Deck 13: Marketing Communications

Question 1

Compared to advertising, what are the major advantages and limitations of personal selling?

Answer 1

The major types of promotional include advertising, personal selling, publicity and public relations, sales promotion, sponsorship, direct mail, the Internet and direct marketing. Personal selling involves informing customers and persuading them to purchase products through personal communication in an exchange situation. Telemarketing, described as direct selling over the telephone, relies heavily on personal selling. Personal selling has both advantages and limitations when compared with advertising. Advertising is general communication aimed at a relatively large target audience, whereas personal selling involves more specific communication aimed at one person or several people. Reaching one person through personal selling costs considerably more than doing so through advertising, but personal selling efforts often have a greater impact on customers. Personal selling also provides immediate feedback, which allows marketers to adjust their message to improve communication. It helps them determine and respond to customers' needs for information.

Question 2

To gain maximum benefit from promotional efforts, marketers must strive to:

A) become directly involved rather than indirectly involved.
B) obtain information about the marketing environment through their MIS.
C) realize the needs of their target market and try to meet them.
D) properly plan, implement, coordinate, and control communications.
E) use promotion during the growth stage of the product's life cycle.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Companies tend to view promotion from many vantage points. Which of the following alternatives is most accurate?

A) Promotion costs cause product costs to be higher.
B) Promotion activities make up the bulk of marketing.
C) The role of promotion is to stimulate product demand.
D) Promotion should be directed toward numerous audiences.
E) Most promotional efforts are performed through advertising.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Select three criticisms of promotion, and provide defenses to rebut them.

Question 5

A person, group, or organization that has a meaning it intends and attempts to share with a receiver or an audience is a:

A) communications channel.
B) source.
C) relay channel.
D) decoder.
E) sender.

Question 6

Identify and show how the major promotional mix elements can be used together.

Question 7

Discuss how the role of media communication has changed in recent years and how this changes the relationship between the brand and the customer.

Question 8

During the decoding process, the:

A) intensity of the transmission becomes stronger.
B) receiver attempts to convert signs or symbols into concepts and ideas.
C) source attempts to convert signs or symbols into concepts and ideas.
D) source converts meaning into a series of signs or symbols that represent ideas or concepts.
E) receiver filters noise from the feedback.

Question 9

The individual or group that decodes a coded message is called a:

A) sender.
B) receiver.
C) source.
D) decoder.
E) receptor.

Question 10

When encoding the message, the source should use signs that have:

A) new and exciting meanings.
B) different meanings to different people.
C) contemporary jargon.
D) meanings that the target market will understand.
E) broad interpretations.

Question 11

Effective management of integrated marketing communications is based upon:

A) consumer attitudes towards promotion.
B) information about customers.
C) the communication process model.
D) budgetary allowances.
E) the firm's organizational structure.

Question 12

Communication that builds and maintains favorable relationships by informing and persuading one or more audiences to view an organization more positively and to accept its product is the role of:

A) the vice president of sales.
B) manipulation.
C) promotion.
D) information.
E) sales promotion.

Question 13

Discuss the social value of promotion and its impact on consumption?

Question 14

What is integrated marketing communications? Explain its purpose.

Question 15

Why is public relations an important form of communication about a company? Discuss negative public relations, and give an example.

Question 16

Give an example of cause related marketing. ANS Cause-related marketing links product purchases to a 'good' cause. The recent growth of social marketing largely hinges on the effective use of appropriate communications to convey messages to relevant target audiences for wellbeing and sustainability causes. For example, Procter & Gamble has tied promotional efforts for some of its products to a campaign to promote cleaner water for children in developing countries so as to help 300 million children, by reducing illness and saving 20 000 lives each year with purer water in these communities. PTS: 1 DIF: Moderate REF: The role of promotion 5. Identify the major objectives of promotion.

Question 17

Why is communication an important concept in marketing a new or existing product?

Question 18

The coordination of promotion and other marketing efforts for maximum informational and persuasive impact defines:

A) communication.
B) integrated marketing communications.
C) tactile communication.
D) kinesic communication.
E) proxemic communication.

Question 19

The process of putting one's thoughts (meaning) into signs (symbols) is called:

A) decoding.
B) noise.
C) interference.
D) transmission.
E) the coding process.

Question 20

A sharing of meaning defines:

A) promotion.
B) information.
C) noise.
D) interference.
E) communication.

Question 21

Promotional efforts designed to reduce the risk to consumers for using a product for the first time seek to:

A) stimulate demand.
B) encourage product trial.
C) create awareness.
D) combat competitive promotional efforts.
E) retain loyal customers.

Question 22

A paid form of nonpersonal communication about an organization and/or its products that is transmitted to a target audience through a mass medium is:

A) advertising.
B) public relations.
C) sales promotion.
D) personal selling.
E) campaigning.

