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Business English is…
Module 3
1
Nina Medvedeva
Tatyana Valentey
Marya Lukanina
MODULE 3
COMMUNICATION CULTURE
OF BUSINESS ORGANISATIONS
Section 1: Business World
MARKETING
I. READING
Introduction
Read and discuss the following introductory text. What important issues does it raise?
Managers
have to be very much
aware of the different
connotations words
have. Connotations
are the individual
feelings we have
about words, the
associations they arouse in our minds; and there
are many words which have good connotations
for one group and bad connotations for another.
So for the management to talk blithely about
'automation' and 'work-study', in the firm belief
that these concepts connote efficiency and
productivity, is naive; for to so many people on
the shop-floor, such terms regularly have
connotations of redundancy (in the first case) and
slave-driving (in the second). A word can set off
a strike. Business
managers, as all
communicating human beings, have to take the
receiver's point of view into account. It is
financially important for them to remember that
the test of a successful communication is what
happens at the receiving end.
In this field, as in many others, prevention
is more important than cure. While it is never
going to be possible to get absolutely perfect
communication between disparate social groups,
at least the main hindrances can be anticipated
and avoided; but this requires a prior awareness
of the general nature of the problem. Of course,
most experienced businessmen and women do
develop a kind of intuitive awareness of such
problems; but it takes many years to become
experienced, and meanwhile these problems face
the younger manager. It would presumably be
ideal if one could provide all new managerial
staff with a manual of linguistic principles and
procedures recommended to deal with the
language troublespots; and perhaps such material
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will one day appear. The point I want to
emphasize here, however, is that the initial study
of these matters which has to be carried out prior
to any manual-writing is a full-time and
complicated job in its own right. It is not easy to
collect representative and accurate information
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about language use and abuse. Nor is it easy to
devise a clear and precise way of defining the
problems in order to teach them. (Even the
communications analyst is beset by problems of
communication!).
(David Crystal ‘Linguistics’, pp. 16)
1. Read the following texts. Discuss the answers to the questions below each text. Sum up the main points in writing (300 words).
1) Market, Marketing and Marketing Department.
A market
can be defined as
any
form
of
contact between
buyers and sellers
for the purpose of
buying and selling
goods
and
services.
These
markets can be
local, e.g. window cleaning services, national or
even international. A market typically has 4
elements:
1. Buyers — people wishing to acquire goods
and services.
2. Sellers — people wishing to sell goods and
services.
3. The goods and services which are going to be
exchanged.
4. A means of payment - that includes cash,
cheque, credit, direct debit, standing order and
hire purchase.
Consumers have a wide variety of choice
in how they spend their income, and there is a
large quantity and many different types of goods
and services that the consumer can buy. One
difficulty that confronts a firm is to decide what
to produce. Satisfying the wants and needs of
consumers and anticipating these wants can
make the difference between success and failure
in business. Some things, such as food, are
essential. Food is an example of a single-use
consumer good. Most people, having satisfied
their needs, can attempt to satisfy their wants by
the purchase of items such as cars, TVs,
microwave ovens and compact disc players.
These are sometimes called consumer durable
products. Alternatively, they may purchase
services such as dry-cleaning, haircuts, trips to
the cinema and meals out.
Today, a successful company is one which
tries to discover what the consumer wants or
could be persuaded to buy and then makes that
product and sells it at a profit. Such firms are
said to be market-orientated. In a marketorientated firm one of the functions of the
marketing department is to find out consumer
requirements. This is in complete contrast to a
product-orientated firm, which first produces a
Questions:
product and then tries to sell it in the hope that
the consumer will buy it.
The Institute of Marketing has defined
marketing as 'the process responsible for
identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer
requirements
profitably'.
The
Marketing
Department of any company must first establish
what the customer wants before that product can
be designed and manufactured. Once it has been
made, it is the Marketing Department's
responsibility to see that the product is sold to
the consumer. The typical functions of a
Marketing Department are: market research,
product planning and development, advertising
and promotion, distribution and transport, sales
(domestic, overseas), customer services and
public relations.
This involves studying the market to
discover exactly what the customer really wants.
Companies collect information in order to build
up a picture of consumer requirements. It can
come from 2 main sources:
1. Primary information is information that is not
already available. One of the techniques used
to collect this information here is field
research -questioning consumers directly about
their tastes and preferences.
2. Secondary information is information that is
already available to the firm. It can come from
a variety of sources, such as government
statistics and business and trade publications.
