The Promotional Mix Concept And The 5 Parts Critical For Its Success

Product promotion is critical for every business due to the lasting impact promotion has on the clients. The promotion mix is essentially what promoting entails as well as how promoting is effectively done. It comprises personal selling, advertising, public relations, sales promotion, and direct marketing. Using the right blend of the promotional mix ensures that a business will continue gaining customers and achieving success in both the short and long run.

1. Personal Selling

This is usually the most costly tool but is one of the most effective tools in the promotional mix. It is effective since it builds a long-term relationship between the client and employee that will continue coming back. This is of great benefit especially when dealing with clients that spend large amount of cash. The client could want a hotel for fifty people or he or she might be buying vehicles for each of his 30 businesses. Cultivating this relationship will increase the chances of future opportunities if his or her expectations are met.

However, this method does involve some risks. The client might decide that he or she does not need the services or products anymore thus causing the company to lose money. Companies invest heavily in this method take on greater risk since they depend on the cultivation of a relationship with a client that could falter eventually. Direct Marketing is comparable to personal selling.

2. Direct Marketing

Direct marketing uses technology to target clients individually. Examples include telephone calls, apps, e-mail, and catalogs. Direct marketing is useful since it targets individuals that spend small amounts of money at different times since they do not spend as much cash as frequently.

Different companies use e-mail to send out specials and deals to clients. Some companies such as Amazon use previous purchases to offer recommendations. Others just send out recommendations to everyone on their mailing list. Direct marketing is great especially when marketing to the masses but personalizing the message for every recipient.

3. Public relations

Every business needs public relations but many businesses often overlook it since they typically associate it with dealing with negative situations that can affect a company.

A good Public Relations manager for a business should be dynamic to handle both positive and negative situations.

On the positive side, a Public Relations campaign is implemented through newsletters, social media, press releases, grand openings, and major events. Social media is particularly a useful tool for public relations since the masses use it and love it.

On the negative side, dealing with those negative situations is something that a public relations director should be in a position to handle effectively.

4. Sales Promotions

These provide a great way to get customers to buy a particular service or product.

Attraction factor

Sales promotions are particularly useful in the service industry since many people are not willing to pay full price for a vacation package. However, once they get a promotion of 20% off they become attracted to the offer immediately. Restaurants can also make use of sales promotions to boost sales by bringing more people into the restaurant. Sales promotions work for other industries too. You can find stores offering 20% discounts on selected items and so on.

Bundling

You will also find businesses bundling offers. For instance, you can find a restaurant offering two full meals, an appetizer, and dessert at a set price. The great thing about this is that the menu prices do not have to change because of the promotion. Similarly, you can find stores bundling together different items for the same price such as bread that comes with a slice of butter at the same price. This means that bundling is applicable across different industries.

5. Advertising

Advertising plays a key role when promoting a business. Newspapers, Radio, TV, and Social Media advertising all play an important role in determining how to target customers as well as how they will respond to the advertising message.

Social Media marketing

Social media is currently taking over from the traditional forms of advertising. Focus on social media is critical especially when communicating with clients. The reason for this is that Facebook is one of the most visited website globally on a daily basis. Furthermore, it is instantaneous. As soon as a company posts something on its Facebook page it immediately becomes available for all to see. In addition, Facebook offers the option of targeting users based on their interests, gender, location, age, and any other demographics that you can think of. In the 21 Century, Social Media marketing is simply the way to go.

Conclusion

The promotional mix is a critical element for the success of a business since all businesses naturally want to generate more revenue by growing and promoting their business. Using promotional tools, businesses can acquire additional clients and encourage them to come back through the provision of high quality service. Follow the tips above and you will definitely have a recipe for success.