Speakers Note:

3.1 Below-the-line promotion (BTL)

Sales promotion:

Sales promotions are temporary methods to improve sales by attracting new customers and
encouraging existing customers to purchase more..

Direct marketing

Direct marketers target customers without using traditional formal channels of advertising,
such as TV, newspapers or radio. Firms communicate straight to with consumers with advertising
techniques such as fliers, catalogues and promotional literature. If an advertisement asks the
customer to respond in some way, such as calling a free phone number or visiting a website, this
is called direct response advertising.

Direct Mail

Direct mail is a direct marketing technique involving the delivery of promotional material
to named individuals at their homes or organizational premises, selected from a list of known
customers.

Public relations (PR) Publicity

Most organizations handle the outflow of information with great care. The main goal of a
public relations department is to enhance the firm's reputation. Publicity is far more costeffective than advertising, because unlike advertising, where the firm pays for the message,
public relations messages are not paid for.

Sponsorship/celebrity endorsement

Companies are keen to get their brand name associated with celebrities and major events,
believing that the excitement and vitality of the event and the celebrity will become associated
with the brand.

Design, logos and other symbols

Visual representations of a firm are crucial as part of its overall identity. It is very easy
for us to think of myriads of businesses where its logo or symbol is more important than its brand
name. It may be more difficult to value a logo separate from the brand. A logo should be
shorthand for the trust in the firm and for the value of the product.

Packaging

Some marketing academics believe that packaging should be a separate P in the marketing
mix because of its importance in the promotion of a product and the time and cost entailed.
Packaging has many functions; it can be used to:

highlight both the logo and brand name

protect and preserve the product during transportation and on the shelf

help carry the product

facilitate quick recognition of the product

provides information on ingredients, nutrition, weight and function

Add-value through attractive packaging which acts as a gift wrapping

Trade Fairs and Exhibitions

Trade fairs offer the opportunity for firms to meet with both the trade and the
individual consumer. It also allows representatives of the firm to see what competitors are doing
and to learn about innovations and new product offers. The purpose is to increase awareness and
to encourage trial; the main focus is not on immediate sales, even though there may be some
generated by special 'show promotions and discounts. They are highly focused in that they attract
a specific segment of the market. By having a stand at an exhibition firms will be promoting not
only their products, but their brand.

Digital media

Website design is crucial in the firm's attempt to capture the interest and attention of
potential customers. The site itself is likely to carry a range of articles, images, pages and general
information that promote the firm, provides its story and informs customers of their products and
services and the benefits they will bring. Some websites have games and videos; others collect
information about products and services and have links to other relevant sites of interest to the
customer. Full access to a website may be by subscription only which provides an additional
income stream for the business.

3.2 Marketing M:

Market: Your target market, who you want to sell to. Take time to identify your ideal
customers and target them. For using BTL Technique we need to know the market.
Message: Why a prospective customer should use you rather than another supplier and
what you need to say to get people to respond. For using BTL technique we need to
create a message.
Media: The different ways you can deliver your message, for example web site, direct
mail, advertising. We should choose which media can be used in BTL technique.
Moment: Timing is everything! But the only way to be sure of that is to get your message
to your prospective customers regularly and consistently.

Method: We should choose proper BTL technique that will differentiate our company
from everyone else those who is marketing to our target customers?

4.1 Budget: Process of Budget Formulation:

Each of the various ways in which to establish an advertising budget has its problems as well as
its benefits. No method is perfect for all types of businesses, nor for that is matter any
combination of methods. Here concepts from several traditional methods of budgeting have been
combined into three basic methods:
(1) Percentage of sales or profits
The most widely used method of establishing an advertising budget is to base it on
a percentage of sales. Advertising is as much a business expense as, say, the cost of labor
and, thus, should be related to the quantity of goods sold. By using the percentage-ofsales method, you can keep your advertising in a consistent relation to your sales volume.
What Percentage?
Knowing what the ratio for your industry is will help to assure you that you will be spending
proportionately as much or more than your competitors; but remember, these industry averages
are not gospel. Your particular situation may dictate that you want to advertise more than or less
than your competition.
What sales?
Advertising budget can be determined as a percentage of past sales, of estimated future sales,
or as a combination of the two:
1. Past Sales: last year's sales or an average of a number of years in the immediate past.
Consider, though, that changes in economic conditions can make companys figure too high or
too low.
2. Estimated future sales: We can calculate your advertising budget as a percentage of your
anticipated sales for next year. The most common pitfall of this method is an optimistic
assumption that your business will continue to grow. We must keep general business trends
always in mind, especially if there's the chance of a crash, and hardheadedly assess the directions
in your industry and your own operation.
3. Past sales and estimated future sales: The middle ground between an often conservative
appraisal based on last year's sales and a usually too optimistic assessment of next year's is to
combine both. It's a more realistic method during periods of changed economic conditions. It

