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Promotional Tools
Course Title: Integrated Marketing Communication
Course Code: MKT - 426

Submitted to:
Md. Nur-E-Alam Siddique
Senior Lecturer
Lecturer of ASA University
Faculty of Business, BBA Program

Submitted by:
Foysal Ahmed
ID: 071-12-107
1st Batch
Sec: Marketing-B
ASA UNIVERSITY BANGLADESH

Date of Submission: 11 sep,2010

The Promotional Mix
Promotion is an important part of marketing mix of a business enterprise. Once a product is
developed, its price is determined the next problem comes to its sale i.e., creating demand for the
product. It requires promotional activities. The activities are techniques which bring the special
characteristics of the product and of the producer to the knowledge of prospective customers.
Promotion is a process of communication involving information, persuasion, and influence. The
term 'selling' is often used synonymously with promotion. But promotion is wider that selling.
Selling is concerned only with the transfer of title in goods to the purchaser, whereas promotion
includes techniques stimulating demand. These techniques include advertising, salesmanship or
personal selling and other methods of stimulation demand.

Advertising and sales promotion techniques are indirect and non-personal whereas personal
selling or salesmanship is a direct and personal technique. All these techniques, however, should
be integrated with the marketing objective of the enterprise. The salesmen can report about the
different advertising and other promotional appeals as they are in close touch with the consumer
public and market conditions.

Promotion is essentially the sales efforts of a business enterprise and includes the function of
informing, persuading and influencing the purchase decision of the existing the prospective
consumers with the object of increasing sales volume and profits. Promotion is the efforts of the
seller to sell the product effectively. Promotion is the communication with the customers to
pursue them to buy the product. It is the duty of the marketing manager to choose the
communication media and blend them into an effective promotion program. These are more than
one type of tools used to promote sales. The combination of these tools with a view to maintain
and create sales is known as promotion mix. Promotion mix is the name given to the
combination of methods used in communicating with customers.

Def. 1-Is the specific mix of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations,
Interactive/Internet Marketing, and direct marketing a company uses to pursue its advertising and
marketing objectives

Def. 2-The range of means available to an organization for communication with its target market
- advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, publicity, Interactive/Internet Marketing, and
Direct Marketing.
 Promotion is all about companies communicating with customers.

Advertising - Advertising is a non-personal presentation of goods, services or idea. In

advertising existing and prospective customers are communicated the message through
impersonal media like radio, T.V., newspapers and magazine. It involves transmission of
standard message simultaneously to a large number of people. The message transmitted is known
as advertising

Advantages:

1. Good for building awareness

2. Effective at reaching a wide audience
3. Repetition of main brand and product positioning helps build customer trust

Disadvantages:

1. Impersonal - cannot answer all a customer's questions

2. Not good at getting customers to make a final purchasing decision

When to use and recommendations: This tool can be used for mass promotion ie GSM offers,
its recommended to be used to send the whole market a message taking about the new
promotion.
Sales promotion - Sales promotion consists of all activities other than advertising, personal
selling and publicity, which help in promoting sales of the product. Such activities are non-
repetitive and one time offers. According to American Marketing Association, sales promotion
include, "those marketing activities other than personal selling, advertising and publicity that
stimulate consumer purchasing and dealer effectiveness, such as point of purchase displays,
shows and exhibitions, demonstrations and various non-recurring selling efforts not in the
ordinary routine."

The main aim of sales promotion is to increase sales and profits of the firm but it is quite
different from personal selling and advertising. In personal selling, customer is persuaded by a
sales person face to face. Advertising is a non-personal mass communication media. Sales
promotion, on the other hand, is a non-recurring and non-routine method. Its main aim is to
supplement and coordinate the personal selling and advertising. It is a supporting and
facilitating element of promotional strategy. Sales promotion bridges the gap of advertising and
personal selling

Advantages:

1. Can stimulate quick increases in sales by targeting promotional incentives on particular

products
2. Good short term tactical tool

Disadvantages:

1. If used over the long-term, customers may get used to the effect
2. Too much promotion may damage the brand image
3. Customers will always used to get promotions and will be thirsty for more at each time
the organization provides any promotion.

