1. Understanding the principal methods and techniques used in marketing and public relationships
Marketing:
Why is it important in marketing to understanding your clients and their requirements?
Understand the market and clients are very important so the company knows what is needed from
them. The company will know how they want it and what they would like it to do, by knowing this the
product will sell better as it’s what the people want. If it doesn’t include what the audience want,
they will resort to something else and it won’t get sold. A client can tell a company their requirements
and the company will have a better understanding of what the audience want.
Why is understanding the market you are working in important? What techniques and tools could
be used to help someone understand their market?
Understanding the media is important so you can see where your product or business lies when it
comes to audience and competition.
You can use a marketing map to see where you could place your product. The marketing map
identifies products based on price and quality. The marketing map can also show you where your
competition are placed and whether there is a gap in the market and if its worth you filling that gap.
What is a SWOT analysis? Why are they are they a useful tool?
Swot analysis is the analysis of Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats. It is a useful tool
because anyone can do it and it saves time. Using SWOT you can understand your business better,
develop goals and strategies for achieving them, take advantage of the strengths, capitalise
opportunities, deter threats and address weaknesses. SWOT helps you analyse and improve your
business and products and allows you to reduce negative effects.
What is audience profiling? What sort of information might be included in an audience profile?
Audience profiling is learning everything about your audience so you can market them in an
appropriate way. An audience profile will contain information on sex, age, financial background,
worker status and interests.
NRS social grades will help you to figure out the class of your audience and what they are more likely
to buy, where they live and how much they earn.
Select a magazine and find their audience profile:

2. Explain in detail the 4 different elements of the marketing mix.
Product- The product is the physical thing you will be selling. The buyer will pay for this
item/service and you will provide it. It will appeal to the audience based on how it looks,
what it does and how it compares to the competitor’s product.
Price- The price is what the customers pays for the product/service. The customer will have
to consider whether the product is of value and whether this is the price they want to pay.
Price can be a fixed figure or can be negotiated. The price will also be compared to
competitors.
Place- The place is where the product is made available to the customer. Specialist products
may only be available in select stores where as basic products such as food and toiletries will
be available widely in stores like supermarkets. Many products and services may also be
available online.
Promotion- Promotion is how you make your audience aware of your product. This can be
done through advertising on television or on billboards etc. This is done through telling the
customer about the product and what it has to offer, persuading the customer to buy the
product and promoting the whole company rather than one product.
Promotion can also be done through offers made by the company like buy one, get one free.
This makes the customer want to buy now rather than later.
Promotion can also be done through face to face selling and direct messaging through junk
mail and email.
Select a publication, product or audience and explain the range of marketing materials that they
use.
Samsung have a range of marketing materials that they use. They advertise themselves in
newspapers, magazines, social net working sites such as Face Book and Twitter. People are able to
‘like’ or ‘follow’ their social networking sites and get constant updates on the latest deals and
products. They also advertise on posters such as bus stop posters and city centre bill-boards. They are
put into a lot of magazines, all different types as most people are interested in and want a phone.
Provide your own definition of advertising.
Advertising is getting a company’s or individual’s message across quickly and effectively to a large
audience. It can be done using TV, radio, print, the internet and flyers. Advertising is one of the most
important areas of selling a product.
What is the purpose of sponsorship? Support your answer with detailed examples.
The purpose of sponsorship is to help companies promote themselves.
An example of this is the comparethemarket.com advert that comes on before and after Coronation
Street. In one episode of Coronation Street that is on for half an hour, the advert is played 4 times.
Each time the advert is played the company will get money for the advertisement and people will
hear more about the company each time and it will get a lot more customers and therefore more
service.
The X Games is sponsored by Red Bull. The X Games is a competition for people who play or watch
skate boarding, BMXing and skating. Everyone who competes has a T-Shirt that has the Red Bull logo
and slogan on. The people watching will see the logo everywhere as well as the people who are
competing. The advertisements will all have it on too and the Red Bull sales will now go up because of
this.

