Promotion

Promotion is defined by our textbook as "communication by marketers that informs, persuades, and reminds potential buyers of a product in order to influence an opinion or elicit a response."  There are eight objectives of promotion which are as follows:
      1. create awareness
      2. stimulate demand
      3. encourage product trial
      4. identify prospects
      5. retain loyal customers
      6. facilitate re-seller support
      7. combat competitive promotional efforts
      8. reduce sale fluctuations.

There are several different parts that make up the promotional mix.  They are advertising, public relations, sales promotion, personal selling, and social media.  The promotional mix is used to meet the needs of the target market and fulfill the organization's overall goals.  Organizations may use just one part of the promotional mix to reach their target market or they may use a combination of parts.

Advertising is "any form of impersonal, one-way mass communication about a product or organization that is paid for by a marketer."
Public Relations is "the marketing function that evaluates public attitudes, identifies areas within the organization the public may be interested in, and executes a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance."
Sales Promotion is "marketing activities that stimulate consumer buying and dealer effectiveness."
Personal Selling is "a purchase situation involving a personal, paid-for communication between two people in an attempt to influence each other."
Social Media are "promotion tools used to facilitate conversations among people online."

I personally believe that companies that will succeed the most at promotion are those that utilize a combination of the parts of the marketing mix.  With different industries though, there becomes the need to be more active in one part than another.  For instance, in the auto sales industry personal selling would be the  tool that should be utilized the most by marketers, but the other tools are also important to bring in customers.  Therefore, they may focus more energy on personal selling than the other tools, but they must not forget about the others.

Do you also believe that a combination of multiple tools in the promotional mix is the best way for marketers to reach their target market or do you believe that there is one tool that is the most important no matter what the industry?  Can you find an organization that has utilized just one of these tools in the promotional mix that has been successful?