Marketing Communications An Irish Perspective
Revision Questions from Textbook
Patricia Medcalf
Chapter 1
1.
Define marketing communications and discuss its role in the marketing mix.
2.
Explain what is meant by the marketing communications mix and describe each
element in the mix. Use examples to illustrate your answer.
3.
Discuss the factors that influence the composition of an organisation's marketing
communications mix.
4.
What is integrated marketing communications (IMC)? Discuss reasons why it has
attracted so much attention.
5.
What barriers exist in firms that prevent the adoption of IMC? How do you think
these barriers can be broken down?
Chapter 2 Communications theory
1.
Illustrate the communications process, and explain each component in detail, in
your explanation show how it is relevant to marketing communications theory.
2.
Many organisations use actors, models and celebrities to convey their messages,
what criteria should they fulfil, use examples to illustrate your answer.
3.
Explain how symbols and signs assist consumers
4.
What is semiotics?
5.
What are the factors that influence consumer buying behaviour and business
buying behaviour?
6.
Critically assess the following marketing communications models:
 AIDA
 hierarchy of effects
 consumer adoption process
 information processing model of advertising effects.
Chapter 3 Corporate Identity
1.
Discuss the importance of corporate image and identity development for an
organisation outlining how to plan your corporate image development process
using examples where possible.
2.
Clearly distinguish between desired identity and real or actual identity.
3.
What is corporate image?
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Marketing Communications An Irish Perspective
Revision Questions from Textbook
Patricia Medcalf
4.
Identify reasons why an organisation might decide to review its corporate identity.
5.
Explain what is meant by monolithic identity, endorsed identity and branded
identity. Provide an example of each.
6.
Prescribe a process for creating a new identity.
7.
Discuss how corporate identity might make an organisation's marketing
communications activity more effective and efficient.
8.
Recommend and describe the internal procedures, which might be put in place in
order to ensure that marketing communications activity benefits from corporate
identity.
Chapter 4 Key players in the Marketing Communications Industry
1.
Describe the essential ingredients that should be present in a marketing
communications brief
2.
Critically assess the various methods used to remunerate marketing
communications agencies
3.
Agency / client relationships are like marriages, some are good, some are bad,
Discuss
Chapter 5 Planning for marketing Communications
1.
Stage one the communications planning process involves information gathering
and analysis, describe the type of information gathered at this stage
2.
Critically assess the differences between sales and marketing oriented objectives
and communications oriented objectives
3.
Critically the top-down and bottom up approaches to budgeting
Chapter 6 Media options
1.
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the following as advertising media:
television, radio, print , outdoor, ambient, cinema , directory
2.
Explain the differences between primary circulation and secondary readership
Chapter 7 Media strategy and planning
1.
With regard to media planning which comes first the marketing plan or the media
plan , give reasons for your answer
2.
Media planning operates in a turbulent environment, Discuss
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Marketing Communications An Irish Perspective
Revision Questions from Textbook
Patricia Medcalf
3.
Explain the key differences between reach and effective reach, frequency,
effective frequency and opportunity to see or hear
4.
Compare and contrast flighting, continuous and pulsing frequency patterns, in
each case give an example of an organisation that adopts that approach
Chapter 8 Advertising
1.
Discuss why creativity is so important in advertising and state whether or not you
think that great creativity leads to great advertising
2.
Describe a process which might help nurture advertising creativity
3.
Discuss the role of market research in advertising
4.
Assess the current state of the Irish advertising industry with reference to each of
the following
- Types of agency
- Departments within the agency , the agency at work
- How agencies charge their clients
5.
Discuss the client / agency relationship in Advertising practice with reference to
elements of the relationship and the stages of the relationship
Chapter 9 Public Relations
1.
Compare and contrast the term “corporate PR” and “Marketing PR”
2.
Explain the role of PR and use examples to illustrate your answer
3.
Prescribe how good media relations might be nurtured by an organisation and it’s
PR agency
4.
Identify and explain the key Pr tools available to an organisation
5.
Set out the key principles for crisis management
6.
Critically assess the methods used to measure the effectiveness of a PR campaign
7.
Write an informative note on “guidelines for writing a press release”
8.
Explain what is meant by Public Relations and outline it's strengths and
weaknesses.
9.
Identify the different target groups of Public Relations and give examples of the
different objectives and tools used with respect to the different groups. What are
the basic rules of good crisis communication?
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Marketing Communications An Irish Perspective
Revision Questions from Textbook
10.
Patricia Medcalf
Outline some rules of good media relations.
Chapter 10 Sponsorship
1.
Identify reasons why sponsorship is such a popular element of the marketing
communications mix
2.
Critically assess the advantages and disadvantages of sponsorship
3.
Describe the types of objectives that can be achieved through sponsorship
4.
What is ambush marketing
5.
Prescribe a framework for selecting sponsorship and evaluating it’s effectiveness
after the event
6.
Discuss the role of sponsorship in the marketing communications mix under the
following headings

