Promotion

Prof. Jacob Thomas

Christ University
 What is importance of promotion?

• Promotion: Any type of marketing communication used to

inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of
a product, service, brand or issue. The aim of promotion is to
increase awareness, create interest, generate sales or create
brand loyalty
• One of the elements in the promotional mix or promotional
plan.
• These are personal selling, advertising, sales promotion, direct
marketing publicity and may also include event marketing,
exhibitions and trade shows.
• Promotional plan specifies how much attention to pay to each
of the elements in the promotional mix, and what proportion
of the budget should be allocated to each element.
 Functions of Promotion

The most important promotion functions are:

1. Creating an image of prestige, low prices, innovation,
2. Information about the product and its characteristics,
3. Preservation of the popularity of goods (services),
4. Change the way you use the product,
5. The creation of enthusiasm among market participants,
6. Convince buyers to move to more expensive goods,
7. Answers to consumer questions,
8. Favourable information about the company.
 Informing, Persuading, Reminding

• Any form of actions used by the firm to inform,

persuade and remind consumers about their products,
services, images, ideas, social activities.
• Can transmit the messages it needs through brand
names, packaging, shop windows, personal sales,
industry exhibitions, lotteries, mass media, direct mail
messages, outdoor ads, magazines and other forms.
• For products that consumers are well aware of, the main
thing in promotion is the transformation of knowledge
about the goods into a benevolent attitude towards it.
 What Are the Benefits of Promotion?

• Increasing the brand awareness among

consumers.
• Provide relevant information
• Increase in potential customers and traffic of
customers
• Increase in profits and sales
• The introduction of products in a constantly
competitive market with the help of
promotions.
Steps in developing effective marketing communications strategies

1.Identify the Target Audience

2.Determining the Communication Goals &
Objectives
3.Designing a Compelling Message
4.Select Communications Channels
5.Feedback of communication Strategy
 Factors commonly in
Marketing Communication Mix

1. Selling (personal selling)

2. Advertising
3. Sales promotion
4. Direct marketing
5. Publicity and public relations
6. Sponsorship
 Factors commonly in
Marketing Communication Mix

7. Exhibitions
8. Packaging
9. Point-of-sale merchandising
10. Word of mouth
11. Internet/Social Media Marketing
12. Corporate Identity/image
 1.Selling

• The process of making the sale of your

product/service.
• This includes your employees who are sales people
and the sales tactics they would use to present your
product or service.
• You don’t have to be a large company to organize
and plan an effective sales strategy.
• You can be a small retail store with one shop and
have a sales strategy where every employee is a
participant, helping generate sales for the business.
 2.Advertising

• The action of calling something to the attention of the public

especially by paid announcements.
• An umbrella factor of the communications mix that covers
various other factors, such as PR, word-of-mouth, and
sponsorship, just to name a few.
• Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation
and promotion of a product by an identified sponsor.
• In developing an advertising program, marketing managers
must always start by identifying the target market and buyer
motives.
• Make the five major decisions, known as "the 5 Ms":
Mission, Money, Message, Media, and Measurement.
 2.Advertising- Setting the Objectives

• An advertising objective (or advertising goal) is a specific

communications task and achievement level to be accomplished
with a specific audience in a specific period of time.
Aim is to inform, persuade, remain, or reinforce.
• Informative advertising aims to create brand awareness and
knowledge of new products or new features of existing product.
• Persuasive advertising aims to create liking, preference,
conviction, and purchase of a product or service.
• Reminder advertising aims to stimulate repeat purchase of
products and services.
• Reinforcement advertising aims to convince current purchasers
that they made the right choice.
 Deciding on the Advertising Budget

Here are five specific factors to consider when setting the advertising
budget.
1. Stage in the product life cycle -- New products typically merit large
budgets to build awareness and to gain consumer trial.
2. Market share and consumer base -- High-market-share brands usually
require less advertising expenditure as a percentage of sales to maintain
share.
3. Competition and clutter -- In a market with many competitors and high
advertising spending, a brand must advertise more heavily to be heard.
4. Advertising frequency -- The number of repetitions needed to put the
brand's message across to consumers has an obvious impact on the
advertising budget.
5. Product substitutability -- Brands in less-differentiated or commodity-like
product classes (beer, soft drinks), require heavy advertising to establish a
unique image.
 Developing the Advertising Campaign

Employ both art and science

• to develop the message strategy or positioning
of an ad
• What the ad attempts to convey about the
brand
• Its creative strategy
Advertisers go through three steps:
– message generation and evaluation,
– creative development and execution, and
– social-responsibility review.
 Deciding on Media and
Measuring Effectiveness

• After choosing the message, the next task is to

choose media to carry it.
• The steps here are deciding on desired reach,
frequency, and impact;
• Choosing among major media type;
• Selecting specific media vehicles;
• Deciding on media timing; and
• Deciding on geographical media allocation.
• Then the marketer evaluates the result of these
decisions.
 3.Sales promotion

• A key ingredient in marketing campaigns

• Consists of a collection of incentive tools
• Mostly short term
• Designed to stimulate quicker or greater
purchase of particular products or services by
consumers or the trade.
• Advertising offers a reason to buy, sales
promotion offers an incentive.
 Types of Sales Promotion
• Consumer promotion: (samples, coupons, cash
refund offers, prices off, premiums, prizes,
patronage rewards, free trials, warranties, tie-in
promotions, cross-promotions, point-of-purchase
displays, and demonstrations),
• Trade promotion (prices off, advertising and
display allowances, and free goods), and
• Business and sales force promotion (trade shows
and conventions, contests for sales reps, and
specialty advertising).
 Objectives of Sales Promotion

• To achieve a variety of objectives.

