The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

promotion \pro*mo"tion\ (pr[-o]*m[=o]"sh[u^]n), n. [L. promotio:
   cf. F. promotion.]
   The act of promoting, advancing, or encouraging; the act of
   exalting in rank or honor; also, the condition of being
   advanced, encouraged, or exalted in honor; preferment.
   --Milton.
   [1913 Webster]

         Promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the
         west, nor from the south.                --Ps. lxxv. 6.
   [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

promotion
    n 1: a message issued in behalf of some product or cause or idea
         or person or institution; "the packaging of new ideas"
         [syn: promotion, publicity, promotional material,
         packaging]
    2: act of raising in rank or position [ant: demotion]
    3: encouragement of the progress or growth or acceptance of
       something [syn: promotion, furtherance, advancement]
    4: the advancement of some enterprise; "his experience in
       marketing resulted in the forwarding of his career" [syn:
       forwarding, furtherance, promotion]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

157 Moby Thesaurus words for "promotion":
   Great Leap Forward, abetting, acknowledgment, advance, advancement,
   advancing, advertisement, advertising, advocacy, advocating,
   affiche, aiding, amelioration, amendment, appreciation, ascent,
   assisting, backing, ballyhoo, bettering, betterment, bill,
   billboard, blurb, boost, boosting, broadside, brochure, bruiting,
   buildup, career, championing, circular, commendation,
   consumer preference study, consumer research, consumer survey,
   course, cultivation, developing, development, direct-mail selling,
   drumbeating, elevation, encouragement, enhancement, enrichment,
   espousal, eugenics, euthenics, exaltation, expediting, expedition,
   facilitation, fanfare, flack, flier, flyer, forward motion,
   forwardal, forwarding, fostering, furtherance, furthering,
   go-ahead, good word, hand-out, handbill, hard sell, hawking,
   headway, helping, helping along, high-pressure salesmanship,
   hoarding, honorable mention, huckstering, hype, improvement,
   improving, inspiration, inspiriting, jobbing, leaflet, lift,
   low-pressure salesmanship, mail-order selling, march,
   market research, marketing, marketing research, melioration, mend,
   mending, merchandising, nurturing, ongoing, onward course, passage,
   peddling, pickup, placard, plug, plugging, poster, preference,
   preferential treatment, preferment, presentation, press-agentry,
   progress, progression, progressiveness, promoting, propaganda,
   public relations, publicity, publicization, publicizing, puff,
   puffery, recognition, recommendation, recovery, restoration,
   retailing, revival, rise, rolling, rolling on, rushing,
   sales campaign, sales promotion, salesmanship, sanction,
   sanctioning, selling, sellout, soft sell, space, special treatment,
   speeding, stimulating, stimulation, strengthening, support, travel,
   upbeat, upgrade, upgrading, uplift, upping, upswing, uptrend,
   upward mobility, way, wholesaling