Marketing 101: Communicating your value

Why promotion is the start of a real relationship with your audience

Across this series on marketing for plant-based businesses, we have looked at the topic step by step. We began with the fundamentals of marketing, then explored what it means to understand customers, before turning to products built around real needs, and most recently to the challenge of positioning your product within a changing and competitive market.

In this article, the fifth in our series, we’re looking at ‘promotion’ (a word sometimes mistakenly assumed to be just another word for marketing as a whole, or confused with sales promotion, which is a specific part of the mix that we’ll deal with shortly). 

In fact, ‘promotion’ in the sense we’re talking about is the fourth element of the classic 4Ps marketing mix, a framework introduced in its recognizable form by marketing scholar E. Jerome McCarthy in the early 1960s.¹ Decades later, the 4Ps model remains one of the most enduring tools in marketing education:

• Product describes what you make and why it matters.
• Price reflects value and positioning amongst competitors.
• Place determines how and where the product becomes available (not just online versus offline, but where in the shop and where on the shelf).
• Promotion is the process of making your offer understood.

Promotion is less about first contact and more about shaping how people come to know you. It describes the point at which a brand begins a relationship, where attention is earned, customers learn what you stand for, and understanding, trust, and preference are built over time.

The elements of promotion

Promotion (sometimes confusingly referred to as marketing communications, or marcomms) is traditionally delivered through four main tools: advertising, public relations, sales promotion, and personal selling.

These fundamentals remain intact today, although the channels they travel through have multiplied in the digital age. In today’s online-led marketing world, an ad might appear as a YouTube pre-roll instead of a magazine page. Public Relations (PR) might come as a chef collaboration online rather than a press feature. A sales promotion may surface through a supermarket loyalty card or drop into your inbox, rather than as a paper coupon (although they’re still in use, of course). Formats change and multiply, but the discipline behind them remains the same.

Two kinds of advertising

Advertising itself divides into two quite different roles:

• Brand-building advertising works over time to build mental availability and preference, requiring sustained investment to compound.
• Sales activation advertising is more immediate, designed to drive trial or purchase, and is more tactical and responsive.

The important thing to remember is that one form of advertising without the other is much weakened. Building a brand without actually triggering people to buy won’t get you very far. Similarly, selling hard will get poorer results if you haven’t built recognition and trust.

PR and the strength of external voices

PR (public relations) is more than just getting media coverage. It is the process of earning attention and credibility through independent or expert voices. In the plant-based field, that may involve nutritionists, sustainability researchers, respected chefs, food journalists, or retail partners. PR helps when trust needs to be borrowed, particularly in categories where customers still question processing, protein, taste, or value. Credibility through PR is one of promotion’s most valuable currencies.

Personal selling

Face-to-face selling still matters. For most brands seeking a supermarket listing, negotiation is personal. Category buyers want evidence, trial data, rate of sale projections, but they also want to see conviction and to be able to trust. A good presentation is part story, part commercial discipline, and part relationship building, and it’s still one of the most decisive levers in early growth.

Sales promotion and behavior

Sales promotion influences short-term action. Buy-one-get-one-free (BOGOF) offers, 3-for-2 multibuys, introductory pricing, and in-store sampling are well-worn tools of sales promotion, but they are still ubiquitous in retail because they work. 

Today, they are increasingly delivered through or alongside supermarket loyalty ecosystems – apps, points, exclusive shelf prices. Used judiciously, they accelerate trial and build familiarity. Overused, however, they can reduce perceived value and shift behavior from preference to price-hunting, which is not a strong foundation for loyalty.

What promotion needs to achieve (DRIP)

Promotion usually serves four connected aims, often summarized by the mnemonic DRIP: differentiate, remind, inform, persuade.²

Differentiate

Plant-based shelves are crowded with lookalike claims. To differentiate is to help a customer understand why your option is the one worth reaching for. Perhaps your yogurt blends more smoothly in sauces or desserts, or your sausage tastes more satisfyingly close to a traditional favorite, or your dairy-free chocolate is a taste award winner. But remember, one clear point of difference is easier to remember than a long list of virtues.

Remind

A customer who enjoys a product once still may not remember it at the next shop. People forget, especially in busy food aisles. Distinctive visual identity, a recognizable tone in digital spaces, in-store placement, and occasional media presence all help maintain awareness. Reminding people is steady and vital work.

Inform

Trust grows from clarity. Buyers want to know what’s in a product, how it tastes, how to prepare it, whether children will accept it, and whether it contains allergens. Straight answers through clear advertising, well-designed packaging, and supporting messaging all help to reduce hesitation and support informed trial.

Persuade

Persuasion matters at the point of indecision (note that it’s indecision, rather than decision: once the customer has decided, you’ve either won or lost). A chef or nutritionist endorsement builds trust, an in-store tasting reduces uncertainty, and a loyalty-linked introductory offer encourages first purchase. Persuasion works best when it feels like guidance, not pressure; nobody likes a hard sell!

How decisions are made – two useful models

Two classic frameworks are still helpful reference points. Both models are simplified views of behavior, but both remind us that purchase is a progression, not an instant phenomenon. Promotion supports each stage.