Gathering information this way is called desk
research.
A firm usually possesses its own internal
information about the popularity of its products
and about its own sales. This information,
although useful, may be of limited value since it
tells the firm nothing about the total size of the
market, competitors' products and prices, or
consumer preferences. Here the firm have to
acquire external information from sources such
as the Department of Trade and Industry, trade
associations, banks, chambers of commerce,
national and local press and trade journals. The
DTI has its own Statistics and Market
Intelligence Library, which is freely available for
public use and contains information on market
size and trends, which products consumers are
buying and the market position of different
firms.
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1. What are the 4 elements of a market?
2. Give examples of (a) single-use consumer goods, (b) consumer durable goods.
3. What is marketing and what are the functions of a Marketing Department?
4. From what 2 sources can a company obtain its market research information?
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2) Questionnaires and Interviews
What information
does the company
wish to find out and
by what means? This
is concerned with the
type of questions that
consumers are going
to be asked and how
they are going to be
asked. A firm has 2 principal methods of seeking
information from consumers: the questionnaire
and the interview. The major difference between
the 2 methods is that with a questionnaire the
answers are completed on a form whereas during
an interview consumers are asked questions by
an interviewer who then records the answers
given.
It is difficult to design a sensible and
usable questionnaire. To be of any use the replies
need to come from well-worded and wellpresented questions. The following points need
to be kept in mind during the design process:
1. The purpose of the questionnaire must be
clearly stated — people tend to be suspicious
about answering questions and giving
confidential information.
2. Try not to rely too much on the person's
memory.
3. All questions need to be as clear as possible avoid asking questions that are ambiguous.
4. The questions need to follow a logical pattern.
5. Use everyday language and try to avoid
jargon.
6. Offer a range of answers if possible rather
than 'yes' or 'no' - the responses must not be
too restricted otherwise the person may not
feel able to answer the question.
7. Keep the questionnaire as short as possible people will not feel like answering a lot of
questions, particularly if they have to write,
long answers. It saves time and encourage!
people to complete the questionnaire if all they
have to do is tick a box.
Once the firm has decided on the
questions it is going to ask, it then needs to
distribute the questionnaires. This can be done in
a number of ways; by post in the form of a postal
survey; to consumers who have already bought a
product by including the questionnaire in the
product's packaging; by using a market
researcher to distribute the questionnaires and
collect the completed form or by supplying a
pre-paid stamped addressed envelope. Some
companies include questions, e.g. about the place
of purchase or the age/sex of the consumer, on
their guarantee. This is a relatively cheap method
of gathering research information.
In comparison with the questionnaire, the
interview does have a number of advantages over
the questionnaire in that the interviewer can ask
more difficult questions and can also explain the
questions, The response rate also tends to be
higher because people are more likely to agree to
being questioned; when approached by
somebody in the street than they are to complete
a questionnaire that comes through the door.
Finally, the interviewer can also select certain
types of consumers that the company is
particularly interested in.
Questions:
1. What is market research?
2. Which is the largest and the smallest socio-economic group in Russia? Why is it useful for organizations to know
this information? Give examples to support your answer.
3. Compare the advantages of gaining market research information by interview and by questionnaire?
3) Advertising
If consumers are
going to buy a good or
service they must be
made aware of its
existence. The advertising
function
of
the
Marketing Department
communicates with the
customer through media such as newspapers,
television, the cinema and posters. It will also be
concerned with the design and distribution of
catalogues, special offers (price reductions and
free gifts), sponsorship, displays, competitions
and product launch campaigns. Some companies
prefer to leave the advertising of a product to a
specialist advertising agency. The agency is said
to have the company's account.
The purpose of communication - which is
what advertising is - is to inform and influence
people's behaviour. The 4 elements of
communication, the sender, the message, the
media and the receiver, are all found in
advertising.
Advertising can be classified into 2 broad
categories: informative and persuasive. Typically
an advert contains elements of both. When a
product is launched, sales are low because very
few customers are aware that it exists. The role
of advertising here may be to inform the public
of the product's existence and its particular uses.
The same applies when a product has been
modified or improved. In other cases, e.g. new
cars or scientific calculators, the nature of the
product may be such that a large amount of
technical information has to be applied, and
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advertising again may have to be informative.
Advertising that informs and educates consumers
gives them greater choice in their selection of
goods and services. It can be seen as a form of
competition between firms and may encourage
manufacturers to improve their products to the
benefit of the consumer.
