"A brand is taken to be a sum of it marketing mix"
Nearly half of Britain's leading companies are spending more of their marketing budget on sales promotion than they did last year. This seems to show a shift from the old myth that promotions offer nothing more exciting than money-off coupons and '2 for the price of 1' offers.
So, as the great multinationals have started to use sales promotion as a key driver in the marketing mix, how can smaller and newer businesses also benefit from using promotional activity?
According to the Institute of Sales Promotion (ISP), sales promotion comprises a range of tactical marketing techniques, designed within a strategic marketing framework, to add value to a product or service to achieve specific sales and marketing objectives.
Sounds complicated? Put simply, sales promotion is a means of achieving marketing objectives by offering short-term additional value to a brand. The key words in this definition are:
- Marketing objectives. The objective is usually to increase sales in one guise or another.
- Short-term. Promotional activity has to be temporary in order not to become an intrinsic attribute of the brand
- Additional. Promotions have to offer the customer something extra, whether it is value, e.g. a free product, goods, eg. a branded gift or prizes, or other intangible benefit, such as a link with a charity.
A brand, whether it is a product, service or company, is taken to be a sum of it marketing mix: Product – attributes, function, packaging, Price – positioning, Place - distribution, location, and Promotion.
As a result of the combination of these four elements, a brand will differentiate itself from its competitors and acquire its own special brand values.
