There are four main tools used for promotion: advertising, sales promotion, public relations, and direct marketing. Advertising involves paid communication to promote a product, service, or idea. It follows the AIDA model of attracting attention, building interest, creating desire, and prompting action. Sales promotion uses incentives to drive short-term sales increases. Public relations involves managing a company's interactions and relationships with customers, employees, and other stakeholders. Direct marketing communicates directly with consumers through channels like direct mail, catalogs, telemarketing and websites without intermediaries. Effective promotional campaigns involve defining objectives, analyzing target audiences, developing messages, creating media plans, executing the campaign, and evaluating results.

1. Tools of Promotion - Advertising, Sales Promotion, Public
Relation & Direct Marketing
The 4 Ps of marketing are product, price, place and promotion. All four of these elements combine to make a successful marketing strate
looks to communicate the company’s message across to the consumer. The four main tools of promotion are advertising, sales prom
relation and direct marketing.
Advertising
Advertising is defined as any form of paid communication or promotion for product, service and idea. Advertisement is not only used by c
many cases by museum, government and charitable organizations. However, the treatment meted out to advertisement defers from an o
organization.
Advertising development involves a decision across five Ms Mission, Money, Message, Media and Measurement.
Mission looks at setting objectives for advertising. The objectives could be to inform, persuade, remind or
reinforce. Objective has to follow the marketing strategy set by the company.
Money or budget decision for advertising should look at stage of product life cycle, market share and
consumer base, competition, advertising frequency and product substitutability.
Message’s development further is divided into four steps, message generation, message evaluation and
selection, message execution, and social responsibility review.
Once the message is decided the next step is finalizing the media for delivering the message. The choice
of depends on reach of media, frequency of transmission and potential impact on customer. Based on
this choice of media types are made from newspaper, television, direct mail, radio, magazine and the
internet. After which timing of broadcast of the message is essential as to grab attention of the target
audience.
Checking on the effectiveness of communication is essential to company’s strategy. There are two types
of research communication effect research and sales effect research.
Sales Promotion
Promotion is an incentive tool used to drive up short term sales. Promotion can be launched directed at
consumer or trade. The focus of advertising to create reason for purchase the focus of promotion is to
create an incentive to buy. Consumer incentives could be samples, coupons, free trial and demonstration.
Trade incentive could be price off, free goods and allowances. Sales force incentive could be convention,
trade shows, competition among sales people.
Sales promotion activity can have many objectives, for example, to grab attention of new customer,
reward the existing customer, increase consumption of occasional users. Sales promotion is usually
targeted at the fence sitters and brand switchers.
Sales promotional activity for the product is selected looking at the overall marketing objective of the
company. The final selection of the consumer promotional tools needs to consider target audience,
budget, competitive response and each tool’s purpose.
Sales promotion activity should under-go pretest before implementation. Once the activity is launched it
should be controlled as to remain within the budget. Evaluation program is a must after implementation of
the promotional scheme.
Public Relations
Companies cannot survive in isolation they need to have a constant interaction with customers,
employees and different stakeholders. This servicing of relation is done by the public relation office. The
major function of the public relation office is to handle press releases, support product publicity, create
and maintain the corporate image, handle matters with lawmakers, guide management with respect to
public issues.

