Plan and Manage Store Advertising and Promotions
Promotion is a central element of the marketing mix. A promotional activity is any effort made by a business to communicate with potential customers.
Promotional activities have two main purposes:
- Inform customers about your store, its products, prices, and services
- Persuade customers to buy the products you sell
As with any management process, promotional activities must be planned and coordinated to ensure that they achieve the store’s marketing objectives within its budget allocation.
While there are many types of promotional activities, the most common and widely used promotions in retailing are Personal Selling, Advertising, and Sales Promotions. Each activity is designed to achieve a specific communication task based on the company’s objectives and the characteristics of the target market.
1. Personal Selling
This is the face-to-face communication process that occurs between a customer and the store’s sales representative.
In addition to promoting products, personal selling strives to build long-term relationships with the customer. Generally, it is an expensive option when you consider the costs associated with employing staff. The store’s image will influence the level of personal selling and service it offers, and this is usually reflected in the store’s pricing policy.
2. Advertising
Advertising is any form of paid, non-personal presentation by an identified sponsor. It incorporates television, radio, print, and digital methods.
This form of promotion is the most common communication strategy used by retailers. While it can be expensive, if used sensibly advertising can be a very effective tool. It is critical that the message and the medium reflect the store’s image and be appropriate to the target market.
For example, a poor-quality letterbox flyer would be inappropriate for an upmarket retailer to use to promote their upcoming sale.
3. Sales Promotion
Sales promotions are designed to supplement and extend other promotional activities (usually advertising).
Sales promotions generally offer short-term incentives to encourage the customer to purchase a specific product within a designated time.
Sales promotion activities include:
- In-store displays (Promoting a single brand or product range)
- Free samples (Giving customers sampler packs of a new product)
- Brand promotional products (Cooler bags or T-shirts)
The store’s merchandising efforts are part of its sales promotion activities and frequently overlap into the store’s advertising efforts.
In-store promotional displays can be an effective merchandising strategy that builds product sales.
4. Direct Marketing
These are generally non-personal efforts to gain a direct response from the customer. Direct marketing tends to use interactive communication with the customer, i.e. television advertising supported by a plea to “call now.”
While classed as non-personal, they can incorporate a personalised message or salutation. Direct mail is a commonly used example of this strategy.
5. Publicity
Publicity is a non-personal form of promotion that is designed to build a positive attitude towards the company. The retailer does not pay for this form of promotion and frequently has no control over the end message.
This can lead to the message being distorted or even presented in a less than positive light. A favourable news story promoting the store is an example of publicity.
6. Public Relations
Public relations are the planned efforts of a company to influence the attitudes and opinions of existing and potential customers.
The focus of public relations is to “build a good public image” or to head off negative rumours or events. Unlike publicity, the promotional messages created by public relations efforts are paid for.
The retailer has total control over the message, who will receive it, and where it will be delivered. The release of information designed to create good publicity is a function of public relations.
While there are many types of promotional activities available to the retailer, each has a limited impact if it’s not relevant to the customers that you are trying to communicate with.
The first step in this process is to identify your customers and their needs. This usually requires some form of research and data collection.
Top 9 Forms of Promotional Activities
Some of the most important forms of promotional activities are as follows:
- Personal Selling
- Advertising
- Sales Promotion
- Publicity
- Public Relation
- Point of Purchase Display
- Packaging
- Direct Mail
- Other Forms of Promotion
The two most well-known techniques of marketing are personal selling and advertising. It is the most important kind in terms of cost and market impact.
Personal selling is an essential component of every promotional strategy. Advertising is frequently used to support it. Sales promotion, publicity, and public relations are the other types of promotion.
It’s crucial for a good promotional campaign. Point-of-purchase displays, packaging, and direct mail are additional ways of promotion.
1. Personal Selling
It is the most significant, effective, and expensive type of advertising. It is the most effective way of communicating verbally, face-to-face, or directly.
Personal presentations have the potential to influence sales. It has the effect of pushing the product through the distribution system.
2. Advertising
It is a means of mass communication as well as an impersonal method of communication and salesmanship for mass selling. Advertising is another effective kind of promotion that is less expensive than personal selling.
3. Sales Promotion
Sales promotion refers to marketing activities other than advertising, publicity, and personal selling. It acts as a link between personal selling and traditional advertising.
It is a sales technique that is forceful.
4. Publicity
As advertising, it is a non-personal stimulant of demand. It creates demand for a product, service, or business unit by promoting it on the radio, television, or stage.
5. Public Relation
It’s a sort of marketing. It builds, develops, and maintains a positive public image for an organisation.
As a result, the seller’s goodwill grows, which leads to more sales and promotes the sale of goods.
It is particularly effective in the face of competition and consumer-oriented marketing.
6. Point of Purchase Display
The silent salesman is the one who draws the buyers’ attention to the product and convinces them to purchase it.
It is more effective to promote at the time of purchase. Manufacturers or distributors are in charge of product display.
It fluctuates a lot. The consumers can try the products at an automobile showroom with advertising brochures and pricing information.
The purpose of the display is to inspect the product and make a purchasing choice. Display provides the most value by combining personal selling with advertising.
7. Packaging
It distinguishes and safeguards a product. It serves two important promotional functions:
- It draws the customer’s attention to the product at a retail store.
- It contains selling messages as well as other information needed to make a purchasing decision.
Product protection, ease of handling, selling ability, convenience, and information are all provided by the package. Customers are drawn to it.
8. Direct Mail
A newspaper ad reaches thousands of people, while direct mail is sent to a small group of customers.
It will entice customers to purchase the goods. It is more effective than advertising since it provides straight information.
It’s an add-on to other sorts of marketing. It aids product acceptance or awareness. When purchasers are approached personally or see displays, it boosts their chances of making a purchase.
9. Other Forms of Promotion
One type of special promotion is sampling. New food and other consumer products are sampled, as well as sample medicines given to doctors, in order to introduce new products to consumers.
Another type of promotion is couponing.