3. Virgin Money sponsors the London Marathon and everyone participating will have a T-Shirt on with
the Virgin Money logo. The name of the marathon is now Virgin Money London Marathon. This
creates more promotion and advertisement for Virgin Money.
What is the purpose of endorsements? Explain a range of different types of endorsements and use
examples.
The purpose of endorsements is to create a positive statement about a product.
One type of endorsement is using a celebrity. For example, Cheryl Cole is used in the Loreal adverts,
this will encourage people to try Loreal products as Cheryl Cole is using them and promoting them. At
the end of the adverts she states ‘because you’re worth it’ this is a positive statement meaning
people should treat themselves to it because they are worth the money.
Another type of endorsement is to use ordinary people in their adverts, for example the Dove adverts
use ordinary people to give positive statements about their products. This shows that the products
are affordable and if ordinary people are giving good feedback then it should work for other people.
For another endorsement, people use experts, for example many toothpaste adverts use a dentist to
give advice and information in an advert because everyone takes advice from their dentist.
Why could holding an event be a good marketing strategy? What are some of the opportunities and
threats of holding an event?
Hosting an event is a good marketing strategy because it raises money for an organisation and is
positive publicity. It also makes good marketing for yourself, as people will know about the event and
what your company is doing.
Some opportunities for hosting an event are celebrity endorsements, for example Children In Need
host a yearly event to raise charity for money with the help of celebrities performing, soaps making
their own small episode and by having well known hosts. For a smaller event like a college open
evening, the opportunities are that the college is trying to widen its courses by intriguing different
students to join that college.
Threats for hosting an event involve the funds. It may use more money to host the event than the
money It actually raises. An example of a threat is when LG hosted an event with vouchers in helium
balloons, but people turned up with BB guns and knives on sticks and people ended up getting
injured.
What is merchandising? Use detailed examples to help explain.
Merchandising is using a brand to sell other products. This commonly includes characters, logos and
celebrities.
For example LOreal shampoo uses Cheryl Cole to advertise their shampoo. This will make the
audience believe that she uses this shampoo and will make them want to buy it.
Bands and other artists have their own brand which they use on t shirts to sell their merch and get
their name recognised.
Bigger artists have sold perfume, clothing, headphones and shoes.
Public Relations:
What is the purpose of a press release? What sort of things should a good press release contain?
A press release is something that has been sent to media news and is supposedly newsworthy. It can
be sent by post, fax or e-mail to print editors at media organizations. It is a good way of promoting a
company or business by making something newsworthy. A good press release should contain a good
headline that catches attention, a paragraph of Who? What? When? Where? Why? A good quote to
back you up, a cast study for people to add the human interest that people desire, a call action and
some contact details. A boilerplate should be added onto the end to give information on facts figures
and general information about the company.
What is the purpose of an electronic media pack? What sort of things should a good electronic
media pack contain?

4. An electronic media pack is to be distributed to radios, TV shows and newspapers and magazines so
people can see and hear what people have to offer. They are usually portfolios. As it gets distributed,
the people who receive it can display it or play it on radio. An electronic media pack should contain
photos, a biography, a press page, a demo/example images and contact information. They are
especially good for a new starting band or photographer.
What is the purpose of a PR briefing? Why should you create one? Explain some of the areas a brief
should cover.
The purpose of a PR briefing is so a company can hand it out too a few business’ and see which
businesses work they like best at the end. A company needs design work doing, which they can’t do
to a professional standard themselves. It should be created because it tells people exactly what the
company are looking for, so that they have something to go by. A PR brief should cover the audience,
the budges and schedule, available and needed materials and the overall style.
What is the purpose of a press conference? Why might you hold one? Use specific examples to help
you with your response.
The purpose of a press conference is so someone can release news but people like journalists can ask
questions on it, where as a press release there are no questions asked just a statement. People hold
press conferences when they have something to say and want people to ask questions and say more
about it to spread the information more. An example of press conferencing is a sporting event;
people can ask questions to the managers and some key players. There are also conferences for
criminal investigations and elections.
Why could hand-outs be useful when managing a PR event?
Hand-outs are useful because they provide more promotion for a company or organisation. The
company or organisation can hand out information packs full of hand-outs for people. This will give
out more information and promote the product more. It can be full of key ideas for people to think
about and then people can have an opinion if they want to purchase the product or not.
What are some of the advantages of holding an interview instead of a press conference?
An interview allows people to have a one on one conversation, which might make someone give
more personal and honest answers. The questions can be more focused on one thing, where as in a
press conference a question that is aimed at just one person might not be seen as important. A
disadvantage is that some people request to see the interview questions beforehand and refuse to
answer some questions.
Why do people set up film and picture opportunities? Use examples to help our response.
Picture and film opportunities are good for a company/person as it creates publicity easily.
It gets a lot of information and interviews out easily to a mass audience.
Film releases on the red carpet is a typical example of this. Celebrities use the film release and red
carpet as an opportunity to have photos taken of them and have TV and print interviews. This
promotes the film, the event and the celebrity themselves.
Why are contacts and networking important in marketing and PR? What kinds of contacts could be
useful? Provide details of a PR contact from at least one organisation.

5. Contacts and networking is important to make sure a company or individual get the best out of what
they are being offered. This includes press releases, interviews and conferences. Contacts and
networking will make sure everything is managed.
For a company, these people will know booking agents, editors and publishers so you can manage the
message. For example, Mike Dewdney, who works for International Talent booking is the contact we
would have to get in touch with if we were to want to hire bands such as Kasabian, Angels and
Airwaves and Blink 182.
Promoters are more than likely to book these bands to play at large arena events and festivals.
It is good to have these types of contacts as you will know who to talk to if you