Persuasive advertising, as its name
implies, is used to try and persuade a consumer
to buy a particular product. Such advertising is
subjective and contains many statements of
opinion rather than fact, e.g. 'Carlsberg - the best
lager in the world … probably'. Persuasive
advertising is normally associated with consumer
products and is used heavily where differences
between products are minor, e.g. toothpaste,
baked beans, soap powder, washing liquids and
lager. Persuasive advertising has been criticised
because it emphasises the advantages of a
product and attempts to make those who do not
use the product feel as if they are missing out. It
plays on jealousy, envy and 'keeping up with the
Joneses'. However, there are a number of
regulations that control the content of
advertisements, and firms are required to follow
the Code of Advertising Practice. Some
important extracts from this code are: (British )
1. All advertisements should be legal, decent,
honest and truthful.
2. All advertisements should be prepared with a
sense of responsibility to the consumer.
3. All advertisements should conform to the
principles of fair competition as generally
accepted in business.
4. No advertisement should bring advertising
into disrepute or reduce confidence in
advertising as a service to industry and to the
public.
When the code is breached advertisers are
quick to amend or withdraw the advertisement
concerned. If they do not do this the media may
agree not to sell them advertising space or
airtime and they may risk unwelcome publicity
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from the Advertising Standards Authority. In the
case of TV commercials, every film must be
approved for transmission before it can be
screened, to ensure that it complies with the
Independent Broadcasting Authority's Code of
Practice,
It is normally very difficult to distinguish
between the persuasive and informative elements
in any advertisement. There is generally a blend
of both.
Once the firm has decided that advertising
is going to play some role in the marketing of its
product(s), it must then decide on the message,
the media and the receiver. All these factors will
be linked. It could be that the receiver — the socalled target audience - will determine the
message and the media. If, for example, the
product is a children's toy, the advert should be
placed on television at particular times of the
day.
In designing the message the advertiser
will need to consider the following:
1. The content of the message: this will depend
on the type of product and the market in which
it is to be sold.
2. Who is the receiver? The message may be
directed at a particular group of the population,
in which case it may have to be delivered in a
particular way using a certain media.
3. The person used to send the message: very
often large firms use celebrities that they think
are appropriate for the product.
4. The timing and number of messages: an
advertiser has a choice between 2 approaches
to an advertising campaign. It can be
extensive, where the object is to reach as wide
an audience as possible using different media.
On the other hand, it can be intensive, where
the object is to reach a particular group
repeatedly (e.g. products such as lager, coffee,
washing powder and toilet rolls are advertised
intensively on television).
Questions:
1. What is advertising and how can it be classified?
2. Give examples of persuasive and informal advertising on the TV at the moment.
3. Study some adverts from the TV and the press (newspaper or magazine). Say whether they are good or poor
adverts and why.
4. How are firms limited in what they can say in an advert?
4) The Marketing Mix.
The
marketing
mix is made up of 4
components,
sometimes called the
4 Ps. These are:
1. Product: the firm has to identify what
products the consumer wants and the way
existing products can be adapted to meet
consumer preferences more successfully.
Consideration of new product development is
essential here as tastes change and technology
progresses.
2. Price: a firm has to decide on its pricing
policy for list prices, discounts for bulk-buying
and interest-free credit. What competitors are
charging and what consumers are willing to
pay are also important. A low price may make
consumers suspicious ('cheap and nasty') or
the low price may be thought of as a bargain
('cheap and cheerful'). If the price of the
product is too high then the company may be
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pricing itself out of the market. If the price of
the product is higher than what competitors are
charging then it must be justified in some way,
e.g. because the quality of the product is
higher.
3. Promotion: this amounts to choosing methods
that can generate sales of the product.
Possibilities here include personal selling,
advertising and other promotional work.
4. Place: the product has to be in the correct
place — retail outlet - in order to capture sales.
Exactly where a firm decides to sell its product
will depend on the nature of the product.
A summary of the marketing mix:
Product
quality
design
performance
features
size
name
services
guarantees
colour
Price
discounts
list prices
credit
hire purchase
payment period
The components of the marketing mix can
be illustrated using the example of cigarettes and
tobacco companies. The product itself comes
into different size categories, e.g. standard, king
size and now 'super-kings'. Cigarettes may come
tipped or untipped, and there is also variety in
terms of the tar content (low, middle and high).
The tobacco, and hence the flavour of the
cigarettes, also differs, e.g. some brands taste
very strong while others are mild or menthol.
