The concept of promotion and its tools

Concept of promotion

Promotion covers all the ways a firm tells buyers about its product and wins them over to it, and keeps reminding existing customers. Its purposes are summed up as inform, persuade and remind, and, in Lavidge and Steiner's hierarchy of effects, it moves buyers through awareness, knowledge, liking, preference, conviction and purchase. Promotion also builds the image of the firm and its brands. The specific blend of promotional tools a firm uses is its promotion mix.

Tools of promotion (from the most personal to the least)

1. Personal selling. Oral presentation, in conversation with prospective buyers, to make sales and build relationships.
   • Merits: flexible, two-way, can answer questions and objections, and closes sales.
   • Limitations: high cost per contact; limited reach.
   • Example: a sales executive explaining an insurance policy or an industrial machine.
2. Direct and digital marketing. Direct communication with targeted individuals through e-mail, text messages, catalogues, telemarketing, websites, apps and social media, seeking an immediate response.
   • Merits: precise targeting, personalisation, measurable results and two-way interaction.
   • Limitations: clutter, privacy concerns and irritation if overused.
   • Example: an online store sending personalised offers based on browsing history.
3. Sales promotion. Short-term incentives to encourage immediate purchase: discounts, coupons, free samples, buy-one-get-one, contests, exchange offers, and trade incentives for dealers.
   • Merits: quick boost to sales; encourages trial of new products; clears stocks.
   • Limitations: short-lived effect; frequent use can cheapen the brand.
   • Example: a 20 per cent extra pack of toothpaste or festive exchange offers on appliances.
4. Advertising. An impersonal form of communication paid for by the marketer, carried by television, newspapers, magazines, radio, outdoor hoardings, cinema and digital media.
   • Merits: wide reach at low cost per person; repeated messages build brand image; creative use of sound, colour and images.
   • Limitations: impersonal and one-way; total cost can be very high; buyers may ignore it.
   • Example: a television campaign for a new soft drink during a cricket series.
5. Public relations and publicity. Public relations means planned efforts to earn and keep goodwill with the firm's publics: press releases, events, sponsorships and corporate social responsibility. Publicity is news about the firm or its product carried by an independent medium, such as a newspaper report or a review, without payment: it is non-personal, more believable because it comes from an outside source, but the firm cannot control what is said or when.
   • Merits: high credibility; low cost; builds goodwill.
   • Limitations: the firm cannot fully control the message or timing.
   • Example: a company sponsoring a marathon or publicising its rural education programme.

Conclusion

Each promotional tool has strengths and weaknesses. Firms combine them, under integrated marketing communication, so that they deliver one consistent message and together inform, persuade and remind customers effectively. The choice of blend depends on the product, the market, the stage of the life cycle and the budget. A new brand, for example, leans on advertising and sampling, while an industrial supplier leans on its sales force.