Asking what makes an effective promotion is, unfortunately, like asking someone what makes an effective song -- or what makes an effective sandwich. Without a generally agreed upon set of criteria, one cannot say what makes an effective anything.

Some may say that an effective promotion is one that works; one that achieves what it was designed to do. But promotions can work … and not work at the same time. An effective painkiller stops you from feeling pain. But what if it also puts you to sleep for thirty hours or makes your stomach upset? Is that still an effective painkiller?

Effective is different than excellent.

Answer the question of promotion effectiveness by enlarging the topic slightly to address promotion excellence (which begins with effectiveness, but goes much further).

Excellent promotions are crafted toward achieving a specific result within the overall marketing of a product or service. To achieve an excellent promotion you must know the desired result and understand the marketing context within which this goal is being sought.

For example, if Tiffany’s has a goal of driving sales for Valentine's Day they could put $50.00 discount coupons into bags of Hershey Kisses … but that tactic would ignore the marketing strategy and exclusive brand positioning that Tiffany has cultivated since 1837.

Experience has shown that promotion is primarily used to accomplish results across two main categories -- Transactional and Relationship.

As the names imply, transactional promotional tactics are associated with the actual purchase of a product or service, or a visit to a distributor/retailer. Relationship tactics are focused on the customers’ relationship with the product, service or distributor/retailer.

Understanding the differences between these two strategic uses of promotion is significant as we work toward identifying what makes a promotion excellent.