The size, design and flavour are therefore
variable, as are the number of cigarettes in a box
- generally 10 or 20. Some brands, e.g. Park
Drive, used to be sold in boxes of 5.
As far as place is concerned, cigarettes
are sold through a wide range of retail outlets tobacconists, newsagents, corner shops, garages,
supermarkets, pubs, off-licences, hotels, dutyfree shops and vending machines.
The price of cigarettes can vary
enormously, particularly between the different
types of retail outlets, e.g. supermarkets and
newsagents. A favourite ploy of the tobacco
companies is to have special offers at particular
times to try and increase sales. Price also differs
according to the size of the cigarette.
The promotion aspect of the marketing
mix for cigarettes is a vast area. The tobacco
companies are not allowed to advertise on
television and each packet must carry a
government health warning. Due to these
restrictions, promotional activity takes a number
of forms: sponsorship of sporting events,
competitions where the prices include holidays
Place
distributors
retailers
location
mail order
department stores
wholesalers
machine vending
Promotion
advertising
personal selling
competitions
coupons
publicity
packaging
and cars; an offer of money in exchange for a
certain number of packet tops. Embassy has had
a long-running coupon collection promotion
whereby coupons can be exchanged for gifts.
The forerunner to all these competitions of
course was the picture cards contained in
cigarette packets. Some of these card collections
are now worth a lot of money.
Even though the tobacco companies are
not allowed to advertise their product on TV,
they do spend considerable amounts of money
on advertising in other media. Now that smoking
is generally considered to be an antisocial habit
and because of the greater emphasis placed on
health and fitness, smokers are now in a
minority. Tobacco companies have therefore had
to adopt a very attacking selling strategy.
Advertising in magazines - particularly the
colour supplements to the weekend papers - on
billboards and on bus shelters is commonplace.
The advertising is often very subtle, thoughtprovoking and eye-catching. Some companies
adopt an entirely different approach, e.g. to
conjure up the idea that people who smoke
Marlboro are rugged, the smoker is portrayed as
a cowboy on a horse.
It is quite noticeable that the marketing
mix differs according to the type of product that
is being sold. The fact that the term 'mix' is used
implies that the four Ps - product, price,
promotion and place — can be combined in
different ways. One important factor that affects
the marketing mix is the position of the product
in its life cycle.
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Questions:
1. What do you understand by the term 'marketing mix'?
2. Why may consumers be put off buying a product if it has too low a price?
3. How can a company justify charging a price for a product that is way above those of the competition? Give
examples to support your answer.
4. Think of a product known to you and find out (a) the features (colour, design) of it, (b) the price of the product,
(c) how it is promoted, (d) the places where it is sold.
5) The Product Life Cycle
The period of
time over which a
product appeals to
customers is called
the product life cycle.
At a given point in
time a product will be
at a particular stage of
its life cycle. The
length of this product life cycle differs from
product to product, e.g. the life cycle of certain
items such as clothing (flared or drainpipe
trousers) and pop records may be very short
indeed, perhaps a matter of months, or a few
years at the outside. Other products, particularly
consumer durable products such as telephones
and colour TVs, may have a much longer
product life cycle.
Stages:
1. Introduction
2. Growth
3. Maturity
4. Saturation
5. Decline
Before a product is introduced, it
generally has to be tested on a sample of
consumers. During the development period, the
product is often given a code name, e.g.
Cadbury's Wispa had the secret project code
name p. 46. The product's introduction may be
accompanied by a blaze of publicity, heavy
advertising and promotional work, e.g. the
launch of a new car typically involves large
amounts of advertising expenditure to inform the
consumer of its existence and features. A lot of
new cars are first introduced at a prestigious
motor show.
In the introductory phase the sales of the
product tend to be low and sluggish, and the
price of the product may be higher than it will be
at later stages in the product life cycle due to the
lack of competition and because the firm is
trying to get back some of the costs of
developing and launching the product. Very few
retail outlets may stock the product because they
are unsure about the likely consumer reaction to
it.
During the growth stage of the product
life cycle, sales start to increase rapidly as more
consumers become aware of the product as a
result of the heavy informative advertising. The
few people who owned the product in the
introduction stage may have told friends about it
(and shown it to them), and word of mouth
encourages further sales. There may well be a
slight reduction in the price of the product
because of greater competition with the entry of
rival firms. More retail outlets start to stock the
product.
