What is Marketing?
Marketing is a form of communicating information to certain audiences. It is there to promote/advertise a product. Marketing often involves the product development which identifies the audience for the product as well as when the right gap in the market is for the product to be advertised. Marketing is a thought out business process that involves building up a relationship between the product and the consumer.
However, products are not the only things that can be marketed. People and places can also be marketed. For example, X factor contestants are marketed as the judges let them through based on the audience's opinion as well as if there is a gap in the market for a certain singer to release an album.
Another example would be South Downs as it is promoted to students who want to participate in something that appeals to them with what the college has to offer.
The place and price are a big part of marketing because this helps connect with the audience. For example, it wouldn't be useful to advertise the new iPhone on a poster in an old people's home as it would not appeal to them in any way and they are not the target audience for that particular project. However, placing this advert on the internet, would be a better idea as younger people are drawn more to this product and are the main users of the internet.
The price of the product is important because it may put people off to buy a product that is out of their price range. An example of this would be if someone were to go out clothes shopping and only had around £30 to spend, their shop choice would more likely be Primark than Topshop as Primark is a lot cheaper. Therefore, Primark would be marketed more for this person than the Topshop market.
Above all, marketing is an activity and a strategy that results in making products that satisfy customers while making profits for companies.
What is involved in a marketing campaign? (Tools and Techniques)
There are many ways to promote a product, including Posters, Internet, TV and Competitions. However, the promotion choice depends on the target audience for the product. For example, if the market wants teenage girls to buy their makeup, they use the TV and celebrity endorsements to promote the makeup. This is an effective choice as teenagers have looked up to celebrities and grown up with them, therefore they are more likely to wear something if they see a celebrity wearing it.
Web Marketing has become a very popular way to promote a product over the years as now there are more users and the internet is cheap. Social Networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have helped make the internet popular, especially with the younger generation. So Facebook now includes advertisements that will relate to the user.
Another way to promote a product for a marketing campaign is a tie-in, which basically means using more products of the same brand that keeps audiences interested. An example of this would be the Harry Potter film and the lego game. The lego game is based on the film and will be a good market for the fans of the film as this may make them interested to buy the game.
The main tool that is used in a marketing campaign is us, as people. If someone hears about a new product or company that they are interested in, they are more likely to tell somebody else and so on. Word of Mouth is the best way to promote something as people don't even realise that this is what they're doing. The more people talk about something, the more it promotes the product and then everyone knows about it, making the product so popular that the marketing campaign no longer need to promote the product as much as they could have.
What is PR? (What is distinctive about these activities/Relationship with news forms)
PR means Public Relations which means using media to communicate the message. Press Releases are very different from advertisements as they include interviews and reviews across the media, e.g. magazines. Celebrities and companies need PR to help promote them to the audience. For example, Celebrity Big Brother is used for celebrities that are no longer in the spotlight to put their name back out there. Kerry Katona went on Big Brother in 2011 to help her money situation and for her children. Big Brother helps keep celebrities on the television for up to three weeks, giving them a chance to prove themselves differently if they did not like how they were perceived before.
The Electronic Press Kit is a big part of PR as this is used through digital communication like photographs, moving images and interviews. This is the most important for marketing as the Electronic Press Kit involves the internet which is the main form of communication lately so more people will see it. PR has a low cost compared to advertising, mostly because it costs a lot of money for advertisements to be placed on technology such as the television. The marketing campaign need to find the right channel to place the advertisement as well as the space between all the other advertisements that have been used.
How has marketing strategy/technique evolved over the past 10 years and how has our understanding of marketing audiences changed in the 21st Century?
The biggest change over the past 10 years is that the internet is a big way of how we communicate now. For example, there are so many sites such as Facebook and Twitter and we communicate to others through these sites. Social networking is a huge part of the 21st Century as more people are joining these sites and meeting up with old friends or talking to celebrities. So, these sites are a great way for celebrities such as singers, to promote their next album. Another site that is used very often is YouTube, as people are recording themselves singing and putting it on the website to help themselves get seen by others. Justin Bieber started off by placing videos of himself on YouTube and now he is the most popular teenager on the planet.
3D Marketing is a big way to promote something to an audience lately. For example, new films that are coming out are being used in 3D to interest the audience. Also, old movies are being brought back in 3D to excite the audience. An example of this would be Titanic, James Cameron decided to bring the film back in 3D in cinemas and came third in the list of most anticipated movies behind The Hunger Games and American Reunion.
