Promotion element of the marketing mix

Promotion is the part of the marketing mix that covers the ways a business makes potential customers aware of its good or service and persuades them to buy it. It tells people the product exists, what it does and why it is worth paying for.

Two jobs of promotion

Promotion works on two fronts. Attracting new customers means people who have never bought before must notice the business, understand the offer and decide it is worth trying. Retaining existing customers means keeping people who have already bought coming back, which is often cheaper because a satisfied customer already trusts the business. A loyalty scheme or an offer for previous buyers nudges someone towards a repeat purchase.

Advertising and non-advertising methods

Advertising is paid-for communication that reaches a wide audience, such as a bus shelter poster or a sponsored social media post. It puts the message in front of lots of people at once, but it is only one part of promotion — promotion does not simply mean advertising.

Promotion also includes non-advertising methods:

• Sales promotions — short-term incentives such as buy-one-get-one-free or money-off vouchers, which push a customer to act now rather than later.
• Public relations and publicity — getting good news about the business noticed, for example a charity it supports posting a thank-you video that mentions it. Because it is not paid for directly, audiences often trust it more than an advert.
• Personal selling — a person talking directly to a potential customer, such as a sales assistant demonstrating a phone, so questions can be answered on the spot.

For example, a kayak hire business might pay for a sponsored post to reach day trippers (advertising), offer a weekday discount on a second kayak (a sales promotion), lend kayaks free to a local youth club and ask it to post about the day (publicity), and have staff on the bank explaining safety gear to passers-by (personal selling). Four methods, one aim: persuade people to book.