Promotion Mix:

Advertising, PR & Sales promotion

Factors Affecting Selection of Advertising Media

Advertising media is the vehicles through which advertising messages are delivered to their
intended audiences. The major steps in advertising media selection are (1) determining on
reach, frequency, and impact; (2) choosing among major media types; (3) selecting specific
media vehicles; and (4) choosing media timing.

1. Determining Reach, Frequency, and Impact. To select media, the advertiser must determine
the reach and frequency needed to achieve the advertising objectives.

Reach is a measure of the percentage of people in the target market who are exposed to the ad
campaign during a given period of time. For example, the advertiser might try to reach 70
percent of the target market during the first three months of the campaign.

Frequency is a measure of how many times the average person in the target market is exposed to
the message. For example, the advertiser might want an average exposure frequency of three.

But advertisers want to do more than just reach a given number of consumers a specific number
of times. The advertiser also must determine the desired media impact—the qualitative value of
message exposure through a given medium. For example, the same message in one magazine
(say, Newsweek) may be more believable than in another (say, the National Enquirer). For
products that need to be demonstrated, messages on television may have more impact than
messages on radio because television uses sight and sound. Products for which consumers
provide input on design or features might be better promoted at an interactive Web site than in a
direct mailing.

2. Choosing Among Major Media Types. Media planners have to know the reach, frequency,
and impact of each major media type. As summarized in the following Table, the major
media types are television, newspapers, the Internet, direct mail, magazines, radio, and
outdoor. Advertisers can also choose from a wide array of new digital media, such as cell
phones and other digital devices, which reach consumers directly. Each medium has its
advantages and its limitations.

Media planners consider many factors when making their media choices. They want to choose
media that will effectively and efficiently present the advertising message to target customers.
Thus, they must consider each medium’s impact, message effectiveness, and cost.

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Typically, it’s not a question of which one medium to use. Rather, the advertiser selects a mix of
media and blends them into a fully integrated marketing communications campaign. Each
medium plays a specific role.

3. Selecting Specific Media Vehicles. Media planners must also choose the best media
vehicles— specific media within each general media type. For example, television vehicles
include 30 Rock and ABC World News Tonight. Magazine vehicles include Newsweek,
Vogue, and ESPN the Magazine. Media planners must compute the cost per 1,000 persons
reached by a vehicle. For example, if a full-page, four-color advertisement in the U.S.
national edition of Newsweek costs $165,000 and Newsweek’s readership is 1.5 million
people, the cost of reaching each group of 1,000 persons is about $110. The same
advertisement in BusinessWeek may cost only $115,600 but reach only 900,000 people—at a
cost per 1,000 of about $128. The media planner ranks each magazine by cost per 1,000 and
favors those magazines with the lower cost per 1,000 for reaching target consumers.

4. Deciding on Media Timing. An advertiser must also decide how to schedule the advertising
over the course of a year. Suppose sales of a product peak in December and drop in March
(for winter sports gear, for instance). The firm can vary its advertising to follow the seasonal
pattern, oppose the seasonal pattern, or be the same all year. Most firms do some seasonal
advertising. For example, Mars currently runs M&Ms special ads for almost every holiday
and “season,” from Easter, Fourth of July, and Halloween to the Super Bowl season and the
Oscar season

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Characteristics of the Marketing Communications Mix
Each communication tool has its own unique characteristics and costs.

ADVERTISING
Advertising reaches geographically dispersed buyers. It can build up a long-term image for a
product (Coca-Cola ads) or trigger quick sales (a Macy’s ad for a weekend sale). Certain forms
of advertising such as TV can require a large budget, whereas other forms such as newspaper
do not. The mere presence of advertising might have an effect on sales: Consumers might believe
a heavily advertised brand must offer “good value.” Because of the many forms and uses of
advertising, it’s difficult to make generalizations about it. Yet a few observations are worthwhile:
1. Pervasiveness—Advertising permits the seller to repeat a message many times. It also allows
the buyer to receive and compare the messages of various competitors. Large-scale advertising
says something positive about the seller’s size, power, and success.
2. Amplified expressiveness—Advertising provides opportunities for dramatizing the company
and its brands and products through the artful use of print, sound, and color.
3. Control—The advertiser can choose the aspects of the brand and product on which to focus
communications.

