Some promotional strategies call for one-on-one persuasion by a salesperson.
The importance of a marketing strategy is that it helps a company create, communicate and deliver value to target consumers, using the tools of promotion, product, price and distribution. The importance of a promotional strategy is that it enables marketers to determine the most effective communication vehicles, which may include advertising, sales promotion, personal selling and/or public relations.
Target Consumers
A marketing strategy pinpoints a group of consumers with high potential to choose the firm's products over the competition's. This is an important way to avoid wasting marketing resources on people who are unlikely to respond or difficult to reach. Target consumers may be selected based on a range of personal characteristics. For example, people of the same age and sex are likely to choose similar clothing brands. Consumers who share a distinctive lifestyle, like frequent travelers, make good targets for airlines or rental car companies.
Marketing Mix
In addition to promotion, marketers use other tools known as the marketing mix. These include product, price and distribution. Product tactics involve choices related to the functions, attributes, benefits and image of an item. Price is a measure of relative value in the marketplace, as well as an amount of money the buyer is asked to pay. Distribution, also called place, is about making goods available to consumers when and where they shop.
Advertising and Sales Promotion
Among the important questions addressed in promotional strategy are whether and how the firm should use advertising and sales promotion. Advertising uses messages transmitted via mass media. It is effective in educating consumers about a product and persuading them that it is superior, but takes time to produce sales. Sales promotion offers direct incentives like coupons, rebates and premiums that motivate people to buy a brand immediately, or in greater quantities than they otherwise would. Often, these two tools are used simultaneously.
Personal Selling and Public Relations
Promotional strategies may also call for the use of personal selling and public relations, which further expand marketers' communication opportunities. For products that are technologically complex, difficult to use, expensive and/or require demonstration, one-on-one persuasion by skilled salespeople may be more effective than any other technique. In situations where the firm wants to influence its shareholders, employees, vendors and the broader community, public relations devices like press releases and media events can help get attention and build excitement.
Tags: marketing strategy, one-on-one persuasion, personal selling, price distribution, product price, product price distribution