SALES PROMOTION

Broadly speaking promotion means to push forward or to advance an idea in such

a way to gain its acceptance and approval.

Promotion is any communicative

activity whose main object is to move forwards the product, service or idea in a
channel of distribution.

It is an effort by the marketer to inform and persuade buyers to accept, resell,

recommend and use the article, service or idea which is being promoted.
Promotion is a form of communication with an additional element of persuasion.
The promotional activity always attempts to affect knowledge, attitudes
preferences and behaviours of the recipients i.e. buyers.

The element of

persuasion to accept ideas, product, services, etc is the heart of promotion.

In any exchange activity, communication is absolutely necessary.

the best product, package and so on.

It may have fair price.

You may have

But people will

not buy your product, if they have never heard of it, and they are simply unaware
of its existence.

The marketer must communicate to his prospective buyer and provide adequate
information in a persuasive language.

People must know that the right product

is available at the right place and at the right price; this is the job of promotion in
marketing.

What is Promotion?

Promotion is a process of marketing communication involving

information, persuasion and influence.

Promotion has three specific purposes.

It communicates marketing information to consumer, users and resellers.

Promotion persuades and convinces the buyer and enters into
consumer behavior.

Promotional efforts act as a powerful tool of competition

providing the cutting edge of its entire marketing programme.

Marketers have adopted a communication view of their firms

promotional activities.

Receiver is now regarded as an active participant in the

process of communication.

All marketing communications must be planned as

part of the total system, not as independent pieces.

promotion mixes four ingredients viz:
Advertising
Publicity
Personal selling
All forms of sales promotion

The communication or

PLANNING PROMOTIONS TO BENEFIT THE CONSUMER:

Promotions, which deliver value, will go a long way in building

customer franchise; marketers must work out different promotions to attract
various kinds of customers. Make use of lose of more for less to attract the
promise could buyer who switch brands frequently, here the opportunity of
getting a bargain will prove to be a source of value for the customer.

Reward the regular buyers with a lower price during certain

months of the year; here the marketer must make effort to convey that there few
promotion offers are exclusively meant for their regular buyers only. Offer lesser
prices and communicate a feeling of protecting them against inflation, this gesture
will ensure that the consumers will remember the value of getting the same for a
lower price especially when the value of money is corded by rising prices .
When prospective consumers are postponing their purchase
decision especially seen in the core of consumer durables promotions in the form
of discounts, freebies etc. could motivate them to take the decisions more quickly.

Objectives of Sales Promotion

You have learnt that the main objective of sales promotion is to increase sales.
However, there are also some other objectives of sales promotion. The objectives
are:
i. To introduce new products
ii. To attract new customers and retain the existing ones
iii. To maintain sales of seasonal products
iv. To meet the challenge of competition
Let us learn about these objectives in details.

(i) To introduce new products: Have you ever heard about distribution of free
samples? Perhaps you know that many companies distribute free samples while
introducing new products. The consumers after using these free samples may
develop a taste for it and buy the products later for consumption.

(ii) To attract new customers and retain the existing ones: Sales
promotion measures help to attract or create new customers for the products.
While moving in the market, customers are generally attracted towards the
product that offers discount, gift, prize, etc on buying. These are some of the tools
used to encourage the customers to buy the goods. Thus, it helps to retain the
existing customers, and at the same time it also attracts some new customers to
buy the product.

(iii) To maintain sales of seasonal products: There are some products like
air conditioner, fan, refrigerator, cooler, winter clothes, room heater, sunscreen
lotion, glycerin soap etc., which are used only in particular seasons.
To maintain the sale of these types of products normally the
manufactures and dealers give off-season discount. For example, you can buy air

conditioner in winter at a reduced price. Similarly you may get discount on winter
clothes during summer.

(iv) To meet the challenge of competition: Todays business faces competition

all the time.New products frequently come to the market and at the same time
improvement also takes place. So sales promotion measures have become essential
to retain the market share of the seller or producer in the product-market

Tools of Sales Promotion

To increase the sale of any product manufactures or producers adopt different
measures like sample, gift, bonus, and many more. These are known as tools or
techniques or methods of sales promotion. Let us know more about some of the
commonly used tools of sales promotion.
(i)

Free samples: You might have received free samples of shampoo,

washing powder, coffee powder, etc. while purchasing various items from
the market. Sometimes these free samples are also distributed by the
shopkeeper even without purhasing any item from his shop. These are
distributed to attract consumers to try out a new product and thereby create
new customers. Some businessmen distribute samples among selected

persons in order to popularize the product. For example, in the case of medicine
free samples are distributed among physicians, in the case of textbooks,
specimen copies are distributed among teachers.
(ii) Premium or Bonus offer: A milk shaker along with Nescafe, mug with
Bournvita, toothbrush with 500 grams of toothpaste, 30% extra in a pack of one
kg. are the examples of premium or bonus given free with the purchase of a
product. They are effective in inducing consumers to buy a particular product. This
is also useful for encouraging and rewarding existing customers.

