Marketing Communications Mix - Promotional Mix - Direct marketing, advertising, personal selling, public relations, sales promotion

The Marketing Communications or Promotional Mix

Your marketing plan will be executed by using the tactical elements of the Marketing Communications, or Promotions Mix.

The elements of the marketing communications mix The Marketing Communications Mix is the specific mix of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations, and direct marketing a company uses to pursue its advertising and marketing objectives. Definitions: Advertising - Any paid form of nonpersonal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor. Personal selling - Personal presentation by the firms sales force for the purpose of making sales and building customer relationships. Sales promotion - Short-term incentives to encourage the purchase or sale of a product or service.

Public relations - Building good relationships with the companys various publics by obtaining favorable publicity, building up a good "corporate image", and handling or heading off unfavorable rumors, stories, and events. Direct marketing - Direct communications with carefully targeted individual consumers to obtain an immediate response and cultivate lasting customer relationships.

Setting the Promotion Mix

1234zWhen deciding how to properly utilize the marketing communications mix to meet your marketing objectives, it is important to consider the relative strengths and weaknesses of each component of the mix. Further, you must always define your total budget first (generally defined in the Marketing and/or Business Plan) and then decide upon the best way to leverage the different elements of the mix to maximize the return on your investment. You will balance the various parts of the mix to not only create an integrated approach to your marketing communications but you must also devote enough resources for each component to be successful. Here are some things to keep in mind:

Reaches large, geographically dispersed audiences, often with high frequency; Low cost per exposure, though overall costs are high; Consumers perceive advertised goods as more legitimate; Dramatizes company/brand; Builds brand image; may stimulate short-term sales; Impersonal, one-way communication; Expensive

Most effective tool for building buyers preferences, convictions, and actions; Personal interaction allows for feedback and adjustments; Relationship-oriented; Buyers are more attentive; Sales force represents a long-term commitment; Most expensive of the promotional tools

May be targeted at the trade or ultimate consumer; Makes use of a variety of formats: premiums, coupons,

contests, etc.; Attracts attention, offers strong purchase incentives, dramatizes offers, boosts sagging sales; Stimulates quick response; Shortlived; Not effective at building long-term brand preferences

Highly credible; Very believable; Many forms: news stories, news features, events and sponsorships, etc.; Reaches many prospects missed via other forms of promotion; Dramatizes company or product; Often the most under used element in the promotional mix; Relatively inexpensive (certainly not 'free' as many people think--there are costs involved)

Many forms: Telephone marketing, direct mail, online marketing, etc.; Four distinctive characteristics: Nonpublic, Immediate, Customized, Interactive; Well-suited to highly-targeted marketing efforts When deciding upon your unique marketing communications mix, you should also consider the Product Life Cycle. Here are some general guideline as to how and when to emphasize different parts of the mix according to the stages of a typical product life cycle:

Product Life Cycle

Pre-Introduction: Light advertising, pre-introduction publicity

Introduction: Heavy use of advertising, public relations for awareness, sales promotion for trial Growth: Advertising, public relations, branding and brand marketing, personal selling for distribution Maturity: Advertising decreases, sales promotion, personal selling, reminder & persuasion Decline: Advertising and public relations decrease, limited sales promotion, personal selling for distribution

Sales Promotion
What is sales promotion?
Sales promotion is any initiative undertaken by an organisation to promote an increase in sales, usage or trial of a product or service (i.e. initiatives that are not covered by the other elements of the marketing communications or promotions mix). Sales promotions are varied. Often they are original and creative, and hence a comprehensive list of all available techniques is virtually impossible (since original sales promotions are launched daily!). Here are some examples of popular sales promotions activities: (a) Buy-One-Get-One-Free (BOGOF) - which is an example of a self-liquidating promotion. For example if a loaf of bread is priced at $1, and cost 10 cents to manufacture, if you sell two for $1, you are still in profit - especially if there is a corresponding increase in sales. This is known as a PREMIUM sales promotion tactic. (b) Customer Relationship Management (CRM) incentives such as bonus points or money off coupons. There are many examples of CRM, from banks to supermarkets. (c) New media - Websites and mobile phones that support a sales promotion. For example, in the United Kingdom, Nestle printed individual codes on KIT-KAT packaging, whereby a consumer would enter the code into a dynamic website to see if they had won a prize. Consumers could also text codes via their mobile phones to the same effect. (d) Merchandising additions such as dump bins, point-of-sale materials and product demonstrations. (e) Free gifts e.g. Subway gave away a card with six spaces for stickers with each sandwich purchase. Once the card was full the consumer was given a free sandwich.

