Promotion:

Promotion keeps the product in the minds of the customer and helps stimulate demand for the product. Promotion involves ongoing advertising and publicity (mention in the press). The ongoing activities of advertising, sales and public relations are often considered aspects of promotions.

Promotional strategy:
A specific combination of promotional methods used for one product or a family of products. Elements of a promotion mix may include print or broadcast advertising, direct marketing, personal selling, point of sale displays, and/or merchandising.

The Promotion Mix of a company includes the following tools;

Advertising:
It is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor.

Direct Marketing:
It refers to the use of mail, telephone and other non-personal contact tools to communicate with or solicit a response from specific customers and prospects.

Personal Selling:
Face to face interaction with one or more prospective purchasers for the purpose of making a sale refers to personal selling.

Public Relations and Publicity:

It refers to the variety of programs designed to promote and or protect a companys image or its individual products

Sales promotion
Sales promotion refers to the short-term incentives to encourage sales of a product or service. It consists of a diverse collection of incentive tools, mostly short-term, designed to stimulate quicker and greater purchase of products or services by consumers.

Purpose of Sales Promotion

Sales promotion tools vary in their specific objectives. They may be used to attract new customers, to reward loyal customers and to increase the repurchase rates of occasional users. Sales promotion usually targets brand switchers because non-users and users of other brands do not always notice a promotion. Sales promotions are thus also seen as a tool for breaking down loyalty to other products. Sales promotions also let manufacturers adjust to short term changes in supply and demand and differences in customer segments. They also let manufacturers to experiment by varying prices. Sales promotions also lead to greater consumer awareness of prices.

Objectives of Sales Promotion

The specific objectives set for sales promotions will vary with the type of the target market. For consumer promotions, objectives include encouraging purchasing of larger sized units, building trial among non-users and attracting switchers away from the competitors brands. For trade promotions, objectives may include; including retailers to carry new items and higher level of inventory, encouraging off-seasonal buying, of-setting competitive promotions, building brand loyalty of retailers and gaining entry into new retail outlets.

Sales Promotion Tools

Many tools can be used to accomplish sales promotion objectives. Descriptions of the main promotional tools are as follows:

Consumer Promotion Tools:

 Samples:
They are offers of a trial amount of a product. It consists of inviting prospective purchasers to try the product without cost or at a lower cost in the hope that they will buy the product. Samples may be free or

discounted.

Coupons:
Coupons are certificates that give buyers a saving when they purchase a specified product. Coupons included with other products. can be mailed, placed in advertisements or

Rebates:
Rebate is also known as cash refund offers. Rebates are offers to refund part of the purchase price of a product to its customers who send a proof of purchase to the manufacturer. These are like coupons except that the price reduction occurs after the purchase and not at the point .

Price Packs:
Cents-off deals or price packs offer consumer saving by way of reducing prices that are marked by the producer directly on the package.

Premiums:
These are the goods offered either free or at at low cost as an incentive to buy a product. Premiums may be in-pack or on-pack (outside the pack).

Prizes:
They are offers of chance to win something such as cash, trips or goods by luck or through extra efforts. Contests of talent and sweepstakes or draws the most popular prize offering promotions.

Tie-in Promotions:
Tie-in promotions involve two or more brands or companies that team up on coupons, refunds or contests to increase their pulling powers.

Cross Promotions:

Cross promotions involve using one brand to advertise non-competing brand.

Advertising Specialties:
These are useful articles imprinted with an advertiser`s name, given as gifts to customers.

Patronage Rewards:
They are cash or other awards for the regular use of companys products or services. They are values (in cash otherwise) that are proportional to ones patronage of a certain vendor or a group of vendors. They aim at building brand loyalty.

Trade Promotion Tools

More money is spent by companies on trade promotion (58%) than on consumer promotions (42%). The major trade promotion tools are as follows:

Discounts:
It is also known as price-off or off-invoice or off-list. Discounts price cut off the list price on a particular quantity purchased during a stated time.

Allowances:
They are the amount offered in return for an agreement by the retailer to feature the manufacturers products in some way; displays, advertising or otherwise.

Free Goods:
Free goods are the extra merchandise offered to middlemen who buy a specific amount of a product. Companies also offer push money and specialty advertising items to the middlemen.

Business Promotion Tools

Companies s p e n d h u g e amount on promotions focused on industrial consumers. The major business promotion tools are as follows; Trade Shows and Conventions. Sales Contests. Clearly, sales promotions play an important role in the total promotion mix. To use it well, the marketer must define the sales promotion objectives, select the best tools, design the sales promotion program, pretest and implement the program and evaluate its result.

Research methodology: Research design:

A research design is the framework or plan for a study which is used as a guide in collecting and analyzing the data collected.

Statement of research problem

Aim:
To understand the promotional strategies of LIC and ICICI.

Major objectives:
To analyze variables of promotional strategy. To know influence of promotional strategy on customers. To give the recommendation based on analysis.

Criteria of sample selection

Research unit:
My research unit is residents of Sonipat City, who uses insurance products .

Method of sample selection:

Convenience sampling

Total sample units:

30

Review of data collection methods:

In my project I have used various tools of Exploratory Research. This research will be done to gain background information of the problem. An initial research will be conducted to clarify and define the nature of the problem. The various tools used are experience surveys, in depth interviews, secondary data analysis.

Primary data:
Questionnaire design
The questionnaire consists of predominantly closed ended and option based question in order to provide some ease to the respondents. In order to make the questionnaire more effective following points are covered: Uniformity in questions and ease of tabulation and analysis. Reduce subjectivity Easier to receive response Less time consuming.

The questions tried to cover all aspects required to analyze the impact of promotional strategies used by LIC and ICICI. The various variables are analyzed in the questions.

1) Primary Data Collection Method.

Primary data are those that are obtain by the user for fulfillment their purpose. I have taken Primary Data through the questionnaire which is filled by the consumers.

2) Secondary Data Collection Method.

The Secondary Data is that which is already collected and stored or we can say already saved or ready data by others. I got secondary data from their journals, records, specimen of appraisal form etc. And from newspapers magazines, articles, internet etc I got basic information of Talent Management. I collect secondary data by referring some specimen of company and by referring some books and web sites of company from internet.