Plan Promotion
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Communication and Promotion – promotional messages from businesses, organizations, government agencies, and political candidates bombard you on a regular basis. Each day newspapers, television and radio programs, and mailboxes are filled with advertisements. Side of buses, tops of taxis, even posters in restaurant restrooms contain promotional messages asking you to buy something, support a cause, or change an opinion. Every time you visit the World Wide Web, you are exposed to a variety of virtual promotions. It is apparent that businesses and organizations believe in the power of promotion, but is it effective? What determines whether promotion is used well or not?
Promotion is any form of communication used to inform, persuade, or remind. It is used to influence knowledge, beliefs, and actions about products, services, or ideas. To plan effective promotion, marketers must first understand the communication process.
The Communication Process – Effective communication is the exchange of information so there is common understanding by all participants.
Communication begins with a person or organization (the sender) that has information to communicate to another person or organization (the receiver). The sender chooses the way (communication channel) the information will be transmitted to the receiver. Before sending the message, the sender decides the form in which the information will be sent – text, spoken words, pictures. Preparing the information to be communicated is called encoding. The receiver obtains the information from the channel and interprets it for understanding (decoding). To be sure that the communication achieved the desired result, the sender needs to have a response from the receiver (feedback). If the receiver received the information and responds in a way the sender wanted, communication was effective. If the receiver doe not respond or acts in an unexpected way, communication failed.
Communicating Through Promotion – Promotion is an important form of communication. A business needs to provide information to consumers in order to persuade them to make a purchase. As the sender, the business decides what information to provide. The consumer is the receiver. The information is encoded in the form of a promotional message such as an advertisement. The business chooses an information channel. Common promotional channels include advertising media, salespeople, and the Internet. If the consumer sees or hears the message, it is decoded. The response of the consumer gives feedback to the business about the business about the effectiveness of the promotion.
Choosing target markets and studying their needs and decision-making process can make promotion more effective. Early messages get attention and give simple information about the product or service and the needs it satisfies. Later promotions can compare the product to competing brands. They may point out advantages that are important to the target market. When customers purchase the product, promotions can switch to providing reinforcement of their decision and offering after-sale services.
Types of Promotion – An inventor asks you for advice on how to promote a new type of cellular telephone that combines high-speed video and audio. What types of promotion would you recommend? Would it be a glitzy television campaign or direct mail to cellular service subscribers? Maybe you would suggest test messaging delivered to cell phones. There are many choices for promotional communications. The types of promotion are divided into personalized promotion and mass promotion. Personalized promotion communicates directly with each customer using information tailored to that person. Mass promotion communicates with many people at the same time with a common message.
Personalized Promotion – is the most effective form of marketing communication. It is also the most expensive. The most well-known type of personalized promotion is personal selling. Personal selling is direct, individualized communication with prospective customers to assess their needs and assist them in satisfying those needs with appropriate products and services. Personal selling usually is done face-to-face with each other. The customer visits the business to meet with a sales person or the salesperson goes to the home or the business of the customer. Personal selling also can be completed using telephone calls or live audio and video Internet connections. Because personal selling is often used for complex and expensive products and services, it may require several contacts between the salesperson and the customer to complete the sale.
Mass Promotion – is directed to many people at the same time. If the people are from the same target market, they will have like needs. Because the promotional message is aimed at many people, it cannot be as individualized and specific as personalized promotion. Reaching many people with the same message through mass media is much less expensive. While a large company may spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a television advertisement, it reaches more than a million people. Therefore the cost of the message for each customer is quite low.
Advertising is the most known and used type of mass promotion. Advertising is any paid form of communication through mass media directed at identified consumers to provide information and influence their actions. The most common advertising media are television, radio, newspapers, magazines, mass mailings, outdoor displays, and the Internet.
Customers are exposed to hundreds of communications including promotional communications in the media each day. The messages are not designed for direct delivery to individuals. These advertisements must be designed to attract attention and focus the consumer on a small amount of specific information. Most advertisements do not result in an immediate sale. Rather, they attempt to influence prospects to take additional action such as visit a store, gather more information, or test the product.
Other types of mass production are publicity, sales promotion, and public relations. Publicity is non-paid promotional communication presented by the media rather than by the business or organization that is being promoted. Public relations is an ongoing program of non-paid and paid communications. It is planned to favorably influence public opinion about an organization, marketing effort, idea, or issue. Sales promotion includes activities and materials designed to reinforce a company’s brand and image.
Mass Personalization – businesses can combine the advantages of personalized and mass promotion by using mass personalization promotion. Mass personalization begins with promotion through mass media such as newspapers, mass mailings, or the Internet. Prospective customers see the advertisement and become interested in the product or service. The company then provides as easy-to-use method for the consumer to gather more personalized information.
A consumer who views an Internet advertisement or uses a search engine to gather information can be encouraged to complete an online survey. The questions in the survey provide the business with more information about the consumer, including their wants and needs. When the survey is submitted, the consumer is taken to a more specific web site tailored to their profile or they are send specific information via email. They can even contact an online customer service representative who can answer more detailed questions.
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