2. Companies are looking at ways to converge with functions of marketing and public relation in marketing
public relation. The direct responsibility of marketing public relation (MPR) is to support corporate and
product branding activities.
MPR is an efficient tool in building awareness by generating stories in media. Once the story is in
circulation MPR can establish credibility and create a sense of enigma among sales people as well as
dealers to boost enthusiasm. MPR is much more cost effective tool than other promotional activities.
Direct Marketing
The communication establishes through a direct channel without using any intermediaries is referred to
as direct marketing. Direct marketing can be used to deliver message or service. Direct marketing has
shown tremendous growth in recent years. The internet has played major part in this growth story. Direct
marketing saves time, makes an experience personal and pleasant. Direct marketing reduces cost for
companies. Face to face selling, direct mail, catalog marketing, telemarketing, TV and kiosks are media
for direct marketing.
Advertising Promotional Tools
Companies and small business owners can use many advertising promotional tools,
including magazine ads, Internet marketing and direct mail. Social media sites such as
Facebook, MySpace and Twitter also provide advertising sources for savvy business
owners. The key in advertising is finding cost-effective ways to reach potential
customers. Companies can also use free advertising by writing articles or listing their
websites in search engines like Yahoo and Google.
Display Ads
The first step in creating a display ad is knowing your key objective: Do you want to
produce leads or orders? Mail-order companies, for example, will often ask for
money directly in an ad. These direct-response ads will usually require ample space
for describing a particular product. Large corporations will usually design ads to pull
business leads or attract customers.
Display ads usually contain a heading, copy and a contact source. A display ad
should follow the AIDA (attention, interest, desire, action) principle of advertising,
according to advertising experts at Dave Dolak, a business-to-business marketing
professional. Headings, pictures and illustrations should attract the reader's
attention. The body of the ad or copy should build interest by highlighting key
benefits for the readers. Ultimately, the ad should increase the reader's interest and
prompt him to make a purchase.
Direct Mail Marketing
Direct mail is one of the most cost-effective types of advertising. Direct mail is also
highly targeted. You can reach specific buying groups with direct mail. For example,
if you sell proteins or sports nutritional products, you can purchase mailing lists of
consumers who buy these products. One mailing list source is the Direct Marketing
Association.
A direct mail package usually includes a sales letter, brochure and order form. Create
a two-to-four-page sales letter that highlights the key benefits of your product or
service. Include a colorful brochure that shows key features of your product or
services you offer. Key all orders forms with a code so you can track the effectiveness
of your campaign. For example, you can use "Suite 1" in your address to keep track of

3. your first 5,000-piece mailing. Add up the orders produced from that mailing, then
subtract your mailing expenses to calculate your profit.
Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization is for companies that use websites in their advertising.
Use search engine optimization if you want to reach national and international
customers. The objective of search engine optimization is to appear on the first page
of Google or Yahoo results when people search for your type of business. Hire a
search engine optimizer. Most Web designers will either know a search engine
optimizer or offer the services themselves. Help your search engine optimizer
develop three-to-five-word phrases that best describe your products or services.
Include phrases that are frequently used in your website, which will enhance your
ranking status.
Developing an Advertising Campaign
Identify and Analyze the Advertising Target.
The group of people for which the advertisement is aimed at, may direct campaign at
only a portion of the target market.
Research and analyze advertising targets to establish an information base for a
campaign. Generally increase advertisers knowledge about their target--the more
effective the campaign.
David Ogilvy Award focuses on rewarding research in advertising: 1994 finalists:
Nabisco's Oreo Cookie campaign, nostalgic feeling re: cookies, slogan "Unlock
the magic!"....Winner!!
AT&T "You will campaign", customers did not feel AT&T was innovative
Goodyear, Aquatred ads, customer concerns were related to tires traction
ability in the wet.
Defining Objectives.
What the firm hopes to accomplish from the campaign, should be clear, precise and
measurable, can help measure the success at the end of the campaign. Use a
benchmark.
At what stage are the target market in the Product Adoption Process. What are the
goals of the campaign...to increase purchases, to generate traffic in the retail store
etc.
Demand oriented objectives vs. image oriented objectives
Increase product/brand awareness
Change consumer attitudes...reposition product
Increase customer knowledge of product features