When to use and recommendations: most of the sales retailers use this tool to encourage sales
especially by the end of each season ie cloths stores.

Public relations - Building good relationships with the companys various publics by
obtaining favorable publicity, building up a good "corporate image", and handling or heading off
unfavorable rumors, stories, and events. Paid intimate stimulation of supply for a product,
service, or business unit by planting significant news about it or a favorable presentation of it in
the media. Examples: Newspaper and magazine articles/reports, TVs and radio presentations,
charitable contributions, speeches, issue advertising, and seminars.
Advantages:

1. Often seen as more "credible" - since the message seems to be coming from a third party
(e.g. magazine, newspaper).
2. Cheap way of reaching many customers - if the publicity is achieved through the right
media.

Disadvantages:

1. Risk of losing control, never could control what others will said about the product.

Personal selling - Personal presentation by the firms sales force for the purpose of making
sales and building customer relationships. A process of helping and persuading one or more
prospects to purchase a good or service or to act on any idea through the use of an oral
presentation. Examples: Sales presentations, sales meetings, sales training and incentive
programs for intermediary salespeople, samples, and telemarketing. Can be face-to-face or via
telephone

Advantages:

1. Highly interactive - lots of communication between the buyer and seller

2. Excellent for communicating complex / detailed product information and features
3. Relationships can be built up - important if closing the sale make take a long time

Disadvantages:

1. Costly - employing a sales force has many hidden costs in addition to wages.
2. Never will be enough to cover the whole network of buyers, especially in the big
organizations.
3. Sometimes its hard to find the suitable caliber to be qualified for this job.

When to use and recommendations: its a tool the big organizations used as to use a dedicated
sales force classified into certain criterias to cover the companys portfolio of customers. I.e.
mobinil

Direct marketing - Direct communications with carefully targeted individual consumers to

obtain an immediate response and cultivate lasting customer relationships. It attempts to send its
messages directly to consumers, without the use of intervening media. This involves commercial
communication (direct mail, e-mail, and telemarketing) with consumers or businesses, usually
unsolicited.
Advantages:

1. Direct marketing enables you to talk directly identify, isolate and communicate with well-defined
target markets.
2. It can be used to test new markets and trial new products or customers.
3. The cost per acquisition of direct mail can be less than other marketing methods.
Disadvantages:

1. Often, direct mailing bothers the customers and many do not prefer it as they say it inhibits their
private lives.

When to use and recommendations: is common in banks and insurance companies as they
collect the data from the clients to call them for up selling a credit card or life insurance policy,
its not recommended to be used at all as by all means it bothers the clients

Interactive/Internet marketing communication through interactive media such as the

Internet, CD-ROMS and kiosks.

Advantages:

1. Your store is open, 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week. Further, your customers are
worldwide in reach, and can shop anytime that they want to
2. The cost of spreading the message is almost nothing compared to the cost of
marketing
3. Updating the subscribers instantly through email.
Disadvantages:

1. Online marketing is not free. The cost of software, hardware, wed site design, maintenance of
the site, online distribution costs, all these factors must be considered during the pricing
phase.
2. The internet is still regarded as a source of information gathering for the majority of your
customers not a shop they can rely on.
3. Many people prefer the live interaction when they buy as to get the most need data and
answer all the questions in mind.
4. Many of the visitors will not want to use their credit card to make a purchase. The fear of
having their credit card info stolen is a clear and present danger in the minds of your visitors.

When to use and recommendations: I believe currently this is the most effective marketing
tool as the internet become an important factor in our daily life, especially after the facilities the
service company provided like the DSL lines which increase the speed of the internet, more over
this tool gives the client the free to watch and compare everything he likes to buys or acquire, I
strongly recommend this tool but with a highly secured precautions.