Promotion
One of the 4P’s of the marketing mix is promotion. Organizations rely on the promotion
of their products through advertising, public relations, personal selling, and sale promotions. The
organization’s leadership must plan well thought-out promotional strategies to integrate new
products and to promote existing products. Keller, Deleersynder, and Gedenk (2019) express that
organizational leaders utilize popular events to promote new products or services and examine
proper timing strategies for marketing campaigns. Proper promotion of the organizations
products is crucial to the long-term success of the organization and its products.
Retail Promotions
Promotion is considered to be one of the most essential elements of the 4P’s. Promotion
is about communicated an organization’s products or services to the consumer to influence them
to complete a purchase. “Promotion is a catch-all term that includes all the way a business can
attempt to enhance the visibility of its products, services, or brand” (Ward, 2020, p.1). There are
many ways in which an organization can promote their product or service. Ward (2020)
expresses that organization utilize many techniques such as word of mouth, websites, social
media, elevator pitches, promotional materials, and organized events.
Weber and Randell (2018) suggest that for the organization, getting promotions right is
key to success; they share that marketing teams must ask themselves the following questions:
When are discounts most likely to stimulate a sufficient sales response? Does the promotion
work best in-stores or through ecommerce? What products are most likely to retrieve the most
response when promoted? How does response vary across promotional tactics? What type of
consumer is likely to respond to the promotional strategy? These questions will aid the
organization in developing a successful marketing and promotional strategy to advocate for an
increase in sales or attention to the organization and its offerings. Weber and Randell (2018)
further add that savvy retailers and organization have tools that can be utilized to build their
promotional calendars from the bottom up, eliminating waste in the use of promotional budgets
and moving away from uninformed decision-making to effective actions that are designed based
on strategic objectives.
Digital Advertising
Aral (2021) suggests that an organization’s advertising strategy is critical for the overall
promotion of a new product or existing products and brands. It is further explained that digital
ads look more effective because they are based on the number of people who click on the ads.
“When marketing reps sell ad space to clients, they claim that ads will create or cause behavioral
change, a phenomenon typically called lift” (Aral, 2021, p.1). It is highlighted that the
conversion rate examines the number of individuals that purchase the product after seeing or
being directed by the advertisement. An advertisement does not always create a behavior change
in the consumer and that the return on investment of the advertisement can be hard to evaluate
and calculate. Many organizations look to target consumers but do not take into consideration
how to target new consumers that have not purchased products or services from the organization
(Aral, 2021). It is suggested that marketing teams should develop strong advertisement strategies
that align with the timing of calendar events to advertise new and existing products and services
as these are the times consumers are likely to make purchases based on advertisements they
observe (Hsu, 2019). Hsu (2019) expresses that many organizations have elected to hire
consulting firms to revamp their marketing campaigns to revamp their marketing campaigns
resulting in more ads that consumers are shying away from. Organizations are seeking to adjust
their advertising campaigns to balance the approach of consumer needs and wants while
influencing a chance in consumer behavior (Hsu, 2019).
Salespeople in the Digital World
It is suggested that organization’s sales force is a critical portion of promotion, and sales
reps build public relations with new consumers and existing one. As organizations focus on the
future, they must reassess the role of personal selling in finding new customers and expanding
the organization’s sales to existing and future clients (Zoltners et al., 2022). Organizations must
set aside funding to support salesforces to build public relationships in the defined sector of a
product or service. Zoltners, Sinhar, Lorimer, and Curry (2022) explain that salespeople fit in the
digital world through the acquisition of new customers, providing value to the current customers,
and align the purchasing and selling for the organization around a mutually valuable solution. As
organizations are adapting to the fast pace of the constantly changing world, the organization
must take advantage of technological advancements (Zoltners et al., 2022).
Biblical Integration
Promotion is crucial to organizational success related to interactions with the consumer,
and for selling products and services to the consumer. In order for promotional strategies to be
successful it is important for the organization to have patience and make decisions based on facts
and not guess work. Psalm 40:1 (English Standard Version) “I waited patiently for the Lord; he
inclined to me and heard my cry.” Just as Psalm 40:1 said it is important to wait patiently in all
we do and not jump to conclusions or to making decisions. Psalm 119:160 (English Standard
Version) “All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal.” Psalm 119:160 describes
The Word of God being true and righteous law, organizations should look at the data and facts
they collect in this same way and understand that this information can be used for the success of
the organization and the sales of their products and services; decisions should be made based on
facts that will ensure the promotional and marketing strategies they employ are successful and all
based on the data presented. Ephesians 4:29 (English Standard Version) “Let no corrupting talk
come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it
may give grace to those who hear.” When determining marketing strategies, it is important for
the organization to understand how they interact with the consumer and the message that they are
presenting to the consumer. It is important that the organization understand that the message they
provide to the consumer be positive and beneficial to those who witness it, just as described in
Ephesians 4:29, when interacting with others it is important to understand the impacts of the
interactions.
References
Aral, S. (2021). What digital advertising gets wrong. Harvard Business Review.
https://hbr.org/2021/02/what-digital-advertising-gets-wrong
English Standard Version Bible. (2001). ESV Online. https://esv.literalword.com/
Hsu, T. (2019). The Advertising Industry Has a Problem: People hate ads. New York Times,
Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/28/business/media/advertisingindustry-research.html
Keller, W., Deleersnyder, B., & Gedenk, K. (2019). Price promotions and popular events.
Journal of Marketing, Retrieved from https://www.ama.org/2019/10/04/pricepromotions-
and-popular-events/
Ward, S. (2020). What is Promotion. The Balance Small Business, Retrieved from
https://www.thebalancesmb.com/business-promotion-definition-2947189
