Developing and implementing promotional activities

Understanding Promotional Activities

Promotional activities are crucial tools used in the hospitality sector to increase awareness of the business, promote its services and encourage sales.
These activities are designed to target a specific audience and communicate the unique benefits and features they offer.

Hospitality businesses use a variety of promotion types, such as publicity, advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, and personal selling.
Publicity involves generating media coverage to enhance the reputation of the business and costs less than advertising.
Advertising uses paid-for communication to inform and persuade potential customers about the products and services on offer.
Sales promotion is a short-term tactic used to boost sales, which includes deals, offers, and discounts.
Direct marketing involves communication through direct channels like emails, texts and brochures.
Personal selling is a one-to-one selling approach used to develop strong relationships with customers.

Developing promotional activities involves identifying the target market, setting clear objectives, deciding on the promotional mix, budgeting, implementation and evaluation.
A clear understanding of the target market is crucial. It helps to influence the methods chosen for promotional activities, as this needs to appeal to the needs and wants of these specific individuals.
Establishing clear objectives for promotional activities helps in defining what success looks like and provides a basis for measuring performance.

The implementation of promotional activities involves developing the promotional mix, budgeting the campaign, and the creation and distribution of promotional materials.
The promotional mix should be chosen based on the target market, objectives, budget and the nature of the services to be promoted.
The campaign budget needs to reflect the available funds, the objectives of the promotional activities, and the chosen promotional methods.

After implementing promotional activities, an evaluation should be carried out to assess the success of the campaign.
This involves measuring the impact or results against the set objectives using methods such as sales analysis, customer feedback, or changes in market share.
The ROI (Return on Investment) is another crucial factor to consider. It measures the financial results compared to the cost of the promotion.
Evaluating these elements can help identify what worked well and what areas need improvement for future marketing efforts. This iterative approach can help businesses continuously improve their promotional activities.