Chapter 13:
Business Marketing
Communications:
Advertising and
Sales Promotion
PowerPoint by:
Ray A. DeCormier, Ph.D.
Central Connecticut State University

Advertising and sales promotion supplements personal
selling efforts. This chapter considers:
The powerful role of social media can assume in business
marketing strategy
2. The decisions that must be made when forming a
business advertising program
3. The business media options, including the powerful role
of Internet marketing communications
4. Ways to measure business advertising effectiveness
5. The role of trade shows in the business communications
mix and how to measure trade show effectiveness
1.
Introduction
 Business has learned that not even the best
products sell themselves.
 Benefits, problem solutions and cost
efficiencies need to be sold through effective
communications to everyone from users to
influencers to decision makers.

a.
b.
c.
d.
Due to…
Product complexities (technical),
The small number of buyers,
The high price products/services, and
Extensive negotiation process
…The primary communications vehicle for selling
Industrial/Business products/services is the:

SALESPERSON! 
OTHER NON-PERSONAL COMPONENTS

There is a need for other non-personal requisites such as:

Advertising
Catalogs
Internet presence
Trade shows
Promotional spending





All have a unique way of getting the message out, however,
they don’t close deals as well as personal selling!
B2B Social Media
Channels of the social web where prospects and businesses
communicate across diverse platforms
Key Platforms:
1. Discussion Forums
2. Blogs
3. Wiki
4. Social Networks
6
Use of Social Media in B2B
 Monitor what prospects are saying about the company
 Capture interest from prospects looking for products
 Coordinate follow-up to social media interactions
7

Several blogs in five languages

Sponsor several online communities

Support forums: find answers to laptop questions

Online community for consumers to post
innovative ideas for Dell to consider
Customer Decision Journey



The CDJ is the customer’s decision process in
selecting a particular product
Often find a mismatch between media used and the
touch points at which buyers are best influenced
CDJ includes two critical steps
1. Inspiration: use online channels to find, create and compare
2. Sharing: relate experiences using a variety of social media

Key: Customer experience includes everything from
discussions on social media to meetings with sales
people. Social media facilitate targeted,
personalized contact across the customer experience
landscape

Be an integral part of an integrated
communication programs

Enhance sales effectiveness

Increase sales efficiency

Create awareness

Create preferences for company, products, etc.

Facilitate interactive marketing communications
Integrated Communication Programs
• Integrated Communications is the intertwining
of all communication methods to include:
• Advertising
• Sales Promotion
• Online Media
• Public Relations
• Personal Selling
• Of these promotional techniques, personal
selling is most important in B2B marketing!
ENHANCING SALES EFFECTIVENESS
 Combining
advertising and personal
selling makes the selling job easier and
more efficient.
 People
who were aware of the ad thought
the salesperson was more knowledgeable
than companies that don’t advertise.
 Profits
and gross margins also increase
when advertising is employed.
 Advertising
increases efficiency in two
ways:
1. Serves as a reminder
2. Informs the market about new
products/developments
 Advertising
is pennies when compared to
$100’s for a sales call.

1.
2.
3.
4.
Business advertising creates:
Awareness
Brand preference
Conviction that a brand will meet their
requirements & hopefully
Facilitate purchase
14
Internet has created a two-way
communication process, permitting the
marketer and customer to more rapidly
exchange information.
 The
 This
flexibility has allowed the marketer to
personalize communications and customize
solutions.

Effective B2B communication needs to be
integrated among all media methods; however,
it does have its limitations. It:
1. Cannot
create product preference for many
products.
2. Cannot close a sale!
3. Cannot substitute for personal selling.
4. Can supplement personal selling but not
replace it.
The Decision Stages: Developing
Business-to-Business
Advertising Program

Advertising is only one
aspect of an entire
marketing strategy.

The advertising decision
process begins with
formulating advertising
objectives.

Equally important:
selection and evaluation
of media.
Figure 13.1
Defining Advertising Objectives

Marketing managers realize:
1. Advertising’s
mission flows directly from
the overall marketing strategy.
2. Advertising’s job is to:
a.
b.
c.
d.
Create awareness
Provide information
Influence attitudes
Remind buyers about product and company
ADVERTISING OBJECTIVES
 Advertising
objectives must be:
1. Realistic
2. Measurable
3. Specific
outcomes during specific
times
 Example:
To be effective, the advertising
campaign shall increase awareness from
15% to 30% during the period from April
1st to June 31st.

One objective of advertising is to reach influentials
who are often difficult to contact via personal
selling.

Influentials are interested in specific features and
attributes that solve certain problems. Advertising
needs to focus upon that issue.