When the product is in its maturity phase,
sales reach a peak. The product may become
standardised with very little variation on a
standard model. With standardisation comes a
drop in the price of the product and an increase
in the amount of competition between firms. In
the saturation phase most people own or use the
product and sales remain static. Most sales are
due to consumers replacing an old product rather than new consumers buying the product.
Advertising tends to become persuasive rather
than informative, with firms trying to lure the
customer towards their product and away from
that of their competitors. The Marketing
Department will try to develop variations on the
standard product - especially if there have been
technological changes, by the addition of extra
features. It is trying to stop sales from declining
and it may look (if it hasn't already) for another
market to sell the product, e.g. overseas. Colour
TVs now have considerably more features teletext, remote control, stereo sound and
different shaped and size screens - than when
they were first introduced. When people replace
their old TV they may purchase one that
incorporates these different features.
The decline phase of the product life cycle
is characterised by falling sales. Advertising
ceases, prices drop considerably and few retail
outlets stock the product.
Questions:
1. What do you understand by the phrase 'product life cycle'?
2. What are the 5 stages of the product life cycle?
3. Write down further examples of products that are at different stages of the product life cycle.
4. What type of marketing activity tends to be associated with (a) the growth stage and (b) the saturation stage of the
product life cycle?
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2. Look through the jumbled pieces of information below, locate the key marketing terms
and their definitions. Make a list of terms and give their Russian equivalents. Learn the
definitions. Complete the table below with word partnerships, whose central element
corresponds to one of the table’s entries.
market
marketing
product
Many people use the words marketing,
sales and advertising interchangeably. However,
the word 'marketing' refers to an overall
approach to doing business, while sales and
advertising are specific activities that form part
of the marketing process. Other such activities
are market research and new product
development. Marketing involves analysing and
understanding customer needs in order to enable
the company to provide the most appropriate
products
and
services.
Advertising
is
communicating the company's message and
promoting its products, services and ideas to
existing or potential customers. Sales is the
process of persuading people to buy the
company's products. The term market refers to
the actual or potential demand for a product. A
company's or product's target market is the group
of people a company aims to sell its products to,
for example university students, children,
homeowners, people over 65. Market research is
the collection and study of data about a market,
carried out in order to make decisions about
products. Market share is the percentage of sales
that a company or product has in a particular
market. A market segment is a distinct group of
buyers, identified by characteristics such as
income, age, lifestyle, preferences and .
geographical area. A market niche is a small,
specific segment of the market, often dominated
by small firms selling specialized or luxury
goods. A market leader is the company or
product with the largest share in a particular
market. Marketing strategy refers to a company's
overall approach to achieving its marketing
objectives. A marketing plan is a document
giving a detailed explanation of how a company
will achieve its marketing objectives for a
particular product. The marketing environment
includes all the factors affecting a market; the
macro-environment refers to factors affecting the
whole economy and the micro-environment
refers to factors affecting individual markets and
areas. A SWOT analysis is a method of
examining a company's Strengths and
Weaknesses, and the Opportunities and Threats it
encounters in the market. An evaluation of a
company's marketing objectives, strategies,
describes the various factors a company must
take into consideration when developing its
sales
brand
price
advertising
marketing objectives (see the section The
marketing mix below. A product can be defined
as 'anything that can be marketed', and includes
physical objects, services, ideas, and even
people. Product portfolio is the range of products
or services offered by a company: A product
may be seen as expensive or cheap, but
'expensive' may imply 'too expensive' and 'cheap'
is often used to show disapproval of poor
quality. A way of getting round this is to say that
something is high-priced or
low-priced
Similarly, things may be mid-priced. One of a
company's concerns is, of course, deciding the
price of its products in relation to each other and
to competing products. This is known as pricing.
Product launch is putting a new product into the
market. Premium product is a product positioned
at the top end of the market. Packaging is a
product’s wrapper or container. Research and
development (R&D) Is the process of designing
new products and improving existing ones.
Brand is a name, term, symbol or sign that
identifies a product. Branding is a way of
differentiating products by building a brand
around them. Brand switcher is a buyer who
change brands regularly. Brand loyalty is
sticking to a known brand regardless of the
competition. Family brands are products of a
company which all carry the same name, eg.
