11. Special characteristics
Industrial advertising differs in yet another way. Whereas consumer advertising may be emotive, industrial advertising has to be more detailed and informative, although not unimaginative. Trade journals provide valuable international market-places for thousands of products and services, maintaining sales of long-established ones and introducing new ones.
Public relations activities, while not to be regarded as free advertising, may be more effective and economical, especially when the need is to educate the market and create knowledge and understanding.
12. Definitions
Trade advertising is addressed to distributors, chiefly wholesalers, agents, importers/exporters, and numerous kinds of retailers, large and small. Goods are advertised for resale.
13. Purpose
The purpose of trade press advertising is to inform merchants and traders about goods available for resale, whether it reminds them about well-established brands, introduces new lines or, as is often the case, announces special efforts to help retailers sell goods, e.g. price reductions, better trade terms, new packages, consumer advertising campaigns or sales promotion schemes. Such advertising invites enquiries and orders and also supports the advertiser's field salesmen when they call on stockists.
14. Media of trade advertising
The trade press may or may not be used for this kind of advertising. There could be a mix of two or three media addressed to the trade. Direct mail is often used, especially when it is necessary to provide a lot of information such as consumer advertising campaign schedules giving dates and times when and where advertising will be taking place in the press or on radio and/or television.
Another useful medium is the trade exhibition, sponsored by a trade magazine or trade association, which will be attended by distributors. Some of the larger exhibitions may also be open, or open on certain days, to the general public as well, e.g. motor-car and furniture exhibitions.
Occasionally, commercial television time may be bought to tell retailers about new lines, or retailers may be mailed to tell them that consumer advertising campaigns are about to appear on TV.
15. Special characteristics
Since the object of trade advertising is to encourage shopkeepers (whether large chains or one-man businesses) to stock up the product (especially to achieve adequate distribution in advance of a consumer advertising campaign), emphasis will be placed on the advantages of so doing. The advantages will be higher sales and more profits, and the appeal will be to the retailer's desire to make money. In so doing, trade advertising will also have to compete with the 'selling-in' activities of rival manufacturers.
Trade advertising will be seen as part of the total advertising campaign for the product and so will be produced by the same advertising agency that handles the consumer advertising. However, whereas consumer advertising aims to persuade the consumer about the benefits to be gained from buying the product, trade advertising aims to persuade the retailer about the benefits which will result from selling the product. Trade advertising supports distribution. It prepares the way. There is no point in advertising products and encouraging consumers to buy them if the goods are not in the shops. The demand created by consumer advertising must be satisfied by the availability of the goods in the shops. That is what is meant by 'adequate distribution'. If the advertised goods cannot be bought, customers will buy either nothing or, worse still, a rival product!
Retail advertising
16. Introduction
Here we have a form of advertising which lies between trade and consumer advertising. The most obvious examples are those for department stores and supermarkets, but it can include the advertising conducted by any supplier including a petrol station, restaurant or insurance broker.
A major form of retailing nowadays is direct response marketing or retailing without shops. This is the modern form of mail-order trading which has moved from the traditional club catalogues to sophisticated off-the-page and direct mail campaigns for products and services, of which financial houses and department stores have become leading participants.
17. Purpose
The purpose of retail advertising is threefold, as outlined below.
(a) To sell the establishment, attract customers to the premises and, in the case of a shop, increase what is known as 'store traffic', that is the number of people passing through the shop. If they can be encouraged to step inside they may possibly buy something which they would not otherwise be tempted to buy.
(b) To sell goods which are exclusive to the shop. Some distributors are appointed dealers for certain makes, e.g. the Ford dealer. Others, such as supermarkets, sell 'own label' goods, having goods packed by the manufacturer in the name of the retailer. All the goods in the shop may bear the same brand, or certain lines such as tea, coffee, biscuits or baked beans may bear the retailer's own label.
(c) To sell the stock of the shop, perhaps promoting items which are seasonal, or presenting a representative selection, or making special offers. The latter could be regular policy, or could be organised as shopping events such as winter or summer sales.
