Advertising industry

As part of my HND Make up artistry year one course I have been asked to write a 1500 word essay on principles & practices of selling (PPS for short). In this essay I will research and explain the following:

1. The use of advertising.
2. Sales promotion.
3. Personal selling.
4. Public relations.
5. Direct marketing.

I will also look at and explain the roles of selling in a business to business point of view as well as a business to customer. Once I have explained all of the above I will then go back and relate it to the brand illamasqua and explain how they use advertising and promotions within their company.

The use of advertising

Advertising is used to get the target market interested in a product. A lot ofmoneyis spent each year on advertising in both large and small businesses. The key for a good advertising campaign is to use ‘AIDA’ which stands for AWARENESS, INTREST, DESIRE and ACTION.

• A – Awareness. This is key as you need to make the target market knowledgeable about the product and its key details. You also need to attract attention for the advertising to be a success.
• I – Interest. You need to raise a lot of interest in order for both your advertising campaign and you product to be a success. Focus on all the benefits the product has, ask celebrity’s to endorse the product, this is will raise interest from their fans.
• D – Desire. You need to make sure the advertising campaign makes the product desirable to the target market, make the target market feel like they NEED this product.
• A – Action. Making the product desirable will lead the target market to take the action to buy the product. Make the advertising campaign make the target market need the product. Offer email sign-ups for the product release.

The overall aim of marketing is to get the public and target market to desire the product advertised regardless of budgets, a big budget can make a campaign amazing but a smaller one can work just as well. You need to make people aware of the brand as well as the product.

Sales promotions

Sales promotions often happen with most brands, this is usually to increase profits and to avoid the loss of a customer to another rival brand. For example in Superdrug they sell lots of brands of makeup and you will often see promotions such as 3 for 2 or free gifts. These are to encourage you to buy from that brand and not their competitor. There are a lot of sales promotions around today such as:

• Money off vouchers / coupons.
• Loyaltycards.
• Combination offers (3 for 2 etc.).
• Free gifts.
• Buy one get one free.
• Spend X amount and be entered into a lottery or raffle free.

Sales promotions help sell products because people love a deal, if people think they are getting something for nothing (something extra) they will for example buy 2 to get the 3rd free. This can then lead to brand loyalty as they are getting good value for money. Sales promotions are usually heavily advertised to gain more interest.

There are 3 main types of sales promotion:

• Consumer promotions – This type of promotion is used to target the consumer and convince them to buy the product. This type of promotion is usually for a limited time only. Eg introductory discount price for new products, 3 for 2, free samples with purchase.
• Trade promotions – This type of promotion is between the wholesaler and retailer. This can be anything from free gifts to special price discounts. The main reason for this is to get higher stock levels into the retailer. Eg free staff training, free samples.
• Personnel promotions – This is when an employee of the brand are highly trained in what they are selling and are rewarded by the company if they make X amount of sales. They can be rewarded with free products.

Personal selling

This is one of the most important and most expensive parts of selling, it relies on the employee using their knowledge and experience to close a sale. New products to the store can require full training to get the staff up to scratch. To be able to sell the product successfully you need to be able to understand the product you are selling, establish a relationship with the customer, answer any questions about the product, show your knowledge, close the sale and the next time to see them follow up.

If they return to the store the following week ask them how they are finding the product, do they like it? Would they recommend it or buy it again?

Public relations

Public relations is often referred to as PR work, there are many different types of PR work one of the most popular being celebrities endorsing products on theirsocial mediaand getting products out there. Celebrities are usually paid a commission for this and often have a unique discount code for the subscriber. See picture below.

Another type of PR is unpaid forms such as local and national television and radio. This creates exposure to a wider audience. PR can also be done by posting or handing out flyers with for example discounts on.

Direct marketing

Direct marketing is a form of directcommunication. The company sends direct marketing e. g. Leaflets, vouchers etc. Direct to the consumer by things such as post, email, text message etc. Direct marketing is used to get the consumer aware of the product and build a relationship between the brand and target market.

Direct marketing should never be confused with advertising as PR is paid TIME + MATERIALS + EXPENSES. EG time taken to do the form of promotion, materials used e. g. premises, props, clothing and then expenses e. g. the makeup artist and photographer. PR needs to work alongside all the other elements of the promotional mix as alone PR wouldn’t sell products.

Business to business selling

Business to business selling is when a independent brand such as MAC want to sell there product to another company such as Debenhams for them to sell on behalf of MAC. Sales representatives work with the business to sell products.

Business to customer selling

Business to customer selling is when the company such as Debenhams sells the Mac product to the customer. PR and advertising can be used to draw interest to the customer and make the product desirable to have which in turn will close the sale. The business representative or seller needs to be knowledgeable of the product they are trying to sell and be confident in its ability.

Illamasqua and how PPS is used by the brand.

Illamasqua was set up 11 years ago by a man named Julian Kynaston, during this 11 years Illamasqua has grown from just an idea to the multimillion pound brand it is today. Illamasqua advertises their brand very well, they have tons of photos using products, lots of info on their website and sites in which they are sold. They have lots of advertising for the new campaigns.

They advertise this in a way that is gender neutral so for both females and males Julian wanted to create a brand that everybody could use. They advertise having free samples of skin base with purchases. Currently Illamasqua have a promotion on that if you spend £50 or more you get a free make up bag full of goodies plus 20% off your order.

Illamasqua are very good at promotions they always send samples with purchases and have offers as well as having a pro account and offering student discount. Illamasqua have an academy where you can train in make up with them. As well as having the academy in London they also go into colleges and educate make up students on their products and show them ways to use them.

There are various locations throughout the UK that sell illamasqua so you can go into the shops and get skin matched or ask any questions you need to. Illamasqua send PR packages to you-tubers, bloggers and makeup artists for them to review and give their honest opinion on. These are usually sent out before the general release of the product. By doing this they raise awareness and hype for the product release. Illamasqua uses direct marketing regularly by sending out emails if you’ve previously purchased from them offering you deals and promotions.

As well as selling independently Illamasqua is sold through other makeup venders and website one being Beauty Bay, Beauty Bay sell Illamaqua on their sight for the same price. Although it’s sold at the same price the deals and promotions offered by Illamasqua are not valid as beauty bay has their own. This role is known as business to business selling.

Business to customer selling is Illamasqua making the product desirable to somebody like myself and me going on to buy the product following the advertising and hype around it. Overall Illamasqua are great at creating a buzz about their products with their advertising. Illamasqua are a high end brand you can not only tell this by their products but by how much spend on advertising overall.