Topic 9

PROMOTION MIX DECISIONS

Expected Learning Outcomes

At the end of the topic, you will be able to;

1. Explain the meaning, functions, and advantages and disadvantages of advertising;

2. Examine the meaning of personal selling, merits and demerits and personal selling
responsibilities;
3. Elucidate meaning of sales promotion, types of sales promotions, advantages and
disadvantages of sales promotions;
4. Discuss public relations, its functions, and advantages and disadvantages;
5. Assess publicity, techniques of securing publicity, and advantages and disadvantages; and
6. Analyze direct marketing, forms of direct marketing, and advantages and disadvantages.

PROMOTION MIX DECISIONS

Promotion mix consists of the following decision elements
1) Advertising
2) Personal selling
3) Sales promotion
4) Public relations
5) Publicity
6) Direct marketing

1) ADVERTISING

Meaning of Advertising
Advertising is defined as any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas,
goods or services by an identified sponsor.

Types of Advertising
Most advertising campaigns are designed to influence consumers to buy a particular brand. The
following are the various types of advertising that a marketer can use.

(i) Brand advertising is designed to maintain awareness of a brand among consumers and to
increase its market share.
(ii) Corporate advertising. Firms frequently advertise their corporate name as well as brands.
Also called institutional advertising.
(iii) Cooperative advertising. Here, manufacturers offer retailers allowances to advertise their
products and permit them to use the retail store name in the ad
(iv) Retail advertising- such as is done by retailers such as Naivas.

1
Functions of Advertising
Advertising performs various functions. These include:
1. Information
Advertising creates product or service awareness. It tells consumers where to get the product or
service, the benefits, features and so on. It educates them on competing products and serves to
reduce consumers’ search time. It is mostly found at the introduction stage of the product life
cycle. Yoghurt manufacturers had to start by informing consumers of the product’s nutritional
benefits.

2. Entertainment
Entertainment includes pleasant event and message with the basic selling message, serving to
increase consumer attention, comprehension and learning of the primary message. Advertising
helps to pay for a lot of entertainment on TV and other media.

3. Persuasion
This becomes important in the competitive stage or the growth and maturity stage of the product
life cycle, where the company’s objective is to build selective demand for a particular brand.
Some persuasive ads use comparative advertising which makes an explicit comparison of the
attributes of two or more brands in an attempt to persuade customers to move to the competing
brand.

4. Reminder
This is important with mature products such as Coca-Cola, Kimbo, Tusker, Guinness and Omo.
In Kenya, Coca-cola uses a lot of television and billboard advertisement to remind people to
purchase the drink. Because of its repetitive nature, reminder advertising continuously reminds
people, both present and potential users of the product, to continue using the brand.

5. Reassurance
It is related to reminder advertising. It seeks to assure current purchasers that they have made
the right choice. An Aquafresh toothpaste ad says, “…is a high time you know that you made the
right choice…”. Automobile ads often show satisfied customers enjoying special features of a
new car. CIC insurance assures customers that …CIC will never break its promise… Continued
re-assurance helps to enhance consumer confidence in the brand and helps to reduce post
purchase dissonance.

6. Assistance to other company efforts

Advertising aids other marketing efforts. For instance, it generates leads to prospective
customers for the sales team. It reduces sales costs and legitimizes the sales effort. It also makes
prospective customers knowledgeable about consumer products and therefore reduces
presentation time for the salespeople.

7. Addition of value
Advertising communications add value to a product because it influences consumer perception of
the product. Due to the nature of advertising communications, some products are viewed as
stylish, prestigious, modern, masculine/feminine or even conservative.

2
2) PERSONAL SELLING
Definition of Personal Selling
Personal selling is the personal communication of information to persuade somebody to buy a
service or product. Selling is one of the oldest professions in the world. The people who do the
selling go by many names - sales people, sales representatives, account executives, sales
consultants, sales engineers, agents and marketing representatives.

