Методичка по Английскому языку для экономистов

don't need." Marketers do not create needs; needs preexist marketers.

Marketers, along with other influentials in the society, influence wants.

They suggest to consumers that a particular car would efficiently satisfy

the person's need for esteem. Marketers do not create the need for esteem

but try to point out how a particular good would satisfy that need.

Marketers also try to influence persons' intentions to buy by making the

product attractive, affordable, and easily available.

Products

The existence of human needs and wants gives rise to the concept of

products. Our definition of product is very broad:

A product is something that is viewed as capable of satisfying a need or

want.

A product can be an object, service, activity, person, place, organization,

or idea. Suppose a person feels depressed. What might the person do to get

out of his or her depression? What products might meet the need to feel

better? The person can turn on a television set (object); go to a movie

(service); take up jogging (activity); see a therapist (person); travel to

Hawaii (place); join a Lonely Hearts Club (organization); or adopt a

different philosophy about life (idea). All of these things can be viewed

as products available to the "feeling depressed." If the term product seems

unnatural at times, we may substitute the term resource or offer or

satisfier to describe that which may satisfy a need.

In the case of physical objects, it is important to distinguish between

them and the services they represent. People do not buy physical objects

for their own sake. A tube of lipstick is bought to supply a service:

helping the person look better. A drill bit is bought to supply a service:

making a needed hole. Every physical object is a means of packaging a

service. The marketer's job is to sell the service packages built into

physical products.

Exchange

Marketing exists when people decide to satisfy needs and wants in a certain

way that we shall call exchange. Exchange is one of four ways in which a

person can obtain a product capable of satisfying a particular need.

The first option is self-production. A hungry person can relieve hunger

through personal efforts at hunting, fishing, or fruit gathering. The

person does not have to interact with anyone else. In this case there is no

market and no marketing.

The second option is coercion. The hungry person can forcibly wrest food

from another. No benefit is offered to the other party except the chance

not to be harmed.

The third option is supplication. The hungry person can approach someone

and beg for food. The supplicant has nothing tangible to offer except

gratitude.

The fourth option is exchange. The hungry person can approach someone who

has food and offer some resource in exchange, such as money, another good,

or some service.

Marketing centers on that last approach to the acquisition of products to

satisfy human needs and wants. Exchange assumes four conditions:

There are two parties.

Each party has something that could be of value to the other.

Each party is capable of communication and delivery.

Each party is free to accept or reject the offer.

If these conditions exist, there is a potential for exchange. Whether

exchange actually takes place depends upon whether the two parties can find

terms of exchange that will leave them both better off (or at least not

worse off) than before the exchange. This is the sense in which exchange is

described as a value-creating process; that is, exchange normally leaves

both parties with a sense of having gained something of value.

Market

The concept of exchange leads naturally into the concept of a market:

A market is the set of all actual and potential buyers of a product.

An example will illustrate this concept. Suppose an artist spends three

weeks creating a beautiful sculpture. He has in mind a particular price.

The question he faces is whether there is anyone who will exchange this

amount of money for the sculpture. If there is at least one such person, we

can say there is a market. The size of the market will vary with the price.

The artist may ask for so high a price that there is no market for his

sculpture. As he brings the price down, normally the market size increases

because more people can afford the sculpture. The size of the market

depends upon the number of persons who have (1) an interest in the object,

(2) the necessary resources, and (3) a willingness to offer the resources

to obtain it. These three things make up the level of demand.

Wherever there is a potential for trade, there is a market. The term

"market" is often used in conjunction with some qualifying term that

describes a human need or product type or demographic group or geographical

location. An example of a need market is the relaxation market, which

exists because people are willing to exchange money for lessons on yoga,

transcendental meditation, and disco dancing. An example of a product

market is the shoe market, so defined because people are willing to

exchange money for objects called shoes. An example of a demographic market

is the youth market, so defined because young people possess purchasing

power that they are willing to use for such products as education, bikinis,

motorcycles, and stereophonic equipment. An example of a geographic market

is the French market, so defined because French citizens are a locus of

potential transactions for a wide variety of goods and services.

The concept of a market also covers exchanges of resources not necessarily

involving money. The political candidate offers promises of good government

to a voter market in exchange for their votes. The lobbyist offers services

to a legislative market in exchange for votes for the lobbyist's cause. A

university cultivates the mass-media market when it wines and dines editors

in exchange for more publicity. A museum cultivates the donor market when

it offers special privileges to contributors in exchange for their

financial support.

The Marketing Concept

The marketing concept is a management orientation that holds that the key

task of the organization is to determine the needs and wants of target

markets and to adapt the organization to delivering the desired

satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than its competitors.

