Research three ways a business can promote products and services and describe the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Promotions is the part of marketing that specifically involves communicating company or product information to targeted customers. This is a key component of the broader marketing system, because it is what usually makes customers aware of you, attracted to your brand, interested in buying and ultimately, loyal customers. Advertising, public relations and personal selling are three staple methods of promotion, though some new techniques have emerged in the early 21st century.

Advertising

Advertising takes up a significant portion of a company's budget allocated toward marketing and promotion. It includes the development and paid delivery of brand or product messages through media. Companies usually have internal advertising departments that design and develop ads, or they work with advertising firms who specialize in the advertising process. Since you pay for ad placement in media such as television, radio, newspapers and magazines, you generally have more control over the message than you do through some other promotional methods.

Public Relations

Maintaining goodwill with the public is an important long-term strategy for both small and large companies. A variety of public relations tactics are used to reach out to customers through unpaid-for media messages. Press releases are one of the most common and routine PR tactics. This is when a company sends an overview of a major change or event, product launch or other news to various media outlets. Press conferences, features news reports and newsletters are other common PR tools. A general objective of PR is to keep your brand in front of people even beyond paid ads. The challenge is you can't always control the way your PR messages are delivered or received.

Selling

While business typically engage in some level of advertising and public relations, the use of personal selling tactics varies considerably. Some small businesses don't employ active sales associates based on the small-scale products or services they sell. Companies with big-ticket items, such as electronics or appliances, more often use sales associates to stress the benefits of products to customers and to overcome their concerns. Selling is one of the most interactive forms of promotion.