Sales Promotion

Components of direct marketing

Direct marketing consists of three components the development of an effective customer database direct response advertising which leads to the sale and the direct building of customer relationships to increase sales and profits. Direct marketing is an approach to marketing which is driven by a database which implies that the company knows who its customers are, and communicates with them in appropriate ways through enhanced and refined means of communications the driver is the database. It is a...

Complementary role of sales promotion

Sales promotion complements other marketing mix elements at various points in the marketing channel. Trade promotion is used by the manufacturer to encourage distributors to behave in a certain way with respect to the manufacturer's products and services (Figure 10.8). The manufacturer also designs sales promotions which are implemented directly at consumer level. Sales promotion to the retail trade and directly to consumers are the most common versions in use sales promotion is predominantly a...

Stages in the product life cycle

Analysts of the product life cycle generally divide it into four distinct stages the pioneering stage, the growth stage, the maturity stage, and the renewal stage - each with different characteristics. Figure 9.1 Generic product life cycle New products or product versions in the pioneering or introductory stage of the life cycle are unique and face a competitive situation which is quite different from that faced by them later in the life cycle. New and innovative products are a feature of the...

Evolution of consultative selling

Increasingly the ability of the company to match performance with customer expectations depends on the ability of the sales force to orchestrate the company's response to customer needs. In such circumstances sales people must demonstrate trustworthiness and an ability to solve problems even if the solution does not include the company's products or services. The most important characteristics that customers seek in sales people are business and product knowledge, communications skills, a...

Direct marketing and personal selling

Direct marketing is an approach to marketing that involves the company knowing precisely who its customers are, understanding that not everybody is a customer, communicating in relevant ways with customers and prospects, enhancing and refining the relevance of the communications and doing all of the above through a database. Successful direct marketing can be accomplished with any and all combinations of media and distribution channels. Direct marketing is not, therefore, a medium, nor is it a...

Exchange relationships in marketing

Most marketing exchanges between the organization and its customers are characterized by transactions involving a product or service being sold for money where the latent reasons for the transaction are economic, social and psychological in nature. Based on this latent structure, marketing exchanges may be economic, symbolic or some combination of the two. Marketing exchange as economic is built on the concept of economic man which assumes that people attempt to maximize satisfaction through...