Real World Promotion - Part 1...

Beth let's me shop with her. Sometimes.

I understand why I'm not invited more often. It must really be hard to get any shopping done with me around. I stop and study all the marketing: Who's the target market? What's the strategy? Does the messaging work? Why choose those colors?

I'm also a sucker for promotion.

"Honey, is this something you'd buy?" I ask my wife holding up a bottle of SoBe. "It's 'On Sale With Coupon'."

"No," Beth says. "That drink is targeted to adolescent boys 12 to 19. It's heavily promoted on sports broadcasts for skateboarding and BMX Freestyle Motorbiking."

Hmm. I didn't even know it was a drink.

About $240 Million was spent on promotion in the U.S. in 2002 says the Promotional Marketing Association in Promo Magazine. Promotional budgets account for about half of all marketing spending.

Promotions are limited time incentive programs to get someone to buy now. They include coupons, rebates, on-pack offers, mail-in offers, and seasonal price incentives.

I like promotions because, like direct marketing, it's a measurable methodology. If you distribute 100 coupons and get back 2, you know you had a 2% direct response to that offer. It means you've chosen the right media, the right messaging and the right offer to reach your target market.

So is 2% a good response? I'll cover that next time.

-- Phil Sasso