• A promotional mix is an amalgamation of marketing

techniques to promote a product or service. It is used to

reach a wider audience. The aim is to increase brand
awareness, regulate product revenue, and meet sales targets.

• The Promotion Mix refers to the blend of several promotional

tools used by the business to create, maintain and increase the
demand for goods and services.

• The fourth element of the 4 P’s of Marketing Mix is the promotion;

that focuses on creating the awareness and persuading the
customers to initiate the purchase. The several tools that facilitate
the promotion objective of a firm are collectively known as the
Promotion Mix.
• The Promotion Mix is the integration of Advertising, Personal
Selling, Sales Promotion, Public Relations and Direct
Marketing. The marketers need to view the following questions to
have a balanced blend of these promotional tools:

What is the most effective way to inform the customers?

Which marketing methods to be used?
To whom the promotion efforts be directed?
What is the marketing budget? How is it to be allocated to the
promotional tools?
• Elements
of
Promotion
Mix
1.Advertising: The advertising is any paid form of non-personal
presentation and promotion of goods and services by the identified
sponsor in the exchange of a fee. Through advertising, the
marketer tries to build a pull strategy; wherein the customer is
instigated to try the product at least once. The complete
information along with the attractive graphics of the product or
service can be shown to the customers that grab their attention
and influences the purchase decision.

2.Personal Selling: This is one of the traditional forms of

promotional tool wherein the salesman interacts with the customer
directly by visiting them. It is a face-to-face interaction between
the company representative and the customer with the objective
to influence the customer to purchase the product or services.
3. Sales Promotion: The sales promotion is the short-term incentives given
to the customers to have an increased sale for a given period. Generally, the
sales promotion schemes are floated in the market at the time of festivals or
the end of the season. Discounts, Coupons, Payback offers, Freebies, etc. are
some of the sales promotion schemes. With the sales promotion, the
company focuses on the increased short-term profits, by attracting both the
existing and the new customers.
4. Public Relations: The marketers try to build a favourable image in the
market by creating relations with the public. The companies carry out
several public relations campaigns with the objective to have a support of all
the people associated with it either directly or indirectly. The public
comprises of the customers, employees, suppliers, distributors,
shareholders, government and the society. The publicity is one of the form
of public relations that the company may use with the intention to bring
newsworthy information to the public. E.g. Large Corporates such as
Dabur, L&T, Tata Consultancy, Bharti Enterprises, Services, Unitech
and PSU’s such as Indian Oil, GAIL, and NTPC have joined hands with
Government to clean up their surroundings, build toilets and support
the swachh Bharat Mission.
5. Direct Marketing: With the intent of technology,
companies reach customers directly without any
intermediaries or any paid medium. The e-mails, text
messages, Fax, are some of the tools of direct marketing. The
companies can send emails and messages to the customers if
they need to be informed about the new offerings or the sales
promotion schemes. E.g. The Shopperstop send SMS to its
members informing about the season end sales and extra
benefits to the golden card holders.
 Place (Marketing Channels)

