Developing the Sales Promotion Program

The marketer has to make several other decisions to define the full sales promotion program. Primary, the marketer has to decide on the size of the incentive. A sure minimum incentive is essential if the promotion is to succeed; a larger incentive will generate more sales response. The marketer also has to set conditions for participation. Incentives may be offered to everyone or just to choose groups.

The marketer has to decide how to promote and allocate the promotion program itself. A 50- cents-off coupon could be provided in a package, at the store, by mail, or in an ad. Each distribution technique involves a different level of reach and price. Increasingly, marketers are blending many media into overall campaign concept. The length of the promotion is also significant.  If the sales promotion period is too small, various prospects (who cannot be buying at the time of that time) will miss it. If the promotion runs too long, the deal will lose some of its "act now" force. Evaluation is also very significant. So far many companies fail to estimate their sales promotion programs, and others evaluate them just superficially. Manufacturers can use one of various evaluation methods. The most general method is to compare sales before, during, and after a promotion.

Imagine company has a 6 % market share before the promotion, which jumps to 10 % at the time promotion, falls to 5 % right after, and rises to 7 % later on. The promotion appears to have attracted new tries and more purchasing from current customers. Sales fell as consumers used up their inventories after the promotion. The long-run rise to 7 % means that the company achieved some new users. If the brand's share had returned to the old level, then the promotion would have only changed the timing of demand instead of the total demand.

Consumer research would also indicate the types of people who responded to the promotion and what they did after it ended. Surveys may provide information on how various consumers recall the promotion, what they thought of it, how several took advantage of it, and how it affected their buying. Sales promotions also may be evaluated through experiments that vary factors like length, incentive value, and distribution method. Clearly, sales promotion plays vital role in the total promotion mix. To utilize it well, the marketer has to define the sales promotion objectives, choose the best tools, implement the program, design the sales promotion program and evaluate the results. Moreover, sales promotion has to be coordinated carefully with other promotion mix elements within the integrated marketing communications program.