Merits of Personal Selling compared to other Promotional Methods

The main advantages of personal selling compared to other promotional methods include:
i) Flexibility. Personal selling is more flexible than other promotional tools like advertising,
sales promotion, among others.

ii) Tailoring of the message. Sales people can tailor their presentations to the needs and
behavior of individual customers. Sales people can see the reaction of customers to a
particular sales approach and make adjustments on the spot. This is called adaptive selling.

iii) Minimizing wasted effort. Personal selling can be focused or pinpointed on prospective
customers, thus minimizing wasted effort. In contrast, much of the cost of advertising is
spent on sending messages to people who are in no way the real prospects.

iv) Personal selling makes a sale. Other forms of promotion are designed to move a prospect
closer to a sale. Advertising can attract attention, provide information and arouse desire, but
seldom does it stimulate buying action or complete the transfer of title from seller to buyer.

v) Personal selling allows two-way interactions. The ability to interact with the receiver allows
the sender to determine the impact of the message. As such, objections and more in-depth
discussions of certain selling points can be provided immediately. Other forms of mass
communications do not have this direct feedback. As such, information cannot be
immediately obtained.

vi) Lack of distraction. In many personal selling situations, a one-to-one presentation is

conducted. In these situations, the likelihood of distraction is minimized and the buyer pays
more attention to the sales message. This is unlike where non-personal mass media are
employed.

vii) Involvement in the decision process. Through consultative selling, the seller becomes more
of a partner in the buying decision process, acting together with the buyer to solve problems.
The net result is more reliance on the sales person and his products and services.
viii) Greater impact on customers.
ix) Useful in complex buying situations and when buyers are close to buying.
x) Customers respond more often to personal selling than to ads.

3
3) SALES PROMOTION

Meaning of Sales Promotion

Sales Promotion is a direct inducement that offers an extra value or incentive for the product to
the sales force, distributors or the ultimate consumer with the primary objective of creating an
immediate sale. Sales promotions also refers to marketing activities other than personal selling,
advertising and publicity that stimulate consumer purchasing and dealer effectiveness, such as
displays, shows and exhibitions, demonstrations and various non-recurrent selling efforts not in
the ordinary routine. It involves offering of an inducement or incentive to customers, channel
members or salespeople in order to encourage purchase.

Type of Sales Promotion

Sales promotions can be broken down into two major categories: consumer oriented sales
promotion, and trade oriented sales promotion.

1. Consumer oriented sales promotion

These are sales promotions directed to the ultimate consumers who purchase goods and
services for final use. They are designed to induce customers to purchase the marketer’s
brand. They include free samples, coupons, premiums, bonus packs, price off deals, cash
refunds, contests, sweepstakes, events sponsorships such as sports sponsorship, test drives,
Buy One Get One free (BOGO), frequent shopper programs, prizes, referral gifts and other
limited-time selling efforts outside of the ordinary promotion routine.
2. Trade oriented sales promotion
These sales promotions are designed to motivate distributors and retailers of a product to make
an extra effort to promote or push it to their customers. They include discounts, commissions,
free training of personnel, contests, point of purchase displays, cooperative advertising, trade
shows and exhibitions, point of purchase materials such as banners and posters. Incentives trips
and push money/spiffs-wealth are other examples of trade oriented sales promotions.

4) PUBLIC RELATIONS
PR is defined as the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual
understanding between an organization and its publics. Public relations consist of all forms of
planned communication, outward and inward, between an organization and its publics for the
purpose of achieving specific objectives concerning mutual understanding. These objectives may
be to solve communication problems of poor image, negative publicity or any changes affecting
the organization.

Uses/functions of public relations

 Creating awareness of the company’s products, brands and activities
 Helping maintain positive public visibility and Enhancing company’s image
 Overcoming negative images
 Monitoring internal and external publics. Internal publics include: employees, unions, and
shareholders. External publics include: channel members, customers, media, local
community, financial community, government and special interest groups.

4
 Provide positive information to each public that reinforces the integrated marketing
communication plan
 React quickly to any shift by any of the publics from the desired position.
 Minimize total promotion costs.
 Present a favorable message in highly believable manner.
 Demonstrate innovativeness.
 Shows the firm as a contributor to the public’s quality of life.