In short, the marketing concept says "find wants and fill them" rather than

"create products and sell them." This orientation is reflected in various

contemporary ads: "Have it your way" (Burger King); "You're the boss"

(United Airlines); and "No dissatisfied customers" (Ford).

The underlying premises of the marketing concept are:

Consumers can be grouped into different market segments depending on their

needs and wants.

The consumers in any market segment will favor the offer of that

organization which comes closest to satisfying their particular needs and

wants.

The organization's task is to research and choose target markets and

develop effective offers and marketing programs as the key to attracting

and holding customers.

The selling concept and the marketing concept are frequently confused by

the public and many business people. Levitt draws the following contrast

between these two orientations:

Selling focuses on the needs of the seller; marketing on the needs of the

buyer. Selling is preoccupied with the seller's need to convert his product

into cash; marketing with the idea of satisfying the needs of the customer

by means of the product and the whole cluster of things associated with

creating, delivering and finally consuming it.

The marketing concept replaces and reverses the logic of the selling

concept. The selling concept starts with the firm's existing products and

considers the task as one of using selling and promotion to stimulate a

profitable volume of sales. The marketing concept starts with the firm's

target customers and their needs and wants; it plans a coordinated set of

products and programs to serve their needs and wants; and it derives

profits through creating customer satisfaction

Among the prime practitioners of the marketing concept is McDonald's

Corporation, the fast-food hamburger retailer.

In its short, twenty-year existence, McDonald's has served Americans and

citizens of several other countries over 27 billion hamburgers! Today it

commands a 20 percent share of the fast-food market, far ahead of its

closest rivals, Kentucky Fried Chicken (8.4 percent) and Burger King (5.3

percent). Credit for this leading position belongs to a thoroughgoing

marketing orientation. McDonald's knows how to serve people well and adapt

to changing needs and wants.

Before McDonald's, Americans could get hamburgers in restaurants or diners,

but not without problems. In many places, the hamburgers were poor in

quality, service was slow, decor was poor, help was uneven, conditions were

unclean, and the atmosphere noisy. McDonald's was formulated as an

alternative, where the customer could walk into a spotlessly clean outlet,

be greeted by a friendly and efficient order-taker, receive a good-tasting

hamburger less than a minute after placing the order, with the chance to

eat it there or take it out. There were no jukeboxes or telephones to

create a teenage hangout, and in fact, McDonald's became a family affair,

particularly appealing to the children.

As times changed, so did McDonald's. The sit-down sections were expanded in

size, the decor improved, a very successful breakfast menu featuring Egg

McMuffin was added, and new outlets were opened in high-traffic parts of

the city. McDonald's was clearly being managed to evolve with changing

customer needs and profitable opportunities.

In addition, McDonald's management knows how to efficiently design and

operate a complex service operation. It chooses its locations carefully,

selects highly qualified franchise operators, gives them complete

management training and assistance, supports them with a high-quality

national advertising and sales promotion program, monitors product and

service quality through continuous customer surveys, and puts great energy

into improving the technology of hamburger production to simplify

operations, bring down costs, and speed up service.

A marketing orientation is also relevant to nonprofit organizations. Most

nonprofit organizations start out as product oriented. Thus many colleges

facing declining enrollments are now investing heavily in advertising and

recruitment activities. These organizations begin to realize the need to

define their target markets more carefully; research their needs, wants,

and values; modernize their products and programs; and communicate more

effectively. Such organizations turn from selling to marketing.

Marketing

In recent years marketing has become a driving force in most companies.

Underlying all marketing strategy is "The Marketing Concept", explained in

this diagram:

THE MARKETING CONCEPT (We must produce what people want, not what we want

to produce) - This means that we PUT THE CUSTOMER FIRST (We organize the

company so that this happens) - We must FIND OUT WHAT THE CUSTOMER WANTS

(We carry out market research) - We must SUPPLY exactly what the customer

wants.

We can do this offering the right MARKETING MIX "The Four P's". The right

PRODUCT at the right PRICES available through the right channels of

distribution: PLACE, presented in the right way: PROMOTION.

Nowadays, all divisions of a company are used to "Think Marketing". To

think marketing we must have a clear idea of:

what the customer needs,

what the customer wants;

what cruses them to buy.

What the product is to the customer: functional, technological, economical,

aesthetic, emotional, psychological aspects.

"FEATURES" (what the product is) + "BENEFITS" (which means that a company

that believes in marketing is forward thinking and doesn't rest its past

achievements: it must be aware of its strengths and weaknesses as well as

the opportunities and threats it faces in market (remember the letters

"SWOT")).

More about "The marketing Mix" and the "Four P's"

PRODUCT: the goods or service that you are marketing. The product is not

just a collection of components, but includes its design, quality and

reliability.

