3.2. Marketing & Sales

Advertising is the planned use of advertising media to promote sales. Advertising should draw attention to the company's offers. The needs and concrete requirements of the customers are to be addressed.

Advertising is on the one hand "sales promotion" and on the other hand "opinion formation" (public relations). Sales advertising aims to make the company's products and services known in concrete terms and to encourage people to buy them. Sales are to be stimulated directly. With every advertisement, public relations also takes place in the sense of increasing the level of awareness of the company as a whole in the public. This is about reputation, trust and information. Advertising makes use of various media.

Advertising is an investment that must pay off. Advertising does not necessarily have to be funny, crazy or eccentric. It has to fit the company and the offer. Advertising pursues the goal of positively influencing customers. Advertising is one of the most important forms of market communication.

Advertising must have a message. It should be clear and true. It should not be misleading. It should use simple language. It should use the language of the target customers. Comparative advertising is only allowed to a limited extent. Disparaging advertising is unfair; it disparages the advertiser. Advertising should achieve the desired effect.

Advertising impact

The AIDA formula describes levels of advertising effectiveness.

Attention (attention) has the goal of generating attention!	Interest (interest) has the aim of conveying the advertising message and attracting interest!
Desire (Desire) has the aim of strengthening the desire for the product!	Action (Action) has the goal of getting the target person to buy !

Figure 3: AIDA formula

Advertising media

Each advertising medium has its own degree of effectiveness. The greatest effect is achieved when customers are addressed in different ways at the same time. For example, it is effective if a direct mailing is followed by a personal telephone follow-up.

If a target group is located, e.g. in a supra-regional catchment area, supra-regional daily newspapers, advertising journals, programme brochures or radio advertising could have an effect. If the target group is precisely delimited and can be grasped locally, brochures, direct mailing, promotional gifts can have a supporting effect. With vehicle advertising, outdoor advertising, reference folders or public relations, "background advertising" will increase awareness.

 

Important advertising media	Important advertising media
Image brochure Advertising letters Brochure Throwaway items Poster advertising Radio advertising Promotional gifts Transport advertising Car advertising Leaflets Television advertising Cinema advertising Trade fair advertising	Daily newspaper Trade papers General-interest newspapers Weekly/Sunday newspapers Customer magazines Newsletter Television Broadcasting Outdoor advertising Cinema Means of transport Merchandising

Table 4: Overview of advertising media

 

Feature description

Daily newspapers address the population in general. The audience is relatively large and so are the scattering losses. If the target group is small, advertising should be more precise.

Regular classified ads have the advantage of being noticed again and again by certain target groups.

Large advertisements are noticed, but they only have a one-off effect.

Information about an "Open Day" can also be published in daily newspapers as a press article. Regular customers should also be invited in writing.

Editorial contributions are very effective in advertising. They must bring news, e.g. certification as a specialist company, redesign, company takeover. They must be prepared journalistically. Even if the advertising effect is not immediately obvious, they have a good impact.

Commercial advertisements are gaining more and more space in the daily newspaper. Those who advertise a product also advertise their company. An image is created in the long run. Discounts should be taken advantage of for recurring advertisements.

Specialist journals address very specific specialist groups. Because they are specialised, they appeal to interested parties. They have a limited sphere of influence, but their impact is high.

The image brochure and the image brochure have a content-related claim. They should represent the company. Therefore, they must convey the particular impression that the company wants to radiate. In reality, there is often a big difference between what is intended and what is achieved. Brochures should be designed in such a lavish way that they leave a lasting impression. However, overdone glossy brochures can also create distance.

Company catalogues are a standard medium. In them, the company presents itself with its products or services.

Flyers, folders and brochures are intended for customers and the professional public. They inform briefly and quickly about the company's services. The personal delivery of the folder contributes to customer loyalty. They can be used to create a direct impact, provided it is received.

The direct mail advertising letter addresses the target group directly. The mailing must be well presented and to the point. Customers should be addressed as personally as possible. Information must be short and to the point. One page of text is too much for many customers. Only up-to-date and qualified address material should be used. Regular customers should be contacted directly at least once or twice a year and informed in a targeted manner.

Exhibitions and trade fairs have an indirect effect. The company can present itself and its performance in competition with the others. In-house exhibitions must develop a special ambience. The personal invitation for regular customers is well received. If there is then a hint of a promotional gift, this will encourage attendance.

Handouts can have a supporting effect. They inform briefly and quickly about an offer. As direct mail, they reach specific groups of buyers. Handbills are also quickly thrown away.

Posters can serve as points of attraction. They attract attention over a longer period of time. They need to be well designed to get them displayed. Why should someone put up your poster? A good advertising effect is achieved by large posters - in "favourable" locations.

Promotional gifts have a commemorative value. They maintain friendship. With pens, tear-off pads, writing pads or a folding rule, a "subliminal" attention is achieved. It is not to be hoped to sell just because of a promotional gift - unless it is something really special. The boundaries between promotional gift, favouritism or even bribery are fluid.

Advertising on radio and television encounters special conditions. Commercials are produced very professionally in the established broadcasters. They are relatively expensive because they have a high degree of distribution. The effect is only created by repeated broadcasts. A one-off advertisement would be lost in the flood of advertising. For radio and television advertising to reach customers, it must be broadcast in a typical grid, e.g. time, slot, rhythm.

Advertising via local radio stations enables local containment. It could also be affordable for start-ups.

Transport advertising on buses, trams or taxis reaches the population of a region for a long time. Private cars and company vehicles can be used for advertising. Street posters, street signs or advertising on a house wall are potential advertising media and carriers.

Merchandising can promote sales. Items and merchandise are produced as sales promotions to support the company's main business. Own product lines with the company logo/signet are produced and sold. Merchandising can grow into a separate line of business for large companies, e.g. Bayern Munich.

Word-of-mouth

The best advertising is that which others do for you. Word-of-mouth advertising is extremely successful. If people talk positively about your company, it speaks for you. The opposite can have devastating consequences. Word-of-mouth advertising is so successful because it is authentic. Here, person A talks to B, who knows the product or service from personal experience. No one can speak better about a good product or service than the person who positively assesses the benefits for himself.

Sales television relies heavily on this factor and lets the "satisfied customers" speak personally in rows.

E-commerce / Internet

The internet offers unimagined possibilities for advertising. Trade is changing.  This expands the clientele for every company. Almost everything is traded online. Advertising on the Internet must find an answer to how it wants to be found in the flood of millions of homepages. It is not enough to create an Internet presence and believe that customers will find the company only because there is a website. Those who want to sell via the Internet must make it clear in their advertising strategy how they want to advertise to their target customers on the Internet.

Advertising budget, timetable and performance review

With the concrete determination of the advertising media, it must be determined at which point in time money is to be spent on advertising. The amount of the budget is influenced by several parameters. It must be determined:

• What is the company's starting situation? A start-up needs to create an image brochure or basic product information; a market leader will expand targeted customer approaches.
• What is the nature of advertising within an industry? Pizzerias like to advertise with handouts. The salesroom or the restaurant itself is advertising. A pizzeria may belong to a franchising chain and take over the advertising material.
• What is to be achieved with the advertising? In what time span should advertising take place?
• How big is the advertising budget in terms of turnover? Is it two, five or even 20 percent of turnover? It has to be determined which advertising pays off? If a small ad is placed in the daily newspaper on Saturday, the reaction can be determined on Monday at the latest. After that, the effect is almost zero.
• Simple statistics (tally sheets) can be easily created. When customers are asked where they found out about the company's offer, the impact analysis begins. If you do this regularly, you will get a good insight into the advertising behaviour of your customers.