PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN

PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN:

A series of advertisements using various marketing tools that share the same message and ideas to promote a business or event to a target audience.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES:

1)      Brand Recognition:

One of the most common promotional objectives is building or maintaining brand recognition or awareness. Recognition simply means that if a customer is shown brand logo, characters or other symbols, he can identify it with company. Understanding and connecting with the image of brand is critical to long-term customer loyalty and profits.

2)      Purchase Intent:

As customers become familiar with brand, the next stage is to motivate purchase intent. Much of ongoing promotional activity has this aim, especially in highly competitive markets where you need to lure customers away from aggressive competitors. A variety of promotional tools are used for this purpose, such as free trial offers or first-time buyer discounts.

3)      Sales Growth:

Promotional campaigns are intended to:

Ø  To optimized profit margins

Ø  To drive revenue or cash flow to collect revenue to cover start-up business cost

GENERAL STEPS IN DEVELOPING AND IMPLEMENTING PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN:

1)      Identify and analyze target audience

2)      Define promotional objectives

3)      Create promotional platform

4)      Determine budget

5)      Develop media plan

6)      Execute campaign

7)      Evaluate effectiveness

1)      Identify and analyze target audience:

Target audience is the group of people at whom advertisements are aimed. Target audience is observed and analyzed in their characteristics, on the basis of which media messages and promotional strategies can be designed.Few general criteria for identification and analyzing audience are:

a)      Demographics: It includes age, gender, job, income, ethnicity and hobbies

b)      Behaviors: When considering the consumer’s behavior an advertiser examines the consumer’s awareness of the product and its competition.

c)      Needs and desires: Determines the consumer needs

2)      Define promotional objectives:

Promotional objectives fall into three main categories:

a)      To inform: Educating the customers about a new product or an existing product with new features

b)      To persuade: To encourage customers to switch to a different brand

c)      To remind: Remind buyers to buy a product

3)      Create promotional platform:

     Enlist each feature of product and next to each feature, list the benefits it provides.

4)      Determine budget:

The amount spent on promotion should be relevant to the potential sales impact of the campaign. New products tend to need a larger promotional budget to help build awareness and attract consumer to buy this new product. A product that is highly differentiated also need more budget when there are larger number of competitors are present in market.

5)      Develop media plan:

A campaign may use one or more of the media alternatives. Following type of media can be used:

Ø  Print media like newspaper and magazines

Ø  Audio like FM and AM radio

Ø  Videos like promotional videos

Ø  Internet especially social media

Ø  Direct mail

Ø  Outdoor advertising like billboards, advertisements on public transportation

6)      Execute campaign:

Execute the campaign in the same way in which it is planned. Implement each and every step of the campaign.

7)      Evaluate effectiveness:

The evaluation of campaign involves two factors:

a)      The communication effects:

It determines whether the intended message being communicated effectively to the target audience.

b)      The sales effect:

It determines whether the campaign generated the expected sales growth.