📢 Promotion — the fourth P
Big Idea: Promotion is how a business communicates with customers to inform, persuade and remind them about its products. It's how you get the word out! 📣
The promotion mix
- Advertising — paid messages through media (TV, online, print, social media)
- Sales promotion — short-term incentives (discounts, BOGOF, free samples, competitions)
- Personal selling — face-to-face interaction with customers
- Public relations (PR) — building a positive image through press, events and sponsorships
- Direct marketing — reaching customers directly (email, post, SMS)
- Digital marketing — social media, SEO, influencer marketing, content marketing
📺 Above, below and through the line
Above the line (ATL)
- Mass media advertising aimed at a wide audience
- TV, radio, newspapers, billboards, cinema, online banner ads
- Good for building brand awareness — expensive but reaches many people
Below the line (BTL)
- Targeted promotion aimed at specific groups
- Sales promotions, direct mail, loyalty schemes, sponsorship, trade shows
- Cheaper and more targeted — can be personalised
Through the line (TTL)
- An integrated approach combining both ATL and BTL methods
- Uses mass media AND targeted promotion together for maximum impact
- Example: a TV campaign (ATL) combined with social media competitions and email follow-ups (BTL)
- Most modern campaigns are TTL — they use multiple channels at once
ATL = broad and expensive (TV ads). BTL = targeted and cheaper (email, loyalty cards). TTL = integrated mix of both. Most real-world campaigns are TTL!
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📱 Social Media Marketing
Why this matters: Social media marketing is a new 2024 syllabus requirement. It was tested in both May 2024 and May 2025 Paper 1. You must know specific advantages AND disadvantages.
Types of social media promotion
- Organic social media — free posts, stories, reels on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, X
- Paid social media advertising — targeted ads based on user demographics and interests
- Influencer marketing — paying social media personalities to promote products to their followers
- Viral marketing — creating content designed to be shared widely by users themselves
- Content marketing — blogs, videos, podcasts that provide value rather than directly selling
Advantages
- Low cost compared to traditional advertising (TV, print)
- Reaches younger demographics who spend time on social media, not watching TV
- Highly targeted — can aim ads at specific ages, locations, interests
- Two-way communication — customers can interact, comment, share
- Brand awareness can increase without large expenditure
- Measurable — businesses can track clicks, views, engagement and conversion rates
Disadvantages
- Brand reputation risk — if an influencer misbehaves or is involved in scandal, the brand suffers by association
- May miss older demographics who use social media less
- Negative feedback is public — complaints visible to all followers
- Content can go viral for wrong reasons — damage is hard to undo
- Requires constant content creation — time-consuming to maintain
In the May 2025 exam, students were asked to explain one advantage and one disadvantage of using social media influencers. The markscheme specifically credited: low cost, impact on younger consumers, and brand reputation risk if the influencer misbehaves. Be specific!
🎯 Choosing the right promotion
- Budget — small businesses may only afford social media and flyers
- Target audience — young people? Social media. Business clients? Personal selling
- Product type — luxury goods need aspirational ads; everyday goods need reminders
- Life cycle stage — launch needs heavy promotion; maturity needs reminders
- Competitors — match or differentiate from what rivals are doing
Exam tip: Don't just say 'advertise more'. Be specific about WHICH method and WHY it suits this business.