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 very important to understand your clients because marketing is all about giving a service, to not meet the needs of the client or understand them will mean that the marketing strategy will be completely different to what they expected e.g. selling an Irn-Bru can in a negative way with bland colours instead of having a comedy element with bright colours, which is what Irn-Bru would have wanted. A method you could use to understand your client is learn about them as a person, what their hobbies are, what they do on a daily basis. This will help to produce a personality and elements of character that would help massively in the marketing industry. When being in contact with a new client you would have to be on time to every meeting, listen well and be flexible when the clients get’s in contact with you. This would show the client that you are focused and giving all your attention to that one person, the more attentive you are to one person the more they will talk about you to other business, this will help you to work with further clients e.g. a celebrity like Miley Cyrus. By asking a client about what they think about the marketing company and yourself will help you to understand there requirements and what they want for the future, if you try and guess and bring up ideas without discussing what the client wants first then you will not get anywhere. By asking them questions will further help you to understand what they are client as a person. Always make sure that you organise plenty of meetings and calls so that your always in contact if any new ideas or questions popped up, you would have to make sure that those meetings are good for both the client and you so that you have time to develop any work with that client. As long as you are always on the ball with the clients name, getting back to them on the phone and making sure the marketing staff know about the client, then it will look much more professional and straight forward. Examples of clients that marketing business would work with on a daily basis would be Coca-Cola, Irn-Bru, Ray-Ban, American Express, any company or person that had a marketing strategy would be perfect to work in marketing.

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

Understanding your target market is very important for your product, when some small businesses start out they don’t have a target market or competitor in their mind, instead they think that if I research my product I’ll see what target market I get. Instead you should look over your product and see what gender that will sell to and what age group that will mainly aim at. For example if you were selling a new make-up range like Rihanna has through Mac recently, you would know not to sell that through men, but to sell it to women that aspire to be like Rihanna. If you get your target market wrong then you will be spending a lot of money on advertising but not selling the right amount of products. There is a website called ‘internet retailer’ http://www.internetretailer.com/trends/ this helps companies to find out there target market by showing how many people buy certain products, if an audience buys online or not and facts that show percentages about who has spend on a certain product. This tool will give you information on buying trends and to see how different business are changing frequently due to there audience research. This website will also be good for

understanding your competition, this website shows different business and why customers are buying there products instead of other businesses, once you have found this out then you can bring those techniques into your businesses so that customers can see that there’s another business with a better offer on that product. An example of a company that shows off there competition is Tesco. There are always advertisements on TV about how there competition had small amounts of offers than what Tesco had, this was shown through charts (by using different colour food boxes) this showed a clear idea that

they understood there competition. Another tool that you could use for understanding your market is researching through surveys and focus group sessions. These are really effective in finding research for your target market. Focus Groups: through this session you could have different style questions so that the customers can give a variety of answers about what they think about the company, why they buy certain products and if they buy often from certain supermarkets. To have a focus group on supermarkets is a good idea as there are so many different businesses in this that it will help you to find the most popular supermarket. Once you have found this then you can research that supermarket and how they pull in their customers. Through this you should have up to 10 people so that they can all have there say on the different competitions, once you have them in you should have refreshments so that they are comfortable in talking about there issues. Surveys: This is a perfect technique into finding out what customers think through shopping in different supermarkets. Through the website ‘Survey Monkey’ you can create short or long questions that will help to give you a variety of answers so that you can understand your target market. After asking a large amount of customers to do your survey you will get an overall percentage about what all of the customers think. This is really good as you can see which methods were better than others for your business. Through this method you can spot trends easier and see what your customers think through your company.What is a SWOT analysis? Why are they a useful tool? SWOT analysis is a planning tool that was created in 1960-70, this helps a business to identify if there have any strengths or weaknesses; this helps the business to meet its weaknesses by improving the issue or preventing it from happening again. The four main elements within the SWOT analysis is Strength, weakness, opportunity and threat. The analysis can be used on most things like a person, industry and product etc. By using this method it helps you to identify if there are any issue outside your business that will stop you from achieving your goal at the end, by finding these factors out first then it means you can prevent them and move forward with what your plan was going to be with you client. The strengths of this tool help you to gain high quality ideas that will make your business or project stronger and better than others in the business. The weaknesses involved are the opposite, you find out the negatives about your business or project, this will make you weaker compared to other companies etc. Thirdly the Opportunities are the ideas that will help your project or business improve in the future whilst the threats are elements around you that might cause a problem for your business/project. An example of when you would be threatened under the SWOT analysis is if the market changes so they want a completely new idea that would suit the market now, something more modern so it works well with the customers or maybe a new government policy that has ended up you changing a lot of factors within your project. An example of why you would use the SWOT analysis is the fact that you might find a gap in the market for your idea, this would show up a weakness. This weakness could be changed into strength by fitting your idea in that market. This would help to make your business more successful.What is audience profiling? What sort of information might be included in an audience profile? Audience Profiling is when a company has to find out what their target audience is like before they produce a product. This helps them to produce a product that would effectively suit their target audience and would fit well with their target market. The different elements that they have to look at are age, gender, race, interests, religion, financial and education backgrounds etc. Companies need to know this so that the product is suitable

