Page 610 - Business Principles and Management

Chapter 22 • Pricing and Promotion

22.3 Promotion

Goals Terms
• Discuss the purpose of promotion • advertising • personal selling
in meeting business and consumer • advertising media • buying motives
needs. • full disclosure • objections
• Discuss how businesses use • substantiation • sales promotions
advertising to promote their • cease-and-desist • self-service
products.
order merchandising
• Explain the parts of the selling • corrective
process and how each is used to advertising
help customers make buying deci-
sions that meet their needs.
• Describe the different types of
sales promotions.

Promotion as Marketing Communication

To be successful, a business must interest people in buying its products and ser-
vices. Even good products will not sell automatically. Consumers need to know
the product is available and where they can purchase it. They must be able to
easily see the differences among brands and determine which brand will best
meet their needs.
Consumers generally follow five steps in progressing toward a purchase
decision. Figure 22-4 (see p. 598) summarizes the steps in the consumer decision-
making process. Although the five steps are common to all consumers, each
consumer has different needs and gathers information in different ways to satisfy
those needs. Some customers spend a great deal of time and consult many infor-
mation sources before deciding to buy or not to buy. Other consumers might
not be as careful or use the same methods. Therefore, businesses must provide
appropriate information to help consumers move through the decision-making
process to select the product that meets their needs.
Promotion is the primary way that businesses communicate with prospective
customers. Businesses use promotion to inform consumers about the features and
benefits of their products and services and to encourage them to buy.
Effective promotion is based on effective communication. You learned about
the elements of a communication model in Chapter 10. In promotion, the com-
pany that develops the promotion is the sender. The information in the promo-
tion is the message, and the method of promotion (advertising, personal selling,
sales promotion) determines the communication medium. The prospective con-
sumer is the receiver. Feedback from the receiver helps the sender determine if
the promotion was successful and adjust the message, if necessary. Forms of
promotion that businesses commonly use to communicate with customers are
advertising, personal selling, and sales promotions, such as coupons, sampling,
and in-store displays.

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