To get a better understanding about this, please start reading from the first post of the series.
THESIS: The Marketing Communication Strategy of Blue Bird Taxi To Maintain Market Leader Position After Using The Highest Tariff:
- Introduction & Book Cover : Part 1
- Research Originality Statement and Acknowledgement : Part 2
- Abstract : Part 3
- Table of Contents : Part 4
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(Chapter II continued...)
2.8.
Marketing Communication Mix
Marketing communications is closely
associated with its tools or called the communications mix or the promotional
mix. According to Smith et al., (2002:11) the marketing communications mix
consists of the following communication tools:
- Sales force (personal selling)
- Advertising
- Sales promotions
- Direct marketing (sometimes called
database marketing)
- Public Relations
- Sponsorship
- Exhibitions
- Corporate identity
- Packaging
- Point-of-purchase and merchandising.
- Word of mouth.
- Internet and new media
Personal selling is promotion via a sales pitch by a sales representative
to a prospect or by a retail assistant to a customer, guaranteeing exposure to
self-selected members of a target market. (Baker, 2003:420) Personal selling includes
according to Foster (1998:78) face-to-face sales meetings, telephone sales
calls, videoconferencing, tradeshows and exhibitions, conferences/ seminars,
and word of mouth. According to
Czinkota and Ronkainen (2001:405), personal selling is the most effective of
the communication tools available to the marketer. However, its costs per
contact are high.
Advertising is a non
personal, paid announcement by identified sponsor. It is used to reach large
audiences, create brand awareness, help differentiate a brand from its
competitors and build an image of the brand. (Duncan, 2005:7). Smith (1998:297)
also mentions that advertising builds associations between brands, logos,
images, and benefits — a form of classical conditioning. A few advertising media examples include TV,
radio, newspaper, magazines, and cinema (Yeshin, 1998:175):
Sales promotion definition by The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)
is a: ‘marketing devices and techniques which are used to make goods and
services more attractive by providing some additional benefit, whether in cash
or in kind, or the expectation of such a benefit (Boddewyn & Leardi,
1989: 365) Sales promotion (SP)
is used as short-term incentives to encourage purchase or sales of a product or
service. According to Smith (2004:357) there are three main categories of sales
promotion:
- Customer
promotions (premiums, gifts, prizes and competitions, e.g. on the back of
breakfast cereal boxes)
- Trade
promotions (special terms, point-of-sale materials and free pens, diaries,
competition prizes. et cetera)
- Sales force promotions (incentive and motivation schemes)
Direct marketing is the use of mail, telephone, fax, email, or Internet to communicate
directly with or solicit response or dialogue from specific customers and
prospects. (Kotler & Keller, 2006:536) Direct marketing brings the market
directly into the home or office of an individual buyer instead of the buyer
having to go to the market. Direct marketing includes direct mail,
telemarketing, door-to-door selling, direct response advertising (TV, radio,
cinema, web and press advertisements that solicit an immediate response, e.g.
“phone now” or fill in the coupon”), computerized home shopping (link home
computer with a store so that one can browse around the aisles, pick up
merchandise, inspect it by turning it around on screen, et cetera.), home
shopping networks, and miscellaneous (stuffers, inserts, leaflet drops house to
house distribution). (ibid)