for their daily needs e.g. Marie Claire is a very successful fashion magazine and they have used an audience profile to find out information about their audience. For example the ages of their readers are mostly 35-49 year olds, this tells the company that they are probably in full time work and that more women like to read the magazine more than men. This

helps them to pick a layout for the magazine and suitable articles that would link well with women and men around that age. Demographics are used to break down what adults do through their work; this is an easier way as there are 6 sections that defines different adults. This table shows the different social statuses that companies need to know to find out how wealthy there audience are. When looking at the Marie Claire profile information I found that 123,000 people that buy this magazine are AB social status, this means that they are either middle or upper middle social status. This shows that their jobs are managers and professional which means that they can afford a magazine at their price which is normally £3.90. Companies also like to find out the customers personality so that they know how to create a product that would grab their attention, when researching Marie Claire I found that there audience are stylish, smart and sexy and like to be adventurous and also care about global issues. If they didn’t know this then they probably wouldn’t have done articles that involve different cities or any global stories that are on the news etc. It’s important to find out your audience’s personality so that they can connect with what’s been written.Select a magazine and find their audience profile: Maria Claire Magazine - http://webapp3.itechne.com/PacMagsMediaKit1/Uploads/Downloads/Pacific%20Magazines/General/MediaKit-marie+claire.pdf

What the reader are like that buy the magazine - http://www.hearstdigital.com/audience/marieclaire.html

Explain in detail the 4 different elements of the marketing mix. The four different elements of the marketing mix are product, price, promotion and place. The product is the features and appearance of goods and services. It is the thing that has been created and is now being sold. The price is how much a customer pays for a product. Altogether, the price should be reasonable but enough to cover the cost of making the product and to make a profit from your product, for example, you wouldn’t create a toy and sell it for £6 when it cost you £10 to create it but you wouldn’t also wouldn’t sell the doll for £40. The promotion is how customers are informed about the product. It is essentially the advertising of the product and basically raising people’s awareness of the product. The place is the location of where the products are sold to customers. If there’s nowhere to buy the product then it won’t sell and the company won’t be successful.

Select a publication, product or audience and explain the range of marketing materials that they use.

Kerrang use many different marketing skills over all their different products. In their magazine, they advertise what’s coming up on their television channel if there is something major (for example the Rock 100) and they also advertise their radio station, in which all the presenters and a summary of their show are presented along with their time slots. Also, on their TV channel, they occasionally advertise the new issue of Kerrang magazine during the adverts so that they are appealing more to the right audience. They also sponsor many different festivals such as Reading and Leeds and Download Festival. By doing this, they are appealing to a wider range of people as all the festivals capture a wider range of an audience. The company’s name is always located at the bottom of the poster advertising what bands are playing there along with all the other sponsors.A huge part of Kerrang is endorsements. Mainly shown on their television channel, they get many different bands to quote ‘You’re watching Kerrang TV where life is loud’ usually getting the band to add their own little twist to it. Also, the range of bands that feature in their weekly magazine will usually tweet about their part in the magazine, telling their fans to pick up a copy. Another way the bands promote the magazine is using a picture of the band or a member of the band that has recently featured on the cover of the magazine as their icon on social networks.Kerrang have a yearly event called ‘The Kerrang Tour’, an event where they get four bands that would feature in their magazine and send them off on tour together. They get the latest up and coming band and rank their way up to the hottest act of the year. By doing this tour, the better the line up is, the better ratings Kerrang gets and the more success they gain. To host a successful event, an organisation should make it fun, relevant to the company and advertise it well, making sure their audience gets the right information so that they can attend and want to attend.

Alongside all of this, Kerrang has their own online store that sells band merchandise and Kerrang’s own merchandise. These things include products such as car stickers advertising the radio station and t-shirts advertising the company on a whole.Provide your own definition of advertising. Advertising is showing off a product and/or campaign and raising awareness on a mass scale to a certain target audience to get your product to sell or your campaign to be supported.

