CHAPTER 4-PROMOTION & MARKETING

ORGANIZING EVENT (OBM310)

Faculty of Business & Management
UiTM Cawangan Kedah

CHAPTER 4

Promotion and Marketing

Madam Norafiza binti Mohd Hardi

LEARNING OUTCOMES

• On completion of this course, the students will be able
to:
• prepare related materials in promotion and
marketing an event
• identify the promotional mix
• understand the roles of promotion mix
• planning the promotion and marketing budget
• describe the important of promotion

MARKETING

• Literally means to move forward or to
advance.

• Marketing context:
• Refers to all the communication activities
that an event director can use to tell the
target market about the benefits of the
event and consequently advance its
sales.
• These activities referred to Promotional
Mix or Communication Mix

Elements of
the
Promotional
Mix

• This mix is an integral part of an event’s
marketing strategy.

Promotional
mix

• Important roles in deciding marketing objectives
of event:

• Target market
• Positioning of the event
• Competitive strategy

• Then decision about the following is to be made:

• Make up of event product
• Pricing strategy
• How tickets to reach target market
• What means to inform benefits of event

ADVERTISING

• Advertising is any form of non-personal
promotion paid for

• Radio, TV, newspapers, magazines, Internet
etc. can be used for advertising.

PUBLICITY

• Includes all those activities not directly paid for
that communicate with the event’s target
market.

• Advantage – people enjoy reading about
leisure experiences of sport, art and
entertainment that event produces.

• Therefore easier to get publicity for an event
• However, remember that for story to be used

by media, it must have some news value.

SALES PROMOTION

• Sometimes called below-the-line promotion by
advertising agencies

• Sales promotions are designed to supplement and extend
other promotional activities (usually advertising).

• Examples:

• Family days – families receive a group discount etc.
• In store displays (Promoting a single brand or product range)
• Free samples (Giving customer’s sampler packs of a new

product)

• Can generate extra sales in particular target market

DIRECT TO TARGET MARKET

• Existing event should have a list of people
who have previously attended the event

• Other events may also sell their mailing lists.
• The most cost effective form of promotion

ROLES OF PROMOTION MIX

• Create or increase awareness of event
• Create or enhance a positive image
• Position the event relative to its competition
• Inform target market of pertinent details of the

event
• Generate demand for the event
• Remind target markets of event’s details

(Gets, 1997, p. 305)

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF
DIFFERENT TYPES OF PROMOTION

Element Advantages Disadvantages

Advertising Good for building awareness Impersonal - cannot answer all a

Personal Effective at reaching a wide audience customer's questions
Selling
Repetition of main brand and product Not good at getting customers to
Sales
Promotion positioning helps build customer trust make a final purchasing decision

Public Highly interactive - lots of communication Costly - employing a sales force
Relations
between the buyer and seller has many hidden costs in

Excellent for communicating complex / addition to wages

detailed product information and features Not suitable if there are

Relationships can be built up - important if thousands of important buyers

closing the sale make take a long time

Can stimulate quick increases in sales by If used over the long-term,

targeting promotional incentives on particular customers may get used to the

products effect

Good short term tactical tool Too much promotion may

damage the brand image

Often seen as more "credible" - since the Risk of losing control - cannot

message seems to be coming from a third always control what other

party (e.g. magazine, newspaper) people write or say about your

Cheap way of reaching many customers - if the product

publicity is achieved through the right media

DECIDE ON MESSAGE(S)

• Advice on services promotion that has been
adapted for event directors (George and
Berry, 1981)

• Ads should feature event’s artists and staff, rather
than models

• Provide tangible clues to counteract the intangible
nature of event by showing physical facilities at
event site

• Seek continuity over time by use of recognizable
symbols, spokespersons, trademarks or music

• Promise what is possible to foster realistic
expectations.

• Other guidelines to consider:

• Make the service more tangible and
recognizable by using representatives of
that target market enjoying the event
product to illustrate the benefits of the
event.

• Ensure all promotion is integrated with all
other aspects of the marketing mix. Use one
consistent image or message so that the
target market is not confused.

COST

• Difficult to resolve – amount to spend on
promotion

• Ray’s (1982) advises three (3) methods of deciding
budget.

• Judgmental approaches
• Can be arbitrary (random) or percentage sales
• Arbitrary: may be based on what was spent last
year and similar type of event.
• Percentage sale: alternatively, the amount can be
decided as percentage of sales, either last year’s or
anticipated sales.
• Promotional strategy is to produce sales, not to
control the amount spent on promotion.

COST

Competitive Parity Approach

• Consist of budgeting at least the same, if not
more than the competition is spending.

• Difficult to establish
• Matching budgets of other leisure activities is

certainly not recommended as:
• The leisure market is complex and also
impossible to establish what all possible
competitors are spending
• It is doubtful if many events have the revenue
potential to support such a costly exercise.

COST

Objectives and Strategy Approach

• Comes from the marketing process

• Marketing process: Setting marketing

objectives then Communication objectives

• Then deciding what strategies are needed to

achieve the objectives.

• Example:

• Promotion spending VS Forecast Revenue

• Forecast Revenue = RM7000

• Spending for promotion = RM5000

• This is foolish decision

IMPORTANT OF PROMOTION

• To inform the public
• To promote the event
• To increase the number of audience
• To persuade the public about event

PROMOTIONAL MIX

• Television commercial
• Radio commercial
• Banners
• Billboards
• Website
• Flyers
• Press conferences
• Posters
• Newspaper advertisements
• Mobile advertisements – e.g. buses, taxis
• Internet, social networks, email, sms
• Etc

SUMMARY

• Promotion is a central element of the Marketing mix.
• A promotional activity is any effort made by a business to

communicate with potential customers.
• The most common and widely used promotions are

Personal selling, Advertising and Sales Promotions.
• Advertising is any form of paid, non-personal presentation

by an identified sponsor.
• Sales promotions are designed to supplement and

extend other promotional activities (usually advertising).
• Publicity is a non-personal form of promotion that is

designed to build a positive attitude towards the
company.

You’ll be evaluate
based on the following
criteria:
1. Organization
2. Clarity
3. Design
4. Creativity
5. Spelling/ Grammar