Vocabulary

distribution – распространение, сбыт

toiletries – туалетные принадлежности

stationery – канцелярские принадлежности

appliances – бытовая техника

direct marketing – сбыт без посредников

marketing intermediary = middleman = go-between – посредник

on behalf of smb – в интересах или от имени кого-л

shipment – груз, партия (товара)

perishability – порча (товара)

obsolescence – устаревание, износ

possession utility – полезность, возникающая в результате приобретения

продукта или услуги

distribution (marketing) channels – каналы распространения (сбыта)

wholesaler – оптовый торговец, оптовик; оптовое предприятие

retailer – розничный торговец; предприятие розничной торговли

make a commitment – (зд) заключать контрактное обязательство

trade-off – компромисс, альтернатива

outlet – рынок сбыта, торговая точка

consumer goods – потребительские товары

business goods – товары, предназначенные для предприятий

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1. Define the third element of the marketing process.

2. What is the role of intermediaries in the marketing process?

3. How does the presence of intermediaries affect the price of products?

4. What factors does effective channel selection depend on?

D. Marketing Mix: Promotion

Finally, it is also necessary to inform potential customers of the product’s existence, its features, and its advantages, and to persuade them to try it. Of the four ingredients of the marketing mix,promotion is perhaps the one most often associated with marketing. What exactly is promotion? Although the term is defined in many ways, it is basically persuasive communication that motivates people to buy whatever an organization is selling – goods, services, or ideas. There are generally several stages involved in a consumer’s decision to buy a new product. A well-known acronym for this process is AIDA, standing for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. According to the familiar “4 P’s” formulation of the marketing mix – product, price, place and promotion – attracting attention, arousing interest, and persuading the consumer to act are all part of promotion.

Marketing textbooks conventionally distinguish four basic promotional tools : advertising, sales promotion, public relations, and personal selling, which together make up the marketing communications mix. For consumer goods, the most important tool is advertising. As well as advertising particular brands, companies also carry out prestige or institutional advertising, designed to build up the company’s name or image. Advertising is often combined with sales promotions, such as free samples, coupons, premiums, point-of-purchase advertising, games and sweepstakes, competitions, and other incentives. Such promotions are used to stimulate repeat purchases and to entice new users. Personal selling involves direct, person-to-person communication, either face-to-face or by phone. By almost any measure, personal selling is the dominant form of promotional activity. Most companies spend twice as much on personal selling as they do on all other marketing activities combined. Computers, telecommunication, hardware, and software are relieving salespeople from nonproductive tasks, making the time they spend with customers more efficient and profitable. For example, a marketing manager for Chevrolet used to spend about 20 minutes configuring each vehicle order – and the process was far from foolproof. But today, it takes him less than 2 minutes to configure and price each vehicle – with virtually no errors. As a result, the manager can now spend more time marketing and consulting with customers. Sales reps can build up relationships with company buyers, and can be very useful in persuading them to choose a particular product. The chief disadvantage of personal selling is its relatively high cost. The fourth promotional tool is public relations (frequently abbreviated as PR) : activities designed to improve or maintain or protect a company’s or a product’s image. PR includes things like company publications, most notably the annual report, press releases, press conferences, sponsorship, community relations programs, the lobbying of politicians, and the creation of news stories, all designed to get publicity for the company or a particular product. Unlike paid advertising, publicity is any (favourable) mention of a company’s products that is not paid for, in any medium received by a company’s customers or potential customers. Companies often attempt to place information in news media to draw attention to a product or service. The advantage of PR is that it is generally more likely to be read and believed than advertising.

Within the limits of their budget, marketers have to find the optimal communications mix of advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, and publicity, without neglecting the other elements of the marketing mix, i.e. the possibility of improving the product, lowering its price, or distributing it differently.

Exhibit 4. 4. The Marketing Mix

The right decisions about product, price, distribution, and promotion

yield the marketing mix that best meets the needs of customers.

DECISION AREA	COMPONENT	DEFINITION
Product Price Distribution (place) Promotion	The product Brand name Packaging Services Warranty Postexchange servicing Pricing Discount Channels of distribution Physical distribution Advertising Personal Selling Public relations Sales promotion	The set of tangible and intangible attributes of the good, service, person, or idea that is being exchanged. Portion of a brand (words, letters, or numbers) that may be expressed orally. The activities that involve designing and producing the container or wrapper for a product. Activities, benefits, or satisfactions that are offered for sale or are provided in connection with the sale of goods. A manufacturer’s promise that the product is fit for the purpose intended. Activities, such as warranty services, that ensure customer satisfaction. Activities concerned with setting the price of a product. A reduction from the asked price of a product. The route taken by a product as it moves from the producer to the final consumer. The physical movement of goods from the point of production to the point of consumption. Nonpersonal communication that is paid for by an Identified marketer to promote a product or service. Person-to-person communication between a marketer and members of the market. Any communication created primarily to build prestige or goodwill for an individual or an organization. Promotional activities other than advertising, personal selling, and publicity that stimulate consumer purchases and dealer effectiveness.