How to write a promotion strategy

Product promotion is a fundamental component of a business marketing plan. Consider the sales venue and the demographic when choosing which type of promotional product strategy will be most effective. You might need to test more than one strategy to find the one that results in the best sales and revenues. These examples of product promotional strategies are universally adaptable to any business that sells products and to many services.

Give a sample to show how great the product is. Restaurants use free samples to introduce consumers to new menu items. Costco members flock around sample stations to taste-test food products. The strategy works when a product can be broken down into smaller components while still giving the full experience.

Digital book retailers allow consumers to read the first few pages or chapter of a book. Software companies offer a trial period. You can go to the mall and get a complete makeover or a spritz of a fresh new perfume. Samples are the no-obligation way to get consumers to try and fall in love with the product.

Offering a gift with a purchase is a strategy that works with almost any business model. During the holidays, many bakeries and restaurants offer a free gift card with a purchase of a specific product. A coat retailer could offer a free pair of matching gloves with a coat purchase. Shoe retailers can give a pair of socks with purchase.

This strategy not only provides additional value for the purchase, it also exposes consumers to other products in the store. A twist on this strategy is a loyalty program frequently seen in several industries including smoothie stores and massage centers.

Consumers don't like to miss out on opportunities. Limited time offers are a psychological strategy that ad consultants are well aware of. McDonald's doesn't make the McRib sandwich a permanent part of the regular menu because the company won't see the return on investment needed to add a new product to the menu. However, it does make enough to warrant an annual special menu item.

Limited time offers don't always refer to specialty products. These offers might be deals for discontinued or newly released products. Issuing an expiration date sets urgency in the mind of consumers who often choose to act rather than wait and miss the chance.

Consumers love getting deals. Car dealerships have holiday sales. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are cultural phenomena where consumers seek things they want or need for discounted prices. A retailer might offer one product at such a deep discount that it is a money loser, called a loss leader. However, if this product gets buyers in the door, the chance of up-sales increases.

Hardware stores might offer a small tool set for pennies on the dollar, encouraging consumers to wander the store and pick up other items with large markups. Some retailer holiday events such as 4th of July events might tout paying the sales tax. This is another discount strategy for high-priced items such as appliances.

A joint offer uses the power and clout of another company to help yours company. The offer can be as simple as offering a $5 coffee gift card for getting a checking account. It could be a formal agreement with a strategic partner to offer your clients a discount for doing business with you. For example, AAA offers discounts to members who want to go to Disneyland. This is a joint offer.

No one is going to buy a product or service they haven't heard of, nor will they buy it if they don't know what your company offers. This is why a great promotion strategy is vital to grow your business. Some companies use more than one method, while others may use different methods for different marketing purposes. Regardless of your company's product or service, a strong set of promotional strategies can help position your company in a favorable light, while opening the doors for future communication.

Contests are a frequently used promotional strategy. Many contests don't even require a purchase. The idea is to promote your brand and put your logo and name in front of the public rather than make money through a hard-sell campaign. People like to win prizes. Sponsoring contests can bring attention to your product without company overtness.

Social media websites such as Facebook and Google+ offer companies a way to promote products and services in a more relaxed environment. This is direct marketing at its best. Social networks connect with a world of potential customers that can view your company from a different perspective.

Rather than seeing your company as "trying to sell" something, the social network shows a company that is in touch with people on a more personal level. This can help lessen the divide between the company and the buyer, which in turn presents a more appealing and familiar image of the company.

Customers who come into your business are not to be overlooked as they have already decided to purchase your product. What can be helpful is getting personal information from these customers. Offer a free product or service in exchange for the information. These are customers who are already familiar with your company and represent the target audience you want to market your new products to.

Product giveaways and allowing potential customers to sample a product are methods used often by companies to introduce new food and household products. Many of these companies sponsor in-store promotions, giving away product samples to entice the buying public into trying new products.

Point-of-sale and end-cap marketing are ways of selling product and promoting items in stores. The idea behind this promotional strategy is convenience and impulse. The end cap, which sits at the end of aisles in grocery stores, features products a store wants to promote or move quickly. This product is positioned so it is easily accessible to the customer.

Point-of-sale is a way to promote new products or products a store needs to move. These items are placed near the checkout in the store and are often purchased by consumers on impulse as they wait to be checked out.

The customer referral incentive program is a way to encourage current customers to refer new customers to your store. Free products, big discounts and cash rewards are some of the incentives you can use. This is a promotional strategy that leverages your customer base as a sales force.

Promoting your products while supporting a cause can be an effective promotional strategy. Giving customers a sense of being a part of something larger simply by using products they might use anyway creates a win/win situation. You get the customers and the socially conscious image; customers get a product they can use and the sense of helping a cause. One way to do this is to give a percentage of product profit to the cause your company has committed to helping.

Giving away functional branded gifts can be a more effective promotional move than handing out simple business cards. Put your business card on a magnet, ink pen or key chain. These are gifts you can give your customers that they may use, which keeps your business in plain sight rather than in the trash or in a drawer with other business cards the customer may not look at.

An in-store customer appreciation event with free refreshments and door prizes will draw customers into the store. Emphasis on the appreciation part of the event, with no purchase of anything necessary, is an effective way to draw not only current customers but also potential customers through the door. Pizza, hot dogs and soda are inexpensive food items that can be used to make the event more attractive.

Setting up convenient product displays before the launch of the event will ensure the products you want to promote are highly visible when the customers arrive.

Contacting customers by telephone or through the mail after a sale is a promotional strategy that puts customer satisfaction first while leaving the door open for a promotional opportunity. Skilled salespeople make survey calls to customers to gather information that can later be used for marketing by asking questions relating to how customers feel about the products and services purchased. This serves the dual purpose of promoting your company as one that cares what the customer thinks and one that is always striving to provide the best service and product.

