Promotional Mix

Major companies such as KFC and Mc Donald's use a bulk of their budget on promotion and getting their brand "out there." In as much as the businesses might have good products and a wide product range, or sold at attractive prices. The company's at hand would still have to generate sales and profits the benefits would have to be communicated to the consumers through promotion.

The promotional mix consists of a blend of personal selling, sales promotion and advertising, public relation tools.

Promotion Element Advantages Disadvantages
Sales Promotion -good for building awareness with the consumer
-effective at reaching a wide audience market
-repetition of main brand and product positioning helps build consumer trust and loyalty - impersonal – as the business cannot answer all customer queries

- hard to get the customer to make up their mind on making a final buy
Personal Selling - lots of communication between the buyer and the seller
- easier to communicate all pros and cons with consumers giving detailed features and product information
- when closing the sale, the seller can develop a long time relationship with the consumer - as it involves a member of staff, it can be costly to run a sales team
- if there are many buyers involved, it might not be a viable option
Sales Promotion - good as a short - term method of communication
- if targeting the right promotional incentives on certain products, sales promotion can quickly increase sales - customers may get used to the effect of the incentives if used in the long term
- the brand image might be damaged to due too much promotion as it gets too repetitive
Public Relations - the company's image might seem more credible as it is seen through a third party such as the tv, magazines, internet etc.
- if a company uses the right media, it could reach out to a wide audience - when third parties for instance give reviews, it would be hard for the business to control what is being said about their