What is the purpose of sponsorship? Support your answer with detailed examples. The purpose of sponsorship is to promote a company/product/shop to a large amount of people at one time. An example of this could be while you’re watching telly, for example, Catfish, there is a brief advert showing the company/shop and a voice over comes on stating that the shop sponsors this particular channel/show. Sponsorships aren’t a permanent thing and can be changed at any point but it is good for promoting things, as people will begin to associate the sponsorship with their favourite program.

What is the purpose of endorsements? Explain a range of different types of endorsements and use examples.

Endorsements help products sell as people will see things being recommended by professionals or their favourite celebrity and that implants a message in the audiences head of how good this product must be. An example of this could be the Sensodyne toothpaste adverts where they have dentists talking about how good it is and how it works etc. Another example of this is the L’Oreal adverts with singer Cheryl Cole in. This is an excellent way to sell products, as she will inspire a wide range of people such as teenage girls and the majority of females in general.Basically, if people see their favourite celebrity talking about it or a professional in that particular field recommending the product, people are more likely to buy it.Why could holding an event be a good marketing strategy? What are some of the opportunities and threats of holding an event?

Holding an event can be good marketing because it gives the business the opportunity to show off their new products and to invite customers in so that once they are in the shop it means they will have to look at the latest offers and products that they are selling. For example Apple opened a new store in Brighton, to get people’s attention they were all in a line on both sides so that when a customer goes through they would get a high five and a free product. This would cause a lot of attention as lots of people would love free apple products. This is good marketing as it allows anyone to go into the store, this means journalists can go in and write about the store and Apple enthusiasts can take pictures of the shop and post them on social networking sites, the more people talk about the event the more advertisement they will get over it. When finding information about this event there was an article that spoke about their view about the new store, this is further marketing as there is a debate about the store and what it has to give, a quote from the article said, “for many this was no mere pilgrimage; within minutes of the store opening, people were walking out carrying iMacs, MacBooks and more.” This tells you how excited these customers were when buying the products and that by making an event you can increase your sales by making it exciting and showing of your products so that more and more people buy. Once people walk out with IMacs and MacBooks etc. Then the public will wonder why everyone has apple products and then they would go along as see for themselves what’s on offer. The threats that can happen by holding an event is that so many people to go to one place and cause pushing and fighting over products, this can get out of control and end up destroying the inside of the new store. In Apples case that would be the main threat for their store, for other marketing events like LG they had a massive threat as people got injured by BB guns and also knives, LG wanted people to pop balloons so that they get free vouchers, the audience didn’t get the message and instead brought weapons to pop the balloon. This caused chaos because 20 people were injured due to the weapons used.What is merchandising? Use detailed examples to help explain.Merchandising is about increases sales of a product by promoting it. The different methods that companies use to show of their products can be free samples, this is normally through perfumes sprays (e.g. Dior and Calvin Klein, products like this can be sold in Boots and Superdrug etc, they want you to try the samples to see if you

like the smell, you can’t buy perfume without knowing what it’s like first) and trying out different make-up shades. The free samples help the customer to decide if that’s the right product for them, this gives them incite about the product and if they like it then they can buy the product. This is a good method, as more sales will come from it because the audience get’s to feel and use the product, which means they will more likely to happy with what they have bought due to knowing what the product is like. Another method that is used through merchandising is displaying your products, for example Harrods has a massive Christmas window every year where people in the street can start at one window and finish at the end looking at products but also understand the Christmas story involved. This is merchandising as there using products to portray a story and living things, this year Harrods has used an express train as there theme, they have done this so that each carriage has a different theme throughout there clothing and manikin looks, this makes the clothing and bags etc look beautiful and mystical which will grab the street walkers attention. If the products look beautiful then it will stand out and the audience will want to buy those designers clothes in the shop. This is a beautiful way of merchandising as Harrods is a well-known company that is famous for it’s Christmas windows and clothing displays inside the store. More people will buy these products because of the way there highly presented. Public Relations:What is the purpose of a press release? What sort of things should a good press release contain? A press release is a written document that’s shown to journalists and the news, they write a press release because it might be something that is either public interests or something interesting for the news to talk about. Journalists look at press releases so that they can product articles on that subject which is good for the person that was involved in the story because it means that they get attention for free because the journalist was willing to write about that story. There can be different stories that a press release can talk about, an example of announcements that they can make are events, new products and sales. What journalists like to see inside a press release is to see who, what, why, when, And where, this is because the information in the press release should have lots of facts about the area in which it happened, why it happened and when it happened etc. If a person talks too much about the story and not use the 5 W’s then the journalist will not read your press release. As long as the press release it meaningful and accurate then your story can be read because it has plenty of facts in and it would be more realistic to the audience. The way the 5 W’s should be known within the press release are: - Who: you should talk about the object or company and what effect that has in the press release, you should also mention the history of the company so that the journalist has back up information about that company.- What: you need to explain about what the object or company does, you have to talk like no one has heard of this before, this is because it’s more likely that the audience/journalist will not have heard about your product/company. - When: Your press release has to have enough time so that you can produce your document and then send it to a journalist, once they have done this then they can write the document to a newspaper which will be around the time that the event happens e.g. weather, if there is a storm that is about the happen then it’s important to have your press release done way before that event will happen.- Where: Also mention where the story is located, this is very important for the journalist and the audience because they need to know where the event happened, you can’t read a story and not know where the location is, it wouldn’t make sense. If it’s a product or event you would need to explain where the location is for those or when is the product available to sell to the public, lots of facts are important. - Why: Make your story is strong and interesting so that the journalist is pulled into the press release, you also have to read back through your document to see if it’s interesting enough and has a strong storyline so that it would be good for the audience. Also remember that if a audience reads this, what will they think at the end, if you think it’s boring then add more quirky words so that it makes the story more lively. What is the purpose of an electronic media pack? What sort of things should a good electronic media pack contain?

