1. Understanding the Functions of Marketing and PR Marketing Market research is the action made to gather information about target markets and target audiences that may be interested in a companies product or service. It is one of the most important aspects of a businesses development, knowing what a companies target audience are interested in, what they like and dislike, what aspects of the product they want to change or stay the same can help a company to change or modify their product and develop it to suit their target audiences needs. Market research allows companies to gather in depth information about their existing audience and potential target audience, having this information can help with such things as advertising, promotion and product development which are very important for a businesses success. It is also a major aspect to have in a company in order to maintain above competing companies in the same market field who can potentially steal your audience. Market research provides important information to see, analyse and make developments on what the target audience want and need it can also help with statistics for market size and competition. Market research can be gathered in a number of ways, the most common way is creating a survey or questionnaire, this is also the easiest and most efficient way. Most companies send out surveys through emails, their website or included in their product, gathering information though a survey can help companies to collect individual feedback from their audience which then allows them to change or develop the product to suit the audiences needs. Market analysis is the study of the different ways to make a company more successful in a specific market within an industry. Analysing a companies position and status can help to identify and analyse the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of a company. A companies marketing strategies and techniques can also be refined whilst using a SWOT analysis, refining them can help to make the company more successful and run more efficiently. It mainly helps companies to refine such aspects of their business as decisions of inventory, purchase, employee expansion/contraction, facilities, purchases, equipment, promotional activities or events, and many other aspects of a company. There are many companies that assist businesses when it comes to market analysis, theses companies specialize in producing market analysis reports for different companies so when a company feel they need a report, they are ensured that it will be professional and help them to develop their business. Marketing strategy is the process that allows a company to concentrate its resources on its opportunities of increasing sales and having an advantage on rival companies who are in the same market field and who may be a threat to the company. Marketing strategy includes activities in marketing that deal with the analysis of the companies strategies and any situation that the company may be in good or bad. Marketing strategy is also like a plan of how a certain company are going to reach their goals and what then need to do in order to achieve the goals they are aiming for, some of these plans can stretch over a few years but sometimes only last a few weeks if they do not help the company to reach their desired goals. There are many different strategies to gain a bigger audience or reach company goals,

2. they are used by companies to communicate with the audience and let them know about the various features of their products or services. It is a very important part of attracting a companies target audience, companies will use various techniques to stay on top of their competitors. The different techniques and strategies are as such: Affinity Marketing which is also known as Partnership Marketing, this technique joins two companies together, thereby creating a strong and developing partnership that benefit both companies. While one company may benefit from existing customers by generating more income the other company may build new customer relationships and create a bigger audience for both companies. Alliance Marketing is similar to Affinity Marketing in the sense that two or more companies come together but rather than sharing techniques they come together to share each of their resources to promote and sell their products or services, which will not only benefit their individual companies, but also have a greater impact on the market and rival individual companies. Ambush Marketing is when a company use sponsorship to their advantage as a form of advertising, this strategy is used by companies to associated themselves with a specific event without the any sponsorship fee, thereby saving money and gaining free advertising. Advertising is a very important aspect of a company when trying to gain a larger audience and draw in the target audience, advertising helps companies to address their audience and send out the message that their product or service exists. Advertising can also help promote offers, events and activities such as money off offers or events such as fairs to promote new products which can also gain a larger audience. Advertising in business is also a form of marketing communication between the company and the target audience and existing audience used to encourage, persuade, or manipulate the audience into investing into what the company has to offer. Most commonly the companies desired goal to achieve is to drive the target audience into their service or product to enlarge their existing audience. Advertising can come in many forms such as sponsorship, posters, radio broadcasts and can be seen in every day life some of the most common forms of advertising include media such as newspaper, magazines, television advertisement, radio advertisement and outdoor advertising or direct methods such as mail, more modern forms include websites and text messages. Brand promotion is a type of advertising which focusses more on product placement and endorsements. Promoting a brand or and individual product can be hard for a company but with the right methods it can be very easy, promotion is a form or advertising that helps companies to show off what they have to offer and make their target audience aware of what they could have. There are many types of promotion such as creating an offer, the general public are easily drawn in by the idea of saving money or getting great value for their money, taking money off of a product or service will help a company to draw in a larger audience. Another useful method is product placement which is commonly used on TV in programmes, for example if an individuals favourite soap opera had a Pepsi can in the shot it would subtly let the audience know that that product is available for them to buy, this is similar to endorsement which is when a company hire a celebrity to wear an item of their clothing or create a new perfume for their company, this is a very good technique because it is based around fans and fan culture and the desire to look like or feel like a celebrity. 