PROMOTION MIX

Introduction & Concepts

 In the face of these sophisticated and cluttered market
conditions, firms endeavor to be heard. Two important
consequences emerge from this turbulent new marketing
context. First, the issue of accountability has become a
primary concern to advertising agencies and for company
leaders that hire those agencies. Currently, company leaders
recognize that they cannot simply spend unlimited amounts
on marketing and advertising programs. The funds must be
spent wisely, and marketing managers increasingly demand
tangible results from their advertising efforts. Thus, a
marketing campaign must yield measurable gains in sales,
brand awareness, or customer loyalty in order to be
considered successful.
The Role of Promotion
Overall
Marketing
Objectives Promotional Mix

•Advertising
Marketing Mix •Sales Promotion
• Product •Public Relations
• Distribution •Publicity
• Promotion •Personal Selling
• Price •Direct Marketing

Target Market
•Promotion Plan
Push versus Pull Strategies
Manufacturer Manufacturer

Push Pull

Wholesaler Wholesaler

Retailer Retailer

Consumer Consumer
Promotion Mix
 The promotions mix consists of:
 Advertising
 Sales promotions (including consumer and trade
promotions)
 Publicity
 Personal selling activities
 Direct marketing
 Public relations programs
 The elements of the promotion mix must blend
together to present a unified message.
Promotion Mix
 Advertising : Any PAID form of NON – PERSONAL
communication about an organization, products,
services or ideas by an IDENTIFIED SPONSOR.
 Sales Promotion : Those Marketing activities that
provide extra value or incentives to the sales force,
distributors, or ultimate consumers and can stimulate
immediate sales.
 Publicity : Non personal communication about an
organization, products, services or idea not directly
paid for or run under identified sponsorship.
Promotion Mix
 Public Relations : The Management function that evaluates
public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an
organization with public interest & executes a programme of
action to earn public understanding & acceptance.
 Personal Selling : A form of person – to – person
communication in which a seller attempts to assist & / or
persuade prospective buyers to purchase the company’s
products or services or to act favorably upon an idea that
has commercial importance from the point of view of a
company.
 Direct Marketing : Organizations communicate directly with
target customers to generate a response & / or a
transaction.
Establishing Marketing Communication
Objectives
 The most common marketing communications objectives that
firms establish are:
 Develop brand awareness
 Increase product/service category demand
 Change customer beliefs or attitudes
 Enhance purchase actions
 Encourage repeat purchases
 Build customer traffic
 Enhance firm image
 Increase market share
 Increase sales
 Reinforce purchase decisions
Tools of IMC
ADVERTISING
 Adv. Is to give public notice or
announcement.
 Adv. is any form of paid non

personal presentation & promotion

of ideas, goods & services by an
identified sponsors.
 Advertising Process
 The 5 M’s of Advertising :

 Mission : What is to be achieved from advertising?

Increased sales, Increased awareness etc.
 Money : How much to spend on advertising?
 Message : What message to convey to the target
audience?
 Media : What media vehicle to use?
 Measurements : How successful was the entire
campaign?
Mission

