Marketing Mix – Promotion

Promotion
• The promotion of a product involves the communication
of various messages to existing or potential
customers.
• These messages may be aimed at informing customers
(e.g. telling them about modifications to the product or
promotional offers) or persuading them (e.g. putting
across a products benefits compared to the competitors.) a
firm can promote its products in various ways.
• Promotion mix: the combination of promotional
techniques that a firm uses to sell a product.
Why is promotion an important part of the marketing
mix?
• Promotion involves communicating with potential
customers
• It helps increase awareness and create an image in
consumer minds
• The combination of all promotion techniques used
(advertising, direct selling, sales promotion) is known as
promotion mix
• The promotional budget is a key factor when making
promotion mix decisions
Promotion objectives
Aims of having promotional objectives:
• Increase sales by new customers
• Raise customer awareness
• Remind customers about the USP/distinctive qualities of product
• Increase purchases by existing customers
• Create and re-enforce a brand image
• Correct misleading reports/image about a product
• Develop a public image about the business
• Encourage retailers to stock and promote their product to final
customers
 Methods of Promotion
1. Advertising
Advertising is communicating information about a product or business
through the media, such as radio, TV and newspapers. Because it is paid
for, it is also known as ‘above the line’ promotion.

Above the line promotion is a form of promotion that is undertaken by a

business by paying for communication with consumers. (directly paid for)
Types of advertising

Its effectiveness depends on selecting the appropriate

target market and suitable media . They help to increase
awareness and long-term brand loyalty
and image. Advertisements are often classified into two
types:-
• Persuasive – involves creating a distinct image for the
product and encouraging repeat purchases.
• Informative – give information about the product’s
features, USP, qualities, etc. usually used for new
products. Used to attract new customers
 Advertising Agencies
• They are firms who advertise businesses in the most effective
way possible. They are expensive but are specialists and will
provide the entire promotional plan for a business
• Stages in creation of a promotional plan:
– Research the market and establish a consumer profile
– Identify and advise on the most cost-effective forms of media to use
– Use creative designers to design adverts appropriate to the selected
media
– Display or print out the adverts
– Monitor public reactions to improve future ads
 Advertising methods
• Print advertising - This
includes advertising in
newspapers, magazines,
posters and specialist
publications.
 Advertising methods
2. Broadcast advertising -This is advertising on TV and radio,
and in cinemas.
Advantages
• Adverts have visual appeal and can create a brand image through the
actors used.
• National or even international coverage is possible.
• It can remain in the memory of consumers for a long time if visually
dramatic.
Limitations
• It is expensive to buy media time.
• It is expensive to design and produce the adverts.
• There is no permanent hard copy.
 Advertising methods
3. Outdoor advertising
This includes advertising on billboards and bus shelter posters.
• It is cheaper compared to other media.
• It can be located in prime positions with many potential consumers
passing by.
• It can be read/seen more than once.
Outdoor advertising has limitations:
• The best locations are often most expensive.
• It can be damaged or vandalised.
• Many passers-by will not notice this type of advertising
Advertising methods
4. Product placement advertising -Products are featured in
TV shows and films. The benefits for this methods are: -
• The chosen shows or films will be targeted at a particular type of consumer.
• This creates a desirable image if the product is associated with famous actors
or shows.
• It is not explicit advertising. Some consumers assume the product is being
used because it is desirable, not because a business has paid for the
placement.
Product placement advertising has limitations:
• The show, film or actors may become less popular.
• It is very expensive if the show or film is well known.
 Advertising methods
5. Guerrilla advertising - Products are advertised at surprising
and unconventional events to make the public take notice.
• It is low cost: graffiti paint on walls is low cost, but it is best to gain permission
first!
• It can be creative, inventive and can appeal to young consumers.
• It encourages word-of-mouth communication between potential consumers.
• A staged event can receive free publicity from the media.
Guerrilla advertising has limitations:
• The message may be misunderstood.
• It may be considered irresponsible and lead to a negative backfire.
• It may be remembered for the wrong reasons.
 Advertising methods
6. Sponsorship
This involves payment by a business to become associated with an event, an
individual or a sports team. It could lead to the business logo appearing on a team’s
shirts, for example. Advantages include:
• the good publicity of being associated with big sporting and other events
• global press and TV coverage of the largest events
• the success of the team or individual can lead to greatly increased interest in the brand.
For example, it is estimated that for every Rs1 spent on sponsoring a team in the Tour de Maurice
cycle race, Rs 5 of free publicity is received.
Sponsorship has limitations:
• It can be very expensive, for example, it costs up to Rs1m to sponsor a Tour de Maurice team.
• Failure of the event, team or individual can reflect badly on the brand
 Advertising methods
7. Digital advertising
Digital advertising (also known as online advertising) is a form of marketing used by companies to
promote their brand, product, or service through digital channels. It consists of actions in web
browsers, social media pages, blogs, apps, or any other form of contact through the Internet
Advantages Disadvantages
• Global Reach. Traditional marketing • Time Consuming
is restricted by geography and • High competition
creating an international marketing • Security issues
campaign can be hard, expensive,
as well as labor-intensive. ...
• Local Reach. ...
• Tailored Targeting.
• The Ability to Track Results.
Factors influencing the choice of advertising media

