Place of Advertising in Marketing Mix
Despite the fact that each phrase has a distinct meaning, small firms often use “advertising,” “sales,” “marketing,” and “promotions” to refer to their total selling efforts. The “promotion” component of the traditional marketing mix, usually known as the Four Ps of product, price, location, and promotion, refers to a particular marketing communication activity. All four components of the marketing mix are under the umbrella of the larger function of sales.
The Advertising Mix
It needs a coordinated effort that considers four important marketing areas to sell a product or service. You must first create the ideal product for a certain target market utilising research methods like focus groups, consumer surveys, and a study of your rivals. You price your product or service to get the greatest possible mix of sales volume and profit margin after you have identified the advantages clients want and have developed the ideal product for them.
The “place” component of the marketing mix refers to the methods and locations you use to distribute your products, such as physical stores, catalogues, internet retailers, wholesalers, and distributors. Advertising, public relations, social media campaigns, sponsorships, and sales promotions are all included in the marketing mix’s last component, which deals with how you advertise your goods. Sales promotions include advertising strategies including discounts, coupons, one-time sales, and buy one, get one free offers.
Paid messaging is a component of advertising, one kind of promotion. When you buy print space, radio time, website banners, or outdoor signs with a message you produce and show, advertising gives you control over your message as opposed to public relations, which tries to convince media outlets to speak about your business without charging a charge. Divide your promotional efforts into advertising, public relations, sponsorship, and sales promotion activities even if your budget is tight.
Sales
The term “sales” refers to a wide range of planning and direct customer interaction activities you employ to encourage customers to buy your goods or services. It has diverse connotations for various firms. Sales managers should be engaged in product creation, price strategy choices, distribution talks, and promotional activities since they cover all four components of the marketing mix.
Direct mail solicitations, selling over the phone or in person, and customer support are all examples of customer-contact sales operations. These activities include both marketing and distribution since they not only call for salesmanship but also involve ways to get the goods to the market. The promotions component of the marketing mix is where you would use the phrase “sales” to describe temporary discounts, one-time liquidations, or short-term markdowns on goods or services.
Interrelationships
Bring all of your marketing staff and contractors together as your business expands and you assign different people to work on various marketing tasks, such as your online sales pages, print ads, press releases, distribution channels, and pricing strategies, to ensure that your efforts complement one another and prevent conflicts.
For instance, if your website portrays you as an elite supplier of goods or services but your advertising team is distributing senior discount or buy-one-get-one-free coupons in regional print media, the inconsistent message may harm your brand. Prior to the publication of your advertising, your sales team must be aware of the costs, sale dates, guarantees, advantages, and other items that will be included in them. This stops sales representatives from making claims over the phone that are subsequently contradicted by your advertising.
