The impact of sales promotion on customer retention

Effective communication is the essence of promotion. In the age of information, marketing is incomplete without effective communication with the prospective buyers about the right product at the right price that is available at the right place. Marketers must communicate the product, its features, etc. to the right target customers by formulating right message in the language that is understood by them. Proper communication requires advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, direct marketing, and public relations. Thus, marketer has to use complex marketing communication to convey the message to the target group of customers. Communication is the responsibility of manufacturers, distributor, wholesaler, retailer or all in the channel. The term ‘communication’ is derived from the Latin word ‘communis’ which means common. That means if a person communicates with another, he establishes a common ground of understanding. In the words of Newman, Summer and Warren, ‘Communication is an exchange of facts, ideas, opinions or emotions by two or more persons.” According to Keith Davis, “Communication is the process of passing information and understanding from one person to another.” Communication does not mean merely sending or receiving message. It involves understanding the message also. It is appropriate too quote Louis A. Allen, “Communication is the sum of all the things one person does when he wants to create understanding in the minds of others." It is a bridge of meaning. It involves a systematic and continuous process of telling, listening and understanding.

[...] Participants explore the effect of advertising (media, collateral, events, etc) on the market share, the role of public relations, and the objectives of sales promotion and personal selling as part of the demand generation process. Planning Creating a Successful Customer-Focused Strategic Marketing Plan Planning is the process of anticipating future events and determining strategies to achieve organizational objectives in the future. Marketing planning is about designing activities related to marketing objectives. Planning serves as the basis for all-marketing strategies and decisions. [...]

[...] Although the initial impact has been minimal, WNP further commoditizes carriers' offerings and has the potential to drive mass customer defections by the end of 2004. Customer service is one of the few remaining ways for wireless carriers to protect their customer base, but many are already struggling to provide the necessary high levels of customer service today. Consider these Gartner Research findings: One of every two U.S. wireless subscribers (76 million people) calls their carrier at least once a month. [...]

[...] A bird's eye view at these stages and the promotion desired is given ' below (See Table) Table: Promotional Efforts and Buyer Readiness Stage Stage of Buyer Sales Promotion Personal Selling Advertising Readiness & Publicity Awareness Low Very Low Very High Comprehension Low Low High Conviction Medium High Medium Ordering Very High Very High Low Reordering High Very High Medium For example, customer conviction is mostly influenced by personal selling and less by advertising and sales promotion. Further, advertising and publicity are most effective at the early stages of buyer decision process, and sales promotion and personal selling dare most effective in closing the sale and reordering. [...]