• Cost – TV, radio and cinemas are very expensive whereas newspapers
emails and leaflets are cheaper forms
• Size of audience – it will allow the cost per person to be calculated. Larger
the size, wider reach media must be used like national or international
newspaper
• Consumer profile of target audience (Income, age, interest)– this will help
in designing the advert and identifying which media to use.
• Message to communicate – written forms are most effective as their hard
copy can be stored
• Other aspects of marketing mix – all marketing mix aspects must be kept
in mind to ensure they are integrated as closely as possible
• Legal and other constraints – there maybe constraints as to what ads can
contain in diff erent countries, so
 Sales Promotion
A sales promotion is a marketing strategy in which a business
uses a temporary campaign or offer to increase interest or
demand in its product or service. The objective is to achieve
increase in short term sales. Since, it is not paid by a business,
it is known as below-the-line promotion.
Below-the-line promotion refers to promotion that is not a
paid-for means of communication, but based on short term
incentives to purchase.
Advertising v/s sales promotion

Advertising and sales promotion are two different

techniques of promotion
Advertising Sales promotion

Directly paid-for by the business Not paid-for by the business

Above the line promotion Below the line promotion

Aims for long term communication and Aims for short term communication and
objectives objectives
 Sales promotion techniques
Technique Description Possible Drawbacks

Discounts Temporary reductions in prices to encourage • Lower gross profit margin

more purchased from existing customers • Negative impact on quality and image of product
and attract new customers
They are focused on off ering a price • Some customers may already be buying multiple unit
Money-off discount. E.g a coupon at the back of a of the product. Retailers may not have enough stock,
coupons cereal box which offers ‘10% on your next leading to customer disappointment
cereal box’
Customer Focused on encouraging repeat purchases. • Discount affect profit margin
loyalty (e.g winners card collecting points) • High administration cost
schemes • Customers may have loyalty cards from different
stores
BOGOF This encourages multiple purchases, which • Substantial fall in profi t margin
Buy one get reduces the demand for competitors’ • If used to sell of stock, may impact brand image
one free products too • Current sales may increase, but future sales may fall

Point of Placing products in attractive and • Only offered to market leaders who have greater
sales informative places to attract customers market share
displays passing by • New products may struggle
Direct promotion

Direct promotion refers to sales communication which are

delivered directly to consumers without the use of any
intervening media. Examples includes:
– Personal or house to house selling
– Direct mail
– Telemarketing
 Direct promotion methods
1. Personal selling - It involves having a sales staff communicating and selling the
product to each customer individually with the aim to establish a long term
relationship between business and customers.
• It is usually used for expensive and luxury product such as cars, furniture
• It is effective with expensive and complex products that require specialist
knowledge.
• Sales success rates are often high with skilled direct-sales employee
However, the limitations are:
• Customer might not like it as it is persuasive and they feel the pressure to
purchase the product
• This technique is expensive
• Business need to ensure that staff are well trained
 Direct promotion methods
2. Direct Mail -Information is directly sent to potential
customers, identified by market research who have have
potential interest in a type of product e.g . a mailshot. It is
well-focussed on the customers. Direct mail is sent out by
post.
• This is low cost and well-defined areas/regions can be targeted.
• It is easy to evaluate the success of a campaign by checking response rates
(e.g. tear-off slips).
Direct mail has limitations:
• Many potential consumers now prefer digital communication.
• The mailing may be viewed as junk mail and quickly thrown away
Direct promotion methods
3. Telemarketing -This includes all marketing activities conducted over the
telephone (often from customer call centres), including selling, market
researching and promoting products.
• Telemarketing can be outsourced to an agency. They may charge for the cost
of the script to be used and then on an hourly basis, or might charge for each
cold call (phone based) that leads to an interested potential customer being
contacted again.
• This is lower cost than personal selling.
• It is easy to monitor the response/rejection rate.
Telemarketing has limitations:
• Many consumers object to cold-calling.
• It is very easy for consumers to reject a telemarketing message
 Digital promotion
• It refers to online promotion - that is communication of
information to customers via internet in the following ways:
• Social media -Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram
• Email
• Websites -Ebay, Amazon
• Phone
• Search Engine Optimization -Google, Yahoo, Bing, Firefox
• Online -Pop up about product ads
• Viral Marketing -target influencers who are famous to
promote the product
 Digital Promotion