AIDA – Attention, Interest, Desire, Action

Developed by the grandly named E. St. Elmo Lewis (an early twentieth-century advertising theorist), AIDA describes how response builds.³ First, something is noticed: that’s Attention. If relevance is clear, then Interest follows. Desire is shaped by appetite appeal, reassurance, and personal fit. Action depends on availability, price clarity, and ease. In plant-based categories, interest may begin with curiosity, but action requires confidence that the product will taste great.

DAGMAR – Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results

Defined by Russell Colley, DAGMAR shifts the focus to communication performance. ⁴ Does the audience know you exist? Do they understand the offer? Do they have a conviction (i.e., a preference) for you? Only then can a sale occur. DAGMAR is particularly useful when building preference over time rather than chasing short-term volume, and this is crucial to success in the plant-based sector.

Segmentation in promotion

Not every buyer hears the same message in the same way. A flexitarian parent may look for reassurance and familiarity. A foodservice buyer may care more about yield and consistency than flavor cues. A student shopper may prioritize price and convenience. The product can remain constant, but the communication must adapt to the needs, motivations, and language of each audience. Hence the need for segmentation – not only of your audiences, but of how you communicate with them.

Segmentation in promotion will almost certainly mean more work at first, yet by helping the right messages reach the right people, it tends to repay the effort through greater relevance and impact. And remember: a small number of tailored messages will likely outperform one diluted universal voice.

Creativity – the work of making messages stick

Creativity is so often forgotten in the rush to communicate. But creativity isn’t an optional bit of window dressing. Creativity earns audience attention by giving information shape and tone so it lands more easily and effectively. Many brands state facts clearly, yet still fade into the background because they look and sound like everything else. In plant‑based categories, the risk is very high – pale packaging, gentle greens, generic plant-based claims. Without creativity, it’s all too easy to blend into the crowd. 

Creativity works best when it helps people notice and understand without effort. A well-judged line, a distinctive rhythm of language, a color that you can ‘own’, or a pack design that guides the eye towards the one thought that matters – these are practical tools, not embellishments. The aim is not to be eccentric or noisy, but to be recognizable and easy to recall. Good creative work takes what is real about a product and finds a direct way to express it, one that can be noticed and remembered.

Obstacles and where promotion can struggle

Communication rarely travels cleanly. The process is inherently complex. For larger brands, it often requires multiple specialist layers – from creative agencies to media buyers – who each encode the message, adding complexity and potential distortion before it ever reaches the audience. Smaller brands and startups that can keep some functions in-house and work with a small number of providers sometimes have the advantage of greater clarity and less chance of dilution of the message.

Whatever the message, it will always be competing for attention, often in crowded retail spaces and fast-scrolling digital feeds. Habit plays a role too: a shopper who has bought a particular brand of dairy cheese for a decade may not immediately register the plant-based option beside it, even when it’s from the same trusted brand. Even well-crafted campaigns need repetition, familiarity, and physical presence to shift ingrained routines.

There are also practical frictions. Strong digital engagement may not translate into retail conversion if distribution lags. A product might be trusted online but unseen in-store. Equally, a listing may exist, but the message never reaches the decision-maker at home. These are the realities that promotion must work through rather than assume away.

The solution to these obstacles is not to increase the budget, but to increase the precision of the communication. To cut through the noise and friction, the promotional strategy must be built on these core, repeatable actions:

• Map the journey: Remember the AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) or DAGMAR (Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results) progression to ensure your communication is designed to guide the customer through the decision-making process.
• Know the job: Use the DRIP objectives (Differentiate, Remind, Inform, Persuade) to give every communication a clear, measurable purpose.
• Know the audience: Apply segmentation principles relentlessly so that the communication is tailored to a specific buyer’s need, motivation, and language.
• Be consistent and creative: Leverage strong creativity and planned repetition to ensure the message is simple, memorable, and physically present where the purchase decision is being made.

Bringing it together

Promotion is not simply visibility; it is the work of building a relationship one encounter at a time. A customer sees you, understands you, trusts you, and eventually buys you. Advertising, PR, sales promotion, and direct selling are routes towards that outcome, and they all need to be approached strategically.

For more support on your alternative protein strategy, contact our team at [email protected] and subscribe to our podcast and newsletter to follow the full series. The next article in our marketing series will zoom in on pricing and placement – how to make your product accessible and desirable with these vital levers.

1.  Donovan R, Henley N. The marketing mix. In: Principles and Practice of Social Marketing: An International Perspective. Cambridge University Press; 2010:282-319. Available at: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/principles-and-practice-of-social-marketing/marketing-mix/10A2E6C00D1FE0D9C5E208DE81195AAF
   
2.  Fill, C. (2002). Marketing communications: Brand, experiences and participation (3rd ed.). Prentice Hall. 
   
3.  Iwamoto, N. (Year unknown). The Origin of the AIDA Model. Available at: file:///C:/Users/simon/Downloads/Iwamoto–The+Origin+of+the+AIDA+Model%20(6).pdf
4.  Colley, R. H. (1961). Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results. Association of National Advertisers. Available at: https://cmc.marmot.org/Record/.b17334810