Promotion Mix
| Promotion is an important tool of marketing. Promotion is used to provide complete information to consumers about goods/products or services. Mostly, consumers are requested to buy goods by marking them clear about quality, service and operation method. In other word, the way or the media of presenting proposal to |
Promotion is related to the communication process. This function plays an important role to fulfill the objectives of company or organization. Personal selling is an important part of promotion. It encourages potential customers to buy goods or services. Seller may directly go to buyers or buyers may go to sellers. Sellers give information about goods, price, quality features etc. to the customers. Personal sale is actually a conversation between seller and buyer. So, the seller should be skillful in his / her activity.
Advertisement is also equally important in promotion. It provides ample information or message to the customers about goods. Message about goods can be disseminated to maximum customers at minimum cost. Different media can be used for advertisement. Audio video, radio, television, film slide etc. can be used for advertisement. Newspaper, magazines, books, pamphlets, etc. also can be used. Hoarding boards, poster, mobiles etc. can be used for advertisement.
Giving information about goods and organization without any cost is called propagation. This creates demands and plays important roles in heightening dignity of the organization. Nowadays, promotional media have become very popular in Nepal. Propagation can be made through publication, photography, press conference, speech writings etc. Propagation is a kind of promotional strategy by which information and messages can be disseminated without any cost. Request to social and political persons also can be used for sales promotion.
Short term motivation to the potential customers for buying goods or services is called sales promotion. It encourages them to buy goods immediately. It becomes more effective if personal sale and advertisement help. Trade fair, exhibition, decoration, free sample, gifts, coupon, discount, credit facility etc. are provided. Attractive packaging also advertises by itself and encourages customers to take buying decision.
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| Main Elements of Promotion Mix |
Factors Affecting Determination of Promotion Mix
Promotion mix consists of five elements / factors. Promotion mixing is very complicated strategic task. Proper promotion mix should be prepared to conduct marketing successfully. Promotion mix is directly affected by promotion objective, promotion budget, nature of market, product life cycle, marketing promotion strategy. They are mentioned as follows:
1. Promotion objective
One of the main factors affecting determination of promotion mix is promotion objective. If the customers are to be given clear information and make them aware about the goods intended to sell, special emphasis should be given on advertisement and propagation. Similarly, if the promotion objective is to make potential customers believe and give assurance to them, personal selling and advertisement become important. If the objective of promotion is to get order / demand, personal selling and sales promotion should be very active. If the promotion objective is to remind the customers, advertisement becomes more important. If the promotion objective is for brand loyalty, advertisement and propagation become important.
2. Promotion budget
Sufficient budget should be arranged for promotional functions. In the lack of budget, promotional works cannot be conducted. So, promotion budget also affects promotion mix determination. A lot of budget is needed for personal / individual selling and advertisement. If sufficient budget has been allocated for advertisement, highly responsive personal sale can be conducted, long term advertisement policy and high amount of budget is also not needed for publicity. It needs only good opportunity for propagation. This makes it clear that promotional activities can be determined on the basis of promotional budget. In this way, the fixed / prescribed budget affects promotion mix.
3. Nature of market
Nature of market also affects promotion mix. If the size of targeted market is very small one, way / method becomes effective, and if its size is big, other way / method becomes effective. If the targeted market is consumers' market, advertisement and sale promotional activities should be conducted. If it is industrial market, personal sales and promotional sale should be conducted. Similarly, if the targeted market is very small and is limited in a certain geographical area, personal selling and advertisement should be emphasized. If the market is big, national and international advertisement and business promotion should be emphasized.
4. Nature of product
Nature of product also affects the determination of promotion mix. Products may be consumer target or industrial. Their information cannot be effectively communicated through same activities. Generally, advertisement becomes important for consumer goods whereas personal selling becomes important for industrial goods. Similarly, advertisement and sale promotional activities become important for the low priced goods, whereas personal selling and local advertisement become important for high priced goods. In the same way, personal selling and propagation should be given emphasis for special goods.
5. Product life cycle
Different stages of product life cycle also affect promotion mix. Every product goes through different four stages after it has been produced. At the introduction stage of goods / products, advertisement and propagation should be given emphasis. After the product enters growth stage, only advertisement becomes sufficient. Similarly, careful attention should be paid to the product at its mature stage. If the product has entered the last stage of its life cycle, personal selling, sales promotion and propagation are needed. Whatever tools can save products, the same should be used for promotion.
6. Promotion strategy
There may be several strategies of promotional activities. They also affect promotion mix. They are mentioned in short as follows:
i. Push strategy
The producers can push their products using their force. In this strategy, products are pushed to the final consumers through distribution channel. Personal selling and trade promotion become important.
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| Pushing Strategy |
ii. Pull strategy
In this strategy, the customers demand goods from retailers. Retailers demand from wholesalers and wholesalers demand from producers. For such strategy, advertisement becomes very important.
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| Pulling Strategy |
iii. Interpersonal strategy
Interpersonal strategy is also one of the strategies. In this strategy, personal selling becomes more important. So, this tool of promotion should be adopted.
iv. Mass communication strategy
If the promotion strategy is in favor of mass communication, sales promotion should be given special importance. Similarly, advertising and publicity are also equally important.
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| Factors Affecting Promotion Mix Determination |
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