An electronic media pack is to help get your business more attention and notice. The purpose behind an electronic media pack is to show who you are as a company, what you represent and why there is a reason that you want to show of your business. If the company impresses there audience then it will help them to stand out from the crowd and to get more sales from there electronic media packs. Companies used to use media kits because it was a lot of information that you could have on paper that would be shown to other businesses, now because technology has grown over the years, they have started to do electronic media kits, this allows you to go on the business website and download the electronic media kit. This is a quick and easy way of getting information fast. What’s good about the electronic media pack is that you can have visual effects like video’s on them, this can quickly show you what the company is about and what the business looks like altogether. In electrical media packs you can still have written work inside of them e.g. press releases and some skin companies e.g. Pomega 5, (this is a company that has recipes for skin products) they show videos, press releases and testimonials about there business which helps to promote them but to also give there customers an incite about what there business is about. They allow you to download the electronic media pack which is fast and easy, they also include the team information and what there roles are in the business. These are very important because you can send them to different media connections e.g. music studios, they can look at it and see if you are a good artist are not etc.

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

The reason in which a PR briefing is important is because without one a company cannot contact a PR company about a new idea or improvement that they have for the company. The purpose is to create a campaign for your company so that you can produce new and exciting work that will capture your target audience’s attention so that they buy more of your products than other supermarkets like e.g. Waitrose. The first area in which a company produces a brief is when they have a campaign to make their company stronger. The elements that you should include in a PR briefing is:- setting the background e.g. Waitrose: to do this they would have to talk about what the new idea is and why they think the PR company will help them to achieve that goal. Secondly you would have to tell the PR company about how people are buying, are there any strange behaviours from the target audience and they buying the normal product. Finally you would have to research about what customers think of your business compared to other supermarket stores, it’s important to know there views before you put a big campaign out there about your products e.g. advertising the new Heston chocolate boxes. There idea is to have a hidden ticket inside the boxes so that they can experience cooking food with Heston, this is a theme like Charlie and the chocolate factory where the customer has to find the right box to get the prize. This is an example of PR briefing because Waitrose would have send a brief to a PR company saying, we want to advertise this Christmas product can you make the advertisement as professional as possible. This is shown through every Waitrose store and each product is £10 which means the more the audience see’s those adverts the more sales they will get. This was done before through a PR brief so it’s a very effective way of getting business for seasonal purposes. - Your messages: this works by saying why you think customers will buy your product, why would they benefit from buying Waitrose chocolates and also why would they buy these Heston chocolates than Christmas Sainsbury’s chocolates. A reason that would help Waitrose into selling there chocolates would be the fact that a celebrity chef is involved in the advertisement, this is affective as people would want to have a cooking experience with him and if he’s make those chocolates himself then the customer would have to try them. It’s a clever tactic that any customer would fall for. These two elements will help Waitrose to write a campaign about the Heston chocolates and to see how the PR company can modernise it so that it fits with there target market, which is a much broader market compared to there rivals Tesco etc. who are mostly family based. What is the purpose of a press conference? Why might you hold one? Use specific examples to help you with your response.

