IV.

Promoting the Product

Advertising, personal (face-to-face) selling, sales promotion, direct marketing, and public relations are all techniques that can be used to persuade people or organizations to buy.

A.

Advertising

The primary objective of advertising is to raise awareness of a product or brand. Although a company may have an excellent product that meets customers’ needs and is competitively priced, if no-one knows of its existence the company will struggle to make enough sales.

Most companies consider this function so important that they allocate extensive budgets and engage specialist advertising agencies to develop their programme of advertising. By repeatedly exposing the consumer to a brand name or trademark, to the appearance or package of a product, and to special features of an item, advertisers hope to incline consumers towards their particular product or brand. Advertising is most frequently done on television, radio, the Internet, and billboards or other large displays; in newspapers, magazines, and catalogues; and through direct mail to consumers. In recent years, advertising agencies have been joining forces to become giants, making it possible for them to offer their clients a comprehensive range of worldwide promotion services.

B.

Personal Selling

As the costs of personal selling have risen, the role of salespeople has changed. It is relatively rare now for salespeople to need to explain in detail how a product works and why it is needed; consumers can usually find out this information themselves through the Internet. Instead, their role tends to focus on persuading consumers to buy their product rather than a competing brand, and on negotiating price and arranging terms of payment.

Personal selling remains an important means for selling between businesses. Businesses often have specific needs and concerns, which are most effectively addressed through personal selling. It also has the benefit of helping to build and strengthen relationships, helping to increase sales in the long term.

C.

Sales Promotion

The purpose of sales promotion is to get people or organizations to try a product or service. An incentive to buy is given, in the hope that consumers or organizations will like the product or service and buy it again and again. Sales promotions are often used in conjunction with advertising.

Often it is necessary to work closely with the dealers who handle a manufacturer’s products to make sure that satisfactory sales levels are achieved. Displays must be supplied and set up, and cooperative advertising programmes may be worked out. Shop staff should be trained so that they have knowledge of the manufacturer’s products. Often the manufacturer must provide services such as installation and maintenance for a specified time period. On the consumer level, sales promotion may involve special merchandising inducements such as discount coupons, contests, a premium (gift) with the purchase of a product, or a lower price on the purchase of a second item.

D.

Direct Marketing

Companies use direct marketing to communicate directly with their customers, rather than going through intermediaries such as retailers. It is an enormous growth area in marketing and includes the following activities: direct mail, telemarketing, direct response TV, and e-mail. It is an attractive communication tool as it allows a company to use a personalized approach, which is more warmly received by customers than unpersonalized messages. As technology improves, marketers are able to target their messages, products, and promotions more closely to individual customer needs and desires. It is also an effective way to build up and develop longer-term relationships with customers.

Direct marketing has become so popular that its benefits are now being diminished. The sheer volume of direct mail and e-mails now sent to consumers is increasingly overwhelming and unwelcome. Direct mail is commonly referred to as “junk” mail, as many consumers simply throw it away without opening it, while e-mails are referred to as “spam”. Consumers in the United kingdom can now sign up to the Mail Preference Service or Telephone Preference Service, which forbid companies from contacting them unless they have been given the consumer’s permission. Many consumers in the United Kingdom have already signed up and as a result many companies are becoming increasingly limited in who they are able to contact. Developing on-going relationships with consumers where such communications are permitted has become more and more important for companies.

E.

Public Relations

Public relations, or PR, is used by companies to improve their image with various publics, usually consumers, society, and investors. Public relations seeks to influence the way an organization or brand is portrayed or perceived, either to generate goodwill or positive coverage of the company and its products or to combat any negative stories appearing in the press. Public relations activity can be as simple as sending out press releases to newspapers and relevant publications, through to carefully managed and on-going awareness campaigns. It is cheaper than other communication tools such as advertising, as any coverage given is not paid for. Because the coverage appears in independent or impartial publications, rather than direct from the company, it is more likely to be trusted by consumers and can therefore be a highly effective and persuasive means of communication.