5) PUBLICITY
Publicity refers to the generation of news about a person, product or service that appears in
broadcast or print media. It is further define it as non-personal communications regarding an
organization, product, service, or idea that is not directly paid for or run under identified
sponsorship.
Press releases are an examples of a publicity tool that companies use to disseminate favorable
news. An increasingly frequent component of publicity efforts is sponsorship of sports and
music events. News of such sponsorship is then publicized to generate goodwill for the sponsor.
Examples of Kenyan companies that have been using publicity through sponsorship include;
Kenya Commercial Bank (motor rallying), Standard Chartered bank (marathon), East Africa
breweries (soccer and rugby), Safaricom (LEWA marathon), Nation Media Group (electric
fencing of Aberdares Forest), Mater Hospital (Heart run). etc
There is no clear distinction between publicity and public relations. However according to Belch
and Belch (1999) the following are major differences between the two.

 Publicity is short-term strategy whereas PR is a concerted program which extends over a

period.
 Public relations aim at providing positive information about the firm and is usually
controlled by the firm or an agent acting for the firm. Publicity on the other hand is not
always positive; neither is it always under the control of, or paid for, by the organization.
 Publicity, whether positive or negative, often originates from a source other than the
firm.

Example of publicity
Negative publicity of TRACK IT Company by Kenya Television Network (KTN) on allegations
of the company failure to fit client vehicles with Vehicle Locator Unit and GPRS tracking and
security system (devices installed on vehicles which are able to receive various signals and
transmit responses through the network to the control centers thus ensuring that stolen or
hijacked vehicles can traced) led made the company to be put under receivership.
Reasons why publicity is more powerful than other promotional tools
One of the factors that distinguish publicity from other promotional program elements is the
sheer power this form of communication can generate. Publicity can break or make a product or
even a company. The following are reasons why publicity is potentially more powerful than
other promotional tools.

5
 Publicity is highly credible. Unlike ads and sales promotions, publicity is not usually
perceived as being sponsored by the company. As a result, the consumer perceives this
information as more objective and has more confidence in it.
 The news value aspect of publicity leads consumers to view it favorably. The bottom line is
that publicity is news. Research has shown people like to pass on [read] information that has
news value.
 Perception of being endorsed by the media. In most countries mainstream media is highly
respected. Thus information appearing in these media is highly regarded. Most readers and
viewers regard it as truth. For instance, if the information is about the effectiveness of a
company’s product most viewers and listeners will think that the media is endorsing the
product and thus believe that the product is good.

6. DIRECT MARKETING
Definition of Direct Marketing
Direct marketing refers to a system of marketing by which an organization communicates
directly with target consumers to generate a response or transaction. This response or
transaction may take the form of an inquiry or a purchase or even a vote.
Major forms of direct marketing
The major forms of direct marketing include direct mail marketing (E-mail, fax mail, voice mail,
postal mail etc.), telephone marketing, kiosk marketing, face to face selling, catalogue
marketing/selling, direct response advertising, online marketing and mobile marketing (e.g.
SMS).
Regardless of the tool used, it is important to display a toll free number and web site address so
that consumers are able to contact the company for additional information.
a) Direct response advertising - The objective of direct response advertising is to sell products
or services direct to the public, using ads, which describe the item, its price and methods of
supply. These ads may appear in such media as the newspapers, magazines, TV or radio.
This technique may be effective where the product or service is well known and understood.
For example, popular music may be sold through TV advertising by the customers being
asked to specify the title, what form they want it (e.g. compact disc) and to send their address
and correct remittance (money). When radio is used radio ads must repeat the response
number frequently so that consumers can make the contact. For print media toll free number
and website information should be provided.
b) Telemarketing - This is selling or promoting products or services over the telephone.
c) Direct selling - It involves direct, personal presentation, demonstration and sale of products
and services to consumer in their homes, job sites, offices or other locations.
d) E-mail marketing- this is another direct marketing method in addition to Web sites. The
virtues of E-mail advertising are: targeting, personalization, cost efficiency, effectiveness,
measurability/accountability, speed and safety.

