To promote your products and services or to improve your sales, promotions are excellent marketing strategies to try. But, you will only get the results you want if you prepare and successfully implement your promos.
You don’t know exactly how to do it. You would like to know which prom otional strategies to use to sell more. You would also like to know the pitfalls to avoid so as not to compromise your brand image during the process. We answer all these questions in the rest of this article.
The 5 main steps to follow for an effective promotion preparation
When a promotional campaign is well prepared, consumers as well as your company come out ahead. In addition to boosting your sales, it reinforces your visibility and allows you to stand out from the competition. Follow the following steps and all our tips for business if you want to increase the traffic on your point of sale or online store, increase your average basket, generate more sales, quickly sell out your inventory…
Step 1: Defining your objectives
First of all, you have to define precisely the objectives you want to reach. A company that wants to increase its sales by 50% through a promotion will not proceed in the same way as another company that wants to test a new product for example.
It is therefore imperative that you specify the results you are hoping for. Does your promotional campaign aim to increase your conversion rate to a certain level? Do you want to acquire new customers? Or is it about giving more visibility to a particular product or service?
Whatever the objective, make sure you express it well. It is strongly recommended to set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely) objectives.
Step 2: Identifying your ideal targets
No matter how many products you market, it is important to identify your targets in order to succeed with your promos. Indeed, the potential audiences that may be interested in your offer are large. It is your duty to segment them into different buyer profiles.
Why should you do this?
Simply to master the needs of each target profile. If you know the expectations of each segment of your audience, it will be easier for you to associate them with the appropriate promotional offer or the advantage that will be most favorable to them.
Identifying your target audience will help you compose the right promotional message. It will also help you determine the ideal time to launch the promotion.
Step 3: Determining the right time to launch the promotion
The impact of a sales promotion can vary depending on when it is deployed. Holiday and back-to-school periods are often very popular for launching a campaign. It is up to you to target the right dates, taking into account the specificities of your products.
In addition to holiday periods, you can also organize promotions to celebrate a special event specific to your structure (a birthday for example). You also have the possibility to make flash sales, to create a personalized promotional campaign for a group of customers or prospects. Everything will depend on the objectives you have established, the element to promote and your targets.
Step 4: Determining the right promotional technique
This is the time to think about the winning promotional formula for you. You can choose between:
- Promotion via a bonus;
- Price reduction;
- Promotion via games;
- Trial or sampling promotion.
Direct, deferred, container and product bonus sales are the four different variations of the bonus promotion.
Price reduction is a very popular promotional offer category. Here you can opt for coupons, vouchers, cross coupons, group sales, special offers…
Men love to play and compete. Making promotions using games is therefore a very good idea. So you can think about quizzes, lottery tickets and contests when preparing your promotions.
Another promotional offer that works very well is the sample or trial promotion. Here you can choose to do a product trial, offer free samples, offer tastings or do a product demonstration.
Take the time to analyze these different options in order to identify the one that will bring you more results.
Step 5: Preparing to distribute or communicate the promotional offer
Everything is now ready for you to start communicating about your promotional offer. You have two important things to do at this stage.
First, you need to identify the right promotional channels. Marketing experts recommend that you diversify your channels. So think about making a promotional communication mix using your point of sale, but also social networks, your website or online store, emails, promotional notches, gift materials…
Secondly, make sure to spread a clear message, consistent and in line with your brand image. A good sales promotion should validate the 4 S’s criteria (Simple, Spectacular, Singular, Strategic). Don’t forget that you must communicate before, during and after the promotion.
Sales promotions: Mistakes to avoid during your preparation
If you really want to boost your sales through sales promotions, there are some mistakes you should avoid. Let’s look at the two most common ones.
Know that you should avoid launching promotions regularly, especially on the same product or service. Indeed, frequent promotions decrease the perceived value of the product or service concerned. More seriously, it degrades your brand image and will make your promotional offers less effective.
You should also avoid creating promotions for long periods of time. It is necessary to play on the urgency in order to incite potential buyers to make a purchase. A promotional offer that extends over a long period of time will not produce much result. That’s why you need to limit it in time and add an exclusive character to it.
You now have all the cards in your hand to prepare your promotions that will increase your sales. However, it is important that you remember that in order to get the best results, you must work on the referencing and visibility of your point of sale, website or online store.
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