SALES PROMOTION
Companies use sales promotion tools—coupons, contests, premiums, and the like—to draw a
stronger and quicker buyer response, including short-run effects such as highlighting product
offers and boosting sagging sales. Sales promotion tools offer three distinctive benefits:
1. Ability to be attention-getting—They draw attention and may lead the consumer to the
product.
2. Incentive—They incorporate some concession, inducement, or contribution that gives value to
the consumer.
3. Invitation—They include a distinct invitation to engage in the transaction now.

PUBLIC RELATIONS AND PUBLICITY

Marketers tend to underuse public relations, yet a well-thought-out program coordinated with the
other communications-mix elements can be extremely effective, especially if a company needs to
challenge consumers’ misconceptions. The appeal of public relations and publicity is based on
three distinctive qualities:
1. High credibility—News stories and features are more authentic and credible to readers than
ads.
2. Ability to reach hard-to-find buyers—Public relations can reach prospects who prefer to
avoid mass media and targeted promotions.
3. Dramatization—Public relations can tell the story behind a company, brand, or product.

EVENTS AND EXPERIENCES

There are many advantages to events and experiences as long as they have the following
characteristics:
1. Relevant—A well-chosen event or experience can be seen as highly relevant because the
consumer is often personally invested in the outcome.

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2. Engaging—Given their live, real-time quality, events and experiences are more actively
engaging for consumers.
3. Implicit—Events are typically an indirect “soft sell.”

DIRECT AND INTERACTIVE MARKETING

Direct and interactive marketing messages take many forms—over the phone, online, or in
person. They share three characteristics:
1. Customized—The message can be prepared to appeal to the addressed individual.
2. Up-to-date—A message can be prepared very quickly.
3. Interactive—The message can be changed depending on the person’s response.

WORD-OF-MOUTH MARKETING
Word of mouth also takes many forms both online or offline. Three noteworthy characteristics
are:
1. Influential—Because people trust others they know and respect, word of mouth can be highly
influential.
2. Personal—Word of mouth can be a very intimate dialogue that reflects personal facts,
opinions, and experiences.
3. Timely—Word of mouth occurs when people want it to and are most interested, and it often
follows noteworthy or meaningful events or experiences.

PERSONAL SELLING
Personal selling is the most effective tool at later stages of the buying process, particularly in
building up buyer preference, conviction, and action. Personal selling has three notable qualities:
1. Personal interaction—Personal selling creates an immediate and interactive episode between
two or more persons. Each is able to observe the other’s reactions.
2. Cultivation—Personal selling also permits all kinds of relationships to spring up, ranging
from a matter-of-fact selling relationship to a deep personal friendship.
3. Response—The buyer is often given personal choices and encouraged to directly respond.

Factors in Setting the Marketing Communications Mix

Companies must consider several factors in developing their communications mix: type of
product market, consumer readiness to make a purchase, and stage in the product life cycle.

1. TYPE OF PRODUCT MARKET

Communications-mix allocations vary between consumer and business markets. Consumer
marketers tend to spend comparatively more on sales promotion and advertising; business
marketers tend to spend comparatively more on personal selling. In general, personal selling is
used more with complex, expensive, and risky goods and in markets with fewer and larger sellers
(hence, business markets). Although marketers rely more on sales calls in business markets,
advertising still plays a significant role:
• Advertising can provide an introduction to the company and its products.
• If the product has new features, advertising can explain them.
• Reminder advertising is more economical than sales calls.
• Advertisements offering brochures and carrying the company’s phone number or Web address

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are an effective way to generate leads for sales representatives.
• Sales representatives can use copies of the company’s ads to legitimize their company and
products.
• Advertising can remind customers how to use the product and reassure them about their
purchase.

Advertising combined with personal selling can increase sales over personal selling alone.
Corporate advertising can improve a company’s reputation and improve the sales force’s chances
of getting a favorable first hearing and early adoption of the product.

On the flip side, personal selling can also make a strong contribution in consumer-goods
marketing. Some consumer marketers use the sales force mainly to collect weekly orders from
dealers and to see that sufficient stock is on the shelf. Yet an effectively trained company sales
force can make four important contributions:

1. Increase stock position. Sales reps can persuade dealers to take more stock and devote more
shelf space to the company’s brand.
2. Build enthusiasm. Sales reps can build dealer enthusiasm by dramatizing planned advertising
and communications support for the company’s brand.
3. Conduct missionary selling. Sales reps can sign up more dealers.
4. Manage key accounts. Sales reps can take responsibility for growing business with the most
important accounts.