3. PR There are a number of principles involved in managing the message which is a key aspect of a successful company or business. Managing the message is a very important aspect because it ensures the audience that they will be given the correct message and that members of the company willl also be given the right messages inside the business. There are also many benefits from following the principles such as a better management of business, having a good management allows the company to flow easily and more efficiently, storing important messages and information can also benefit the company as it shows reliability and organization to the target audience. A better quality evidence of business decisions that have been made again gives the company a positive message to the target audience, showing that they are reliable and safe to invest in. Another important aspect to a company or business is positive publicity, this is when a company take actions to show their existing audience and target audience that they are a reliable and good company to invest in and that they take a big interest in customer care and satisfaction, many things can be done within a company to give it positive publicity. Publicity itself is the way a company gets its brand name and products to the people, its similar to advertising and promoting a lot of companies use people such as politicians and celebrities because they are always in the public eye and can persuade the public very well. Whereas some companies like to gain publicity by not using the media and doing it through customer care, some companies show great interest in their customer care department to ensure that their audience feel welcome and well looked after, the companies publicity then becomes positive because their audience are telling others about their company. In PR, spin is a form of propaganda or misinformation, which can be achieved by providing a record of an event or campaign to persuade th target audiences opinion in favour or against a certain organization or public figure which is most commonly a rival company or figure to ensure that a company can stay on top and work its way around the law. Companies are not necessarily lying in these cases but they can twist words and misinform the target audience to change their opinion and the opinion of others in favour of their company. It is also a form of manipulating the target audiences way of thinking, with the right words a company can change their existing audiences opinions and their target audiences opinions to set them against rival companies to ensure that their company stays on top and becomes successful. An example of spin in Britain was the graffiti that was sprayed on to billboard signs of the politician, David Cameron, protesters were making sure that the public were being given the message that David Cameron was not the right man to be in power by changing words on the billboards to make them humorous or to give a message. A comapy may engage in damage limitation to ensure that any problem that arises in their company is made as small as it can be. Companies will always have many reasons to doing this, the main reason is to maintain their target audience and the satisfaction of their customers as the problem may involve the customers or the reputation of the company such as the safety of investment or organization of customer data. 4. Another reason is to ensure that the company stay in business, if the problem is too big and it is revolved around money a company can become bankrupt, to avoid this some companies take out loans to ensure that their business can keep going and they are able to pay it back in the future Creating and holding an event can bring many opportunities and benefits to the succes of a company. Holding an event such as a fair or a dinner can bring benefits such as gaining a larger audience, redirecting a companies audience from mainstream to niche and also promoting new products and ideas. The way events can gain a bigger audience is that customers enjoy family events or events where they are put first and they are made to feel important, this also creates the feel that the company are friends with their audience and it gives the company a friendly characteristic and a welcoming characteristic which will attract new customers therefore gaining a larger audience. Promoting new products and ideas can also be an advantage to companies because it allows existing and new customers to see the companies new products and hopefully invest in the, there are many ways this can be done by doing a deal with the audience such as 30 day product trials or money back guarantees. Lobbying is the action of attempting to influence decisions made by people who are high up in companies such as managers and bosses. Lobbying is done by many different types of people and companies. Companies can use lobbying to their advantage to influence their product or service on to their target audience which will also go against rival companies and help their company to stay on top and stay successful. People who are most likely to be influenced by lobbying in PR are the audience both target and existing as they are the most vulnerable to advertising and can be easily influenced by different companies with the right use of words and advertising campaigns.