Marketing Mix: Understanding Business Promotion

Promotion is one of the four parts of the “marketing mix” along with product, price and distribution. It is the communication between buyer and seller. You may think first of advertisement when you think of promotion, but promotion really is so much more than just running an ad. Try thinking of promotion as the “fun” part of marketing as it allows you to use your creativity. You will also want to polish your communication skills for any promotional activity.

The purpose of promotion is to stimulate potential purchasers towards the buying decision. The specific purpose of any promotional activity or campaign may be to influence, to build awareness, to provide information, to increase demand for a product, to reinforce the brand or to differentiate a product in the marketplace. Make sure you know your purpose before you make your promotion plans.

In general, thinking about promotion for your business should get you looking into each of these five categories: personal selling, advertising, direct marketing, sales promotion, and publicity or public relations. Personal selling means being very comfortable in a sales conversation about your business. Advertising these days can be very inexpensive or as costly as you are willing to spend and should not be ignored. Direct marketing now can be anything from a postcard campaign to personal Facebook messages. The area of sales promotion often opens up creative channels such as coupons, contests, free samples, exhibitions and many more. Publicity or public relations is getting others to help spread your message whether this is done for free or for a fee. A great marketing plan for your business will have addressed each of these promotional areas in some way.