Advertising and Personal Selling

Marketing Mix for Panera Bread Company

Advertising

Advertising refers to any form of non-personal communication meant to persuade, inform, and remind customers to buy a product (Shapiro, 1984). Panera Bread Company has adopted the informative approach as a way of winning and retaining customers. In this strategy, the aim is to let the clients get to know the features of the products being offered. These features include the price, quantities sold, the quality as well as how the products are consumed. Some information to the effect of the ingredients used to bake the breads as well as how the bread needs to be consumed (Peter and Donnelly 2013).

The informative objective also involves teaching the clients about the hazards of overconsumption of the product. Panera Bread Company has warned the clients of over consumption of bread -being a processed food in its adverts. The action seeks to comply with the government directive and as a good public relations exercise of not endangering the lives of the clients. The people who usually make the choice to purchase the products from this company are often well informed about all the features of the products they are buying. The information is desirable, and the company has since the adoption of the informative approach to advertising experienced a robust boost in its annual sales (Peter and Donnelly 2013).

The third angle in which the company has achieved the informative agenda is with the interactive sessions that they often have either in the usual print or electronic media previews. The company has also lately gotten to the social media to provided informative messages to the consumers (Scott 2007). The advertising budget has always been as low as possible. With the advertising strategy, the company has employed the print and electronic media while seeking to reach all the potential customers. The message of the adverts has always been to highlight the best side of the product to the eyes of the clients. Panera's most preferred media for the ads are the electronic media since it can access a larger fraction of the market (Shapiro, 1984).

Public relations

This refers to the mix of activities that are executed with the aim of earning a positive image and standing for the company and the products it sells. Panera Bread Company has been engaging in a series of public relations activities aimed at winning that desired public image. Press relations have been the leading way of earning the desirable public image for the company. In this aim, the company has been strategic about its utilization of the media channels. The TV channels have been the ones mostly used. In this quest, the media fraternity has managed to reap a lot from this company's continued heavy use of the media (Scott 2007).

In the public relations department, product publicity has also been given the greatest consideration. The products have had to be publicized more than the company name. For Panera, the products have sold the company and not the other way round. The PR function that the company has been utilizing is the use of lobbying for the public image of the products through the media. Several tools have been used to achieve the public relations objective. includes the use of the social networking platform and other platforms on the internet that includes blogs. The media news briefings and the hijacking of special events to sell the name of the company have been the main tools used. The image created by combining all these strategies has seen a higher approval rating of the company as well (Shapiro, 1984).

Personal selling

This refers to a personalized way of making sales by meeting the clients where they are providing all the information they need to know about the products. The role achieved the company's salespeople. Panera Company has managed to employ a strong workforce of salespeople who go round streets informing the members of the public about its products. Most of the sales made with this strategy are normally achieved at the residential places and institutions. The sales workforce of Panera has capitalized on this realization. These sales people get to find the customers through referrals from those customers who have already been served mostly. They also get to make their way into the customers' places by using leads they make from their study of the market (Scott 2007).