Microsoft, Yamaha, Del Monte. Own-label
brands are products sold under the name of a
supplier or retailer. Price, the second element in
the marketing mix, refers to how much money a
company charges for its products.Pricing policy
is a company’s approach to setting prices. A
company needs to consider its long-and shortterm pricing policies.Markup is a percentage
added to the cost of producing a product or
providing a service. Discount pricing is reducing
the price of a product to attract buyers and/ or
clear stock. Loss leader is a product which is
sold at a loss to attract buyers who will then buy
other goods. Place refers to distribution, that is
how and where the product is made available to
customers. The company must decide on which
are likely to be the most effective kinds of
outlets, the most cost-effective means of
distribution, and which production issues will
effect distribution, for example, the type of
container that is used for a product, or the size of
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the product or the packaging. Channel of
distribution is the route a product takes on its
way to the customers, each stage adding a
markup on the price. Wholesaler is a company
that buys in large quantities from manufacturers,
to sell on to retailers. Retailer is a company
which sells goods directly to the customer in
shops and stores. Outlet is a place, such as a
shop, where goods are sold to the public.
Factory outlet is a shop where a plant sells its
products directly to the public. Mail-order is a
method of selling, using catalogues and the
postal service. Overseas agent is a company that
sells another company's products in foreign
markets. Transportation stands for methods of
delivering goods to target markets. The term
promotion refers to communicating with, and
influencing, customers to buy your products. It
involves creating a clear identity and image for a
product and bringing the product's benefits to the
customers' notice. Sales force are the people in
the sales department who sell a company's
products. Advertising is paying to promote
products, services, events and people through TV
and radio commercials, the Internet, magazines
and other media. Public relations (PR) is
communicating a positive image of a company
through articles, press releases, parties and other
events. Sales promotions are ways of stimulating
sales of a product eg. offering free samples. A
sample is a small part of the population, which is
taken to represent the whole. A questionnaire is a
set of questions used in a survey to find out
about people's opinions, behaviour and practices.
Market research is often carried out through a
focus group. A focus group is a number of
people who take part in a carefully managed
discussion, in order to provide data about
attitudes and responses to products and services.
Original data like this is called primary data,
while information collected from periodicals,
government publications, online databases and
other sources is known as secondary data. The
results of market research are known as findings.
These are presented at the end of the research
task. As a result of the findings, the research and
development department proceeded with their
plans for a new model. The steps market
researchers take when carrying out market
research are - to identify the problem or the
opportunity and the research objectives, to
decide on the research methods (eg. focus group,
survey), to decide on the research instrument
(questionnaire), to choose contact methods (mail,
telephone, Internet, personal interview), to
collect data, to analyse data, to present findings.
When designing a questionnaire (the most
commonly-used market research instrument), the
market researcher needs to choose questions very
carefully, considering the form, the wording and
the sequence. Closed questions are designed to
limit the number or types of answers that can be
given. Open questions allow the respondent to
give opinions and reasons more freely. Scaled
questions are that type of question offers
statements with which the respondent can show
the amount of agreement or disagreement, or that
rates the importance of smth, e.g. from poor to
excellent. A prioritizing question asks the
respondents to rank certain points according to
their personal preferences. An open question
asks the respondent to write freely on the subject,
allowing for any opinions to be given that were
not picked up earlier. Advertising is one of the
main methods of promotion, involving informing
consumers about products, and attempting to
persuade them to buy. Large companies usually
use advertising agencies to promote their
products and the company's image to the target
customers. The account is the contract between
the client company and the agency to develop an
advertising campaign. The client allocates a
budget, an amount of money, to the task. The
agency and the client then discuss the brief,
which is a statement of the client's objectives, as
well as the message the company wishes to
communicate to the consumers. Once this has
been agreed, the agency is ready to start work,
deciding which medium to use, for example
television, radio, newspapers. The agency then
creates the advertisements.