18. Media of retail advertising
The principal of media for retail advertising are:
(a) local weekly newspapers, including numerous free newspapers which gain saturation coverage of residential areas by being delivered from door to door;
(b) regional daily newspapers, of which most are 'evenings';
(c) public transport external posters and internal cards, and arena advertising at sports grounds;
(d) direct mail to regular or account customers, and door-to-door leaflet distribution;
(e) regional commercial television;
(f) independent local radio;
(g) window bills and point-of-sale displays within the shop;
(h) window and in-store displays;
(i) catalogues.
The shop itself is a considerable advertising medium, and it may well be a familiar landmark. Marks &: Spencer rarely advertise, but their shops are so big they advertise themselves. With retail chains, the corporate identity scheme will quickly identify the location of a branch.
19. Special characteristics
Retail advertising is characterised by four main aspects: creating an image of the shop, establishing its location, variety of goods offered, and competitive price offers. Nearly always, the object of the advertising is to persuade people to visit the shop, although telephone ordering and the use of credit accounts and credit cards is a growing feature.
Financial advertising
20. Introduction
It is probably difficult to put a limit on what can be contained under this heading, but broadly speaking financial advertising includes that for banks, savings, insurance and investments. In addition to advertising addressed to customers or clients it can also include company reports, prospectuses for new share issues, records of investments in securities and other financial announcements.
Some, like building society and National Savings advertisements, may be addressed to the general public while others will appear in the financial and business press only.
21. Purpose
The object of financial advertising may be to borrow or lend money, conduct all kinds of insurance, sell shares, unit trusts, bonds and pension funds or report financial results.
22. Classes of financial advertising
The main categories in this field are as follows.
(a) Banks advertise their services which today are not confined to traditional bank accounts but include deposits, loans, insurance, house purchase, wills and executorship and advice on investment portfolios. Some banks specialise in certain areas of banking, and others concentrate on certain kinds of business.
(b) Friendly societies and private medical care organisations like BUPA offer schemes to provide insurance in time of illness.
(c) Building societies both borrow money from savers and lend money to house-buyers. Most of their advertising is directed at not only raising funds but keeping funds so that they have sufficient money to meet loan applications. Competitive interest rates are important sales points, and today in Britain there is rivalry between building societies, banks and insurance companies for the same kind of business.
(d) Insurance companies exist to insure against almost any risk from big commitments like ships and aircraft worth millions to covering [he risk that rain may stop play. Some insurance not only covers risks but provides benefits to savers or pensions in old age. In the cases of fire and theft, insurance companies are also selling peace of mind should damage or loss be suffered.
(e) Investments are offered, not only in share issues but in unit trusts and other investments in which smaller investors can share in the proceeds of a managed portfolio of shares.
(f) Savings and banking facilities are offered through post offices which sell National Savings certificates and various bonds and operate the Giro and Post Office banks.
(g) Brokers offer insurance, pension and investment schemes and advise their clients on how to manage such financial commitments. The Automobile Association acts as a broker for motor insurance.
(h) Credit and charge card companies, such as Access, and Barclaycard, American Express and Diners' Club, promote plastic money facilities, often on an international scale.
(i) Local authorities borrow money from the public, usually on short-term loans which are advertised.
(j) Companies announce their intentions and final dividends, giving summaries of annual reports, and often offering copies of annual reports and accounts.
23. Media of financial advertising
Choice of media will depend on the target audience. Building societies appeal to small savers and therefore use the mass media of the popular press and television. The big national banks with branches everywhere also use the national press and television. Investment advertising will appear in the middle-class and business press. Prospectuses for share issues, which usually occupy two or more pages, appear in newspapers like The Times and Financial Times. Banks may take stands at exhibitions. They also produce sales literature about their services, as do insurance companies especially in the way of proposal forms.
24. Special characteristics
Financial advertising in the press, and especially the business press, tends to occupy large spaces and contain detailed information necessary to explain schemes and achieve confidence. The emphasis is generally on benefits which are usually represented by figures such as interest rates and returns on investments. Profit, benefits, security, confidence, credibility and reputation are the keynotes of the copy appeals.
