Promotional tools

The basic idea behind the "marketing concept" - that you make what you can sell rather than sell what you make - does not mean that your product will sell all by itself. Even a good, attractively-priced product that clearly satisfiers a need has to be made known to its target customers. During the introduction and growth stage of the standard product life cycle, the producer has to develop product or brand awareness, i.e. inform potential customers (and distributors, dealers and retailers) about the product's existence, features, advantages, etc.
According to the well-known "Four Ps" formulation of the marketing mix (product, place, promotion and price), this is clearly a matter of promotion. Since budget is always limited, marketers usually have to decide which tools - advertising, public relations, sales promotion, or personal selling - to use, and in what proportion.
Public relations (often abbreviated to PR) is concerned with maintaining, improving or protecting the image of a company or product. The most important element of PR is publicity which (as opposed to advertising) is any mention of company's product that is not paid for, in any medium read, viewed or heard by a company's customers or potential customers, aimed at assisting sales. Many companies attempt to place stories or information in news media to attract attention to a product or service. Publicity can have a huge impact on public awareness that could not be achieved by advertising, or at least not without an enormous cost. A lot of research has shown that people are more likely to read and believe publicity than advertising.
Sales promotions such as free samples, coupons, price reductions, competitions and so on, are temporary tactics designed to stimulate either earlier or stronger sales of a product. Free samples, for example, (combined with extensive advertising), may generate the initial trial of a new product. But the majority of products available at any given time are of course in the maturity stage of the life cycle. This may last many years, until the product begins to be replaced by new ones and enters the decline stage. During this time, marketers can try out a number of promotional strategies and tactics. Reduced-price packs in supermarkets, for example, can be used to attract price-conscious brand-switchers. Stores also often reduce prices of specific items as loss leaders which bring customers into the shop can stimulate them to buy other goods.
Sales promotions can also be aimed at distributors, dealers and retailers, to encourage them to stock new items or larger quantities, or to encourage off-season buying, or the stocking of items related to an existing product. They might equally be designed to strengthen brand loyalty among retailers, or to gain entry to new markets.
Personal selling is the most expensive promotional tool, and is generally only used rarely, e.g. as a complement to advertising. As well as prospecting for customers, spreading information about a company's products and services, selling these products and services, and assisting customers with possible technical problems, salespeople have another important function. Since they are often the only person from a company that customers see, they are an extremely important channel of information. It has been calculated that the majority of new product ideas come from customers via sales representatives.

Complete the following sentences to summarize the text above:
1.    When a new product is launched, the producer has to…
2.    Promotion is one of … ; sales promotions are one of four different…
3.    The advantages of publicity include…
4.    The four stages of the standard product life cycle are …
5.    Reasons to offer temporary price reductions include …
6.    Sales promotions need not only be aimed at customers; …

 Listening

You will hear Jogishwar Singh explaining the promotional strategies for the trial launch of Fresh Fries, a fast-food product that is sold in vending machines.

 Look at the phrases below. Which of these topics are mentioned in the interview?
 1.    free advertising on TV
2.    publicity in newspapers
3.    publicity on TV
4.    giving away the fries for free for a trial period
5.    letting vending-machine operators have a free trial
6.    paid advertising
7.    the colour of the machines
8.    the fact that it is a novel product
9.    the price of the product
10.  the size and shape of the machines
11.  the unique taste of the product
12.  where the machines are situated

When will the company start to use advertising?
What is the difference between advertising and publicity?


Case study

Imagine that you, in a team of three people, are responsible for promoting one of the following:
•    a new, up-market health and fitness club
•    a new brand of jeans, manufactured by a new unknown company
•    a new fashionable but inexpensive range of quartz watches
•    potatoes to be sold in supermarkets
•    a new taxi company in your town

Decide exactly:what your product is,
what is special about it,
who is your target audience,
which promotional tools would you use to promote it,
what media would you use