Promotional and Advertising Strategies Essay Example for Free

Promotional and Advertising Strategies Essay Promotion and marketing are among the most essential market mix features or elements. Market mix involves different strategies commonly known as the 4P’s: product, price, place and promotion. The key motive of promotion is to increase clients’ awareness of a brand or a project increase brand loyalty and generating sales. Promotional mix is composed of diverse elements such as personal selling, sales promotion, advertising, publicity and direct marketing. Both large and small customers understand the importance of promotional advertising strategies such as turning a new product to become a household name or established products into to top priority of the customer. Small and large companies benefit through applying different strategies of promotion and attracting more customers. A television set has become a necessity in the modern life with all the families searching for the best brand that is easier to operate and has more applications. Different organizations have ventured into the manufacturing and assembling of television set to enjoy the advantages (Scissors Roger 2002). The paper will focus on advertising and promotional strategies applied by different companies that concentrate with manufacturing and assembling television sets. Samsung and Sony have emerged as the two most successful organizations in the manufacturing and distribution of television sets. The two companies apply different promotional and advertising strategies to maintain themselves on the top of the business. Comparison of Promotional Strategies used by both Sony and Samsung to Market Television Sets. Product Sampling It is one among the most effective promotional strategies utilized by large firms to market their products and launch new products with the motive of promoting multiple product purchases. Both Sony and Samsung are large companies that understand the power of promotional strategies in turning a new product to a priority in clients shopping list. The two companies deals with many types of electronics. Therefore, anytime they launch a new product; they offer a product that is of a lower price fee attached to the new product. While marketing large televisions, they offer free samples of another product of the same company such as a radio attached to the pack of the television. It results to an increase in sales since customers feels that on just buying a television set, one will win a portable radio for free. Samsung and Sony have applied the strategy and made their product top in the sales list. Free Service and Trial Periods There are numerous companies that do business with manufacturing and distribution of television sets. However, most of the companies produce products of low quality hence leading to wastage in a short time. Samsung and Sony are two main companies that have faith in their products. Therefore, in areas where residents have the fear of counterfeit and sub-standard products, they win their trust trough offering free repair services in a given period. The period is referred to as a trial period used for the clients to test and confirm that products are of good quality. Both Samsung and Sony take it as a necessity to provide a warrant for their television sets (Mulhern, 2009). The warranty is given in terms of years from the time of buying depending on the value of a television set. Within the period covered by the warranty, the manufacturer offers a free service to repair minor damages and a new product in cases of major damage. Contrast of Promotional Strategies used by both Sony and Sam sung to Market Television Sets Despite being successful organizations, Sony uses public relations to promote its television sets. Here, the company depends on the press for its advantage. In most cases, Sony launches all its new products in televisions, radio stations, public relation events and press releases. On the other hand, Samsung applies personal selling. In personal selling, Samsung targets individual communication with members of the general public who seems to be potential buyers. In the strategy, Samsung makes use of salesmen, showrooms,  dealers and exhibitions. However, the two strategies have the same aim of attracting more potential clients. Another contrast between Samsung and Sony in marketing television sets is the use of social media. The two uses the social media as a strategy of advertising. However, Samsung only specializes on the social media while launching a new product. Contrary, Sony advertises all types of television sets manufactured by the company through the social media with the motive of increasing the general sales of television sets. Ways in which a company can use marketing information to differentiate itself in the marketplace and gain advantage offer its competitors. There are different ways in which companies that deals with manufacturing and distribution of television sets can use marketing information and remain outstanding among other companies dealing with the same product. One of the ways is targeting. It is the method via which the organization can communicate with the right segment and ensure that they rate in response for their advantage (Flew, 2008). A company must conduct market research and use the information to plan the best group of people to target relating the information with the marketing strategies objectives. The objectives of marketing promotion strategies and advertising are outstanding. Therefore, if a company can identify the best target group, it will be able to select the best and suitable method of communication and achieve the set target. The second way in which a company dealing with manufacturing and distribution of television sets can use marketing information to differentiate itself in the marketplace is positioning. It refers to the art of developing a unique image of a product or company. It can be achieved through messaging branding and cooperate identity. In an advertisement, if a company dealing with television sets can convince members of the general public that its products are cheap to purchase and maintain and yet maintain a high quality, it will prosper. The image will