3.2. Marketing & Sales

The instruments of marketing must be coordinated with each other. All marketing instruments should pursue the goal of positively influencing the customer's purchase decision.

Market presence

In everything a company does, its market presence must be right. It is the company's business card. The appearance must correspond to the Corporate Identity (CI) (corporate identity) and the Corporate Design (CD) (corporate form, colour, appearance). Corporate Identity (CI) is the fine art of communicating with the customer. It is about the unmistakable unity of the company and communicating it. In the long run, this will only succeed if the self-presentation and presentation is done in a typical "exterior" (design), in form, colour, writing, language, image and if the advertising media are used in a targeted manner.

The company name, the company logo or also the signet, are often the entrance ticket. They must have a high recognition value. The basis for this is a corporate concept that can communicate the strengths of the company. The name and the signet should establish a link to the services offered. As a start-up, your own name can speak for itself. Signet, company name and advertising material must be coordinated. The customer must be told what makes the offer stand out. The market presence must fit.

When a logo becomes a trademark, it has succeeded in gaining acceptance. It is usually enough to see the logo to know which brand it is. For example, the star of Mercedes, the yellow M of McDonald's, the typical spelling of Google. What would the dark drink be without its unmistakable lettering? Coca Cola! Nothing more than a brown, foamy fizzy drink with no real value?

In the following, the importance of important communication tools will be outlined in order to be able to decide for the business plan which tools can be used for one's own marketing:

 

Public relations

Public relations is the conscious and continuous effort to build public understanding and trust for an offer or a company. Public relations should have an image-building effect. The company's goals and services are communicated so that a company image is created. Unlike advertising, public relations is not primarily product-related, but focuses on the company as a whole. It is about the external impact in the sense of a corporate identity. Effective public relations work increases the level of awareness and leads to the development of a positive opinion of the company.

Personal sale

The most direct form of advertising is personal selling. This takes place in consultation and sales talks in every shop, restaurant, travel agency or production hall.

The personal direct approach can also be made by telephone or in writing (direct mailing). In each case, it must be decided who is to be addressed and how this person can actually be reached. Telephone marketing has its own "rules of the game": The interlocutor is not known personally; neither is the situation he or she is in. The person who feels disturbed does not like to buy. Long introductions without saying what it is about are annoying. The aim could be to be allowed to send a brochure, to offer a sample, to arrange an appointment for a consultation or a visit. Good and plausible reasons are always necessary. The direct approach must be well prepared.

Product placement

Product placement aims at the integration of products and/or services, e.g. in media programmes (cinema, video and TV programmes), in an effective advertising manner. In the media, products are presented without the advertising being immediately recognisable. This happens when a main actor drives a certain car, eats the ice cream of a certain manufacturer or the photo backdrop depicts a certain company.

Product placement is to be distinguished from surreptitious advertising. The advertising effect is bought and not "obtained".

Sponsoring

In sponsorship, the sponsor, a person or a company, gives capital in return for the sponsored person making contributions to the achievement of the sponsor's goals. Sponsoring is based on the principle: performance and consideration. Sponsoring is widespread in "sport", in the "arts", in "social" and also in the "environment". Educational sponsoring is still relatively little developed.