You began the process of defining the marketing mix, starting with the components of product and distribution. The next stage of the strategic planning process continues defining the elements of the marketing mix, and this section- Part 5-focuses on promotion and communication decisions for the promotion mix, including advertising, public relations, sales promotion, and personal selling. Use the following exercises to guide you through the promotions part of your strategic marketing plan.

1. Define your promotional objectives. What specific results do you hope to accomplish, and which promotional tools will be responsible? How will you use promotions to differentiate yourself from your competition? Remember that promotions cannot be directly tied with sales because there are too many other factors (competition, environment, price, distribution, product, customer service, company reputation, and so on) that affect sales. State specific objectives that can be tied directly to the result of promotional activities-for example, number of people redeeming a coupon, share of audience during a commercial, percent attitude change before and after a telemarketing campaign, or number of people calling a toll-free information hotline. Remember to have offline promotions drive online traffic.

2. Design a promotional message or theme. Does this message inform, remind, persuade, or educate the target market? Make sure this message will work across both traditional and electronic media. How is your promotional message consistent with your branding? Is this message or slogan unique and important enough to be copyrighted? Check with the U.S. Copyright Office at http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright

3. Will you be designing and producing all your promotion tools in-house, or do you need to find an agency? What are the advantages of designing promotional tools in-house? Disadvantages? Try http://www.agencyfinder.com to assist in your decision.