enable the company to move to high levels since most of the people who are in need of television sets require a good that is of better quality, but affordable. Uses of customer oriented promotion that can assist a company in both short-term and long-term Customer oriented sales promotion refers to the techniques of sales promotion that are the target to ultimate customers such as samples, coupons, contests, sweepstakes, premium offers and rebates. All the modes of sales promotion that are customer oriented, samples stand among the best and  unique forms of promotions that can assist a company in both short-term and long-term. In short-term, the company will be able to sell many television sets since most of the customers will be targeting to gain the free samples attached to the television sets. It will result to an increment in sales hence an increment in revenue. In long-term, the company will benefit since the client who attains the free sample will have a chance to try the free sample attached to the television set and hence become a potential customer of the product in the future. Free samples are given from products produced by the same company (Kotler Kevin, 2009) Therefore; sampling enables the company o market two products at the same time. The other customer oriented promotion strategy that can assist a company in both short-term and long-term is discounts. Discounts are given to clients who purchase products in bulk and sometimes even to single items. In short-term, discounts attract many customers to buy the products hence increasing the volume of sales. An increment in volume of sales increases company’s revenue. In long-term, a company benefits from discounts since many people can buy television sets during the period that discounts are offered. It results to many people acquiring a good time to try the product since the price is low. In the future, customers can identify the product as a reliable one and hence take it as an option while purchasing a similar product in the future. Those who buy a product during the discount period because of the price can enjoy the advantage a factor that make them choose the product in the future to continue enjoying the advantage. Pricing Decision The price of the product is among the key elements of the marketing mix that determine the sales of a product. There are many organizations that deal with manufacturing and distribution of television sets. However, they offer different prices of their products depending with the pricing objectives that the company chooses. There are four main objectives of pricing in sales promotion. They are the modes of communication made by organizations to their clients related to price of their products. The four pricing objectives include; coupons, competitions, discounts and loyalty incentives. Sony is a leading company in manufacturing and distributing television sets. The company uses different strategies to regulate the price of different television sets. Among the key pricing strategies is competition. The  company makes sure that it offers the best prices for different television sets to make the televisions affordable to different social classes of people. It offers unique prices to fit all social classes. Sony also offers discounts to clients who buy products in large volumes and those who visit them for the first time. It has helped the company attract many clients for its products and remain outstanding in the field. Other companies that deal with manufacture and distribution of television sets may take coupons to enable them discern themselves and benefit a competitive gain. Coupons are vouchers or tickets that a company offers to its clients to enable the customers enjoy given advantages (Flew, 2008). Provision of coupons attracts many people with the motive of enjoying the coupons. It results to many people purchasing the product hence having a chance to learn about the product, and the company enjoys large volume of sales. Other companies dealing with manufacturing and distribution of television sets can also offer discounts to their clients to enable them enjoy low prices and enjoy their advantage. Most Effective Advertising Medium There are numerous mediums of marketing such as billboards, radio, televisions, newspapers, magazines, yellow pages and the internet. In the past, television was the most effective advertising medium. However, time has changed. Today, the information and technology devices have changed the world into an economic village. Many people visit websites either for fun, studies or assistance. Therefore, the internet linked services are the most effective medium of advertising (Kerin, 2012). It is because the group of people who can be a good target for the companies dealing with manufacturing and distribution of television is the young people. A large number of youths spends a great deal of their time on social media sites such as Facebook, blogs, twitter, and other similar websites. Therefore, if a company can launch an advertisement through the internet, it will be able to reach many people at a global level. In conclusion, since promotion and advertising are important elements in the marketing mix, all companies should aim to establish the most effective promotion and advertising strategies. To develop a promotional and advertising strategy, the company should take different steps to ensure that the best role of marketing is achieved. The steps involve segmentation, targeting, positioning and messaging. All  mediums of advertisement are reliable depending on the setting and the target group of people. Sales promotion is vital. Thus, all organizations should focus on the best ways of engaging in sales promotion without fail. References Flew, Terry, (2008) New media: An introduction. Melbourne- Oxford University Press pp. 117. Kotler, Philip, Kevin Lane Keller (2009) Framework for marketing management. Pearson Prentice Hall. Kerin, R., (2012). Marketing-The Core. McGraw-Hill Ryerson pp. 31. Mulhern, F., (2009) Integrated marketing communications From media channels to digital connectivity. Journal of Marketing Communications, Vol.15, No. 2-3, pp. 85. Scissors, J., Roger B., (2002) Advertising media planning. McGraw-Hill Publisher.