Products have a life cycle, and forward-thinking companies are continually

developing new products to replace products whose sales are declining and

coming to the end of their lives. A "total product" includes the image of

the product as well as its features and benefits (see below). In marketing

terms, political candidates and non-profit-making public services are also

"products" that people must be persuaded to "buy" and packaged attractively

(see Promotion below).

PRICE: making it easy for the customer to buy. The marketing view of

pricing takes account of the value of a product, its quality, the ability

of the customer to pay, the volume of sales required, the level of market

saturation and the prices charged by the competition. Too low a price can

reduce the number of sales just as significantly as too high a price. A low

price may increase sales but not as profitably as fixing a high, yet still

popular, price. As fixed costs stay fixed whatever the volume of sales,

there is usually no such thing as a "profit margin" on any single product.

PLACE: getting the product to the customer. Decisions have to be made about

the channels of distribution and delivery arrangements. Retail products may

go through various channels of distribution:

1. Producer - sells directly to end users via own sales force, direct

response advertising or direct mail (mail order).

2. Producer - retailers - end-users.

3. Producer - wholesalers/agents - retailers - end-users.

4. Producer - wholesalers - directly to end-users.

5. Producer - multiple store groups/department stores/mail order houses -

end-users.

6. Producer - market - wholesalers - retailers - end-users.

Each stage must add, "value" to the product to justify the costs: the

middleman is not normally someone who just takes his "cut" but someone

whose own sales force and delivery system can make the product more easily

and cost-effectively available to the largest number of customers. One

principle behind this is "breaking down the bulk" the producer may sell in

minimum quantities of, say, 10000 to the wholesaler, who sells in minimum

quantities of 100 to the retailer, who sells in minimum quantities of 1 to

the end-user. A confectionery manufacturer doesn't deliver individual bars

of chocolate to consumer: distribution is done through wholesalers and then

retailers who each "add value" to the product providing a good service to

their customers and stocking a wide range of similar products.

PROMOTION - presenting the product to the customer. Promotion involves

considering the packaging and presentation of the product, its image, the

product name, advertising and slogans, brochures, literature, price lists,

after-sales service and training, trade exhibitions of fairs, public

relations, publicity, and personal selling's, where the seller develops a

relationship with the customer.

Every product must process a "unique selling proposition" (USP) - features

and benefits that make it unlike any other product in its market.

In promoting a product, the attention of potential customers is attracted

and an interest in the product aroused, creating a desire for the product

and encouraging customers to take prompt action ("AIDA").

Direct Mail and Direct Response

Direct Mail

Shopping without shops or direct marketing has become very big business,

aided by direct mail, TV commercials and teletext, off-the-page selling,

the telephone, the computer, and the credit card. Mail order nowadays

better known as direct or direct response marketing. In Britain, direct

mail takes third place to press and television and takes up 10 per cent of

the total advertising expenditure. It is also an excellent medium for

international advertising when it is more economical to airmail selected

prospects than to advertise in the press which may be very limited anyway.

Confusion of terms can be avoided by remembering that direct mail is an

advertising medium but mail order (or direct response) is a form of

distribution, that is, trading by mail whatever medium is used for

advertising sales offers. Consequently, direct mail is not limited to

direct marketing: a retailer can use direct mail to attract shoppers to his

store.

Characteristics of direct mail

It is addressed to selected, named recipients or at least to chosen people

at selected addresses whether they be householders or managing directors.

The quantity can be controlled, the message can be varied to suit different

groups of people, and the timing can be controlled or at any rate estimated

within postal limits.

Because of the controls mentioned above, it is economical in the sense that

even the selected lists can be culled of unwanted addresses. De-duplication

can be applied when a number of lists are being used in which certain names

are repeated. It is also economical because in a mail shot more copy and

illustrations can be used than would fill a whole page broadsheet

newspaper, and at a fraction of the cost.

Unlike any other medium, except possibly the telephone, it is a one-to-one

personal medium, like a conversation on paper. Generally, people like

receiving mail, and if the recipient is well-chosen the mail shot will be

welcomed. This medium is also personal in the sense that sales letters and

envelopes can be addressed by name (personalised). Using special techniques

like laser printing, dramatic and colourful effects can be achieved with

the recipient's name inserted at various points in the body of the letter

itself.

A direct mail campaign can be mounted very quickly, in a few hours if

necessary given the facilities to write and reproduce a sales letter, and

pack and post it with or without an enclosure. It is therefore a very

flexible medium which can be used in an emergency.

For those advertisers who (a) have or can hire a reliable mailing list and

(b) need to supply considerable information, direct mail can be their first

line or primary advertising medium. In fact, they may use no other, except

perhaps sales literature as enclosures. Others may use press advertising to

produce enquiries or initial orders which provide a mailing list for future

use.

