Page 4 - Lesson Note 6

Promotion mix refers to combination of promotional tools used by an organization to achieve its

communication objectives. Various tools of communication are used by the marketers to inform and
persuade customers about their firm’s products.

These include: (i) Advertising, (ii) Personal Selling, (iii) Sales Promotion, and (iv) Publicity. These tools are

also called elements of promotion mix and can be used in different combinations, to achieve the goals of
promotion.

For example consumer goods firms may use more of advertising through mass media while the
industrial goods firms may be using more of personal selling. What combination of these elements is

used by a firm will depend upon various factors such as nature of market, nature product, the
promotions budget, objectives of promotion, etc. Let us first know about these elements in some

details.

Advertising

“If you’re trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use

their language, the language in which they think.” —David Ogilvy

“We find that advertising works the way the grass grows. You can never see it, but every week you have
to move the lawn.” —Andy Travis

ADVERTISING

We generally come across hundreds of advertising messages everyday, which tell us about various
products such as toilet soaps, detergent powder, soft drinks and services such as hotels, insurance

policies, etc. Advertising is perhaps the most commonly used tool of promotion.

It is an impersonal form of communication, which is paid for by the marketers (sponsors) to promote
some goods or service. The most common modes of advertising are ‘newspapers’, ‘magazines’,

‘television’, and ‘radio’.

The important distinguishing features of advertising are as follows:

(i) Paid Form: Advertising is a paid form of communication. That is, the sponsor has to bear the

cost of communicating with the prospects.