Unit 5: Distribution and Promotion
Once marketers have identified the right product and determined appropriate pricing, they must decide how to effectively raise awareness and distribute the product. This unit will focus on these decisions. You will learn that distribution is a complex process that involves taking a product through the manufacturing process, shipping to warehouses, distributing to sellers and customers, and taking returned products. Marketers must work with supply chain managers to determine the best method to route products. If marketers expect that sales will be heavier in the northeast than in the west, additional resources will need to be allocated there to meet demand. There are a number of strategies for moving a product through various distribution channels. These vary based on anticipated demand, actual demand, and the competition. Marketers must have a proactive strategy: They cannot sit on inventory and wait for orders because inventory storage is expensive and a lack of sales is disruptive.
The final and arguably most vital aspect of marketing is the actual promotion of the product. This can take for the form of giveaways, competitions, advertising, sales, and anything else a creative manager can think of. Marketers must take a number of aspects into consideration, however.
If you employ a sales staff to promote the product, how do you compensate them? If you pay a commission, how much commission will be paid per unit? Will the sales staff be given discretion on price, or do you want to send a uniform message that the price is locked in? If a new company has limited funds available for advertising campaigns, might they use public relations tactics to gain free media coverage?
These are just a few considerations that marketers must consider. This final unit will provide you with the tools you need to make the best possible promotion decisions.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 11 hours.
Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- identify a number of marketing channels;
- describe a number of ways to evaluate marketing channels;
- identify and describe distribution outlets;
- identify and describe a number of promotion strategies; and
- explain the role of public relations in marketing.
5.1: Distribution Channel Strategies
Read this chapter. Note that the push and pull strategies are based on how the customer perceives a product. For example, if the company really wants to sell a product, it may aggressively push it through the distribution channel and into stores with pricing incentives. This is often seen with products the customer does not have a perceived need or desire for yet. A pull strategy is based on satisfying a customer's want or need. It is almost as if the customer is pulling the product through the distribution channel. Channel membership is a distribution strategy based on the type of product in question. If quality and reliability is important, marketers will use exclusive distributions, also called "authorized resellers". An intensive distribution is the opposite; a marketer will allow just about anyone to carry a product. Convenience foods are a good example. Just about every check-out line in a store now carries snacks and sodas.
5.2: Promotion Tools and Tactics
Read this article on branding your company. This article describes in branding an architecture firm, but the rules are applicable to a variety of different types of companies.
Promotion gets to the heart of a marketing campaign. Once you have developed your product or service, identified a target audience, and crafted a selling proposition, now comes the time to let the world know about it. This may be accomplished through a number of means ranging from paid advertising to public relations outreach to direct sales. This subunit provides useful detail on this most critical 'P' of the marketing mix.
5.2.1: Advertising
Review Chapter 11, which you read earlier in the course. It discusses different methods of communication employed by businesses to reach their customers, the types of message strategies commonly used, and budgetary issues that must be considered. This time, answer the discussion questions at the end of the chapter.
5.2.2: Sales Promotion
Read Sections 13.1 through 13.6 and answer the review questions at the end of each section. This chapter discusses the role selling plays in marketing strategies.
Read this article on tactics of sales people to win customers and get new product lines on store shelves for sale.
5.2.3: The Sales Force
Read the "Sales Promotion and Public Relations" section to learn about the sales force.
5.2.4: Public Relations
Read this chapter. Answer the review questions at the end of each section. The material explains the various public relations (PR) concepts and tools used by organizations. Public relations are the activities organizations engage in to create a positive image for a company, product or service, or a person. Press releases, sponsorships, and product placements are three commonly used PR tools. Press releases are designed to generate publicity, but there is no guarantee the media will use them in the stories they write. Sponsorships are designed to increase brand awareness, improve corporate image, and reach target markets. Product placements are designed to generate exposure, brand awareness, and interest.
Visit this interactive resource. You should briefly review each of the eight primer modules and make a note of any resources or templates you find especially useful. These resources and templates may be useful at a future date as you undertake a public relations campaign. We will refer back to this primer elsewhere in the course for specific examples supporting subunit topics ahead, but for now it provides a useful overview of the public relations craft and some tools at its disposal. This primer was prepared to help government and business leaders in the former Soviet Union make the transition from a centralized system to a market system, where they were expected to interact with a freer and more independent media. The concept of "public and media relations" was new to many of these leaders, so this primer provides a fundamental overview of the basic ideas and tools of PR.
Unit 5 Discussion and Assessment
After reviewing the unit materials, post and respond to the following topics on the course discussion forum. Feel free to start your own post and respond to other students' posts as well.
Observe an advertising campaign for a new product or service. Did you notice the same product or service advertised in different media? Who was the target audience? What was the marketing message? Why did the marketers select the particular medium (or media)? Think of a product or service you might promote with your own marketing plan. Who will be your target audience? What media will you select and why? What might your marketing message be? Find an example of a marketing campaign that may have relied more on public relations and free media placements than on a paid advertising campaign. Assess it for its strategies and effectiveness.
- Receive a grade Receive a pass grade
Take this assessment to see how well you understood this unit.
- This assessment does not count towards your grade. It is just for practice!
- You will see the correct answers when you submit your answers. Use this to help you study for the final exam!
- You can take this assessment as many times as you want, whenever you want.
