-communicating info btw the seller and potential buyer or others in the channel to influence attitudes and behavior

-promotion part of the mkt. mix involves telling target customer that the right product is available at the right place and the price price

-promo activities-other than advertising, publicity, and personal selling-that stimulate interest, trial, or purchase by final customers or others in the channel

-can be aimed at consumers, intermediaries, or firm's own employees

-concerned w/managing personal selling

-responsible for building good distribution channels and implementing place policies

-manage their comapny's mass-selling effort

-have to choose the right media and develop the ads

-informing

-persuading

-reminding

customers about the company and its mkt. mix

-consists of 4 promotion jobs: to get attention, to hold interest, to arouse desire, and to obtain action.

-informing has the adoption steps of awareness and interest, which corresponds to attention and interest in the AIDA

-persuading has the adoption steps of evaluation and trial, which corresponds to the desire step of AIDA

-reminding has the adoption steps of decision and confirmation, which corresponds to the action step of AIDA

-direct communication btw a seller and an individual customer using a promotion method other than face-to-face personal selling that is aimed at prompting immediate feedback

-started as just direct mail advertising, but now includes phone, print, email, website, broadcast, etc.

-customer's response may be a purchase (or donation), a question, or a request for more information-at a website it can be a simple mouse click for more info

-usually relies on a customer relationship management (CRM) database to target specific prospects

-when a channel of distribution involves intermediaries, their cooperation can be crucial to the success of the overall mkt. strategy

-pushing a product through a channel means using normal promo effort-personal selling, adv, and sales promotion-to help sell the whole mkt. mix to possible channel members

-emphasizes the importance of securing the wholehearted cooperation of channel members to promote the produc tin the channel and to the final user

-getting customers to ask intermediaries for the product

-if intermediary wont work w/a producer to satisfy the customer, the producer might try to use a pulling approach by itself, which involved highly aggressive promotion to final consumers

-shows when different groups accept ideas. Emphasizes the relations among groups and shows that individuals in some groups act as leaders in accepting a new idea.

-Promo efforts need to change over time to adjust ot differences among the adopter groups

-5 groups

-innovators

-early adopters

-early majority

-late majority

-laggards or nonadopters

-1st of 5 groups on the adoption curve

-3-5% of people

-first to adopt

-eager to try a new idea and willing to take risks

-tend to be young and well educated

-likely to be mobile and have many contacts outside their local social group and community

-business firms in this group are often specialized and willing to take the risk of doing something new

-tend to rely on impersonal and scientific info sources, or other innovators, rather than salespeople

-often search for info on the internet, read articles in technical publications, or look for informative ads in special interest magazines

-2nd of 5 groups on the adoption curve

-10-15%

-well respected by their peers and often are opinion leaders

-tend to be younger, more mobile, and more creative that later adopters

-unlike innovators, they have fewer contacts outside their own social group or community

-business firms in this group tend to be specialized

-tends to have the greatest contact w/salespeople of all of the groups

-mass media are important info sources

-marketers should be very concerned w/attracting and selling this group-their acceptance is crucial b/c the following groups look to them for guidance

-can help promo by spreading word-of-mouth

-3rd of 5 groups on the adoption curve

-avoid risk and wait to consider a new idea after many early adopters have tried it-and liked it

-average-sized business firms that are less specialized are in this group-if succesful companies in their industry adopt, so will they

-have lots of contact w/mass media, salespeople, and early adopter opinion leaders, but arent usually opinion leaders themselves

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-4th of 5 groups on the adoption curve

-cautious about new ideas

-often are older and more set in their ways, so less likely to follow early adopters

-strong social pressure from their own peer group may be needed before they adopt a new product

-businesses in this group tend to me conservative, smaller firms w/little specialization

-make little use of mkt. sources of info like mass media and salesppl.

-tend to be oriented more toward other late adopters rather than outside sources they don't trust

-5th of 5 groups on the adoption curve

-prefer to do things the way they've been done in the past and are very suspicious of new ideas

-tend to be older and less well educated

-smallest businesses w/the least specialization fit here

-they cling to the status qup and think it's the safe way

-main source of info is other laggards, which is bad for marketers-may not even pay to bother w/this group

-1st stage

-"this new idea is good"

-basic promo objective is informing

-if product is a really new idea, the promo must build primary demand-demand for the general product idea-not just for the company's own brand.

-may be few potential innovators during this stage, and personal selling can help find them

-salesppl also needed to find good channel members and persuade them to carry new product

-2nd stage

-"our brand is best"

-more competitors enter market

-promo emphasis shifts to stimulating selective demand-demand for a company's brand.

-main job is to persuade customers to buy, and keep buying, the company's product

-more potential customers, so mass selling becomes more economical, but salesppl and personal selling must still work in the channels, expanding the number of outlets and building relationships w/channel members

-3rd stage

-"our brand is better, really"

-in this stage, mass selling and sales promo may dominate the promo blends of consumer product firms

-business products may require more aggressive personal selling

-total dollars allocated to promotion rises and competition increases

-if a firm already has high sales relative to competitors it may have an advantage in promo at this stage

-firms that have differentiated their mkt. mixes may use mass selling b/c they have something to talk about

-but, as a market drifts toward pure comeptition, some companies resort to price-cutting, which can give short term solutions but will ultimately lower overall revenue in long term

-4th stage

-"let's tell those who still want our product"

-total amount spent on promo during this stage usually decreases as firms try to cut costs to remain profitable

-firms need to use targeted promo to reach the customers who still want product

-some firms may increase promotion to try to slow the cycle

-method of budgeting promotion expenditures by basing the budget on the job to be done

-helps you set priorities so that the money you spend produces specific results