Promotion

• Promotion: where marketing activities aim to raise customer awareness of a product or brand, generating sales and helping to create brand loyalty
• Advertising: paid for communication with potential customers about a product to encourage them to buy it.
• Informative advertising: where the emphasis of advertising or sales promotion is to give full information about the product.
• Persuasive advertising: advertising or promotion that tries to persuade the consumer that they really need the product and should buy it.
• Target audience: the people who are potential buyers of a product or service.
• Sales promotion: incentives, such as special offers or special deals, aimed at consumers to achieve short-term increases in sales.
• Marketing budget: financial plan for the marketing of a product or product range for a specified period of time.
• Aims of promotion:

  • Inform customers about a new product
  • Persuade customers to buy the product
  • Create a brand image
  • Increase sales and market share
• Advertising process:

  • sets objectives
  • sets budget
  • decides on campaign
  • media choice
  • evaluation of campaign
• Advantages of sales promotion:

  • boosts off-peak sales
  • encourages trial purchases and repeat purchases
  • encourages switching from competitors
• Sales promotion:

  • discounts or offers • displays
  • gifts
  • free samples
  • competitions
  • after sales service
• Promotion choice depends on:

  • product life cycle stage
  • producer or consumer good
  • cultural issues in some countries
  • cost compared to marketing budget
• Media choice depends on:

  • cost
  • target market - type and location of customers
  • visual/moving image
  • hard copy
• Marketing budget:

  • too small - may not match competitors' spending
  • too big - cost of promotion may exceed the revenue gained from sales
• What affects promotional decisions?

  • Stage of product on the PLC
  • The nature of the product
  • The nature of the target market
  • Cost-effectiveness