4. Determine the Advertising Appropriation
Total amount of money that a marketer allocates for advertising in a specific period.
Objective and Task Approach determine the objectives, then list the tasks
needed to achieve the objectives.
Percent of Sales Approach Sales create marketing?! What happens when the
products sales are declining.
Competition Matching Approach Other companies have different advertising
objectives.
Arbitrary Approach determined by high level executives, Delaware MBA
Program
Creating an Advertising Message
A function of the product's features, uses and benefits.
Must be aware of the characteristics of target market, different message to different
target market.
Dependant on objective of the campaign.
Can use a Spokesperson. Celebrities 1993 ranked:
1. Cindy Crawford...Pepsi Cola, Revlon
2. Candice Bergen...Sprint (1/3 believe either AT&T or MCI ;)...don't want the
personality to overwhelm the brand)
3. Bill Cosby...Jello
Sports:
1. Michael Jordon, 6th time in 7 years
Components of the advert:
Headline
Illustrations
SubHeadline
BodyCopy
Signature
Copy verbal portion of the advert. Includes all aspects except the illustrations.
Attempts to move the reader through:
1. Awareness
2. Interest
3. Desire
4. Action

5. Developing a Media Plan
Sets forth the exact media vehicles to be used and dates and times of ads.
Effectiveness of plan determines how many people in the advertiser's target will be
exposed to the message. Need to select the media to be used and dates and times
ads appear.
Primary goal--reach the highest # of people (within the advertiser's target) per $ spent.
Achieve the appropriate message reach and frequency for the target audience while
staying within the budget.
Various Media
TV Channels/programs, Baseball = male 18-49 Academy awards = female 18-
49
Sponsor cable channels, Reebok with Cable Health Club "Reebok University"
Radio, Becoming more segmented, also allowed to own 2 FM stations in one
area.
Magazines, Lead time considerations, also pass along rate, subscription plus
news agent sales.
Newspapers, Local vs. national
Direct Mail, Evolution of Database marketing, able to narrowly target with
DM.
Outdoor, Billboards Atlanta is most billboard per capita city, Transit...City
Buses, Blimps...At Events
Placed-Based, Schools, also sponsor educational programs, Supermarkets,
Health Clubs, Dining Halls. Intrusive..."Only go where you are wanted!!".
Target market is known...not assumed.
Electronic, WWW, et al.
Need to select general media, IE Newspapers, then subclass, IE Philadelphia Inquirer.
Look at location and demographics of advertisers target, use media that appeals to this
group.
Content of message to present affects the choice of media.
Cost of media, use cost comparison indicator-within specific media (IE between two
magazines), CPM "cost per thousand" for magazines.
-cost, total cost; per reader/viewer cost
-reach, #viewers/readers in the audience, print media includes circulation and pass on,
more for magazines than newspapers
-waste, portion of marketer's audience that are not in the target market
-frequency, how often can the medium be used/changed, i.e., TV radio hourly,
newspapers daily, Yellow pages yearly.
-message performance, number of exposures each advertisement generates and how
long it remains available to the audience; outdoor ads, many exposures/message,

6. magazines retained for a long period of time.
-clutter, # of advertisements contained in a single program/issue of a medium. TV ads
moving to 15 secs. each is increasing clutter. Some moving to 2 minutes...or even 5,
especially if there is a complex message...telecommunications...cars maybe!!
Primetime:
CBS 13mins 52 secs of non programming time
ABC 13mins 24 secs
Daytime 8-19 mins
ESPN 13mins 28 secs
Discovery 15mins 20 secs
Executing the Campaign
Requires extensive planning and coordination. Advertising Agencies, production
costs, research organizations, media firms, printers, photographers, and commercial
artists etc. Detailed schedules are needed to insure everything is accomplished on
time. (video).
Evaluating the effectiveness of the campaign
Measure the achievement of the objectives, assessing the effectiveness of the copy
etc., and the media.
Typical consumer is bombarded with about 300 advertising messages/day, 109,500
per year. 80% of people cannot remember a typical ad one day after seeing it. NEED
CREATIVITY!?!?
Pretests before campaign, use a consumer jury.
During the campaign, "inquiries"-coupons numbered.
Posttests after the campaign, use consumer surveys to measure the change in
communication objectives, change in sales or market share. Cannot be precise due to
the environment.
Use recognition tests to determine the degree to which consumers recognize
advertisements.
Recall evaluation, consumers are asked what they have seen lately. Aided or unaided.