Traditional advertising is giving way to BTL promotions. With the development of the market and the saturation of consumers with information, the requirements for advertising products have increased greatly. Companies need to look for new, innovative approaches to promoting their products. Advertising specialists never tire of repeating that advertising should be unobtrusive, interesting and relevant. You can't argue with that. Another question: how to put these principles into practice, how to find a strong creative solution?

Oksana Glagoleva,

Business Development Director, BrandNew

It is believed that BTL promotions are most effective for FMCG companies, as they allow influencing the buyer at the time of making a purchase decision. For example, a consultant on a sales floor can switch a visitor’s attention from a competing brand to his product. However, BTL tools are so diverse that it allows you to choose an effective set of methods for any category of goods.

Regardless of whether you are promoting an economy or premium product or service in the b2b or b2c segment, you can find the option that suits you. Thus, pharmaceutical companies successfully hold trade conferences at which they tell pharmacy representatives about new drugs, and financial institutions use sponsorship (supporting the Olympics or cultural projects).

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Another plus of a BTL event- flexible budget. By adapting the promotion to your goals, you can play with its cost part, reducing expenses (table). The main costs come from producing promotional materials, hiring promoters and inviting famous people. The most effective in terms of price-coverage ratio are integrated solutions: combining ATL and BTL.

The use of such solutions allows you to achieve truly high results in terms of audience coverage and sales growth.

Another argument in favor of BTL promotion— the opportunity to demonstrate non-obvious advantages of a product or service. If customers are unaware or unclear about the benefits of your product, one of the most effective tools can be consultations conducted by promotional staff at the point of sale and supported by demonstration and sampling of your products.

Let me give you an example of a campaign organized to promote LG bread makers in the Eldorado network. The promotion was held on weekends during the two weeks before Easter. Promoters, dressed in Russian folk costumes, mixed ingredients, baked Easter cakes and treated people right in front of store visitors.

Demonstration and tasting allowed us to show the simplicity of baking baked goods. The dough is kneaded directly in the oven - and in a few minutes the fragrant cake is ready. Most visitors, having tasted the fresh baked goods, asked for more information about the ovens offered. While on other days they refused consultations, considering such a purchase unnecessary.

As a result of the campaign, every third visitor who took part in the tasting and asked for a consultation purchased a bread maker.

BTL tools

• Tasting- a promotional event during which potential consumers are offered a free taste of the product’s taste properties. The main purpose of tastings is to make the consumer's first purchase of a product. Usually located in supermarkets, large grocery stores and shopping centers.
• Events (special events)— bright, memorable events (citywide holidays, sporting events, festivals, concerts, club parties), combining ATL, BTL and PR technologies, attracting the attention of the target audience through various information channels, reinforcing each other due to the synergy effect.
• Consultation- a story about a product, most often at points of sale.
• Leafleting— distribution of leaflets (leaflets) in places with high traffic (central streets, markets; city holidays, etc.).
• Lottery— a promotion with the opportunity to receive a valuable prize for purchasing even one product. Promotions can be instant (instant win - you can find out about your winnings immediately after making a purchase) or with a delayed prize draw (it occurs at the end of the promotion among all lottery participants).
• Gift with purchase- a guaranteed gift received by the buyer for purchasing a certain quantity of goods. The price of the gift, as a rule, is no more than 30% of the purchase price. Typically, a gift is logically related to the product being offered (nuts for beer, a lighter for cigarettes, etc.).
• Switching— exchange of a competitor’s product (usually incomplete packaging) for new packaging of the promoted brand. The organizer’s goal is to switch the buyer to his brand. Switching is especially popular in promoting tobacco products.
• Sampling— free distribution of trial samples (samples) of the promoted product. Unlike tasting, sampling can be carried out on the streets, in crowded places, since each sample has its own packaging. Typically used when introducing a new product to the market.

Cost of BTL shares (examples)

How to ensure the effectiveness of a BTL campaign

For a BTL campaign to become truly effective, it is necessary, firstly, to clearly know your target audience; secondly, do not make a mistake in choosing a tool; thirdly, choose the right time and place for it. The task is not easy - I propose to analyze it point by point.

What will hook your consumer?

