Before understanding the meaning and definition of sales promotion; there is a need to understand promotional mix. Promotional Mix is term that defines the blend of promotional strategies accepted by the marketers to fulfill their goals or targets. It includes variety of elements that help the companies to achieve best results of marketing. There are varieties of activities that are performed for marketing but there are some basic elements that are included in promotional mix and these are: Advertising, Personal Selling, Sales Promotion, Public Relation or Publicity, Direct Marketing, Corporate Image, Sponsorship, Guerrilla marketing and Product Placement. Sales Promotion is one of important element of Promotional Mix. Just like its name, the typical meaning of sales promotion is to enhance the availability and demand of any particular product. It can include media and non-media communications so that the ultimate sale can be increased. For example, after the product is advertised in televisions or newspapers, it is first provided in the forms of samples, sometimes contests are held and coupons are distributed to improve the sale.

Sales Promotion assignment help can make you to understand the whole concept of sale promotion and the strategies that are followed to have such promotions. When Sales promotions are targeted at consumer, it is called as consumer sales promotions and when it is targeted at retailers or wholesalers, it is called as trade sales promotions.

Companies can organize campaigns, hire staff for sale and offers related to it, collaborate with retailers or wholesalers or sometimes even distribute free samples, organize games that can offer such products in the form of prizes and many more strategies are followed to stimulate immediate sales. Such efforts or strategies increase the interest of consumers towards a particular product. For instance, door-to-door sale staff sometimes offers free sample to the consumers and in return they just ask for the contact details of the consumers(and also offers their company’s contact details to the customer or consumer) so that in case the consumer like the product and want to order the product; the company can directly have contact with them.

The basic aim behind sales promotion is to attract new customers, to hold the present customers, to hold in the market place within the competitors or to maintain competitions among top companies and to have the use of market research & to gain profit on its own side.It can include both inside and outside activities to increase the sale. A company can organize any activity (on its own risk) to attract customers and such outside activities can include advertising, publicity, public relations activities, and special sales events can be organized and Inside sales promotion activities can include window or product material display, promotional programs such as contests can be organized.

Such sales promotional activities can not only provide profits for the companies but is also equally profitable from the consumer’s point of view. Like consumers can get their favorable product at home, they can order the product direct from the company (if they like that particular product or sample).

• CONSUMER SALES PROMOTION
  consumer sales promotion include the short-term sales in the form of price deals(where reductions in the prices can be provided to the consumers), offering coupons, offers like winning of something (such as mobiles, furniture, trips etc.) can be offered to the consumers who has purchased such products. The products can be attached in the form of samples with other products. As technology has been increasing widely and people are having online shopping so such sample are provided with maximum discount offers (on online websites) that can enhance the sale. Thus, five basic types comes when it is about consumer sales promotion and these are:
  Sampling
  2. Free Trial
  3. Free Gifts
  4. Contests
  5. Special Pricing, like 40 or 50% discount on the purchase of 3 similar or same category of
  products.
• TRADE SALES PROMOTIONS
  to fulfill such promotions, a company need to have good social contacts with the retails or wholesalers because the competition within the market has increased and when it comes about such promotions, one need to have trust on the productivity of such company. And thereby, for such purposes special discounts and incentives are provided to the retailers/wholesalers. The retailers/wholesalers on other hand can also promote the sale of their own products, for instance, they can offer free samples to the customers on the purchasing of their own product.