Promotions are prime for any type of art, marketing, and playhouses are no exception.
Most people call this marketing, but this is a promotion.
So, Promotion means to inform customers about the products and convince them to buy them.
During the promotion, we try to share our product, brand, service, etc. to as many people as we can.
Thus, we can say the main motive is to increase brand awareness and sales.
WHAT’S IN IT
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PROMOTION AND MARKETING
Also, Promoting and Marketing are different terms, and they cannot be used for each other.
Promotional marketing definition Promotion is a division of marketing.
Hence, The promotion comes under the category of the promotional mix in marketing.
Thereby, we can say that we can market a product without promotion.
But promotion cannot exist without marketing.
In brief, marketing is part of the pricing process.
It deals with understanding your customer and their needs.
Also, your competitors, and the actual value of what you are providing them.
In conclusion, you get to understand What you are going to sell.
So, Who will be your customer? where will you sell your product? What would be the price of the product? How will you promote your product?
Consequently, Promotional marketing definition says that
Promotion refers to all such activities that inform customers about the product. Also, persuade them to buy these products.
In particular, a promotional mix aims to create awareness about your product.
And convince the actual buyers and potential buyers to buy your product.
A promotional mix strategy keeps your product or service in front of your customer.
WHAT IS PROMOTIONAL MARKETING?
Promotional marketing is the use of any special offer to persuade the customer.
It aims to raise his/her interest to buy your product.
Ordinarily, It can also exist as direct marketing.
Like sending discount coupons, gifts, etc. through emails or messages.
Moreover, the company can organize contests.
And distribute the products as a gift to the winner.
This develops the interest of common people in your product.
Promotion can also be through personal selling as well as advertisement.
In short, the final goal of a promotion is to increase awareness.
And to increase the urge of actual buyers as well as potential buyers to buy the product.
Promotion is valuable to both the company and the buyers(existing and new), as the sale of the company increases.
This finally results in the accomplishment of the final aim of higher profits.
Moreover, it offers new customers a reason to buy a new product.
On the other hand, it builds loyalty in the eyes of the existing customers.
TYPES OF PROMOTIONAL MARKETING
- ADVERTISING
- PERSONAL SELLING
- SALES PROMOTION
- PUBLIC RELATION
- DIRECT MARKETING
1 ADVERTISING
Advertising is an impersonal form of communication.
It promotes any goods/services.
This is the most used tool for promotion.
Through advertising, complete details about goods can be shared with customers.
Subsequently, a large number of the population can get ready to buy our product at a single time.
Various common modes of advertising include→ Newspapers, Magazines, Radio, Television.
SOME FEATURES OF ADVERTISEMENT ARE
- PAID FORM
Advertising is a paid form of communication.
Thus, the marketer has to bear the cost of advertising.
- IMPERSONAL FORM
It is an impersonal form of promotion.
There is no one-to-one contact between the customer and the advertiser.
MERITS OF ADVERTISEMENT
- MASS REACH
Advertising has a larger reach, and it can engage a large number of people at once.
- ENHANCED CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND CONFIDENCE
Advertising develops confidence amongst the existing and new buyers.
Moreover, They feel more comfortable and assured about product quality.
- EXPRESSIVENESS
With the latest technology advertising has become a powerful medium to communicate.
Moreover, through advertisements, simple things are display in an attractive way.
Thus, the buyers get into the influence and buy the product.
- CHEAP
It is cheap because of its mass reach.
The total cost gets divided over a large number of people.
Hence the cost per person reduces.
DEMERITS OF ADVERTISEMENT
- CONFUSES THE BUYER
As a large number of Ads of a similar product are telecasted on the TV.
Also, Each company claims to be better than the other.
Henceforth, this confuses the buyer of which product to choose.
2 PERSONAL SELLING
Personal selling involves one-to-one communication amongst the buyer and the seller for sale.
In this form of promotion, the company needs to hire a salesperson.
This salesperson contacts buyers.
He creates product awareness, but his main motive is to make a sale.
