Nation Branding and Place Marketing – V. Promotion, Sales, Public Relations, Marketing, and Advertising
V. Promotion, Sales, Public Relations, Marketing, and Advertising
Advantages have to be communicated to potential customers if they are not to remain unrealized potentials. Moreover, communication alone – the exchange of information – is not enough. Clients have to be influenced and motivated to visit a country, invest in it, or trade with it.
This is where promotion comes in. Not to be confused with marketing, it is concerned with setting up a trained sales force, and with advertising, sales, and public relations.
We deal with sales forces at length in our next installment. Suffice to say, at this stage, that poor countries will be hard pressed to cater to the pecuniary needs of high-level and, therefore, expensive, salespersons. Setting up a body of volunteers under the supervision, guidance, and training of seasoned sales personnel maybe a more suitable solution.
Advertising is a different ballgame. There is no substitute for a continued presence in the media. The right mix of paid ads and sponsored promotions of...