Chapter 15: Marketing Communications

Question 1

What is the role of promotion in the marketing mix?

Answer 1

Promotion informs, persuades, and reminds consumers of a product’s benefits to influence their opinion or elicit a response

Question 2

What is a promotional strategy?

Answer 2

A plan for the optimal use of promotion elements:
1. Advertising
2. Public relations
3. Personal selling
4. Sales promotion
5. Social media

Question 3

Define competitive advantage in promotional strategy

Answer 3

A unique aspect of a firm that causes target consumers to prefer it over competitors

Question 4

What are the 2 major categories of communication in marketing?

Answer 4

1. Interpersonal communication
2. Mass communication

Question 5

What is interpersonal communication?

Answer 5

Direct, face-to-face communication between 2 or more people

Question 6

What is mass communication?

Answer 6

The communication of a concept or message to large audiences, often without immediate feedback

Question 7

In the communication process, what roles do marketers play as senders and receivers?

Answer 7

• Senders: they inform, persuade, and remind the target market
• Receivers: they listen to adapt messages and identify new opportunities

Question 8

What is encoding in communication?

Answer 8

The conversion of a sender’s ideas into a message through words or signs

Question 9

Define the concept of ‘noise’ in message transmission

Answer 9

Noise is anything that interferes with, distorts, or slows down the transmission of information

Question 10

What is decoding in communication?

Answer 10

The process of interpreting the language and symbols sent by the source through a channel

Question 11

What is feedback in the communication process?

Answer 11

The receiver’s response to the message, which can be gathered through market research, social media, or analytics

Question 12

How have digital platforms and social media impacted the communication model?

Answer 12

Consumers can now act as senders, and feedback is more immediate and less impersonal

Question 13

What are the 4 tasks that promotion can perform?

Answer 13

1. Inform
2. Persuade
3. Remind
4. Connect with target audience

Question 14

What is the purpose of informative promotion?

Answer 14

To convert an existing need into a want or to stimulate interest in a new product, especially during the early product life cycle

Question 15

What is persuasive promotion?

Answer 15

Designed to stimulate a purchase or action, often used during the growth stage of the product life cycle

Question 16

What is reminder promotion?

Answer 16

Used to keep a product and its brand in the public’s mind, usually during the maturity stage of the product life cycle

Question 17

What is connecting in promotion?

Answer 17

Building relationships with customers through technological ties to encourage engagement and advocacy for the brand

Question 17

What is the promotional mix?

Answer 17

The combination of promotional tools such as advertising, public relations, personal selling, sales promotion, and social media

Question 18

What are the benefits and drawbacks of advertising?

Answer 18

It reaches a large audience at a low cost per contact, but the total cost can be high, especially in traditional media

Question 19

What is public relations?

Answer 19

A marketing function that evaluates public attitudes, identifies areas of public interest, and builds a program to earn public understanding

Question 20

What is sales promotion?

Answer 20

Marketing activities other than personal selling, advertising, and public relations that stimulate consumer buying and dealer effectiveness

Question 21

What is personal selling?

Answer 21

Personal, paid-for communication between 2 people with the aim to influence each other and close a sale

Question 22

What is content marketing?

Answer 22

The creation of valuable content for an audience, using digital means to attract customers to that content

Question 23

What are the 3 types of media in modern marketing communications?

Answer 23

1. Paid media
2. Earned media
3. Owned media

Question 24

Define the AIDA concept in promotion

Answer 24

4 stages of consumer involvement in a promotional message:
1. Attention
2. Interest
3. Desire
4. Action

Question 25

How effective is advertising in the AIDA model?

Answer 25

Very effective: attention and interest
Somewhat effective: desire
Not effective: action

Question 26

What is Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)?

Answer 26

The coordination of all promotional messages for a product to ensure consistency across all consumer contact points

Question 27

Why has IMC become increasingly important?

Answer 27

Due to the proliferation of media choices and the fragmentation of mass markets into smaller, more targeted segments

Question 27

What are they key factors affecting the promotional mix?

Answer 27

1. Nature of the product
2. Product life cycle stage
3. Target market characteristics
4. Type of buying decision
5. Available funds
6. Push/pull strategies

Question 28

What is a push strategy?

Answer 28

A strategy that uses personal selling and trade advertising to convince retailers or wholesalers to carry and sell merchandise

Question 29

What is a pull strategy?

Answer 29

A strategy that stimulates consumer demand to obtain product distribution, encouraging consumers to demand the product from retailers