Promotion
In today’s business environment where communicating with the customer is everything, Promotion holds a very important place in the Marketing mix. With so much of competition and ‘me too’ products a successful business is one which can communicate effectively with it customers and convince them to buy its products. Promotion is usually thought as advertsing but Promotion is much more than advertising. It involves above the line and below the line activities to communicate with their potential and existing customers and improve sales.
Above the line
Activities include advertising
Advertising means communicating with the customers through a paid media.
Advertising is of two types:
Informative advertising is when the message communicated includes information about size, quantity, ingredients, composition, configuration or content of the product. The idea is to influence people to buy products buy showing the superiority of the product in terms of quantity or quality. This type of advertising is usually common with technological products such as mobile phones or computers.
Persuasive advertising is when the message communicated focuses on persuading the customers to buy the product through celebrity endorsements, or use of glamour.
Usually advertisements have an element of both informative and persuasive advertising.
Mediums of advertising
- Television
- Radio
- Newspaper and magazines
- Posters/billboards
- Leaflets/direct mail
Below the line
activities include all other promotional activities except advertising i.e.
Sales promotion
It includes activities like
- price reduction,
- giving out free gifts with every purchase,
- organising competitions,
- point of sale display,
- demonstrations,
- after-sales service,
- giving out free samples
Sponsorships
It includes sponsoring sports events or cultural shows or fashion shows
Public relations
Organizing press conferences in giving out information about new products or carrying out some social service activity.
Personal selling
where a representative from the company influences the customers to buy the product. It is common for products which are expensive or custom designed. Sales person at a car showroom is a typical example of personal selling.
