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Sales Promotion Techniques 1 Marketing firms use sales promotions every day, but different companies use different techniques. According to Axia College Week Seven Supplement (2008), advertising and marketing have been with us for a very long time. In fact, in ancient Greece and Rome, advertising was etched on stone tablets and walls (Axia pg 407 chapt 13). As times change, advertising techniques also change. Sales promotions have evolved into the following classifications: discounts and deals, increasing industry visibility, price based consumer sales promotions and attention getting consumer sales promotions.
The marketing team for Target stores do an excellent job of sales promoting through the “discounts and deals” technique. Every Tuesday, new DVD releases hit the market. Prices are always similar between the competitions. Target however, focuses on the discount and deals technique. Target offers its consumers a Target exclusive DVD, made only for Target stores. For a few dollars more, the consumer will get a collector’s item DVD with an extra disc, which is exclusive only at Target stores. This reinforces the product and rewards the consumer. What makes this technique so effective for Target is that the product is only sold at Target.
The competition sells a similar item without the bonus features. The downside to this technique for Target is that they have to offer similar products every Tuesday in order to keep the consumer from shopping at the competition. Many companies try to increase industry visibility but no one does it better than the Microsoft marketing team, in my opinion. Microsoft advertises almost everywhere. Microsoft tries to increase industry visibility by holding trade shows and advertising on promotional products. Almost every computer worldwide promotes Microsoft. They Sales Promotion Techniques 2 uild awareness through online ads, television commercials with celebrities and now are increasing their visibility through fights. Ultimate Fighting Champion Rashad Evans will be sporting a t-shirt with Bill Gates’ famous police mug shot. Evans will also be featured in upcoming Microsoft ads (Schonfeld 2008. This aggressive approach by Microsoft is what keeps the company’s name on top. The marketing team for Best Buy stores use the sales promotion technique of Price based consumer sales promotion. Every other month, Best Buy mails out 10% store wide coupons to its credit card holders.
They use this price promotion in hopes that the consumer would shop at Best Buy versus the competition. Wal-mart also uses and advertises the price based consumer sales promotion. Their commercials show a happy face flying around the store slashing prices, emphasizing price reductions to encourage the consumer to choose Wal-mart over everyone else. The attention getting consumer sales promotion is widely used by many companies to stimulate interest in the company’s products. The attention getting consumer sales promotion that Coca Cola is currently using is the contest and sweepstakes promotion.
Under every cap of a bottled soda is a code. This code is entered online, one must register, and points are awarded. These points can be accumulated and combined in order to purchase Coca Cola products. Premiums are items offered free for buying a product. Many Realtors use this technique to generate repeat exposure. When someone purchases a home, Realtors often give the new buyer’s a “buyer’s gift. ” This can include: movie tickets, dinner for two reservations Sales Promotion Techniques 3 to a fine restaurant, a housewarming party and many more things.
This helps the Realtor build a database and generate referrals. There are many ways marketing teams help promote their companies. The bottom line is that the marketing team has to do a lot of planning. References Axia College. (2008). Week Seven supplement: Retrieved October 19, 2008, from Axia College, Week Seven, MKT/230???Marketing Course Web site. Schonfeld, E. (2008). In Microsoft’s Advertising Corner, Ultimate Fighting Champion Rashad Evans. TechCrunch. Retrieved October 19, 2008, from http://www. techcrunch. com/2008/09/19/in-microsofts-advertising-corner-ultimate-fighting-champion-rashad-evans/