Getting people to know you exist, and giving them a reason to come. Zoos, kennels, rescues, vets and pet shops all need it, for different reasons.
Promotion is any communication that tries to influence people to buy or use a product or service. That is broader than advertising — a school visit, a stall at a village fete and a sign on a gate are all promotion.
No. Advertising is one method of promotion — paying to put a message in front of people through television, radio, newspapers, magazines, outdoor sites, direct mail, or online through search results, social media and websites.
Promotion is the whole category. Advertising is one thing inside it, alongside personal selling, sales promotion, events, exhibitions and displays.
Those are not the same goal, so they should not lead to the same poster. Work out what you want the person to do before you decide what to make.
Four things every business has to get right. Promotion is only one of them — and it cannot rescue the other three.
Pick one to see what it is, what it costs you, and when it is worth doing.
Fill this in and the checklist underneath tells you what a reader still would not know. It is not marking you — it is standing in for the person who sees your poster and has to decide whether to turn up.
Do not promise anything about an animal that you cannot guarantee on the day. If a poster says "meet the snake" and the snake is in shed and does not want to come out, the snake still does not come out — and the person who came specially is disappointed. "Some of our animals will be out to meet, depending on how they are feeling that day" is honest, and it protects the animal from being made to work.