A direct mail shot is usually consists of sales letter and enclosures. A

sales letter is not just a business letter. It is a special form of

copywriting with its own techniques. The length of the letter will depend

on the extent to which the reader's interest can be sustained The letter

may present a complete selling proposition, or it can be a covering letter

referring the reader to an enclosure. The latter should not laboriously

repeat the contents of the enclosure but highlight special features of it.

Writing a sales letter we have a pattern to follow.

The main parts of a sales letter.

Introductory opening paragraph needs to capture reader’s attention.

The proposition is the heart of the letter.

Convincing the reader. There may be a price concession if the offer is

taken up quickly, or the offer may have a time limit.

Final paragraph consists of instructions on how to respond or order.

Adopting the above four-point formula, here is an example of how a sales

letter might be written.

Dear Mr. Brown

What do you do when your wife says the lawn needs cutting? Do you turn over

a new leaf in the book you are trying to read? Or maybe you take the dog

for a walk? If you haven't got a dog perhaps you pray that it will rain?

That's if you have an old back-breaker of a lawnmower that's agony to push

up and down the lawn on a hot day.

With the new Smith and Jones electric lawnmower you don't have to push. You

simply steer! The machine does all the work. It's a pleasure, really.

Your wife will be surprised how willingly you take your Smith and Jones out

of the garden shed. She'll probably have a drink waiting for you

afterwards, not that you'll be hot and weary. It will just be nice to sit

down with her in the deckchairs and admire that neat, trim lawn. Nice work,

Mr. Brown!

You can see the new Smith and Jones electric lawnmowers at the New Town

Garden Centre – open all weekend sо you can call in when it suits you. It

comes in a box you can put in the boot, and it's very easy to assemble. Why

not bring the wife along?

Yours sincerely John Donaldson

Manager

When writing a sales letter it is necessary to use language which is

appropriate to the medium, the product and the reader. The contents of the

envelope should be kept to a minimum. Some mailings consist of so many

items of different shapes and sizes that the recipient is bewildered and

may well discard the whole lot! Good enclosures are those which supplement

the sales letter. Some of the best examples of well-planned shots are the

one-piece mailers which contain all the necessary information and the order

form, making an accompanying sales letter unnecessary.

A printed envelope can be an advertisement just like the packaging of a

retail product. It is the first thing people see. It can attract attention

and invite curiosity about the contents, and if sufficiently interesting to

the recipient the printed envelope could achieve priority over other

correspondence received at the same time.

The size of envelopes can be controlled by the format of printed

enclosures. Large leaflets in large envelopes can arrive in a very battered

state whereas smaller leaflets in smaller envelopes are more likely to

arrive in the same condition as when packed. So it’s better to use the

small ones.

In order to send direct mail shots the company should create mailing lists.

There are a lot of ways of creating or obtaining mailing lists. The

information may be took from sales bills bearing the names and addresses of

purchasers, from the response to advertisements, from yearbooks, annuals,

directories and membership lists. They may be created by using a direct

mail house or by hiring a list from list-brokers who specialize in this

service. There are also firms which specialize in client's lists on

computerized databases, adding and deleting names as requested, and so

managing and maintaining a client's own list.

It is important to have an up-to-date mailing list, and it is bad policy to

build a continuous mailing list which is never checked or revised. People

do move, change their names or die. A mailing list of customers can be out-

of-date after two years and in some cases in six months.

Not all direct advertising, or distribution of materials, is sent by post.

A large volume is delivered door-to-door to houses, shops or offices. There

are three types of mail-drop service:

by specialist door-to-door distributors;

by the Post Office;

in conjunction with the delivery of free newspapers.

Direct Response Marketing

Direct response is a form of distribution as I’ve mentioned above. The

reasons for its growth and success are lack of personal services in self-

service stores and supermarkets, problems of car-parking and road

congestion near shopping centres, popularity of credit and charge cards.

Today the variety of means by which 'armchair' shopping can be conducted

are only limited by the ability of modern mail order traders to conceive

yet another technique of what is now called direct response marketing. We

have moved a long way from the mail-order bargains of the popular press or

the mail order club catalogues, although both still exist. It is now a

sophisticated business extending rapidly into the realms of alternative

television, micro-computers and videodisc catalogues. At the same time,

traditional media continue to be used, but this does now include commercial

television, as with recorded music producers. The largest single user of

direct response is insurance.

Direct response has become a very substantial area of agency business,

conducted either by specialist agencies, or by specialist subsidiaries of

well-known agencies. A major reason for the expansion of direct response

marketing has been the demand from clients for 'accountable advertising'

where they can measure the response in enquiries, sales leads or sales.

