Promotion is the use of various marketing and communication tools to present company and product messages to targeted customers. Building and maintaining brand awareness are common promotional objectives for companies entering the market or looking to continue success over the long term. These concepts of first building and then maintaining awareness of a particular brand in the public mind are closely related in the realm of advertising and promotion.

Promotion Basics

Promotion encompasses all aspects of marketing. Advertising, public relations, direct marketing, social media and mobile devices are all used by companies to implement promotional campaigns. Laying out the budget for promotional activities and deciding how much emphasis to place on each of these categories is integral in a company's marketing plan development. Effective promotion is generally used to create long-term branding or short-term sales promotion inducements to attract customers.

Promotion Objectives

While brand awareness is a key promotional objective, a number of other important business objectives are served by promotional activities. In general, long-term goals are considered communication objectives, while short-term goals are considered sales growth objectives. Communication objectives include encouraging brand switching, building customer loyalty, motivating buying behavior, and developing favorable associations with your brands. Sales promotions include an array of discount efforts used to attract price-oriented buyers looking for a deal. Sales promotions are used to drive revenue or cash flow, or to clear out excess inventory.

Building Brand Awareness

Branding is one of the most central communication objectives every company and product must have to succeed in the long run. This begins with making your primary customers aware that your company or product exists. It continues with consistent, repetitive promotions that explain your brand's core benefits. The idea is to project an image that attracts the attention of your key customers. Attracting customers to your brand and then delivering a quality product or service drives repeat business, and ultimately customer loyalty.

Maintenance

Established companies can't rest on their laurels and drop out of the promotional marketplace. They have to continue to stay in front of customers to stave off competitors and to motivate buyers to continue to support the brand. In highly competitive industries, companies try to push their brands up the ladder toward "top-of-mind awareness." This is a level of brand awareness where your brand is the most recognized of all providers, according to awareness studies. This is a huge advantage in expanding your sales.