 Setting Objectives :
 Informative: Product launching, build primary
demand.
 Persuasive: competitive stage, how our
product is superior, selective demand rises.
 Remainder: Product is in the mature stage,
image & brand development.
Money
 Promotion has to spend a high amount of
resources of the organization. While deciding
about the budget, an organization has the
following options :
 All that we can offer.
 Competitive Parity.
 Percentage of Sales.
 Objective based budgeting.
Message
 Creative advertisements are required to promote two
main things:
 Products and services (features, benefits etc.)
 Image of an organization / manufacturer to increase it’s
goodwill.
 The process of developing the advertising message
involves
 Message generation
 Message evaluation
 Message selection
 Message execution.
 Message
 With the target audience in mind, the message should be
something that they can relate to and believe.
 Some ads show people solving problems with the product.
 Some ads simply show people having a good time using the
product.
 The message should be easily understood and be more than
just the facts.
 Eg. In the fashion industry, many advertisements for high-
end designer fashions include social and status benefits of
wearing a particular brand of clothing. (Exclusive use)
 For lower-end clothing, an ad might focus on the product’s
comfort while wearing it or it’s low price.
Message
 How the message is delivered is also important.
 Ads are often designed to appeal to the emotions.
 A few commonly used appeals are:
 Music (Airtel)
 Attractive colours (Scooty Pep Plus in 99 colours)
 Appealing images (Premium Cars)
 Humour
 Testimonial (Amitabh Bacchan promoting ICICI Bank,
Cadbury’s, Navratna Oil).
Message
 Caution must be observed that the ad does not
cross social or legal norms.
 The ad should not be offensive to anyone
including ethnic, racial and minority groups.
 The ad should not be false or deceptive.
 If you are advertising a product for a certain
price, you must be willing to sell it for that price.
 Also, if an item is ticketed at a certain price, you
must be willing to sell it at that price.
Media
 Today there are a number of various media
available, all targeting a specific group of
customers.
 Every media type has its own pros and cons.
 Factors to be considered include Reach,
Frequency, Impact.
 Examples could include television, radio,
outdoor, magazines, internet, newspapers
etc.
Measurement
 To better plan for future advertisements, companies need to set up
formal measurement systems that attempt to evaluate an ads
effectiveness.
 Effective or successful ad campaigns must achieve at least two
objectives:
 Growth in sales.
 Growth in Brand awareness.
 The advertisers must know if the message was effectively
communicated to the target audience.
 Effective communication could be measured by conducting primary
market research to ask if the audience remembers, understands
and believes the advertising message.
 They could also be asked how they feel about the ad and if it might
influence their purchasing decisions in the future
 Sales Promotion
 Sales promotion is a diverse collection of incentive tools,
mostly short term, designed to stimulate quicker or greater
purchase of particular product or service by consumer or
the traders.
 Types of Sales Promotion :
 Consumer Sales Promotion : Where benefits are passed
to the end users.
 Trade Sales Promotions : Where benefits are passed to
the distributors, wholesalers or retailers.
 Sales Force Sales Promotions : Where benefits are
passed to the sales executives.
Major Consumer Sales Promotion
Tools

Sample Trial amount of a product

Savings when purchasing specified

Coupons products

Cash Refunds Refund of part of the purchase price

Reduced prices marked on the label or

Price Packs package
Goods offered free or low cost as an
Premiums incentive to buy a product
Advertising Articles imprinted with an advertiser’s
Specialties name given as gifts
Major Consumer Sales Promotion
Tools

Cash or other rewards for the use of a

Patronage Rewards certain product

Displays and demonstrations that take

Point-of-Purchase place at the point of sale

Contests Consumers submit an entry to be judged

Consumers submit their names for a

Sweepstakes drawing

Presents consumers with something every

Game time they buy
Trade Sales Promotion Tools

 Trade allowances (buying allowances)

 Trade contests and trade incentives
 POP materials, specialty advertising
 Training programs, trade shows
Publicity
Publicity is a non paid form of promotion of
goods and services appearing in the mass
media as a news item.
 Publicity has got a lot of acceptance because

an advertiser will always speak good about is

products but in Publicity some external /
neutral party endorses a particular product
and hence has more credibility.
Public Relations
Most companies have a public relations
department.
It monitors the attitude of the

organization’s public & distributes

information & communications to build
goodwill.
It acts as a trouble shooter when a

negative publicity occurs.

 Functions
 Press relations : present info about company & products
positively
 Product publicity : sponsoring efforts to publicize specific
prods
 Corporate communication : Promoting understanding the
organization through internal & external communication
 Lobbying : dealing with legislators & govt. officials to
promote of defeat legislation and regulations.
 Counseling : advising top management about public
issues & co positions & image.
 Objectives :build awareness, build credibility, stimulate
sales force & dealers hold down promotion cost.
 Tools for PR
 News, stories & media editorial coverage : Product used in a television
or magazine to create brand awareness
 Event & Sports : Eg. GE celebrated the 50 anniversary of Edison’s
invention of the light bulb, president & others lit a bulb at a specific time
announced on radio. Cricket matches, football etc.
 Cause related marketing : A part generated from your purchase will be
given to charity
 Product placement : TV & films use the products, Tom Cruise wore a ray
ban in Top Gun, 30 to 40% increase in sale
 Publications :
 Newspapers
 Magazines
 Outdoor : murals, vehicles, boards etc
 Audio Visual : documentary, radio, tv etc
Forms of Direct Marketing

Face-to-Face
Selling

Online
Telemarketing
Marketing

Kiosk Direct
Marketing Mail

Direct-Response
Catalog
TV Marketing