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MARKETING EXECUTION STYLES Straight Sell – focus on product/service utilizing in

ID: 366955 • Letter: M

Question

MARKETING

EXECUTION STYLES

Straight Sell – focus on product/service utilizing informational/rational benefits

Scientific/Technical Evidence – variation straight sell technical evidence or endorsement

Demonstration – illustrate key benefit by showing in use or application

Comparison – focus on direct or indirect comparison to competitor(s)

Testimonial – consumer/user endorsement

Slice of Life – problem/solution focus (feel-felt-found)

Animation – created depictional images, may be combined with real people

Personality Symbol – animated or real spokesperson

Imagery – focus primarily on visual elements

Dramatization – focus on drawing viewer into the action

Humor – humor used as a vehicle to convey benefits

2.     Use of Execution Styles with contributor

                  Briefly discuss the four (4) emotional appeals above, select one emotional appeal and one promotion mix component, and develop a
                  preliminary
execution format

Explanation / Answer

This process of marketing execution happens once the company has decided its marketing strategy. There are a number of execution styles that companies currently use. Some of these are namely, straight sell, scientific/technical evidence ,demonstration, comparison, testimonial, slice of life, animation, personality symbol, imagery, dramatization and humor. These execution styles are either used as a single execution style or can be combined with other execution styles making the marketing execution even more effective.

The four execution styles are

a)      Straight Cell – These are majorly used in the B2B segment i.e. business to business segment where it involves technical selling. Examples of companies making Boilers, heaters, chillers, air pollution control systems can be given where without much use of marketing jargons, the products are sold. The products are marketed giving benefits such as heat generated in the system, the maximum pressure developed, temperature of steam generated, quantity of steam generated and so on in case one assumes boilers are being marketed. These styles sometimes may also involve comparison with older technologies being used.

b)      Scientific/Technical evidence – This style is usually used in case of new products where one needs to attract consumers’ attention towards its benefits. Companies use scientific evidence like a research conducted earlier or a technical evidence using their own product during the trial phase. Good example can be of health drinks which use this style very effectively. These days probiotic milk is becoming increasingly popular across the globe due to its extended benefits over the traditional milk that is supplied. The companies claim that these have increased bacterial count leading to better health benefits. Now this becomes difficult for the consumers to show the increase in bacteria count for two major reasons. Firstly, bacteria as common people know, can cause health related problems and second is that one cannot count the number of bacteria using naked eye. Hence they use scientific and technical evidence to show that there are many types of bacteria and some of the bacteria types are indeed useful for digestion and our body consists of these bacteria. To show the count they may show its benefits on how bowel movement was improved, how people got relieved of constipation and so on.

c)      Testimonial – These are one of the greatest and largely used styles. Testimonials are user experiences recorded in the form of an audio, video or a written document. These days consumers are encouraged to give feed back of their products online on the company website or on their blogs which can be viewed by a large online audience. Sometimes, popular movie stars or even sports persons are roped in to inform the consumers about their product and how it has impacted their lives. Since consumers associate with such popular stars, they get attracted to the product. Nokia, a famous mobile manufacturing company had used this style to communicate its product advantages.

d)     Humor – This has become one of the most popular marketing execution styles. When humor is involved consumers enjoy seeing those ads and it becomes viral in a very short period of time. A snicker is one of the leading chocolate bar making company which uses humor as one of their key marketing strategies. Lot of times humor is also used to inform customers about hard messages such as that of life insurance or disadvantages of speeding on roads and so on.

Promotional mix is of five major types which are

1.      Advertizing

2.      Direct Marketing

3.      Sales Promotion

4.      Publicity

5.      Personal Selling

Example of execution style using a single promotional mix component and a marketing execution style

Let us assume that a company, ABC Corp, is involved in manufacturing of tooth paste. The company product is new and it is highly advantageous for improving the dental health of people above the age of 50 years. It reduces the plaque formation on the teeth and also helps in delaying tooth decay. This can be executed using a personal selling and scientific/technical evidence marketing execution style. The proposed process is given below

The personal selling process involves

1.      Prospecting and qualifying – In this step the sales manager would first search the dentists who are most popular and have a large numbers of visitors visiting them. The manager would also search on the internet on a particular geographical area, how many people are staying above 50 years of age.

2.      Once the target set is identified, the second step is approaching. This can be done in many ways. One example is that the company has a tie-up with the doctor and while the patient is waiting for his turn to come up the sales manager approaches them. Another method could be to actually go to consumer’s residence to show the product.

3.      The third step is presenting – wherein the manager would actually show the product. Here the marketing execution style of scientific/technical evidence can be used. The manager would do some research on how plaque formation happens and what are the causes of tooth decay. He can then provide scientific evidence on how consumers across the world have benefitted from a particular type of tooth paste formulation usage. The manager might also show some lab based tests that have been done on the ABC Corp products to show scientific evidence.

4.      The last step is follow-up. Here the manager would actually sell the product on trial basis and seek feedback from the customer about the benefits they got from its use. If the product has benefitted then the sales manager may follow up with them for further orders or maybe he can liaison with the local pharmacy to stock these products based on the consumer feedback.