2. BUYER-READINESS STAGE
Communication tools vary in cost-effectiveness at different stages of buyer readiness. The

following figure shows the relative cost-effectiveness of three communication tools. Advertising

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and publicity play the most important roles in the awareness-building stage. Customer
comprehension is primarily affected by advertising and personal selling. Customer conviction is
influenced mostly by personal selling. Closing the sale is influenced mostly by personal selling
and sales promotion. Reordering is also affected mostly by personal selling and sales promotion,
and somewhat by reminder advertising.

3. PRODUCT LIFE-CYCLE STAGE

In the introduction stage of the product life cycle, advertising, events and experiences, and
publicity have the highest cost-effectiveness, followed by personal selling to gain distribution
coverage and sales promotion and direct marketing to induce trial. In the growth stage, demand
has its own momentum through word of mouth and interactive marketing. Advertising, events
and experiences, and personal selling all become more important in the maturity stage. In the
decline stage, sales promotion continues strong, other communication tools are reduced, and
salespeople give the product only minimal attention.

Public Relations (PR)

Another major mass-promotion tool is public relations (PR)—building good relations with
the company’s various publics by obtaining favorable publicity, building up a good corporate
image, and handling or heading off unfavorable rumors, stories, and events. PR departments
may perform any or all of the following functions:

• Press relations or press agency: Creating and placing newsworthy information in the news
media to attract attention to a person, product, or service.
• Product publicity: Publicizing specific products.
• Public affairs: Building and maintaining national or local community relationships.
• Lobbying: Building and maintaining relationships with legislators and government officials to
influence legislation and regulation.
• Investor relations: Maintaining relationships with shareholders and others in the financial
community.
• Development: Working with donors or members of nonprofit organizations to gain financial or
volunteer support.

Major Public Relations Tools

Public relations use several tools. One of the major tools is news. PR professionals find or create
favorable news about the company and its products or people. Sometimes news stories occur
naturally; sometimes the PR person can suggest events or activities that would create news.

Speeches can also create product and company publicity. Increasingly, company executives must
field questions from the media or give talks at trade associations or sales meetings, and these
events can either build or hurt the company’s image.

Another common PR tool is special events, ranging from news conferences, press tours, grand
openings, and fireworks displays to laser light shows, hot air balloon releases, multimedia
presentations, or educational programs designed to reach and interest target publics.

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Public relations people also prepare written materials to reach and influence their target markets.
These materials include annual reports, brochures, articles, and company newsletters and
magazines.

Audiovisual materials, such as slide-and-sound programs, DVDs, and online videos are being
used increasingly as communication tools.
Corporate identity materials can also help create a corporate identity that the public immediately
recognizes. Logos, stationery, brochures, signs, business forms, business cards, buildings,
uniforms, and company cars and trucks—all become marketing tools when they are attractive,
distinctive, and memorable.

Finally, companies can improve public goodwill by contributing money and time to public
service activities.

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Sales Promotion
Sales promotion, a key ingredient in marketing campaigns, consists of a collection of incentive
tools, mostly short term, designed to stimulate quicker or greater purchase of particular products
or services by consumers or the trade. Whereas advertising offers a reason to buy, sales
promotion offers an incentive. Sales promotion includes tools for consumer promotion (samples,
coupons, cash refund offers, prices off, premiums, prizes, patronage rewards, free trials,
warranties, tie-in promotions, cross-promotions, point-of purchase displays, and demonstrations),
trade promotion (prices off, advertising and display allowances, and free goods), and business
and sales force promotion (trade shows and conventions, contests for sales reps, and specialty
advertising).

Major Sales Promotion Tools/Types of Sales Promotion

Consumer promotions
Sales promotion tools used to boost short-term customer buying and involvement or enhance
long-term customer relationships.
Trade promotions
Sales promotion tools used to persuade resellers to carry a brand, give it shelf space, promote it
in advertising, and push it to consumers.

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Personal Selling
Personal selling is the interpersonal arm of the promotion mix where a company’s sales force
creates and communicates customer value through personal interactions with customers. It is the
personal presentations by the firm’s sales force for the purpose of making sales and building
customer relationships.

