ALIGARH MUSLIM
UNIVERSITY
CENTRE JANGIPUR,
MURSHIDABAD, WEST
BENGAL
ASSIGNMENT FOR
MARKETING
MANAGEMENT
TOPIC – ELEMENTS OF
PROMOTION MIX AND THEIR
DIFFERENCES
SUBMITTED TO: DR. NIGAMANANDA BISWAS
SUBMITTED BY: ANAS KHAN (20MBAW-50)
SAHIL MIRZA (20MBAW-51)
MOHD SHADAB FAIZI (20MBAW-52)
SM TAHSEEN IMAM (20MBAW-53)
ABDULLAH YASIR (20MBAW-54)
ELEMENTS OF PROMOTION MIX AND THEIR DIFFERENCES
In marketing, the promotional mix describes a blend of promotion variables chosen
by marketers to help a firm reach its goals. Sales promotion is media and nonmedia marketing communication used for a pre-determined limited time to increase consumer
demand, stimulate market demand or improve product availability.
The Promotion Mix refers to the blend of several promotional tools used by the business to create,
maintain and increase the demand for goods and services. The Promotion Mix is the integration of
Advertising, Personal Selling, Sales Promotion, Public Relations and Direct Marketing.
ADVERTISING
Advertising is an impersonal form of
communication which is paid for by the
marketers to promote their goods and
services. It is the most used element of
promotional mix.
The distinguishing features of
advertising are:
(i) Paid Form - Cost of advertising has
to be borne by the marketer or the
sponsors, thus it is a paid form of communication.
(ii) Impersonality - There is no face-to-face contact between the advertiser i.e., the seller and the
prospect i.e., the target customer. It creates a monologue, therefore, referred as an impersonal
method of promotion.
(iii) Identified Sponsor - Advertising is undertaken by an individual or a company who makes
advertising efforts and bears the cost involved. The most common advertising means arenewspapers; magazines; television; radio; banners; pamphlets; hoardings etc.
Advertising is an impersonal promotional technique, yet it is the most frequently used medium of
promoting goods and services. Advertising is a useful expenditure as it increases the reach, brings
down the unit cost of production and adds to the growth of the economy. However, the opponents
of advertising say that expenditure on advertising is a social waste as it adds to the cost, multiplies
the needs of people and undermines social values.
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Benefits of Advertising

Mass Reach - It helps business to reach a large number of potential customers spread over a
wide geographical area. Advertising in a leading newspaper will reach all the readers across
the country.

Enhancing Customer Satisfaction - It creates confidence amongst potential customers about
the quality and features of products hence they feel satisfied while purchasing the product.

Expressiveness - Use of computers, artistic designs and graphics make advertising a forceful
medium of communication. It makes even simple products look attractive and thus persuade
potential consumers to become customers.

Economy - It is the most economical way to communicate with a large number of potential
customers spread over a wide geographical area.

Legitimacy - Advertising involves giving a message publicly thus it creates confidence
amongst the customers that the information provided is true.
Public Relations
Public Relations refer to the variety of activities conducted by a company to promote and protect
its image, its products and policies in the eyes of the public. Thus, it aims to manage public opinion
of the organization. Public relations encompasses a broad range of activities.
In order to influence the public outlook and bring certain changes, the sellers should take help of
newspapers, essays in magazines, advertisement and the personal contacts. Not only the public
will be informed of regarding newly produced products, but this will also win the confidence of
public.
Public relations have not become an important marketing function. The total process of building
goodwill towards a business enterprise and securing a bright public image of the company is called
public relations. It creates a favorable atmosphere for conducting business.
There are four groups of public relations

Customers

Share holders

Employees

The community
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The marketer should have the best possible relation with these groups. Public relations
complement advertising by creating product and service credibility. Effective marketing
communication is not possible without establishing and maintaining mutual understanding
between the company and its customers. The lubricant making the wheel of marketing run
smoothly is public relations. Bright image is created and maintained only by public relations.
Personal Selling
The buyers and sellers negotiate under personal selling. It facilitates the mutual reactions of the
buyers on the product and it enables to know and to transact the information. It is most effective
factor for the sale promotion. It provides an elastic and two-way communication.
Personal selling has been considered more useful for the sale of industrial products, but this factor
plays a particular role in the sale of consumer products covered under large publicity. The main
limitation or defect of this factor is that it is more expensive. About 55% of the total promotional
expenses is incurred on personal selling.
Personal selling involves oral presentation of message in the form of conversation with one or
more prospective customers for the purpose of making sales. Most business firms appoint
salespersons to develop personal communication with target customers to create product
awareness and develop product preferences to make sales. It is a paid form of communication.
Features of Personal Selling:
(i) Personal Form - It is a direct face-to-face dialogue between the seller and the buyer.
(ii) Development of Relationship - The direct interaction with the buyer helps salesperson to
develop personal relationship which Is important for making a sale.
(iii) Paid form - Cost of personal selling has to be borne by the marketers.
Sales Promotion
Sales promotion is a branch of promotion-mix. Irrespective of being separate from the
advertisement, personal selling and public relations, it coordinates, integrates and supports the
activities of advertisement and personal selling. Sales promotion refers to the promotional
activities designed to encourage customers to make immediate purchase of goods or services.
These activities include sales contest, free gifts, cash discounts, free samples etc.
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Sales promotion usually supports other promotional activities like advertising, personal selling,
publicity etc. to increase sales in the short run. Every company designs sales promotion activities
specific to customers, tradesmen, middlemen or dealers and salesperson.
Sales Promotions can be divided in two parts:
(i) Consumer Promotion - The samples, coupons, premium, price reduction, proposals for refund
of price competitions, exhibitions etc., are included with it.
(ii) Trade Promotions - Free sample, purchase allowances, commercial sales competition,
commercial allowances, cooperative advertisement etc., are included with it.
Direct Marketing
Any paid form of personal and long-term communication of ideas, goods and services using direct
communication platform such as – emails, newsletters, etc. Direct marketing uses direct
approaches to connect and communicate with the specific customers and prospects using emails,
mails, business letters, telephone, and fax etc. It helps the marketer to create a dialogue with the
customer for immediate and quick response.
Direct marketing enables you to communicate with your customers in a more personalized way
than advertising, such as greeting them with a letter or telephoning them directly. Telemarketing,
direct mail, catalogs and coupon mailers are all examples of direct-marketing techniques.
Successful direct marketing depends on whether you can acquire and maintain a database of your
target market. Some marketers find this alone justifies the cost of advertising in a national
consumer publication instead.
Advantages of direct marketing