Driving forces behind it’s development

Current developments in sponsorship

Objectives of sponsorship

Selecting the correct event to sponsor

Implementing and evaluating sponsorship
Chapter 11 Sales Promotion
1.
Discuss reasons why Sales Promotion has grown in popularity in Ireland
2.
Examine the role of Sales promotion, use examples of both consumer and trade
promotion to illustrate your answer
3.
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of sales promotion
4.
“ Sales Promotion activity would appear to have come into greater prominence as
a marketing communications mix element in Ireland in recent years, but parallel
with this there is perhaps less certainty about the range of activities which the
term is understood to embrace” Discuss
Chapter 12 Direct Marketing
1.
Outline the main characteristics of direct marketing
2.
Discuss the main reasons for it’s growth in Ireland
3.
What objectives does direct marketing achieve, illustrate your answer with
examples
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Marketing Communications An Irish Perspective
Revision Questions from Textbook
Patricia Medcalf
4.
Outline the role of the database in direct marketing and prescribe best practice for
maintaining and protecting databases
5.
What is meant by testing ?, explain how it works
6.
Evaluate the role of direct marketing in relation to other elements of the
marketing communications mix
7.
Outline the development of direct marketing in Ireland under the following
Headings:
 Defining characteristics of direct marketing,
 Trends in direct marketing
 Media,
 Factors that have influenced the growth of direct marketing,
Chapter 13 Personal Selling
1.
What is personal selling, in your answer outline the differences between
transaction selling and relationship selling
2.
Describe and discuss the factors that determine the role of personal selling in each
individual firm
3.
Discuss the relationship between personal selling and the other elements of the
marketing communications mix
4.
Identify each type of sales activity and explain each one
5.
Discuss in detail the role of sales management
6.
Critically assess the various compensation plans used in Irish firms
7.
Describe the stages in the personal selling process
8.
Discuss the modern role of Personal Selling in the Communications Strategy.
9.
Outline the stages in the Personal Selling process.
10.
Discuss how you might plan, organise, recruit, train, motivate and evaluate your
sales team.
Chapter 14 On-line Marketing Communications
1.
Explain the main factors that should be taken into account when designing
successful websites
2.
Compare and contrast the merits or otherwise of using cost per thousand
impressions and click through rates when charging for online advertising space
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Marketing Communications An Irish Perspective
Revision Questions from Textbook
3.
Patricia Medcalf
Outline how the various elements of the marketing communications mix may be
implemented on the internet.
Exhibitions and trade Fairs
1.
What are the main objectives of exhibition and trade fair participation (from a
marketer's point of view) and for which objectives are exhibitions most suited.
2.
Outline how you might effectively plan for an exhibition and evaluate the success
of your participation.
Point of Purchase Communications
1. Atmospherics has been defined as the effort to design buying environments to
produce specific emotional effects in the buyer that enhance his purchase probability.
2. Discuss the growing importance of atmospherics and point of purchase
communications
Business to Business Communications
1. Business to business communications refers to all promotional activities in which a
firm may engage to communicate with existing and potential customers.
2. Outline the options available and discuss each one.
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Marketing Communications An Irish Perspective
Revision Questions from Textbook
Patricia Medcalf
Point of Purchase Communications
1.
Atmospherics has been defined as the effort to design buying environments to
produce specific emotional effects in the buyer that enhance his purchase
probability.
2.
Discuss the growing importance of atmospherics and point of purchase
communications
Business to Business Communications
1.
Business to business communications refers to all promotional activities in which
a firm may engage to communicate with existing and potential customers.
2.
Outline the options available and discuss each one.
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