Marketers must understand who the target market
is and how to reach them for an advertising
campaign to be effective.
Creative Strategy Statements
 Provide guidelines for the company and
advertising agency to position (or reposition) the
product.
 All creative efforts should include:
1. Copy
2. Theme
3. Color, design, etc.
4. Media
5. Tactics
Managers tend to employ the following rule
of thumb:
1.
Allocate some percent of sales to
advertising
2.
However, this is a dysfunctional rule!

Advertising’s purpose is to inform and influence sales,
but it is not to create sales.

A dysfunctional policy of tying advertising budgets to
% of sales defeats the purpose.


For example:
If there are no sales, then is there no advertising
budget?
If sales are declining, do you cut advertising costs too?

Does that make sense?




A better approach for allocating advertising
costs is to relate them to advertising
objectives.
The Objective-Task Method focuses on the
communications effects of advertising…
Not on the sales effects.
1.
Establish objectives in terms of sales volume,
market share, profit contribution and market
segments.
2.
Assess all communication functions to realize
these objectives.
3.
Define specific measurements required to meet
these objectives such as market share.
4.
Estimate the budget needed to accomplish them.




How much is enough?
Advertising costs is like owning an old gold mine.
It can return millions, or be a bottomless pit.
The only way to assure success is to establish and
measure against goals.
Another matter is the political side of the decision.
The concern here is that internal politics often
determine budgets, not the technique-driven
process.
Passing the Threshold
 In order for a message to be heard, it is
necessary to repeat it often.
 Of course, the question is: “How often?”
 Research suggests that advertising must
pass through a certain threshold before a
meaningful message can be understood by
the market to move product from
awareness to preference.
Passing the Threshold
 A small budget is not enough
 A large budget is like throwing money away
 Because budgeting advertising is so important,
marketing managers should:
 1. Set clear objectives
 2. Evaluate tasks required
 3. Compare costs against industry norms
 4. Allocate a proper budget
 5. Design an effective advertising message
DEVELOPING THE MESSAGE
Three Considerations:
Perception
Benefits focus
Understanding buyer motivations
Developing B2B Advertising Message
1.
2.
3.
4.
Determine advertising objectives
Evaluate target audience’s buying
criteria
Analyze most appropriate language,
format and style to present message.
Then consider the message!
PERCEPTION, PERCEPTION, PERCEPTION

In business, perception is almost the same as truth.

The message needs to attract the right person.

In most cases, that is the decision maker.


For an advertising messages to be considered, it has to:
 Attract the right person’s attention, &
 Be interpreted properly.
For example, techies respond to technical ads and nontechies respond better to non-technical ads.

Industrial buyers focus on solutions to business
problems that considers:
a.
A better way to accomplish tasks
b.
A less expensive way to manufacture something
c.
A new approach to either make or save the company
money
d.
A different way to “free” up time

Of all the challenges, this is one of the most
difficult to understand.

Understanding the buyer is a very complex
matter because “the standard rules” change as
the environment changes.

One way to address this problem is to employ
marketing research to delineate influencers’
criteria for buying in each segment.
Effective Ads
 Effective ads are:
A. Logical
B. Rational
C. Provide a clear description of the product
D. Present product benefits clearly
E. Details product quality
F. Provide performance measures

B2B media are selected by target audiences

Should we use trade publications, direct mail,
Internet or all of them?

What is the best way to spend advertising
money to generate the desired response
(customer contacts)?
Shifting of Advertising to Digital Form

B2B marketers are always looking for ways to
communicate better with customers & prospects.

Use of Internet microsites (specialized web pages that
prospects jump to from an email or PR piece that
contain videos) is providing excellent results.

Use of online videos help customers and prospects
from around the world solve their business problems.

Videos are particularly effective for telling the story and
producing serious leads.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Using proper key words or key phrases within the site
is an absolute necessity for driving leads to that site.
Ideas for successful Internet advertising include:
Make sure site is search-crawler friendly
Good key words must tie into solutions sought
Create a relevant, targeted keyword list that reflects
problem, product, etc.
Write clear, compelling ads that use key words and
isolate your “value proposition”
Track results and measure everything
Business Publications

There are more than 2700 business
publications—selecting the right ones is
another difficult task.

Horizontal Publications are directed at the
specific task, function or technology
regardless of industry.

Vertical Publications are oriented to
readers in a specific industry.
Business Publications
 Many trade publications are requester publications.
 This is where the reader is interested in a certain
subject and receives a certain publication for free in
exchange for demographic information such as title,
function and buying responsibilities.
 Advertisers know who their desired audience are!
Cost of Advertising
 Companies need to allocate an advertising
budget for:
 Business Publications
 Sales Promotions
 Direct Marketing (mail & e-mail)
 Internet Advertising

Include:

Cost/1000 contact is one consideration

Circulation based on the TARGET audience

Does the medium also have Internet viewing?