Question 23

Advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, and public relations are called:

A) promotion mix ingredients.
B) marketing mix components.
C) characteristics of a product.
D) advertising tools.
E) nonpersonal communication.

Question 24

Public relations:

A) should be used mostly to counteract any competitive promotions or negative publicity.
B) is an element of promotion that should be handled on a continuous basis.
C) should be used solely to respond to emergencies that could significantly damage the company's reputation.
D) is paid communication that helps enhance a company's image by highlighting its philanthropic efforts.
E) is generally not given much weight because the information is generated by the company itself.

Question 25

All of the following are examples of publicity-based public relations tools except:

A) press conferences.
B) feature articles.
C) news releases.
D) annual reports.
E) news stories.

Question 26

The two main reasons for criticism of promotional activities are that promotion:

A) has some flaws, and it is deceptive.
B) is deceptive, and it causes prices to rise.
C) pervades our daily lives, and it creates needs in us.
D) creates needs in us, and it encourages materialism.
E) has some flaws, and it pervades our daily lives.

Question 27

The receiver's response to the decoded message is called noise .

Question 28

Promotion tends to:

A) create needs.
B) capitalize on existing needs.
C) be overly focused on the self-actualization needs.
D) overemphasize physiological and safety needs.
E) avoid focusing on people's needs.

Question 29

Promotion helps consumers because it:

A) costs billions of pounds each year, which stimulates the economy.
B) always stresses wholesome values, which benefits society.
C) persuades consumers to make the right choices.
D) informs consumers and places them in a position to specify the products that they seek.
E) tends to be informative and not persuasive.

Question 30

If the push policy is used in promoting a product, the firm:

A) promotes directly to consumers.
B) promotes only to the next marketing institution down the marketing channel.
C) promotes the product to wholesalers only.
D) promotes the product to retailers only.
E) will be assured of having an effective promotional mix.

Question 31

Signs and symbols that can have more than one meaning should be avoided.

Question 32

If integrated marketing communications works as intended, customers should receive clear and consistent messages.

Question 33

When encoding a message, the source should use signs or symbols that are new to the audience.

Question 34

Promotion can help keep prices lower because:

A) demand for the product does not increase.
B) promotion of prices intensifies price competition.
C) promotion of prices leads to non-price competition.
D) promotion tends to reduce consumers' price sensitivity.
E) promotion tends to stabilize a product's price elasticity of demand.

Question 35

Communication through the use of brochures, annual reports, event sponsorships, and news stores is referred to as:

A) advertising.
B) personal selling.
C) sales promotion.
D) publicity.
E) public relations.

Question 36

Which promotion mix ingredient costs considerably more than advertising to reach just one person but can provide more immediate feedback?

A) Publicity
B) Sales management
C) Sales promotion
D) Personal selling
E) Public relations

Question 37

Today, technology is allowing marketers to be more precise in targeting individual customers.

Question 38

Communication is a sharing of meaning.

Question 39

Which of the following are personal informal exchanges of communication that customers share with one another about products, brands, and companies?

A) Guerilla communication
B) Word-of-mouth communication
C) Buzz marketing
D) Viral marketing
E) Conversational promotion

Question 40

Some critics, including consumer groups and government officials, suggest that certain products should not be promoted because they:

A) cost too much.
B) are illegal.
C) are potentially harmful.
D) do not last.
E) are not competitive.

Question 41

Certain types of promotion facilitate price competition.

Question 42

The promotional method most commonly used for highly personal items is personal selling.

Question 43

Effective promotional programs require management efforts such as planning, organization, implementation, and control.

Question 44

Several forms of promotion can be used to complement personal selling efforts.

Question 45

A promotion mix is a blend of four possible ingredients, which are advertising, personal selling, public relations, and sales promotion.

Question 46

Advertising is a paid form of nonpersonal communication.

Question 47

Viral marketing is an attempt to create a trend or acceptance of a product through word-of-mouth communications.

Question 48

Measuring the effect of advertising on sales is difficult.

Question 49

Channel capacity is determined by the most efficient component of the communication process.

Question 50

Pioneer promotion neither emphasizes brand names nor compares brands.

Question 51

When feedback occurs, the source becomes the receiver.

Question 52

Because we are exposed to so much promotion in our daily lives, and the purpose of promoting goods is to persuade people to buy them, a common criticism is that promotion encourages materialism.

Question 53

The capacity of a communication channel is determined by the least efficient component of the communication process.

Question 54

The role of promotion is to communicate.

Question 55

Public relations is a broad set of communication efforts used to create and maintain favorable relationships between the organizations and its stakeholders.

Question 56

Public relations is a set of tools to be used primarily during crises.

Question 57

Demand for a product category rather than for a specific brand is called primary demand.

Question 58

When an individual goes out and buys a product after having seen or read an advertisement for it, feedback is occurring.

Question 59

A marketer uses pioneer promotion in the introductory stage of the product life cycle, when there are many competitive brands.