Final Project: Promotion

Promotion is a very important part of marketing. Not only to bump sells in a down market but as a way to get brand recognition when first introducing a product. "Personal selling and advertising often work closely with another promotion tool, sales promotion. Sales promotion consists of short-term incentives to encourage purchase or sales of a product or service. Whereas advertising offers reasons to buy a product or service, sales promotion offers reasons to buy now." (ARMSTRONG, KOTLER, Marketing An Introduction, chapter 36, page 49.)  Chocolate Expressions will have an initial promotion through Facebook and Twitter offering free shipping if the customer clicks through on the site. Additional promotions will be scheduled throughout the year with great emphasis placed on Valentines Day. "The growing use of sales promotion has resulted in promotion clutter, similar to advertising clutter. A given promotion runs the risk of being lost in a sea of other promotions, weakening its ability to trigger immediate purchase. Manufacturers are now searching for ways to rise above the clutter, such as offering larger coupon values, creating more dramatic point-of-purchase displays, or delivering promotions through new interactive media, such as the Internet or cell phones." (ARMSTRONG, KOTLER, Marketing An Introduction, chapter 37, page 49.) We believe that the use of the internet will increase the power of our promotions and we will also use direct cellphone promotions to further our market share.