From small black and white ads in the popular press to full-colour, full-

page ads in the weekend colour supplements, a huge variety of goods and

services arc sold off-the-page. Most hobby and enthusiasts magazines carry

ads offering goods by post, from foreign stamps to computer software. The

business pages offer unit trusts, and even the popular papers offer life

insurance, motor-car and private hospital insurance. Correspondence courses

have long been sold this way. Even the sale of shares is conducted by

prospectuses published in The Times and Financial Times.

A number of commercial and non-commercial organisations sell from

catalogues which may be advertised in the press and on TV or sent to

regular customers, members or donors, or direct mailed against selected

mailing lists. Such catalogues are usually distributed annually or

seasonally, but some are issued more frequently. They may be for specific

products or services such as garden seeds, bulbs or roses; foreign stamps

or coins; fashion goods; wines; pipes; or perhaps tour holidays.

There are two kinds of clubs, those for club agents who enrol a circle of

members, with the agents earning commission on the sales; and clubs for

individual members who usually undertake to buy a minimum number of books,

records, cassettes or CDs a year. Some airlines operate mail order clubs

for passengers.

The first group enrol agents by means of ads in the women's press and in

family magazines like TV Times and Radio Times. The reader should note the

special wording of the application coupons in these ads. Particular

information is requested such as whether the applicant has a telephone, and

there is generally an age limit and perhaps geographical limits.

Also television, telephone and teletext may be used as the method of

distributing. Advertisers quote the Teledata (ВНР) number to make enquiries

or order goods. It is a 24-hour personalised telemarketing service, making

it unnecessary for customers to mail coupons and for advertisers to handle

them. All the sales information is held in a computer. For example, an

advertisement for the Hyundai Stella 1.6 motor car, concluded with: 'phone

Teledata 071-200-0200 for a brochure and the name and address of your

nearest dealer'. The teledata receptionist gives the addresses of the

nearest dealers, and note the caller's address in order to send the

brochure, and asks where the advertisement has been seen and the make and

year of the caller's present car.

Electronic mail is a system whereby mail is received on a Telex or non-

Telex computer terminal with a modem which permits a print-out on a

printer. This system is limited to recipients who have the necessary

receiving equipment. But the growth of such office facilities is making

electronic mail a viable direct response medium especially since there is

the interaction facility to respond directly and quickly.

Direct marketing relies on trust. Customers have to send money in advance

and do not see the goods until they arrive. That is why this form of

trading is less common in developing countries. In Britain, the Mail Order

Protection Scheme means that customers are protected by the publishers who

do not wish to receive complaints from readers.

In Britain there are many laws which could concern the direct response

marketer, and some may be of general application wherever the goods are

sold. To these may be added the common law of contract. Most of these laws

apply to off-the-page direct response, some apply to all forms of direct

response marketing.

Exhibitions

Importance of exhibitions

Exhibitions are popular throughout the world and have a long history,

originating with old trading markets such as the 'marts' in what are today

Belgium and the Netherlands, where British merchants sold their wool and

woollens in the fourteenth century. The exhibition developed into the show

attended by either the trade or the general public. London for many years

became a major exhibition centre, to mention only the Great Exhibition of

1851, the Wembley Exhibition of 1924, and the Festival of Britain in 1951.

In recent years the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham has rivalled

London although many events are held at Olympia, Earls Court, the

Horticultural Halls and the Barbican Centre in the City.

Throughout the world there are major exhibition centres, often government

supported (unlike Britain!), the chief ones in Europe being Frankfurt,

Basle and Milan. Many exhibitions are nowadays held in the Gulf states, an

indication of the need to develop their emergent economies. Permanent trade

exhibition centres exist in developing countries such as Malaysia and

Nigeria.

Types of exhibition

1. Public indoor

Usually held in specially built halls, the public show is based on a theme

of public interest such as food, the home, do-it-yourself, gardening or

holidays and travel.

2. Trade or business indoor

A more specialised type of exhibition, this will probably have a smaller

attendance consisting of bona fide visitors who are invited, given tickets

in their trade journal or admitted on presentation of their business card.

3. Private indoor

These are usually confined to one sponsor, but occasionally consist of a

few sponsors with associated but not rival interests Venues are usually

hotels, local halls, libraries, building centres or company premises if

suitable.

4. Outdoor

Certain subjects lend themselves to outdoor exhibitions, for instance

aviation, farm equipment (at agricultural shows) camping and large

construction equipment. Exhibition stand may also be available at outdoor

or tented events like flower shows and horse shows. In hotter countries

exhibitions normally held indoors in the northern hemisphere will be held

out-of-doors.