• Place simply does not mean the physical movement of product from
the manufacturers to the customers but this also means the ease of
access to the products, the way the products are displayed, and in
which environment that they are presented. The marketer then needs
to adopt different channels of intermediaries to reach their end-user.
The marketer then uses the choice of distribution channel which is
affected by several factors.
• The direct channel is the simplest channel. In this case, the producer
sells directly to the consumer. The most straightforward examples are
producers who sell in small quantities. If you visit a farmer’s market, you
can purchase goods directly from the farmer or craftsman. There are also
examples of very large corporations who use the direct channel
effectively, especially for B2B transactions. Services may also be sold
through direct channels, and the same principle applies: an individual
buys a service directly from the provider who delivers the service.
• Examples of the direct channel include:
• Etsy.com online marketplace
• Farmer’s markets
• Oracle’s personal sales team that sells software systems to businesses
• A bake sale
• Retailers are companies in the channel that focuses on selling directly to
consumers. You are likely to participate in the retail channel almost every
day. The retail channel is different from the direct channel in that the retailer
doesn’t produce the product. The retailer markets and sells the goods on
behalf of the producer. For consumers, retailers provide tremendous contact
efficiency by creating one location where many products can be purchased.
Retailers may sell products in a store, online, in a kiosk, or on your doorstep.
The emphasis is not the specific location but on selling directly to the
consumer.
• Examples of retailers include:
• Walmart discount stores
• Amazon online store
• Nordstrom department store
• Dairy Queen restaurant
• From a consumer’s perspective, the wholesale channel looks very
similar to the retail channel, but it also involves a wholesaler. A wholesaler
is primarily engaged in buying and usually storing and physically handling
goods in large quantities, which are then resold (usually in smaller
quantities) to retailers or to industrial or business users. The vast majority
of goods produced in an advanced economy have wholesaling involved in
their distribution. Wholesale channels also include manufacturers
who operate sales offices to perform wholesale functions, and retailers
who operate warehouses or otherwise engage in wholesale activities.
• Examples of wholesalers include:
• Christmas-tree wholesalers who buy from growers and sell to retail outlets
• Restaurant food suppliers
• Clothing wholesalers who sell to retailers
• The broker or agent channel includes one additional intermediary. Agents
and brokers are different from wholesalers in that they do not take title to
the merchandise. In other words, they do not own the merchandise
because they neither buy nor sell. Instead, brokers bring buyers and
sellers together and negotiate the terms of the transaction: agents
represent either the buyer or seller, usually on a permanent basis; brokers
bring parties together on a temporary basis. Think about a real-estate
agent. They do not buy your home and sell it to someone else; they
market and arrange the sale of the home. Agents and brokers match up
buyers and sellers, or add expertise to create a more efficient channel.
• Examples of brokers include:
• An insurance broker, who sells insurance products from many companies
to businesses and individuals
• A literary agent, who represents writers and their written works to
publishers, theatrical producers, and film producers
• An export broker, who negotiates and manages transportation
requirements, shipping, and customs clearance on behalf of a purchaser or
producer
• Types Of Marketing Channels
• Marketing channels can be categorized into direct and
indirect channels depending on the structure of the
channel. The indirect channels are further divided into
three types: one-level, two-level, and three-level
channels based on the number of intermediaries
present.
• Direct Channel or Zero Level Channel
• Producer → Customer
• A direct or zero-level channel is one in which the
manufacturer sells directly to the end-user with no
intermediaries involved. This type of channel is often
used by businesses that produce perishable goods,
expensive goods, or whose target market is small and
concentrated.
• An all-new D2C model in which the manufacturer sells
directly to the customer through its online branded
channels is being followed by a lot of companies these
days
• Indirect Channel
• Producer → Intermediaries → Customer
• When the manufacturer takes the help of one or more
intermediaries to reach the end-user, it is known as an indirect
channel.
• One-Level Channel
• Producer → Retailer → Consumer
• A one-level channel has only one intermediary – the retailer –
between the manufacturer and the end-user. In this type of
channel, the manufacturer sells directly to a retailer, who then
sells the product to the consumer. This type of channel is often
used for shopping goods like clothes, food, and home furnishings.
• Two-Level Channel
• Producer → Wholesaler → Retailer → Customer
• A two-level channel has two intermediaries – the wholesaler and
the retailer – between the manufacturer and the end-user. In this
type of channel, the manufacturer sells to a wholesaler who, in
turn, sells to the retailer who then sells to the consumer.
• The wholesaler’s role is to break the bulk and deliver the product to
the retailer. The retailer’s role is to reach the end consumer.
• Goods that are sold in two-level channels are usually durable, have
a long shelf life, and target an audience that isn’t limited to a
confined area. These include goods like home appliances,
FMCG products, and automobile parts.
• Three-Level Channel
• Producer → Agent/Broker → Wholesaler or Retailer → Customer
• A three-level channel has three intermediaries – the agent, the wholesaler, and
the retailer – between the manufacturer and the end-user. In this type of
channel, the manufacturer sells to an agent whose role is to break bulk for a
wholesaler or retailer. The agent then sells to the wholesaler throughout the
country or region.
• The wholesaler’s role is to distribute the product to the retailer who sells it to the
consumer. The agent in this channel often provides services like credit, financing,
and market information.
• The main advantages of this type of channel are that it allows manufacturers to
reach more markets faster and build relationships with multiple retailers at a
time.
• Products that are sold in three-level channels include agricultural produce, raw
materials, and commodities.
• Functions Of Marketing Channels
• Logistics and distribution: Marketing channels play an important
role in transporting the product or service from the manufacturer to
the end consumer. They are responsible for ensuring that the chosen
products reach customers through their distribution network at an
affordable price and in a timely manner.
• Promotion: Marketing channels also further promote a product by
providing marketing messages and other advertisements to targeted
audiences, which helps them build a strong brand image and
reputation.
• Transactional functions: These channels are vital to enabling the
transfer of product ownership from manufacturers to consumers. They
help businesses in billing, invoicing, and collecting payments from
customers.
• Facilitating functions: Marketing channels also offer other important
services like storage, packaging, credit facilities, and after-sales service
that add value to the product or service being offered.
• Risk sharing: Marketing channels help businesses to share
the risk by joining hands with them, as they can reduce their
own risks and losses by reducing exposure to all kinds of
uncertainties. This reduces the overall costs of selling a
product or service since manufacturers are not bearing the
entire loss themselves.
• Efficiency and effectiveness in distribution: By working
with marketing channels, businesses can ensure that their
products or services reach the right customers at the right
time and place. This helps to improve customer satisfaction
levels as well as the efficiency and effectiveness of
businesses.
• Marketing Channels Examples
• Nike
• Nike is a famous shoe manufacturer that sells its products to customers
through both online and offline channels.
• The company uses a mix of both direct and indirect channels where it
sells its products directly using its websites and franchise model, and
indirectly on online marketplaces and offline retailers using
intermediaries.
• Apple
• As one of the most popular technology companies in the world, Apple
sells its products through both online and offline, direct and indirect
channels.
• The company sells its products directly using its own website and
physical stores, and indirectly through intermediaries such as online
marketplaces and offline retailers.
• As of 2018, 29% of Apple’s net sales come from direct channels, and
71% come from indirect channels.
• Types of
Intermediaries
• 1] Agents
• Agents are middlemen who represent the produces to the customer.
They are merely an extension of the company but the company is
generally bound by the actions of its agents. One thing to keep in mind,
the ownership of the goods do not pass to the agent. They only work on
fees and commissions.
• 2] Wholesalers
• Wholesalers buy the goods from the producers directly. One important
characteristic of wholesalers is that they buy in bulk at a lower rate than
retail price. They store and warehouse huge quantities of the products
and sell them to other intermediaries in smaller quantities for a profit.
• Wholesalers generally do not sell to the end consumer directly. They sell
to other middlemen like retailers or distributors.
• 3] Distributors
• Distributors are similar to wholesalers in their function. Except they have
a contract to carry goods from only one producer or company. They do
not stock a variety of products from various brands. They are under
contract to deal in particular products of only one parent company
• 4] Retailers
• Retailers are basically shop owners. Whether it is your
local grocery store or the mall in your area they are all
retailers. The only difference is in their sizes. Retailers
will procure the goods from wholesaler or distributors
and sell it to the final consumers. They will sell these
products at a profit margin to their customers.