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PROMOTION &
ADVERTISING STRATEGY
Promotion is one of the key elements of the marketing mix, and deals with any one
or two-way communication that takes place with the consumer. This article
concentrates is a high level introduction to developing a promotional strategy for your
business focusing on advertising and other 'pull' tactics.

DEVELOPING A PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY

Deciding on a marketing communications strategy is one of the primary roles of the
marketing manager and this process involves some key decisions about who the
customer is, how to contact them, and what the message should be. These
questions can be answered using a three stage process, which is equally relevant for
all elements of the marketing mix:
Segmentation
Dividing the marketing into distinct groups
Targeting
Deciding which of these groups to communicate with, and how to talk to them
Positioning
How the product or brand should be perceived by the target groups
Messaging
Delivering a specific message in order to influence the target groups

1. SEGMENTATION
Dividing potential customers into discrete groups is vital if you want to increase the
success rate of any communications message. If you don't know who you are talking

to, it's unlikely you will get much of a response. Who are the potential customers?
How many sub-groups should you divide them into? How do these groups differ?
Hopefully, most of this information will be readily available from your market
research.
Once you have an idea of the customer, you should further drill down to explore
them in more detail.
What are their media consumption habits? What are their expectations and
aspirations? What are their priorities? How much disposable income do they have?
What are their buying habits? Are they likely to have children? How many holidays
do they take a year? How much money do they give to charity? How can you help
them?
This information can be obtained in a variety of ways, from commissioning a
specialist market research agency, to examining sales patterns or social media
interactions.
Commonly used market research methods include:

Sales analysis and buying patterns

Questionnaires

Desk research

Website statistics, especially social media

Focus groups

Face-to-face interviews

Specialist market research companies

Once you have built up an accurate picture of your customer, it's time to get their
attention

2. TARGETING
For the purposes of advertising, targeting is the process of communicating with the
right segment(s) and ensuring the best possible response rate. The methods you
use to target your audience must relate to your marketing plan objectives - are you
trying to generate awareness of a new product, or attract business away from a
competitor?

METHODS OF MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

Advertising is just one element of the marketing communication arsenal,

which can be divided into the following areas:

ADVERTISING A MASS MEDIA APPROACH TO PROMOTION

Outdoor

Business directories

Magazines / newspapers

TV / cinema

Radio

Newsagent windows

SALES PROMOTION - PRICE / MONEY RELATED

COMMUNICATIONS

Coupons

Discounts

Competitions

Loyalty incentives

PUBLIC RELATIONS - USING THE PRESS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE

Press launches

PR events

Press releases

PERSONAL SELLING ONE TO ONE COMMUNICATION WITH A

POTENTIAL BUYER

Salesmen

Experiential marketing

Dealer or showroom sales activities

Exhibitions

Trade shows

DIRECT MARKETING - TAKING THE MESSAGE DIRECTLY TO

THE CONSUMER

Mail order catalogues

Bulk mail

Personalised letters

Email

Telemarketing

Point of sale displays

Packaging design

DIGITAL MARKETING NEW CHANNELS ARE EMERGING

CONSTANTLY

Company websites

Social media applications such as Facebook or Twitter

Blogging

Mobile phone promotions using technology such as bluetooth

YouTube

E-commerce

DECIDING WHICH MEDIA CHANNEL TO USE

In nature, evolution occurs most rapidly when competition for resources is
intense. The same process is now occurring with promotional media. All
traditional media channels are now saturated, and competition for
consumer attention is intense. At the same time, the impact of any one
medium is becoming diluted. There are many more TV and radio channels,
consumer have the ability to skip adverts and free information is now
much more accessible. As a result, companies are becoming increasingly
innovative in their approach to communications and a host of new media
channels have emerged. As a result, media choice is becoming a tricky
task, which is why detailed segmentation is so important - it's no use

starting a Twitter campaign if none of your target market are regular users
of the site.
Highly targeted communications often lead to better results. You can
usually expect a response rate of under 1% for a relatively generic mass
mailing. However, personal letters to a handful of your most loyal
customers would lead to a dramatically increased rate of return. When
deciding which media to use consider the reach, frequency, media impact
and what you can expect for your budget but most of all, ensure your
target customer will see the message in the first place.
Media choice is a matter of compromise between volume of people versus
the personalisation of the message.

