Project on Promotion Management

INTRODUCTION
Promotion is probably the most visible element of the marketing mix to most people and is
often seen as one of the more glamorous marketing functions. Promotional activities can,
and do, have a significant impact on demand for a particular product or service.
Promotion also covers the various methods that an organisation uses to communicate with
employees and other interest groups since effective marketing is crucially dependent on the
establishment of a marketing orientation throughout the organisation as a whole.

Without understanding its importance, however, promotion is only one element of the
overall marketing mix, and its impact on demand will only be sort term if the product is not
of the necessary quality, available in the appropriate outlets and acceptably priced.
The term ‘promotion’ refers to the range of methods used by an organisation in order to
communicate with its customers, both actual and potential, and includes advertising,
publicity, personal selling and sales promotion. The effective marketer recognises that each
of the four elements of promotion-advertising, publicity and public relations, personal
selling, and sales promotion-has certain strengths.
They seek to integrate and unite the appropriate elements to accomplish their promotional
objectives. The combination of elements a marketer chooses is the marketer’s promotional
mix. Promotion refers to the coordination of all seller-initiated efforts to set up channels of
information and persuasion to facilitate the sale of a product or service.
Promotion is a process of communication with the potential buyers involving information,
persuasion and influence. It includes all types of personal or impersonal communication
with the customers and middlemen. According to the American Marketing Association,
promotion is “the personal or impersonal process of assisting and/or persuading a
prospective customer to buy a commodity or service or to act favourably upon an idea that
has commercial significance to the seller.”
Promotion is a vital element of the marketing mix of a business enterprise. It is the spark
plug of the marketing mix. No business enterprise can sell its goods and services without
informing the people about the availability of products and without creating in them the
desire to buy them. Customer demand is largely dormant. It must be awakened and
stimulated through promotion. The prospective customers have to be informed about the
features, utility and availability of products. The purpose of promotion is to inform, persuade
and influence the prospective customers. The need for promotion has increased due to stiff
competition, widening market, rapid changes in consumers’ tastes and technology and
growing distance between producers and consumers.

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MEANING:
Promotion is a term used frequently in marketing and is one of the
elements of marketing mix. It refers to raising customer awareness of
a product or brand, generating sales and creating brand loyalty. It
involves an entire set of activities that communicate about the product,
brand or service to the user. The basic idea behind promotion is to
make people aware, attract and induce to buy the product, in
preference over other similar products available in the market. The
promotion tool of marketing mix comprises communication tactics used by the marketers to
educate consumers, increase demand and differentiate brands. Promotion has been defined
as “Coordinated Self-initiated efforts to establish channels of information and persuasion to
facilitate or foster the sale of goods or services or the acceptance of ideas or points of view.”

DEFINATIONS
(a) The Committee on Definition of The American Marketing Association defines Sales
Promotion as, "In a specific sense, Sales Promotion includes those sales activities that
supplement both personal selling and advertising and co- ordinates them and helps to make
them effective, such as displays, shows and expositions, demonstrations and other non-
recurrent selling efforts not in the ordinary routine".
(b)According to A.H.R. Delens, “Sales promotion means the steps that are taken for the
purpose of obtaining an increasing sale". Often this term refers specially to selling efforts
that are designed to supplement personal selling and advertising and by co-ordination helps
them to become more effective."
(C)In the words of Roger A. Strong, "Sales promotion includes all forms of sponsored
communication apart from activities associated with personal selling. It, thus includes trade
shows and exhibits, combining, sampling, premiums, trade, allowances, sales and dealer
incentives, set of packs, consumer education and demonstration activities, rebates, bonus,
packs, point of purchase material and direct mail."

OBJECTIVES OF PROMOTION:

There are three specific objectives of promotion:

(a) To Communicate,
(b) To Convince, and
(c) To Compete.
It has been pointed out that communication is the
basis of all marketing effort. In fact, it involves
much in addition to the stimulation of sales.
Moreover, most marketing communications are
promotional.
It is not enough merely to communicate. Ideas must be convincing so that action (purchase)
would follow. In other words, distribution of information should be capable of producing
marketing results.
A good product, an efficient channel, and appropriate price are not enough by themselves.
Communication and convincing elements should supplement to offer contrasts to the efforts
‘of competitors. It may even be stated that the competitive characteristics of promotion
defines its vital role in marketing strategy.

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Communication is a necessary element in everyday and in every walk of life. People

communicate for many reasons. A dynamic society cannot be there without sufficient modes
of communication. Members of the society seek amusement, ask help, give help, provide
information, all through some form of communication developed over centuries.
Promotion is the mode of communication adopted by business community for achieving
certain specific objectives. From the point of view of a seller such communications may
become necessary to modify consumer behaviour and thoughts and/or to reinforce existing
behaviour of consumers.
Thus, the objectives of promotion are as under:
(i) To provide information to prospective customers about the availability, features and uses
of products.
(ii) To stimulate demand by creating awareness and interest among customers,
(iii) To differentiate a product from competitive products by creating brand loyalty,
(iv) To stabilise sales by highlighting the utility of the product.

PROMOTION TECHNIQUES

Important techniques of sales promotion are as follows:

(1) Rebate:
Under it in order to clear the excess stock, products are offered at some reduced price. For
example, giving a rebate by a car manufacturer to the tune of 12,000/- for a limited period
of time.

