Understanding the principal methods and techniques used in marketing and public relationships

Marketing:Why is it important in marketing to understanding your clients and their requirements? It is important to understand your clients and their requirements because they may already have their own ideas and plans of what they want so, if you don’t listen to them and don’t understand what they are wanting then they may take their business elsewhere. If you continue work with them but do not listen and your ideas don’t match what they asked for then it is unlikely to be taken forward and carried on, meaning your business will start gaining a bad reputation and the client wont come back.

Why is understanding the market you are working in important? What techniques and tools could be used to help someone understand their market?

 Understanding the market is important because it allows you to establish and understand competition and any similar business, which may already be strong, and successful whilst also letting you know what else your clients are interested in. It helps you to place your own product in the market and know it will be successful as you have researched thoroughly and understand everything such as how successful and popular it will be, similar existing products and your target audience.

One of the techniques you could use when trying to understand the market you are going in to would be to research and look into similar products which already exist and are being sold. You should also look into prices of similar existing products and get an idea of what is already out there and which price ranges sell more than others (cheap ones may not sell due to being cheaply made and bad quality but expensive ones may also not sell due to being priced to high).

What is a SWOT analysis? Why are they are they a useful tool?  SWOT analysis stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.This is a helpful way of structuring your ideas, planning them, and analysing them because you can look at them in a structured manner. By doing a SWOT analysis you are looking at the strengths and weaknesses of your idea. Any weaknesses and threats that you find can be sorted out and managed before they get out of hand or become a problem. Looking at the opportunities can help you when it comes to planning ahead as you will know how far you can get with your products or business.

What is audience profiling? What sort of information might be included in an audience profile? When you audience profile, you are collecting information about your customers or clients. You will collect information such as their age, location, life-stage, income band, property value and lifestyle choices. As well as considering this information, you will need to look at how your customers use your products and services. You could investigate the quantity of their purchase, how often, and when. Also looking at how your customers view your products could help in making an improvement to them.

Select a magazine and find their audience profile:

Explain in detail the 4 different elements of the marketing mix.Product: this means how the product looks and the features that it has which makes it recognisable. The appearance of the product would be important in making a “name” for itself, as if the product uses consistent and original features, it will be more recognisable and maybe gain more publicity.Price: this means how much the customer would pay for a certain product. The price is another important element because you would not want to price your product too high or too low, as having the price too high might not get it many sales as people won’t be able to afford it and having the price too low might give off the impression that it is poorly made and of bad quality.Promotion: this means how the customers are made aware of the product and how they are given information about it. You would need to make sure that you find good ways of promoting your products, as if it goes wrong or if someone gives your product bad publicity you would need to redeem yourself quickly, as well as having to clear up any other mess.Place: this means any place where products are available for customers to purchase their items. E.g. shops or websites. The location is important because it needs to be in a widely populated catchment area where it will attract a large audience and be successful in its sales; making a profit.Select a publication, product or audience and explain the range of marketing materials that they use.

 Marketing materials are the various ways that an organisation markets itself (print, video, audio and interactive). Larger businesses are more likely to do this through a larger range of marketing materials to raise brand awareness and gain media coverage.

Sainsbury’s market themselves in magazines, newspapers, TV, social networking sites, and web banners. These forms of advertising benefits Sainsbury’s because lots of people will see the adverts and they will reach all aspects of age groups, genders, social status and class. All of the marketing materials that Sainsbury’s use will get themselves more publicity and will also reach out to a wider audience. They have their own magazine, which is available to the public and it includes lots of information about various foods, recipes, menus, as well as competitions and offers. The magazine is a successful marketing technique because it gives customers a direct look at the foods in store and gives them recipe ideas, which would be good for housewives and mums. The main consumers of the magazine would be middle-aged women, possibly mums, who would talk about the magazine and supermarket in the playground.

Provide your own definition of advertising.Advertising is displaying a product in the public eye, which makes it look appealing, and its aim would be to encourage the audience to buy it. When you advertise a product, you are putting it out there for the world to see and you are promoting the item you are trying to sell and also your business as a whole, so that is the product is successful then people may come back and experiment, purchasing other items from you also. This can also be influenced by word of mouth and people talking amongst each other as well as TV adverts, posters, web banners, radio broadcasts and social networking and media websites.

What is the purpose of sponsorship? Support your answer with detailed examples. Sponsorship is a big way companies will try and promote themselves. It may involve donating items to various events or causes in return for a brand logo appearing on materials or appearing at wide events such as sporting events and football matches where the football players wear their logo on the kit during a match because the company has paid for them to do this in order to gain more brand recognition. Companies or products often sponsor TV programmes. E.G. Coronation Street has been sponsored by Cadburys, DFS and Harvey’s furniture. Nike, Toshiba and Thomas Cook Travels sponsor Manchester United F.C.

