Mark 432 – Marketing Communications
Lesson 6
Establishing Objectives for the Promotional Program
1. Lecture Objectives
After this lesson you should be able to:
1. describe the difference between marketing and promotional objectives.
2. describe why sales objectives to should not be used to measure promotional
effectiveness
3. describe two types of communication objectives.
4. describe the relationship between the positioning strategy/map and the primary
communication objective.
5. describe why a promotional budget should not be set based on a percentage of the
previous years sales.
6. describe how to set a promotional budget by using the objective and task method.
2. Lesson Notes
Why Set Promotional Objectives?
• Aids communication between all groups working on a campaign.
• Guide the design, development and implementation of the IMC plan.
• Provide a benchmark against which the success or failure of the promotional campaign
can be measured.
Marketing Objectives vs. Promotional Objectives
Marketing objectives are statements of what is to be accomplished by the overall
marketing program within a given time period.
-Marketing objectives are defined in terms of sales, profit, or market share increases
-Marketing for sales, promotions for communication
Factors that Affect Sales
Effectiveness of advertising should not just be based on sales
Climate, tech, competition, PLC, legal, economy, quality, price, suppliers, relationships,
distribution, promotions
Problems with Using Sales Objectives to Measure Promotional Effectiveness
Problems in achieving sales objectives could be a result of:
-Other marketing mix variables
-Environmental macro factors
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The effects of advertising on sales are not always immediate and occur over an
extended time period.
Sales objectives offer little direction to those responsible for planning, developing and
executing the promotional program.
Behavioral objectives are designed to:
• Generate leads for sales reps to follow-up on.
• Requests someone to call for more information.
• Requests someone to call for more info
• Requests attendance at a function
• Motivate consumers to come to the store
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You can set behavioral objectives; however, they should not be used to evaluate the
effectiveness of a promotional program. Do not base on behavior alone.
Types of IMC Objectives:
• Message content objectives
• Media reach objectives.
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Message content objectives (strategies) –
state specifically what is the “shared meaning” you want to establish between the sender
and the receiver.
i.e. To establish shared meaning between the sender and receiver that Absolut vodka is an
alcoholic beverage for “sophisticated” or “upscale” consumers.
Your primary communication objective comes from your positioning strategy
.
Media Reach objectives – Specifically how many people you want to communicate with
and by when.
i.e. To establish shared meaning with 500,000 people in our target market.
Establishing a Promotional Budget
Problems with Percentage of Sales Approach
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The Objective and Task Method
1. Define communications objectives to be accomplished (based on reach),
2. Determine the specific strategies and tasks needed to attain them,
3. Estimate the costs associated with the performance of these strategies and tasks.