Communication Plans

Advertising and Sales Promotions

Communication with customers can be personal or impersonal. A salesperson’s call is an example of the personal approach; a mass advertising campaign is an example of the impersonal approach. The mix between the two is known as the communications mix.

In the case of advertising, a vital element in devising persuasive appeals is an understanding of how purchase decisions are made. The process of persuasion can be analysed as a series of steps which a potential customer climbs, covering awareness, interest, attitude formation and the decision to act. If an organisation’s offer has been correctly matched with customer needs, the customer should be persuaded to want the organisation’s particular offer in preference to any other. This can often be done by developing a psychologically-unique appeal for the product/service (possibly through branding), correctly judging the price and making the product/service available in a convenient way.

Managers can also use sales promotions.

These must be used with precisely the same attention to objectives, testing and evaluation as in advertising. The cost effectiveness of any sales promotion must be established, and it must be integrated into the overall marketing plan. Sales promotions can be undertaken as a marketing tactic for any of the 4 Ps.

Finally, the manager must plan for the integration of information technology into marketing strategy, particularly as an aid to communication. Managers should learn to take advantage of new media such as the Internet, Social Media, and the World Wide Web.

Answer these questions about advertising and sales promotion:

• What will the split be between personal and no personal communication?
• Who is our target audience?
• What behavioural effects do we require of our advertising? Interest? Awareness? Conviction? Desire? Action?
• What are our advertising objectives? How will we measure them?
• How will we ensure that our advertising strategy fits the characteristics of each customer group?
• What media will we use?
• How much will we spend on advertising?
• What will our sales promotion objectives be?
• What will our sales promotion strategy be?
• What will we spend on sales promotion?

Sales Communication Plan

Personal selling is often neglected by marketing management, yet, personal selling is a crucial part of the marketing process and must be managed as carefully as any other aspect. Personal selling can be seen as a component element of the communication mix. A decision as to the role of personal selling in this mix can only emerge from an organisation’s thorough understanding of the buying process which operates in its markets.

In industrial marketing, personal selling has several advantages over other forms of marketing communication. There are three basic issues that must be resolved if the sales force is to operate efficiently. The first issue concerns the number of salespeople needed. The organisation should first establish the present pattern of work and then consider alternative ways of undertaking the tasks performed by salespeople. The next stage is to analyse the desired workload for each salesperson and determine how the work, once measured, can best be allocated in terms of territory and time.

The second issue is concerned with the objectives of the job of the salesperson. Sales objectives can be either quantitative or qualitative. Quantitative objectives are mainly concerned with what the salesperson sells, to whom he or she sell it and at what cost. Qualitative objectives are related to the salesperson’s performance on the job.

The third issue is overall management of the sales force. Supportive modes of management are superior to oppressive modes.

Answer these questions about sales management:

• What is the required size of our sales force?
• Where and how will we recruit our salespeople?
• How will they be selected?
• What plans do we have for sales training? How will we develop knowledge? How will we develop skills?
• How will our sales force be organized?
• How will our sales force be controlled?
• How will we develop, design, and implement quotas?
• How will our sales force be compensated? How will they be motivated?
• What will the responsibilities be in addition to product selling?
• What support can we expect from our intermediaries? How will we supplement this support?
• What factors will motivate intermediaries to buy and support our products? What margins will be expected by intermediaries?

Answer these questions about the new media:

• How will we use the World Wide Web in our marketing mix? What will we want to achieve with it?
• Who will design our web site, and how much will we spend on this?
• How will we ensure that our web site is continually updated and serviced?
• How will we measure the efficiency and effectiveness of our web site?

Marketing strategy consists of the choice of a target market, the choice of a competitive position and the development of an effective marketing mix to reach and serve customers. In our example, Bill Jones must decide specifically how he will attain his financial and marketing objectives. For example, his increased sales objective may be attained by increasing advertising, decreasing his prices or pushing more salespeople into the field.

It is suggested that the strategy statement be presented in list form to cover major marketing areas and tools. Bill’s strategy statement serves as an example.

Here is the strategy statement for Tica-treat, prepared by Bill Jones:

Target market: All mines, with primary emphasis on coal mines, secondary emphasis on gold mines

Positioning: a cheap effective treatment for cooling

Product line: redesign package

Price: somewhat below major competitors

Distribution: through Smith’s sales force only

Sales force: call more on mines with special ‘deals’; incentive scheme.

Service: technical advice and 24-hour service to be upgraded

Advertising: increase trade press advertising

Sales promotion: increase budget by 15% to allow for mass sampling at trade shows

Website to feature an easy-to-use product specification tool whereby, after the customer enters his or her information, he/she can identify the product in our range with the right specification to solve the problem.

Research and development: increase expenditure by 20% to allow for conclusive research to be performed by the newly acquired expert.

Marketing research: increase expenditure by 10%.