Table of Contents:-
- Sales Promotion Meaning
- Features of Sales Promotion
Sales Promotion Meaning
Sales Promotion plays an important role within the marketing communications mix. It serves as a direct and immediate incentive, adding extra value to the product. This added value encourages both dealers and consumers to make a purchase.
Sales promotion is the act of convincing potential customers to make a purchase. The primary goal of sales promotions is to elevate short-term sales figures, not to establish long-term customer commitment. Consumers are the focus of some sales promotions. Intermediaries, such as agents and wholesalers, are the intended recipients of certain sales promotions.
According to Philip Kotler, “Promotion encompasses all the tools in the marketing mix whose major role is persuasive communication“.
According to William J. Stanton, “Sales promotion is an exercise in information, persuasion and influence”.
According to the American Marketing Association, “These marketing activities, other than personal selling, advertisement and publicity that stimulate consumer purchasing and dealer effectiveness such as display shows and exhibitions, demonstrations and various non-recurrent selling efforts not in the ordinary routine”.
Companies implement sales promotions to encourage the use of their products or services. initiatives fall outside the scope of other marketing communication and promotion strategies.
Different situations prioritize specific types of sales promotions over others.
1) When middlemen are more popular than manufacturers, then middlemen-oriented sales promotion is very effective.
2) Companies require an immediate boost in sales when clearing old stock.
3) In the case of seasonal goods, to sell the product in off off-season, consumer-oriented sales promotion is very effective.
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Features of Sales Promotion
We can understand the nature of sales promotion through the following points:
1) Action-Focused
Sales incentive focuses unquestionably on taking action. Sales promotions have a distinct purpose compared to advertising, which builds the brand image, and personal selling, which fosters long-term relationships; their goal is to prompt a specific, short-term response from the target audience.
2) Irregular/Non-Recurring Activity
A promotional strategy is not a routine practice but rather a tactic used on occasion to boost sales. This approach is employed in specific situations, such as when there’s a decrease in demand, declining profits, intense market competition, or the launch of a new product.
3) Acceleration Tool
The marketing campaign is designed to speed up the selling process and maximise sales volume. Promotional offers can be implemented quickly and get sales results sooner than advertisement. Sales promotions offer an incentive to make a purchase right away.
4) Target Action
Companies direct sales incentive programs toward three distinct audiences. The first audience is internal, typically comprising the marketer’s own sales team. In some cases, companies may also direct their focus towards other employees, like technical sales support personnel or telemarketers. The second audience is the intermediaries in the channel of distribution. The third group consists of the marketer’s end customers or consumers.
5) Strategic Role
Promotional activities were once seen as having only an immediate impact. However, this perception is evolving, and we are now recognizing the strategic significance of sales boost initiatives and their integral role in the promotional mix.
6) Motivation and Extra Incentive
A sales incentive program involves some type of incentive that offers a reason to buy. The primary focus of a promotional program is typically the incentive, a key element that motivates consumers, traders, and the salesforce to strive for maximum sales.
7) Versatile
Sales promotion is extremely versatile. Various groups can use different forms of advertising promotion to reach different effects. Sales promotion can be useful throughout the product life cycle.
8) Non-Media Activity
People commonly see sales promotion as a separate element in the promotions mix. It sets itself apart from advertising and publicity while also incorporating them into the overall promotional strategy.
9) Element of Promotion-Mix
Sales promotion is one of the important elements of the promotion mix, other than advertising, personal selling, and publicity.
10) Planned Activity
The fact that sales promotion can be effective throughout the life of a brand shows its strategic role. Planning is essential to ensure that sales promotion activities effectively stimulate sales. Companies usually design sales promotion as a designated marketing occurrence. In other words, it is a ‘stand-alone activity which, although incorporated into the marketer’s overall marketing communication strategy, is planned as a unique event.
11) Immediate Impact
Companies can achieve faster sales outcomes through the quick implementation of sales promotions, thanks to their immediate buying incentive.
12) Means of Marketing Communication
Consumers regularly exchange their views and ideas about products and services with producers through this important communication channel.
13) Universal Activity
It is a universal activity adopted by all the economies of the world in their sales efforts.