Sales Promotion

“Promotion refers to the advertising and selling part of marketing. It is how you let people know what you’ve got for sale. The purpose of promotion is to get people to understand what your product is, what they can use it for, and why they should want it.”

Promotion is about how the customers are informed about a particular product or service and plays a vital role. So promotion basically carries the 3 Ps of the marketing mix by presenting that all important information to the right target market.

To increase CAH¡¯s sales in the U.S., set up push strategy (Exhibit 4), directing the promotional mix to channel members to gain their cooperation in ordering and stocking the product. In this approach, personal selling and sales promotions play major roles. Salespeople call on wholesalers to encourage orders and provide sales assistance. Sales promotions, such as case discount allowances (20 percent off the regular case price), are offered to stimulate demand. By pushing the product through the channel, the goal is to get channel members to push it to their customers.

Trade promotions and cooperative advertising are part of a push strategy. Trade promotion is directed towards retailers and takes the form of catalogs, trade magazine advertisements, booklets for consumers, and displays. Using gallery stores will attract and serve their target customers, the 40- to 59-year-old homeowner with an annual household income over $100,000. Also, 78% of the survey respondents state that displaying furniture in individual room settings is somewhat important to very important. Half of the $225,000 deducted from cooperative advertising will be added to the trade promotions fund. Also, an amount of $12,000 is added to the trade promotions fund to assist their salespeople servicing the 50 new accounts. The trade promotions fund will have a total of $591,500. Cooperative advertising is usually spent on newspaper advertising in a retailer’s city. The reduced funds of cooperative advertising for BatesManor will diminish the amount of newspaper advertisements.

As one of the four foundational elements of the marketing mix, promotion is a critical strategic factor in any organization getting its products. services and the value they deliver known. Like any of the four foundational elements of marketing, promotion is essential for creating a high level of awareness, interest and contributes to the trial of new products. The effects of promotional strategies are often seen in the context of broader advertising initiatives and programs designed to attract new prospects and turn them into customers (Villarejo-Ramos, Manuel, 2005). Promotion therefore is more of an investment and less of an expense, in that it contributes to the long-term success of a brand, tis products, and the acceptance in the market (Shapiro, 1990).

Promotion: promoting product to target market which may focus on acquiring new customers or retaining customers.

Promotion – an activity, such as a sale or advertising campaign designed to increase visibility or sales of a ‘product’.

Promotion is one of the key elements to the Marketing Mix and is used by businesses to communicate information about their product in order to meet specific promotional objectives. To effectively promote a product or service, a business must first decide which communication process is best suited to their target market (Palmer, 2004). There are many different communication tools which a business can use, all of which can be classified into one of two promotional categories.

The promotionPromotion is the business of communicating with customers. It will provide information that will assist them in making a decision to purchase a product or service. The pace and creativity of some promotional activities are almost alien to normal business activities.The cost associated with promotion or advertising goods and services often represents a size-able proportion of the overall cost of producing an item. However, successful promotion increases sales so that advertising and other costs are spread over a larger output. Though increased promotional activity is often a sign of a response to a problem such as competitive activity, it enables an organization to develop and build up a succession of messages and can be extremely cost-effective.

Promotion is perhaps the most important element in the marketing mix. Companies introduce sales promotion campaigns for capturing market. Price discounts and schemes like buy one, get one free are also offered as sales promotion. Various sales promotion techniques are introduced at the consumer and dealer levels. Window display, provision of after sales services and coordinal public relations also facilitate sales promotion. Massive advertising is useful to support the sales promotion campaigns.

The main aim of a promotion is to persuade, inform and make people more aware of a company’s brand, as well as improving the overall sales figures. Advertising is the most widely used form of promotion, and can be through the media of TV, radio, journals, cinema or outdoors (billboards, posters). The specific sections of society being targeted will affect the types of media chosen, as will the cost. If you were a toy manufacturer, you might want an advertising spot during children 's TV. If you ran a local restaurant, you might choose a local paper or radio. A small or local business would not usually advertise on TV, because it is very expensive. Sales promotion is designed to encourage new and repeat sales. Loyalty cards, free gifts, competitions and voucher schemes are the most popular. Companies use sponsorship and public relations to improve their image, notably through financing sports, the arts and public information services.

Promotion is an aspect of the marketing mix that has great importance. In order for our product to be successful, the promotion we use will be very vital. This is because of the fact that the method of promotion we use for the product can help to differentiate our product from other products which makes it unique and outstanding amongst other brands. Moreover, using the right promotion can be used as a way to persuade consumers of our product that they made the right choice.

It is difficult enough to motivate direct employees to provide the necessary sales and service support. Motivating the owners and employees of the independent organizations in a distribution chain requires even greater effort. There are many devices for achieving such motivation. Perhaps the most usual is `incentive ': the supplier offers a better margin, to tempt the owners in the channel to push the product rather than its competitors; or a compensation is offered to the distributors ' sales personnel, so that they are tempted to push the product. Julian Dent defines this incentive as a Channel Value Proposition or business case, with which the supplier sells the channel member on the commercial merits of doing business together. He describes this as selling business models not products.

Promotion – Promotion means making customers aware about your products and introducing the customers with the benefits which they can get by buying their products. They can do advertisements, direct marketing and sales promotion for the promotion of the product.

Promotion is a way company communicates messages on what the pruct does and what does the product can offer customers. It includes below elements: