The concept of integrated marketing communications is becoming more and more popular. It includes both a traditional advertising campaign - ATL advertising, and BTL communications and public relations. If everything is clear with classic advertising, then what is BTL?
Put a line
The terms ATL and BTL appeared around the middle of the 20th century. Many have probably heard the story of the executive who, when signing the advertising budget, included the cost of distributing free product samples and wrote them down in his own hand under the line of basic expenses. According to this legend, a division into “above the line” and “below the line” arose. ATL costs include costs related to the placement of advertising information in the media. These are television, radio, outdoor advertising, print media. BTL also includes all sorts of ways to stimulate sales. The costs for this area are calculated from the total budget for the implementation of marketing communications. However, there is a tendency to redistribute the BTL budget from the residual to the core category.
BTL industry
BTL - what is it? An English term describing marketing communications depending on the principle of target audience formation. The literal translation "below the line" means "under the line." It is a subtle marketing tool that includes sales promotion, POS placement, merchandising, direct mail, promotions for customers and chain employees. It is believed that BTL advertising is more targeted and allows you to convey a call to purchase or any other advertising message directly to the final individual consumer. Usually the call is extremely individual, and BTL works, as a rule, directly at the point of sale or the zone where the purchase decision is made.
BTL in Russia
The effectiveness of traditional media advertising is gradually decreasing, which leads to an increase in the activity of BTL events, an increase in the quality of this industry and an increase in the budget for promotional events. ATL and BTL advertising compete with each other for the client's budget. Many Russian companies prefer to cooperate with network agencies and create projects jointly. Because keeping a whole department in the state is expensive and impractical. And some do not even know what a BTL project is from the inside and what is BTL in general? Corporate standards dictaterequirements for agencies, including those related to the uniqueness of ongoing promotional events.
Reasons for BTL's growing popularity
Consumers are becoming more demanding and informed, they need to independently understand the offered goods, get more useful information about them, and in some cases try the offered product. All this is offered by well-organized BTL events. BTL advertising is created directly for the target audience and is aimed at the end consumer of the promoted products. Obviously, the potential return from it will be much higher than from classical advertising in the media, where the advertising message is received by everyone, regardless of whether a person needs this product or not.
BTL campaigns
BTL advertising agency uses the following tools to influence each specific buyer: sales promotion, personal communications, public relations, merchandising, use of POS materials, event marketing.
For the end consumer, the BTL manager can offer incentives such as tastings, gifts for purchases, win-win lotteries, sampler distribution (sampling), distribution of POS materials. Merchandising is used to incentivize salespeople, retail store managers and distributors. It is a display of goods on showcases and counters and tracking the availability of goods at points of sale. Conferences, seminars,contests, lotteries.
Event special events include exhibitions, festivals, concerts to promote a product, brand or brand among consumers. Measures to increase the loy alty of partners and to inform about the activities of the company. These are press conferences, seminars, exhibitions. Also, special events include programs to strengthen the corporate culture within the company between employees. This is a joint holding of holidays, team-building is popular today. Marketing research consists in conducting a comparative analysis of market participants, the need to determine the volume, market share. Identification of market trends.
Promotions
BTL projects typically involve a promoter, supervisor, and project manager or coordinator. It is the promoter that will be the most important link in this chain. The success of the whole event depends on how well the people who are in direct contact with the end consumer, to whom the action is directed, perform their work. Therefore, the selection and training of personnel by the BTL agency should be given great attention.
Supervisor's responsibility
As part of the project, the promoters report to the supervisor. He controls their work at the point of sale at the time of the action. Since the supervisor is also responsible for organizing the workplace of subordinates, he is also responsible for the quality of their work. It is important for the supervisor to be able to quickly navigate in a difficult situation and quickly resolve the problems that have arisen.conflicts
Duties of the coordinator
The project manager, or coordinator, is in contact with the managers of the retail stores where the promotions will take place. Responsible for the delivery of the promotional stand, promotional materials, the required amount of the advertised product, its samples. In addition, the coordinator controls the completion of the reporting of the event. In general, the manager's task is to ensure the planned progress of the promotional event.
What else is BTL made of
BTL-marketing, in addition to the classic components, also includes some borderline tools. Event marketing is usually referred to as a PR event rather than a BTL one, although during such projects promotions are held to gauge the reaction of potential buyers to the advertised product. The second tool is the Internet, SMS and mailing lists. Their goal is to reach the target audience as much as possible. But even in this case there is direct contact with a potential consumer.
If we talk about the impact of POS materials, in this case, the impact will occur only at the moment of making a purchase decision exclusively at the point of sale. With the help of shelf talkers, wobblers, bright price tags, promotional stands, visual contact is established with customers, attracting their attention, which further contributes to sales growth through impulse purchases.
Development Trends
ATL- and BTL-advertising undergoes some changes over time. In economic crises, BTL suffers less than the markettraditional advertising. This is due to the fact that BTL allows you to maximize sales at a minimum cost. There is also a tendency to increase the individualization of work with clients. The emphasis is not so much on the product itself, but on the needs of buyers and demonstrating care for the consumer.
As a rule, customers of BTL-shares are tobacco companies, FMCG, manufacturers of equipment, alcohol products, mobile operators, pharmaceutical companies. They do not need to explain, BTL - what is it? These firms are familiar with targeted offers and promotions.
A successful promotion will not only fulfill its main function, for example, increase sales by 30% for the period of the promotion, but also provide a number of other benefits. Since during the promotion there is direct contact with the end buyer, the promoter can create a positive image of the company in the eyes of the consumer, stimulate additional purchases, and increase brand awareness.
Successful implementation of the action is preceded by painstaking analytical preparation. First you need to choose the right event to hold. Having collected the necessary information base, it will be easier to decide on BTL tools. After collecting information, goals are set and accents of the future project are placed. Further, the estimate is approved and a detailed plan of the upcoming event is drawn up. The plan reflects a clear time frame for the project. Choosing the right time for the action will be one of the success factors. And the professionalism of the staff will allowimplement the promotion successfully and achieve the desired results.