5. Travelling

Mobile exhibitions can be transported by caravan, specially built

exhibition vehicles, converted double-decker buses, trains aircraft and

ships. British Rail has its special Ambassador exhibition train which can

be used by a single client and taken to a choice of railway stations

throughout the country where visitors can be received. It can also be taken

to European countries Mobile van shows are common in developing countries,

travelling from town to town and village to village.

6. In-store

These are popular with foreign sponsors who organise weeks in different

towns to display foods, wines, fabrics, pottery, glassware or tourist

attractions. The displays are usually in appropriate stores, but a special

entertainment evening may be organised for the public in a theatre or hall,

when singers, dancers and/or films may constitute the programme.

7. Permanent exhibitions

Some large organisations may hold exhibitions within their premises or in

special halls or parks. A particularly attractive one is Legoland, a

children's park at Billund, Denmark, which demonstrates Lego toys.

The following are well worth visiting, combining as they do well mounted

exhibits with video shows:

The Thames Barrier Exhibition, near Woolwich. The Mary Rose Exhibition,

Portsmouth Dockyard. The Eurotunnel Exhibition, Folkestone.

8. Conferences

In association with annual conferences there is often an exhibition

supported by suppliers which delegates may visit between and after

conference sessions. Some of them are quite small, perhaps arranged in an

ante-room or in the foyer of the hotel, but others are as big as the

conference itself. The larger exhibitions are usually held at venues like

Brighton or Harrogate where there are combined conference and exhibition

facilities.

Characteristics of exhibitions

Exhibitions are unlike any other forms of advertising and can include

selling direct off-the-stand to visitors. The special characteristics of

exhibitions are summarised in 16-21.

The chief value of an exhibition is that it draws attention to it subject

and so attracts people, often from great distances. Thus the exhibitor has

the opportunity of meeting people he would never meet nor have time to

contact. The message of the exhibition, and often that of individual

exhibitors, spreads far beyond the even itself, and coverage is possible

throughout the appropriate media at home and abroad.

An exhibition requires a lot of time for its preparation, and for manning

the stand. It is essential that the stand is manned by knowledgeable people

capable of answering visitors' questions.

Exhibitions provide opportunities to display prototypes of new products,

and to receive visitors' comments and criticisms.

Confidence, credibility and goodwill can be established by meeting

potential customers face-to-face. This applies to both distributors and

consumers.

There are ideal opportunities actually to show the product which is more

authentic than describing and illustrating it in advertisements, catalogues

and sales literature. Similarly, sampling provides a good sales promotion

opportunity.

The atmosphere of an exhibition is very congenial, even though a long visit

may be hard on the feet. For many people it is an outing to be enjoyed and

there is an atmosphere of entertainment like going to the circus or the

theatre.

Using exhibitions

There are many trade papers which give forward dates of exhibitions, the

most complete details appearing in Exhibition Bulletin. Other publications

which announce some exhibition details are British Rate and Data,

Conferences and Exhibitions International and Sales and Marketing

Management.

The following points should be borne in mind before booking space in an

exhibition,

(a) Organisers. Is the event organised by a responsible firm? Are they

members of the Association of Exhibition Organisers? Have they run this or

other shows before?

(b) Date. What is the date, is it convenient and does it clash with any

other event?

(c) Venue. Is it a good venue, that is one likely to attract a good

attendance? Is it a convenient one for transporting exhibits to and from?

Some foreign venues may impose transportation and customs problems. Does it

have good transport links? Is there adequate car-parking? Are there nearby

hotels?

(d) Cost of sites. What is the charge per square metre and are, perhaps,

modestly priced shell schemes available?

(e) Facilities. Are all the necessary facilities available such as water,

gas or electricity, if they are required?

(f) Publicity. How will visitors be attracted?

(g) Build-up and knock-down. Is there adequate time allowed before and

after the show for erection and dismantling of stands?

(h) Public relations. What press office and press visit facilities will

there be?

This is an aspect of exhibitions which is overlooked by many exhibitors. It

pays to co-operate with the exhibition press officer months before the

event. Valuable press, radio and television coverage can be gained from

exhibitions, and this is a valuable bonus. Hundreds of journalists visit

shows, looking for good stories and pictures. They do not carry suitcases

and will shun clumsy press kits packed with irrelevant material.

(i) Associated events. Are there any associated events like a conference or

film/video shows?

(j) Is it justified? Is the cost of designing and constructing a stand,

renting space, printing sales literature, providing hospitality (especially

at a trade show) and taking staff away from their regular work justified?

Has the company something new to show, does it need to meet distributors

and/or customers, must it compete with rival exhibitors? What value may be

anticipated for the money spent—in goodwill or sales, including perhaps the

finding and appointing of new agents or distributors?

In his very useful book, Exhibitions and Conferences from A to Z, (Modina

Press, 1989) Sam Black makes the following comment:

'Exhibitions are visited by people expecting to see actual objects.

