Marketing and the promotional mix

It is situated in the heart of Blackball where local meets tourist this gives the Bellevue unrivalled passing trade in the area. The business has a capacity of between 400-500, although the 500 figure is only reached for functions such as ” band night” where the tables and chairs from the dining area are placed In on site storage to accommodate the band and customer. Although spacious the pub only has one bar and four till points. It has a large food and addling area to one side of the pub and a ” vaults” area for sports and large screens.

This situated at the back of the pub by the car park. . TOPIC 2. 1. Marketing mix. The marketing mix is a tool used in the marketing and business industry to help businesses or individuals determine products and offers. Philip Kettle defines marketing as a set of human activities directed at facilitating and consummating exchanges (Kettle 2009). In its traditional format the marketing mix contains only four main internal factors:- 1 . Place. Geographic segmentation, socio-economic groups within the surrounding area and the demographic distribution. . Promotion. Gaining the level of demand desired by using different channels of communication. . Price. About supply and demands and also the techniques behind pricing, such as psychological effects. 4. Product. The tangibility ( physical presence) or the intangibility (the service/experience, something not physically present) There is an extended version of the marketing mix that was developed by Boons and Bitter to help meet the growing demands of marketing and the mix used (CBS 2013). This including these three elements:- 5.

People – Not Just the demographic in the area but the lifestyle of your target audience. 6. Physical evidence – attributes and services 7. Process All of the above act as a guideline for considerations of what marketing needs to be done and could also be used as a feedback system. In this report the promotional mix and its contents will be examined within the chosen business ‘The Bellevue’. The promotional mix could be defined as a specific combination of tools and methods used for a product or a brand.

Any promotional activity carried out comes under the following, although a lot of them may overlap as promotion within marketing can be complex. 2. 2. Elements of the promotion mix:- Selling – Personal form of selling by communication. Sponsorship- Such as sports sponsors, for example Barclay Premiership football. Merchandising- Point of sales merchandising, the positioning of in house displays, posters etc. Advertising- A paid form of non-personalpresentation and promotion.

Sales promotion- Offers such as ” limited time only’ or ” Limited editions”. Public relations- Communication with existing or potential customers. General publicity. Direct mail- Direct personal and non-personal communication with consumers. This report will be analyzing the use of selling, sales promotions, advertising, merchandising and public relations in accordance with the Bellevue Pub and how his organization makes use of these elements of the promotion mix to influence the consumer and their decision making process. . 1 . Selling. Within the Bellevue selling via personal communication is used with every customer served. This form of selling is aimed at existing customers who are already using the establishment and services. It is an intangible form of promotion due to it being a non-physical aspect of the service and experience given. This can often be a deciding factor for a customer as the service previously experienced from the company may be the reason they are deciding to return.

It is done so a variety of ways. Upsetting when receiving orders is a requirement of all staff. When a customer is order their meal they are asked on every occasion if they would like to upgrade their chips to curly fries, would they like specific side orders (depending on the meal, for example if a customer was ordering a premium steak they would be informed of the choices of sauces that the company has to offer), on all spirit orders they are asked if they would like to double up for an extra El . 5. By supplying the customer with this information you are providing them with options they may not have known about, therefore not only seeming to have well informed and educated staff which will reassure them of their choices but also making them feel like they are getting a better offer than they were, by satisfying their basic needs and their esteem needs as Moscow implies they are more likely to become a loyal customer, increasing lifetime value.

Table service is given to encourage extra purchases, such as more drinks, desserts after a meal or coffees, again satisfying the self-esteem needs of the customer as well as their social needs of interaction being met. 3. 2. Sales promotions. Sales promotions as defined by Kettle are used in order for a business to compete ore effectively with competition and adapting target marketing, by focusing on certain products and offers to a specific demographic a business has a greater chance of satisfying their needs.

Although sales promotions are not Just figured out by demographic segmentation, a business also uses cryptographic, behavioral and geographic segmentation. (Blithe). The Pub has many sale promotions and offers to cover many different audiences by using this variety of segmentation. Such as their band nights, this is figured out and promoted with the help of both cryptographic and behavioral segmentation. Previous customers and attendees to these events are sent band lists and offers that are available during these nights.

School holiday specials and promotions such as ‘Kids eat for El’ are communicated to families and outside of the business to entice passing trade. This promotion is also done every Tuesday night from pm to bring in more custom on a quiet night of the week. Locals and individuals who sign up to the Sizzler brand are sent e-mail vouchers and offers also by signing up to this promotion they are given an incentive to do so by being able to win meal vouchers and products. By doing this the company is not only attesting their need for price but also meeting their self-esteem needs creating more loyal customers.

