The Importance of Promotion
Objective 13-5 Identify the objectives of promotion and the considerations in selecting a promotional mix, and discuss the various kinds of advertising promotions.
Promotion refers to techniques for communicating information about products and is part of the communication mix, the total message any company sends to customers about its product. Promotional techniques, especially advertising, must communicate the uses, features, and benefits of products, and marketers use an array of tools for this purpose.
Promotional Objectives
The ultimate objective of any promotion is to increase sales. In addition, marketers may use promotion to communicate information, position products, add value, and control sales volume.
As we saw in Chapter 11, positioning is the process of establishing an easily identifiable product image in the minds of consumers by fixing, adapting, and communicating the nature of the product itself. First, a firm must identify which market segments are likely to purchase its product and how its product measures up against competitors. Then, it can focus on promotional choices for differentiating its product and positioning it in the minds of the target audience. As an example, if someone says, “facial tissue,” most people respond with … Kleenex. “The Ultimate Driving Machine” is … BMW. These ubiquitous associations are indicative of successful positioning.
Promotional mixes are often designed to communicate a product’s value-added benefits to distinguish it from the competition. Mercedes automobiles and Ritz-Carlton hotels, for example, promote their products as upscale goods and services featuring high quality, style, and performance, all at a higher price.
Promotional Strategies
Once its larger marketing objectives are clear, a firm must develop a promotional strategy to achieve them. Two prominent types of strategies are considered here:
A pull strategy appeals directly to consumers who will demand the product from retailers. Pharmaceutical companies use direct-to-consumer advertising (DTC) to persuade consumers to aggressively request a product rather than to wait passively until the doctor suggests trying it. “Talk to your doctor about Allegra-D” is just one example of the vast number of television and online ads for prescription drugs, knee replacement systems, and other medical products. The resulting demand by end users stimulates demand for the product from wholesalers and producers.
Using a push strategy, a firm markets its product to wholesalers and retailers who then persuade customers to buy it. Brunswick Corp., for instance, uses a push strategy to promote Bayliner pleasure boats, directing its promotions at dealers and persuading them to order more inventory. Dealers are then responsible for stimulating demand among boaters at outdoor shows and through other promotions in their market districts.
Many large firms combine pull and push strategies. General Mills, for example, advertises to create consumer demand (pull) for its breakfast cereals, including Lucky Charms, Cheerios, and Count Chocula. At the same time, it pushes wholesalers and retailers to stock and display them.
The Promotional Mix
Five of marketing’s most powerful promotional tools are advertising, personal selling, sales promotions, direct or interactive marketing, and publicity and public relations. The best combination of these tools—the best promotional mix—depends on many factors. The most important is the target audience. As an example, two generations from now, 25 percent of the U.S. workforce will be Hispanic. With an estimated 52 million Hispanic Americans, the rise in Latinos’ disposable income has made them a potent economic force, and marketers are scrambling to redesign and promote products to appeal to them with Spanish-language commercials and ads. Several major cable networks such as HBO and ESPN offer separate Spanish-language channels.
In establishing a promotional mix, marketers match promotional tools with the five stages in the buyer decision process:
When consumers first recognize the need to make a purchase, marketers use advertising and publicity, which can reach many people quickly, to make sure buyers are aware of their products.
As consumers search for information about available products, advertising and personal selling are important methods to educate them.
Personal selling can become vital as consumers compare competing products. Sales representatives can demonstrate product quality, features, benefits, and performance in comparison with competitors’ products.
When buyers are ready to purchase products, sales promotion can give consumers an incentive to buy. Personal selling can help by bringing products to convenient purchase locations.
After making purchases, consumers evaluate products and note (and remember) their strengths and deficiencies. At this stage, advertising and personal selling can remind customers that they made wise purchases.
Figure 13.3 summarizes the effective promotional tools for each stage in the consumer buying process.
Figure 13.3
The Consumer Buying Process and the Promotional Mix
Source: Multi-Source
Advertising
Advertising is paid, nonpersonal communication by which an identified sponsor informs an audience about a product. In 2016, firms in the United States spent over $210 billion on advertising—almost $30 billion by just 10 companies. Figure 13.4 shows U.S. advertising expenditures for the top-spending firms. Let’s take a look at the different types of advertising media, noting some of the advantages and limitations of each.