Photographs, diagrams and illustrations play an important part in conveying

technical or general information but they should be subsidiary to the three-

dimensional exhibits. People will read quite detailed explanatory copy on

an exhibition stand if it explains an exhibit which has attracted their

curiosity, but isolated panels of text will rarely be read.'

Sponsorship

Sponsorship consists of giving monetary or other support to a beneficiary

in order to make it financially viable, sometimes for altruistic reasons,

but usually to gain some advertising, public relations or marketing

advantage.

The beneficiary could be an organisation or individual. While some sponsors

may simply wish to be philanthropic, this is seldom so today when the

object is more often deliberately commercial.

At present, the bulk of sponsorship money is spent on sport, and while this

support is given mainly to the major sports of motor-racing, horse-racing,

football, cricket, tennis, golf, a number of other sports have become

popular through sponsorship and television coverage, to mention only bowls,

snooker, and darts. For example, Canon were the origional sponsors of the

football League and at the end of their three - year sponsorship, costing f

3mln they were able to boast that there was hardly an office in Britain

which didn't have a Canon machine. The strength of this sponsorship was

that British football is played of many months of the year by 92 teams,

this producing constant media coverage.

What can be sponsored?

a) Books and other publications such as maps.

b) Exhibitions which may be sponsored by trade associations and

professional societies.

c) Education, in the form of grants, bursaries and fellowships.

d) Expeditions, explorations, mountaineering, round-the-world voyages and

other adventures.

e) Sport.

f) The arts such as music, painting, literature and the theatre.

g) Charities, especially by helping them to promote their activities.

The aim of a sponsorship is to gain results associated with the

advertising,

public relations or marketing strategy.

Advertising objectives:

a) When media advertising a banned. The product may be banned by certain

media, e.g. cigarettes cannot be advertised on British TV, although this

may not apply in other countries. Cigarette manufactures have succeeded in

gaining considerable TV programme coverage by sponsoring cricket, golf and

motor-racing.

b) In association with sponsorship, arena advertising in the form of boards

and bunting can be displayed at racecourses, sports stadiums, motor-racing

circuits and other venues so that they are inevitably picked up by the TV

cameras covering the event, apart from being seen by spectators on the

spot.

Public relations objective:

Public relations objectives do not seek to advertise in order to persuade

and sell, but aim to develop knowledge and understanding of the

organisation. An important public relations objective may be to create

goodwill towards the company, locally, nationally or internationally. A

large corporation, making big profits, may adopt a social conscience by

donating funds or gifts to society. It might give financial aid to a

library, college, theatre, hospital or medical research fund. When a

foreign company enters export markets, where it may be unknown or greeted

with prejudice or suspicion, sponsorship can help create a friendly

attitude without which it would be impossible to sell.

Very popular is the presenting the awards to journalists for their skill

and knowledge when writing about the sponsor's subject or industry. At to

marketing objectives sponsorship helps to position a product, to support

dealers, to establish a change in marketing policy, to launch a new

product, to establish the product in international markets.

Types of stores

Retailers can be classified by the length and breadth of their product

assortment. Among the most important types are specialty stores, department

stores, supermarkets, convenience stores and superstores.

A specialty store carries a narrow product line with a deep assortment

within that line. Examples include stores selling sporting goods,

furniture, books, electronics, flowers or toys. Today, specialty stores are

flourishing for several reasons. The increasing use of market segmentation,

market targeting, and product specialization has resulted in a greater need

for stores that focus on specific products and segments. And because of

changing consumer life styles and the increasing number of 2-income

households, many consumers have greater incomes but less time to spend

shopping. They are attracted to specialty stores which provide high quality

products, nearly locations, good store hours, excellent service and quick

entry and exit. The shopping centre boom has also contributed to the recent

growth of specialty stores, which occupy 60 to 70% of the total shopping

centre space.

A department store carries a wide variety of product lines-typically

clothing, home furnishing, and household goods. Each line is operated as a

separate department. The first department stores appeared and grew rapidly

through the first half of the century. But after World War II, they began

to lose ground to a growing list of other types of retailers, including

discount stores, specialty stores, and *off-price* retailers.

Department stores are today waging a *comeback war*. Most have opened

suburban stores, and many have added "bargain basements" to meet the

discount threat still others have remodelled their stores or set up

"boutiques" that compete with specialty stores. Many are trying mail order

and telephone selling.

Supermarkets are large, low-cost, low-margin, high-volume, self-service

stores that carry a wide variety of food, laundry, and household products.

