Types of advertisement mediums
This assignment has been executed over the topic “Group Marketing Communications Plan” in which discussion will be made regarding the advertisement mediums used by companies for the promotion of the goods and services offered. Analysis of the selected advertisement mediums will be done with the help of different theories including market segmentation theories, marketing mix theories and buyer behaviour theories. All these aspects will be discussed in relation to Wal-Mart which is planning to enter Germany by launching the products offered in the Germany market. Wal-Mart is planning to use film advertising, digital advertising and print advertising for the launching of its products in the Germany market.
Figure 1: Wal-Mart
The term advertising can be explained as the actions of business for calling the attention of public towards the products or services with the help of paid announcements. Wal-Mart is planning to use film advertising, digital advertising and print advertising for launching its products in Germany market (Terkan, 2014). These advertising mediums which Wal-Mart is planning to adopt for capturing share in the Germany market are discussed below:
Film advertising can be explained as the promotional tool or a film which contains audio or video or both for promoting the products. A short motion picture can be prepared by the business for the promotion of the products or services offered. This short motion picture can be distributed among different cinema halls or distributors or movie theatres so as to display the picture before their regular shows or during the intermissions. The motive behind the preparation of this short motion picture is to make the public aware of the features of the products offered, gaining a competitive advantage over the competitors and explaining the uses of the products to the public (Estévez and Fabrizio, 2014). Wal-Mart can use this form or medium of advertising for attracting the potential customers. This can be an effective medium for spreading the message directly among a large number of the public in the Germany market. This form of the medium will help in overcoming the barrier faced due to language as visuals are presented. There are various advantages associated with this form of advertising which will help Wal-Mart in attracting a large number of customers. These advantages include effectiveness as both audio and video forms will be used and targeting the region or targeted customers in an effective manner. Few limitations which may be faced by Wal-Mart due to the use of this medium of advertisement include involvement of high cost and the proper measurement cannot be done of the level of effectiveness of this medium (Soba & Aydin, 2013).
Analysis of the advertisement mediums by linking with different theories
Digital advertising or internet advertising can be explained as a process of using the internet as a platform for the promotion of the products and services offered by the business. This medium is effective in communicating message among a large number of the public in a cost-effective manner. Social media platforms have been widely used by businesses for the promotion of the products or services and communicating with the customers or potential customers (Mittal and Sethi, 2011). The behaviour of the customers or potential customers can be easily analysed with the help of this medium of digital advertising (Paquette, 2013). Wal-Mart can use social media platforms and its website for the promotion or marketing of the products and services offered. Digital marketing has various advantages which will help Wal-Mart in gaining the attention of the targeted customers and communicating with a large number of people in a cost-effective manner. These advantages of digital marketing to Wal-Mart include cost effectiveness, spreading the message among a large number of people as with the change in technology large number of people have started using the internet and a two-way communication process (Anusha, 2016). There are few limitations which must be considered by Wal-Mart and these limitations include limited reach and users are very few as Wal-Mart is planning to launch the product in the Germany market.
Print advertising is one of the oldest and most popular advertising mediums which are widely used for reaching public and attracting the potential customers towards the business. Wal-Mart is planning to use this medium of advertising for developing a large customer base in the Germany market. Wal-Mart will use the different forms of print advertising including Newspaper advertising, magazine advertisements, brochures and fliers. These forms of print advertising are having a wide reach which helps in communicating and promoting products in a better manner by attracting the targeted customers. Newspapers are the most common form of print advertising which is helpful in promoting the products in a better manner and effective in reaching a large number of people at a time (Estévez and Fabrizio, 2014). Newspapers are available in regional languages which will help in promoting products among the different groups of the society in the Germany market. Wal-Mart will focus on interacting with the different groups of the society so as to ensure that it develops a large customer base in the Germany market. Advertisements in the different forms of the print advertising will contain details related to the products offered by Wal-Mart and the locations from where Wal-Mart will operate its business. Advantages of using print advertising include larger reach, targeting different segments in a better manner and continuous advertisement of the products (Terkan, 2014).
