1. What do you understand by advertising?
Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor.
2. State the difference between Advertisement and Publicity?
Advertisement is paid whereas publicity is not paid.
Ads create short-term push whereas publicity is more long-lived effecting the brand image.
Normally publicity is a one-way (irreversible) process.
3. What do you understand by surrogate advertising?
Surrogate advertising is an indirect form of advertising, which is used in situations where advertising will be legally banned.
4. In marketing, how does communication work to the customer? Can you describe briefly the various modes of communication of a leading consumer finance company?
The various modes of communication of a leading consumer finance company can be
Advertising
Sales promotion
Public relation or publicity
Personal selling
direct marketing
5. In advertising when is pricing used to influence the customer?
In advertising, pricing influences consumer behavior leading to purchase and non— purchase. The factors, which affect these relationships arc: unique value effects, substitute effect, shared-cost effect.
6. What proportion will you adopt while making allotments to advertisements and promotions from the total budget for marketing?
The five specific factors which affect advertising budget allotment are: stage in plc; market share and customer base; competition and clutter; advertising frequency and product substitutability. Media categories can be chosen using the following variables:
target audience media habits, product features messages and costs.
7. What are the major steps in developing an effective marketing program? Can you develop a communication program for a Television company for the Indian market? How effective arc road shows?
An effective marketing program should he developed with an appropriate mix of advertising, sales promotions, public relation, personal selling and direct marketing based on the resources of the company and the marketing objective.
Road shows are effective for products that are new models and consumers need to he taught as to how to use them. Television in India is a matured product. Features of TV are not new to the consumers. Hence road-shows for TVs may not be a good idea.
If the advertisements are rational highlighting only one or two features to position the TV or to strike a cord with the consumer — it is an effective marketing program.
8. Is Advertising the only way to entice a target market towards product? Explain.
Advertising is not the only way to entice customers to buy the product. Advertising itself can’t sell products or services. It is one of the elements in the marketing mix of product, price, place and promotion. And the four elements of the marketing mix when focused on consumer satisfaction results in attracting the target consumer to the product or service. Advertising is an effective tool to communicate, convince and induce purchaser behavior of consumers when all the other elements are aligned to consumers tastes and interests.
9. What do you mean by reach and frequency? Do you think these factors are inversely proportional in a given budget? Why?
The number of different persons or households exposed to a particular media, schedule at least once during a specified time period - is called reach. Whereas. The number of times within the specified time period that an average person or household is exposed to the message - is called frequency.
They are not inversely proportional. One can choose different channels to use different segment’s using appropriate frequency. However, within a segment. The rule seems to be applied.
10. As a marketing manager of an insurance company. How do you go about designing an effective communication program for your company?
Insurance is a pure service. The intangibility of the service makes it difficult for people to appreciate its worth. The advertisement campaign should therefore be straight forward and simple. The message can he benefit-based visual picturization. A comfortable, though bereaved family. , old couple (happy), children’s education / marriage etc.
11. How would you design and promote an advertising campaign?
An advertisement campaign must comprise of the following:
• A solid marketing plan
• Advertising budget
• Media buying and planning
• Choosing the right target audience
• Selection of relevant advertising medium
• Consistency in campaign theme and
• Frequency
12. What are the various ways to measure the effectiveness of an advertising campaign?
The main purpose in measuring the effectiveness of any advertising campaigns is to evaluate its effect on the sales and also brand recall factor. The mathematical equation for measuring the effectiveness of an advertising campaign is:
Advertising campaign effectiveness = Revenue + Return on investment (ROI)
There are various ways to measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns:
• Conducting a survey after the campaign ends
• Proportionate increase in the sales of that particular product/service
• More customers calling to a toll-free and prescribed lines
• Redemption of coupons and vouchers
• Increased footfalls in the store to purchase product/service
• Increased click on the company’s website
13. What qualities does a person need to be successful in the field of advertising?
The following are the qualities required to be successful in the field of advertising:
• Creativity
• Strategic focus
• Knowledge and expertise in the field of advertising
• Holding a relevant qualification in the field of advertising
• Market research orientation
• People skills etc.
14. How would you choose the best media to promote your advertisement?
It depends on the following factors:
• Reach
• Geographical spread
• Nature of target audience/clusters
• Previous successful track records
• Low budget; high returns etc.
15. How effective is online advertising? Which type of products should be advertised online?
Today, internet plays a pivotal role in both B2B and B2C space. Internet advertising helps the company to reach a large target audience in a small budget and also is easily measurable. It’s highly effective in creating and increasing brand awareness on a whole for any product/service. The following are the various ways to measure the effectiveness of online advertising:
Online
• Downloading of brochures/contact forms
• Completing a transaction on Shopping cart section of the website
• Subscription to newsletter/webinars
• Online enquiry about the product/service through company’s email address
• Google analytics
• Web analytics
