Perreault−McCarthy: Basic
Marketing: A
Global−Managerial
Approach, 14/e- Promotion −
Introduction to Integrated
Marketing
Communications
Text © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2002408 Chapter 14
Salespeople handle most of the important communication with middlemen.
Middlemen don’t want empty promises. They want to know what they can expect
in return for their cooperation and help. A salesperson can answer questions about
what promotion will be directed toward the final consumer, each channel member’s
part in marketing the product, and important details on pricing, markups, promo-
tion assistance, and allowances.
A salesperson can help the firm determine when it should adjust its marketing
mix from one middleman to another. In highly competitive urban areas, for exam-
ple, mixes may emphasize price.
When a number of suppliers offer similar products and compete for attention and
shelf space, the wholesaler or retailer usually pays attention to the one with the best
profit potential. In these situations, the sales rep must convince the middleman that
demand for the product exists and that making a profit will be easy. A firm can make
the sales rep’s job easier by targeting special sales promotions at middlemen too.
Sales promotions targeted at middlemen usually focus on short-term arrangements
that will improve the middleman’s profits. For example, a soft-drink bottler might
offer a convenience store a free case of drinks with each two cases it buys. The free
case improves the store’s profit margin on the whole purchase. Other types of sales
promotions—such as contests that offer vacation trips for high-volume middle-
men—are also common.
Firms run ads in trade magazines to recruit new middlemen or to inform channel
members about a new offering. Trade ads usually encourage middlemen to contact the
supplier for more information, and then a salesperson takes over.Some firms emphasize promotion to their own employees—especially salespeople
or others in contact with customers. This type of internal marketingeffort is basically
a variation on the pushing approach. One objective of an annual sales meeting is
to inform reps about important elements of the marketing strategy—so they’ll work
together as a team to implement it. Some firms use promotion to motivate employ-
ees to work harder at specific jobs—such as providing customer service or achieving
higher sales. For example, many firms use sales contests and award free trips to big
sellers.
Some companies design ads to communicate to employees and boost the employ-
ees’ image. This is typical in services where the quality of the employees’ efforts is
a big part of the product. Some ads, for example, use the theme “we like to see youNesquik’s ad is targeted at
parents and kids and designed to
stimulate demand and help pull
Nesquik’s popular chocolate
additive for milk through the
channel of distribution. Dome’s
trade ad message is targeted at
retailers and designed to
persuade them to give the
Handeze therapeutic support
glove an extra promotional push.
Promotion to
middlemen emphasizes
personal selling
Push within a
firm—with promotion
to employees