allows you to analyze trends and results thoughtfully and to predict with a little more assurance
of accuracy.
(2) Unit of sales
In the unit-of-sale method you set aside a fixed sum for each unit of product to be sold,
based on your experience and trade knowledge of how much advertising it takes to sell each
unit. That is, if it takes two cents' worth of advertising to sell a case of canned vegetables and
we want to move 100,000 cases, you'll probably plan to spend $2,000 on advertising them.
(3) Objective and task
It relates the appropriation to the marketing task to be accomplished.
It relates the advertising appropriation under usual conditions and in the long run to the
volume of sales, so that profits and reserves will not be drained.
(4) Allocation of Advertising Budget

Departmental budgets: The most common method of allocating advertising dollars is

percent of sales. Those departments or product categories with the greatest sales volume
receive the biggest share of the budget.
Total budget: Total budget may be the result of integrated departmental or product
budgets. If your business has set an upper limit for advertising expense percentage, then
your departmental budgets, which are based on different percentages of sales in each
area, might be pared down.
Calendar period: Most executives of small businesses usually plan their advertising on a
monthly, even a weekly, basis. This budget, even if it's for a longer planning period,
ought to be calculated for these shorter periods. It will give us better control.

Media: The amount of advertising that you place in each advertising medium - such as
direct mail, newspapers, or radio - should be determined by past experience, industry
practice, and ideas from media specialists. Normally it's wise to use the same sort of
media your competitors use. That's where, most likely, your potential customers look and
listen.

Sales areas: We can spend your advertising dollars where your customers already come
from, or you can use them to try to stimulate new sales areas. Just as in dividing your
appropriation by time periods, it's wise to continue to do the bulk of your advertising in
familiar areas.

4.2 Development of Promotional plan:

Situation Analysis:

Facts: Utilizing market research, a situational analysis will define potential customers,
projected growth, competitors and a realistic assessment of business. It involves targeting the
specific objectives in the business and identifying the factors that will support or hinder those
objectives. This assessment often is called a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats). Strengths and weaknesses involve an internal analysis of the company, while
opportunities and threats are derived from an external analysis..
Internal Analysis: The internal analysis is a thorough knowledge and understanding of the
strengths and weaknesses within an organization. These factors are seen in company culture
and image, organizational structure, staff, operational efficiency and capacity, brand
awareness, financial resources, etc. Strengths are positive attributes, which can be tangible or
intangible, and are within the control of the organization. Weaknesses are factors that may
hinder the achievement of the desired goal.
External Analysis: Opportunities and threats are measured as part of an external analysis.
Both can occur when things happen in the external environment that may require a change
within the business. These external changes can be attributed but not limited to market
trends, suppliers, partners, customers, competitors, new technology and economic
environment. Opportunities present themselves as attractive factors that can propel or
positively influence the organization in some way. Threats are external factors that could
place the organizations goal at risk. These often are classified by their level of severity and
probability of occurrence.
Function: A SWOT profile is used to create goals, strategies and implementation practices. It
aids in decision-making across the organizational board and creates an understanding of the
organization. The four categories are used in relation to one another.. A SWOT can be used in
problem solving, future planning, product evaluation, brainstorm meetings, workshop
sessions, etc.
There are three main objectives of a promotional:

1.

Increase demand: These strategies are used during the product life cycle in order to
increase sales. Eventually a product will reach its saturation point, at which time investing in
sales will decrease as the company focuses its attention on a new product.

2.

Present information about the product: In order for customers and consumers to want the
product they need to understand what the product is and how it benefits them. Information
about the product will differ depending on the specific target market.

3.

Differentiate a product: This is especially important if there are multiple competitors in

the same market.

Review of the targeted customer:

Children e.g. they may have influence over their parents

Young people e.g. often transient, have other priorities and relatively low incomes
Young families with children below school age e.g. may have other priorities but may be
open to environmental messages
Families with children at school e.g. whilst they may have other priorities they are often
the ones involved in community activities
Middle aged e.g. more settled, may be active in the community
Elderly e.g. may have access issues and require assisted collections, may also be active in
the community
Any others as necessary

4.3 Following, the main promotional techniques used by companies:

Advertising
Is a form of promoting the products, services and image of a company that is addressed to large
numbers of consumers, using the mass media. Depending on the financing, there are:
Free advertising is an informative communication that doesn't have a sponsor. Focuses on
reporting news or information concerning a company, using mass media (press conferences,
press releases) Advertising is paid by a sponsor that is usually the company producing the
promoted goods. Its main characteristics are:

It's a paid promotion technique

The target market is scattered territorially
The message is transmitted using mass media
Is a non-personal communication technique
The company paying for the advertising is usually identified in the content of the
message.

