Along with product, pricing & placement, promotion & marketing information system are also other integral parts of marketing. The former three make the product marketable, whereas promotion & marketing information system keep the product durable in the market. They help the manufacturer to be in competition with others.
Promotion helps manufacturers to raise awareness among the consumers about the product, whereas marketing information system helps to make a decision.
Promotion
Promotion is to raise customer awareness about the product, creating market value by winning their trust on the product. It is a strategy to generate sales space in the market. It is a method of communication used by the business entities to spread information about their product which can be both verbal & visual.Basically, promotion is making products noticeable to make them marketable
Objective:
The main purposes of promotion are
- To inform customers about the product.
- To increase demand in the market.
- To make the product distinct.
Type of Promotion:
Manufacturers always try to reach to people with their product. They take both virtual and real medium to promote their brands. Here are some ways of promotion.Physical Environment:
It is a way to get in buyers directly. Manufacturers target to get in touch with people personally. Festivals, concerts, trade shows, fairs are mostly used as a place to connect to people. Departmental stores are also a good place to get in touch with people via game show or providing incentives like a discount, free coupons. Personal interaction between buyers and sellers makes the product profitable and marketable without much promotional cost.Traditional Media:
Traditional media like newspaper, billboards etc. is still in demand of promotion. Both electronics & print media are used as the medium of promotion.Digital Media:
Since the introduction of internet in daily life digital world has become another way to promote a brand. About 40% of population use internet and 67% of them are available in social media. Companies are using social media to their best. These are less costly and more spread medium in the world of promotion.Personalise promotion is also a popular way. Companies are using celebrities to endorse their brand to make it more trustable.
Market Information System
The market information system is a support system in decision making in marketing. It is the tool to collect, store, analysis & distribute marketing data to the managers. It helps them to make a decision on the basis of market requirements in a daily manner.Importance:
- Market information system collects all initial, routine & systematic data uninterruptedly to ensure change in approach according to the change in the market.
- As the strength of economy relies on service marketing information system has its utmost importance. It helps to understand the requirements of the consumers, so that decision making can be accurate.
- It helps to monitor the market and also helps to develop & implement strategies & policies to capture & act on customer management application.
- Using these market activities, customer relations & customer service can be analysed.
Main Structure:
Marketing information system has four parts.- User Interface
- Application Software
- Database Marketing
- System Support
Advantages:
- It has organised data collection that helps to increase productivity
- Helps to establish broader perspective for future improvements
- Stores loads of data which helps in execution.
- Analyses performance to avoid crisis
- Helps to coordinate in an organisation.
Possible Risks:
- Data collection may be difficult to analyse over several time periods.
- Marketing plans and decisions may not be properly reviewed.
- Data collection may be disjointed.
- Previous studies may not be stored in an easy to use format.
- Time lags may result if a new study is required