II. KEY VOCABULARY OF THE SECTION:
1.Give the Russian equivalents of the following words and word-combinations. In case
of problems return to the texts above and elaborate on them further
A
Achieve marketing objectives
Actual (potential) demand for a product
Add markup on the price
Allocate a budget
Adopt a very attacking selling strategy
Advantages of a product
Business English is…
10
Ambiguous questions
Amend or withdraw the advertisement
Amount of agreement and disagreement
Anticipate the needs of consumers
At the top end of the market
B
Basic list price
Be accompanied by a blaze of publicity
Be advertised intensively on television
Be characterized by falling sales
Be given a code name
Be marked
Be persuaded by vigorous hard-selling techniques
Be presented at the end of the research task
Be tested on a sample of consumers
Be sold at a loss
Brand
Brand loyalty
Brand manager
Brand name
Branding
Breach the code
Bring advertising into disrepute
Bring the product’s benefits to the customer’s notice
Build a brand around smth
Buy in large quantities from manufacturers
C
Capture sales
Carry out market research
Chamber of commerce
Change brands regularly
Channel of distribution
Cheap and cheerful
Cheap and nasty
Clear stock
Closed questions
Communicate a positive image of a company through (articles,etc)
Company’s image
Company’s message
Competing product
Communicate with the customer through media
Conform to the principles of fair competition
Consideration of consumers' wishes
Consumer manipulation
Consumer preferences
Consumer sovereignty
Consumers' reactions to particular product or service features
Consumers' tastes and requirements
Contact methods
Cost effective means of distribution
Create advertisements
Create a clear identity and image for a product
Customer needs
D
Decide on pricing policy
Decline phase of the product life cycle
Design a questionnaire
Desk research
Develop advertising campaign
Develop marketing objectives
Develop variations on the standard product
Direct debit
Disapproval of poor quality
Discount pricing
Discounts for bulk-buying
Module 3
Business English is…
Distinctive competencies
Distribution channels
E
Enjoy a differential advantage
Enjoy material prosperity
Existing (potential) customers
Eye-catching advertising
F
Factory outlet Family brand
Favourite ploy
Find out about people’s opinions, behaviour and practices
Find wants and fill them.
Focus group
Follow a logical pattern
Forerunner to all competitions
Free economy
G
Give opinions and reasons more freely
Generate sales of the product
H
Heavy advertising
Heavy informative advertising
High-priced
Hire purchase
I
Individual markets.
In the search for loyal customers
Increase sales by changing the marketing mix
Influence the target market
Interest-free credit
Inventory size
K
Keep up with the Joneses
L
Large amounts of advertising expenditure
Large stocks
Less sophisticated overseas markets
Limitations of the free market philosophy
Locations of points of sale
Long- and short-term pricing policies
Look for market opportunities
Lose ( gain)in a commercial transaction
Loss leader
Low and sluggish sales
Low-priced
Lure the customer towards the product
Luxury goods
M
Mail-order
Market leader
Market niche
Market opportunities
Market researcher
Market segmentation
Market share
Marketing concept
Marketing environment
11
Module 3
Business English is…
12
Marketing function
Marketing mix
Marketing plan
Marketing programme
Marketing Strategy
Market-oriented firm
Market-place
Markup
Massive advertising campaigns
Maturity phase
Meet consumer preferences more successfully
Mid priced
Most effective kinds of outlets
O
Off-licenses
Offer free samples
Online databases
Own label brands
Open questions
P
Packet tops
Persuasive advertising
Position a product
Possible credit terms
Premium product
Present the findings
Press release
Prioritizing question
Price mechanism
Pricing
Pricing policy
Primary data
Proceed with a new model
Producer market
Product launch campaigns
Product portfolio
Product’s wrapper (container)
Production issues
Profitable possibilities of filling unsatisfied needs
Promote products, services, events and people through TV and radio commercials
Promote and organise the sale of products to the purchaser
Promotional work
Public relations
Put a new product into the market
Provide data about attitudes and responses to products
R
Rank the points
Rate the importance of
Reach a peak (about sales)
Reduce confidence in advertising
Regardless of the social costs
Research instruments
Research objectives
Resisting consumers
Respondent
Response rate
Retail outlet
Risk unwelcome publicity
S
Sales force
Sales promotion, advertising and market research
Satisfy existing needs
Saturation phase
Module 3
Business English is…
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Module 3
Scaled question
Scourge of capitalism
Secondary data
Sell on to retailors
Sell advertising space
Selling concept
Set prices
Set up a production line for
Single-use consumer good
Size of a potential market
Slight reduction in the price of the product
Specialised goods
Standing order
Stimulate sales of a product
Stick to a known brand
Stock the product
Stop sales from declining
Subtle advertising
T
Target audience
Target customer
Target market
The growth stage of the product life cycle
The likely consumer reaction to smth
The product life cycle
The route a product takes on its way the the customers
Thought-provoking advertising
TV commercial
Two facets of the same undertaking
U
Ugly and unstable society
Undertake market research
Usable questionnaire
W
Way of getting round smth
Wide range of retail outlets
Word of mouth advertising
III. PRACTICE
1. Listening.
You will hear two people discussing Point of Purchasing (POP) projects. Choose
the best phrase to answer or complete the questions below.