SOME FEATURES PERSONAL SELLING OF ARE
1 PERSONAL FORM
It involves direct face-to-face interaction between the seller and the buyer. Hence this requires personal contact and further leads to interactive discussion.
2 DEVELOPMENT OF RELATIONSHIP
This form creates a friendly relationship between the salesman and the buyer.
This healthy relation generally proves to be beneficial for sales.
SOME QUALITIES OF A GOOD SALESMAN
1 PHYSICAL QUALITIES
A good salesman should have a healthy physique and attractive personality.
2 TECHNICAL QUALITIES
A good salesman should have complete technical knowledge about his product.
3 GOOD COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Success in this field majorly depends upon communication skills.
3 SALES PROMOTION
Sales promotion means small incentives that encourage buyers to make an instant buy.
It includes cash discounts, sales contests, offers, and free sample distribution.
It top-ups other promotional efforts like advertisement and personal selling
This only includes those activities that are to provide short term incentives.
SOME OF THE SALES PROMOTION TECHNIQUES INCLUDES
1 Discount
2 Product combination
3 Lucky draw
4 Usable benefits
5 Contests, etc.
4 PUBLIC RELATIONS
It refers to a variety of programs to promote and protect a company’s image, or it’s products in the eyes of the public.
Hence, the PR Dept. is useful when there is some negative publicity about the company.
ROLE OF PUBLIC RELATION
1 PRESS RELATIONS
The company should always have a positive image in front of the media.
2 PRODUCT PUBLICITY
When the company has to launch a new product the promotion takes place. This is through seminars or conferences.
These seminars and conferences are organized by the PR department.
5 DIRECT MARKETING
Direct marketing means targeting the customer and persuading them to buy the product.
Some of the common ways used for direct marketing include messaging, emails, and texts.
Direct marketing generally eliminates the middlemen like advertising media.
We can check the effectiveness of direct marketing.
compared to advertising or any other.
PROMOTIONAL MARKETING STRATEGIES
Without a plan, we cannot do our targets hence need to have strategies before we start our promotions.
If we don’t form a strategy beforehand, there are high chances to fail and further leading to massive losses.
Few effective Promotional mix strategy consist of→
1 EMAIL MARKETING
We can promote our products and services through email marketing.
email marketing to be beneficial most of the time. It is one of the Most crucial promotional marketing tools.
Through emails, and this we can invite our subscribers to various events.
We can share updates and promote our products and services.
2 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
Social media marketing is one of the most potent promotional marketing tools.
One of the most used and active social media platforms are Instagram and Facebook.
3 CONTENT MARKETING
It is again an excellent method to attract the audience.
You should interact with your audience and try to give them expert tips about your product.
These tips should help them in decision making about the buy of the product.
You should catch on to the requirements of your target audience.
and also try to cater to their needs as possible.
You can start your own brand’s blog and cover hot topics about your product.
It is one of the essential promotional marketing tools.
4 INFLUENCER MARKETING
Most of the decisions about buying a product depend upon the emotions of your customer. The experiences are more valuable to your customer even more than the brand.
You can check out the bloggers and influencers who like your product.
For this, you can use Instagram hashtags and ask them to refer your product to their audience.
You can even send free samples of your product to some of the influencers. Choose influencers whose opinions matter to your targeted audience.
Ask them to be your brand ambassador if they like your product.
It can boost your sales.
5 REFERRAL MARKETING
According to a study, people to believe a recommendation more than any promotion.
To encourage your audience to refer your product/service.
you should offer them some benefit in return.
You can reward them with bonuses or discounts each time they refer to your product.
this boosts the sale of your product.
CONCLUSION
Promotion refers to all such activities which aim to inform customers about the product offered. This convinces them to buy these products.
The promotion comes under marketing, and it is one of the four Ps of marketing.
Promotion is of 5 different types that are→
1 Advertising
2 Personal Selling
3 Sales Promotion
4 Public Relation
5 Direct Marketing
And the various strategy that can be used for promotion include
Email marketing, social media influencer, content marketing, referral marketing, etc