Promotion
Promotion is the methods a business uses to communicate information about its products and services among its customers and potential customers. The main aim of promotion is to either persuade customers to purchase or inform about products.
This includes advertising, sales promotion, public relations and personal selling.
Advertising
There are a number of advertising methods a business can use. These include:
- television
- newspapers, magazines and billboards,
- online
- radio
Public relations
A business can use public relations to increase awareness of the business and its products. This is usually free media coverage such as for the opening of a new store or launch of a new product.
Sales promotion
These strategies are used by a business to increase sales in the short term. Sales promotion techniques include:
- discounts
- buy one get one free
- competitions and coupons
- point of sales displays
- free gifts
- free samples
Sponsorship
Businesses can increase the profile of the business by sponsoring sport events, sports teams or television programmes.
Social media
Social media can be used by businesses to promote their products and services. This is a cheap way to communicate with their customers about new products or special offers and could be used to take customers to their website.
Personal selling
A business will use a mix of different promotion methods to increase its sales. Its chosen method will depend on the type of product or service on offer, competitors’ actions, the target market, the relative costs of the different methods and the size of the budget the business has. This is often referred to as the ‘promotional mix’ for a business.