1. What do POP projects aim to do?
A encourage managers to plan their advertising
B increase sales of particular products
C increase the amount spent on advertising
2. Why has interest in POP been slow to develop?
A Most other forms of advertising are cheaper.
B The displays are difficult to set up.
C Managers need to make large initial investments.
3. What has made TV advertising less effective?
A The number of TV channels has increased.
B People are watching less TV these days.
C The quality of TV commercials is poor.
4. Samsung believes that POP will work for them
because
5. Some companies are investing in planning and
research to
A encourage the use of POP
B cut the costs of POP.
C assess the benefits of POP
6. The Cheltenham and Gloucester Building Society
improved their sales of pensions by
A offering well-designed leaflets and brochures.
B focusing advertising in specific physical areas.
C making better use of wall space for posters.
7. Why do large stores want to control POP campaigns?
A Stores may be unable to cope with demand.
B Stores do not approve of POP
C Stores may sell less of their own products.
Business English is…
14
A its products are of the best quality.
B customers can be persuaded to change their
minds.
C other companies do not give value for money.
Module 3
8. What is one of the problems facing POP agencies?
A There is a shortage of retail space.
B There are insufficient POP specialists.
C There is not enough interest in the medium.
Business English is…
Module 3
15
2. Read the following text and prepare a talk on ‘International Marketing’
Having made a
product the problem
becomes
to
find
someone who will
buy it. It is the
responsibility of the
marketing department
to
promote
and
organise the sale of
products to the purchaser. Broadly speaking,
activities such as sales promotion, advertising
and market research are covered. It would be
possible for the factory simply to produce a
motor car and then hope that it sells. However, it
takes a long time to set up a production line for a
car assembly plant and even minor modifications
can prove difficult and expensive. It is much
better to discover what people are looking for
when they buy a car and then try to satisfy their
needs. Do car drivers want speed - or safety? Are
they looking for the power to accelerate - or
comfort? Is their aim to impress their neighbours
and other road users, or are they just concerned
with getting from A to B and back? How
important is the price, and the cost of petrol and
maintenance? Which designs and colours are
preferred? Who is buying the car? Is it a
company or an individual? It is questions like
these the marketing department will have to
answer even before production commences.
It becomes obvious that making and
selling are two facets of the same undertaking.
The marketing manager and the production
manager are two members of the same team,
depending on each other in much the same way
as the players in the Liverpool football team.
What good does it do if our strikers are scoring
goals but our goalkeeper keeps having to pick
the ball out of the back of the net? This situation
could be compared to the marketing team who
make great efforts to find customers for their
cars, only to find the cars cannot be delivered on
time, or that the cars develop faults as soon as
they arrive.
The problem facing any business is that
the market for goods and services - is ever
changing. Take the case of a company
manufacturing cigarettes. Not so long ago the
market for cigarettes was assured. Then the
medical researchers discovered the link between
cigarette smoking and lung cancer and many
other diseases. Prospects for further growth
evaporated as many people decided both to save
money and live longer to spend it. The
government joined in by restricting advertising
and sponsoring their own anti-smoking
campaign.
The
government
is
also
understandably involved in campaigns to
discourage drinking and driving, much to the
chagrin of the breweries whose sales of wines
and spirits are thereby reduced.
New technologies have an even more
devastating effect on the markets. Once upon a
time there was a very successful company which
made gas mantles. The whole country was lit by
gas. Then came electric light. The sales of gas
mantles plummeted. Today we look to oil for our
energy. Our oil companies prosper, but for how
long? The day before yesterday we used
typewriters. Yesterday we used electric
typewriters. Today we use word processors. And
tomorrow?
The rapidly changing world is both a
headache and an exciting challenge to those
engaged in marketing. If they predict correctly
their business will survive and prosper. If they
misread the signs the business will fail and,
perhaps more importantly for all of us, valuable
economic resources will be wasted.
3. Listening.
You will hear five different people talking about advertising campaigns. Choose the method of
advertising they have chosen from the list A-H. Choose the purpose of the advertisement from
the list a – h
Method of advertising
A television
B radio
C national newspaper
D local newspaper
E the internet
F poster
G direct mail
H free samples
1____ 2____ 3____ 4____ 5____
Purpose of advertisement
a. to advertise a job
b. to launch a new product
c. to announce new opening times
d. to publicise a sale
e. to announce a change in location
f .to change the company's image
g. to give information about sales figures
h. to promote a catalogue
1____ 2____ 3____ 4____ 5____