INTRODUCTION

Marketing is a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want, through creating, offering and exchanging products of value with others. Philip otler.

Marketing includes all those activities having to do with effecting changes in the ownership and possession of goods and services. !t is that part of economics which deals with the creation of time, place and possession utilities and that phase of business activity through which human wants are satisfied, by the exchange of goods and services for some valuable consideration. "merican Marketing "ssociation.

Marketing is the process of discovering and translating consumer wants into product and service specifications and then in turn helping to make it possible for more and more of consumers to en#oy more and more of these products and services.

Marketing consists of analy$ing marketing opportunities, researching and selecting target markets, designing marketing strategies, planning marketing programs and organi$ing, implementing and controlling marketing effort. %ompanies have to identify long and short term marketing opportunities and research the selected market by measuring and forecasting attractiveness of the given market. &aving selected the market, the companies need to develop a differentiating and

positioning strategy for the target market. 'he marketing strategy must be transformed into marketing programs by deciding on marketing expenditures and the marketing mix. 'he final step is organi$ing the marketing resources and implementing and controlling the marketing plan.

Marketing Mix
Marketing mix is the set of marketing tools that a firm uses to pursue its marketing ob#ectives in the target market. Mc%arthy has populari$ed a four factor classification of marketing tools known as the (P)s of the marketing mix. 'hey are* Product Price Place Promotion

Product:
Product stands for the firm)s tangible offer to the market, including the product +uality, design, features, branding and packing. !t deals with new product development, product life cycle, product mix, product lines, branding and associated services to a product. ,rom the customer)s point of view, it helps in satisfying the customer)s needs and wants.

Price:

Price is the monetary value of the product. Price deals with selecting the pricing ob#ectives, setting the price, discounts, allowances, payment policies and credit terms. !t is very important to the customers as it decides the cost the customer has to pay to gain the product value.

Place:
'his marketing tool stands for the various activities the company undertakes to make the product accessible and available to the customer. !t involves market si$e, channel selection and management, storage and physical distribution with the ultimate purpose of efficiently supplying the company)s offer to the target market. 'o the customer, this marketing tool refers to convenience.

Promotion:
Promotion stands for various activities the company undertakes to communicate and promote its products to the target market. !t involves communication programs i.e. direct marketing, advertising, sales promotions, public relations and motivation of sales force. 'o the customer this tool provides knowledge and information.

'he Promotion Mix of a company includes the following tools-

Advertising:
!t is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor.

Direct Marketing:
!t refers to the use of mail, telephone and other non-personal contact tools to communicate with or solicit a response from specific customers and prospects.

Personal Selling:
,ace to face interaction with one or more prospective purchasers for the purpose of making a sale refers to personal selling.

Pu lic Relations and Pu licit!:

!t refers to the variety of programs designed to promote and or protect a company)s image or its individual products.

Sales Promotions:
'he short-term incentive to encourage trial or purchase of a product or service refers to sales promotion. .hereas advertising offers a reason to buy- sales promotion offers an incentive to buy. /ince sales promotion directly push up the sales, increasing number of companies are undertaking sales promotion activities.

Sales Promotion

/ales promotion refers to the short-term incentives to encourage sales of a product or service. !t consists of a diverse collection of incentive tools, mostly short-term, designed to stimulate +uicker and greater purchase of products or services by consumers.

Pur"ose o# Sales Promotion

/ales promotion tools vary in their specific ob#ectives. 'hey may be used to attract new customers, to reward loyal customers and to increase the repurchase rates of occasional users. /ales promotion usually targets brand switchers because non-users and users of other brands do not always notice a promotion. /ales promotions are thus also seen as a tool for breaking down loyalty to other products. /ales promotions also let manufacturers ad#ust to short term changes in supply and demand and differences in customer segments. 'hey also let manufacturers to experiment by varying prices. /ales promotions also lead to greater consumer awareness of prices. 'o use sales promotion, a company must set ob#ectives, select the right tools, develop the best program and implement it and evaluate the results.

O $ectives o# Sales Promotion

'he specific ob#ectives set for sales promotions will vary with the type of the target market. ,or consumer promotions, ob#ectives include encouraging purchasing of larger si$ed units, building trial among non-users and attracting switchers away from the competitor)s brands. ,or trade promotions, ob#ectives may include- including retailers to carry new items and higher level of inventory, encouraging off-seasonal buying, ofsetting competitive promotions, building brand loyalty of retailers and gaining entry into new retail outlets. 'he sales force promotions help in encouraging support of a new product or model, encouraging more prospecting and stimulating off-seasonal sales. 0ut most importantly, sales promotion should be focused on consumer relationship building.

Sales Promotion Tools

Many tools can be used to accomplish sales promotion ob#ectives. 1escriptions of the main promotional tools are as follows-

Consumer Promotion Tools

'he main consumer promotion tools are as follows-

Sam"les:
'hey are offers of a trial amount of a product. !t consists of inviting prospective purchasers to try the product without cost or at a lower cost in the hope that they will buy the product. /amples may be free or discounted.

Cou"ons:

%oupons are certificates that give buyers a saving when they purchase a specified product. %oupons can be mailed, placed in advertisements or included with other products.

Re ates:
2ebate is also known as cash refund offers. 2ebates are offers to refund part of the purchase price of a product to its customers who send a proof of purchase to the manufacturer. 'hese are like coupons except that the price reduction occurs after the purchase and not at the point of sale .

Price Packs:
%ents-off deals or price packs offer consumers savings by way of reducing prices that are marked by the producer directly on the package.

Premiums:
'hese are the goods offered either free or at a low cost as an incentive to buy a product. Premiums may be in-pack or on-pack 3outside the pack4.

Pri%es:

'hey are offers of chance to win something such as cash, trips or goods 5 by luck or through extra efforts. %ontests of talent and sweepstakes or draws the most popular pri$e offering promotions.

Tie&in Promotions:
'ie-in promotions involve two or more brands or companies that team up on coupons, refunds or contests to increase their pulling powers.

Cross Promotions:
%ross promotions involve using one brand to advertise non-competing brand.

Advertising S"ecialties:
'hese are useful articles imprinted with an advertiser)s name, given as gifts to consumers.

Patronage Re'ards:
'hey are cash or other awards for the regular use of company)s products or services. 'hey are values 3in cash otherwise4 that are proportional to one)s patronage of a certain vendor or a group of vendors. 'hey aim at building brand loyalty.

PoP Promotions:
Point of purchase 3PoP4 includes displays and demonstrations that take place at the point of purchase or sale.

Trade Promotion Tools

More money is spent by companies on trade promotion 36784 than on consumer promotions 3(984. 'he ma#or trade promotion tools are as follows-

Discounts:
!t is also known as price-off or off-invoice or off-list. 1iscounts price cut off the list price on a particular +uantity purchased during a stated time.

Allo'ances:
'hey are the amount offered in return for an agreement by the retailer to feature the manufacturer)s products in some way- displays, advertising or otherwise.

(ree )oods:
,ree goods are the extra merchandise offered to middlemen who buy a specific amount of a product. %ompanies also offer push money and specialty advertising items to the middlemen.

*usiness Promotion Tools

%ompanies spend huge amount on promotions focused on industrial consumers. 'he ma#or business promotion tools are as follows-

'rade /hows and %onventions. /ales %ontests.

%learly, sales promotions play an important role in the total promotion mix. 'o use it well, the marketer must define the sales promotion ob#ectives, select the best tools, design the sales promotion program, pretest and implement the program and evaluate its results.