Promotion as Essential Part of Effective Marketing - Essay Example

It is generally believed that the understanding of promotion is essential for effective marketing. Against this background, this essay seeks to critically analyse the extent to which this assertion can be viewed as true in as far as effective marketing is concerned. The essay will start by explaining the conceptual framework of marketing as well as promotion. The body of the essay will develop into an analysis that is meant to explore the link between these two concepts and how they are interrelated. Essentially, the purpose of business is to create and keep customers for the sake of generating revenue for the organisation which can determine its profitability. In order to keep the customers, there is need to entice them through incentives such as promotions, the reason why this essay seeks to critically analyse the link between effective marketing as well as promotion. As a point of departure, it is imperative to begin by explaining the two major concepts in this discussion which are; marketing and promotion. According to Cant et al (2000), “marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, marketing communication and distribution of ideas, products, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organisational goals.” The ultimate goal of marketing activities will be to facilitate mutually satisfying exchanges between the parties involved. The aim of the business will be to make profits while at the same time striving to satisfy the needs of the customers. If the marketer does a good job of understanding the needs of the consumers, develop products that develop value to the customer and prices, distributes and promotes them effectively, these products will sell very easily. In this regard, the function of marketing is to identify the customers’ needs then try to satisfy them profitably. Effective marketing may not be very easy to attain without implementing certain strategies such as promotion that are meant to appeal to more customers. On the other hand, promotion is an element of the marketing mix. Lancaster & Reynolds (1999) suggest that promotion has a wider implication than the term implies. In the context of the four Ps, promotion includes advertising, sales promotional activities such as consumer competitions or a free quantity for the regular price, public relations and selling. This is called the promotional mix or more correctly nowadays, the communication mix (Lancaster & Reynolds 1999). Marketing has some direction over the customers but this control is done indirectly and is carried out in a manipulative way. It can also be noted that the customers often behave in different ways when making purchases of different goods and products. The process of aiming the efforts of marketing to more precisely suit the behavioural needs of the market place is called target marketing which greatly influences the behaviour of the consumers. There are various factors that influence people to behave in certain ways and effective marketers ought to take cognisance of these different factors so as to be better positioned to know the needs and interests of the customers. Cant et al (2006:2) define customer behaviour as “the study of individuals, groups, or organisations and the processes they use to select, secure, use and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and desires.” From this definition, it can be noted that the consumers are motivated or influenced by various factors to buy certain commodities or products. Basically, consumer behaviour describes how consumers make purchase decisions and how they use the products they buy. An understanding of behaviour reduces marketing managers’ uncertainty when they are defining a target market and designing a marketing mix (Lamb et al 2008). Customer value is mainly derived from customer expectations, pricing as well as the quality of the product offered. This has a bearing on the benefits that are likely to be derived by the customers from consuming a particular product. According to this perspective, there are different values that can be derived from using a particular product. These include the following: “emotional value” refers to the utility derived from the affective states that a product or service generates; “social value” refers to the social utility derived from the product or service, “functional value” refers to the utility derived from the perceived quality and expected performance of the product or service, and “perceived sacrifice” refers to the loss derived from the product or service due to the increment of its perceived short-term and long-term costs (Wang et al 2004). These normally lead to brand loyalty whereby the customers will purchase particular product fully knowing that they will derive some benefits from it. Basically, all aspects of the individual which determine his or her buying behaviour such as perception, needs, motives and attitudes are either directly or indirectly influenced by the individual’s ability to learn (Lancaster &Reynolds 1999). This is a process where an individual acquires the buying and consumption knowledge about a particular product which will ultimately affect his or her behaviour towards that product. Promotion forms a very important aspect about this communication aspect in marketing whereby the marketer will need to appeal to different customers so that they can develop positive attitude towards the product offered. Consumers usually make a purchase of a product for a purpose and the marketers should always be aware of the factors that can influence consumer behaviour so as to be better positioned to promote their products to different people. The fact that marketing deals with the offering of products or services implies that there are exchanges that need to take place that is between place of production and pace of consumption (Cant et al 2000). This means that a gap exists between the two parties