Most US supermarkets are owned by supermarket chains like Safeway, Kroger,

A&P, Winn-Dixie & fewel. Chains account for almost 70% of all supermarket

sales. Most supermarkets today are facing slow sales growth because of

proliferation of stores, slower population growth, & the appearance of

innovative competitors such as convenience stores, discount food stores &

superstores. They have also been hit hard by the rapid growth of out-of-

home eating. Thus, supermarkets are looking for new ways to build their

sales. They practice "scrambled merchandising", carrying many non-food

items-beauty aids, toys, house wares, prescriptions, appliances,

videocassettes, sporting goods, garden supplies - hoping to find high -

margin lines to improve profits. Many supermarkets are moving "upscale"

with the market. Retailers are adding such amenities as full-service

seafood departments, "from scratch" bakeries, gourmet prepared foods & in

store restaurants complete with bars, jazz pianists, & wine stewards.

Finally, to attract more customers, large supermarket chains are starting

to customize their stores for individual neighbourhoods. They are tailoring

store size, product assortment, prices & promotions to the economic &

ethnic needs of local markets.

Convenience stores are small store that carry a limited line of high-

turnover convenience goods. Examples include 7-Eleven, Circle K, & Open

Pantry. These stores locate near residential areas & remain open long hours

& seven days a week. Convenience stores charge high prices to make up for

higher operating costs & lower sales volume. But they satisfy an important

consumer need. Consumers use convenience stores for "fill-in" purchases at

off hours or when time is short, & they are willing to pay for the

convenience.

Superstores are almost twice the size of regular supermarkets & carry a

large assortment of routinely purchased food & non-food items. They offer

such services as laundry, dry cleaning, shoe-repair, check cashing, bill

paying & lunch counters. Because of their wide assortment, superstore

prices are 5 to 6% higher than those of conventional supermarkets. Many

leading chains are moving towards superstores.

Hypermarkets are in size up to about 6 football fields. The hypermarket

combines supermarket, discount & warehouse retailing. It carries more than

routinely purchased goods, also selling furniture, appliances, clothing, &

many other things. The hypermarket offers discount prices & operates like a

warehouse. Customers select items from bulk displays, & the store gives

discounts to customers who carry their own heavy appliances & furniture out

of the store.

Most stores today cluster together to increase their customer pulling power

& to give customers the convenience of on-stop shopping. A shopping centre

is a group or retail businesses planned, developed, owned & managed as a

unit. A regional shopping centre is like a mini downtown. At contains from

40 to 100 store & pulls customers from a wide area.

Public Relations

PR is often confused with advertising, and sometimes wrongly termed

"publicity". PR is wrongly regarded as "free advertising". The two are very

different forms of communication, but advertising is likely to be more

effective if PR is well carried out.

Briefly, PR aims to create understanding through knowledge, it must be

factual, credible and impartial. Advertising has to be persuasive in order

to sell and it may be emotional, dramatic and certainly partial. Thus, a

basic difference is that in order to succeed PR must be unbiased while

advertising has to be biased. PR may be thought to consist only of press

relations, or rather media relations since radio and television are also

involved. Modem PR extends into all the functions of commercial and

noncommercial, public and private organisations. It deals with matters far

removed from marketing and advertising to mention only community, employee,

share holder and political relations. A major area of public relations in

recent years has been the handling of crisis situations such as strikes,

disasters and take over bids. The creation of understanding is best

explained by the "PR transfer process". A company, product or service may

be subject to some negative states as hostility, prejudice, apathy,

ignorance. PR is concerned with changing them into positive attitudes such

as sympathy, acceptance, interest, knowledge. There may be hostility

towards a company because its behaviour has been criticised, a product has

performed badly, a company personality has received bad publicity , the

company is of foreign origin or simply because it is very big. There may

also be hostility towards the industry because it is believed to be

hazardous or endangers the environment. Prejudice is a more difficult

obstacle to overcome, and is usually long-standing and derived from family,

education, ethnic or even geographical influences. Many people are still

prejudiced about flying, holidays abroad, foreign foods, computers, etc.

Disinterest and apathy is very hard to overcome. People tend to be

conservative, set in their ways and unwilling to try new things. They may

be apathetic about things that could benefit them such as banking

insurance, savings, diet, holidays or different kinds of clothes. In a

complex world everyone is ignorant about many things. It is inevitable.

There was a time when most people were ignorant about detergents, air

conditioning, video-cassettes, all of which large number of people take for

granted today. These are all negative attitudes which PR has to change into

positive ones. From what has been described it is seen that PR concerns the

total communications of the total organisation. It is not confined to

marketing nor it is a form of advertising. Nevertheless, advertising can

benefit from PR activity. In fact advertising may well fail because of lack

of PR. PR has its own communication techniques and it can contribute to the

success of advertising just as it can contribute to good management-

employee relations or good financial relations. The chief benefit lies in

the creation of understanding.

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