Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning pdf ebook

Sales promotions: Sales promotions include money off, bonus packs, three for the price 
of two, free samples, coupons, loyalty cards, prizes, bulk discounts, competitions, allow-
ances and any other creative ‘deal’ that firms can dream up. Their advantages are that 
they can have a very direct effect on behaviour, and those effects can generally be directly 
monitored and evaluated. The disadvantages are that their effects may be short-lived 
and hence they could be a costly way of achieving sales. Excessive use of promotions 
may also weaken the image of a brand (‘it can’t be very good if they are always giving it 
away!’).
● 
Personal selling: One of the most effective tools for closing a sale is personal selling 
(see Chapter 13). It is flexible, can be adjusted to individual situations, can be used to 
build relationships with customers and can be used to understand, address and over-
come barriers and objections to purchase. It can, however, be costly, is highly depend-
ent on the skills of individual salespeople and, in some markets, may incur customer 
resistance.
● 
Direct marketing: At its best, direct marketing can offer a highly personalised service, 
tightly targeted to those customers who are prime targets for the offers made. Thus 
there is less wastage of the promotional budget. At its worst, however, direct mail 
can be indiscriminate, can generate high levels of scepticism among customers and 
result in message and material overload. As with all communications tools, effective 

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CHAPTER 11 COMPETING THROUGH THE EVOLVING MARKETING MIX
targeting is the key to ensuring the messages are directed effectively to the target 
market.
● 
Sponsorship: Sponsorship of sporting, social, cultural and other events, or of teams, 
causes or facilities, can be an effective way of targeting potential customer groups 
through their wider interests and concerns. This can also help with credibility building 
and reputation enhancement. However, it is perhaps the most difficult communications 
tool to measure the impact of. It can be expensive, and may not be particularly effective 
in achieving awareness goals – sponsorship of the London Olympics achieved very low 
levels of recall among target audiences. It can also be subject to ‘ambush’ – competitor 
products achieving placement in sponsored events.