Promotion

Promotion, a partner to publicity, is used by an organization to gain awareness, increase awareness, inform, and foster positive thoughts of and actions toward an organization, product, service, or issue. Whereas publicity is aimed at achieving short-term awareness, promotion can build and even change audiences’ and markets’ views over time. Doug Newsom, Judy Van Slyke Turk, and Dean Kruckeberg (2004) defined promotion as going “beyond press agentry into opinion making. Promotion tries to garner support and endorsement for a person, product, institution or idea” (p. 4).

Publicity and promotion employ typical and specialized strategies and tactics. As Kirk Hallahan (2010) emphasized, publicity grows out of organizations’ intent to make some matter “public.” As such, promotion uses publicity to achieve long-term organizational purposes.

P. T. Barnum, as have countless others, realized the need for continuous strategic communication to build and advance a market and to develop a customer base for his businesses. Barnum used media messages and events to focus public attention on his circus and his display of unusual items, animals, and people. Thus, he might publicize the arrival of a huge elephant and feature its name: [Page 696]Jumbo. People were attracted to novelty, as they are today, but today people might tune in to television to see an elephant. In Barnum's day, they had to travel to see one, and it had to be taken to them. As the elephant traveled across the country, Barnum worked to get media comments and reports, which he could use in the next town to attract crowds to his show. Ever the showman and promoter, Barnum even took advantage of Jumbo's unfortunate and untimely death. When Jumbo was struck by a train and killed, Barnum used that tragedy as a photo opportunity. Images can be seen on the Web today of people standing around and sitting on the massive beast, which was eventually stuffed and put on display.

Promotion, like publicity, occurs in a competitive environment. Voices compete in a public bazaar for market share, brand equity, and brand loyalty. Promotion depends on reporters or other voices, even critics, to comment about an organization and its personnel, executives, mission/vision, policies, products, and services. Negative publicity needs to be addressed by various strategies. Some change strategies are communication based, and others may require improvements in the organization—in its personnel, plans, policies, products, or services. But change can be a positive message in promotion.

Similarly, promotions by one company or industry typically meet counter promotion when practitioners make claims seeking competitive advantage. Nevertheless, promotions by an entire industry, such as carmakers, become blended into “one” message which features the positive and complex roles that automobiles play in our lives. Thus, promotions can create culture. Automobile companies are legendary for their efforts to promote automobile and truck sales. For years, fall was the time when these companies launched their new products. Magazines as well as news features at movies covered the introduction of new models. To the uncritical eye, these promotional presentations seemed to express the objective opinion of reporters. The same techniques are used today. Print and electronic media outlets are essentially unfiltered conduits through which promotional claims flow to customers. Even as the industry promoted itself, so did individual brand lines struggle for brand equity and market share.

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