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?

Understanding customers is the key to creating a successful product or business and giving customers a high quality service.To ensure that a company are keeping their clients happy and gaining new customers then need to stick to what they promise and ensure that their services are at a high quality standard and they are what the client would expect.Giving clients what they expect makes for a good customer care system but to create a better understanding of the audience companies need to get involved with customers and their opinions, to do this companies can create surveys or feedback forms for clients to fill out after experiencing the service that the company provide and later expanding and developing the service according to the feedback they have been given. For example Durham County Council once did a Recycling survey for the public to fill out answering question such as when recycling should be collected and after a few months they made a second survey asking residents to share their opinions on the current schedule, with this information they were able to make adjustments to the schedule to suit the requirements of the public.This is important to do as it gives companies an insight on what clients think of the service or product, it also helps them to understand what is good about the service or product and what is bad so they can then develop it to make sure that the clients are getting exactly what they want. An example of this is from The Telegraph when Richard Evans created a survey for the public to fill out on their shopping habits which was then seen by high end supermarkets and helped them to develop their products to suit the client’s needs.It is also important as companies can sometimes make the service better and exceed the expectations of the client.

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

This is also one of the key stages to creating a successful product or service as a business because it allows the company to understand who their target audience are and which other companies they are competing with.When setting up a business it is important to know which other companies are in the same field and who are at the top of the market chain, for example supermarkets, Tesco, Asda, Morrison’s and Sainsbury’s are all working in the same market and all have the same type of customers who want good deals, high quality products and value for their money, these four are the top supermarkets so each of them have to be aware of what deals the other have on and what products they are selling and at what prices so that they can change their tactics to ensure that they keep their clients happy.When creating a new company or product owners must be aware of whom the top competitors are so that they can steal their marketing techniques and use them to their advantage by either using the techniques or developing them to attract clients.There are ten popular marketing techniques used in modern day companies, these techniques have been ensure to keep clients interested and gain a larger crowd of customers.The first technique is making the product or service stand out from others that may be targeting the same audience. Companies must show why their service or product is different from others.

Whether they offer excellent customer service or unusual products one of the best ways to do this is advertise, compare and create a catchy slogan.

Consistency is also a good technique because it makes the existing clients comfortable and relaxed, making sudden changes to the service or product which changes it marketing field will cause loss in clients to do this companies must advertise regularly, create contests and events.

What is a SWOT analysis? Why are they are they a useful tool?

SWOT analysis is a good technique to use to understand a companies strengths and weaknesses and also to recognise which opportunities are open to you to develop or improve your service and threats to your company such as competing companies. Making sure that you are aware of threats can help prevent them from becoming an issue or escalating.Using SWOT analysis can help you to look at the ideas and aspects your product or service has and help you to change, develop or asses any weaknesses.SWOT is an acronym of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. The strengths aspects helps the company asses their product and find out the good things about it such as the appeal to the target audience and the profit the company are gaining from their service.Analysing weaknesses can help the company to develop or change anything that is wrong or that the target audience do not agree with.Opportunities can help the company recognise what they can do with their product or service to improve it or develop it to ensure that the target audience are happy with it and that hopefully they will gain more clients.Finally the analysis of threats helps companies to recognise and understand the treats that could cause their company any damage, analysing threats such as competing services can help the company to review the threats and avoid them from becoming a big issue.

What is audience profiling? What sort of information might be included in an audience profile?

Audience profiling is when a company gain a better understanding of their target audience, this helps them to make changes or develop their product or service to suit the clients needs.This also involves understanding who your clients are and how they live, the things to research into when understanding your clients are age, location, life-stage, income, property value and lifestyle choices.Knowing the audiences age is very important as it can help the company to aim their content at the age range for example Heat magazines age range is 15-24 and this is why they include gossip stories and new stories in their magazine, they tend to stick to celebrities as it draws the public in.Location can help the company to understand where their product is being sold and where it is mostly bought from to save money and gain profit for example pound land do not have shops in high class locations because of the quality of the products and the stereotype behind the shop itself.Lifestyle choices is the third most important aspect to researching into an audience, knowing how people live and what they are interested in can help a company to understand what they need to include in their product or service.

Select a magazine and find their audience profile

I have decided to use Kerrang! magazine to review the audience profile, from what I have found from the Bauer media pack is that most of the readers are male; although there are is a half and half ratio of male to female readers the

majority of the readers are male.The age range for Kerrang! readers is mainly 15-24 which I think is the target age for the Kerrang! Audience.The readership statistics show that 345,000 people read Kerrang! magazine on a weekly basis, this audience profile is good because it shows most of the important information but it doesn’t show some of the smaller details such as location and the client lifestyle which can help the company to develop their product to make it perfect for every client.

