ATL communications use media that are broadcast and published to mass audiences
BTL communications use media that are more niche focused, targeting or communicating with a more specific audience.
TTL , in a nut shell, a mixture of the two.
What is Marketing and the functions of Marketing?
What is involved in marketing campaign? (Tools
and Techniques)
What is PR? (What is distinctive about these
activities /Relationship with news forms)
What is branding?
What could harm a brand’s image?
How has marketing strategy/technique evolved over the
past 10 years?
How has our understanding of marketing audiences
changed in the 21st Century?
What is more important, the product or the marketing?
The marketing mix
- 'The marketing mix is a recipe for effective marketing. Using the marketing mix when planning the marketing for a product allows for a consistent approach.
The four P's of marketing-
- Price
- Product
- Promotion
- Place
- Decisions about these are based on results of market research
- The marketing mix principles are controllable variables which have to be carefully managed and must meet the needs of the defined target group. All elements of the mix are linked and must support each other.
- Marketing is about providing the correct bundle of benefits to the customer/consumer/audience.1
Product
Product life cycle -
- Every product goes through a life cycle from development to decline
- Each life cycle is different
- Some products have longer life cycles than others
- Some companies are very successful in extending life cycles
Stages of the product life cycle -
- Development
- Introduction/Launch
- Growth
- Maturity
- Saturation
- Decline
- Withdrawal
Saturation
- New entrants likely to mean market is flooded
- Necessity to develop new strategies
- Sales and profits falling
Decline and Withdrawal
- Product out lives/outgrows its value
- Fashions change
- Better products appear
- Cost of support rises too far
- Decision to withdraw may be dependent on availability of new products and whether fashions/trends will come around again.
Extending the life cycle
- Diversification - have core product but introduce new flavours/styles
- Innovate - use technology to enhance the product
- Change flavour
- Repackage
- Advertise to appeal to different audience
- Re-launch - Product that have been withdrawn can make comebacks if sold right eg skateboards, yoyo's
Pricing
Pricing is difficult and must reflect supply and demand
Penetration marketing
- Here the organisation sets a low price to increase sales and market share. Once market share has been captured the firm may well increase their price.
- A television Satellite company sets a low price to get subscribers then increrases the price as their customer base increases
Skimming price
- The organisation sets an initial high price and then slowly lowers the price to make the product available to a wider market. The objective is to skim profits of the market layer by layer.
- A games console company reduces the price of their console over 5 years, charging a premium at launch and lowest price near the end of its life cycle.
Competition pricing
- Setting a price in comparison with competitors. Really a firm has three options and those are to lower the price lower, price the same or price higher
- Some firms offer a price matching service to match what their competitors are offering.
- Pricing different products within the same product range at different price ranges.
- An example would be a DVD manufacturer offering different DVD recorders with different features at different prices eg A HD and non HD version. The greater the features and benefits obtained the greater the play. This form of price discrimination assists the company in maximising turn over and profits.
Bundle pricing
- The organisation bundles a group of products at a reduced price. Common methods are Buy one get one free offers.
- This strategy is very popular with supermarkets
Psychological pricing
- the seller will consider the psychology of price and the position of the price within the market place. the seller will then charge 99p instead of £1
- The reason this works is because the buyers will say they have bought the product for under £200 even though it was a pound lower.
Promotion
Promotion -
- Inform prospective customers of the product and the business
- Show the benefits of the product
- Persuade potential customers to buy the product
- Present a good image
Methods of Promotion
- Advertising
- PR
- Sales Promotion
- Personal Selling
- Direct Mail
- Internet/E-commerce
- Celebrity endorsement
- Inform people of particular issues, often by government
- Introduce new products to the market
- Compete with competitors' products
- Create a brand image
- Increase sales
- Improve the company image
advertising media factors -
- Cost
- What competitors are doing
- Target audience
PR is:
- Customer relations- courtesy, politeness, department to telephone
- Endorsements- famous people saying they use the product
- Competitions
- Gifts and free samples
- Awards
- Sponsorship
Place
Direct distribution - where the manufacturer ships the product directly to the customer
Indirect distribution - Where the manufacture uses a secondary form of selling, this could be in the form of a retailer
What is Place?
- Where the product is sold
- How it gets to the customer - distribution
- Making sure products are availalble
Distribution routes
Traditional route
Producer (Manufacturer/ provider of service) - Whole seller (Bulk buyer) - Retailer - Customer
Large retailers
Producers - Retailer - customers
Factory shop, mail order, internet, bakery, producer
Producer - customer
Kurtz and
Boone (1987) found that on the average, business persons ranked the 4 Ps to be of most
importance in the following order: price, product, distribution, and promotion.
Thus, it appears from these studies that business executives do not really view
the 4 Ps as being equally important
Product - iPhone 6s
This case study will be examining how Apple have established themselves as the company we know all too well today. Apple have been around for almost 40 years now and their brand is stronger than ever. Having had to compete for many years against the Microsoft operating system, they still find it a tough ask on competing with the PC market's domination, but in terms of smart phones and other portable products; Apple lead the way. The iPhone has been around now since 2007 and with annual upgrades, they have seen a surge in sales over time. To have brand loyalty as solid as they have now is essential to such an established and well structured company, as it gives them free rain in the market to create what they like. This freedom is paramount if you are constantly looking to better the opposition in terms of design and customer satisfaction. Despite Apple's original product range only limited to the Macintosh computers, they have spotted the change in demand in terms of products, which is why they now have the IPhone as their flagship product, because they are keeping up with modern trends.
