Marketing Promotion - Definition, Importance, Types & Example
What is Marketing Promotion?
Marketing promotion is a group of outbound communication activities which are used to inform customers about the product and service features and offers in order to create awareness, increase demand and drive sales. Based on the activity, marketing promotion can be driven by personal selling, advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing & PR. It is a critical business activity as it promotes the product benefits, attracts customers & increases business revenue.
Importance of Marketing Promotion
The marketing promotion plays a very important role in business. Without effective promotion, the product awareness may remain low in the market and lead to lower than expected revenue. But on the other hand, marketing promotion also would require dedicated budget but it helps in creating the awareness in the market enabling the organization to drive additional revenue.
The main aim of marketing promotion is:
1. To introduce a new product
2. To educate customers about the product usage
3. To increase awareness of the product
4. To differentiate from competitors
5. To achieve increase in product recall
6. To build brand value and image
7. To encourage people to buy in bulk especially in off season to level the demand
8. To encourage people to try their product over their existing products
Promotion is one of the P’s of marketing mix. Promotional activities works in tandem with other three P’s which are: Pricing decisions, Product and Place (Distribution strategies).
Marketing Promotion Types
There are five promotional types:
1. Personal Selling
It is a promotional activity wherein an individual in involved in interacting with customers/ clients in order to achieve sales. Example: Salesman
2. Advertising
Advertisements are a form of marketing promotion such as commercials on TV, ads on internet, hoardings, print medium like newspapers, magazines, fliers etc. which is intended to influence the public viewing it and which is paid for.
3. Sales Promotion
It can be of two types- Trade or Consumer. Example is coupon or price discounts which stimulates sales
4. Direct Marketing
Directly selling to customers without any retailer in between They have a call to action. Example is selling through newspaper advertising, magazines, mailers, fliers, catalogues, targeted TV commercials etc.
5. Public Relations (PR)
PR is managing information flow between an organization and public. It is aimed at maintaining a particular image in the minds of customers, investors and other stakeholders. Example: Sponsoring events, newspaper articles etc.
Marketing promotion can be any combination of the above five sub categories.
Marketing Promotion Example
Let us take a scenario of launching a new car in the market. The car may be very good in terms of features, mileage, style and affordability. However without marketing promotion, the potential customers in the target group might not be able to know about the same. Hence the automobile companies use marketing promotions like campaigns, commercials, test drives at exhibitions and trade events, social media engagement etc. Marketing promotion helps customers take better decisions about the car once they know about the product offering and features.
Hence, this concludes the definition of Marketing Promotion along with its overview.
This article has been researched & authored by the Business Concepts Team. It has been reviewed & published by the MBA Skool Team. The content on MBA Skool has been created for educational & academic purpose only.
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