ENSURING YOUR MESSAGE REFLECTS THE STAGES

OF THE PURCHASING FUNNEL
Once you have made the audience aware of your brand, work doesn't stop
there. The customer needs to be guided through the purchasing process.
This means identifying the key stages in the customer journey and
ensuring communications messages are personalised and relevant.

More information: The purchasing funnel

INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

Once you have decided which media channel to concentrate on, the next
step is to ensure an integrated approach is taken. Regardless of whether
you are promoting a new product or raising awareness, it's important that
all ads across all media work together towards a common goal by using
similar messaging and 'look and feel'. An integrated approach can
dramatically increase the effectiveness of any campaign and will help
create your brand image.

GETTING THE BEST RESPONSE

To get the best response from your target market, you need ensuring the
message is relevant and clear once you've managed to gain the valuable
attention of your customer the last thing you want is for them to be
confused about what you're saying. Determine the objectives of the
advert and ensure these aims are addressed clearly. Think about the next
steps you would like the audience to take, whether this is visiting a
website, ringing a number, or being able to recall your brand when they
are next in the shops.

3. POSITIONING

Positioning is the process of developing an image for your company or

product. This can be achieved partially through branding, but it's
important to realise that all elements of the marketing mix combine to
provide the full picture. You must ensure that all areas of your business
live up to expectations in order to successfully position yourself in the way
you hope. Positioning also considers the competition, and you need to
explain why you are unique in the marketplace and better than the other
products on the shelf.

BRANDING AND MESSAGING

Branding is a powerful tool for positioning your product. Branding is used
on almost all customer facing elements of a product, from the packaging
design to the style of writing used on posters. Every communication a
customer received adds up to form a mental picture of your brand and can
influence the price they are willing to pay for your products. This ability to
charge more due to the positioning of your product is known as 'brand
equity'. Your branding also needs to consider your unique selling points
(USPs) and ensure these are easily recognised through your messaging
is your product the best value, longest lasting, sweetest smelling or
fastest?

CORPORATE IDENTITY
A corporate identity is a useful tool to ensure that your branding is used in
a consistent way throughout the company. This detailed document runs
through almost every conceivable customer touch point and provides
guidance on the presentation and style which should be used. This could
include use of logos, colours, tag lines, uniform and the type of coffee to
serve guests. A CI guide is particularly useful if any creative work it
outsourced to agencies or freelancers or if you have many offices
worldwide. The most powerful brands can be identified by many elements
of their communications material, not just a by their logo or slogan and
this is due to successful implementation of a recognisable corporate
identity. Recognition is a key part of any purchase decision so a corporate
identity should for a core element of your advertising strategy.

4. DEVELOPMENT OF THE
ADVERTISING MESSAGE
Once you have determined the positioning for your brand, it's time to
develop the message in order to influence your target groups. Advertising
objectives should be directly linked to your marketing plan, and tend to fit
into the following generic categories:

Inform - raising awareness of your brand & products, establishing a

competitive advantage

Persuade - generating an instant response (usually driving sales)

Remind - to maintain interest and enthusiasm for a product or

service

It's a documented fact that creative, well branded, distinctive advertising

generates the best results so ensure you use the best possible creative
team you can get your hands on, and give them a detailed brief.
Remember that a message will only be successful if it appeals to the
target audience, so constantly refer back to the customer and tailor the
ads to them.

FINAL WORDS
Almost every business in the world will deal in advertising at some point,
whether it is a listing in the Yellow Pages, or a billboard in Times Square.
Whatever you're planning, the strategic thinking behind all advertising is
essentially the same get to know your audience, target them efficiently
and position your brand in the way that will benefit your business.
Reliance Digital TV was launched in 2008. How has the journey been so far?
Reliance Digital TV entered the DTH market as a challenger brand in August
2008when there were already three established players. Our core focus was to build
significant presence in the entire entertainment and communication ecosystem,
across content, services and distribution platforms.

