MARKETING COMMUNICATION: Thinking outside the Box and Moving Beyond Promotion Mix

The article discusses about the concept of marketing communication and its importance for the marketer as well as for the consumers. Usually ‘marketing communication mix’ and ‘promotion mix’ are considered as one and the same concepts and are used synonymously. All the elements of ‘promotion mix’ i.e. sales promotion, advertising, sales force, public relations and direct marketing are commonly used by the marketer to communicate the message to the target customers. Over the years, the awareness among the consumers have increased manifold times due to multiple factors like increase in the exposure to media, rise in the level of higher education, influence of ‘mall culture’ etc. Consequently, the marketers are compelled to think outside the box and have come up with innovations in the field of marketing communication. Marketers are now making use of not just ‘promotion mix’ but are intelligently using other three Ps i.e. product, price and place to convey their message to the customers. The article explores how the marketer is cleverly making use of other three Ps of marketing mix as a means of marketing communication.