Promotion mix: It refers to all the decisions related to the promotion of sales of products and services. The important decisions of promotion mix are selecting advertising media, selecting promotional techniques, using publicity measures and public relations etc.
There are various tools and elements available for promotion. These are adopted by firms to carry on their promotional activities. The marketer generally chooses a combination of these promotional tools.
Following are the tools or elements of promotion. They are also called elements of promotion mix:
1. Advertising
2. Sales promotion
3. Personal selling
4. Public relation
1. Advertising: Advertisement can be defined as the “paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of the idea, goods or services by an identified sponsor”.
It is an impersonal presentation where a standard or common message regarding the merits, price and availability of product or service is given by the producer or marketer. The advertisement builds a pull effect as advertising tries to pull the product by directly appealing to the customer to buy it.
Advertisement can be defined as the “paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of the idea, goods or services by an identified sponsor”.
It is an impersonal presentation where a standard or common message regarding the merits, price and availability of product or service is given by the producer or marketer. The advertisement builds a pull effect as advertising tries to pull the product by directly appealing to the customer to buy it.
2. Sales Promotion: Sales promotion refers to short-term use of incentives or other promotional activities that stimulate the customer to buy the product.
Sales promotion techniques are very useful because they bring :
• The short and immediate effect on the sale.
• Stock clearance is possible with sales promotion.
• Sales promotion techniques induce customers as well as distribution channels.
• Sales promotion techniques help to win over the competitor.
3. Personal- Selling: Personal selling means selling personally. This involves face to face interaction between seller and buyer for the purpose of sale. The personal selling does not mean getting the prospects to desire what the seller wants but the concept of personal selling is also based on customer satisfaction.
4. Public Relations: Apart from four major elements of the marketing mix, another important tool of marketing is maintaining Public Relations. In simple words, public relations means maintaining public relations with the public. By maintaining public relations, companies create goodwill.
Public relations evaluate public attitudes; identify the policies and procedures of an organisation with the public interest to earn public understanding and acceptance.
The public does not mean only customers, but it includes shareholders, suppliers, intermediaries, customers etc. The firm’s success and achievement depend upon the support of these parties, for example, a firm needs the active support of middlemen to survive in the market, it must have good relations with existing shareholders who provide capital. The consumers’ group is the most important part of the public as the success of a business depends upon the support and demand of customers only.
