Promotional Mix
Business Plan
How can you implement different activities to improve your business performance? Savvy, up-and-coming future business leaders use a variety of promotional tools that fit their business model and make the biggest impact with the least amount of cost to their overhead.
The various ways you communicate your product's features and benefits to your potential customers is called a promotional mix.
To establish your Promotional Mix:
- Determine your target market
- Determine your objectives, i.e., sales promotion, community building
- Design your message
- Select your promotional channels
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Communicate Your Message
- Advertising: Advertising is any paid form of media communication. This includes print ads that appear in magazines and newspapers, Internet, radio and television announcements, and billboards. Advertising is a non-personal promotional activity because the seller has no direct contact with the potential customer during the communication process
- Sales promotions: In-store demonstrations, displays, contests and price incentives (50% off, or buy-one-get-one-free) are all examples of sales promotional techniques
- Public Relations: These are activities organizations engage in to promote a positive image, generate publicity, and foster goodwill with the intent of increasing sales. Generating favorable media coverage (publicity), planning special events, trade shows, and sponsoring a charity are examples of public relations activities
- Direct Marketing: A form of advertising aimed directly at a target customer (usually in their home or office) that asks the receiver to take an action — order a product, clip a coupon, telephone an 800#, visit a store location. Catalogs, coupon mailers and letters are the most common forms of direct marketing
- Personal selling: This is face-to-face communication between the buyer (receiver) and the seller (sender). Though not typically considered a promotional tool, personal selling is a significant communications vehicle.
Low Cost Marketing Strategies
Look through the following slide show 7 Low-Cost Marketing Ideas from Allbusiness.com – this will give you some good ideas about low cost promotional activities you might consider for your business.
Write Your Promotional Mix
Introduction
- Set the hook with a short introduction that illustrates the fact that the best product in the world will not sell unless people know about it
- Follow the hook with an explanation of how you have studied different promotional options and that the following section will describe the promotional mix of (your company) which will be of greatest benefit to your company
Bulleted List
Choose at least three promotional activities your business will use from the following choices: personal selling, advertising, publicity, and sales promotion. Provide specific information about each. Below are some examples of what could be used.
Personal Promotional Activities
Personal Selling
- Order taking
- Order getting, i.e., cold calling
Non-personal Promotional Activities
Advertising
- Broadcasting, i.e., TV or radio
- Publications, i.e., magazines, newspapers
- Direct mail, email
- Internet
Publicity and/or Public Relations
- Press release
- News
- Special event
- Live video
Direct Marketing
- Targeted or personalized to individuals via mail, email, social media,
Sales Promotions
- Store displays and signage
- Premiums, i.e., coupons, punch cards, freebies, membership discounts
- Contests, sweepstakes, rebates
- Product samples
Conclusion
Conclude the section by emphasizing the importance of implementing effective promotional strategies for your business.
Save as > "promotional-mix" in your Business Plan folder
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