Understanding the client’s motivation is perhaps the most important factor in the success of a BTL campaign. If you know your consumer by sight and understand their problems and desires, you can create the right “promotional hook”.

Perhaps you don’t have market research results on hand. Well, go to the points of sale of your product and observe customers at the moment when they choose a product: find out if they study the label, what they pay special attention to. Observe what products they buy without hesitation. Talk to them and find out why they are confident in their choice.

For example, when Gazprom Neft invited us to develop a campaign aimed at increasing customer loyalty, we began by observing, together with the customer’s representatives, the gas station visitors. We found that car enthusiasts not only notice and welcome innovations at gas stations, but are also willing to share their opinions on what could be improved. Therefore, we invited gas station visitors to become service experts themselves and give their assessment of the quality of service.

Any visitor to a Gazprom Neft gas station could send an SMS with their opinion or assessment of the service and become a co-author of positive changes. 43,974 people took part in the action, which lasted six weeks. They sent 108,529 SMS with an assessment of the quality of service and their suggestions. 6,000 participants received gifts. 36 of the most active ones went on a tour of Russian regions as a real group of experts.

They visited gas stations and, based on the results of the tour, shared with the company management their proposals for improving the quality of gas stations. The feeling of involvement in the life of the brand has allowed us to form a significant group of loyal consumers.

Another source of data about customer needs can be online research. Study the discussions surrounding the consumption of your products or services and the questions asked on forums and websites. There is no topic that people have not already discussed on the Internet.

How to choose the right BTL tools

Based on the information received, you can decide on the most suitable promotion method. It should match your brand, product category and audience level. For example, a beer consumer will not be receptive to product advice, while a whiskey consumer (when a new brand is entering the market) may find it more motivating than a gift with purchase.

An action in which part of the proceeds from sales goes to charitable purposes will be well received by juice consumers, but will not be stimulating for representatives of companies making small wholesale purchases and thinking primarily about cutting costs.

When calculating the effectiveness of a BTL campaign, it is necessary to take into account such factors as the category of the product, the frequency of its consumption, the duration of the promotion, the target group and the cost-to-profit ratio. For example, a promotion that accumulates codes over the course of two months will not be effective for shampoo, since it does not correlate with the frequency of purchases: the participant simply will not have time to accumulate a sufficient number of codes to receive a valuable prize.

But it is attractive to consumers of different dairy products of the same brand, since the frequency of consumption is quite high and the prize seems more affordable.

Guerrilla marketing will be an expensive and ineffective tool for mass market products with national coverage (like milk), but can provide high efficiency for niche products, such as premium alcohol, which is difficult to achieve under current restrictions for the alcohol industry.

• Unique Selling Proposition (USP): Best Examples

How to choose a location for a BTL event

The place of a BTL event is the real environment of a person’s life, the space where he makes a purchase decision and turns from a consumer into a buyer (shops, service salons, gas stations), as well as alternative areas where he is ready to perceive information about the brand (waiting rooms in airports and train stations, theater ticket offices). For example, some companies, in addition to standard promotion channels, use alternative lifestyle channels.

Thus, coffee tasting can take place not only at points of sale, but also in bookstores. This approach allows you to reach the maximum target audience in channels relevant to the brand and contributes to brand positioning. And sampling premium coffee at theater box offices makes it possible to work with an audience that would be too expensive to reach with a promotion in 20-30 retail outlets in the city. In addition, the brand is beginning to be perceived as a product for sophisticated connoisseurs of beauty.

When people tend to react to a BTL promotion

One of the most important components of the success of a BTL event is choosing the right time to communicate with the consumer. Remember the promotion at Eldorado? A bread maker is not an essential item, and it is unlikely that anyone would include it on their shopping list when heading to the electronics store. That is why the promotion was timed to coincide with the baking of Easter cakes and preparation for the holiday period, when the consumer is ready to give a gift to himself and his loved ones.

Conducting BTL promotions during traditional gift seasons is an effective way to increase sales. A creative BTL promotion can make your product stand out from the crowd of competitors’ special offers. For example, in the pre-New Year period we held a campaign to promote LG mobile phones. It was intended to stimulate sales in small wholesale and non-chain regional stores. We played on the fact that New Year is the only time of the year when even notorious cynics are ready to believe in magic.

