Promotion
Why Promote?
Promotion is how a business talks to customers. It is the third of the four Ps. Even a brilliantly designed product at the right price will not sell if nobody knows it exists.
The specification lists four reasons businesses promote: (1) to inform or remind customers about the product, (2) to create or increase sales, (3) to create or change the image of the product, and (4) to persuade customers to buy. A Nike Air Max advert does three or four of these at once — showing the product, building the image, and pushing viewers towards the checkout.
The four reasons for promotion are: inform/remind, create or increase sales, create or change image, and persuade customers to buy. Most adverts aim to do more than one at once.
The Promotional Methods
Advertising covers newspapers, magazines, television, internet and billboards. Cadbury’s Christmas TV adverts have been a UK tradition for years — expensive to make, but they reach millions and build emotional connection. TV reaches mass audiences; internet adverts can be targeted at specific segments; billboards work locally; magazines reach niche readerships.
PR (Public Relations) covers press releases, news stories and community events. It is cheaper than advertising and more credible — a news article carries more weight than a paid advert — but the business cannot control exactly what journalists write.
Sales promotion includes point-of-sale displays, 2-for-1 offers, free gifts, samples, coupons and competitions. Tesco and Boots Meal Deals are a textbook example — customers feel they get extra value and the supermarket shifts more items per visit.
Sponsorship is paying to put a brand on a team, event or show. Emirates sponsoring Arsenal’s stadium and Gallagher sponsoring the rugby Premiership link these brands with the positive feelings fans have for their sport.
Social media lets brands talk to customers directly through Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and X. Gymshark built a billion-pound brand almost entirely through fitness influencers on Instagram and TikTok — no TV ads needed.
Choosing the Promotional Mix
The promotional mix is the blend of methods a business uses together. Most businesses combine several — Nike runs TV adverts AND sponsors athletes AND pushes Instagram content. Five factors shape the mix:
- Finance available — TV and Premier League sponsorship are out of reach for a new start-up; social media and local flyers are not.
- Competitor actions — if rivals are pouring money into TikTok, a business often has to match them to stay visible.
- Nature of the product or service — complex products (pensions, software) need informative PR and expert reviews; impulse products (chocolate, crisps) suit sales promotions.
- Nature of the market — consumer markets differ from business-to-business. A bakery promotes to local families; a flour wholesaler promotes through trade magazines.
- Target market — where does the target customer spend their time? Teenagers are on TikTok; over-60s read newspapers and watch ITV.
The promotional mix is shaped by five factors: finance available, competitor actions, nature of the product/service, nature of the market, and the target market. The right method reaches the right people without wasting budget.
Generic Answers Do Not Reach the Top Band
An answer that just describes ‘TV adverts reach lots of people’, with no business named, shows no application — so it cannot reach the top band on a 6-mark question. Top-band answers name a real UK business, describe their chosen methods, and link each method to their target market. Nike + athlete sponsorship for sports fans. Gymshark + Instagram for Gen Z gym-goers. Cadbury + TV adverts for family audiences at Christmas.
TV advertising reaches mass audiences with strong images and sound, but is very expensive and hard to target precisely. Internet advertising is highly targeted (Google Ads, Meta) and measurable, but viewers use ad-blockers and scroll past. Billboards are cheap per viewer in local areas but cannot carry detailed messages.
PR is cheap and credible but hard to control. Sales promotion drives quick sales but can cheapen the brand if overused — Iceland’s constant half-price offers trained customers to wait for discounts. Sponsorship builds long-term brand image but is slow to pay back. Social media is cheap and two-way, but a bad post can go viral for the wrong reasons — Ratners’ jewellery collapse in the 1990s shows what happens when brand communication goes wrong, even before social media amplified every mistake.
The Mix Has to Match the Stage of the Product
Promotion also shifts across the product life cycle. At launch, promotion is heavy and informative — customers need to know the product exists. During growth, adverts shift to persuasion, showing off the USP. At maturity, reminder adverts keep customers loyal while sales promotions defend against rivals. In decline, promotion is cut back to save cash unless the firm is running an extension strategy.