Promotional Mix: Definition, Examples & How to Use It

A promotional mix is a marketing strategy in which the advertiser implements a combination of advertising media to increase the effectiveness of their campaign. A promotional mix will usually include online advertising and offline advertising along with public relation and sales promotion.

Online ads include banner ads, text ads, and paid search. Offline advertising may include newspaper ads, radio ads, direct mail marketing, telemarketing phone calls and roadside signs.

What is a Promotional Mix?

A promotional mix is a combination of advertising, sales promotion and public relations (press releases) that a business uses to reach its target audience. The idea is to create marketing channels that reach the customer at every stage of the buying process.

The mix is different for every company and depends on its target market, as well as its existing resources, such as finances and personnel. You can think of this as a toolkit that you can use in any combination to reach your target customer. For example, if you’re selling a new book on Amazon, you’d have a different promotional mix than if you were selling a home security system door-to-door.

The result is a more effective marketing campaign that not only reaches more customers but also keeps them engaged until they make a purchase. The promotional mix is an essential tool for any business owner who wants to maximize sales and profits.

Importance of Promotion Mix Elements

Imagine you are an organization trying to go global or expand. You have carefully planned how your business will enter the new market, have developed the right product or service, and believe you can offer it for a price that will be profitable. However, until you actual get to the real action and start selling your product, you need to take care of one important part of your business without which your business would not actually function, namely, your customers.

 

In the process of creating the marketing objectives, managers usually use the 4p’s model (which can also be found as the 5p’s model). The 4P’s model includes price, place, product and promotion (later on the model developed in order to also include people).  So you have set the price, you have the product and the place where you want to sell it, but what about promotion?

How an organization chooses to promote their products and services can have a direct and substantial impact on sales. There is much thought and consideration that needs to go into how dollars spent on advertising and promotions will convert into revenue for the company.

Therefore, once you have reached this step in your business plan you have to start building your promotional mix. The basic purpose of the promotional mix is first of all to create brand awareness but the most essential is to produce organizational goals and profits. A promotional mix is defined as being successful if you manage to deliver a clear, compelling message based on the fact that you chose the most appropriate promotion method.

The promotional mix generally involves 5 components such as

1. Personal selling

2. Advertising

3. Direct marketing

4. Sales promotions

5. Public relations

Now let’s discuss the five components of marketing mix you can use to reach your target audience using your marketing message and marketing efforts.

The Five Elements of a Promotional Mix

When promoting something, these are the five promotion mix elements you should consider.

1) Personal Selling Promotional Mix

It is a part of the promotional mix which involves a one to one communication between buyers and customers (either potential or already customers). As personal selling sales promotion is a one-to-one communication, it generates direct contact with prospects and customers. Even though personal seling is considered to be one of the most expensive forms of promotion, it is also considered to be the most successful as a seller-buyer relationship can be created and developed.

2) Advertising

One of the key marketing tools in the promotional mix, which contributes to brand building and also how the market perceives the company, is advertising. It is always a big part of the promotional mix because of the far and wide reach of advertising and the message that you can send to your existing and potential customers. Good advertising can build a solid brand for the company. On the other hand, bad advertising with a wrong message, can cause the brand or product to fail.

3) Direct Marketing

While advertising targets a mass-audience, direct marketing targets prospects and customers. Social media marketing, Email marketing, Internet marketing are all types of direct marketing channel and promotional methods used by companies to boost sales. They have become important in the promotional mix lately because people are using internet far more than they used to a decade back.

Company’s employ direct marketing in order to engage in one-way communication with its customers, about product announcements, special promotions, order confirmations as well as customer inquiries.

4) Sales & Marketing promotions

Sales promotions are one of the most common types of promotion used by companies. Their main purpose is to stimulate purchasing and sales. While sales promotion has the potential of increasing sales and consumer demand, it is also beneficial for informing prospects about new products on the market or just to recapture old or lost customers. Such examples include: coupons, product samples, etc.

5) Public relations

Lastly, public relations enable an organization to influence a target audience and through this, create a favorable and positive image for the company. The company tries to connect with the audience by sharing information with them about the company and about the product. If anything goes wrong on the information front, the public relations department has to step forward and rebuild the public image.

How to Use a Promotional Mix?

Here’s how you can use a promotion mix to effectively establish a promotion strategy for your company’s sales team and marketing resources.

1. Establish your target audience

The first step in creating a promotional mix is to establish who you want to reach. Who are your customers? What are their interests? What are they looking for in a product or service like yours? This is key because it will help you determine how much money you can spend on each element of the promotional mix.

For example, if you’re selling a luxury item, you might be able to afford more expensive advertising methods than if you were selling something more inexpensive.

2. Create a budget

Once you know who your customers are and what they’re looking for, it’s time to create a budget based on their needs and desires. This means determining how much money can be spent on each element of the promotional mix—including advertising, public relations, sales promotion, direct mail marketing, etc.—and deciding which ones will be most effective for reaching your target audience.

3. Use public relations

Public relations is one of the most effective ways to promote your product or service. PR can be used to create a buzz around your brand, increase brand awareness, establish positive brand image, and generate leads.

4. Utilize sales promotion

Sales promotion can be used to boost sales by offering discounts, contests, giveaways and more. Sales promotion are often targeted towards specific groups of people such as customers with certain demographics like age or gender.

5. Direct Marketing

Direct marketing is one of the most effective promotional mixes for companies that are new to the market or have no brand recognition. It involves sending a direct message to your target audience through the mail, email, or phone. The goal of direct marketing is to get your potential buyers interested in your product or service before they go out looking for it, which means you need to make sure your message is focused and clear.

Promotion Mix Examples

Here are some examples:

1. Advertising

This type of promotion involves creating ads for television, radio, online video streaming, social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, or print ads in newspapers or magazines. The goal is to create brand awareness and get people talking about your product or service.

Advertising tends to be expensive though, so it’s a good idea to have other types of promotion mixes in place as well if you want to reach large numbers of people at once and get immediate sales.

2. Public Relations

These are indirect methods that don’t cost money but still help create positive exposure for your company or product.

Examples include press releases that announce new products or services, news stories about how much money was raised by your company through charity efforts, and public appearances by key executives who share their background stories with audiences.

3. Direct Marketing

Direct mail pieces such as postcards sent directly to potential customers can help get information out there quickly without having to wait for print media deadlines or worry about whether a story will be picked up by the news.

Direct mail also works well for businesses that are selling a product or service with a strong emotional component, such as wedding invitations or charitable solicitations. However, it’s important to note that direct marketing can be expensive because you’re paying to reach every single person who receives your message!

Final Words!

While establishing your own promotional mix, you need to consider your promotional efforts and decide upon several factors:

1. Determine which is your target market – in terms of which customers’ needs you are going to fulfill through your products while understanding the attitudes and behaviors of your targeted customers

2. Determine your objective – more precisely, what are you expecting to get one your promotion mix is implemented

3. Design your message in terms of content and format

4. Select your sales promotion channels

5. Determine your budget

6. Determine your promotional mix

7. Measure the results of the implemented program and make the necessary adjustments if needed

In order to succeed with your promotional mix, it would be a good idea to take a look at what your competitors are doing to get a competitive advantage. This does not imply that you copy them as it will not help you at all since each company has its own identity. Monitoring their ads, promotions and special events might provide you with a guide of how to promote yourself and differentiate yourself through the promotional mix.