By targeting these promotions via segmentation the business satisfy similar customers in smaller segments, than to try and satisfy larger groups of dissimilar customers. ( SIGMUND AND ATOMIC 1995) The pub also runs a cheers up January promotion, which is 2 courses for E. 95, said in the promotion to cheer up the January Blues. Super saver cards are sold within the pub, this card costs El and upon signing up the customer agrees to e-mail notification, this card entitles the customer to cheaper selected drinks during premiership games. 3. Advertising. Advertising could be defined as a way of bringing a product or service to the attention of potential and current customers, it is typically done with outdoor promotional signs, brochures, commercials (television and radio), direct mail, e-mail, personal contact and magazine or paper articles. The Bellevue advertises its premises and promotions in several of these ways. Outside of its premises there is a large advertising board on the main road with existing offers to bring them to public attention.

E-mails are sent to existing customers with special offers and newsletters tit what bands or promotions are currently running. The Bellevue advertises itself and the band nights within the local newspaper, The Blackball Gazettes What’s On’ section to gain the attention and promotes nights that may not have been known about. They also use social media as a way of getting the attention of potential customers and their existing ones. This can be found at HTTPS://www. Faceable. Com/ Bellevue. Blackball.

On their social media site the daily update their offers and information as well as their band lists and other offers coinciding with the premiership football and the rugby six nations. This form of advertising proves successful for this business as a lot of its clientele uses these social media sites and not only does it allow existing customers to see their offers but also spreads the words to their ” friends”. As with also using technology in this form, people’s habits and interests can be tracked via social networking and the right offers sent to the right people.

Nick Spryer (2013) from Marketing Cloud believes a significant recent development in social media advertising has been the move away from simply dropping cookies on to people’s computers and tracking their online behavior. And hat using social media gives us the chance to target a more specific audience and gives us a more human view of the users. The Sizzler brand itself uses a larger range of advertising for all of the Sizzler brands within the North-west. These include radio advertisements, done for each new season notifying the customer of the new menus and offers coinciding with football, tennis, rugby and other such national events. . 4. Merchandising. Service within the retail establishment itself. These merchandising activities may include display techniques, free samples, pricing, special offers and other point of sale methods. This is done as even customers who are brand aware still need to be persuaded to buy a product or service (Bowie 2004). According to the American Marketing Association merchandising is the planning of marketing the right merchandise or service, at the right place, time, quantity and price (AMA 2013).

All Carter a former BI licensee of the year believes the best way of doing this is by using ” hot spots” within the business, these are places of high visibility within the establishment for the companies merchandising (Carter 2013). The Bellevue utilizes these focal points, above the tills are there upgrading meal offers as well as starter ND dessert specials to entice more purchases, on the optics rails are the double up promotions for the spirits for and extra El . 5, these are bold red and white signs used to grab the customers attention, the beer/lager fonts have all the promotional prices for the beers/lagers at eye level for the customer to see whilst standing and awaiting service at the bar. The display shelves behind the server contain the wine offers and soft drink offers, these are set out in a symmetrical and stylish manner, but also not over crowded so the customer can focus on the offers and not feel overwhelmed.

The pillars within the pub have the latest food offers and band night posters so on going around the establishment the customer can clearly see offers that may not have been known to them. Supervene cards are used within the pub, this gives the customer cheaper selected drinks during premiership games. Whilst part of the merchandising this is also a form of advertisement as in order to receive this card the customer agrees to e-mail notifications from the Sizzler brand.

As well as on tables throughout the pub and placed within the menus are brochure with upcoming events and special offers as whilst looking at the menu they also have meeting else to read and notify them. The management within the pub whenever any new merchandise comes in do a walk around of the premises to find the most suitable places and hot points for such promotional materials. Peter Trucker believes that the best way to define marketing is by looking through the eyes of a customer, by doing such things as this the company is adopting that thought and using it to best display itself to its customers.

The sales and marketing team within the Sizzler brand establish most of the promotional materials, be this the flyers, posters, media advertisements and other promotions and offers. Little is decided in house. By the sales team using the marketing techniques such as forms of feedback and technology (such as social media and online surveys) they may be able to identify the market more easily and target their audiences more efficiently.

As this business is within the hospitality industry it is different to other retail sectors due to the fact that it is not Just the product that is being sold but also the service and experience given. The personal service within an establishment may be a unique selling point for a business and an for a business of its sort is personal selling. Within this business a wide variety of rumination tools and methods are adopted in order for more potential and existing customers to be identified and given information of the products and services.