Below The Line (BTL) campaigns are usually more target specific. Unlike Above The Line campaigns, they are not mass advertising and are direct. Below are some examples of the types of Below The Line campaigns to give you an idea of what sort of Below The Line campaigns you can adopt to your promotion
Sales Promotion
Sales promotion are as described more sales oriented and would give immediate sales results. Price Off, discounts, vouchers are some of the types of sales promotions. The advantage of conducting a sales promotion is that it is closely co-related to your sales. For new product, it encourages trial purchase because of the lower price but beware not to use it too often as consumers can get seasonal and smart and only would purchase when you are running a price off for your product
Trade Fairs and Exhibitions
It is pretty common these days to join in a trade fair or exhibition as there are many options to choose from. Not all have large attendance and some are specific industry related. Don’t expect a good ROI for joining these exhibtions as mostly cost a lot just on the space rental alone and then there is the cost of setting up the booth and also manpower. Usually most of these exhibtions are for lead generation if you are in the B2B business which in return would turn into sales but some are B2C fairs and hence end consumers would be bargain hunting. This is the best time for you to clear old stocks or introduce a new product and gain brand exposure
Sponsorship
Purely an act of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and especially good if you do not have a proper CSR team. Sponsorship do not get any sales gains but it helps to improve your brand image and social standing. Sponsorship can be in kind (product form) or in value (monetary form) and usually works when you want to support a cause that is in line with your brand belief
Public Relations
Usually corporate companies would have their own public relations department to handle both negative and positive news. But for smaller companies, you can always opt to engage in a company that has good public relations if you would like to feature your product or event on the newspapers and magazines. Beware though because these publications do not usually promise when they will feature your event and it could be 2 weeks after your actual event is held hence a good public relations company is vital if you need it to be featured soon
Direct Marketing and Direct Mail
This is usually used in certain industries such as service providers companies eg Grab or online market places eg Lazada where they use e-mails to communicate to their subscribers the latest news. Most FMCG companies do not use direct marketing currently but its pretty effective if you would like to inform your customers any on-going promotions or contests that you are running. It can be personalized so it would seem like a personal communication however you have to be beware not to over use this because it could be irritating and considered a spam to the receiver
Telemarketing
Commonly used tactic for banks and mostly consider it a nuisance. Most companies outsource the telemarketing services to third party
