Lenrning Objectives: Communications and the Promotional Mix

1. Lenrning Objectives:Communications and the Promotional Mix • Define the term promotional mix. • List the five elements of the promotional mix. • List and explain the nine elements of the communications process. • Explain the difference between explicit and implicit communications. • List the principal goals of promotion. • Explain the relationship of the promotional mix and the marketing mix.

2. Learning Objectives: Chapter 14Communications and the Promotional Mix • Define the terms advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, merchandising, public relations and publicity. • List the advantages and disadvantages of each of the five promotional mix elements. • Identify the factors that affect the promotional mix.

3. The Basic Model of Communications Encoding Decoding Message and Medium Receiver Sender Noise Noise Feedback

4. Five Promotional Mix Elements • Advertising • Personal selling (sales) • Public relations and publicity • Sales promotion • Merchandising

5. The Difference between Explicit and Implicit Communications • Explicit communications: definite messages given to customers through the use of language, either oral or written (i.e., through the five promotional mix elements) • Implicit communications: promotional cues or messages conveyed through body language or by another non-verbal means.

6. Three Principal Goals of Promotion • To inform. • To persuade. • To remind. RIP acronym = Remind - Inform - Persuade

7. Definitions of IndividualPromotional Mix Elements Advertising: • Any paid form of non-personal presentation of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor. Personal selling: • Oral conversations, either by telephone or face-to-face, between sales persons and prospective customers.

8. Definitions of IndividualPromotional Mix Elements Sales promotion: • Approaches other than advertising, personal selling, and public relations and publicity where customers are given a short-term inducement to make an immediate purchase. Merchandising: • Materials used in-house to stimulate sales.

9. Definitions of IndividualPromotional Mix Elements Public relations: • All the activities that a hospitality and travel organization engages in to maintain or improve its relationship with other organizations and individuals. Publicity: • One public relations technique that involves non-paid communication of information about an organization’s services.

10. Advantages of Advertising • Low cost per contact. • Ability to reach potential visitors where sales staff cannot. • Great scope for creative versatility and dramatization of messages. • Ability to create images that sales staff cannot. • Non-threatening nature of non-personal presentation. • Prestige and impressiveness of mass-media advertising.

11. Disadvantages of Advertising • Inability to close sales. • Advertising clutter. • Ability for visitor to ignore advertising messages. • Difficulties in getting immediate response and action. • Difficulties in getting quick feedback and in adjusting messages. • Difficulties in measuring effectiveness. • Relatively high waste factor.

12. Advantages of Personal Selling (Sales) • Ability to close sales. • Ability to hold the prospect’s attention. • Immediate feedback and two-way communications. • Presentations can be tailored to the prospect’s needs. • Ability to precisely target the prospect. • Ability to get immediate action.

13. Disadvantages of Personal Selling (Sales) • High cost per contact. • Inability to reach some customers as effectively.

14. Advantages of Sales Promotions • Sales promotions have some of the advantages of advertising and sales. • Ability to get quick feedback. • Ability to add excitement to what is being offered by the destination. • Flexible timing. • Efficiency.

15. Disadvantages of Sales Promotions • Many sales promotions only provide short-term benefits. • Ineffective in building long-term loyalty for the destination. • Inability to be used in the long term without other promotional mix elements. • Often misused by tourism and hospitality organizations (e.g., coupons).

16. Advantages of Merchandising • Merchandising materials can stimulate impulse purchases and higher per capita spending. • Provides support for advertising campaigns.

17. Disadvantages of Merchandising • Not very effective in building long-term loyalty for the destination. • May contribute to visual clutter. • May not be noticed by visitors or potential visitors.

18. Advantages of Public Relations and Publicity • Relatively low cost. • Effective because not seen as a commercial message. • Credibility and implied endorsements (e.g., articles by travel critics). • Prestige and impressiveness of mass-media coverage (e.g., feature articles). • Added excitement and dramatization. • Maintenance of a “public” presence.

19. Disadvantages of Public Relations and Publicity • Difficulties in arranging consistent coverage of the destination. • Lack of control over what gets printed or said.

20. Factors that Affect the Promotional Mix • Target markets • Marketing objectives • Competition and promotional practices • Promotional budget available