In the 21st Century, a lot more research goes into the way in which individuals respond to marketing messages. Producers are asking questions about the product and wondering if people will buy it and asking themselves if there are other products like it around and if the audience would be interested in a similar product.
Society has changed over the past 10 years and consequently, marketing methods have adapted to suit growing trends and customer behaviour. Marketing nowadays is more flashy, colourful, fast-paced, energetic, more witty, more everything. Generations now want things faster. Marketing caters to these trends.
What is more important, the product or the marketing?
The product and the marketing for the product are both as important as each other, they both rely on each other. Marketing is a big part of the product development. Some may argue that the product is more important however, for example, with the iPhone5, the audience that are interested in the product were going crazy over it even though they hadn't seen what it looked like yet and hadn't heard anything about it. All they knew was that it was the new iPhone and that is what interested them. This is an example of brand loyalty as people generally stick to what they are used to. For example, someone who buys food from Tesco, may find it strange then going to get food from Asda because it is placed differently and from different makes.
However, others may argue that the marketing for a product is more important as otherwise there will only be a product that no one knows how to use. Advertisements need to be made for this certain product otherwise the audience will not be interested in buying it.
Unless the product is acceptable, no amount of marketing will make up for it. But the greatest product in the world will not make a profit if it is not marketed. It would take a cheat and a liar to push a product that isn't of at least some value to the customer.
Case Study: The Sweeney
Who are Vertigo Films? What do they produce? Who is their target audience?
Vertigo Films are a UK media company founded in 2002 to create independent cinema. Vertigo Films have produced movies such as The Sweeney, Streetdance 3D, Monsters and The Children.
The target audience includes anyone who likes Independent/British films. Vertigo Films have created many different genres of film which gives each type of film a different target audience. For example, The Children is a horror movie, The Sweeney is an action movie and Streetdance 3D is a dance/romance/drama film.
Who is the target audience for 'The Sweeney'?
The target audience for The Sweeney will be based from teenagers to adults. Anyone who enjoys action movies will like The Sweeney as well as people who love British Films. Adults who grew up with the TV show of The Sweeney will enjoy the film because it is based on the television show.
What tools and techniques were used to market the film to the audience?
A lot of the usual PR for movies was used to market The Sweeney. For example, posters and trailers. Interviews were used on the television with the main actors and these interviews were then placed on the internet for more people to see. Then, the film was given its own facebook page and hyped about on Twitter and other social networking sites. Here is the link to the trailer for the film on YouTube -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuYj4q7s8rc
Why were these techniques used?
A big part of the reason the film needed so much marketing was because it was based on the television show and therefore needed more for it to seem interesting to the public and make them want enjoy it as much as they enjoyed the TV show. Another reason these techniques were used was because it was a low budget film and needed as much advertising as it could so that all audiences could view it, whether that be on the internet or on the television.
SWOT Analysis of 'The Sweeney' Marketing Campaign: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats?
Strengths: The film was successful with the public so therefore all the techniques that were used to market the film did it justice as the public enjoyed it.
Weaknesses: Marketing could have gone further and used more advertisements as well as trailers on the TV so even more people could see it.
Opportunities: The Marketing Campaign could have tried getting the film into America through advertisements and such to see how the audience would react over there.
Threats: A threat to the marketing campaign could be the fact that they made this film from the television show because it was a risk incase the public may not have appreciated it as much as they did the TV show.
Bibliography:
www.youtube.com
https://www.google.co.uk/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi
http://www.vertigofilms.com/home.php
http://zenmastersales.com/marketing/could-marketing-be-more-important-than-the-product/
http://businesstm.com/internet-marketing/marketing-in-the-21st-century.html
http://marketing.ezinemark.com/how-marketing-methods-have-changed-over-the-past-decade-560fa87e6e4.html
http://www.deadline.com/2012/04/titanic-3d-opens-to-surprisingly-strong-matinees/
http://inventors.about.com/od/fundingucensingmarketing/f/Marketing.htm
Marketing Mix (4 P's)
Marketing Mix: The Marketing Mix includes the 4 p's. These are Product, Price, Promotion and Place. It is a successful recipe for effective marketing and it is based on results of market research.
To create the right marketing mix, businesses have to meet these conditions:
- The product has to have the right features
- The price has to be right. Consumer will need to buy in large numbers to produce a healthy profit.
- The goods must be in the right place at the right time. Making sure the goods arrive when and where they are wanted.
- The target group needs to be made aware of the existence and the availability of the product through promotion.
Product: The quality of the product needs to be good, so do the features.
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