Types of Promotion Objectives

Promotion reminds, informs and persuades consumers.

Promotion refers to the types of personal and impersonal activities a company undertakes to get the word out about its products. Marketers must determine what they hope to achieve with the promotional campaign before deciding upon the tools to be used. The five tools of promotion are advertising, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing and personal selling.

Promotion Objectives

The basic objectives of any promotional campaign are to remind, inform or persuade the consumer. This is known as the RIP model. A company engages in promotional activities to remind consumers that their product exists in the marketplace. When a company informs consumers, it is telling them about a new or revised product that is available. Most promotional objectives will also involve an attempt to persuade the consumer to purchase the product.

Promotion Tools

Depending on the promotion objective, a combination of tools are used. Advertising is paid nonpersonal communication to reach a wide audience. Sales promotion includes coupons and rebates that encourage consumers to purchase immediately. Public relations is used to influence consumer perceptions about a product or company. Direct marketing generates orders directly from a consumer. Personal selling is face-to-face communication that informs about products and persuades consumers to purchase them.

Product Life Cycle

The product life cycle (PLC) also plays a role in setting promotion objectives. There are four stages to the PLC: introduction, growth, maturity and decline. At the introductory stage, the promotional objectives are to inform and persuade. The growth stage of the PLC reminds consumers about the availability of the product and persuades them to be loyal customers. At the maturity stage, consumers are reminded that the product still exists and is available for purchase.

Objectives and the Budget

The budget is the final consideration when developing promotion objectives. Many items are considered including the marketing budget, the competitive environment, the promotional tools and the potential gains from the promotional campaign. If the expected costs of the promotion objectives exceed potential gains, the objectives and promotional tools need to be reevaluated. One emerging promotional tool that costs very little is the use of social media. This is one tool that should always be considered when developing promotion objectives and the budget.

References

• "Marketing Management: Knowledge and Skills"; J. Paul Peter et al; 2009
• "The Marketing Plan Handbook"; Marion Burk Wood; 2011