SYNOPSIS PROJECT ON Marketing Strategies on Sales Promotion Schemes

INTRODUCTION SALES PROMOTION

One of the most difficult marketing decisions facing companies is how much to spend on promotional John Wanamaker, the departmental - store magazine, said, "I know that half of my advertising is wasted but I don't know which half." Thus it is not surprising that industries and companies vary considerably in how much they spend on promotion. Promotional expenditures might amount to 30-50% of sales in case in cosmetics industry and only 10-20% in the industrial equipment industry. Within a industry, a low and high spending companies can be found. How do companies decide on their promotion budget? There are mainly four methods of sales promotion : Affordable Method : Many companies set the promotion budget at what they think the company can afford. One executive explained this method as follows : "Why, its simple. First I go upstairs to the controller and how much they can afford to give us this year. He says a million and half. Later, the boss comes to me and asks how much we should spend and I say Oh about a million and half." It is a method which is uncertain one and makes long term planning difficult. Percentage of Sales Method : Many companies set their promotion expenditures at a specified percentage of sales. Accordingly the sales is set on the basis of sales. In this a specified sales percentage is decided for the promotional budget Advantages of this method : First, its use means that promotional budget vary with what a company can afford.

Second, it encourages the management to think in terms of the relationship among promotion costs, selling price, and profit per unit, Third, it encourages the competitive stability to the extent that competing firms spend approximately the same % of their sales on promotion. Inspite of the advantages, the % sales method has little to justify it. Its reasoning is circular : It views sales as the determiner of the promotion rather than as a result. It leads to budget setting by availability of funds rather than by marketing opportunities. Competitive Parity Method : Some companies set their promotional budget to achieve share-of-voice parity with other competitors. Two arguments are made in support of competitive parity method. One is that the competitors expenditure represents the collective wisdom of the industry. The other is that maintaining a competitive parity helps prevent promotional wars. Neither argument is valid. There are no grounds for believing that competition knows better what should be spent on promotion.

Objective and Task Method : The objective & task method calls upon marketers to develop their promotion budgets by defining their specific objectives, determining the task that must be performed to achieve these objectives, and estimating the cost of performing these tasks. Deciding on the promotion mix :Companies face the task of distributing the total promotion budget over the five promotional tools :

 Advertising Sales Promotion Public Relations and Publicity Sales Force Direct Marketing. Whatever method a company adopt for promoting its product it must be from above mentioned method.

Sales Promotion
Promotion is the final element in the marketing mix. After the nature of product is decided, its price fixed and the methods of distribution decided, the manufactures has to take effective steps in meeting the consumers in the markets. In the present consumer oriented markets it is the duty of manufacturers to know what is required by the consumer. It is also their duty to make the customers know where, when how and at what prices. The products would be available Meaning of Promotion The term promotion is the term and includes mainly three type of sales activity : 1. Mass impersonal selling methods (Advertising). 2. Face to face personal selling (Salesman ship). 3. Activities other than personal selling and advertising such as point of purchase display (P.O.P.) show and exhibitions, demonstrations and other non securing selling efforts. This form of activity is called Sales Promotion. There are two type of promotion blends :1. Pull Blend.

2. Push Blend. Both of these are closely related to the channel of Distribution. 1. A pull blend is one in which mass impersonal, sales efforts are given the greatest emphasis. The purpose of pull blend to pre-sell to the final consumers. So that they demand the product at the retail level of distribution. The firm adopting this strategy would spend more on advertising and sales promotion rather than in personal selling. These efforts pull down the product from the manufacturer. 2. A push blend emphasizes personal selling. Naturally firms adopting this method develop a strong sales force at both the distributor and the dealer level. This method would tends to push the product through the channel of distribution.

Objective of Sales Promotion 1. To increase sales directly by publicity through media which are complementary to press and poster advertising. 2. To disseminate information through sales man dealers etc. So as to insure the product getting in to satisfactory use by the ultimate consumer. 3. To attract new consumer. 4. To face the competition effectively. 5. To help salesman in selling more to the retailers and consumers. 6. To check seasonal decline in sales. Generally speaking sales promotion involves rendering the following services:(a) Services to dealers. (b) Services to own salesman. (c) Special publicity.

Research Methodology
Data Collection :There are two main sources for collecting data. These are :1. Primary Data. 2. Secondary Data. 1. Primary Data : It is the data that is collected for the first time. It is fresh and the originally collected by the surveyor. In this Project - Sales Promotion Schemes, the researcher contacted 250 customers and situated on the various points of the Sonepat, Panipat, Karnal & nearby areas. The response were collected personally by the reasearch through a structural questionnaire, consisting of 20 questions. 2. Secondary Data : Secondary data is the one which is collected by the some one else and already used in some or the other form. Here the secondary data used was the theoretical aspects of promotional tools and the statistical method made use of. Sample :A sample of 250 customers was chosen from Sonepat, Panipat, Karnal & nearby areas. The sample chosen was fully on the basis of convince of the researcher. It was a non-probability sample.

Questionnaire
Name : Age : 18-30 o 30-40 o Above 40 o Profession : Income : 3000-5000 o 5000-7500 o 7500-10000 o 10000-15000 o Above 15000 o 1. Have you heard about the brand Grasim/Grasim Suiting? Yes o No o 2. Have you ever seen the Advertisement of Grasim ? Yes o No o 3. Where did you saw the Advertisement On T.V. o In Magazine o Hoarding o Others o 4. Does it provides the sufficient information about the product you needed ? Yes o No o Partially o 5. Can you recall the content of Grasim Advertisement ? Yes o No o Partially o 6. What do you think about the consistency of Grasims advertisement ? Excellent o Good o Average o Poor o 7. Which channel do you watch most frequently ? DD1 o DD2 o Zee T.V. o Sony o Star Plus o Zee News o Others o 8. Have you ever heard about "Mr. India" "Mr. International" Contest organised by Grasim ? Yes o No o 9. Do you found these events as are effective advertisement medium ?

Yes o No o Partially o 10. What type of advertisement do you like the most ? Personality Symbol o Musical o Fantasy o Life Style o 11. Which other advertisement can you recall ? Raymonds o Siyaram o Vimal o OCM o Mayur o Dinesh o Grasim o Digzam o 12. Which advertisement is most consistent ? Raymonds o Siyaram o Vimal o OCM o Mayur o Dinesh o Grasim o Digzam o 13. Which brand in the fabric is the most frequently advertised on T.V. ? Raymonds o Siyaram o Vimal o OCM o Mayur o Dinesh o Grasim o Digzam o 14. Have you purchased Grasim Product ? Yes o No o 15. Have you satisfied with the product ? Fully Satisfied o Partially Satisfied o Dissatisfied o 16. Do you know the new product launched by Grasim viz. coolers, WWF, SUMO ? Yes o No o 17. Do you recommend the product to others if you are satisfied with it ? Frequently o Occasionally o When asked o Never o 18. Which Media do you like is the most efficient for advertising fabric ? Electronic o Print o Outdoor o Mail o Word of mouth o 19. Do you feel good when you see the advertisement of the brand which you have purchased ? Yes o No o 20. What time of the day do you feel the best for the advertisement on TV ? Morning o Mid-day o Evening o Late night o

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