Promotion

• To inform customers about a product or service.
• To persuade customers to buy something.
• To increase awareness of the product.
• To get customers attention or remind them of your products or services.

Above the line promotion is advertising a product or service through the media:

• Television.
• Radio.
• Billboards.
• Magazines.
• Buses.
• Product Placement.

Below the line promotion is all forms of promotion that do not use media e.g.

• Sales promotions.
• Direct selling or beautiful staff, and public relations events.
• Merchandising i.e. promoting the product by presenting it effectively e.g. abercrombie uses light and smell.

The combination of the promotional techniques a firm uses to promote a product is called the promotional mix.

This is NOT the same as the marketing mix!

The firm will use a variety of above and below the line promotional methods to create an appropriate promotional mix.

The promotional mix is influenced by:

• The product itself - business to business will use more direct selling.
• The market - How big is it? Is a national TV advert appropiate?
• Competitor activity - Do we need to persuade customers to switch brands or respond to a competitors advert?
• The product life cycle - Is it a new product that customers need to be made aware of?
• The budget available - How much can we afford to spend on promotion?

Expensive and complex products tend to be sold via direct selling whereas cars use a combination of advertising and personal selling.