Page 246 - DMGT510_SERVICES_MARKETING

Unit 13: Promotions and Servicescapes in Services

Advertising seeks to change or enhance brand or company identity; PR’s main job is to Notes
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change or enhance brand or company image.
In advertising, the audience is able to identify the advertiser through the message, making
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him perceive the message to be a lot of self-praise and thus doubt its credibility. In PR, the
audience cannot trace back the identity of the communicator from the message; there is
thus an element of neutrality in PR.

Tasks of PR

Maintaining or enhancing image;
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Supporting other communication activities like advertising, personal selling, direct mail,
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etc.
Influencing publics;
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Reinforcing positioning;
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Spearheading certain events like Annual General Body Meetings (AGM), press conferences,
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etc.
Bringing out annual reports, magazines and house journals;
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Troubleshooting.
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Tools of an Effective PR Design

Publications in the form of press releases, house journals, posters, articles, annual reports,
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brochures, etc.
Holding events like AGM, press conferences, seminars, conferences, conventions and
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congresses, etc.
Investor relations programmes;
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Planting of stories to enhance media coverage;
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Conduct of trade shows, exhibitions;
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Sponsoring of social events, charities and community projects.
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13.3.3 Sales Promotion

Sales promotions are incentives tools used to temporarily boost sales. They are targeted at three
types of audiences:
Customers: When the service marketer is keen on improving on the flat sales graph, he can make
the consumer interested in his offer by various schemes that have a short tenure. These are called
consumer promotions and the ‘pull’ factor consists of:
Price-offs: The same offer, for example, of a health club or fitness centre’s service, is now
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available at a lower price.
Extra grammage: There is more amount of offer by weight and volume at the old price.
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This is possible in those services having higher tangibility as in restaurants, souvenir
shops, general and food retailing, etc.
Freebies: These are free items bundled with the offer sale. They can be intra-brand.
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