Marketing mix- Promotion

Promotion

The businesses use promotion to communicate with CUSTOMERS or POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS.

First!!! There’s something to remind you before you read all this…
ADVERTISEMENT IS NOT THE SAME AS PROMOTION!

There are TWO types of promotion:

-Persuasive promotion: They make you think you need the product and should buy it!
-Informative promotion: They tell you the information of the product.

There are FOUR kinds of promotion:

-Advertisement (Dull…)
-Promotion (Interesting!)
-Public relations
-Personal selling

Advertisement

First, I would like to introduce ADVERTISEMENT, which they advertise the goods or services using an independent MEDIA. (:

This is a list of media we often see:
 Television
 Magazines
 National newspaper
 Local newspapers
 Trade magazines
 Billboards
 Radio
 Cinema

They all have advantages and disadvantages for each media.
And they are pretty obvious, pretty much common sense!

We can, first, separate them into few categories.
We WATCH: Television& cinema
We READ: Magazines, national newspaper, local newspaper
We SEE: Billboards
We LISTEN TO: Radio

We WATCH: Television& cinema

Andvantages:

+Seen by lots of people.
+Create strong images/ good for building brand images
+They can show the product being used.
+Targeted using specialist channels or movies.

Disadvantages:
-They are expensive
-Lots of competitors
-Some people avoid advertisement

We READ: Magazines, national newspaper, local newspaper

Advantages:

+People can refer back to it
+Relatively cheap
+Detailed information
+Targeted

Disadvantages:
-People might flick past them
-Not interesting

However, these three kinds of media are still DIFFERENT in some ways.
 Magazines are more expensive and more segmented than others.
 Magazines are colourful, but newspapers have bad graphics and quality.
 Local newspapers have limited competition=large amount of segment.
 Local newspapers are more geographically targeted than national newspaper.

We SEE: Billboards

Advantages:
+Big
+Cheap
+Good for those simple messages
+Many people see them

Disadvantages:
-Images are still=boring
-People might pass by and ignore them
-Easily become damaged

We LISTEN TO: Radio

Advantages:

+Sound=easy to get people memorising it… by a song?
+Targeted
+Cheaper than TV

Disadvantages:
-No visual images= we can’t see
-Can’t refer back to it

PROMOTION.

Price reduction/ Money off coupons

This is something that can indeed catch your heart!
It encourages you to try the product… and you often become a regular customer afterwards.

Free gifts

The aim for this promotion method is not only to get your attention; they want you to continue buying the product even the promotion has ended.
Sometimes they would like you to collect some coupons and exchange for gifts…
And they are often for kids.

Competition

Sometimes the packaging of a product may include an “entry form” which allows you to enter a competition. The prize is often COOL and EXPENSIVE- encourages you to buy the product.

Free samples

They are often handed out in shops or somewhere around it. This encourages you to try the product and hopefully buy it! (Commonly used with products like food, shampoo and cleaning products)

Point-of-sale display/ Point-of-sale demonstration

Point-of-sale means the place where the product is being sold- usually a shop.
There might be a special display to get attention from people passing by. Beside, they can also demonstrate using the product and encourage people to buy it!

After-sales service

When the product goes wrong in the first few months after you have bought it, you will be able to get it repaired with no additional charge. This might encourage you to buy the product!

So… what’s GOOD about promotion?
 When the sales are traditionally low in a year, it can promote sales at times.
 It encourages new people to try an existing product
 It encourages people to try a new product
 It encourages existing customers to buy the product more often

 It encourages customers to buy your product instead of other competing brands.

PUBLIC RELATIONS
The company needs to do something to raise the public awareness of the company and its product.
E.g. taking part in a sponsored activity or donate some of their products to charity when there has been a natural disaster.

Enjoy the video (:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqyqzir6_UU

PERSONAL SELLING

While those methods of promotion above offer many advantages, they each share one major disadvantage: they are a NON-PERSONAL form of communication.

So… what’s personal selling?
It’s making sale by face-to-face interaction with customers.
It’s all about Interpersonal, interactive and relationship

When do we need to use personal selling?
When the product can vary… E.g. alteration of a house
When the price can vary…
When you need advice or information about the product before buying… E.g. a house
When the product is expensive… E.g. a car

To conclude, I am making a final comparison of the four kinds of promotion.

Advertisement

+Good for building awareness
+Wide audience

+Repetition of brand helps build customer trust

-Impersonal - cannot answer all a customer's questions

-Not good at getting customers to make a final decision

Promotion

+Quick increases in sales by targeting on particular products

+Good short term tool

-If used over the long-term, customers may get used to the effect
-Too much promotion may damage the brand image

Public relations

+More "credible"-since the message seems to be coming from a third party (e.g. magazine)

+Cheap way of reaching many customers

-Cannot always control what other people write or say about your product.

Personal selling

+Highly interactive
+Excellent for complex /detailed product information

+Relationships can be built up

-Costly (wages)

-Not suitable if there are thousands of important buyers

These are all the information.
Make sure you choose the right type& kind of promotion for your product!
As long as you know these, you can control the customers’ mind. (:
However, be careful! There are always disadvantages…