Unit:1 Market Promotion decisions

Prepared by: Abin Varghese Class: S.Y B.B.A

Concept of market promotion

Promotion is one of the four elements of marketing mix (product, price, promotion, 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 market promotion itself means that all the elements present in the market are promoted.

 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.

Market promotion as marketing communication

Marketing communications is a process for managing customer relationships that drive brand value primarily through communication as well as promotional efforts. Marketer initiated techniques used to set up channels of information and persuasion with targeted audiences to influence attitudes and behavior Promotion Message and Media

Elements of market promotion

Personal selling: It involves selling product to individually or personally to customers direct communication between seller and buyer. Oral presentation in a conversation with one or more prospective purchasers for the purpose of making a sale Other promotional elements move the customer toward the sale, personal selling closes the sale It has a face to face contact so the selling has a impact of persuasion power of the salesperson

Usually used to sell industrial goods and services and consumer durables or unwanted goods.

Advertising:
Non personal form of communication which directs a message towards informing the people Advertising is a form of communication used to encourage or persuade an audience (viewers, readers or listeners) to continue or take some new action. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common. The purpose of advertising may also be to reassure employees or shareholders that a company is viable or successful. Advertising messages are usually paid for by sponsors and viewed via various traditional media; including mass media such as newspaper, magazines, television commercial, radio advertisement, outdoor advertising or direct mail; or new media such as websites and text messages.

sales promotion:
Various techniques adopted to promote the increment of sales is called sales promotion. Whereas advertising gives a reason to buy, SP gives an incentive to buy. it is of two types (i) consumer (ii) trade

(Forms of trade promotion)

Bulk discounts Free materials Display windows Lucky draws Redistribution incentives Shop salesmen incentives

(Forms of consumer promotion)

Free samples Free gifts Coupons In-packs Price packs Price-offs Sweepstakes

Publicity
Any Information that attracts attention to a company, product, person, or event is called publicity. A third party, usually from the media, is often employed to generate publicity. Generating news about a product or service in the media Short-term News isnt always positive or under the control of the organization (whereas PR provides positive info about a firm and is usually controlled by the firm)

Public relations:
Public Relations is the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between on organization and its publics. - Institute of Public Relations, USA Everything involved in achieving a favorable opinion.-George F. Meredith Public Relations is distinctive management function which helps establish and maintain mutual lines of communication, understanding, acceptance and cooperation between an organization and its publics; involves the management of problems or issues; It helps management to keep informed on and responsive to public opinion; defines and emphasizes the responsibility of management to serve the public interest; helps management keep abreast of and effectively utilize change, serving as an early warning system to help anticipate trends; and uses research and sound and ethical communication as its principal tools."

Objective of market promotion

Build Awareness New products and new companies are often unknown to a market, which means initial promotional efforts must focus on establishing an identity. In this situation the marketer must focus promotion to: 1) effectively reach customers, and 2) tell the market who they are and what they have to offer. Create Interest Moving a customer from awareness of a product to making a purchase can present a significant challenge. As we saw with our discussion of consumer and business buying behavior, customers must first recognize they have a need before they actively start to consider a purchase.

 Provide Information Some promotion is designed to assist customers in the search stage of the purchasing process. In some cases, such as when a product is so novel it creates a new category of product and has few competitors, the information is simply intended to explain what the product is and may not mention any competitors. In other situations, where the product competes in an existing market, informational promotion may be used to help with a product positioning strategy. Stimulate Demand The right promotion can drive customers to make a purchase. In the case of products that a customer has not previously purchased or has not purchased in a long time, the promotional efforts may be directed at getting the customer to try the product. This is often seen on the Internet where software companies allow for free demonstrations or even free downloadable trials of their products.

 Reinforce the Brand Once a purchase is made, a marketer can use promotion to help build a strong relationship that can lead to the purchaser becoming a loyal customer. For instance, many retail stores now ask for a customers email address so that follow-up emails containing additional product information or even an incentive to purchase other products from the retailer can be sent in order to strengthen the customer-marketer relationship.

Factors affecting market promotion

Type of Product or service: For different type of product or service different types of promotional strategies are designed. For example a promotional campaign of a car in India would be different than that of it in US. This would be dependent on the requirement of the specific target market not differing from it. A false approach could create a chaos in the delivery of the message by the company. Stage in the Product Life Cycle: In different stages of the PLC different type of campaigns are followed for e.g. if a new product is introduced the emphasis of the message would be more on the awareness rather than reduction of price or service of the product.

Target Market Characteristics: Target market defines the specific segment of the market to whom the offering is made. Because at last it is the target market whose needs matter. Understanding the correct target market characteristics is in the interest of the company. For e.g habit, preference, form, features etc. Actions of Competitors: The activities of the competitors helps as a benchmark as well as a lesson on which promotional message, activities or medium through which the efforts of promotion should be done and it acts as a monitor on current trends

Available Funds: The available financial resource guides organization to use the available financial resource to optimum resource capability. Finding appropriate means to achieve maximum reach on the customers or consumers.

End of unit-1