(iii) Exchange schemes: It refers to offering exchange of old product for a new
product at a price less than the original price of the product. This is useful for
drawing attention to product improvement. Bring your old mixer-cum-juicer and
exchange it for a new one just by paying Rs.500 or exchange your black and white
television with a colour television are various popular examples of exchange
scheme.

(iv) Price-off offer: Under this offer, products are sold at a price lower than
the original price.Rs. 2 off on purchase of a lifebouy soap, Rs. 15 off on a pack of
250 grams of Taj Mahal tea, Rs. 1000 off on cooler etc. are some of the common
schemes.

This type of scheme is designed to boost up sales in off-season and

sometimes while introducing a new product in the market.

(v) Coupons: Sometimes, coupons are issued by manufacturers either in the

packet of a product or through an advertisement printed in the newspaper or
magazine or through mail.

These coupons can be presented to the retailer while

buying the product. The holder of the coupon gets the product at a discount. For
example, you might have come across coupons like, show this and get Rs. 15 off
on purchase of 5 kg. of Annapurna Atta. The reduced price under this scheme
attracts the attention of the prospective customers towards new or improved
products.

Advertisement
Advertising is how a company encourages people to buy their products, services or
ideas. An advertisement (or "ad" for short) is anything that draws good attention
towards these things. It is usually designed by an identified sponsor, and
performed through a variety of media. Ads appear on television, as well as radio,
newspapers, magazines and as billboards in streets and cities. They try to get
people to buy their products, by showing them the good rather than bad of their
products.

Advertisers influence our identity by making adverts. Many people agree that they
influence our identity and they have a huge impact on our life. They influence our
identity by using things such as techniques, stereotypes and targeting our
audience. Our personal identity is who we are and what things make us up such as
occupation, beliefs, personality, self esteem, lifestyle, relationships, friends, how
we look and what we wear. Advertisers use techniques to grab people's attention.
For example, to make a burger look tasty in advertising, it may be painted with
brown food colours, sprayed with waterproofing to prevent it from going soggy
and sesame seeds may be super-glued in place. Advertising can bring new
customers and more sales for the business. It can be expensive but can help make
a business make more money.

Types of advertising
Advertising happens in many different ways. Many products are advertised on
television, although not all channels permit advertising. The advertisements
usually appear during breaks between a television show. They are usually for
products, other television shows or movies and are not normally much longer than
30 seconds. Some radio stations have audio advertisements that play between
programmes.

An advertisement for a movie is called a trailer. It shows a short collection of clips

from the movie, and shows the date it will be released in cinemas.

Advertising also takes place on websites. These may appear as "banner ads" or
"popups". They are often still images or flash animations. The owner of the
website will get money when a user clicks on the advertisement. Sometimes they
will get a percentage of the money if they buy a product.

Billboards advertise products on city streets. These may simply be freestanding

billboards or may be part of street furniture such as a bus shelter. Buses and taxis
are often covered in adverts, while budget airlines sometimes allow advertising
inside their planes. Adverts also appear in newspapers, magazines and sports
programmes. Many stadiums have adverts set around them. Sports teams,
tournaments, television programmes and public events sometimes have sponsors.

As well as this advertise is to show something off or tell it to people on a national

scale.

Techniques
Advertisers use many different techniques to get people to notice their adverts,
often using deliberately shocking or provocative images. Images of pretty or sexy
women are also often used by advertisers in this way. Once they have managed to
make people notice their advert, they need to 'sell' the product or brand. They
may try to make the product look appealing, however often advertisers use
humour to get people to remember the brand without actually promoting the
product. Poor adverts can damage sales or spoil a brands identity.

Regulations
Advertising is often strictly regulated, for instance in the United Kingdom it is
illegal to advertise tobacco, except in the shop where it is sold and this is also
restricted. In France it is illegal to advertise alcohol, meaning that when many
European football teams play in France, they cannot play in their usual shirts as
breweries often advertise on sports shirts. It is also illegal to advertise on some
television channels, the BBC in the United Kingdom and RTE in the Republic of
Ireland are not allowed to permit advertising and instead make their revenue from
selling a compulsory television licence.

Advertising management
Advertising management is a career path in the advertising industry.
Advertising and promotions managers may work for an agency, a public relations
firm, a media outlet, or may be hired directly by a company to develop branding
for the company's product or service. This position can include supervising
employees, acting as a liaison between multiple agencies working on a project, or
creating and implementing promotional campaigns.
While advertising is the promotional campaign itself, advertising management can

address the whole process - the function of marketing starting from market
research continuing through advertising, leading to actual sales or achievement of
objective, potentially including evaluation of the entire cost-benefits to the
company involved.
Ad management incorporates various specialized sub-functions like media
strategy, message strategy, media planning, media buying etc.
While advertising management is an inseparable part of the marketing
department, the marketing department of an organization is often concerned
more with market research and evaluation of results, and some parts of the
advertising management can be outsourced to specialized advertising agencies.
For example the media buying may be done in bulk by these ad agencies on which
they receive discount/commission, that goes into their earning.
It involves designing which strategies to be adopted in order to influence the
public, i.e. media selection and deciding on the aspect to be advertised based on
the image of the company and the present marketing objective