Public relations
These are a deliberate and planned effort of a company to communicate to various public
categories that might have an interest in the company's activities (customers, investors,
employees). The purpose of this in creating a favorable image and a trust climate based on
convenient mutual relations. Public relations use various communication channels, from personal
channels to mass media. The differences between public relations and advertising are:
Public relations use informative messages (company achievements, annual reports, balance
sheets)

Advertising calls to immediate action while public relations try to build trust
Public relations actions are unique, while advertising can be repeated
Public relations can be achieved also through public dialogue.

Sales promotion
Uses a wide variety of instruments meant to lead the customer to an immediate action
regarding the purchase of a good or service. The main characteristics of sales promotions are:

Offer an immediate advantage a price discount, a higher quantity at the same price, a
free service, a contest.
Are exceptional the advantage is not permanent, is available for only a period of time
Call to immediate action the fact that the offer is limited is highlighted
Cause regrets if the customer doesn't purchase the product.

All these are communicated in the message that joins the campaign.

The main sale promotion techniques are:

Price discounts
Offering a larger amount of the product at the same price
Group sales
Gifts
Loyalty gifts
Samples
Games, contests, raffles.

Point-of-sale promotions
Involve the usage of product display techniques, also supported by various audio-video materials
that stimulate the purchasing process of the people visiting the sale point. Even if the point-ofsale promotion is usually employed by detail sellers, it also has a wider application. Actually,
each company subsidiary can be provided with materials that inform the customer about the
products and services he can purchase in that place. These materials include:

Light boxes
Banners

Posters
Product display shelves
Specific lighting
Point-of-sale atmosphere
Audio-video messages
Promotional gifts (pens, lighters, bags, products printed with the company brand)

Direct marketing
Is an interactive communication system with each consumer, using a distance communication
mean: catalogs, personal letters, and electronic catalogues. The interactivity consists in the option
the receiver has to order the product from the catalog, and have it delivered at home.
Personal sales
Involve the direct contact between a salesperson and a customer, usually at the customer's
residence or in public places. The selling process is joined by promotional messages focused on
the advantages offered by the product.
Promotional gifts
Are small presents printed with the company logo or product name, offered to the customer in
order to remind him of the product, For example: pens, lighters, ashtrays, agendas.
Internet promotion
Consists in communication using web sites that will create the virtual company image,
present the products, and include press releases. The most used Internet advertising means are:
banners, pop-ups, newsletters, link to the company website.

Promotional technique into strategy using SMART

Specific For promotional strategy objective of promotional technique should be precise and
clearly identifiable.
Measurable These promotional technique should measurable and it is easy to see whether the
strategy has been met to its requirement to becoming strategy.
Achievable Promotional technique need to be achievable, neither too ambitious nor too easily
met. By this technique can be used as strategy.
Realistic The promotional technique should help to achieve the overall long-term aims of the
organization or campaign by meeting the objectives for converting into promotional strategy.
Time-bound Adequate time needs to be allocated to achieve the objectives to make
promotional technique to strategy.

4.4 Measuring the Effectiveness of Your Advertising Campaign

Define what you mean by effectiveness.

There are many ways an advertising campaign can be effective. Knowing which metric you are
using is the first step in evaluating the success of promotional campaign. Everyone interested in
brand awareness, Brand perception, Sales, Repeat business, Profitability but dont try to measure
everything at once.

Include a specific phone number, email address or web address in your ad.

If the only place a particular email address is communicated to customers is in a specific

advertisement or advertising campaign, we can be fairly certain that whatever potential
customers contact us via that email address were prompted to do so by that specific campaign.

Ask customers to tell you how they heard about your business or what prompted
them to purchase your product or service.

Particularly with online sales, it is relatively easy to simply ask customers directly why they
are buying your product or where they heard about your business. Depending on the method
used, RESPONSE RATES may not be very high; however, even a relatively small response rate
can provide useful statistics than can paint a picture of your entire customer base.

Use redeemable coupons for certain products or services.

Just as with using a specific phone number or email address with a particular advertising effort,
using a redeemable coupon tied to a specific campaign will give an idea of how many people that
campaign enticed to purchase that product or service.

Consider overall impact.

In addition to measuring the individual impacts of various campaign elements,
take a look at your communication efforts in a broad sense. Annual marketing plan should
contain objectives that help to direct companys communication efforts.
Take advantage of Internet-based analytical tools.

The Internet offers some easy-to-use, and often free, tools for analyzing traffic to your
web site, visits to your blog, forwards of your social media messages, etc. Take advantage of
these tools to help quantify companys advertising efforts.