Advertising, Sales Promotion, and Personal Selling — Part 1
courtesy of the Small Business Development Center of Duquesne University
A total business communications strategy includes advertising, sales promotion and personal selling. The cohesiveness and effectiveness of these efforts is what achieves sales and profit objectives. In the first of a three part series, the Duquesne University Small Business Development Center explains why every company should have a promotional strategy in place and then walks you through the basic steps of advertising.
Promotional Strategy
Promotional strategy is the function of informing, persuading, and influencing a consumer decision. Why should a company implement a promotional strategy?
- To Provide Information — In the early days of promotional campaigns, when many items were often in short supply, most advertisements were designed to tell the public where they could find a product. Today, a major portion of U.S. advertising is still informational. Promotional campaigns designed to inform often target specific market segments.
- To Differentiate — Marketers often develop a promotional strategy to differentiate their goods or services from those of competitors. This strategy is called positioning. The idea is to communicate to customers meaningful distinctions about the attributes, price, quality, or usage of a good or service. Market research is a valuable tool for positioning since it helps to identify what consumers want and what attributes are important to them.
- To Increase Sales — Increasing sales volume is the most common objective of a promotional strategy.
- To Stabilize Sales — Advertising is another tool that can stabilize sales. A stable sales pattern has several advantages: it evens out the production cycle, reduces some management and production costs, and makes it easier to do financial, purchasing and market planning.
- To Accentuate the Product’s Value — Some promotional strategies are based on factors that add value, such as warranty programs and repair services.
Advertising
Advertising is a paid, non-personal sales communication usually directed at a large number of potential buyers. Types of advertising include:
- Informative Advertising — Advertising approach intended to build initial demand for a good or service in the introductory phase of the product life cycle.
- Persuasive Advertising — Used in the growth and maturity stages of the product life cycle to improve the competitive status of a product, institution or concept.
- Comparative Advertising — Persuasive advertising approach in which direct comparisons are made with competing goods or services.
- Reminder-Oriented Advertising — Method used in the late maturity or decline states of the product life cycle that seeks to reinforce previous promotional activity by keeping the name of the good or service in front of the public.
The following are some of the most popular forms of advertising media:
- Newspapers — Can be costly so you want to reach the exact audience that will buy your product or service. Avoid using small print if possible. You may be able to place an ad in the more affordable weekly papers where you can run your ad by zip code.
- Television and Radio — Are typically expensive. The most popular stations are typically expensive. Be sure to know your target audience and study the media kits to determine if the station reaches that audience.
- Direct Mail — Can be either generated by you individually or can be a part of a co-op program such as Val-Pak.
- Magazines and Trade Journals — Many have space available regionally.
- Outdoor Advertising Including Billboards and Transit Ads (buses, cabs) Yellow Pages — This is possibly the first type of advertising you should purchase. A large ad is not necessary; a listing is sufficient to let your potential customer know you are a valid company, not a fly-by-night. The downfall with Yellow Page advertising is that it takes the customer directly to your competition! Have a listing but be careful promoting it.
- Internet — Website or banner advertising
Some lower-cost advertising opportunities include co-op advertising programs where there is a cost sharing arrangement between the manufacturer and the retailer, cable TV advertising, and targeted direct mail postcards.
You must track the effectiveness of your advertising efforts. You can use a special reference code on your advertisements or ask each contact how they heard about you.
Now that you have a basic understanding of the ins and outs of advertising, what are other ways that you can reach potential clients or business contacts? Watch for Part 2 of the Duquesne SBDC series, "Sales Promotion, Public Relations, the Internet and Networking" to find more ways to reach your target market!
The Duquesne University Chrysler Corporation Small Business Development Center (SBDC) is a member of a statewide consortium of college and university-based centers designed to provide comprehensive management and technical assistance to the small business community in Pennsylvania. The program is jointly funded by the US Small Business Administration, Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and public and private agencies. The SBDC can help you with marketing strategy and market research; advertising and sales promotion; financial planning and cash-flow analysis; accounting and basic record-keeping; use of the Internet; loan proposal preparation; taxes; licensing procedures and regulations; personnel recruitment, benefits, and policies; business organization structuring; general business management; exporting and much more. They can be reached at 412-396-6233 or duqsbdc@duq.edu.
The Duquesne Small Business Development Center (SBDC) is an independent consultant. The SBDC is contributing as an industry expert, but is not employed by or otherwise compensated by INPEX, InventHelp or its affiliates. Their contribution to INPEX does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of InventHelp or its affiliate companies.
