Promotion strategy consists of a group on interrelated communications activities
	Promotion consists of planning, implementing, and controlling an organization's communications to its customers and other target audiences.

	Advertising: consists of a form of nonpersonal communication concerning an organization's product or idea that is paid for by the sponsor.  Among the advantages of using advertising to communicate with buyers are the low cost per exposure, the variety of media, control of exposure, consistent message content, etc.
	Personal selling:  consists of verbal communication between a salesperson and one ore more prospective purchasers with the objective of making or influencing a sale.  Salespeople can interact with buyers to answer questions and overcome objections
	Sale promotion:  consists of various promotional activities, including trade shows, contests, samples, etc.
	Direct marketing:  includes the various communications channels that enable companies to make direct contact with buyers.  i.e., catalogs, direct mail, etc.
	Interactive/internet marketing:  this includes the internet, CD-ROMs and interactive television.
	Public relations:  consists of communications placed in the commercial media, buy not paid for directly by the sponsor

B)  Developing the Promotion Strategies

	Communications objectives:   Need recognition:  Must trigger this in the mind of the consumer Finding buyers:  Must get the buyer to respond Brand building:  Promotion can aid a buyer's search for information Evaluation of alternatives:  Promotion helps buyers evaluate alternative products Decision to purchase:  Several of the promotion components may be used to stimulate the purchase decision Customer retention:  Communicating with buyers after they purchase the product is important in order to retain them Note:  See the bottom of page 405 for examples of promotion objectives
	Deciding on the role of the promotion components Promotion objectives guide the specific role of each component in the promotion mix
	Budgeting approaches Objective and task:  Set the communications objectives, determine the tasks, and add up the costs Percent of sales:  Budget is calculated as a percent of sales Competitive parity:  Expenditures are guided by how much competitors are spending  All you can afford:  Management decides

Integrating the promotion strategy components See Exhibit 12-3 Integrated marketing communications (IMC) strategies assure:  Comprehensiveness, unification and that communications programs are targeted

Identifying and describing the target audiences is the first step in developing an ad strategy.  The next step is to set specific objectives and decide on the ad budget.  The final step is getting the advertising underway and evaluating its effectiveness

A)  Setting Advertising Objectives and Budgeting

	See exhibit 12-4 for the various levels of advertising objectives
	Budget determination:  the budgeting methods for promotion discussed earlier are also used in advertising budgeting.

Two considerations:  Whether the campaign is intended to maintain or to change market conditions and whether the campaign will communicate information or imagery and symbolism.

C)  Media/Scheduling Decisions 

Two factors come into play:  Access to the target audience and the cost of reaching the target groups

D)   Implementing  the Advertising Strategy and Measuring its Effectiveness

	Tracking advertising performance:  Most measures consider objectives such as attitude change, awareness, and exposure
	Methods of measuring effectiveness:  Include recall tests, consumer panels, etc.  See Exhibit 12-6

 

Sales promotion is some form of inducement intended to accelerate the selling process to build sales volume.  Sales promotion activities can be targeted to various points of influence in the value chain

A)   Sales Promotion Activities

	Activities include:  trade shows, specialty advertising, contests, point of purchase displays, coupons, etc.
	Promotion to various targets:  See Exhibit 12-7

B)   Sales Promotion Strategy

	Define tasks to be performed
	Set specific promotion objectives
	Implement program, and
	Measure results against objectives