Along with the new LG phone, customers received a business card with Santa Claus's "ice line" phone number. Each caller could count on a gift. All those who called received 100 rubles. on account. And every 100th person who called had the opportunity to personally talk to Santa Claus (and not to an answering machine) and tell him about their cherished desire. Some dreamed of higher education for their child, others dreamed of a new TV.

The wishes of the five participants were fulfilled. The increase in cell phone sales was 35%.

Effect of integrated solutions

Recently, companies are increasingly using integrated methods to promote their products, combining ATL and BTL tools. For example, TV advertising is launched simultaneously with promotions at retail outlets. Increasingly, BTL events are developing into TTL (through the line).

Such an integrated solution, for example, was used to promote The Famous Grouse Scotch whiskey on the Russian market. Almost all channels possible from a legal point of view were involved in the campaign. The main objectives were to increase brand awareness and stimulate initial purchases at points of sale in the off-trade channel and in the HoReCa sector. The Famous Grouse has been Scotland's number one blended whiskey brand for over 30 years.

In Russia he is not so well known yet. It was important for us to attract the attention of buyers who are not yet very well versed in whiskey and prove that they are right in their choice of this particular brand. A creative solution was the “Scots know how to choose” campaign.

A viral video featuring a “picker” was posted on a high-reaching YouTube channel. Interactive fields were built directly into the video, into which users entered one of the answer options to choose from (for example, “Should I grow a beard or shave?”, “Admit what I did, or lie?”), and the Scots made the only correct choice.

Everyone who watched this video received a virtual certificate of the right choice with the announcement of the promotion being held at points of sale. During the first week of showing, the video was watched by more than 43,000 unique users, and it collected more than 100,000 views.

And by this time there were already pallets and promo bottles at the points of sale. By purchasing a bottle of whiskey, the buyer was entitled to two free drinks at the bar and could take part in a drawing for prizes, the main one of which was a trip to Scotland. The response to the promotion was over 4.5% (usually for products with this level of consumption, a good indicator is 3%). The market share during the promotion period increased by 2 percentage points.

The recorded increase in market share was the result of synergy from activations in various channels, which once again confirms: the future in BTL and TTL lies in non-standard and creative approaches.

Video review of a successful BTL campaign from Pepsi

Information about the author and company

Oksana Glagoleva— Head of Sales Activation. He has been working in the industry for more than six years, has experience in implementing all types of sales activation programs aimed at the end consumer (b2c; TTL campaigns, trade promotions, CRM), and experience in implementing b2b programs. Cooperates with Kimberly-Clark, Henkel, Nokia, Nestle, Mercedes-Benz, Alfa-bank, ICICI bank, etc.

BrandNew is a marketing communications agency created in 2001. Provides all types of marketing services - sales-promotion, digital, CRM, event-marketing, PR - paying special attention to the development of integrated solutions. Included in the top 10 most creative marketing agencies in Russia. Official website - www.brandnew.ru

"Five Stars"- organizer of business and entertainment events. On the market for more than 15 years. The Five Stars portfolio consists of projects implemented for large Russian and international client companies - conferences, exhibitions, forums, new product launches. Official website - www.5-zvezd.ru

Today, any product, from cookies to cars, is promoted through marketing campaigns.

BTL promotion is a sales promotion event that is designed strictly for the target audience of the product.

They are only part of a marketing plan, but promotions can quickly influence sales and the opinion of potential buyers about a product or brand.

There is never a guarantee that a promotion will work. You can spend a large amount of money, but still not recoup the advertising. To prevent this from happening, you need to have complete information about promotional advertising and BTL marketing, which is what we will do.

BTL marketing

In marketing there are concepts: ATL and BTL events. ATL are basic marketing activities that target a wide audience and maximum reach, such as radio or television advertising. BTL events “below the line” are a targeted impact on the target audience through direct contact between the buyer and the product.

At the time of introducing a new product to the market or a decline in sales, BTL shares are an indispensable tool, acting instantly.

