Chapter five
promotion strategy in international market
ELEMENTS OF PROMOTION
v Advertising: - Any
Paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or
services by an identified sponsor
v Sales promotion: involves
the use of short-term incentives to encourage trial or purchase of a product or
service
v Public relation & Publicity: A variety of programs designed to promote
and/or protect a company's image or its individual products.
v Personal selling: Face
-to -Face interaction with one or more prospective purchasers for the purpose
of making presentation, answering questions, and processing orders.
v Direct Marketing: Use
of mail, telephone, fax, e-mail, and other non-personal contact tools to
communicate directly with or solicit a direct response from specific customers and
prospects.
1.
Personal Selling:
v is
a key method used in marketing to increase profitable sales and satisfy
consumer wants over the long term.
v It
involves the personal communication of information to persuade someone to make
a purchase.
v Personal
selling is known as salesmanship and is distinguished from mass, impersonal
forms of communication like advertising and sales promotion.
ü Unlike
other promotional tools, personal selling offers flexibility and allows
salespeople to tailor their approach to individual customers.
ü They
can observe customer reactions and make adjustments in real time.
ü Personal
selling is also more focused on prospective customers, minimizing wasted effort
compared to advertising.
ü While
personal selling is effective in driving actual sales, it can be costly to
develop and maintain a sales force, and attracting qualified personnel can be
challenging.
Types of Personal Selling:
There are various types of sales jobs that require
different levels of selling skills. These include:
A.
Driver-Salesperson: These sales person primarily deliver
products.
ü -for
example, soft drinks or fuel oil
B.
Inside Order Taker: Sales person in this role take orders at
the seller's place of business and serve customers who have already decided to
make a purchase.
ü for
example, a retail clerk standing behind the counter
C.
Outside Order Taker: Sales person in this position visit
customers in the field and accept orders, often from repeat customers.
ü An
example is a hardware sales person calling on a retail hardware store.
D.
Missionary Salesperson: it focuses on building goodwill,
performing promotional activities, and providing information and services to
customers.
ü They
are not expected to solicit orders.
E.
Sales Engineer: Sales engineers specialize in explaining
complex and technically sophisticated products to customers and adapting them
to their specific needs.
ü They
often work together with another sales representative.
F.
Creative Salesperson
(Order Getter): These
salespeople engage in creative selling of goods and services, including
intangibles like social causes and ideas (don't do drags, stop smoking, obey
speed limit etc.).
ü This
type of selling can be complex, as customers may not be aware of their needs or
understand how a product can satisfy them better than their current choice.
G.
Telemarketing: Personal selling can also be conducted
over the telephone, known as telemarketing.
ü It
has gained prominence due to its efficiency and preference among buyers in
certain situations.
H.
Expatriate Personnel: The use of salespeople whether from the
home country (expatriates) or local nationals in foreign markets to reach on
foreign market.
2.
Public
Relations/Publicity:
v Are
important marketing tools that help companies establish positive relationships
with various stakeholders.
v Public
relations can be defined as programs aimed at promoting and protecting a
company's image and products among different interested publics.
ü It
involves managing attitudes towards the organization and its policies. However,
public relations often receive less attention compared to personal selling,
advertising, and sales promotion.
ü This
may be due to a lack of alignment with marketing objectives and the diverse
activities performed by public relations departments.
The five main activities of
public relations departments are as follows:
A. Press Relations: Presenting
news and information about the organization in a positive light.
B. Product Publicity: sponsoring
various efforts to publicize specific products.
C. Corporate Communication: Promoting
understanding of the organization through internal and external communications.
D. Lobbying: Engaging
with legislators and government officials to support or oppose legislation and
regulation.
E. Counseling: Advising
management on public issues, company positions, and image, particularly during
product mishaps that may affect public confidence.
Publicity, on the other hand, refers to any
communication about an organization, its products, or policies through the
media that is not paid for by the organization.
ü It
typically takes the form of news stories or endorsements in mass media.
Publicity is a non-personal means of stimulating demand and is presumed to be
free since the media is not paid for presenting the message.
There are three ways to gain
positive publicity:
I.
Distributing stories news releases to
media outlets, with the hope that they will report the information as news.
II.
