Promotion Effectiveness in a Marketing Plan
Promotion is one of the "4 P's" of marketing (product, price, place and promotion) and an important part of the marketing process. The promotion mix can include a wide variety of communication tactics, from advertising and public relations to Internet marketing and social media. As marketers develop and implement their marketing plans, it is important for them to consider ways in which they will be able to measure the effectiveness of their promotional efforts. Tracking costs and results can be accomplished through a variety of methods -- direct mail and online marketing arguably provide the most quantitative means of measuring results.
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Promotion as Part of the '4 P's'
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Promotion effectiveness is heavily dependent on each of the other "4 P's" carrying their weight, so to speak (as they, in turn, are also dependent on each of the other three). All of these elements work in tandem to ensure effectiveness. The product (or service) must meet market needs, the price must be at a price point that is reflective of the value that consumers assign to the product and the product must be readily available to the consumer and relatively easy to access. If all of these things are true, then promotion -- or communication about the product -- can be used to let consumers know the product is available, why it represents value and how to attain it.
Types of Measurement
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Businesses might measure the effectiveness of their promotional efforts in a variety of ways -- from measuring awareness, to measuring preferences, to ultimately measuring purchase behaviors. In addition, marketers are often interested in knowing how consumers respond to their products or services in comparison to the products or services offered by competitors. This can be done through surveys that ask consumers questions from rating their level of awareness of various brands or products, to their evaluation of these brands/products across attributes that may be tangible (price) or qualitative (value, best for certain qualities, etc.).
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Direct Marketing
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Direct marketing is a form of promotion that offers benefits to marketers because of both the ability to specifically target a market segment and to effectively and precisely measure the response to promotional efforts. For instance, 500 mailers about a new golfing product might be sent to a segment of males, age 60 and over, who are avid golfers. The marketer would then measure how many orders or responses were received through that mailer by tracking response through tracking codes, special order numbers or landing pages on the Internet.
Social Media and Measurement
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While social media represents a new and relatively cost-effective promotion option for marketers, it is still in its early stages of proving itself in terms of measurability. Many marketers feel that social media is effective in allowing them to raise awareness, but have not yet developed metrics that can clearly indicate whether that awareness is leading to actual sales. And, most importantly, they will need to determine whether those added sales can be achieved more effectively via social media than through other, more traditional, communication channels.
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