involved and that is where the marketer comes in handy to try to bridge that gap profitably. Exchange is the key term in marketing process and it simply means that people would give up something in exchange of something they would rather have and this implies that a transaction has to take place. Not all the products offered in the market can readily appeal to different customers probably as a result of the existence of other products that can act as substitutes or as a result of the fact the product will be unknown to the customers. Each product has the potential of performing better if carefully promoted in the market. Promotion as noted is meant to appeal to the needs and interests of the customers such that they will change their behaviour and buy the offered products. For instance, if an organisation is introducing a new brand of cool drink in the market, a lot of groundwork marketing which encompasses promotion ought to be undertaken. Promotion is comprised of different other strategies that can be implemented by the marketers as going to b illustrated in the section which follows. Taking an example above where a given organisation has decided to launch a brand of a cool drink, there will be need for the marketers to promote that drink so as to raise awareness among the customers. Whilst this product will be still in infancy, it can be a noble idea for the organisation to offer lower prices to the customers so that they can taste the product then they will make their own decisions as well as judgements that will spell out their future actions if they will buy the product again. Launching a new product in the market is not a one day event but it requires a holistic approach that will determine if the product will successfully perform in the market. Each product has the potential to perform well in the market but this will depend on the strategies implemented by the marketers with regards to promoting it to appeal to many customers. Promotion in the form of lowered prices will help to appeal to the many customers at grassroots levels and the same strategy of promotion can be continually implemented in the organisation so as to keep the product viable in the market. Sales promotion in this regard entails that the marketer stimulates the consumer purchasing and dealer effectiveness (Lamb et al 2008). This strategy is generally a short-run tool used to stimulate an immediate increase in demand of a particular product among the customers. In most cases, sales promotion includes free samples, contests, bonuses, trade, show, prizes as well as coupons. A major marketing campaign can use one of these strategies or several of them simultaneously. Price is often used as an effective promotional tool to increase consumer interest. In most cases, pricing is used to delineate value of a particular product and it must be strategically determined so as to attract a lot of potential customers. The marketer has a role to appeal to the customers for them to purchase the products offered by the business. In this case they must constantly remind and persuade the customers to continue buying the products offered. As noted, promotion can also be referred to as marketing communication mix which uses several communication elements such as advertising, public relations and publicity, personal selling and sales promotion to reach the target market. Through the use of the communication marketing mix, the marketers believe that they will be better positioned to meet the needs of the target market and realise the firms overall goals. Thus, promotion covers all the communication tools that can deliver the message to the target audience and these fall into five broad categories namely: advertising, sales promotion, public relations, personal selling and publicity. Advertising is any form of paid communication in which the sponsor or firm is identified (Kotler 1999). It is the most potent tool for building awareness of a company, product, service or idea. It can be seen that advertising affects everyone’s daily life and influences many purchases. Consumers often turn to advertising for its informativeness as well as its entertainment value. Through the use of effective advertising whose major goal is to develop as well as comprehend the sales of the product through increasing awareness among the customers, the organisation stands higher chances attracting more customers and ultimately satisfying their needs. For many organisations with fairly large audiences, advertising remains the primary vehicle through which they communicate with their markets. It is also one tool of communication that can reach a wide area where the customers may be geographically spaced and it can convey the same message that is meant to have the same impact among the targeted group. Basically, advertising is seen as one way communication where the advertiser specially designs the message meant to appeal to the intended audiences. This gives him the autonomy to tailor the message in such a way that it will appeal to the target audiences. As part of a promotional mix, advertising ought to be persuasive communication where it is believed that the information should be believable and should show how the product is indicative of being superior to the other products offered by the other competitors. Essentially, advertising is very important in that it raises awareness about a product among the targeted audiences that will make them buy it. After raising this awareness, advertising will further play a significant role reminding the customers about the product so that they can continue buying it. Once the customers have developed a positive likeness of the product, there will be need for the marketers to continue persuading them to buy the products. The aim will be to create loyalty amongst the customers so as to ensure the viability of the organisation in the long run. In order to ensure that the organisation retains its customers, it can be seen