International Business and International Marketing

Chapter 14 : Promotional Decisions

Chapter Summary

Promotional mix is a blend of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion and public relations, used by a firm to reach its target market. To meet the objectives of a communication strategy a marketer has to mix these ingredients harmoniously.
Advertising is a paid form of non-personal communication about an organization or its products that is transmitted to a target audience through a mass/broadcast medium. This type of promotion allows a marketer to focus on a small, clearly defined market segment.

The method is also cost efficient. An organization can communicate with a large number of prospective customers at a minimal cost per person. Personal selling is a method of communication aimed at persuading a prospective customer to buy something, by providing suitable information. It offers unique benefits to marketers, like quick feedback. This allows a change of message based on situational demands. Generally, two types of salespeople are involved in personal selling -- order getters and order takers.

The personal selling process involves seven steps: prospecting, evaluating, preparing, approaching the customer, making the presentation, closing, and follow up. Sales promotion involves activities and materials that are meant to catch the attention of prospects. Though gaining a competitive edge is an important objective of sales promotion, there are other motives, which induce firms to concentrate on this method. Quick returns are an obvious reason. Also, consumers look forward to sales promotions before purchase.

Overseas product exhibitions bring together people interested in a particular industry. These events attract important visitors such as potential customers, distributors, agents, journalists, politicians and competitors. The events provide an ideal opportunity to get attention. Publicity is an important method of promotion. It is primarily informative, objective and more subdued in tone compared to an advertisement. Most big firms operating internationally have dedicated publicists. A publicist’s basic tool is the press release.

Other tools include telephone press conferences, in-studio media tours, multi-component video news releases, newswire stories, and Internet releases. When firms are forced to deal with negative publicity, they should first minimize rumours and misinformation. They should then make efforts to expedite objective coverage, instead of blocking it. The effectiveness of the communication process is determined by external factors such as language, local economy, laws, socio-cultural factors and competition. These factors can act as barriers when not dealt with properly.

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