(f) Discounted prices e.g. Budget airline such as EasyJet and Ryanair, e-mail their customers with the latest low-price deals once new flights are released, or additional destinations are announced. (g) Joint promotions between brands owned by a company, or with another company's brands. For example fast food restaurants often run sales promotions where toys, relating to a specific movie release, are given away with promoted meals. (h) Free samples (aka. sampling) e.g. tasting of food and drink at sampling points in supermarkets. For example Red Bull (a caffeinated fizzy drink) was given away to potential consumers at supermarkets, in high streets and at petrol stations (by a promotions team). (i) Vouchers and coupons, often seen in newspapers and magazines, on packs. (j) Competitions and prize draws, in newspapers, magazines, on the TV and radio, on The Internet, and on packs. (k) Cause-related and fair-trade products that raise money for charities, and the less well off farmers and producers, are becoming more popular. (l) Finance deals - for example, 0% finance over 3 years on selected vehicles. Many of the examples above are focused upon consumers. Don't forget that promotions can be aimed at wholesales and distributors as well. These are known as Trade Sales Promotions. Examples here might include joint promotions between a manufacturer and a distributor, sales promotion leaflets and other materials (such as T-shirts), and incentives for distributor sales people and their retail clients.

Personal Selling

Lesson Exercise Answer

Personal selling occurs where an individual salesperson sells a product, service or solution to a client. Salespeople match the benefits of their offering to the specific needs of a client. Today, personal selling involves the development of longstanding client relationships. In comparison to other marketing communications tools such as advertising, personal selling tends to:

Use fewer resources, pricing is often negotiated. Products tend to be fairly complex (e.g. financial services or new cars). There is some contact between buyer and seller after the sale so that an ongoing relationship is built. Client/prospects need specific information. The purchase tends to involve large sums of money.

There are exceptions of course, but most personal selling takes place in this way. Personal selling involves a selling process that is summarised in the following Five Stage Personal Selling Process. The five stages are: 1. Prospecting. 2. Making first contact. 3. The sales call. 4. Objection handling. 5. Closing the sale.

A Five Stage Personal Selling Process. Stage One - Prospecting.

Prospecting is all about finding prospects, or potential new customers. Prospects should be 'qualified,' which means that they need to be assessed to see if there is business potential, otherwise you could be wasting your time. In order to qualify your prospects, one needs to:

Plan a sales approach focused upon the needs of the customer. Determine which products or services best meet their needs. In order to save time, rank the prospects and leave out those that are least likely to buy.

Stage Two - Making First Contact.

This is the preparation that a salesperson goes through before they meet with the client, for example via e-mail, telephone or letter. Preparation will make a call more focused.

Make sure that you are on time. Before meeting with the client, set some objectives for the sales call. What is the purpose of the call? What outcome is desirable before you leave? Make sure that you've done some homework before meeting your prospect. This will show that you are committed in the eyes of your customer. To save time, send some information before you visit. This will wet the prospect's appetite. Keep a set of samples at hand, and make sure that they are in very good condition.

Within the first minute or two, state the purpose of your call so that time with the client is maximised, and also to demonstrate to the client that your are not wasting his or her time. Humour is fine, but try to be sincere and friendly.

Stage Three - The Sales Call (or Sales Presentation).

It is best to be enthusiastic about your product or service. If you are not excited about it, don't expect your prospect to be excited. Focus on the real benefits of the product or service to the specific needs of your client, rather than listing endless lists of features. Try to be relaxed during the call, and put your client at ease. Let the client do at least 80% of the talking. This will give you invaluable information on your client's needs. Remember to ask plenty of questions. Use open questions, e.g. TED's, and closed questions i.e. questions that will only give the answer 'yes' or the answer 'no.' This way you can dictate the direction of the conversation. Never be too afraid to ask for the business straight off.