• to attract brand switchers, who are primarily
looking for low price, good value, or
premiums.
• Consumers may engage in stockpiling --
purchasing earlier than usual (purchase
acceleration) or purchasing extra quantities
• Sales may then hit a post promotion dip.
 Advertising V/s Promotion

• An effective sales tool,

• The number of brands increased, competitors used promotions
frequently, many brands were seen as similar,
• Consumers became more price-oriented, the trade demanded more
deals from manufacturers, and advertising efficiency declined.
• Small-share competitors may find it advantageous to use sales
promotion, because they cannot afford to match the market leaders'
large advertising budgets
• They obtain shelf space without offering trade allowances or
stimulate consumer trial without offering incentives. The upshot is
that many consumer-packaged-goods companies feel forced to use
more sales promotion than they wish.
 4. Direct marketing

• Direct marketing is any form of communication directed toward

the individual regardless of medium.
• There are three characteristics that distinguish direct marketing
from any form of communication delivery method:
1. To be directed toward an individual within the target audience
regardless of delivery method. This can be done so through
direct mail or email.
2. To have a specific call to action, meaning that it instructs it’s
recipient to take some action, such as call a phone number, mail
in a response card, or fill out an online form for further
information or to make a purchase.
3. Requires data that can be tracked and measured from its target
audience or customers so that adjustments can be made in
future contacts.
 5.Publicity (& public relations)

• Publicity/public relations refers to the ability to generate interest

about your business, service, or product through media outlets at
very little to no cost.
• “Bad publicity is better than no publicity,”
• Generating publicity is typically done through well crafted press
releases and sent to various publications that may have an interest
in your product or service.
• Small businesses can take advantage of generating publicity
through local magazines or newspapers since the local paper or
publication is more readily available to the local business, more so
than larger publications.
• Examples: announcement for a local veterinary hospital offering
free vaccination to pet owners, or
• a restaurant sponsoring a free entertainment night.
 6.Sponsorship

• Becoming part of a personally relevant moment

in consumer's lives through events and
experiences can broaden and deepen a company
or brand's relationship with the target market.
• Daily encounters with brands may also affect
consumers' brand attitudes and beliefs.
• Atmospheres are "packaged environments" that
create or reinforce leanings toward product
purchase.
 Reasons to sponsor events:

1. To identify with a particular target market or lifestyle

2. To increase salience of company or product name
3. To create or reinforce perceptions of key brand image
4. To enhance corporate image
5. To create experiences and evoke feelings
6. To express commitment to the community or on
social issues
7. To entertain key clients or reward key employees
8. To permit merchandising or promotional
opportunities
 7.Exhibitions

• Every industry has an annual or bi-annual trade show convention

where the organization rents out space to vendors in the industry
who in turn showcase their latest products or services and take
the opportunity to meet current and potential customers.
• These conventions or trade shows can get very expensive and
elaborate.
• However, there are smaller shows that offer affordable solutions
for small businesses.
• Typically the local Chamber of Commerce holds an annual
exhibition or two where local businesses can attend.
• There may be other, local, professional organizations which hold
exhibitions annually in your community.
 8.Packaging

• The enclosing and containment of goods within a

box, or other material for display and sale.
• However, packaging can also refer to presentation
folders in the case of a service oriented business.
• Your packaging or folder design is critical in how your
customers view your brand identity and company.
• Creating a QR code for your packaging that connects
to your website, resource pages or social media could
be an effective touch point for customer engagement
and improved customer success.
 9.Point-of-sale merchandising

• Merchandise that sits where the sale is taking place.

• For most stores, you see quite a bit of merchandise
sitting next to the register where customers are
checking out and paying for their goods.
• The idea here is that you will pick up the item at the
last minute in an impulse and purchase the item.
• You see this a lot with magazines, candy and gum
products, and various other small sized items.
 10.Word of mouth

• Word of mouth marketing is perhaps the least

expensive form of advertising a business can
engage in, that’s because it’s free!
• It can also be the most challenging form of
advertising and that’s because you are not in
control of who says what to whom about your
business.
 How to generate a favourable word of mouth campaign:

1.Get your customers to try your product or

service
2.Have impeccable customer service and treat
your customers with respect.
3.Allow your customers to be involved in the
decision making process of your company.
4.Stay in touch with your customers. Provide
them with news about your company or special
offers on a regular basis.
 11.Social media marketing

• Internet marketing encompasses Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

advertising, banner advertising, email marketing and
newsletters, as well as social media, including having a
presence on social media platforms like Facebook and
Twitter, for example.
• A strong, traditional print marketing campaign to
compliment your online marketing campaign and that’s
because not everyone online accesses their internet on
a daily basis.
• Using traditional print media can help drive traffic to
your website.