It is not a business if there is a great product but nobody knows about it. Promotion embraces all methods of persuasion in order to bring awareness to your brand and motivate customers to buy your products. Successful promotion comprises elements such as advertising, public relations, and sales promotion.
These elements shift as new generations become lead consumers and as societies change medium preferences. Promotion has changed over the decades depending on where you are in the world. Mediums have evolved from word-of-mouth to radio, billboards, newspaper, television, and now the internet.
In many parts of the world, social media represents a growing share of many companies’ promotion budget, particularly when it comes to targeting Millennials (born after 1980) and Generation Z (born after 1995). In an article written by Ahmad Kareh, he quotes a colleague that speaks to this very concept: “‘Intersecting with the consumer where they live, on their devices, and capturing their attention with meaningful and motivating content has changed the way we approach promotions. Students understand this even better than I do because they are digital natives.’”
However, depending on your market, knowing how to reach your customer won’t necessarily be the “most common” method. For instance, Vietnam is a fairly traditional market, although this is rapidly changing. TV is still the lead medium. As a result, THP still spends about 60 to 70 percent of its advertising budget on TV. In developed countries like the US, companies typically spend about 40 percent or less on television ads because the market has become so fragmented. Western consumers have a wide range of TV channels to choose from, and many have switched to streaming services like Netflix where there are very few ads.
Regardless of the medium, our job as business owners is to connect with our market. For THP, we’ve made our marketing strategy a personal one – one that helps the customer know who we are and communicates that we know what is important to them. The following are ways we’ve made our efforts more personal:
- Use the advantage of being a “local” business. Multinationals do not localize their advertisements enough. They may have regional advertising plans, which treat Asia differently from Europe and the US, for example. However, they often do not take the opportunity to go one step further and target individual countries or communities. You have the ability to make that a competitive advantage for your company.
- Many local companies are often family-owned, and their founders are well-known local figures themselves. Use this influence within your community to not only promote your business, but to do good where your business operates.
- Be open with your market about what matters to your business and why. Connecting with your community by sharing experiences, encouraging workforce growth in your communities, and being an accessible entity has the ability to grow awareness and respect for your brand.
No matter what medium your market prefers, there’s a way to meaningfully connect with them. The result will mean greater profitability and success – both monetarily and in the loyalty you’ll develop.
Visit my website to learn more about effective and meaningful promotion.