This is a modern theory which helps the company in fulfilling the objectives of its communication plans. It helps the company in engaging it with different types of audiences. Wal-Mart in Germany can use market segmentation. As per this theory, the huge market is divided into various segments as per the characteristics and features of each of the segment (Sharma and Lambert, 2013) Segmentation is used in Digital marketing and in other forms of marketing as well. Here, the content of marketing can be designed as per the interests and requirements of the related audience so that their attention can be gained. Segmentation will help Wal-Mart in selecting the most effective segment which can deliver highest sales and therefore profits to the business. The segments can be made on the basis of psychographics, demographics, beliefs and values and geography (Armstrong, et al., 2014).
For e.g. If Wal-Mart is promoting a product which is popular among youth, it will segment the market and will advertise the content of marketing through movies which are focussed on youth. They can advertise the content in the newspaper section like sports and special section for youth where the main attention will be grabbed by the special set of the customers. Also, through digital mediums, the emails can be sent to the young population to get popular among that segment of customer.
Marketing mix theory is the set of 4 P’s which together helps in attracting the customers and increasing the revenue for the company. It helps in setting communication with the customers about the product or service and its characteristics. Wal-Mart has to first work on its products and different varieties which are available in different prices and then it should plan how to communicate with the customers about it. Wal-Mart could think of communicating with the customers of Germany through three popular mediums (Hollensen, 2015).
It could communicate with the help of films where the interaction could be made interesting and could be focussed for a set of customers who are interested in the movies. Wal-Mart could also adopt print advertising for communicating with the customers of particular segment. These customers could be made aware with the help of newspapers and magazines of different kinds and languages (Goi, 2009). The communication could also be done with the help of digital media to have mass coverage for its communication and promotion. The company have to take care of the associated costs and the promotional activities for the type of products and services it is going to deliver. Efficient promotion could lead to increase in sales, promotion of new products, value creation and also in positioning of the brand which could help in fighting the competition in the market (Baker and Hart, 2008)
Once the channel of promotion is decided, the information from the other elements of marketing mix is incorporated to crate excellent user experience and providing best features and benefits to the user. Wal-Mart could use different elements of the promotion to target the specific set of customers and to generate good number of sales for the good number of profits for the company (Mangold and Faulds, 2009).
The buyer behaviour theory suggests the systematic approach which is followed by the purchasers when they enter into the process of buying and when they make ultimate buying decisions. This is a step by step process which helps in developing the marketing strategies. The promotional tools used by the company have a great impact on the buyer behaviour. There is a significant relationship between the buyer behaviour and tools of promotion (Solomon, Russell-Bennett and Previte, 2013).
Wal-Mart, while entering Germany is looking for using three diverse tools through which it can promote its products and services but it need to analyse the effect of these tools on the customers and their purchasing behaviour. It can be analysed that Print media can be used when most of the customers are interested in regional languages and are interested in literature. Here, mass population can be accessed but it cannot be made interested with the visuals which can be done through television. Television is a medium which makes things interesting for the audience and helps the company in attracting them towards the products and services. Digital marketing is one such medium which stimulates the demands of the customers because digital media is much moiré interesting, fast and have huge impact on the customers. Digital media includes internet and social media where the customers can review the experience of other customers and can make their buying decisions with more satisfaction (Strauss, 2016).
For the marketing communication, Wal-Mart should use Digital media because it is at thehe present age media which is used by most of the people and it can make the communication interesting by using variety of methods. Communication through internet and social media is fast and it can have a good impact on the buyer behaviour. It can incite the demands of the customers for purchasing the particular item and the cost of promotions are also lesser with comparison to the print media or film media. Digital media should be the medium which is used by Wal-Mart for providing major impact on the buyers. Nowadays, half of the marketers have increased their budgets for the digital marketing campaigns. It is because digital marketing boosts the content of the marketers and it is easy to access million of customers on the single platform. It embraces the visuals and gets the customer more engaged with the product, services and the brand as a whole. By using digital marketing, the content can be shared at the right time with the right audience the marketers maximises their potential like this which could help them in achieving what they actually long for.
Conclusion
Marketing is an essential element for every business which is used for the promotion of the products or services offered by the company. Various advertising mediums are available which are being used by companies for promotion of the products and services offered. This assignment has discussed the various advertising mediums which will be used by Wal-Mart for the launching of its products in the Germany market. Different theories have been applied for the purpose of analysis of the advertising mediums which Wal-Mart is planning to use. Recommendations have been provided for producing marketing communication piece using an advertisement medium.
References
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