Promotional tools - what are they for and how to use them?

Running a sales and service business cannot do without proper marketing. It is important to reach your target audience and to let them know what you do. Find out what types of promotion there are and which ones you should opt for.

Product promotion - what does it consist of?

Promotion is a specific way in which a company, for example, communicates with its existing and potential customers. In the context of marketing the product itself the physical product or service may be promoted . However, before you move on to choosing specific promotional tools, it is worth asking yourself some important questions.

First of all, you need to define your target group - e.g. are they women or men, younger or older people, or rural or urban residents? Without this data, it will be difficult to set your primary promotional objectives, which may be:

• informing potential customers of the availability of the offer;
• building a positive brand image;
• building relationships with existing clients;
• increasing the results (profits) from sales;
• gaining a competitive advantage.

It is worth remembering to select a maximum of . The intention should be specific and not general. Otherwise, it may not produce the desired result.

Promotional tools, or what are they?

To date, many theories have emerged about effective marketing and its tools (e.g. marketing-mix, 4Ps or 7Ps). One of the basic divisions is the one proposed by Philip Kotler, an American economist and professor at the Kellogg School of Management. Kotler divided promotion into four main areas:

• Personal selling - involves direct contact between an employee of the company concerned and the customer.
• Direct marketing - A broad area of marketing activities that revolves around sending messages to an audience. This includes whisper marketing, viral marketing, online marketing, as well as social media activities such as Facebook, Pinterest, TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn etc. The essence here is to focus on feedback rather than one-sided messages.
• Sales promotion - These are short-term activities that, due to time-limited advantageous offers, are intended to encourage potential customers to make a purchase or use a service. Creating limited editions or special offers such as "2 for 1" is also a form of sales promotion. Another example is product sampling. This tactic involves sending free samples to customers. At InPost, such activities can be conducted with companies. The advertising offer enables a partnership to be established and then free samples to be delivered to customers at selected Paczkomat® machines.
• Public Relations i Publicity (Sponsoring) - This area is not necessarily related to sales marketing per se, but more to building a positive image. Therefore, in this case one speaks of sponsoring or organising various events, webinars, etc. The aim of such activities is to increase recognition in the market and to build a leadership position in the industry.

It is worth noting that not all of them will be suitable for specific purposes and types of business. The choice depends on several factors. Businesses can help themselves with the decision by hiring a qualified marketing consultant.

Other types of promotional tools

Philip Kotler's division does not quite work in modern times. Today, there are other ways of promoting one's brand. The development of information technology has created new diverse marketing tools, including online . These currently include, for example:

• company website;
• Email marketing;
• newsletter;
• social media;
• Advertisement display type;
• search engine promotion.

Each of these has become part of an overall marketing strategy that addresses different areas. Maintaining one's own website and blog through content marketing can help to create an expert image. Knowledge of search engine optimisation and SEO is also used in this area.

Social media, on the other hand, serves primarily to direct contact with customers . They are also an effective tool when organising various competitions and limited discount offers.

However, if you want to set your sights on promotion through banner ads, then you can take advantage of the offerings of other popular platforms, among others. Examples include the InPost corporate website, where you can purchase your own banner and thereby increase their brand recognition. This option is dedicated to businesses wishing to make sure that their message reaches a really large number of potential customers.

The internet as a cheap promotional tool - is it really?

Since just setting up an account on a social network is free, it may seem that online marketing activities are relatively cheap. Is this true? Well, not necessarily. The correct answer is - it depends.

Of course, it is possible to base such a strategy on a smaller budget and focus on SEO and optimisation activities or only communicating via social media. However, there are also promotional tools for which a company would have to pay a not inconsiderable sum.

This includes paid advertising campaigns (e.g. those run using Google Ads). In addition, you also have to pay for having your own domain on the web, including the cost of hosting and hiring copywriters to create blog content on a regular basis.

In other words, if companies are to opt for paid online business promotion, they should ensure that all planned activities are guaranteed to produce real results . In this case, it is worth betting on proven and recommended solutions, i.e. choosing, for example, the aforementioned advertising on the InPost website.

How do you choose the right promotional tool?

