What is promotion? Few products—no matter how well they are developed, priced, and distributed—will sell well if they are not properly promoted. Promotion involves all the techniques marketers use to inform targeted customers of the benefits of a product and persuade them to purchase it. Promotion is designed to increase brand awareness, brand loyalty, and sales and is, therefore, one of the most visible components of the marketing mix.

Finding the best way to communicate the benefits of a product and persuade customers to buy it is a critical job of marketers. Should a product be advertised, or is personal selling more appropriate? If advertising is used, is it best to advertise through newspapers, television, the Internet, or another source? Beyond advertising and personal selling, what types of public relations activities might be most appropriate? These are just a few of the questions that marketers must ask when promoting a product.

What are the most popular tools marketers use to promote a product? The following four basic promotional tools are used to promote a good or a service:

• Advertising

• Public relations

• Personal selling

• Sales promotions

The promotional mix is the strategic combination of the promotional tools used to reach targeted customers to achieve marketing objectives. The elements of the promotional mix are illustrated in Figure 14.1. Notice that the product is also included as an element in the promotional mix. It can be a promotional tool because its features may be promoted by giving away free samples of the good or service, as Danny Corbett did.

Figure 14.1

The Promotional Mix

Efficient organizations search for the optimal or most cost-effective promotional mix given their marketing objectives and budgetary constraints. The optimal promotional mix for a given product will vary depending on the goals of the promotional campaign.

What are the steps involved in a promotional campaign? It is best to plan out a promotional campaign to determine the right balance of activities and their timing. Although each campaign will differ depending on the specific needs of the product, the basic steps are as follows:

1. Identify the target market. Recall that a target market is a specific group of potential customers on which marketing efforts are focused. The promotional campaign should devote its promotional activities to that market first.

2. Determine the marketing objectives. Is a business trying to maximize profits, sales, or market share? Is the goal to build traffic, build brand awareness, or bolster a brand image? Is a business trying to introduce a new product or respond to an attack by a competitor? Whatever the marketing objective is, the goal should be clearly defined and measurable.

3. Determine the budget. The best combination of promotional activities can be determined by finding the mix that results in the biggest bang for the buck—but it still needs to stay within a predetermined budget that is set in tandem with the finance department.

4. Design the message. The message should inform customers of the product’s benefits and be echoed by all other elements of the promotional mix.

5. Implement the promotional mix. It is important to ensure that the variety of tools and resources used in a promotional campaign all work together harmoniously. Integrated marketing communications is a strategy to deliver a clear, consistent, and unified message about a company and its products to customers at all contact points. This strategy contrasts with allowing members of an organization to develop in isolation their own communications with customers, something that could give rise to conflicting messages, consumer confusion, and ultimately lost sales.

6. Evaluate and adjust as needed. The effectiveness of any promotional mix needs to be measurable. In addition, each element of the mix, as well as the entire combination of the mix, will need to be adjusted periodically to continue to respond to market changes, or to correct ineffective promotional techniques.