The Marketing Mix: Promotion

Common Forms of Promotion:

• Advertising: This involves paid communication methods like television, radio, print, and online adverts to reach a broad audience. The goal is to create awareness and interest in a product or service by showcasing its benefits and features.
• Sales Promotion: These are short-term incentives, such as discounts, vouchers, or buy-one-get-one-free offers, designed to encourage immediate purchases. Sales promotions add value for consumers and can help boost sales quickly.
• Public Relations (PR): PR activities aim to maintain and improve the public image of a company through press releases, media coverage, events, and sponsorships. PR helps build trust and credibility with the public and stakeholders.
• Direct Marketing: Targeted communication efforts such as email marketing, telemarketing, and direct mail campaigns are aimed at specific customer segments to elicit a direct response or purchase.

In a famous promotion, Pepsi promised to give customers a Harrier Fighter Jet if they bought enough Pepsi

Advertising

Advertising is paid, non-personal communication about a product distributed through various media.

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Types of Advertising:

• Reminder Advertising: Aims to keep a product or brand in the consumer's mind. This type of advertising is often used for well-established brands to maintain customer awareness and loyalty.
• Informative Advertising: Provides detailed information about a product or service to educate consumers. This type is useful for new products or features, explaining how they work and their benefits.
• Persuasive Advertising: Seeks to convince consumers to purchase a product by appealing to emotions or desires. It focuses on showing how a product can improve the consumer's life or solve a problem.
• Generic Advertising: Promotes a product category rather than a specific brand, benefiting all companies within that category. An example is industry-wide campaigns promoting the benefits of drinking milk.
• Comparative Advertising: Compares a product directly with competitors to highlight its advantages. This type is often used to demonstrate superiority in quality, price, or features.

Public Relations

Functions of Public Relations:

• Attract Publicity When Launching Products: Use creative stunts to gain media attention and public interest for new product launches. Example: Ryanair's CEO dressing up for city route announcements.
• Target Certain Customers: Sponsor events and causes that appeal to the target market to shape positive brand perceptions. Example: Coca-Cola sponsoring the Dublin Bike Scheme.
• Build Image Reflecting Well on Company: Engage in charitable activities to improve public image and gain consumer admiration. Example: McDonald's supporting Ronald McDonald Children's Charities.
• Defend Products That Have Encountered Bad Publicity: Use PR to address negative publicity and reassure the public. Example: McDonald's promoting healthy options after Super Size Me criticism.

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Techniques used in PR:

• Events: Organising events such as product launches, trade shows, or community activities to engage with the public, generate media coverage, and build brand awareness.
• News Conferences and Press Releases: Hosting news conferences and distributing press releases to share important company news, product announcements, or responses to issues, ensuring accurate and timely information reaches the media and the public.
• Public Service Activities: Engaging in community service and charitable activities to demonstrate corporate social responsibility, enhance the company's image, and build goodwill with the public.
• Sponsorship: Supporting events, organisations, or causes financially or through resources to increase brand visibility and associate the brand with positive values and initiatives.