The four major promotional tools

Even a good, attractively priced product that clearly satisfies a need has to be made known to its __________customers. During the introduction and growth stages of the standard product life cycle, the producer (or importer) and so on has to develop product or brand _________, i.e. inform the potential customers (and distributors, dealers and retailers) about the product’s existence, its features, advantages and so on.

According to the well-known ‘Four Ps’ formulation of the marketing mix (product, place, promotion and price), this is clearly a matter of promotion. Since budgets are always limited, marketers usually have to decide which tools – advertising, public relations, sales promotion, or personal selling to use, and in what proportion.

Public relations (PR) are concerned with maintaining, improving or protecting the image of a company or product. The most important element of PR is publicity which (as opposed to advertising) is any mention of a company’s products that is not paid for, in any ________ read, viewed or heard by a company’s customers, aimed at assisting sales. Many companies attempt to place stories or information in news media to attract attention to a product or service. Publicity can have a huge impact on public awareness that could not be achieved by advertising.

Sales promotions such as free samples, coupons, price reductions, competitions, and so on are temporary ______________designed to stimulate either earlier or stronger sales of a product. Free samples, for example, (combined with extensive advertising), may generate the initial ­­­­­­­­___________ of a new product. But the majority of products available at any given time are of course in the ___________stage of life cycle. This may last many years until the product begins to be replaced by new ones and enters the decline stage. During this time, marketers can try out a number of promotional strategies and tactics. Reduced-price packs in supermarkets, for example, can be used to attract price-conscious brand-switchers and also to counter a promotion by a competitor. Stores also often reduce prices as loss leaders which bring customers into he shop where they will also buy other goods.

Sales promotions can also be __________ at distributors, dealers and retailers, to encourage them to stock new items or larger quantities, or to encourage off-season buying. They might equally be designed to strengthen brand _________ among retailers.

Personal selling is the most expensive promotional tool, and is generally only used sparingly, e.g. as a complement to ___________ .

Summarizing

Complete the following sentences to summarize the text above.

1. When a new product is launched, the product has to... .

2. Promotion is one of the four ...; sales promotions are one of the four different ...

3. The advantages of publicity include ...

4. The standard product life cycle (excluding the pre-launch development stage) are ...

5. Reasons to offer temporary price reductions include ...

6. Sales promotions need not only be aimed at customers; ...

Discussion

What kind of sales promotions are you receptive to?

- coupons giving a price reduction?

- free samples?

- discounts for buying a large quantity?

- prices reductions in shops?

- packets offering ‘20% extra’?

- competitions?

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1777