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Business
Promotion
Promotion
is one of the four elements of marketing mix (product,
price, promotion, and place). It is the communication
link between sellers and buyers for the purpose of
influencing, informing, or persuading a potential
buyer's purchasing decision.
The
following are two types of promotion:
1. Above
the line promotion: Promotion in mass media (e.g. TV,
radio, newspapers, internet, mobile phones, and,
historically, illustrated songs) in which the advertiser
pays an advertising agency to place the advertisement
2. Below
the line promotion: All other promotion. Much of this is
intended to be subtle enough for the consumer to be
unaware that promotion is taking place. E.g.
sponsorship, product placement, testimonials, sales
promotion, merchandising, direct mail, personal selling,
public relations, trade shows
The
specification of five elements creates a promotional mix
or promotional plan. These elements are personal
selling, advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing,
and publicity. A promotional mix specifies how much
attention to pay to each of the five subcategories, and
how much money to budget for each.
A
promotional plan can have a wide range of objectives,
including: sales increases, new product acceptance,
creation of brand equity, positioning, competitive
retaliations, or creation of a corporate image.
Fundamentally, however there are three basic objectives
of promotion. These are:
1. To
present information to consumers as well as others
2. To
increase demand
3. To
differentiate a product.
There are
different ways to promote a product in different areas
of media. Promoters use internet advertisement, special
events, endorsements, and newspapers to advertise their
product. Many times with the purchase of a product there
is an incentive like discounts, free items, or a
contest. This is to increase the sales of a given
product.
The term
"promotion" is usually an "in" expression used
internally by the marketing company, but not normally to
the public or the market - phrases like "special offer"
are more common.
An example
of a fully integrated, long-term, large-scale promotion
are My Coke Rewards and Pepsi Stuff. The UK version of
My Coke Rewards is Coke Zone.
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