Role of Advertising in Marketing Mix (A&BM 26Aug2020)

 Advertising – An Element of Marketing Mix

The communications view suggests many uses of advertising. Yet the bulk of advertising is directed toward facilitating and enhan­cing the sales of specific products and brands. Advertising is most often intended to be a supporting component in a marketing mix. This does not mean that it is any the less important than the product or other marketing decision areas.

It may, however, be clarified here that advertising is one of the components of the promotion mix the other being personal selling, sales promotion, publicity, etc. Adver­tising decisions must be integrated and coordinated with the rest of the marketing mix, particularly product/brand decisions.

Marketing is a particular blend of controllable marketing varia­bles which the firm uses to achieve its objectives in the market. Product, place, price and promotion are essential to a marketing mix. In fact, they are interdependent. But is any one more important than the others? Generally speaking, the answer is no.

When a marke­ting mix is selected, all decisions about the product, place, price and time should be made at the same time. All these should focus on the customer. We develop a product that we feel will satisfy the custo­mers. Then we find a way (place) to reach our target customers. Promotion (advertising and personal setting) tells the target customers about the availability of the product that has been designed for them.

Then the price is established in the light of expected customer reaction to the total offering and the cost of selling and getting it to them.

Advertising facilitates widespread distribution. It permits communication to large numbers of potential customers at the same time. Today, most promotion blends contain the two elements of advertising and personal selling. Advertising is more visible to the average consumer and, in many ways, more controversial.

How does the company choose the appropriate marketing mix for the target market? The answer is that it must examine the wants of the market and the position of competitors, and it must make a decision on what it wants to offer competitively to that market. The company arrives at its marketing mix by deciding on the competitive position it wants to occupy in the target market.

The product manager should consider the possibility of stimula­ting sales by altering one or more elements of the marketing mix. One tactic is to cut prices in order to attract new as well as the competi­tor’s customers. Another is to develop a more effective advertising campaign that attracts the consumers’ attention and interest. A more direct way to attract other brand users is by aggressive promotion trade deals, paise off, gifts, etc.

The company may also consider moving into higher volume market channels, particularly if these channels are in a growth stage. The company may also offer new or improved services to the buyer as a patronage-building step.

If a product is improperly designed, or if inadequate channels are used, or if cost plus pricing is resorted to, advertising may become costly. It is often relied upon to overcome previous miscalculations. It is because of this fact that some Advertising Managers resort to tricks or even at times to unethical practices to sell goods.

Often, even if a good job is done on the rest of the marketing strategy, advertising turns out to be inefficient and costly. The Advertising Manager may not co-operate, in the belief that his own technique is the most effective one and does not need the support of another. In other instances, the Advertising Manager may not communicate at all.

Until recently, in many firms only lip service was paid to the value of consumer research. Many advertising executives still feel that all an advertising campaign needs is their creative genius. The difficulty of checking the results of advertising sometimes encourages carelessness and sloppy thinking; as a result of which some agencies often do poor jobs without detection.

The amount of the marketing budget allocated to advertising is the advertising budget. In evaluating the advertising budget, there­fore, it is important to keep in mind that the incremental amounts of money put into advertising must be more useful than the same amounts put into distribution or product refinement, or even reduced prices. Understanding consumer motivation and behavior is a most significant factor in advertising decision making and in developing a marketing mix.

A manager’s view of who his consumers are, how they behave, and what motivates them determines, to a considerable extent, how a marketing strategy develops. The product should be designed and packed, the price set, the distribution methods decided and the advertising copy and appeals designed with a particular type of consumer in mind.

Role of Advertising in Marketing Mix

Marketing Mix: The marketing mix refers to the set of actions, or tactics, that a company uses to promote its brand or product in the market.

The 4Ps make up a typical marketing mix – Product, Place, Promotion & Price.

Role of advertising in promotion of the product are as follows:

1. Awareness:

One of the important roles of advertising is to create awareness of the product or services such as brand name and price. The awareness of the product or services can be created through highlighting the unique features of the brand. Nowadays, due to intense competition it is not just enough to create awareness, but top of mind awareness is needed.

2. Information:

Advertising helps to inform the target audience about the product. Providing information is closely related to creating awareness of the product. Potential customers must know about a product, such as product features and uses.

Product information is very much required, especially when the product is introduced in the market, or when product modification is undertaken. Proper product information can help the consumers in their purchase decision.

3. Persuasion:

When business firms offer similar products, the firm must not only inform the customers about the product’s availability, but also persuade them to buy it. Through persuasive messages, the marketers try to provide reasons regarding the superiority of their products as compared to others available in the market. Persuasion can be undertaken through creative advertising messages, product demonstration at trade fairs, offering free gifts, premium offers and organizing contests.

4. Attitudes:

Promotion is required to build or reinforce attitudes in the minds of target audience. The marketers expect the target audience to develop a favourable attitude towards their brands. Positive attitude towards the brand helps to increase its sales. Through promotional techniques like advertising, the mar­keter can correct negative attitude towards the product, if any. Negative attitude can also be corrected through public relations and advertising.

5. Reminder:

If target customers already have a positive attitude towards a firm’s product or service, then a reminder objective may be necessary. The reminder objective is necessary because the satisfied customers can be targets for competitors’ appeals. Well-established brands need to remind the customers about their presence in the market. For instance, ‘Raymond – the complete man’ campaign is designed to remind the customers.

6. Brand Loyalty:

Advertising helps to develop brand loyalty. Brand loyalty results in repeat purchases and favourable recommendations to others by existing customers. Sales promotion, effective personal selling, timely and efficient direct marketing, and other techniques help to develop brand loyalty.

7. Brand Image:

An advertiser helps to develop a good image of the brand in the minds of target audience. There are several factors that can be of help to audience. There are several factors, such as the character of the personality that endorses the brand, the content of the advertising message, the nature and type of pack­aging and the type of programmes or events sponsored, that can help to develop brand image in the minds of target audience.

8. Counter Competitors’ Claims:

The marketer may counter the claims made by the major competitors. For instance, competitive advertising is undertaken to counter the claims made by competitors either directly or indirectly. With the help of creative advertising, the marketers can claim the superiority of their brand. The marketer may also undertake aggressive sales promotion to counter the competition in the market.

9. Expansion of Markets:

Successful ads results in expansion of the markets. A marketer may intend to expand markets from the local level to the regional level, from the regional level to the national level, and from the national level to the international level. For this purpose, the marketer may undertake various techniques of promotion.

10. Educating the Customers:

Promotion may be undertaken to educate the customers. For instance, some of the advertising is undertaken to educate the audience regarding the use of the product, handling operations, and so on. Public awareness campaigns also educate the public regarding the negative effects of noise, air and dirt pollution, social evils, and so on.