introduction: the promotion mix

Introduction to marketing
Integrated marketing communications

Marketing has a marketing mix that is made of price, place, promotion, product (know as the four P's). Marketing communications is 'promotion' from the marketing mix.
'Integrated' means combine, or put simply the pieces to make a complete picture. This is so that a single message is conveyed by all marketing communications. Different messages confuse your customers and damage brands. So if a TV advert carries a particular logo, images and a message, then all newspaper adverts and point-of-sale materials should carry the same logo, images or message, or ones that fit the same theme. Coca-Cola uses the familiar red and white logos and retains themes of togetherness and enjoyment throughout its marketing communications.

Promotion
This includes all of the tools available to the marketer for 'marketing communication'. As with the marketing mix, marketing communications has its own 'promotions mix.' Think of it like a cake mix, the basic ingredients are always the same. However if you vary the amounts of one of the ingredients, the final outcome is different. It is the same with promotions. You can 'integrate' different aspects of the promotions mix to deliver a unique campaign.

The elements of the promotions mix are integrated to form a coherent campaign. The message from the marketer follows the 'communications process' as illustrated above. For example, a radio advert is made for a car manufacturer. The car manufacturer (sender) pays for a specific advert with contains a message specific to a target audience (encoding). It is transmitted during a set of commercials from a radio station (Message / media). The message is decoded by a car radio (decoding) and the target consumer interprets the message (receiver). He or she might visit a dealership or seek further information from a website (Response). The consumer might buy a car or express an interest or dislike (feedback). This information will inform future elements of an integrated promotional campaign. Perhaps a direct mail campaign would push the consumer to the point of purchase. Noise represents the thousand of marketing communications that a consumer is exposed to everyday, all competing for attention.

The Promotions Mix

1. Personal Selling
Personal Selling is an effective way to manage personal customer relationships. The sales person acts on behalf of the organization. They tend to be well trained in the approaches and techniques of personal selling. However sales people are very expensive and should only be used where there is a genuine return on investment. For example salesmen are often used to sell cars or home improvements where the margin is high.

2. Sales Promotion
For example the BOGOF promotion, or Buy One Get One Free. Others include coupons, money-off promotions, competitions, free accessories (such as free blades with a new razor), free installation, and so on. Each sales promotion should be carefully compared with the next best alternative.

3. Public Relations (PR)
Public Relations are defined as 'the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organization and its publics'. It is relatively cheap, but certainly not cheap. Successful strategies tend to be long-term and plan for all eventualities.

4. Direct Mail
Direct mail is very highly focused upon targeting consumers based upon a database. Creative agencies work with marketers to design a highly focused communication in the form of a mailing. The mail is sent out to the potential consumers and responses are carefully monitored. For example, if you are marketing medical textbooks, you would use a database of doctors' surgeries as the basis of your mail shot.

5. Trade Fairs and Exhibitions
Such approaches are very good for making new contacts and renewing old ones. Companies will seldom sell much at such events. The purpose is to increase awareness and to encourage trial. They offer the opportunity for companies to meet with both the trade and the consumer.

6. Advertising
Advertising is a 'paid for' communication. It is used to develop attitudes, create awareness, and transmit information in order to gain a response from the target market. There are many advertising 'media' such as newspapers (local, national, free, trade), magazines and journals, television (local, national, terrestrial, satellite) cinema, outdoor advertising (such as posters, bus sides).

7. Sponsorship
Sponsorship is where an organization pays to be associated with a particular event, cause or image. Companies will sponsor sports events such as the Olympics or Formula One. The attributes of the event are then associated with the sponsoring organization.