This document provides information about various marketing and PR functions including market research, analysis and strategy. It discusses how market research is used to gather customer information and define business objectives. Market analysis provides a deeper understanding of the market and customer base. Effective marketing strategy is based on goals and opportunities. The document also covers topics such as the importance of advertising, brand promotion methods, principles of managing messaging, examples of positive publicity and spin in PR, reasons for damage limitation, and benefits of organizing marketing/PR events like those hosted by Red Bull.

1. +Understanding the Functions of Marketing and PR
Use this work book to help you explain the functions of marketing and public relations. You
should ensure you use additional examples to support your explanations.
Marketing
Explain what market research is, how it can be carried out and why it could be important.
A market research is an organised effort to gather information about target markets, and
customers. Market research is an important component for a business strategy. To carry
out market research you need to work out what you need to do, and what you want to find
out. You may also need to decide how quickly you may need the information, for example,
you may need to release some work but you might not know everything about your target
audience, then in turn making your work ineffective.
You also need to set up your research with a clear brief. This brief will need to include,
objectives, deadlines, and any other important background information.
Parts of this information was taken from www.marketingdonut.co.uk
Explain market analysis. Why is it done and who could carry it out for you?
Marketing analysis is a more in depth look into the results gained from market research. It
is also a more in depth look into the market itself. It is done, because it helps to develop a
business strategy because you learn more about your target audience, and the market
you‟re going into. Market analysis is carried out to help make decisions on inventory,
purchase, work force, facility expansion, and purchase of capital equipment, promotional
activities, and many other aspects of the company. Market analysis can be carried out
within the company‟s research team or it can be outsourced by a specific marketing
research company, for example, the information form Tesco‟s ClubCard is analysed by a
company called „Dunnhumby‟.
Parts of this information was taken from
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130208010520AAo2oWT
Explain marketing strategy using examples.
A marketing strategy is a process that allows a company to optimise its resources based
on the opportunities and goals. Goals can include increasing sales, and achieving a
sustainable competitive advantage. A marketing strategy includes all basic and long-term
activities in the field of marketing. The strategy contributes to the company‟s goals and
marketing objectives.
For example, Primark has a very clear marketing strategy. They enforce low prices to be
able to advertise and to appeal to the mass markets.
Why is advertising so important to an organisation? Use examples to help you explain.
Advertising is key in an organisation because it enables the business to affectively show
their product to someone without actually selling. Advertisement is there to introduce, raise
awareness, promote, orpersuade someone into buying the organisations product. It can
also be used to show comparisons between products.

2. Raising Awareness

3. Promotional advertising

4. Persuasive advertising

6. What is brand promotion and what methods could you use to promote a brand?
Brand promotion is a marketing strategy. It is used to increase product awareness:
Customer loyalty, competitiveness, sales and overall company value. It is a good way to
show how you are different from other products in the same market. It usually focuses on
things that are memorable or things that can stand the test of time in terms of being a
known brand. This being said, businesses often have to adjust to the current market.
There is many methods that you could use, one very popular idea that company‟s uses, is
having an animal, or a mascot, which is on their products. This helps people identify them
easier; for example, Foxes biscuits use a panda that talks in a New York accent called
Vinnie. There are five key methods to promote your brand awareness. These are, reinforce
existing products or services, highlight new products or services, promote a good
reputation for the business, and help retain or recapture current and past customers, and
also empower your employees to help spread your brand name.
PR
What are some of the key principals involved in managing the message?
Communicate early, communicate often
Communicate what you know when you know it
Don‟t be afraid to say “I don‟t know” as long as you follow that up with “...but I‟ll find out and
get back to you as soon as I do.”
Let everyone know what is happening, why, and what they can do to help
Reinforce what is staying the same as you discuss what may be changing
Create multiple, targeted approaches to reach your various audiences
Communicate openly, honestly, and frequently as things continue to change
Establish feedback mechanisms from those affected by the changes to those in leadership
to inform your ongoing decisions
Communicate the initial results and early progress of your change efforts to everyone
Acknowledge and thank everyone who helped contribute to your success
Continue to communicate well after the changes occur and as long as the transition
continues
Taken off Blackboard.
What is positive publicity? Find an example of it to help explain.
Positive publicity is getting the public to react in a positive way towards your products. For
example, Coca Cola brought out a campaign called „Share a Coke‟ in which they produced
Coke with every name they could possibly think of on it. This meant that people wanted to
buy a Coke with their name on it, and the public reacted positively to this by buying a lot of
Coke, which meant sales went up for a period of time.

7. In public relations terms, what is spin? Find an example to help you with your response.
It is a method of marketing that depends slightly on deceptive methods of persuasion. The
term spin is used in many other areas as well as public relations such as politics or
business. The term spin is often characterised by exaggeration, euphemisms,
inaccuracies, half-truths and excessively emotional appeals. Someone who devises a spin
is often known as a spin-doctor.
Why might a person or a company engage in damage limitation? Using an example will
improve your grade.
The idea of this is to minimise risk and damage. The reason a person or company would
need damage limitation is to a avoid any unnecessary mistakes or mishaps, for example,
the company „Rockstar‟ who created the Grand Theft Auto games messed up on not
making enough servers for online gaming, so for a lot of people, it was crashing. In return
for their mistake, they gave every online gaming customer a free in-game $500,000.
What benefit could there be to an organisation to create an event? Use an example of a
marketing or PR event to support your responses.
There are many benefits from organising an event. It helps advertise your organisation,
and can be good to create merchandise. It is also good for gaining sponsors to get your
products seen. If someone sees your product either on or around a famous person who
has fans, there is a high chance that those fans will follow because they think it is cool.
A good example of this would be Red Bull. They host many sporting events around the
world. One example is the X Games.
What is lobbying and who is most likely to be influenced by it?
Lobbying is something that is done by many different people and organised groups.
Lobbying is where a group of people attempt to influence regional governments or other
public bodies with the matter of how well they are doing their job. Lobbying can also be to
do with advising those who wish to influence.