Marketing Mix

PROMOTION
Promotion in marketing mix

 Promotion is the communication aspect of the marketing mix. It is creating a channel for
conversation with the targeted consumer base. Through promotion, the company aims to
attract the customer’s attention and give them enough information about the product to
foster enough interest to motivate them to purchase.
 Promotion is important when a brand image is being created for the product.
Promotion contd....

 Promotion includes
 Advertisements:
It involves ‘above the line’ promotions. These can take different forms, such as advertising on television, via
internet, in newspapers and magazines and other forms of advertising media.
 Sales promotion:
It involves ‘below the line’ promotions. These are often used for short periods of time in order to reinforce
the above-the-line promotions. Examples include giving money off-coupons, free gifts or products
placements in television programes or newly released films.
Aims of Promotion

To inform people
about particular
issues, often used
by govt.

To introduce new
To create a brand
products on to
image
the market.

Aims of
promotion

To compete with
To increase sales competitor’s
product

To improve the
company image
Advertising

 The activity or profession of producing advertisements for commercial products or

Advertising
• Business decides purpose of advertising
objective

• Deciding budget for advertising by predicting future sales and then spending a
Design the
advertising budget
certain percentage on expected sales.

• Keeping in mind the purpose of advertising designing campaign to attract the

• Targeted customers will suggest the media for advertising

• By measuring the increase or decrease in sales effectiveness of campaign can be

 Sales promotion is a part of the promotional mix where the business uses many short-term
customer-oriented strategies to stimulate the demand for its product by making it look
more attractive and/or worthy.
 Sales promotion is a marketing strategy where the product is promoted using short-term
attractive initiatives to stimulate its demand and increase its sales.
 This strategy is usually brought to use in the following cases –
 to introduce new products,
 sell out existing inventories,
 attract more customers, and
 to lift sales temporarily.
Types of sales promotion
 Price reductions
 Reducing prices in shops at different times of the year and money off-coupons to be used when the
product is next purchased.
 These can be linked to loyalty cards when customers are sent money off-coupons after they have
spent money at shop.
 It encourages the consumers to try the product and hopefully they will become the regular customer
 After sales service
 After sales service refers to various processes which make sure customers are satisfied with the
products and services of the organization. The needs and demands of the customers must be fulfilled
for them to spread a positive word of mouth.
 Free Sample
 After sales service refers to various processes which make sure customers are satisfied with the
products and services of the organization. The needs and demands of the customers must be fulfilled
for them to spread a positive word of mouth.
Types of sales promotion contd...

 Free gifts
  Offering free gifts attract customers as they get more while paying for less.
 BOGOF
 ‘Buy one get one free’ offer. This is where multiple purchases are encouraged.
 Competitions
 Packaging of product may include an entry form which allows customer to enter a competition. The prize is often an
expensive item e.g. a car.
 This encourages customer to buy the product
 Point-of-sale displays and demonstrations
 Point of sale is the place where the product is sold.
 There may be a special display for the product.
 Giving demonstrations to use some products.
Advantages of sales promotion

 It can promote sales at times in the year when sales are traditionally low.
 It encourages new customers to try an existing product
 It encourages the customers to try new products
 It encourages the existing customers to buy a product more often or in greater quantities.
 It encourages customers to buy your product instead of competing brand
Importance of marketing budget

 A marketing budget is a guide to ensure that you are staying on target with estimated
costs vs. the actual costs. Everyone has heard the phrase “You have to spend money to
make money.” However many companies tend to under spend on marketing, thinking that
by not spending they are saving.
 The need for cost effectiveness in spending the marketing budget is very important
 Small firms will find it very difficult to compete with larger ones because of the large
marketing budget available to them
Which type of promotion is to be used

 The following points need to be considered when deciding the method for promotion
 The stage of product life cycle that has been reached, as if the product is new the promotion will
be more informative.
 The nature of product itself, as different methods of promotion will be used among consumer and
producer goods.
 The cultural issues involved in international marketing, as the business might need to consider the
types of promotion in terms of what is acceptable to people in countries where the product is to be
sold.
 The nature of the target market, whether it is local, national, or international and its size.
Public relations/Sponsorships

 A public relations (PR) strategy may play a key role in an organization's promotional
strategy. A planned approach to leveraging public relations opportunities can be just as
important as advertising and sales promotions. Public relations is one of the most effective
methods to communicate and relate to the market. It is powerful and, once things are in
motion, it is the most cost-effective of all promotional activities. In some cases, it is free.
 The success of well-executed PR plans can be seen through several organizations that have
made it a central focus of their promotional strategy. Paul Newman's Salad Dressing, The
Body Shop, and Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream have positioned their organizations through
effective PR strategies. Intel, Sprint and Microsoft have leveraged public relations to
introduce and promote new products and services.
Influence of technology on marketing mix

 Advantages
 No extra costs
 The amount of advertising can be controlled by the company
 Adverts can be adjusted quickly
 The company may have the ability to make the adverts more attractive
 More information can be shown, because the business has control for how much to be shown
 Disadvantages
 This may affect how customers find the website, as in Google search there may be multiple results
 It may cost a lot to create a well-designed website
 Specific demographic group
 Guarantees target customers will see the advert when they go onto Facebook
 Information can be regularly uploaded
 Cheap
 Reaches groups that are difficult to reach any other way
Advertising on social networking
sites(Facebook)
 Advantages
 Targets specific demographic groups.
 Guarantees target customers see advert when they go onto facebook
 Speed in response to market changes- information can be updated regularly.
 Cheap to use- it has no costs if just placing advertisements.
 Reaches the groups that are difficult to reach any other way.
 Disadvantages
 Can alienate customers if they find the adverts annoying
 Have to pay for advertising if using pop-ups
 Lack of control of advertising if used by others
 May be altered or used in a bad way and forwarded on to other users giving the business bad pubicity
Advertising on business’ own website

 Advantages
 No extra cost if own website is already setup
 Control of advertising as it is your own site
 Can change adverts quickly and update pictures / prices etc.
 Interactive adverts can make the adverts more attractive than those in other forms of advertising media such as
magazines and posters
 Can provide more information in adverts and links to other pages with further information and pictures
 Disadvantages
 Potential customers may not see the website as the page may come up in a long list of pages when using a
search engine such as Google
 Relies on customer finding the website
 Design cost of website may be high