Steps in the Selling Process

As shown in the following Figure, the selling process consists of seven steps: prospecting and
qualifying, preapproach, approach, presentation and demonstration, handling objections, closing,
and follow-up.

Prospecting and Qualifying

The first step in the selling process is prospecting—identifying qualified potential customers.
Approaching the right potential customers is crucial to the selling success. As one sales expert
puts it, “If the sales force starts chasing anyone who is breathing and seems to have a budget, you
risk accumulating a roster of expensive-to-serve, hard-to satisfy customers who never respond to
whatever value proposition you have.” He continues, “The solution to this isn’t rocket science.
[You must] train salespeople to actively scout the right prospects.” Another expert concludes,
“Increasing your prospecting effectiveness is the fastest single way to boost your sales.”

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The salesperson must often approach many prospects to get only a few sales. Although the
company supplies some leads, salespeople need skill in finding their own. The best source is
referrals. Salespeople can ask current customers for referrals and cultivate other referral sources,
such as suppliers, dealers, noncompeting salespeople, and Web or other social networks. They
can also search for prospects in directories or on the Web and track down leads using telephone
and e-mail. Or they can drop in unannounced on various offices (a practice known as cold
calling).

Salespeople also need to know how to qualify leads—that is, how to identify the good ones and
screen out the poor ones. Prospects can be qualified by looking at their financial ability, volume
of business, special needs, location, and possibilities for growth.

Preapproach
Before calling on a prospect, the salesperson should learn as much as possible about the
organization (what it needs, who is involved in the buying) and its buyers (their characteristics
and buying styles). This step is known as preapproach. “Revving up your sales starts with your
preparation,” says one sales consultant. “A successful sale begins long before you set foot in the
prospect’s office.” Preapproach begins with good research. The salesperson can consult standard
industry and online sources, acquaintances, and others to learn about the company. Then the
salesperson must apply the research to develop a customer strategy.

Approach
During the approach step, the salesperson should know how to meet and greet the buyer and get
the relationship off to a good start. This step involves the salesperson’s appearance, opening
lines, and follow-up remarks. The opening lines should be positive to build goodwill from the
outset. This opening might be followed by some key questions to learn more about the
customer’s needs or by showing a display or sample to attract the buyer’s attention and curiosity.
As in all stages of the selling process, listening to the customer is crucial.

Presentation and Demonstration

During the presentation step of the selling process, the salesperson tells the “value story” to the
buyer, showing how the company’s offer solves the customer’s problems. The customer-solution
approach fits better with today’s relationship marketing focus than does a hard sell or glad-
handing approach. “Stop selling and start helping,” advises one sales consultant. “Your goal
should be to sell your customers exactly what will benefit them most,” says another.24 Buyers
today want answers, not smiles; results, not razzle-dazzle. Moreover, they don’t want just
products. More than ever in today’s economic climate, buyers want to know how those products
will add value to their businesses. They want salespeople who listen to their concerns,
understand their needs, and respond with the right products and services.

Handling Objections
Customers almost always have objections during the presentation or when asked to place an
order. The problem can be either logical or psychological, and objections are often unspoken. In
handling objections, the salesperson should use a positive approach, seek out hidden objections,
ask the buyer to clarify any objections, take objections as opportunities to provide more

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information, and turn the objections into reasons for buying. Every salesperson needs training in
the skills of handling objections.

Closing
After handling the prospect’s objections, the salesperson now tries to close the sale. Some
salespeople do not get around to closing or handle it well. They may lack confidence, feel guilty
about asking for the order, or fail to recognize the right moment to close the sale. Salespeople
should know how to recognize closing signals from the buyer, including physical actions,
comments, and questions. For example, the customer might sit forward and nod approvingly or
ask about prices and credit terms.

Follow-Up
The last step in the selling process—follow-up—is necessary if the salesperson wants to ensure
customer satisfaction and repeat business. Right after closing, the salesperson should complete
any details on delivery time, purchase terms, and other matters. The salesperson then should
schedule a follow-up call after the buyer receives the initial order to make sure proper
installation, instruction, and servicing occur. This visit would reveal any problems, assure the
buyer of the salesperson’s interest, and reduce any buyer concerns that might have arisen since
the sale.

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