There are now a variety of sales promotion tools available - modern and traditional. Therefore when developing a marketing strategy, carefully consider which ones to use . When choosing, it is best to be guided by a few important factors:

• availability - in this context, everything depends on the technical and financial capacity of the team concerned. It is therefore worth looking at budget as well as skill possession;
• relevance - in addition to the needs of your customers, it is equally important that the tools you choose fit your brand and what information you want to convey;
• effectiveness - it is best to opt for tools that allow you to reach your target audience. If you know that you are targeting a younger demographic with your products or services, it would be a good idea to promote on social media, including Tik Tok.

Do A breakdown of the various promotion tools can also be useful for the PESO model , proposed by Gini Dietrich. It is based on a division into 4 media areas:

• Paid media (paid media) - advertising campaigns, sponsored articles;
• Earned Media (Acquired media) - influencer partnerships, customer feedback on discussion forums;
• Shared Media (shared media) - activity on social media, online forums, etc;
• Owned Media (own media) - company website, own blog, newsletter.

This model responds to emerging marketing tools such as influencer collaboration. Each of these areas is relevant and the final choice depends on the individual capabilities of each company.

What should be kept in mind when using promotional tools?

Whether or not the promotion tools in question are effective will be determined by the type of strategies chosen. In the context of promotion, two options are discussed. The first is push strategy which is based on the intensive promotion of the brand image in various areas (both traditional and digital). In this case, it is the salesperson who is vying for the customer's attention.

The main tools here will be online banners, direct sales and image promotion in public places. Examples include taking advantage of InPost's advertising offer and placing brand advertisements on the Paczkomat® machines or directly on the display screen at the automat.

The second type (and also the opposite of the first) is pull strategy . Its main task is to build an expert and exclusive image. It is the customer who is supposed to seek information about the seller's services and products. Blogs, social media, e-books, webinars, etc. are used for this purpose.

When using different promotional tools, it is also important to combine different aspects - you can promote a podcast in your newsletter, your social media on your website, and your branding activities in the press or external media (e.g. training courses held, webinars organised, etc.). It is also worth exploiting the potential of multimedia and sharing different forms of content - short videos, how-to articles, infographics and social media posts.

Effective promotion - what kind of promotion?

How do you know if the chosen promotional tools are effective? First and foremost by the sales results. However, sometimes higher profits are not the only indicator of successful advertising and promotion . It is therefore useful to define basic metrics for each strategy or even for each tool, which will be checked regularly. These might look like the following:

• Social media - number of comments under posts, number of followers and likes;
• Website - number of visits, conversion rate, time spent on site;
• newsletters - the number of new recipients, clicks on links and references or even the sheer number of readings of the email;
• webinars, events, training courses - number of participants (real ones, not just those interested), replays of the recording;
• external media - number of mentions of the brand in press materials, discussion forums, number of positive reviews.

It is also worth remembering that some forms of promotion are long-term , meaning that their effectiveness will not be apparent after a month or two, but only after a year, for example.

Do not be quickly discouraged. Sometimes giving up too soon contributes to losing investment costs and incurring more to salvage the situation.

Promotional tools and customer needs - how to recognise them?

In designing the strategy customer needs are paramount . But here is the crucial question: how do you even know them? There are actually several ways to do this - some of which can be categorised as quicker and cheaper, while others are more demanding and time-consuming. An example of this would be conducting online surveys or asking for feedback after using a service or buying a product.

Discussion forums of all kinds are also a valuable source of information, especially the opinion portals recognised by Internet users. In doing so, however, it is important to include a certain filter in order to sift out the information that comes from our target audience and not all Internet users.

The importance of good promotion in shaping brand image

In addition to increased sales results, effective promotion can bring other benefits, including intangible resources. One of these is to build a positive brand image online, to create one's own company as an expert in a particular field and to gain the trust of customers. Their loyalty is likely to translate into business success. This is why it is so important not to neglect the potential of the marketing area and, in addition to the forms of sales, also take care of the communication channels.

You already know what promotional tools are and what applications they have. Remember to always put your customer's needs and your own company's capabilities first.