Major Tools of Promotion i.e Advertising, Personal Selling & Sales Promotion

4/5 Marks Questions

1. What is meant by advertising? State the role of advertising in marketing. (Compartment 2014)

Ans. Advertising It is an impersonal form of communication, which is paid for by the marketers (sponsors) to promote some goods or services. Most common modes of advertising are newspaper, television and radio. Advantages to manufacturers are as follows:

1. Provides economies of scale Large and steady demand enables a manufacturer to sell more and to produce goods on large scale. Mass production on regular basis helps to reduce the costs of production and distribution.
2. Reduces dependence on middlemen Advertising helps to establish a direct contact between manufacturers and consumers. It is easy to find consumers, as they are made aware of the availability and usefulness of goods.
3. Describe the role of public relations in the promotion of products and services. (Compartment 2014)

or Explain the role of 'public relations' in marketing management. (All India 2013)

Ans. Public relations The concept of public relations involves a variety of programmes to promote and protect a company's image or its products. It is the sustained and planned effort to influence public opinion and to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organisation and the public.

Role of Public Relations

The public relations department performs the following functions:

• Press relations, in order to present true facts and a correct picture about the company.
• Product publicity, by organising events like seminars and exhibitions.
• Corporate communication, by communicating with the public and employees of the organisation.
• Lobbying, by maintaining healthy relationship with the government, ministers, associations of commerce etc.
• Counselling, by advising the management on building goodwill by contributing to causes like environment, wildlife etc.

1. Though advertising is one of the most frequently used media of promotion of

goods and services, yet it attracts lot of objections.' Explain any four such objections.(Compartment 2014)

or

'Advertisement is a social waste as it adds to cost, undermines social values and confuses the buyer'. Explain how? (All India 2008)

or

'Advertisement is unnecessary and wasteful'. Do you agree? Give reasons in support of your answer. (Delhi 2008 C)

Ans. Objections of advertising are as follows: (Any four)

1. Undermines social values Advertisement sometimes compels to use those

commodities which we do not require. In this way, our wants are unnecessarily increased. If wants remain unsatisfied, we feel discontented. Desire to have more and more things is multiplying and life style is badly affected. Some advertisements show new life styles, which cannot be socially approved.

1. Encourage sale of Inferior goods Advertisement generally speaks very high of the products. Sometimes products advertised are defective and adulterated. In this way, consumers are misled and suffer losses with the use of commodities instead of benefits.
2. Adds to cost Advertising adds to the cost of product and the price of the commodity unnecessarily increases. The consumers pay for advertised commodity more than what they would have paid for the same unadvertised commodity.
3. Confuses the buyer There are so many advertisements of certain products such as TV, detergents, etc which confuses the consumer as which products should be purchased and which is better.
4. Some advertisements are bad in taste Some advertisements show something which is not approved by the society. They may cause something objectionable and may cause distortion of certain relationships.