Stage Four - Objection Handling.

Objection handling is the way in which salespeople tackle obstacles put in their way by clients. Some objections may prove too difficult to handle, and sometimes the client may just take a dislike to you (aka the hidden objection). Here are some approaches for overcoming objections:

Firstly, try to anticipate them before they arise. 'Yes but' technique allows you to accept the objection and then to divert it. For example, a client may say that they do not like a particular colour, to which the salesperson counters 'Yes but X is also available in many other colours.' Ask 'why' the client feels the way that they do. 'Restate' the objection, and put it back into the client's lap. For example, the client may say, 'I don't like the taste of X,' to which the salesperson responds, 'You don't like the taste of X,' generating the response 'since I do not like garlic' from the client. The salesperson could suggest that X is no longer made with garlic to meet the client's needs. The sales person could also tactfully and respectfully contradict the client.

Stage Five - Closing the Sale.

This is a very important stage. Often salespeople will leave without ever successfully closing a deal. Therefore it is vital to learn the skills of closing.

Just ask for the business! - 'Please may I take an order?' This really works well. Look for buying signals (i.e. body language or comments made by the client that they want to place an order). For example, asking about availability, asking for details such as discounts, or asking for you to go over something again to clarify. Just stop talking, and let the client say 'yes.' Again, this really works. The 'summary close' allows the salesperson to summarise everything that the client needs, based upon the discussions during the call. For example, 'You need product X in blue, by Friday, packaged accordingly, and delivered to your wife's office.' Then ask for the order. The 'alternative close' does not give the client the opportunity to say no, but forces them towards a yes. For example 'Do you want product X in blue or red?' Cheeky, but effective.

So this is the Five Stage Personal Selling Process. Now have a go at it yourself by completing the lesson.

. Information that concerns a person, group, event, or product and that is disseminated through various media to attract public notice. b. Public interest, notice, or notoriety achieved by the spreading of such information. c. The act, process, or occupation of disseminating information to gain public interest. 2. The condition of being public.

Direct Marketing Basics

Types of Direct Marketing - What is Direct Marketing and Does it Work?
By Lahle Wolfe, About.com Guide
See More About:

direct marketing direct mail marketing internet marketing advertising and marketing

Direct marketing is a staple for businesses - especially for nonprofits. If you have ever been called during the dinner hour by a telemarketer you have been the target of direct marketing.

Often considered annoying and invasive by consumers, direct marketing is an aggressive form of marketing that only works when carefully planned and implemented.

1. What is Direct Marketing?

Direct marketing is just what it sounds like - directly reaching a market (customers and potential customers) on a personal (phone calls, private mailings) basis, or mass-media basis (infomercials, magazine ads, etc.).

Direct marketing is often distinguished by aggressive tactics that attempt to reach new customers usually by means of unsolicited direct communications. But it can also reach out to existing or past customers. A key factor in direct marketing is a "call to action." That is, direct marketing campaigns should offer an incentive or enticing message to get consumers to respond (act). Direct marketing involves the business attempting to locate, contact, offer, and make incentivebased information available to consumers.
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2. Types of Direct Marketing

Three main types of direct marketing include:

Telemarketing: Direct marketing that involves calling people at home or work to ask for donations, an opinion, or for sales purposes. Email Direct Marketing: This form of direct marketing targets consumers through their Email accounts. Email addresses can be harvested from websites, forums, or purchased. Some companies require you to receive announcements to use their websites. Direct Mail Marketing: Advertising material sent directly to home and business addresses.

Other types of direct marketing include: distributing flyers; door-to-door solicitations; curbside stands; FAX broadcasting; television marketing (i.e., infomercials); coupon ads in print media; and voice mail marketing.

3. Does Direct Marketing Work?

That depends on how you define "work." Direct marketing does ensure people know about your business. But aggressive, misleading, or annoying direct marketing can leave people with a bad impression about your business.

Be sure to adhere to privacy and contact laws because there are stiff fines and penalties for direct marketers that violate direct marketing laws.

4. Should I Consider Direct Marketing?

Every business owner should consider direct marketing. However, the type of direct marketing that will work for your business depends on your industry, your business ethics, and your budget.

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