Original Steve Hobbs Statement - "To make a contribution to the world by making tools for the mind that advance humankind."
Product
Getting the right product to the right people at the right price - this essentially explains what marketing is within one sentence. In terms of product, it is argued that it is the most important element of the mix, becuase without a product of any decent quality then any marketing would be useless. There's no way you would be able to sell a bad product, and an assured way of getting a good customer base is to have a strong product consistency so then customers know to trust that the product is going to be reasonable.
Product - after launch of the previous iPhone, the iPhone 6, apple have seen only 20% of its original customers upgrade, meaning that the remaining 80% have come over from other platforms, and 50% of that actually being from Android users.
The product Life cycle is an explanation of the different stages of a products relevance and existence in the market. The main reason for a products decline in the market is because customer requirements change overtime and what was once fashionable and attractive is then old news leading to the saturation of the product. A way of extending the lifecycle of the product is by adapting it to suit new market segments, by redesigning the product packaging or adding a new feature to the product. Another way you can extend the lifecycle is by providing a USP (Unique Selling Point), which for apple would be Siri.
Differentiation - Apple use uses this in an attempt to increase market demand. The company are always in a position where they know they customer loyalty, so they can afford to differentiate their products from the rest of the market.
Brand loyalty - the iPhone 6s ensures the brand loyalty is secured for the next phone by keeping up the high standard set by its premium audience. Customers have certain expectations of the companies products and will always want to get the new iPhone because of the way it keeps changing each year.
Manufacturer - Foxconn in Taiwan is the main manufacturer of apples products
Price
The price only comes after the product has been designed and it will have to be a fixed price. The price is essential, becuase if you drive it up too high then you will lose the attraction from the audience, but if you set it too low then people will take this as a sign that the quality may not be as high as they would've expected. In order for the product to sell, then you will have to meet the traditional supply and demand, where the two balance each other out in order to maximise sales.
There are many different types of pricing such as: Penetration pricing, skimming, Price discrimination, Destroyer pricing and Competition. The latter would be the one used by Apple becuase in the technology market you will be up against other companies to compete against each other for the most sales.
Apple use a pricing strategy for their retail sector called 'minimum advertised pricing'. This is where Apple have introduced a minimum capped price on their products, so retailers cannot sell below this price range, meaning that Apple would still make a reasonable amount of money back from the sales despite the lowest price being shown by the retailer.
Apple's share in smart phone industry profits are 92% which are way above the rest, and analytics suggest that it is all down to their prices. Compared to the rest of the market, Apple's software is around 500% more expensive, and this means that despite not dominating the sales in the market, they will lead the way with profits made because of how much difference they price their products.
Because of its premium product quality, the pricing, compared to the competition will be higher because of how in demand it is and how many people will want to purchase it. This links back then to the previous point about them dominating the profit shares and shows explicitly that pricing higher is a reliable way of dominating the market as long as your product reflects the ethos of the company and matches what the company set out to create.
Place
E-commerce is used a lot more extensively now than before the age of the internet and it is now the fastest growing sales method world wide. the online shop needs to reflect the one set out by the high street retailer, so that it reflects the quality of the company.
Apple's products are of a premium high quality and their Stores are no different. When you walk into any other phone shop, it all feels the same, there are phones on the shelves and staff come up asking if you need any assistance, however with an Apple store it's more than that. Designers have created it so that it reflects the high quality of the brand and clearly reflects the standards the company set out for themselves. They have the intention of creating an experience for the customer, which is shown not only through their retail outlets, but within their online shop as well.
Promotion
Promotion is the most important thing to consider when creating a successful brand. Without it the company will not be able to sell themselves as greatly as they would like and they will be able to attract a wide audience. If you market your product well then it will show in the sales becuase then more people will want to buy it. It is important the brand is strong and that they appear to be reliable becuase that way they will gain a secure brand Loyalty. Apple is a great example of this becuase everyone expects the iPhone to be very high quality and this reputation is built off of their previous models.
There a different ways in which a company can market their brand, and one of them is by video advertisement. Apple have a history of successful adverts for their products with the iPhone being no exception. for this latest Advert, they have gone down the route that everyone and anyone can use it and the addition of their new USP, 3D Touch, is featured heavily throughout.
One way that is effective in advertising is to make the product look relatable to the audience, and where they have shown multiple people round the world of all ages using the iPhone, it makes it looks simple and easy. It also reflects the professional standards set by the company due to it looking crisp and fresh. It shows that there are also a lot of useful features for every day life. They have set out to create a house hold tool and that is what they have made it out to look like.
Most companies would look to Marketing agencies for help in advertising, and so did Apple, right up until early 2013 that is, when, following a rift between them and TBWA/Chiat/Day, they moved their marketing in-house. They didn't entirely separate from the company however, instead they decided to build up their own marketing tema and brought in people from other well known agencies to make operations more efficient.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBYWGjIzvyw
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