Types of BTL advertising

1. Surprises and pranks - the most common type of promotion. You've all seen promotional stickers on the packaging of crackers or chips with the inscription: "A gift in every package" or “Take part in the drawing for a cool scooter”. This type of promotion is called a lottery or drawing. It is he who actively influences the target audience quickly and effectively, especially on products for children. Children love surprises; they wait for the promised gift in a package of corn sticks again and again, begging dad or mom to buy more. This type of promotion can be used not only in the field of sales of goods but also services, for example: “Make three trips in our taxi and become a participant in the promotion - a trip to Turkey for two!” As you can see, this type of promotion can have both an immediate and long-term effect. Think for yourself which type is right for your product.
2. Sponsorship, patronage– is an effective BTL event mainly to increase brand awareness in the target market and the favor of the target audience. Think of sponsoring companies at football matches or boxing fights. When you sit at the stadium and watch a match, and a car brand is depicted on the banners, you do not have a desire to buy a car of this brand, but the image and trust in it subconsciously grow. Patronage is a great way to remind a certain group of people about yourself. This type of promotion increases trust and loyalty to your brand.
3. Competitions as an advertising tool have become widespread on social networks. The main goal of the competition is to attract the visitor’s attention to a certain page and take an action on it (like, repost, comment). For example, visitors to a certain chain of cinemas or restaurants can receive a discount coupon if they repost an advertisement for a restaurant or film to three of their friends. This can be either a guaranteed prize or a chance to win by participating in a drawing. This type of promotion is gaining momentum since organizing such a BTL event does not require much time or high costs.
4. Exchange of old goods for new ones. A great way to motivate the buyer to get rid of an old item and buy a new one. You solve 2 problems and attract only your target audience, only to your brand! This is popular in the sales of electronics (phones and household appliances), cars (trade-in), cigarettes (your printed pack for our new one) and even clothing (fur, leather).
5. Promotion(promotion) is the exhibition of a product or information about a product in places where the intended target audience gathers (supermarkets, recreation areas), with the opportunity to get advice from a promoter specialist. This type of promotion requires the presence of a place for promotion (stand, table), the presence of a promoter near the product and the presence of the product itself. With this type of BTL promotions, you can promote not only food products, but also tickets, certificates (cinema, theater, zoo, restaurant, entertainment, etc.), cars and other equipment, cosmetics, mobile communications starter packages and much more.
6. Sampling differs from promotion in that the product can simply be distributed to people for independent testing or study right on the streets, the product or a sample for it (shampoo, perfume, coffee, tea, etc.)
7. Information through printed materials, brochures, leaflets, flyers, price lists. To convey promotions and information about a product or service, this type of promotion is ideal. In places with a large flow of people (stops, metro, places of rest and food), distributing leaflets helps to reach a large part of the target audience. For example, if a product or event concerns women, then distribution is carried out to women; if it is a children's party, then preference is given to couples with children and people over 18 years of age. This type of promotion is especially effective if it is carried out locally in the area of ​​the future event, so residents of this area will not only learn, for example, about the opening of a children's store, but some of them may make their first purchases there.
8. Product discounts. If a person sees a 50% discount, then he involuntarily pays attention to the store, the product, and what exactly the discount is for. This stimulates sales and attracts additional traffic. Such promotions should be limited in time, otherwise the inscription: “50% discount” may become commonplace and no one will notice it. Give shoppers a break to create excitement again with discounts.

Since such events are not very expensive compared to ATL events, their popularity is great, but they require good planning and organization.

What is needed to carry out BTL promotions?

Firstly you need to know the letter of the law:

1. place and time of the promotion;
2. specific product;
3. clear conditions of the draw indicating the validity period of the promotion;
4. number and name of prizes (if any);
5. drawn up promotion plan;
6. Events and conditions of the promotion must not violate other laws.