Explain in detail the 4 different elements of the marketing mix.When creating a product or service the company need to ensure they have a marketing mix which includes the price, place, promotion and product, this means that the product must have the right price for the value of the product. It should be sold in the right place for the target audience to be able to see it and access it. It needs to be promoted and advertised to ensure that the target audience knows that it exists and where they can find it. Lastly it needs to be the right product, it needs to look good and appeal to clients, and it also has to tie in with promotion for example advertising a cereal when the product is something totally different.For example, Kellogg's is constantly developing new breakfast cereals and other products such as cereal bars and energy drinks, getting the price right involves analysing customer views and opinions and researching into rival products and companies, their promotional techniques involve creating a range of promotional activities that both the company and the clients can get involved in, for example competitions, fairs, giveaways. Place involves using the best possible opportunities of distributing their name and products such as leading supermarket chains like Tesco or Asda.

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

I have chosen to use the Star Wars franchise as my example as they have made a wide range of different products based around the films such as clothes, cartoons, bed sheets and bags. Star Wars

is a good example because of the range they have been able to make due to the popularity of the films and the fanbase.The biggest product that Star Wars has made was in the clothing business, the creators started by printing the logo on to plain black t-shirts and fans began to buy them, the creators and various other companies also use the popularity of Star Wars to their own advantage by adding the characters to their products such as toys, bags and clothes.They sell these items by slightly manipulating fans, if a customer is a fan of something they will want it to be known by wearing merchandise.Companies can use the characters for anything and they will still make a profit from it, for example these book ends which create an ‘AT-AT’ which is one of the ships used in the films.

Provide your own definition of advertising.

Advertising is used by companies to promote their business or product to the public and to attract their target audience and possibly other customers to buy their product or spend money on the service they offer.There are many forms of advertising and we see it on a day to day basis even the smallest things such as fridges which sometimes have Pepsi signs on the top or on the Internet most companies can advertise on the side of websites by creating banners for example Clearasil who sell skin products have a lot of adverts hidden on the internet which come up at the side or on the top of web pages.Advertising is also sometimes subliminal for example on TV on a cooking programme the host might use branded products which have been paid for by the company to subliminally advertise their product to the target audience.Advertising also helps make the target audience aware that the product exists and where they can get it from, the best way for a company to address their target audience is to research into who would be interested in their product and advertise it in places that they would see it such as a new dress shop would be advertised in a womens magazine and a new aftershave may be advertised at a football game on the sides of the pitch, although it may seem sexist and stereotypical, it works.Advertising can also enhance the image of your service or product or create a desire for it from the target audience.

What is the purpose of sponsorship?

Sponsorship is also a good way of advertising, it is also a very clever away, and again it is a subliminal way of advertising because it is quick and small but the target audience can still see it.Most companies do this using the TV by having their product sponsor a TV show

usually with popular TV shows that most of the country will be watching for example Iceland sponsor I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here because they know that most of their target audience are families who will be watching that type of programme and their quick advert before the show starts and before the advert breaks will appeal to that audience. Another way is moto GP racing, companies will have their logos printed on the bikes, the riders suits and around the sides of the track, although it is stereotyping the adverts will mainly be aimed at men because the sport is based around a male audience so energy drink companies will have their logos everywhere and younger fans who see their idols with the company logo on them will want to buy the product.

What is the purpose of endorsements?

Companies know that all audiences are attracted to celebrities and famous people, using them to promote their products will help to sell them as fans of celebrities are easy influenced for example Hugo boss used Jared Leto for one of their adverts which would encourage fans of his band 30 Second to Mars and fans of his acting career. Perfume adverts use this technique the most because it promotes the product really well due to the devotion of the fans, if fans think that their favourite celebrity is wearing a certain perfume or aftershave they will want to use it too.A lot of celebrities make their own perfumes to promote their selves and for extra money, fans devotion can go to great lengths to the point where they are spending around £50 for a perfume because it has their favourite celebrities name or face on it or if the celebrity has promoted it.

Why could holding an event be a good marketing strategy? What are some of the opportunities and threats of holding an event?

Many companies hold events to promote their product or products; this is where they usually hold a dinner or an outside event such as a buffet, music or a small fair to attract the target audience and customers to partake and they are shown the products or the services that the company provide.Companies do this as a way to make the customers feel like they are friends with the company and it also gives a friendly and kind reputation for the company which will attract a larger audience.The opportunities of holding an event are that it may attract new customers and a wider range of the companies target audience, other opportunities are that the company can promote new services and products to existing customers in subtle ways.