(2) Discount:
Under this method, the customers are offered products on less than the listed price. For
example, giving a discount of 30% on the sale of Liberty Shoes. Similarly giving a discount
of 50% + 40% by the KOUTONS
.
(3) Refunds:
Under this method, some part of the price of an article is refunded to the customer on
showing proof of purchase. For example, refunding an amount of 5/- on showing the empty
packet of the product priced 100/-.

(4) Product Combination:

Under this method, along with the main product some other product is offered to the
customer as a gift. The following are some of the examples:

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(5) Instant Draw and Assigned Gift:

Under this method, a customer is asked to scratch a card on the purchase of a product and
the name of the product is inscribed thereupon which is immediately offered to the customer
as a gift. For example, on buying a car when the card is scratched such gifts are offered –
TV, Refrigerator, Computer, Mixer, Dinner Set, Wristwatch, T-shirt, Iron Press, etc.

(6) Lucky Draw:

Under this method, the customers of a particular product are offered gifts on a fixed date
and the winners are decided by the draw of lots. While purchasing the product, the customers
are given a coupon with a specific number printed on it.
On the basis of this number alone the buyer claims to have won the gift. For example, ‘Buy
a bathing soap and get a gold coin’ offer can be used under this method.

(7) Full Finance @ 0%:

Under this method, the product is sold and money received in instalment at 0% rate of
interest. The seller determines the number of instalments in which the price of the product
will be recovered from the customer. No interest is charged on these instalments.

(8) Samples or Sampling: Under this method, the producer distributes free samples of his
product among the consumers. Sales representatives distribute these samples from door-to-
door.
This method is used mostly in case of products of daily-use, e.g., Washing Powder, Tea,
Toothpaste, etc. Thus, the consumers willy-nilly make use of free sample. If it satisfies them,
they buy it and, in this way, sales are increased.

(9) Contests:
Some producers organise contests with a view to popularizing their products. Consumers
taking part in the contest are asked to answer some very simple questions on a form and
forward the same to the company. The blank form is made available to that consumer who
buys the product first.
Result is declared on the basis of all the forms received by a particular date. Attractive prizes
are given to the winners of the contest. Such contests can be organised in different ways.

FACTORS AFFECTING PROMOTION GROWTH

• Promotion purpose. If the company wants to reach a broad audience, advertising is the
right choice.
• Types of products. Industrial products require a more personal approach. Meanwhile,
consumer products usually require more advertising.
• Company infrastructure and resources. Each promotion method requires different costs
and efforts. Companies may spend more money on advertising if funds are sufficient.
However, if funds are insufficient, as in most small companies, they are dependent on
personal selling.
• Product life cycle. For example, companies adopted intensive advertising and personal
selling during the introductory phase to educate and raise product awareness. Once
consumers are aware, companies may focus more on advertising.

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• Distribution infrastructure. When selling products directly to customers without going

through intermediaries, companies rely on personal selling. The company may use some
advertisements, but that is only for support.
• Market size. If the company targets a more specific customer base, direct selling alone will
suffice. However, if it targets a mass market with large market size, advertising is a
promotional tool.
• Pricing strategy. Premium products, such as the iPhone, rely less on mass media
advertising. Companies will usually prefer a more personal promotional approach, such as
personal selling

MEDIA TECHNOLOGY USED FOR PROMOTION

Technology has permeated every aspect of our lives; from the

way we communicate to the way we shop. Marketing has
become an art that’s primarily digital. No matter what you’re
selling, and to whom, technology can improve the quality of
your marketing output and, ultimately, help you generate more
leads.

1. SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media can be used to build your brand identity, to reach out to your existing customers
and to find new audiences. It can be used for thought leadership, to enhance your SEO
rankings and as a direct channel for people to interact with your brand. Most organizations
already know this, but they invest hours in social media management without having a good
idea of how to get return on investment.

2. PAID MEDIA
Paid media is an external marketing effort that involves a paid placement. This can include
PPC advertising, branded content and display ads. It’s a crucial part of any marketing
strategy: by picking the right platform and targeting the right demographic, paid media can
ensure your message reaches the right audience. However, to do this you need the correct
tools to track your campaigns. There are also great online campaign tools to help you
develop a competitive strategy.

3. SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is all about staying visible on search engine results pages.
It feels like an arcane art sometimes because Google is forever changing its algorithms.
Staying on top of these changes is hard enough but being able to adapt your SEO to these
changes and stay ahead of competitors is the real challenge.

4. EMAIL
Our email inboxes are awash with communications competing for our attention. With so
much competition, you need to make sure you optimize your emails so they stand out from
the crowd. Great email marketing isn’t just about open-rates but click-through and
conversions. It’s not just about getting people to open your emails; you need to
offer actual value.

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5. REPORTING
40% of marketers said that demonstrating the ROI of their marketing activities is one of their
greatest priorities. Marketing professionals are under pressure to prove that their campaigns
are creating business value. These days, marketing is very much a numbers game.

6. BRANDING
Design is a major part of digital marketing. Luckily, you don’t have to be a Photoshop
professional to create stunning visuals. There are a variety of design tools catered to
marketing professionals, whether you’re after a comprehensive info graphic or a
presentation.

CONCLUSION:

WEBLIOGRAPHY
https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/marketing/promotion-marketing/promotion/99783
https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/business/11-important-techniques-of-sales-
promotion/1119