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In our journey so far, we have had several milestones to our credit, for instance,
being the fastest ever subscriber ramp up in the DTH category, first in the industry
to offer customer segmented and laddered subscription packages, one of Indias
largest bouquets of over 260 channels and highest number of regional channels. We
have been rated as Indias Best Digital TV service on video and audio quality by
Milward Brown through an independent pan-India survey, we are amongst the Top 3
customer service brands in the Indian DTH industry as per Hindustan Times MaRS
Survey, Indias best after-sales installation service with over 85 per cent installations
done in less than 24 hours of booking, Indias first High Definition-cum-advanced
digital video recorder offering 200 hours of recording, trick play and universal remote
functions.
With almost a dozen players in the market, how do you maintain a place for
yourself?
At Reliance Digital TV, we focus on some strategic levers to create offering
differentiation. We always believe in increased product relevance and differentiation,
content enhancement both at mainstream and regional levels, pan-India distribution,
installation and after sales service. Since there are chances of being lost in the
clutter, we also believe in brand differentiation through sustained advertising and
promotional programmes and enhanced service stickiness through interactive and
VAS products.
What are the recent promotional activities that you have indulged in and
what is your marketing strategy henceforth?
We firmly believe that promotions play a pivotal role in our marketing mix as they
help us create alternative touch points and experientially market Reliance Digital TV.
At Reliance Digital TV, we believe that it is very important to educate the customer,
create relevant disruption and position ourselves as a superior digital TV viewing
offering. We do this through various programmes such as ATL advertising and
rigorous BTL push through in-shop demonstrations and innovative retail display
programmes.
We also explore partnerships to widen the appeal and usage through cross category
product bundling alliances across TV, durables manufacturers and other service
providers such as banks, retail chains, airlines, travel portals, etc. In recent times, we
launched a HD set-top box on January 11 and tied up with ESPN-STAR Sports to bring
ICC World Cup in High Definition format. We have introduced a unique service
initiative to address customer queries and resolve their service problems at the
earliest through our Day & Night service. In order to widen the usage and visibility of
our brand, we have signed a corporate alliance with MIRC Electronics Ltd, owners of
Onida TV range, and have introduced Flexi Sports pack, giving our subscribers the
ultimate freedom to select any two channels from seven sports channels.
What, according to you, makes Reliance Digital TV different from its
competitors?

Firstly, we offer over 260 TV, cinema and audio channels, the highest by any DTH
operator in the country. Considering the huge demand for movies, Reliance Digital TV
offers 19 exclusive cinema channels on its platform. Other than this, we offer the
widest and the most complete range of products in the DTH sector, right from
Standard Definition Box to High Definition cum Advanced Digital Video Recorder (HDDVR) to High Definition Set Top Boxes (HD-STB).
Reliance Digital TV comes with a successful telecom heritage. The telecom expertise
has been efficiently utilised in customer segmentation and marketing programmes,
customer care, advanced IT and billing capabilities in pre- and post-paid platforms
and exploiting pan-India sales and distribution networks.
We also offer a plethora of value added services to subscribers. In addition to this,
through our choice pay channel service, we offer latest blockbuster movies. We were
also are the first to offer niche content such as plays and concerts on our platform.
Which creative and media agencies are you working with as of now?
Our creative agency is Leo Burnett, while OMD is the media agency.
What are the advantages and challenges of this medium in the current
scenario?
As far as advantages and opportunities are concerned, in a TV household base of
130 million, DTH has a penetration of little over 20 per cent. Given the large Indian
population, television penetration potential and relevance of television- based
entertainment for Indian households, we see a huge potential for growth. Also, with
TRAIs recommendations on clear cut phase wise implementation of digitisation and
addressability will give immense boost to digitisation and thereby, accelerate growth
of digital platforms, including DTH.
The challenges are high incidence of taxes in the DTH industry, which unduly extend
the payback period for the industry. Also, unlike other countries, content exclusivity
and niche content is not allowed in India, leaving very few avenues for differentiation
and sustained profitable growth.
The Indian DTH industry is still at a very nascent stage, but is undoubtedly growing
at an unprecedented pace as compared to other DTH markets across the globe.
While the industry is acquiring subscribers through aggressive offers, the larger
challenge will be to increase stickiness and keep moving the customer up the value
chain.
How important are events for you? What all have you done in this field?
Events assume a critical role in showcasing and profiling our brand. We use the
medium of events judiciously to showcase new offerings and to reach out to
prospective audiences for our brand.

What targets have you set for 2011?

Reliance Digital TV will continue to blend the best in technology, content,
distribution, and service delivery standards to offer world class digital TV viewing
experience to consumers. In 2011, we will singularly focus on cutting edge
innovations across all our offerings to remain ahead on the delivery curve.
How has digital delivered in terms of creating visibility for the brand?
Digital is an evolving, new age medium for us and is being used to reach out to the
younger and more tech savvy consumers. We are also using this as a tool to
generate viral and seek audience feedback on our new offerings. This medium gives
us the necessary surround and compliments the traditional modes of A&P being
deployed by us.