Advantages Disadvantages

• Directed towards the target customers • Time consuming

• Global coverage
• Cost effective in relation to the number of
customers targeted
• Adverts can be personalised for each business
• Responses to adverts can be monitored through
likes, views and subscribes
• Security issues concerning online ads and
purchases
• Easily seen by competitors
• Requires programming skills or need to employ
someone for this purpose
• Target customers may get annoyed with daily,
frequents ads
Extension: Measuring success of promotions
It is vital that marketing managers gather as much evidence as possible about the success (or failure) of existing
promotion campaigns to allow them to take better decisions in the future. The best ways of assessing the success of
promotions are:
 Sales performance before and after the promotion campaign: By comparing the sales of the product before the
campaign was launched, with the daily and weekly sales during and after the campaign.
 Consumer awareness data: Each week, market research agencies publish results of consumer recall or
awareness tests, based on answers to a series of questions concerning the advertisements they have seen and
responded to. This gives businesses rapid feedback on the progress of a promotion campaign.
 Consumer panels: These are useful for giving qualitative feedback on the impact of promotions and the
effectiveness of advertisements.
 Response rates to advertisements: Newspaper and magazine adverts often have tear-off slips for consumers to
request more details. Even TV adverts can ask for consumers to ring in, perhaps with the chance of winning a
competition. Websites can record the number of hits and video-sharing sites can record the number of times an
uploaded advert has been viewed.
 Social media feedback: The rapid response rate of social media users to new products or new promotions is
perhaps now the most widely used measure of marketing success or failure.
The role of packaging in promotion

Packaging described the physical wrapping of a product.

Functions of packaging:
• Protecting the product
• Provide information about the product
• Support the image of the product created by other aspects of
promotion
• Aid the recognition of the product by consumers
Distinctive packaging can help to form the basis of
promotional theme, which will ensure as long as the product
e.g the bright red of Coca Cola cans.
Cheap and unattractive packaging of goods such as clothes or chocolates will ruin the quality
and status image that the firm. Distinctive packaging can help to form the basis of a promotional
theme, which will endure as long as the product. The bright red of Coca-Cola cans is a feature of
advertisements for the product, while Pepsi is instantly recognisable by its blue cans.

Expensive and wasteful packaging may add unnecessarily to costs, which could reduce a
product’s competitiveness. With increasing environmental pressures, packaging that is seen to be
too pretentious or cannot be recycled may result in a negative consumer reaction. For this reason,
the use of recycled and recyclable materials in packaging is increasing and this helps to support the
image of sustainable brands.

Some packaging advances can overturn the sale and promotion of products. Fresh food is often sold
in airless packaging that reduces contact with the environment to increase shelf life. Tetra Brik (a
registered trademark) boxes have given milk and fruit juice manufacturers many new marketing and sales
opportunities. As with all other aspects of marketing, packaging decisions need to be blended with the
overall objectives of the business for its product.
 The role of branding in promotion
Branding describes the strategy of differentiating products from
those of competitors by creating an identifiable image and
clear expectations of a product. A brand is the name given by a
business to a product of range of product
Aims of branding
• Aiding consumer recognition
• Making the product distinctive from competitors’
• Giving the product an identity or personality that consumers
can relate to
 The role of branding in promotion
The choice of brand name is an important part of the overall marketing strategy and there are
specialist agencies that will advise firms on name suitability. The proposed name are verified prior
to ensure that it has not been registered by another company and that it does not have an
unfortunate meaning in other languages. They will survey consumers to measure their reaction to
the proposed brand name. The benefits of effective branding include:

• Higher chances of brand recall by consumers

• Clear differentiation from competitors’ products
• Allow the creation of a ‘family’ of closely associated products with the same brand name
• Demand may become inelastic- It reduces the responsiveness of consumer demand to a price
increase. Consumers often have preferences for well-known brands and are prepared to pay a
high price for them. This gives the business a high profit margin
• Higher consumer loyalty
 Own label brands
These are ranges of goods that have been launched by
retailers under their own store name e.g Winner’s pulses in
Mauritius. The retailers do not actually produce them but, they
buy them in bulk and then sell in smaller quantities using their
own label.
Advantages
• Reasonable quality product
• Bought in bulk with bulk discounts
• Full control over the marketing of their product.