25. Introduction
This form of advertising aims to recruit staff (including personnel for the police, armed forces and other services) and may consist of run-on classified advertisements or displayed classified, although other media such as radio and television are sometimes used.
26. Different kinds
Recruitment advertising is mainly of two kinds, that inserted by employers whether identified or using box numbers, and that placed by employment or recruitment agencies which have been commissioned to fill vacancies.
27. Media of recruitment advertising
Except for the occasional recruitment advertisement on radio and television, the media are mainly made up of the following categories of press.
(a) National newspapers. Different newspapers appeal to different target groups, e.g. the managerial advertisements in the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Times and the teacher advertisements in the weekly education feature in the Guardian and the Independent.
(b) Trade, technical and professional journals. These are the more obvious market-places for recruitment advertising addressed to those with special skills, qualifications and experience.
(c) Regional press. Local dailies and weeklies are used to advertise jobs offered by local employers.
(d) Free publications. A number of freely distributed publications gain their revenue chiefly from recruitment advertising, e.g. those which are distributed in the street to office workers such as secretaries. Recruitment advertising is also featured in the free newspapers delivered weekly to homes.
28. Special characteristics
The art of recruitment advertising is to attract the largest number of worthwhile applications at the lowest possible cost. The advantage of using a recruitment or selection agency is that applications can be obtained discreetly and they can be screened to provide employers with a short list of the best candidates. Two skills have to be applied. The advertisements must be so worded that they both sell the job and attract the best applicants, while correct choice of media will bring the vacancy to the notice of the largest number of good applicants as economically as possible.
The Higher Purpose of Marketing
What is the higher purpose of marketing? What should an enlightened marketer try to accomplish?
This question is raised because managers sometimes lose sight of their ultimate goals and settle for short-term gains of dubious benefit to themselves and others. When they lose a sense of higher purpose, their work becomes unsatisfying and their attitude cynical.
The most common view is that the marketer's goal is to maximize the market's consumption of whatever the company is producing. In this view, the marketer is a technician who engineers sales gains. Marketing success means selling more and more gum, cars, and ice cream bars as if the consumer were a huge consumption machine that must constantly be stuffed with goods and services. Even if consumers don't want this much consumption, it is good for the economy and creates jobs. Yet Adam Smith observed that hunger is limited by the size of the human stomach. More generally, people will eventually run out of time to consume all that they could buy. They may rebel against overeating and overdressing, and start thinking "enough is enough" or even "less is more." Frederick Pohl wrote a science-fiction short story, "The Midas Touch," in which factories are completely automated and the goods roll out continuously and people consume as much as they can in order not to be buried under the goods. In the story, ordinary people are given high consumption quotas, while the elite are excused from having to consume so much. Furthermore, the elite are given the few jobs that are still left to do, so that they don't have to face the bleakness of no work.
A sounder goal for the marketer is to aim to maximize consumer satisfaction. The marketer's task is to track changing consumer wants and influence the company to adjust its mix of goods and services to those that are needed. The marketer makes sure that the company continues to produce value for the target customer markets.
Even consumer satisfaction, however, is not a complete goal for the marketer. The act of creating "goods" to satisfy human desires also creates some "bads" in the process. Every car that is produced satisfies a transportation need and at the same time contributes to the level of pollution in society. The economist Kenneth Arrow noted that high gross national product also means high gross national pollution. The sensitive marketer has to take responsibility for the totality of outputs created by the business. First, the marketer is a member of the public and therefore victimizing himself to some extent. Second, the society has spawned consumerists, environmentalists, and other public-action groups, who make life difficult for those firms that are indifferent to the "bads" they create in the process of pursuing profits.
Ultimately, the enlightened marketer is really trying to contribute to the quality of life. The quality of life is a function of the quantity and need-satisfying quality of goods and services, the quality of the physical environment, and the quality of the cultural environment. Too often the firm rests its case on its ability to produce great quantities of goods and services and does not pay enough attention to its impact on the other components of life quality.