A business’s total marketing communications mix includes the specific mix of personal selling, advertising, public relations, sales promotion, and direct-marketing tolls that the firm uses to pursue its marketing and advertising objectives. Marketing communications mix is also called promotion mix. The details of these five promotion mix tools are given below:

• Personal Selling

Personal selling is the presentation by the sales force of the company for the reason of generating sales and building strong customer relationship.

• Advertising

Advertising is a paid form of non-personal promotion and presentation of thoughts, products, or services by an identified sponsor.

• Public Relations

Building excellent relations with the company’s different public by obtaining positive publicity, building up a superior co-operate image, and heading off or handling unfavorable stories, rumors, and events.

• Sales Promotion

Sales promotions are short term incentives to promote the purchase and sales of a good and service.

• Direct Marketing

Direct marketing is to create direct relations with carefully targeted individual consumers to obtain an instant response and develop lasting customer relationships through using mail, telephone, fax, email, the Internet and other communications’ tool directly with specific customers.

Each category involves specific tools. For example, personal selling includes incentive plans, sales presentation, and trade shows. Advertising includes broadcast, printing, outdoor, Internet, and other forms. Public relation includes sponsorships, press release, and special events. Sales promotion includes displays, point-of-purchase, discounts, premiums, coupons, demonstrations, and specialty advertising. Direct marketing includes telephonic marketing, catalogs, the Internet, kiosks, and more. All credit goes to the technological breakthroughs- now people can communicate through a wide range of media, including radio, newspapers, television, telephone, cell phones, fax and the Internet.

At once, communication goes beyond with these specific promotional tools. The design of a product, its price, the shape and color of its packaging, and the stores that sell the product – all communicate something with the buyers. Hence, although the communications mix (promotion mix) is the primary communication activity of a company. And the entire marketing mix promotion and good, price, and place must be coordinated for greatest communication impact.