Marketing Communication Mix

Marketing Communication Tools

Being a marketing communications major and having a passion for the field, I'm deciding to write on the marketing communication mix because I love learning about each of these tools and how the 5 different tools are used in different businesses and products.  

 Marketing is a very broad business function that includes product research and development, merchandising and distribution processes and pricing, as well as communication or promotion. The communication mix refers to specific methods used to promote the company or its products to targeted customers. 

In order to communicate effectively in the marketing industry, we use tools that help us advertise and promote a business or product.  

Which tools are most effective when it comes a specific company or product?

The 5 major communication tools:

• Advertising
• Sales Promotion
• Personal Selling
• Public Relations
• Direct Marketing

Each of these tools is used in a creative way for marketing purposes and for a company to achieve their objectives.  

Advertising

Advertising is a form of marketing communication that is used to persuade or encourage an audience to take action.  It is often the most prominent element of the communication mix.  Advertising includes messages a business pays to deliver through a medium to reach a target audience.     

• Reaches large number of audience
• Builds brand image 
• One-way communication 
• Expensive 

Sales Promotion 

Sales promotions are short-term incentives to encourage the purchase or sale of a product/service.  They are very similar to advertising, but sales promotions involve offering a discounted price to a buyer such as a coupon, percent off deals or rebates.  This involves outdoor signs.  The reason for this is to increase revenue and attract new customers or clearing out inventory. 

• Targeted at the trade or ultimate consumer 
• Premiums, coupons, contests
• Attracts attention
• Offers strong purchase incentives

I have a personal experience with this tool at my internship through a golf course.  I was working the beverage cart and in 2014, we switched from Coke product to Pepsi products, so we created sales promotion and had percent off all Coke products to get rid of the inventory we had. 

Personal Selling

Personal Selling is a presentation by a company's sales team for the purpose of making sales and building strong customer relationships.  Personal selling is often times used more by companies that sell higher end products or services because it requires more assertive efforts to persuade customers to buy and take action.  

• Most expensive of the tools
• Most effective for building buyers preferences and actions
• Personal interaction 
• Relationship oriented 

Public Relations

Public Relations (PR) is the concept of building up a good "corporate image" by obtaining favorable publicity and handing off unfavorable rumors, stories and various events.  PR is somewhat similar to advertising; however, the major difference is that you don't pay for PR like you do for advertising.  There is also a downside of Public Relations.. you don't always get to control the messages, you can influence them but media often times can put a negative spin on the story; where as in advertising, you pay for a space and you get to choose what the ad says.  

• Very credible and believable 
• Various forms: news stories, news features, events & sponsorships
• Dramatizes company or product
• Usually inexpensive  

Direct Marketing

Direct Marketing is communication that targets individual consumers to obtain a response and create long lasting customer relationships.  Direct marketing also includes parts of sales promotion and personal selling.  E-mail and direct mail are common formats of messages that target a consumer.  Some examples of direct marketing include online or print surveys, infomercials, and mail-order clubs.  

• Direct mail, telephone marketing, online marketing 
• Immediate, interactive, customized 
• Suited to high-targeted marketing 
• Non-public