Promotion
Marketing managers at Ryder Systems faced a real challenge as they developed their plan for 2000. Ryder's bright yellow move-it-yourself rental trucks were a familiar sight on the streets and highways of the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. However, demand for rental trucks was down. Consumers usually don't rent a truck unless they're moving,and in the weak economy of 2000 fewer people could afford to move. Further, most rental firms were lowering their prices一hoping for gains in market share to offset the shrinking market. That made things even tougher for Ryder. Its strategy had focused on providing quality trucks and service rather than bargain-basement prices. In this market, however, more consumers were just looking for the lowest price.
Ryder’s marketers decided that this competitive market environment called for a new promotion blend. They wanted to communicate with target customers and persuade them that Ryder's services were better than those offered by competing firms. But they didn't just want to communicate. They wanted to increase rentals and sales of supplies.
To reach the target market一consumers who were considering a move-Ryder first turned to mass selling. Working with an ad agency, it developed attention-getting, 60-second TV ads. Ryder placed the ads on popular TV shows that appealed to audiences whose demographics best matched those of its target market. The ads didn't just focus on Ryder trucks but rather on what consumers should think about when planning a move. The ads also offered consumers a free home-moving guide and planning kit. All the consumers had to do to get the promotional brochure was call a toll-free telephone number.
The brochure provided a lot of useful information about moving-including persuasive details on how Ryder's comfortable trucks and helpful services could make the move easier. In addition, to promote action, the brochure included a discount coupon on all Ryder supplies-including furniture pads, dollies , hand trucks, boxes, tape, rope, and locks-that consumers could redeem at. any Ryder dealer.
The list of people who called for the brochure also provided a very target database of prospects for Ryder's telemarketing salespeople to call. When the salesperson identified a good prospect, the final personal selling job was turned over to one of Ryder's 4,800 dealers. Their personal attention helped to resolve consumer questions and get rental contracts.
Ryder’s blend of direct-response mass selling, sales promotion, and personal selling succeeded in increasing Ryders share of rentals even in a very sluggish market. And because
the promotion was successful in differentiating Ryder’s quality services, Ryder was able to charge a higher price than competitors who relied on discounts alone to pull in customers.
Several PromotionalMethods Are Available Promotion is communicating information between seller and potential buyer or others in the channel influence attitudes and behavior. The marketing manager's main promotion job is to tell target customers that ：the right Product is available at the right Place at the right Price.
What the marketing manager communicates is determined by target customers' needs and attitudes How the messages are delivered depends on what blend of the various promotion methods the marketing manager chooses.
As the Ryder example shows， a marketing manager can choose from several promotion methods-personal selling, and sales promotion.
Personal selling involves direct spoken communication between sellers and potential customers.
Face-to-face selling provides immediate feedback-which helps salespeople to adapt. Although salespeople are included in most marketing mixes, personal selling can be very expensive. So it's often to combine personal selling with mass selling and sales promotion.
Mass selling is communicating with large numbers of potential customers at the same time. It's less than personal selling, but when the target market is large and scattered,
mass selling can be expensive.
Advertising is the main form of mass selling. Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation of idea,good, or services by an identified sponsor. It includes the use of such
media as magazines, newspaper，radio and TV, signs, and direct mail. While advertising
must be paid for, another from of mass selling-publicity-is free.
Publicity is any unpaid form of non-personal presentation of ideas, goods, or services. Of course, publicity people are paid. But they try to attract attention to the firm and its offerings
without having to pay media costs. For example, book publishers try to get authors on TV talk shows because this generates a lot of interest-and book sales-without the publisher paying for TV time.
When Colevo introduced its Cabbage Patch dolls, it held press parties for reporters and their children. A number of reporters wrote human interesting stories about their kids "adopting"the cut dolls. Those stories prompted more media attention一and a very successful product introduction-without Coleco doing any introductory advertising.
If a firm has a really new message, publicity may be more effective than advertising. Trade magazines, for example, may carry articles featuring the news-worthy products of regular advertisers-in part because they are regular advertisers. The firm’s publicity people write the basic copy and then try to convince magazine editors to print it. Each year, magazines print photos and stories about new cars and often the source of the information is the auto producers.
A consumer might not pay any attention to an ad but carefully read a long magazine story with the same information.
Some companies prepare videotapes designed to get free publicity for their products on TV news shows. For example, one video -distributed to TV stations at Halloween-discussed a
government recommendation that parents use makeup rather than masks for young children. The story was effectively tied to a new makeup product for children made by PAAS Products.
Sales promotion refers to promotion activities-other than advertising, publicity, and personal selling-that stimulate interest, trial, or purchase by final customers or others in the channel. Sales promotion may be aimed at consumers, at middlemen, or even at a firm’s own employees.
Many people think that most promotion money is spent on advertising-because advertising is all around them. The many ads you see in magazines and newspapers and on TV are impressive-and costly. But all the special sales promotions-coupons, sweepstakes, trade shows, sporting events sponsored by firms, and the like-add up to even more money. Similarly, salesclerks complete most retail sales. And behind the scenes, much personal selling goes on in the channels and in other business markets. In total, firms spend less money on advertising than on personal selling or sales promotion.
However, the amount of emphasis on each promotion method usually varies with each specific marketing strategy-depending on the target market and other elements of the marketing mix. When planning the overall strategy, it's important to plan a combination of promotion methods that will work together to achieve specific promotion objectives.
Passage 4:Which of the following is NOT true of publicity?
A、Publicity is a promotion method that may be more effective than advertising when a company has a really new message.
B、Publicity can be regarded as a form of mass selling.
C、Publicity is any unpaid form of non-personal presentation of ideas, goods, or services.
D、Publicity is very widely used as it does not involve any cost.
【正确答案】：D
【名师解析】:选项D是不正确的，因为虽然宣传是一种不需要支付媒体成本的推广方式，但并不意味着它不涉及任何成本。宣传人员仍然需要获得报酬，而且为了吸引媒体的注意力和报道，公司可能需要投入资源来创造有趣的故事或事件，这些都需要成本。此外，宣传的效果也受到多种因素的影响，并不能保证总是比广告更有效。选项A、B和C都是对宣传的正确描述：A选项指出，在公司有全新信息时，宣传可能比广告更有效；B选项将宣传视为一种大众销售形式；C选项定义了宣传为一种未付费的非个人形式的信息、商品或服务的呈现。