Basic Marketing: A Global Managerial Approach

Perreault−McCarthy: Basic

Marketing: A

Global−Managerial

Approach, 14/e

14. Promotion −
    Introduction to Integrated
    Marketing
    Communications

Text © The McGraw−Hill

Companies, 2002

398 Chapter 14

A firm’s promotion objectives must be clearly defined—because the right

promotion blend depends on what the firm wants to accomplish. It’s helpful to think

of three basic promotion objectives: informing, persuading,and remindingtarget cus-

tomers about the company and its marketing mix. All try to affect buyer behavior

by providing more information.

Even more useful is a more specific set of promotion objectives that states

exactly whoyou want to inform, persuade, or remind, and why.This is unique to

each company’s strategy—and specific objectives vary by promotion method.

We’ll talk about more specific promotion objectives in the next two chapters.

Here we’ll limit ourselves to the three basic promotion objectives and how you

can reach them.

Potential customers must know something about a product if they are to buy

at all. A firm with a really new product may not have to do anything but inform

consumers about it and show that it meets consumer needs better than other

products.

When competitors offer similar products, the firm must not only inform customers

that its product is available but also persuade them to buy it. A persuadingobjec-

tive means the firm will try to develop a favorable set of attitudes so customers will

buy, and keep buying, its product. A persuading objective often focuses on reasons

why one brand is better than competing brands. To convince consumers to buy

Tylenol rather than some other firm’s brand, Johnson & Johnson’s ads position

Tylenol as the safe and effective pain relief medicine that is typically used by

hospitals.

If target customers already have positive attitudes about a firm’s marketing mix—

or a good relationship with a firm—a remindingobjective might be suitable. This

objective can be extremely important in some cases. Even though customers have

been attracted and sold once, they are still targets for competitors’ appeals. Remind-

ing them of their past satisfaction may keep them from shifting to a competitor.

Campbell realizes that most people know about its soup—so much of its advertising

is intended to remind.

In Chapter 6, we looked at consumer buying as a problem-solving process in

which buyers go through six steps—awareness, interest, evaluation, trial, decision,

and confirmation—on the way to adopting (or rejecting) an idea or product. Now

Informing, persuading,
and reminding are
basic promotion
objectives

Price

D 2

D 1

Price

D 2

D 1

Price

0 Quantity 0 Quantity 0 Quantity

D 2

D 1

Demand more

inelastic (consumers

less price-sensitive)

A. Demand shift to

the right (consumers

buy more)

B. Both to the right

and more

inelastic

C.

Exhibit 14-3
Promotion Seeks to Shift the
Demand Curve

Informing is educating

Persuading usually
becomes necessary

Reminding may be
enough, sometimes

Promotion objectives
relate to adoption
process