The Application of Marketing - PARTA -The tools of Marketing Essay

The Application of Marketing - PARTA -The tools of Marketing - Essay Example For example, advertising is a powerful means to reach out to customers, but it is expensive and needs to use the right media and the right message for effective results on the vast resources expended on it. Public relations is a more subtle approach useful in managing issues of public concern and top level messages, but suffers from the deficiencies of requiring professional support and difficulty in evaluating its impact. Sales promotion is an effective means of addressing a particular target market, whose impact on the objective of increased sales can be measured, and enhances sales channel commitment to the product. However, it suffers from the deficiencies of forecasting problems, with the effect being only as long as the sales promotion lasts and the possibility of brand devaluation, particularly if price is a part of the sales promotion strategy. Yet, when used in conjunction these tools of marketing can be an effective to achieving the marketing objectives for a product (Cheve rton, 2006). In 2003, Coca-Cola along with its competitor Pepsi ran into trouble on India, when the environmental NGO, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE report) released a report that the presence of pesticides in the soft drinks exceeded the European standards (Vedwan, 2007). Coca-Cola attempted to negate the effect of this accusation by running advertisements using film stars to indicate that their production infrastructure and methods provided soft drinks that were pure for consumption. In addition they ran a sales promotion campaigning giving 50 ml more of soft drink at no extra cost. These efforts failed, though Coca-Cola was not at fault for the CSE report on the presence of pesticides in the soft drinks and their market share dropped. There was more faith in the non-profit making report than in the claims of the profit making multi-national giant and went to show the inept