VARIOUS ADVERTISING TOOLS USED BY SAPNA BOOK

HOUSE
1) INTERNAL ADVERTISEMENT / IN STORE ADVERISEMENT :
In-store advertising is any advertisement placed in a retail store. It
includes placement of a product in visible locations in a store, such as at
eye level, at the ends of aisles and near checkout counters (aka POP
point of purchase display), eye-catching displays promoting a specific
product, and advertisements in such places as shopping carts and in-store
video displays. Sales promotion at a retailer's location, with bundled
offers, expert advice, product demonstrations, product samples, special
discounts, etc. Also called in-store promotion. In-store promotion is a
marketing strategy that is meant to bring people into the store and to
purchase specific items that are part of the in-store promotion. These
strategies most often come directly from manufacturers, or they may be
offered by the store itself. The idea is to generate additional revenue due to
the extra sales of the products involved, or even to induce a brand switch
when offered by the manufacturer. Stores most often use such strategies to
drive traffic into the store, to eliminate too much stock, or to create
additional revenues when sales are slumping. Often, however, the main
emphasis comes from brand manufacturers attempting to create brand
awareness, while building brand equity in-store.
Driving the effort of in-store promotion, many tactics are utilized to entice
people to buy the product itself or to buy into the brand. Signs, banners,
coupons, TV screens and other in-store brand mediums are often displayed
in an attempt to draw attention to the brand message and induce preference
for the brand. Shoppers are often inundated with the messages throughout
the shopping experience. Product displays are another common form of instore promotion, which are usually placed prominently in the middle or
end of an aisle, showcasing the product while minimizing distraction.
Oftentimes, such displays are found as the front of the store near cash
registers as well, in an attempt to leave a lasting impression as customers
prepare to exit the store.

Demonstration of products is another popular form of in-store promotion

that enables shoppers to see a product in action or experience the product
first-hand. Product demonstrators will usually introduce shoppers to the
product first so that the focus is on the product itself. Depending on the
reaction of the customer, the product demonstrator will introduce the
promotion offered on the product or may simply thank the customer for
trying the product. Using such tactics gives the brand owner more control
over brand perceptions, while focusing brand switching efforts directly on
consumers most open to switching. Training product demonstrators to
tailor the brand message to the customer concerns and specifications is
often an important emphasis of this approach.
Furthermore, in-store promotion is designed to take advantage of peoples
tendency to purchase products impulsively. Most often, consumers
purchase the majority of their products unplanned, and effective in-store
promotion is often cited as the reason for this phenomenon. Not everybody
is swayed, however, as evidence mounts that with the prevalence and
over-saturation of in-store promotions, brand messages may actually be
diluted, rending them potentially ineffective. Still, when stores and
manufactures work together to manage the message, results often
demonstrate an increase in sales, even if the message does not always
induce changes in brand loyalty.

2) In-store displays
In-store displays are promotional fixtures in retail stores. Variations
of in-store displays include Point-of-Sale Displays, which are located
near cash registers to encourage impulse buying; Floor Stickers, or
advertisements for products on the aisle of a store; Feature Displays,
which can be located at the end of an aisle to draw attention to a
product; and Special Racks, or manipulation of a store shelf to make
more space available for a product or bring attention to the promoted
product. In-store Displays can be perceived as more visually
appealing to consumers than product alone on a retail shelf.

3) Temporary Price Reductions (TPR)

(TPR) are either directly or indirectly lower the cost per unit of a product.
Examples include cents off promotions, where manufactures or retailers
temporarily reduce the price of a product, and Bonus Pack promotions
which offer extra product for free. Consumers benefit from either paying a
lower price on a product or getting more of a product for less money.

4)External Advertising
External advertising is the medium by which businesses make their
target audiences aware of their products and services. In some cases it
is used to promote a companys brand and its values rather than
singling out a specific item. External advertising usually forms part of
a concerted advertising campaign, with a number of ads appearing
simultaneously across a variety of media.

Most print publications allow companies to buy advertising space,

most commonly either a quarter page, half-page or full-page. Costs
also vary depending on where in the publication the ad appears. For
example, an ad nestled amongst the text of a magazines main feature
will cost more than one in its classified section. Ads are also cheaper
if they are bought in bulk and placed across a number of issues. Ads
that need to feature in a particular month, say those for Christmas
gifts, need to be organized well in advance to ensure guaranteed
placement. Some publications allow advertisers to write articles that
help advertise their product, a tool known as an advertorial.
Billboards are large structures located in public places which display
advertisements to passing pedestrians and motorists. Most often, they
are located on main roads with a large amount of passing motor and
pedestrian traffic; however, they can be placed in any location with
large amounts of viewers, such as on mass transit vehicles and in
stations, in shopping malls or office buildings, and in stadiums.

OTHER PRMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES

1)

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2)

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