Researching a WV Company
Skill Set: Promotion
TOPIC OR UNIT OF STUDY
Principles of Promotion
http://tutor2u.net/business/marketing/promotion_mix.asp
CONTENT STANDARD(S) AND OBJECTIVE(S)
Students will
 discover promotion and its role in the economy.
 distinguish the role of an advertising agency.
 recognize the nature and scope of public relations and publicity.
 demonstrate the promotional mix to products and services.
 differentiate among the advantages and disadvantages of each type of advertising media.
INTRODUCTION
Promotion is the way a company communicates to the public by use of advertising, personal selling,
sales promotion and publicity/public relations. We are going to explore the variety of ways that
businesses promote themselves by: breaking into groups of 3 to 4, students should find a WV company
online that is promoting itself through at least 3 of the ways listed (advertising, personal selling, sales
promotion (discounts/gimmicks) and publicity/public relations). In an email to the instructor, identify
the group members, the WV company and provide examples of at least 3 of the 4 promotional methods
used.
In the class blog, each group must explain the advantages and disadvantages of the WV company’s
advertising methods (TV, radio, Internet, newspaper) and which one your group feels is the most
effective advertising method for that specific company. Each student must respond to another team’s
(not their group’s) blog post. Responses should be more than I agree.
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
What are the ways a business can promote itself?
INTEGRATION OF ACADEMICS, TECHNOLOGY, ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Academics: Upon completion of the activities, the above referenced CSOs will be met.
Technology: Student will utilize the Internet to research a WV company’s effort to promote itself, and
share their findings with their instructor and classmates using email and class blog.
Entrepreneurship: The activities will encourage students to review a variety of ways companies
promote themselves and the advantages and disadvantages of advertising media.
STUDENT INVOLVEMENT IN PLANNING PROCESS
Students will choose the WV company they will research. Students will provide specific examples of
how companies promote themselves. Finally, students will share with each other advantages and
disadvantages of different types of advertising media used by their selected company and respond to
their peers.
TASK(S)
Day 1:
Students will:
 Break into a team of 3 to 4 persons
 Research WV based company that uses advertising, personal selling, sales promotion
(discounts/gimmicks) and publicity/public relations.
 Send an email to the instructor, identifying:
o The group members
o The WV based Company chosen
o Specific examples of at least 3 of the 4 ways the company promotes itself
Page 1 of 3
Day 2:
Students will:
 Research the selected WV company’s advertising methods (TV, radio, newspaper, online) and
explain the advantages and disadvantages of each type of advertising.
 Detail the team’s findings in the class blog, along with the method of advertising your team feels
is the most effective.
Day 3:
Students will:
 Read all the teams’ class blog posts on advertising methods.
 Respond to at least one other team’s post (more than I agree).
 Participate in a class discussion on the project, reviewing concepts.
RESOURCES
Internet, newspaper, radio, TV
TECHNOLOGY USE
Internet will be used to research WV based company’s methods of promoting itself.
EVALUATION
Rubrics will be provided on research that must be presented to the instructor and to other teams.
Teacher will review any concepts not fully demonstrated by student’s research.
TIMELINE
3 class periods of 45 minutes each
CONCLUSION
Did I understand the differences between advertising and public relations as it relates to promoting a
business?
Page 2 of 3
Promotion of WV Company activity checklist (10 points)
 Break into groups of 3-4 persons, find a WV Company online that promotes itself
through at least 3 of the 4 ways listed (advertising, personal selling, sales
promotion (discounts/gimmicks) and publicity/public relations).
 Submit following information to the instructor in an email:
 Identify the group members
 Identify the WV based company
 Provide specific examples of at least 3 of the 4 promotional methods used by
the WV based company (advertising, personal selling, sales promotion
(discounts/gimmicks) and publicity/public relations)
Category
Original blog post
Response
Grammar/Spelling
Class blog rubric (10 points possible)
Credit
As a team, explain the advantages and
disadvantages (at least one advantage and one
disadvantage) of the WV company’s advertising
methods (at least 2: radio, TV, online,
newspapers, magazines, etc.). Identify which
advertising method your group feels is the most
effective for that specific company.
(4 sentence min.)
(8 points)
Individually, thoughtfully and respectfully respond
to at least one other team’s post (more than I
agree).
(1 point)
No more than 1 obvious grammar and/or spelling
error(s) in the response.
(1 point)
Page 3 of 3
No credit
(0 points)
No post or fewer
than three
sentence
explanation.
No response to
other peer or not
much more than I
agree and/or
disrespectfully
presented.
Multiple
grammatical or
spelling errors.