First Listening
Please listen to a short passage carefully and prepare to answer some questions. Are you familiar with sales-promotion techniques? As a means supplementary to advertising, personal selling, and publicity, sales promotion has become increasingly popular. Its varied and numerous techniques, used in a promotional campaign, often turn out to be more humane and direct than media advertising. Compared with five years ago, three of five firms had moved to increase their expenditures on such non-media alternatives as booths at trade shows and expositions, displays where people can purchase the product directly, and publicity. But one must keep in mind that sales-promotion techniques can sometimes collide with psychological barriers among shop owners and consumers. At the same time, an effective technique must be consistent with the local preferences. (Words: 114)
Second Listening Listen to the tape again. Then answer the following questions. 1. What are the four promotional activities?
2. Why has sales promotion become more and more popular?
3. Which two points must one keep in mind in order to make the sales-promotion techniques effective?