Secondly, you need to understand where to start organizing a promotion, where exactly to start? Here is a detailed list of actions that will help you organize a BTL event:

• When developing a product, marketers study their target audience; you must know who might be interested in your product. You must understand who exactly your clients will be. About .
• We determine the method of promotion. As you already understand, there are many types of promotions, but which one will work for you, you need to think and analyze. If you are promoting a new wine brand, then Promotion is the best way for you. A potential buyer who loves and is interested in wines will not pass by without trying. And if you are advertising a new pizzeria, then flyers on the street and competitions on the Internet will be the best option for you.
• After all this, the budget for the promotion will be clear, which will be noticeably less than the launch of non-targeted advertising for the company on radio or television, but do not forget that the promotion is only part of a global advertising company. Therefore, determine the BTL advertising budget based on the overall budget of the marketing company.
• Who will organize or who will carry out the advertising campaign, and who will control the process? If the company has experienced marketers and qualified personnel, then you can put the BTL event on your shoulders, but if you need to cover several stores and outlets at the same time, then you won’t be able to handle it yourself. You will need the services of special agencies for advertising and promotion. The cost of their services depends on the timing of the promotion and the complexity of the product.
• By what methods and who will analyze the “exhaust” from the promotional campaign? To do this, you need to have sales data before the start of the promotion and after. The promotion may not have an effect immediately after a week or month. Don't forget about force majeure and unforeseen expenses.

BTL events, examples

BTL events should not just happen, they should be creative, here are some examples of promotions that have worked:

It’s not for nothing that Tuborg beer sponsors various music festivals. Famous DJs, active and young target audience, drive and energy. Such an event is mainly an image event, but in general it is direct advertising aimed at selling beer. But Haniken prefers beer to be around football fans.

The car dealer launched advertising on the Internet: "2 cars for the price of one" with an asterisk, under which was hidden the meaning of buying a premium SUV at a discount for which you can purchase the most inexpensive car model in the basic configuration. Over 2 months, sales of cars that did not participate in the promotion doubled.

Sales promotion Klimin Anastasy Igorevich

ATL, BTL and TTL advertising

There is another approach to dividing the marketing communications mix into its component parts, different from the classical one. According to this approach, the marketing communications complex consists of ATL advertising and BTL advertising (Fig. 1.4).

ATL advertising (ATL - from English. above the line – above the line) – communications through mass media: television, radio, newspapers, magazines, outdoor advertising, advertising in transport. BTL advertising (BTL - from English. below the- below the line) includes, according to various sources, all sales promotion activities, direct marketing, public relations, participation in exhibitions, Internet advertising and e-commerce. The most complete list of means and directions of BTL advertising is given, for example, in.

According to legend, the division into ATL and BTL advertising occurred as follows. One of the leading companies in the FMCG market (fast moving consumer goods – fast-moving consumer goods), presumably - Procter & Gamble, having planned the total amount of the advertising budget, began to distribute it across various media: television, magazines, billboards on the streets, etc. As a result, an amount was received that turned out to be less than the planned amount of advertising budget, but it was not practical to spend more on advertising in the media. Marketers “drew a line” and wrote the remaining funds under it. They decided to use it for distributing samples, holding lotteries, etc. Part of the funds that were planned for mass advertising turned out to be “above the line,” and the money for activities to stimulate buyers was “below the line.”

Characterizing ATL and BTL advertising, they note that the first type of advertising is a traditional one-sided (direct) impact on the buyer’s consciousness without including him in a dialogue with the seller of the product, manufacturer or trade organization. BTL advertising involves the establishment of closer relationships, dialogue, feedback, interest and involvement of the buyer in communication with the product and brand.

Figure 1.5 shows one of the classifications of sales promotion from the point of view of BTL advertising.

Rice. 1.5. Classification of incentive areas in BTL advertising

In a narrower interpretation, BTL is a set of services related to the organization and implementation of events to stimulate end buyers. An even narrower understanding of this term is stimulating buyers at points of sale and conducting promotional campaigns. In any approach, it is noted that BTL advertising arose on the basis of sales promotion activities (sales promotions). In Russia there is the Russian Association of Marketing Services (RAMU), which unites specialized BTL agencies that provide services for organizing and conducting sales promotion events. Agencies provide services for the distribution of free samples by promoters (special personnel), tastings, organizing competitions, lotteries using ATL advertising as a means of communication, organizing holidays, folk festivals, and providing services in exhibition activities.

The term TTL (from English) was also introduced. through the line – through the line), advertising that combines the use of ATL and BTL advertising methods. This term, in fact, is an analogue of the concept of integrated marketing communications, when ATL and BTL advertising techniques are used together to enhance the effect and overcome the disadvantages of large-scale advertising that does not have personal contact and is narrow in scope of personal selling.