Frequency and scheduling is another
complicated issue

Direct Mail is commonly used for:
a. Image, product and service promotion
b. Sales force support by providing leads
c. Distribution channel communications
d. Getting pertinent information directly to influencials


Direct mail is efficient providing the list is good.
Much direct mail is considered junk mail.




Direct mail is 10 times more expensive than e-mail
E-mail campaigns often yield more responses and
results are quicker
◦ Example: 1/3 of all responses were generated within
24hrs.
Many firms integrate their CRM programs with e-mail
Many firms provide an e-mail alert service and/or an
e-mail newsletter

In order to successfully accomplish this, it is
important to have all the systems in place first.
They include:
a. E-mail acknowledgements
b. Order entry
c. Order fulfillment
d. Money exchanges
e. Follow-up contact
f. Q&A service
g. Troubleshooting systems

MEASURING EFFECTIVENESS
 Rarely
do ads result in immediate business.
 But, it does create awareness hopefully
leading to preference.
 Measurements can be direct or indirect.
 Direct communication is measured by:
“percent awareness.”
 Indirect communications are measured by:
“word-of-mouth” and “understood perceptions”.
Five Primary Areas for
Evaluating Advertising
1.
Sound measurement
program entails substantial
advanced planning.
2.
The advertising strategist
must determine:

What is to be measured

How to measure it

In what sequence
3.
Establish benchmarks in
pre-evaluation phase
Figure 13.2







Knowledge
Recognition
Recall
Awareness
Preference
Motivation
It is not always possible to measure
effects on actual sales.
Trade Shows
 Another important form of promotion is
trade shows.
 Effective selling message can be delivered to
a relatively large and targeted audience at
one time.
 Firm can identify potential clients and
provide sales personnel with qualified leads.
 Trade shows can also be used to introduce
new products.

Customers can get hands-on experience with product
in one-on-one selling situation.

Company can enhance general goodwill.

Company often benefits from free publicity.

Trade shows allow competitors to look at each other.

International business can be facilitated resulting in
quicker entry into foreign markets.

Many sales are also made at these shows too!

Cost of meeting prospects is around $250 which is
much less than making a personal sales call.
Trade-Show Communications Strategy

To develop an effective trade show communications
strategy, certain questions need to be addressed:




What functions should trade show perform in
total marketing communications program?
To whom should trade show marketing effort be
directed?
What is company’s appropriate communication
mix at the show?
How should trade show investments be audited?
Trade Show Objectives
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Discover decision influencers.
Identify potential customers.
Provide company product, service and information.
Try to discover product application problems.
Create sales.
Handle customer problems.
Build corporate image.
Gather competitive intelligence.
Enhance sales force morale.

Challenge Question: What trade show to
attend?

Answer: Attend trade shows that are attended
by prospective customers.

a.
b.
c.
To find trade shows, use leading trade show
directories such as:
American Trade Show Directory
ExhibitNet.com database
Exhibit Surveys, Inc.
SELECTING/EVALUATING TRADE SHOWS
Exhibit Surveys, Inc. publishes data on:
Net Buying Influences
 Measures percentage of show audience that
have decision authority for product types
being exhibited
Total Buying Plan
 Measures percentage of audience planning to
buy exhibited products within 12 months
Lead Generation
 Trade shows are probably most important for lead
generation.
 Attaining leads is so important to companies
because without them, a company cannot survive.
 There is a natural turnover of customers so a
company has to constantly be looking for new
business.
 It’s just a way of life.

Trade shows are different than personal selling
even though one is selling never-the-less.

The trade show is more theatrical, and contact is
very short (5-10 min.), therefore the process is to:



Sell the product first,
Sell the company next,
Sell the salesperson last.

This is opposite to traditional selling situations.
Flows
Tactical Activities
Show Attendees
Target Audience
Attracted To Booth
Contact w/Salesperson
Pre-Show &
At-Show
Impersonal
Promotional
Activities
Personal
Promotional
Activities
Sales Leads
Source: Gopalakrishna & Lilien, A Three-Stage Model of Industrial Trade Show Performance,”
Working Paper #20, Marketing Science 14 (Winter 1995) :pp.22-42
Measuring the Success
 Companies need to set measurable goals in
advance of the trade show including:
a.Number of leads
b.Likely effect on sales
c. Potential effect on new accounts
d.Effect on corporate image
e. Expenditures that tie into an adequate ROI