6
e) Internet (online marketing) - it provides another channel for direct marketing. This direct
marketing method is fast and goods and services can be suggested to consumers based on
past purchasing.
f) Kiosk marketing - this involves placing information and ordering machines-called kiosks (in
contrast to vending machines, which dispense actual products) –in stores, airports and other
locations.
Advantages of direct marketing
a) Selective reach- Direct marketing provides the advertiser with the opportunity to reach a
large number of persons and more effective reach through the elimination or reduction of
coverage wastage.
b) Segmentation capabilities- Direct marketing offers more precise segmentation.
c) Frequency - Depending on the medium utilized, it may be possible to build frequency levels.
d) Flexibility - Direct mail can take on a variety of creative forms. Direct mail pieces can be
prepared in such a way as to be very attractive and with high quality messages that attract the
customer’s attention.
e) Timing - While many media require long-range planning, direct mail can be much timelier.
Direct mail be can be put together very quickly and distributed to the target population.
f) Personalization - No other advertising media can provide the ability to personalize the
message like direct mail.
g) Costs - Some direct marketing tools are cheaper when compared to advertising and sales
promotion.
h) Measures of effectiveness - No other medium can measure the effectiveness of
communication or marketing efforts than direct marketing.
i) Ability to target potential customers specifically - Direct marketing offers targeting precision.
j) Invisible to competitors - Direct marketing activities are less noticeable to competitors
compared to other promotional activities.
k) Provides a new distribution channel and support for existing channels - Direct marketing
provides a new distribution channel for the marketers.
l) Enables testing of markets, products, and services - Marketers can use direct marketing tools
to test whether there is a market for their products and services.
m) Convenience - From the comfort of their homes buyers can browse mail catalogues or
company websites at any time of the day and night.
n) Easy to use - Buyers can be able to use direct marketing methods from the comfort of their
homes and offices.
o) Private - Buyers can be able to use direct marketing methods in privacy.
p) Immediate and interactive - Buyers can interact with sellers by phone or seller’s website and
decide the products, and services they want and order them on the spot.

7
q) Wider reach - Direct marketing gives sellers’ access to buyers that they would otherwise not
reach through other channels. An example is the Internet that enables the sellers to reach
many customers across the world.
Disadvantages of direct marketing
a) Image factors - Direct mail is often referred to as “junk” mail.
b) Accuracy - The accuracy of direct marketing approaches such as direct mail and
telemarketing (vis-à-vis target potential customers specifically) is directly related to the
accuracy of the lists utilized.
c) Content support - Direct mail as direct marketing medium may not be able to effectively
create the desired mood that will lead to behavior the marketer is seeking. Others like direct
response advertising have their ability to create mood limited to broadcast and print methods.
d) Intrusive nature of the medium - Direct mail is intrusive in nature and many people may
value their privacy. It may annoy or offend customers.
e) Proliferation of direct mail - Direct mail has increased in the recent past causing a lot of
clutter.
f) Unfairness - Some direct marketing methods and messages try to exploit the impulsive
nature of some buyers. This may be regarded as unfair because some buyers may be unable
to resist the temptations from such messages.
g) Fraud - Some direct marketers pretend to be conducting research while in the real sense they
are trying to sell their products and services.
h) Customer dissatisfaction - This occurs as a result of late delivery or non-delivery, deceptive
claims, items broken or damaged in transit, the wrong being delivered and lack of
information provided.
i) Maintaining a consistent image between different methods of marketing products. For
instance between retail store-based and direct marketing efforts.
j) Increase in postal rates has made mailing of catalogs to be quite expensive.

Revision questions
1. “Advertising performs various functions”. Evaluate these functions (15
marks)
2. a) Explain the key aspects of sales promotion (6
marks)
b) Citing suitable examples describe the major consumer oriented sales promotions (9 marks)
3. Distinguish between the following promotional tools
a) Advertising (3 marks)
b) Personal selling (3 marks)
c) Sales promotion (3 marks)

8
d) Public relations (3 marks)
e) Publicity (3 marks)
f) Direct marketing (3 marks)