Promotion - Marketing Mix Promotional Strategy

Promotion is the part of marketing where you advertise and market your product, also known as a promotional strategy.

Through it, you let potential customers know what you are selling.

In order to convince them to buy your product, you need to explain what it is, how to use it, and why they should buy.

The trick in promoting is letting consumers feel that their needs can be satisfied by what you are selling.

An effective promotional effort contains a clear message that is targeted to a certain audience and is done through appropriate channels.

The target customers are people who will use, as well as influence or decide the purchase of the product.

Identifying these people is an important part of your market research.

The marketing image that you’re trying to project must match the advertisement’s message.

It should catch your target customers’ attention and either convince them to buy or at least state their opinion about the product.

The promotional method you choose in order to convey your message to the target customers may probably involve more than one marketing channels.

Advertising

It’s a key promotional strategy and can be done through the following:

Radio
Relatively inexpensive yet very effective, radio advertisement is a great way to reach local customers and inform them about your business and products. The best day to run a radio ad is from Wednesday to Sunday.

Television
If you want your advertisement to reach customers in regional or national levels, television is the way to go, although it can be more costly than the other options.

Print
Print advertisement can be distributed via direct mail or printed materials which include newspapers, flyers, and trade and consumer magazines. You can also send letters, contests, fact sheets, brochures, and coupons to current or potential customers across the whole country. Print advertisements let people know what, where, when, and why they should buy your product.

Electronic
You can also advertise electronically through your company website and provide important and pertinent information to clients and customers. You can protect some parts of your website through passwords and give access to member customers. You can also send advertisements via direct e-mail as part of your promotional strategy.

Word of Mouth
They say the best advertisers are satisfied customers and the reverse can also be said. When customers like or dislike your products, they tell other people about it.

Generic
This type refers to advertising that does not mention or promote a particular brand but the whole industry. You may have seen generic advertisements for beef, pork, and milk.

Public relations is usually focused on building a favorable image of your business.

You can do this by doing something good for the neighborhood and the community like holding an open house or being involved in community activities.

You can engage the local media and hold press conferences as part of your promotional strategy.

You can employ salespersons to promote and sell your products as part of the business communication plans.

These salespersons play an important part in building customer relationships through tailored communication.

Personal selling can be a bit costly, though, because you will need to hire professional sales people to do the promotion for you.

But done right, the profit gained could outweigh the cost.

This promotional strategy is done through special offers with a plan to attract people to buy the product.

Sales promotions can include coupons, free samples, incentives, contests, prizes, loyalty programs, and rebates.

You might also want to educate potential and current customers by holding training and seminars, or reach them via trade shows.

Some of the target audience may be more receptive to a certain promotional method than another.

You can also do sales promotions by setting up product displays during a public event or through social networking at business and civic gatherings.

The proliferation of the Internet has given birth to other promotional channels that were not available before.

E-commerce has also changed the way companies and customers do business.

Social networking sites like Facebook reach a very wide audience and putting up advertisements through them may lead to more customers.

You may also want to promote your product through other Internet advertisement channels like Google’s AdSense.