03 marketing

Advertising

It is the promotion of goods, services, companies and ideas, usually performed by an identified sponsor. Marketers see advertising as part of an overall promotional strategy. Other components of the promotional mix include publicity, public relations, personal selling, and sales promotion.

A target audience is the primary group of people that something, usually an advertising campaign, is aimed at appealing to. A target audience can be people of a certain age group, gender, marital status, etc. ( teenagers, females, single people, etc.) A certain combination, like men from twenty to thirty is often a target audience. Other groups, although not the main focus, may also be interested.

A target market is the market segment to which a particular product is marketed. It is often defined by age, gender and/or socio-economic grouping.

Targeting strategy is the selection of the customers you wish to service. The decisions involved in targeting strategy include:

- which segments to target

- how many products to offer

- which products to offer in which segments

There are three steps to targeting:

- market segmentation

- target choice

- product positioning

Targeting strategy decisions are influenced by:

- market maturity

- diversity of buyers` needs and preferences

- strength of the competition

- the volume of sales required for profitability

Sales promotion

In marketing, sales promotion is one of the four aspects of promotion. (The other three parts of the promotional mix are advertising, personal selling, and publicity/public relations.) Sales promotions are non-personal promotional efforts that are designed to have an immediate impact on sales. Sales promotion is media and non-media marketing communications employed for a pre-determined, limited time to increase consumer demand, stimulate market demand or improve product availability. Examples include:

- coupons

- discounts and sales

- contests

- point of purchase displays

- rebates

- gifts and incentive items

- free travel, such as free flights

Sales promotions can be directed at either the customer, sales staff, or distribution channel members. Sales promotions targeted at the consumer are called consumer sales promotions. Sales promotions targeted at retailers and wholesale are called trade sales promotions. Some sale promotions, particularly ones with unusual methods, are considered gimmick by many.

Publicity

It is the deliberate attempt to manage the public's perception of a subject. The subjects of publicity include people (politicians and performing artists,…), goods and services, organizations of all kinds, and works of art or entertainment.

From a marketing perspective, publicity is one component of promotion. The other elements of the promotional mix are advertising, sales promotion, and personal selling. Promotion is one component of marketing.

Publicity is a tool of public relations. Whereas public relations is the management of all communication between the client and selected target audiences, publicity is the management of product- or brand-related communications between the firm and the general public. It is primarily an informative activity, but its ultimate goal is to promote the client's products, services, or brands. A publicity plan is a planned program aimed at obtaining favourable media coverage for the organization's products - or for the organization itself, to enhance its reputation and relationships with stakeholders.