The purpose of a press conference is to inform a large amount of press at one time about a new product/news story/film etc. These are very popular as then all the information can be sent out to an even bigger audience targeting many people without there having to be many separate events and wearing the people holding the

press conferences out.An example of major press conferences can be found within Comic Con in San Diego. This is the biggest Sci-Fi event in the world and people travel from all over the globe to attend this event. During the time of Comic Con, many press conferences are held where people involved in certain Sci-Fi related films and programs answer questions and release news about new products coming out. For example, at the 2013 Comic Con, the names of two new major Sci-Fi films got announced which then quickly made it’s way onto many different social networking sites within minutes, creating a huge buzz within the fan bases of the films.Why could hand-outs be useful when managing a PR event? Hand-outs are a very good technique in getting further promotion for a company, once the event has happened and the audience have spoken about the company and what they have to offer, they then leave and travel to different areas. That company needs to give out as many hand-outs as possible, this is because the company

would have written down all the key information that the audience needs to know. This is an example of a hand-out, celebrities have these so that it tells there fans where they are and what event is going to happen. The main information on this hand-out is ‘who the celebrity is’, ‘location’ and ‘date, these three sections will help to bring thousands of people to that event. It tells the audience the right information straight away and using bright colours will catch the audience’s eye so that they automatically take the hand-out without knowing what it could be. What’s clever about a hand-out is people will automatically pick them up, read them and then talk about it amongst friends and family. Once that’s done then it will go in there bag or pocket, this will mean that when that person has stopped

travelling, they can go in there pocket and be told again where this event is and what it’s about, it will constantly tell that person, whenever they look at that hand-out. You normally see charities and event managers giving out leaflets on the streets, this will be giving out to a variety of people that would constantly be reminded about the events that is coming up; this is good advertising and PR for that company. What are some of the advantages of holding an interview instead of a press conference? Interviews are more personal than press conferences as they are more on a one to one basis. The interviewer can ask any question they want (within reason) and they won’t have to battle other journalists to ask the question. The atmosphere in an interview is a lot more calm and focussed and the people involved can even have a laugh and joke. Depending on who is being interviewed it can either be fun and informal or just straight forward and formal whereas press conferences have got to be straight forward and formal as you don’t know who’s in the crowd, what they actually want to gain/hear from the conference and other things like this.

Why do people set up film and picture opportunities? Use examples to help our response.Setting up film and picture opportunities will create some positive publicity for the celebrities and politicians involved. It is also good promotional material, as it will endorse products and/or campaigns. By doing this the product/campaign will rise in popularity as people will be more likely to talk about it. When you look on social networking sites you see images of celebrities posing like Kendal Jenner and Miley Cyrus, they do this so that they get attention on what they look like and have frequent attention from the thousands of people that will see these images. This is positive PR as magazines and certain websites e.g. TMZ.com this is a website that picks out events and images of celebrities and writes articles about how they are dressed and what they represents, they also like to involve the public into having their opinion about certain celebrities. This brings people together to have a debate on a certain celebrity, people do this because if a mainstream audience is constantly talking about one person then they will be known as the most talked about celebrity and other companies would want to get involved and talk about the celebrity further. This is strong advertising that a celebrity needs to constantly get attention on a daily basis. Celebrities e.g. Kendal Jenner uses websites like Instagram and Keek to post pictures and videos about her day and her look. At this point the audience will look at these videos and pictures and then talk about Kendal constantly so that she gets attention.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 is important because you have to keep you relationships with others, it’s important to know companies that are in your style of work, by doing this it means you will get a wide range of companies

that can help to improve your business by getting more sales etc. By sharing your experience and knowledge with other companies and saying you have a lot of contacts it makes your business look more professional and stronger, this will help you to produce more relationships because you have shown that you are reliable and have kept a lot of your old contacts. By finding out about new contacts it can help you to produce new ideas and skills that you can put towards your business, by seeing new companies doing new and exciting things for your customer, it will help your business to do the same and to make it more modern. To increase your networking skills you could go to conferences and trade shows, (a trade show is when an organisation comes together and shows of new products and techniques to use for your business) these will help massively to getting new contacts and networking more. The kinds of people that make trade shows are trade associations and interest groups. The internet is also a factor into helping you, search engines like Google have millions of different websites that can help your business into getting more contacts, it’s allows you to have freedom into looking at other people’s business and contacting them about what work they do. They will help you to establish new ideas for your business but also meeting new people from around the world. There is a company called ‘the think tank’ that has had a lot of awards for there marketing and PR, this contact would be useful as you can see that they have had past success. The awards that they have received is B2B awards and they got silver place for the PR work, this company also uses social networking sites so this means they will be easier to contact through messages.