getting peoples attention may be difficult.
Only be seen by consumers who own computers and are connected to the Internet.

Conclusion of advertising

My method of advertising will be informative advertising as I want to inform people of the benefits of buying from my shop, tell them where my shop is situated and about my products. I will decide to use persuasive advertising once people have gained the knowledge of my outlet and about my products. I will persuade the customers because I want them to buy my products, so my business could be profitable and to create an image. The methods of advertising that I will use are:

Specialist’s poster on my shop window and on local transport
Leaflets
Create an Internet site.

As you can see I have used many reasonable types of media in promoting my business because in this way the information will be seen by many people in the local area and hopefully will encourage them to buy my products/visit in my shop. I have chosen leaflets as a form of advertising as they are inexpensive. It is very good at targeting a certain group and with it I can even hand them out personally either posting it through the letterbox or even distributing it on roads. However there will be some negative effects e.g. majority of the people may not even bother reading the advertising material, but I will still introduce these methods on a time-to-time basis. I have also decided to create an Internet website about my business and my products because I have easy access to the Internet and computer; also it’s very cheap to actually create the website through a popular company like “ECWEBS”. There are many people in the UK that have access to the computer and internet, which means there is more chance for my business to be well-known and popular as the people will visit my website. But it depends on the presentation of the website that “ECWEBS” create! If the information on the website is neatly and colourfully presented, this will attract the population to visit my shop and enabling them to purchase my products. Nevertheless I have heard that this company produces high standard presentation and is very good in promoting my business/products. I will also pay £48 per year (+VAT) extra in order to promote my business/product repetitively on the website, as they will include newer and updated features. The last source of advertising I am going to use is placing specialist posters on my shop window and on local transport like buses and trains. I have chosen this because it’s very cheap to advertise and they grab attention easily due to being big in size and very colourful. Other methods that I have planned to use are through Yellow pages as it is very cheap e.g. £100 only for a year’s coverage in the book, and on backs of bus tickets.

It would be impractical of having a television advert because I only have a local shop in a local area, and television is not good to advertise in the local area, also it’s too expensive for a local business like mine. If I do go ahead for a television advert, it will be a waste of money, since the number of customers it would bring, would probably not make the advert worth the setting up costs. The other methods of advertising that I rejected were through cinemas, billboards, magazines, radio and newspapers. I rejected the cinema option because the information only informs to a limited number of people, which is not good for my business to gain popularity. Also as young people normally see films and this may be a disadvantage as they often have the least money. Billboards are expensive and my business is not on that stage where it is very popular and grown (same thing with magazines). I think using radio and local newspapers as a method of advertising is not applicable just yet. They are quite expensive than I expected it to be and I will decide on using these methods later on (not in the first year). As my business grows and gets more popular, I will decide to use other and more expensive methods of advertising, as I want my business then to be recognised all over the country.

Promotion

The main objectives of promotion for my firm are to inform customers and prospective customers about my products, to tell customers and prospective customers about the benefits of using my products and to persuade customers and potential customers to buy my products.

A promotion is not run for a very long time, they are used to help the advertising, and to get existing and new customers to buy the product. This is only ever used for a short time. An example of a promotion is "buy one get one free" for a certain time. This type of promotion is known as below-the-line promotion (reductions or even special offers)!

The advantages of having promotions are:

Can help to boost sales when they are low.
Gets new customers to try old products.
Gets people to use new products.
Engorges.

I have already discussed the methods of promotion in “What my customers want section”, but just to recap this, I will describe these again in depth and including why I chose the method(s).

Above-the-line promotion

This type of promotion uses media outside the business like television, newspapers and magazines, billboards and the Internet. Advertising is an important area of promotion because it promotes the products and a business like mine.

Below-the-line promotion

As you know below-the-line promotion includes activities like reductions, special offers, gifts, free samples, point-of-sale promotions, competitions etc.

These are few of the below-the-line promotional activities:

Gifts

These are normally used to get kids to buy a product. The gift can come in to ways, either in the packet its self or by collecting coupons. The coupons would be collected over time then exchanged for a toy or gift. The idea of the coupon is to get the person to buy the product more than once. Then when the offer is over the person continues to buy the product.

Competitions

Another way of attracting new customers to new and existing products is to promote the product with a competition. Companies like Reader’s Digest are well known for this – and for the size of the prizes to be won! When holding competitions, however, businesses must be careful that purchasing a product is not a condition of entry, or to winning the competition, as this is illegal.

After sales

After-sales service is very important in order to ensure that customers are happy with the product and with the response they receive from any query or complaint. This includes providing guarantees against failure of the product within a certain time, and honouring the guarantee promptly when necessary.

Special offers

A similar effect can be obtained by making special offers. Like price reductions, special offers are normally available for a limited time.

My business will not simply use one method of promotion (above or below-the-line-promotion), but will use a combination of methods to achieve my aims. I will mainly concentrate on above the line promotion first because I want the customers to know that I sell good products in my shop and the most obvious way and quicker way is to use this method where advertising will take part so more and more customers can know about my products. Later on I will use below the line promotion at times when

I will need to reduce prices to promote my business and also to provide special offers on special and non-special occasions (very rarely). The use of free samples, gifts, competitions are not very suitable for my shop. This is because it would be impractical to give out free samples and competitions as it will take a lot of time to set up and run, and gifts are not of any use as you normally only buy one of the products.

I will now produce a budget for my promotion for the first year and I will explain how it will be spent.

Budget

A budget is a forecast of the profit my business expects to generate in the first year. It sets targets for income and expenditure during the period. Estimates are made of the anticipated income that my business will receive from selling its product, and its expenditure on items such as raw materials, personal costs, advertising, power, transport and administration.

My Budget Key

Posters = 15p per poster if done by myself, or 40p per poster if produced by specialists (in colour).

Leaflets = 15p per poster if done by myself, or 40p per poster if produced by specialists (in colour).

Internet Website = A professional 2 page website starts at £350 + VAT including website design (including graphics), domain name and 1st year’s web hosting. This service is offered by a popular company “ECWEBS”.