The threats are that customers may take advantage and just go to the event for their own pleasure also rival companies can see the promoted products and work on ways of how to compete.

What is merchandising?

Merchandising is when a company make products mostly clothing with their brand logo on, merchandising can help a company to promote their products for example bands are the main source of merchandising, they create t-shirts, rubber bands, hats and various other types of clothing and accessories, selling merchandising for bands is very easy, it can be sold on their websites and also at live shows.

Many other companies can also create merchandising but it is mostly based around fan bases and fans wanting to let other people know what they are interested in, even TV shows can sell merchandise, they can also make special collectors items such as DVD boxsets which are usually expensive but fans are still devoted enough to spend high amounts of money on the things they are interested in.

Public Relations:

What is the purpose of a press release? What sort of things should a good press release contain?

The purpose of a press release is to announce something to the public, this is mainly done when politicians make a decision in parliament or when a decision is made on a court case, press releases are usually shown on TV on the news as ‘breaking news’ but sometimes are shown in newspapers if they are not necessarily very important.Some other forms of press releases are based around famous people and celebrities who can usually be found on the internet or in a gossip based magazine.

A good press release should include professional speakers to announce the news who know what they are talking about and who have good public and people skills to ensure that they can give the

direct message and answer any questions given to them from the media or the public. A good press release should also include plenty of detailed information and correct information because the public are entitled to know what is happening.

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

An electronic media pack or press pack is a file which includes detailed and correct information and promotional materials on a group or individual which can be used in different situations such as a company wanting promotion or for a press release.It can also be used for companies product launches, a new company launch, a company partnership or an event.A good press pack should included detailed information and plenty of promotional material; it should also include a variety of different materials to ensure that the company using it can send out a wide range or choose one type of material to use for their promotion scheme. Materials that should be included are sheets of information, photographs and a DVD or CD containing information.

What is the purpose of a PR briefing? Why should you create one?

The purpose of writing a PR brief and delivering to a company and its employees can help the company to achieve long and short term goals and objectives to ensure that their company stays successful, another purpose is also to promote and advertise, letting employees know how your company will be advertising and getting opinions on different ideas can help the company to change or develop their strategies to suit their target audience.

A PR brief should be created to help the company to develop in a range of different are such as advertising and promotion, working systems and working strategies and also creating a friendship and professional close bond with employees so that any other issues that arise can be dealt with easily and quickly.

What is the purpose of a press conference? Why might you hold one?

The purpose of a press conference initially is to give entitled information to the public, to do this companies gather journalists and news teams into a room or hall depending on what the subject is and give them the information so they can then report it to the public, journalists and news teams are then allowed to ask questions to get further information on the subject.Press conferences are usually taken place during a court case or a police investigation where the public are entitled to know information about it and know all the details. Another reason to hold one may be to give the public information based on a new company or an exiting company idea.

Why could hand-outs be useful when managing a PR event?

Hand-out are useful when a company are managing a PR event because they can include detailed information about the company and what they want to achieve and the goals they have set to reach for things such as advertising, customer care and promotion.Hand-outs can be given out during PR meetings to employees to help the m understand what they are trying to do in the company and what they want to achieve, t can also ensure that employees always have the handout to look back at whilst they are working so that they can work efficiently to meet the targets they have been set.Giving hand-outs at PR events to the public and to customers can also help them to understand what the company are trying to achieve which ensures that the customers know what they can expect in the future from the company.

What are some of the advantages of holding an interview instead of a press conference?

There are many different advantages to holding a press conference but sometimes it is easier and safer to hold individual interveiws with journalists.It may be safer due to the things that journalists and news teams ask, they may ask too many questions all at once which can be overpowering and the information cannot be given out properly, also interviews are more private and only certain people can get in who are officailly part of news or magazine teams.Interviews also allow the journlist to collect a lot of information rather than having lots of questions asked by different journalists and only being able to gather a certain amount of information.

Why do people set up film and picture opportunities?

When holding a press conference the participants may allow the journalists and news teams to take videos so that the public can watch it live and so that no information is left out rather than journalists just trying to write it all down, videos also allow the public to feel involved and t=so that they can hear all the information live and so that for future reference people can go back and watch it to make sure what was said.Taking photographs is also allowed because they can be used on news websites and to promote the information given out and the press release itself and to let people know about it.

Why are contacts and networking important in marketing and PR? What kinds of contacts could be useful?Communication and contacts are important throughout a company to make sure that people are given information and the messages that they require in order to do their job efficiently. Contacts are also important in case the company need something such as a promotional company, advertising material or if a company or business runs into any issues which can be resolves using other companies. Companies such as advertising and promotion companies would be the most useful to keep as contacts.