Developing the right product isn’t enough to reach the company’s goals and objectives; that’s where you need marketing and promotion of your offers. Today, we’ll discuss what is promotional mix; its importance, its main elements, best practicing tips, and examples.
What is Promotional Mix?
A promotional mix is the integration of marketing strategies consisting of direct marketing, public relations, sales, and advertising to reach the specific company’s marketing goals. Usually, the promotion is only a small part of the company’s larger marketing mix. It is better to employ a combination of methods and strategies that are most effective for your marketing and promotion campaign.
Importance of Promotional Mix
4Ps are the foundation and base of the marketing mix. After developing the product, setting the price, and laying down the distribution channels; then companies have to inform the customers about their offers. That’s where the role of the promotion mix comes into play.
It assists companies in sharing the right communication message with the right target customer market and by the using right channel.
Other elements of the marketing mix make sure that the company develops the product according to the buying capacity, requirements, and needs of customers. The promotion mix tells customers effectively about their existing offers and provides them a good reason to buy them.
If the promotion mix of the company isn’t working properly and aligned with the business, then place strategy, pricing, and perfectly developed product would go to waste.
Elements of Promotional Mix
Traditionally speaking, the promotional mix comprises five main elements, and they’re as follows;
Advertising
Advertising is the process of promoting products through a recognized sponsor for a specific fee. We can say that it is a non-personal paid form of promotion. The marketers develop a pull strategy through advertising, where customers have the urge to use the product at least one time. However, companies share information about the product/service along with charming images to attract their attention and impact their purchasing decision.
Personal Selling
It’s a traditional and conventional form of promotion strategy where the salesperson visits customers and directly talks to them. It comprises face-to-face interaction between the customers and the salesperson with the focus to impact the purchasing decision of customers.
Sales Promotion
It comprises of offering short-term incentives to the customers to amplify the sale in a specific time period. Usually, companies offer sales promotion schemes at the end of the season or during the time of the festival. The incentives are in the form of freebies, payback offers, coupons, and discounts. The focus of companies through sales promotion is to increase sales and attract the attention of both current and new customers.
Public Relations
Marketers establish a favorable image of the company in the market by developing a relationship with the public. Businesses and companies launch various PR campaigns in order to gain the support of all the people directly or indirectly related to the company. However, by the general public, I mean government, shareholders, distributors, suppliers, employees, customers, and society as a whole. Publicity is the main area of PR that the company employs to send newsworthy information to the public.
Direct Marketing
Digital media and technology have allowed companies to directly approach customers without any paid channel or intermediaries. Some of the main direct marketing methods are fax, text messages, and emails. For instance, companies send direct emails to customers to inform them about the latest promotional schemes.
Best Practices of Promotional Mix – Tips
Some of the main tips for the best practices of the promotional mix are as follows;
Recognizing Target Audience
You should recognize your target audience and take full advantage of the strategies of promotion mixes. It’s better to start with creating the profile of your ideal target customers, and how you provide them with the best product that satisfies their needs and requirements.
5 Ps Rule
You should keep in mind the five Ps of marketing for the success of the promotion. They’re like the type of product you’re selling; the price you plan to charge; how you’re going to offer it; the place where you’re selling it; the type of people you’re selling it to. You should offer customers what they’re looking for at the most convenient time by working on the 5Ps of marketing.
Offering Useful Information
You should demonstrate the functionality of the product or service that you’re selling. You should highlight the things that make your product unique; give customers a reason why they should choose your product over competitors. It’s better to offer customers a review comparison with the product of competitors.
Marketing Channel
You should determine the most convenient communication channel for your target customer market. It is advisable to send the marketing message through different media channels. It would help you to know the best channel that works for your audience.
Right Promotion Elements
Small businesses use a personal selling approach; it has a limited customer reach and high cost. Email marketing and displaying ads are affordable for almost all types of businesses. You should follow a balanced communication strategy that is most relevant and suitable for your business.
Segmentation
Segmentation allows you to divide your large target market into smaller groups and target your customers better.
Tracking Marketing Trends
Internet and digital marketing offer you the latest forms of communication channels to target your customers. Studying and following the market trends would help you to approach your customers the best way you can.
Example of Promotional Mix
Coca-Cola
The soft drink brand employs various promotional strategies in different markets where it’s operating its business.
- Advertising: Coca-Cola employs radio, billboards, TVs, influencers, celebrities, and others
- Sales Promotion: often the company offers sales promotion campaigns at festivals, holidays, and sports events
- Public Relations: the company maintains its brand image by using PR, and addresses environmental issues like the usage of plastic bottles.
- Coca-Cola is a multinational brand, and the company rarely uses personal selling and direct marketing
Conclusion: What is Promotional Mix? Elements, Tips, Examples
After an in-depth study of what is promotional mix; its importance, its elements; best practicing tips, and examples; we have realized that promotion is significant for a company’s growth. If you’re developing a promotion strategy for your company, then you should keep in mind the abovementioned suggestions.
Ahsan Ali Shaw is an accomplished Business Writer, Analyst, and Public Speaker. Other than that, he’s a fun loving person.
