The main aim of a business is maximizing profit. This is mainly achieved through increased sales. The more you sell - the higher the chance of making a profit is. In order for a business to increase its sales and compete favorably with other businesses, it has to create awareness, convince and persuade potential customers to buy its products.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of the topic, you should be able to:
A product is a good or service that is offered for sale in the market to satisfy human wants.
Product promotion is the art of providing information about a product to its prospective users to persuade them to buy and use the product.
METHODS OF PRODUCT PROMOTION
These are ways of providing information about a certain product to potential users. They include;
Personal selling. This is a face to face method of product promotion. The salesperson physically presents a product to existing and potential customers. It is important for the salesperson to have a thorough knowledge of the product and be able to explain and demonstrate the use of the product thereby persuading potential customers to buy. This method provides the customer with an opportunity to ask questions and test the product before buying. Personal selling can be done in the field or in the shop.
Advertising. This is a form of communication used to help sell goods and services. It is communication via message which includes the name of the product and how the product could potentially benefit the consumer. Advertising can be effected through different media such as television, the internet, radio, newspaper, magazines, and billboards.
There are different types of advertising;
Product advertising. It is meant to promote the sale of a specific product. The manufacturer is not mentioned in the advertisement.
Institutional advertising. It is meant to promote and create a positive image of a business producing certain products. An example of this type of promotion is for Toyota “The vehicle in front is always a Toyota”
Primary demand advertising. It stimulates demand for a range of products without specifically mentioning the manufacturer or brand. An example of this is an advertisement of water saying “Water is Life, drink it, live longer”.
Celebrity advertising. This uses a famous person to promote the use of a product. When a famous person is used to promote a product, there is the assumption that his/her fans will buy the product.
Competitive/persuasive advertising. It tries to convince consumers that the product is the best in the category.
Sales promotion. These are strategies and incentives aimed at increasing the purchase of a product usually at the point of sale. There are different methods of sales promotion. They include free samples, free gifts, trade credits, and discounts.
Free gifts and samples. Free gifts are items that are given out free of charge after purchasing a certain product. Free samples are small quantities of a product given free of charge to prospective customers in order to test and induce them to buy.
Display. It is a systematic and attractive presentation of products for sale. It facilitates easy customer selection and buying.
Discounts. This is a reduction in the price of goods and services to attract customers to buy.
After-sales service. These are services provided by sellers to customers after they have purchased specific goods of technical nature like televisions, computers, vehicles and radios.
CHOICE OF A PRODUCT PROMOTION METHOD
A big number of businesses choose a suitable mix of the different methods of product promotion to effectively boost their sales. The following factors are considered when making this choice;
TRENDS IN PRODUCT PROMOTION
Some of the trends in product promotion include:
