Marketing Communications

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Marketing Communications
Promotion Planning And Techniques

TRADITIONAL APPROACHES TO BUDGETING FOR PROMOTION

The traditional budgetary methods include:

1. Arbitrary allocation – used for advertising or sales promotion.


2. Percentage of sales – used for advertising or sales promotion.


3. Return on investment – used for personal selling and publicity.


4. Competitive parity – used for advertising.


5. All the company can afford – used for advertising.


6. Objective and task costing approach – used for advertising.

ORGANISING PROMOTION ACTIVITIES

These guidelines will help to prevent mistakes and maximize promotion results, though there is no specific
best way in organizing promotion activities to suit various firms or marketing communication situation.

1. The marketing communication mix is only a part of and is subordinate to the overall
   marketing mix. Objectives set for the various communication tools should support and
   reinforce overall marketing objectives.


2. The allocation of funds to the marketing communication tools should be commensurate
   with tasks to be performed by each tool.


3. Authority to act must be delegated with responsibility to managers of various communication
   tools. Duties should be clearly delegated, so that managers can react quickly to take advantage
   of opportunities. The necessity for securing top management approval should be limited to
   decisions that seriously affect other parts of the organization or involve the expenditure of
   large amounts of scarce resources.


4. To secure optimum coordination and integration, the various parts of the communication
   mix should be located with the same department. They should participate in the planning
   and budgeting of all marketing communication programmes.

SEPARATING PERSONAL SELLING AND MASS COMMUNIATION DEPARTMENTS

Most firms usually separate the function of personal selling from mass communication in the
organization chart.

There are reasons which top management of firms gives for this separation of two departments; some
of the reasons are that:

1. Sales executives are not normally competent to evaluate an advertising programme.


2. Advertising is a long-term investment and its programmes should be devised to cover a
   period of several years, personal selling programmes are usually set up on a fiscal year basis.


3. Sales manager are quick to cut advertising programmes when cost problems are encountered
   in selling.