Advertising media, sales promotion and public relations

Promotion is all the ways a business communicates with customers to encourage a sale. Advertising media are only one part of promotion: they are the channels that carry a paid or controlled message, such as a poster, a website banner or a radio advert. Promotion also includes sales promotion and public relations, which are separate promotional methods.

Sales promotion means short-term incentives to encourage a purchase. It gives customers a reason to buy now, such as a free gift with a purchase, a two-for-one offer or a limited-time price cut. A price reduction is a sales promotion, not an advertising medium, because it changes the price rather than using a channel to carry a message. For example, a garden centre selling hanging baskets for £12 instead of £15 during one weekend is using sales promotion.

Public relations (PR) is about managing the business's reputation and gaining publicity. PR includes publicity gained through third-party endorsement, such as a newspaper article, a review or a recommendation from someone outside the business, rather than paid advertising space or time. If a charity's annual report thanks a stationery shop for donating notebooks to its homework club, that is PR because the business has not paid for the message and someone else is saying it.

Classifying an example

To classify an example, ask what it is doing. If it carries a paid or controlled promotional message, it is advertising. If it is a short-term price or offer, it is sales promotion. If it is unpaid third-party publicity, it is public relations.