Page 240 - DMGT408DMGT203_Marketing Management

Unit 10: Integrated Marketing Communications

Most companies use primarily conventional promotion mix elements to move products through Notes
intermediaries, many companies are adopting direct marketing as well to reach customers
directly to generate immediate behavioural response.

Example: Suppose you own a business that sells automobiles – cars, trucks, vans and
SUV’s. You have an active database of customers that have purchased from you in the past and
you know who your customers are – who purchased a car, who purchased a truck, and so on. You
then develop specific communications to the different segments of that database. That is one of
the examples of direct marketing.

10.2.2 Selection of Promotional Mix

Different organisations vary in their composition of promotion mix. No matter which element
of promotion mix or a combination they choose, they aim to inform, persuade, or move customer
closer for making a buying decision. Depending on the type of customers and the kind of
product, consumers sometimes rely to some extent on word-of-mouth communication from
personal sources.

Product Characteristics: Promotion mix for non-durable consumer products includes advertising,
sales promotion, personal selling, and public relations. Many other products used both by personal
consumers and also by industrial buyers such as computers, get advertising, sales promotion, and
personal selling. Advertising and personal selling are used for many consumer durable products
such as home appliances, autos, tractors, housing, etc. Industrial products, such as aircraft and
heavy earth-moving and construction equipment are mainly sold through personal selling.
Product life cycle stage is another consideration. During the introductory stage, advertising and
publicity are most cost-effective. Advertising and publicity are powerful tools for creating
awareness. Personal selling is very helpful in creating comprehension among consumers and
gaining distribution coverage. Sales promotion can induce trial during introductory stage of
life cycle. During growth and maturity stages of consumer products, heavy emphasis on
advertising becomes necessary and in some cases sales promotion is also used. Industrial products
during these stages often require personal selling coupled with sales promotion. During decline
stage, firms generally decrease promotional support, particularly advertising.
Market Characteristic: This aspect is particularly important for industrial products. Allocation
of promotional funds in order of priority goes to personal selling, advertising, sales promotion,
and public relations. If business buyers are located only in certain geographic areas, and are
large buyers then personal selling is more cost effective. Companies operating in consumer
markets, allocate more funds to sales promotion, advertising, personal selling, and public relations
in order of priority. Generally, personal selling is more appropriate for high involvement
expensive, complex, and risky products.
Pull and Push Strategies: Promotion mix decisions also depend on the choice of promotion
strategy. In case of pull strategy, a marketer directs its communications to consumers to develop
strong consumer demand for the product or service. This is primarily accomplished through
advertising and sales promotion. This induces consumers to ask resellers of the product. Retailers
in turn go to wholesalers or the producer to buy the products. This strategy intends to pull the
goods down through the channel by creating demand at the consumer level. This strategy suits
strong high-involvement brands, when consumers perceive high differentiation between brands,
and the brand choice is made before going to the store.
With push strategy, the manufacturer promotes the product only to the next institution down
the marketing channel. Each channel member promotes to the next channel members down the
line. This strategy usually involves using personal selling and trade sales promotions to motivate

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