Engaging in personal communication with
groups, such as holding press conferences or delivering speeches to civic or
professional organizations.
III.
Engaging in one-on-one personal
communication, commonly known as lobbying, to influence the opinions and
decisions of legislators or influential individuals.
3.
Exhibition trade fair
This type of promotion may be very important because
regular advertising and sales letters and brochures may not be adequate.
ü For
certain products, quality can be judged only by physical examination, and
product exhibition can facilitate this process.
An exhibitor should investigate whether it is
worthwhile to use a carnet for products that will be shipped or taken to the
exhibition.
ü A
carnet is an international customs document that facilitates the temporary
duty-free importation of product samples in lieu of the usual customs documents
required to bring merchandise into several major trading countries.
4.
Sales promotion
It includes a wide range of techniques aimed at
stimulating quick and/or increased purchases of specific products by consumers
or the trade.
ü It
is a critical component of the marketing mix, encompassing promotional
activities that are distinct from advertising, personal selling, and publicity.
Sales promotion includes
A. Consumer Promotion: This
includes techniques such as samples, coupons, cash refund offers, prices off,
premium, prizes, patronage rewards, free trails, warranties, tie in promotions,
cross promotions, point of purchase displays, and demonstrations. These tools
directly target consumers to stimulate their demand for a product.
B. Trade Promotion: Trade
promotion techniques focus on stimulating demand among wholesalers, retailers,
and other intermediaries. Examples include prices off, advertising, display
allowances, and free goods.
C. Business and Sales Force Promotion: This category includes activities like
trade shows and conventions, contents for sales representatives, and specialty
advertising. These techniques aim to motivate and support the sales force and business
partners.
It's important to consider local regulations when
implementing sales promotion tools. Different countries may have restrictions
on certain promotional activities.
5.
Advertising in global
situation
Advertising is a form of mass communication that uses
a paid, non-personal presentation to promote ideas, goods, services, or
organizations.
ü It
is a widely used tool by businesses, as well as museums, charitable
organizations, and government agencies, to reach target buyers and publics.
ü The
purpose of advertising is to sell products or services, either immediately or
in the future.
Advertising objectives can
be classified into three categories:
A. Informative Advertising: is
prevalent in the early stages of a product's life cycle when the objective is
to build primary demand and create awareness among the target audience.
B. Persuasive Advertising: becomes
important in the competitive stage, where the goal is to build selective demand
for a particular brand.
ü Comparative
advertising, a form of persuasive advertising, aims to establish the
superiority of one brand over others in the same product category.
C. Reminder Advertising: is
particularly relevant for mature products. It serves to reinforce the brand
among current customers and remind them of their purchase decision.
ü Reinforcement
advertising is a related form that seeks to assure current purchasers that they
made the right choice.
When selecting advertising
media, advertisers need to consider the following
A. Which
type of media will be used?
B. Which
category of the selected medium will be used?
C. Which
specific media vehicles will be used?
Factors influencing media
choice include
ü the
objective of the advertisement,
ü audience
coverage,
ü requirements
of the message,
ü and
media cost.
It's important to note that advertising can be affected by local regulations and restrictions. Availability of media, limitations on advertising times and spaces, bans on certain materials or languages, and regulations related to specific industries (e.g., tobacco) vary among countries and can impact international advertising practices.
Advertising standardization
versus local adaptation
The concept of standardized international advertising
involves promoting the same product or brand in the same manner across
different countries or regions.
On the other hand, local adaptation in advertising
involves tailoring marketing messages to suit the specific cultural, social,
and linguistic characteristics of each target market.
ü Local
adaptation recognizes the diversity and uniqueness of each market and aims to
address the specific needs and desires of local consumers.
The decision between standardized
advertising and local adaptation depends on various factors such as
ü the
nature of the product,
ü target
market characteristics,
ü cultural
differences,
ü economic considerations,
ü and
marketing objectives.
Standardization offers potential cost savings and
consistent brand image across markets.
ü It
assumes that consumers have similar needs and preferences globally, and that a
one-size-fits-all approach can be effective.
On the other hand, local adaptation recognizes the
importance of cultural nuances and consumer diversity, aiming to create more
relevant and persuasive advertising messages.