Figure 13.4
Top 10 U.S. National Advertisers
Source: Adapted from “Kantar Media Reports U.S. Advertising Expenditures Increased 3 Percent in 2012,” Kantar Media, March 11, 2013, at http://kantarmediana.com/intelligence/press/us-advertising-expenditures-increased-3-percent-2012.
Advertising Media
Consumers tend to ignore the bulk of advertising messages that bombard them—they pay attention only to what interests them. Moreover, the advertising process is dynamic, reflecting the changing interests and preferences of both customers and advertisers. One recent customer survey, for example, reports that mail ads are rated as most irritating and boring, and newspaper and magazine ads are least annoying. Yet, although newspaper ads are rated as more informative and useful than some other media, advertisers continue to shift away, using instead more online advertising because newsprint readership (the audience) is dwindling.5 Of course, in a few instances, most prominently the Superbowl, advertising has become an attraction in itself. Polls track the most popular ads, and some people acknowledge that they watch the game only to see the commercials. Advertisers also create special ads and often use them to promote “big events.” Not surprisingly, of course, ads during the Superbowl are also very expensive—$4.5 million was the fee for a single 30-second commercial during the 2017 game.
Real-Time Ad Tracking
Advertisers always want better information about who looks at ads and for how long. Which target audiences and demographics are more attracted to various ad contents? Accurate ad-watching behavior of shoppers in malls, theaters, and grocery stores is on the increase with assistance from high-tech real-time surveillance. As passing consumers watch ads on video screens, cameras watch the shoppers, and software analyzes the viewers’ demographics and reactions to various ad contents and formats. The makers of the tracking system claim accuracy of up to 90 percent for determining gender, approximate age, and ethnicity. Once perfected, the system might measure your demographics, identify you with a target audience, and then instantly change the presentation to a preferred product and visual format to attract and hold your attention.6 Marketers must find out, then, who their customers are, to which media they pay attention, what messages appeal to them, and how to get their attention. Thus, marketers use several different advertising media, specific communication devices for carrying a seller’s message to potential customers. The combination of media through which a company advertises is called its media mix. Table 13.2 shows the relative sizes of media usage and their strengths and weaknesses.
Table 13.2
Total U.S. Media Usage, Strengths, and Weaknesses
| Advertising Medium | Percentage* of Advertising Outlays | Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|---|---|
A combination of additional unmeasured media, such as yellow pages, catalogs, special events, sidewalk handouts, ads on transport vehicles, skywriting, movies, and door-to-door communications, are not included. *Estimated. |
|||
| Television | 35% | Program demographics allow for customized ads Large audience |
Most expensive |
| Internet | 20% | Targeted audience Measurable success | Nuisance to consumers Easy to ignore |
| Direct mail | 10% | Targeted audience Personal messages Predictable results |
Easily discarded Environmentally irresponsible |
| Newspapers | 10% | Broad coverage Ads can be changed daily |
Quickly discarded Broad readership limits ability to target specific audience |
| Radio | 8% | Inexpensive Large audience Variety of ready market segmentation |
Easy to ignore Message quickly disappears |
| Magazines | 8% | Often reread and shared Variety of ready market segmentation |
Require advanced planning Little control over ad placement |
| Outdoor | 3% | Inexpensive Difficult to ignore Repeat exposure |
Presents limited information Little control over audience |
Marketers are also getting increasingly sophisticated by blending their media mix across different platforms. This often comes in the form of marketing partnerships. For example, suppose that you are thinking about taking a trip to New York City. As part of your preliminary planning you check out a new backpack on Amazon, look at airfares on United.com, and compare hotel rates at Marriott.com and Hilton.com. A few hours later you decide to check out what’s happening with your friends on Facebook. Scattered among the posts from your friends you are likely to see ads for the same hotels, flights, and backpacks you were checking out earlier. That’s because Amazon, United, Hilton, and Marriott each pay Facebook a fee to link your shopping searches back to your Facebook page.