What is the purpose of endorsements? Explain a range of different types of endorsements and use examples. The purpose of endorsement is to make a product look good and to actually encourage the public to buy it. Some companies will use celebrities in hope that they will give off a positive vibe about the product and therefore make their fans want to buy it. Sometimes, even normal people will be used for endorsement. This gives the audience someone more appropriate that they can relate to and will make them believe the product is worth buying.Why could holding an event be a good marketing strategy? What are some of the opportunities and threats of holding an event?

  Sainsbury’s held an event where you could meet the stars of the Great Britain Paralympics. This was a good marketing strategy because people would get excited about it and they would be enthusiastic about the event, possibly telling others about it and therefore it would become an event to look forward to. As well as that, people look up to the people who competed in the Paralympics, so they would be equally ecstatic to have such an opportunity. Other opportunities would be that Sainsbury’s would get a lot of attention from the event as they are including such big names.

What is merchandising? Use detailed examples to help explain. Merchandising has different meanings. When it comes to retail marketing it is important to make suitable displays so that a specific type of customer will see the product you are advertising. The most common form of merchandising is one in which films and TV shows will produce a range of merchandise with their logos and/or characters on, whether that be t-shirts, figurines, posters or mugs.

Public Relations:What is the purpose of a press release? What sort of things should a good press release contain? A press release is used when something is found to be newsworthy. Possible ways of getting your press release out to editors are posting, faxing, or more commonly used today, emailing. Press releases are great ways of giving the public access to information about your business. A good press release would contain a creative headline, paragraphs including the physical location and a strong introduction, and the final paragraphs including more detailed information. The end paragraph should contain a summary of all the key points you have mentioned.

What is the purpose of an electronic media pack? What sort of things should a good electronic media pack contain?

 These can be used to inform people who you think would be helpful towards your business or yourself, as well as being used for new company launches and product launches. Various materials are included in these packs, like a biography of you/your company, articles and photographs. In general, the content of the electronic media pack depends on the industry and also on the target audience. If, for example, you worked in the music industry your electronic media pack would probably contain such things as music clips, promotional videos and tour dates, as well as the general biography and contact information.

What is the purpose of a PR briefing? Why should you create one? Explain some of the areas a brief should cover.

 A brief is used to make it clear what the goals of the campaign are, the audience, the effect and the budget. The purpose of a brief is to ensure that the objectives, short-term and long-term goals and perceived challenges are clearly stated. You should create a brief because you will need agencies to understand the targets, outcomes and measures of success that you require from your investment. A PR brief should cover the general background, your goals, strategies and tactics, target market, timeframes and budget.What is the purpose of a press conference? Why might you hold one? Use specific examples to help you with your response.

 The main aim of a press conference is to allow someone to give a statement and then be asked questions afterwards. They are typically used when announcing a big story, which is newsworthy. Press releases can be posted, faxed or e-mailed to paper editors, television organisations and radio stations. They are a good way of getting information about businesses out to the public as well as news events and stories. Examples of a press release may be used for criminal stories (murders, missing people, etc).

Why could hand-outs be useful when managing a PR event? Handouts can be useful because they are a quick and easy way of getting information out to the public. They can be combined with a press conference or press release to give to people to take away and read more about in their own time. It allows you to promote your products and events in a package that would always be in people’s hands and they will have easy access to.

What are some of the advantages of holding an interview instead of a press conference? Interviews are a lot more formal than a press conference as they are on a one-to-one basis with only the interviewer and people answering the questions. An interview offers the change to ask more in depth questions in which would receive detailed answers rather than simple yes or no.

Why do people set up film and picture opportunities? Use examples to help our response. Film and picture are both good ways of promotion and they can be used in a variety of ways, formats and across many platforms. Many famous people such as sports stars and celebrities or politicians set up these opportunities with the hope of gaining good publicity and getting a good reputation for themselves as well as promoting brands, businesses and products.

Why are contacts and networking important in marketing and PR? What kinds of contacts could be useful? Provide details of a PR contact from at least one organisation.

Contacts and networking are important because the people involved are in charge of managing the public relations for the company/individual. These people will manage things such as requests, conferences and interviews. As someone in this field, you would need to know celebrities and their agents, TV bookers, editors, publishers and bloggers in order for you to manage the message efficiently and also to ensure the best outcomes for the company.

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