promotion- introduction

It is not enough to have good products sold at attractive prices. To generate sales and profits, the benefits of products have to be communicated to customers.

Promotion is, therefore, about companies communicating with customers.

A business' total marketing communications programme is called the promotional mix and consists of a blend of:

• Advertising

• Direct marketing

• Personal selling

• Sales promotion

• Public relations tools

Promotion has several possible objectives and many pieces of marketing promotion aim to achieve several of the following objectives at the same time:

Inform

Management may need to make their audience aware that their product exists, and to explain exactly what it does. This is a particularly important objective for new products

Persuade

An important stage in creating favourable attitudes towards the business and its brands. Through persuasive promotion, management will seek to persuade customers and the trade that their brand has benefits that are superior to competitors

Image creation

Sometimes, promoting a brand image is the only way to create differentiation in the mind of the consumer (e.g. lager advertising)

Reassurance

Much promotion (particularly advertising) is about reassuring customers that they have made the right choice and encouraging them to stay loyal to a brand.

There are a large and growing number of promotional methods that businesses can use. The main instruments - advertising, direct response mailing, sales promotion, public relations and direct selling, are often mixed together as part of the promotional mix. Each has different strengths.
What is important is that the promotional mix is carefully planned and the results monitored to ensure that the total promotional cost is controlled.