Predictability - By staging initial tests and measuring the results, you can roll out a directmarketing campaign to a wider universe of potential customers with a strong likelihood that it
will succeed. You can mitigate your risk by strategic sampling.

Effectiveness in reaching the right target - Through direct marketing, you can contact
narrow market segments and customize your message to appeal to them.
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
Ease of measurement - Evaluating direct-marketing campaigns is straightforward because
you can measure outcomes with quantifiable data, such as number and size of orders, leads
generated or requests for more information.
Differences of the elements of promotion mix
S.
No
1.
Point of
difference
Form
2.
Flexibility
3.
Reach
4.
Cost
5.
Coverage
6.
7.
Use of Mass
Media
Feedback
8.
Useful for
Advertising
Personal Selling
It is an impersonal form of
communication.
Less flexible as standardized
messages are used.
It is a personal form of
communication.
Flexible messages can be
changed according to the type
of customer.
It reaches masses.
Only limited number of
customers can be contacted.
Cost per person is less as at it
Cost per person is high as at a
covers large number of people.
time limited member can be
connected.
Covers market in short time.
Takes long time to cover
market.
Makes use of mass media such
Do not make use of mass
as T.V., Radio, Newspaper.
media.
No direct feedback can be
Direct feedback can be
obtained.
collected by salesman.
More useful for standardized and More useful for industrial and
customer products.
customized products.
Differences of Advertising and Sales Promotion
S.
NO.
Point of
difference
Advertising
Sales Promotion
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Time
Purpose
Price
Suitable for
Sales
Short Term
Increase sales
Not very expensive
Small to Large Companies
Directly related to sales
6.
Example
Long Term
Increase sales, Brand building
Expensive
Medium to Large Companies
Assumption that it will lead to
sales
Giving an advertisement in the
newspaper about the major
products of a company
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Giving free products, coupons
etc.
Differences of Public Relation and Direct Marketing
Marketing generally covers promotional, direct marketing and advertising which seeks to return
direct sales, whereas public relations is focused on reputation management through generating
positive media coverage and stakeholder communication.
Direct marketing is direct communication with individually targeted consumers to get an
immediate response. It is a private and specific activity, immediate, personalized and interactive.
Public relation is the communication strategy that aims to establish good relationships with the
target clientele of an organization. It can take place in the form of reports, events or press
articles. This approach seems more authentic and credible than advertising and reaches consumers
who avoid sales and advertising.
Now we will discuss the major differences of the elements of promotion mix. The primary purpose
of sales promotion is to induce customers for immediately buying while the basic purpose of
personal selling is to promote products and the primary concerns of the direct marketing is to
publishing and highlighting companies’ activities and products.
Advertising is the paid form of communication and it is costly option to promote the sales while
in personal selling per contact cost is higher than advertising but the direct marketing is the non paid form of market promotion and also public relation is a paid form of market promotion,
company has incurred expenses.
Sales promotion involves non-routine selling efforts while personal selling involves two-way
communication and involves teaching, educating peoples to buy. In direct marketing involves
obtaining favorable promotion about company or company’s offers upon radio, and T.V. while in
public relations involves several interactions such as contacting, inviting, informing, classifying,
responding, interacting, dealing.
Advertising is a non-personal or mass communication personal contact is not possible while in
personal selling is an oral, face to face, personal presentation with consumer.
Direct controlling can be done at a much lower cost than advertising. So, these are some differences
of the elements of promotion mix.
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CONCLUSION
In conclusion does the promotion mix offer a lot of tools to address different types of customers.
A company does not need to use every tool to gain customers. The trade-off between more
customers and the costs are different for small local companies than for global companies, as
shown. Product promotion is critical for every business due to the lasting impact promotion has
on the clients. The promotion mix is essentially what promoting entails as well as how promoting
is effectively done. It comprises personal selling, advertising, public relations, sales promotion,
and direct marketing. The main objective of market communication is to exchange the information
about the product and organization with the help of promotion in order to create awareness
amongst the customers and other stakeholders. The promotion plays an important role in marketing
communication and is considered as one of the most important components of the marketing
communication. A promotion mix is a key method for delivering a relevant promotion message
via the most suitable channel for each segment. Improves communications with clients. Companies
develop a promotion mix trying to speak their consumers language. If prepared correctly, it helps
build trust between the brand and its customers.
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