that advertising is indispensable given that there is need for constant communication with the targeted audiences in a bid to bridge the gap that may exist as well as attempting to maintain a cordial relationship between the organisation and its customers. This entails effective marketing which will be meant to satisfy the needs of the customers profitably whereby it can be seen that the organisation will also be better positioned to achieve its goals through this marriage. On the other hand, it can be noted that Pickton and Brodwell (2005) suggest that there are three major aims of advertising which include the following; to impart information, to develop attitudes and to induce action beneficial to the advertiser especially through the purchase of a product. In the event that the customers do not have adequate information about a product, there would be a tendency of negligently reading the content of the advertisement hence the need to carefully select the messages that are likely to have a positive impact about the product. Advertisements are primarily concerned with raising awareness of a product and ultimately stimulate a response from the targeted customers. Randall (1994 p.101) concurs that: “the better the relationship, the more trust that has been built up, the easier it will be to solve the difficult issues which may arise.” Trust between the organisation and its customers is very important as it will ensure a long term relationship which is beneficial to the organisation. The goal of personal selling is building primary demand for the product hence the communication plan must be tailored in such a way that it appeals to the customers at primary level. Basically, personal selling is a situation where two people communicate in an attempt to influence each other in a purchase situation (Lamb et al 2008). This usually takes place in a face to face situation where the seller attempts to persuade the buyer to accept a point of view or to take some form of action. The underlying principle with regards to this kind of selling is that the sales person seeks to establish a long lasting relationship with the buyer once he has successfully convinced him or her to make the purchase. The main objectives of personal selling efforts are to educate the customers, provide product usage and marketing assistance and to provide after sales service and support (Strydom 2004). The major advantage of personal selling is that it contributes to a higher level of customer attention since it is face to face and can provide immediate feedback. On the other hand, the goal of personal selling is building primary demand for the product hence the communication plan must be tailored in such a way that it appeals to the customers at primary level. If the product in question will still be in its infancy or new in the market, personal selling can be very effective in communicating the desired information that will appeal to the targeted audiences. Strydom (2000) suggests that some promotional activities are often high profile media sensitive and public relations practitioners devote a great deal of time and effort to them. These range from organising conferences and teleconferences to planning exhibitions, preparing audiovisual material and direct mail literature and organising a whole list of special events. These will be meant to appeal to different groups of people particularly with regards to the products or goods offered. Through high profile media and public relations, the aim of the marketer will be to bring closer the customer to the product being offered. Public relations is another effective communication plan that can be used by any company whose ultimate objective is to attempt to make loyal customers through the provision of relevant information and knowledge to the customers. In actual fact, all communication efforts are meant to create brand awareness through providing relevant information to the clients. Concerned about how they are perceived by their target markets, many businesses will tend to spend a fortune to build a positive public image by what is known as public relations. Public relations (PR) is the marketing communication function that evaluates public attitudes, identifies areas within the firm that the public may be interested in and executes a programme of action to earn public understanding and acceptance (Lamb et al 2008). Usually, marketers use PR and publicity not only to maintain a positive image but also to educate the public about the firm’s goals and objectives and this will help support the sales efforts since there will be goodwill between the organisation and the targeted consumers. There is need for each organisation that is concerned about its profitability to establish and maintain goodwill with its customers so as to create a long lasting relationship. Over and above it can be noted that the understanding of promotion is essential for effective marketing. The combined effects of advertising, sales promotion, publicity and personal selling can be effectively used as viable tools in communication. The most effective communication mix for any company would involve the identification of the target markets. This is then followed by the selection of communication channel that can be used to convey the message to the customers. The message is then tailored in such a way that will make a distinction between the company and other rival competitors already in the market. It can be concluded that the success of the marketing strategy employed by the company is determined by the effective use of various communication tools as discussed above. Thus, it can be noted that effective marketing is mainly determined by the effective use of different communication tools which make up the promotional mix. References Armstrong, G. & Kotler P.(1996) Principles of Marketing, 7th Edition, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. 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