4.5. Promotion

Promotion

Many of the practical activities of the marketing department are related to promotion. Promotion is the element of the mix over which the marketing department generally has most control.

Promotion in the marketing mix includes all marketing communications which let the public know of the product or service:

· Advertising

· Sales promotion (discounts, coupons, special displays in particular stores)

· Direct selling by sales personnel

· Public Relations

Lancaster and Withey (2005) identified the following elements of successful advertising. It must be:

· Well planned and executed

· Effective as a method of communication

· Part of an overall effective promotional mix

· Aligned with the overall values and mission of the company

The range of promotional tools

· Above the line campaigning is advertising placed in paid for media such as the press, radio, TV, cinema and outdoor sites. The line is one in an advertising agency’s accounts, above which are shown its earnings on a commission basis, from the buying of media space for clients

· Below the line promotion involves product integral and negotiated sales incentives, such as packaging, merchandising, on-pack discounts and competitions.

The shift is from an intervention-based approach to marketing communications (one based on seeking the attention of a customer who might not necessarily be interested), towards permission-based communications (where the focus is upon communications with members of an audience who have already expressed an interest in a particular offering’.

The product life cycle and promotional strategy

The impact of changing technology on promotional strategies (such as viral marketing, social media marketing and social networking)

Marketing Communications

When conducting a marketing campaign, there is a range of possible communication methods and channels the campaign could utilize.

The Promotion mix

The promotion mix consists of the blend of promotional tools that are considered appropriate for a specific marketing campaign. These tools represent the deployment of deliberate and intentional methods calculated to bring about a favourable response in the customer’s behaviour. Approaches to promotion may be grouped in three general categories:

· Mass media – the whole market segment is targeted with the same communication

· Personal and interactive – two-way communication between a sales person and potential customer

· Personal and direct – one-way communication from the seller to the potential customer, usually by letter or email.

Task 2: In your opinion, how effective is the use of brand ambassadors to promote a technological product?

Types of Marketing

· Consumer marketing (the 4Ps)

· Services marketing (the 3Ps of the extended marketing mix)

· Direct/indirect marketing

· Guerrilla marketing

· Viral marketing

· Interactive marketing

· Experiential marketing

Direct marketing

Direct marketing is the ‘planned recording, analysis and tracking of customer behaviour to develop relational marketing strategies’. Because direct marketing removes all channel intermediaries apart from the advertising and delivery mediums, it is known as a ‘zero level channel’.

Direct marketing encompasses a wide range of media and distribution opportunities such as:

· Television

· Radio

· Direct mail

· Inserts

· Telemarketing

· The internet

(a) Telemarketing

One form of direct marketing is telemarketing. Telemarketing is a quick, accurate and flexible tool for gathering, maintaining and helping to exploit relevant up-to-date information about customers and prospects. Telemarketing is the planned and controlled use of the telephone for sales and marketing opportunities.

The characteristics of telemarketing include the message being targeted to the recipient, it is personal, interactive, immediate and flexible (conversations can be tailored spontaneously as the representative responds to the contact’s needs.

Guerrilla marketing and its effectiveness as a promotional method

Indirect Marketing

Indirect marketing is the marketing of products as a consequence of another activity or action. With indirect marketing the organization does not push products or services onto customers. Instead it performs a number of related activities that arouse interest in the product or service. Examples include posting blogs on the internet and publishing articles. Another form of indirect marketing is ‘word of mouth’ advertising. Recent developments in indirect marketing have been guerilla and viral marketing.

(a) Guerrilla Marketing

Guerrilla marketing involves taking people by surprise and creating a buzz in unexpected places. It relies more on use of the imagination than large sums of money.

Principles

Jay Conrad Levinson identified the following principles of Guerrilla marketing:

· It is specifically geared for small organizations and entrepreneurs

· It should be based on psychology rather than experience, judgment and guesswork

· It should be based on time, energy and imagination rather than money

· Organizations should be judged on profit not sales

· Marketers should focus on the number of new relationships created in each time period

· Organizations should focus on creating a standard of excellence in their products and services rather than diversifying

· Organizations should focus on increasing the numbers of customer referrals as well as the number and size of transactions, rather than just aiming to attract new customers

· Organizations should cooperate with competitors

· A combination of marketing methods should be used in a guerrilla marketing campaign.

· The campaign should make use of technology.

Task 4: Watch the following video clips concerning the subject of Guerilla Marketing. Try and ascertain which of the three drivers of Guerrilla Marketing (Low cost effect; Diffusion Effect and Surprise Effect) are being demonstrated in the stories/advertisements

(b) Viral marketing

Viral marketing involves the use of pre-existing social networks to spread brand awareness or other marketing objectives. This form of marketing is termed ‘viral’ because the life of the marketing message is comparable to the self replication and spread of biological and computer viruses. The viral campaign is successful when a customer received the marketing message, copies it, and sends it to their friends or posts it on social networking sites.

Individuals who pass on viral marketing are said to have a high ‘Social Networking Potential’. It is the goal of viral marketers to identify these individuals and design messages that have a high probability of being passed on by them.

The six principles of viral marketing

Dr. Ralph F Wilson describes six principles of an effective viral marketing strategy

a) Provide free products or services – free items attract attention

b) The form of the message must be easy to pass on

c) The transmission method must be scalable from small to large very quickly to aid the spread of the message

d) The message must exploit common motivations and behaviours.

e) Use existing communication networks

f) Take advantage of other people’s resources

Example: Compare the meerkat.com website created as part of a viral marketing campaign for Compare the market.com

Task 5: Briefly explain the concepts of guerrilla and viral marketing, providing an example of each.

Interactive Marketing

According to Deighton ‘interactive marketing is the ability to address the customer, remember what the customer says and address the customer again in a way that illustrates that we remember what the customer has told us’. An organization that makes good use of interactive marketing is Amazon.com. Customers can set preferences and the site records their past transactions. In future visits they are presented with possible purchases based on this information.

Experiential marketing

This involves providing an experience that creates an emotional connection between a person and a brand, product or idea.

Experiential marketing encourages potential customers to engage with the personality of the brand, through experiencing it. It is a combination of ins-store promotion techniques and field marketing. It aims not only to sell more products in the short-term but also to encourage customers and potential customers to engage with the personality of the brand. It is seen as an effective way of connecting with customers, as the emotional connection encourages brand loyalty.

Task 8: Contrast how digital platforms are affecting how brands try to become more profitable

Files to download