1. Career development
2. 7 Steps for Developing a Promotional Marketing Strategy

By Indeed Editorial Team

Published May 3, 2021

A marketing campaign is an important process that helps a company achieve sales goals and establish its brand. Promotional marketing introduces new products, shows their unique qualities to consumers, builds a brand and increases sales for a company. If your goal is to reach potential customers who are unfamiliar with your brand, you may consider promotional marketing for your marketing strategy. In this article, we explain what promotional marketing is, share its benefits and provide steps to develop a promotional marketing strategy for your business.

What is promotional marketing?

Promotional marketing includes the techniques a company uses to present its products or services. The goal of promoting is to share your product with customers, highlight how it differs from other products on the market and generate interest from consumers.

There are five types of promotional marketing, and a company may consider using more than one or combining types of promotional marketing for greater chances of success. Here are the five types of promotional marketing:

Advertising

A business may use advertising to create and share messages across a variety of mediums to reach consumers. This can include television commercials, banners on webpages, images in print media and radio commercials. The primary goal of advertising is to reach a brand's target audience, as well as potential customers.

Direct marketing

Direct marketing targets a specific audience. A business shares ads of direct marketing on social media, through email and through text messaging. Direct marketing is highly effective because it targets people who are familiar with the brand and have showed an interest in the company's products or services in the past.

Sales promotion

Sales promotions are discounts and special offers that encourage purchases. A business markets sales promotions toward a large audience in an attempt to reach potential and current customers. Examples of sales promotions include buy one, get one deals, where customers can buy a product and get another for free or at a discounted price.

Other forms of sales promotions include:

• Product samples: Samples are smaller versions of a product that consumers can test.

• Coupons: These may offer a certain percentage off of a product's price.

• Lifestyle discounts: This form of sales promotion may include discounts for teachers, veterans and other public service members.

• Flash sales: These last for a limited amount of time and encourage consumers to act quickly and make a purchase.

• Loyalty programs: Often, companies offer a promotion when customers sign up for loyalty programs, which offer discounts and special rewards to encourage customers to continue buying from their store.

• Free trials: Companies offer free trials for their services so customers can have more confidence in their purchase before committing.

• Contests: Companies may host a contest to help promote a new product or service. Contests encourage customer participation and can increase interest in a product or service.

Public relations

Public relations includes determining how consumers feel about a brand. This form of promotional marketing helps a company develop and maintain its brand through customer surveys, articles in magazines or blogs to inform people of the company and generate interest around the launch of a product. A company may also monitor its social media pages to see how consumers react to certain products.

Personal selling

Personal selling includes conducting transactions directly with customers. By communicating individually with consumers, a company can persuade people to buy their product or service through personal interaction.

What are the benefits of promotional marketing?

Promotional marketing is a useful tool a company can use for its marketing strategy. Here are some benefits of using promotional marketing:

• Cost-effective: Companies typically build their promotional marketing campaigns around a budget, and it often produces a high return on a business's investment.

• Generates sales: Promotional marketing influences consumers and reaches a larger audience to help generate sales leads.

• Increases revenue: With different types of promotional marketing, a business can increase the number of sales they make with a product.

• Creates brand development: Good public relations can help inform consumers about a brand, therefore increasing a brand's visibility.

How to develop a promotional marketing strategy

Developing an effective promotional marketing strategy is important to help a company reach its goals. Follow these steps to develop your promotional marketing strategy:

1. Research your target audience

Your target audience is a group of people you want to sell your product or service to. It is important to know and understand what motivates this group of people so you can design content and a strategy that may interest them. There are several tools available to research your target audience and their behavior, such as social media listening tools that show you what consumers are saying about your brand and share their buying habits. You may also use surveys to learn more about consumers.

Read more: How To Find Your Target Audience

2. Analyze the market

Analyzing the market includes researching what products similar to yours are already available. It also includes learning about your competitors and the offers they create for consumers.

When conducting a market analysis, focus on:

• Market size: This is the total number of potential buyers for your product or service.

• Consumer habits: This includes the shopping habits of consumers in relation to your company and your product.

• Industry: This facet of market analysis includes the economic outlook for the industry in which your company operates.

• Trends: Analyzing trends in product releases and consumer behavior helps develop a unique strategy and details what consumers want and are most likely to purchase.

• Competition: The performance of competitors can help determine how you should structure your marketing strategy.

Related: Understanding Consumer Demand (With Examples and FAQs)

3. Consider advertising mediums

There are many mediums available in which to advertise. Knowing your market and target audience can help you decide which advertising mediums are best suited for your budget, brand and product.

Here are mediums to consider.

• Television: This medium provides an expansive reach to consumers of many demographics.

• Radio: These advertisements provide a larger reach to potential local customers.

• Newspaper: Print media, such as a newspaper, is great for local advertising and for reaching older demographics.

• Magazine: These advertisements can help you narrow your target audience, depending on the magazine in which you advertise, and give a longer lifespan to your advertisement than a television or radio advertisement would, for example.

• Social media: Advertising through social media is cost-effective and targets your audience efficiently.

• Billboards: This medium provides great visibility and attracts attention.

• Direct mail: Companies target direct mail to an audience, creating a personal connection that can help generate sales.

• Mobile apps: This form of advertising often manifests as video content, which has a high return on investment.

Related: Advertising Spots: Definitions and Uses

4. Choose your form of promotional marketing

You can choose personal selling, advertising, direct marketing, sales promotion or public relations to help market your product or service. Many companies employ two or more of these methods of promotional marketing in their campaign to increase its probability of success. Depending on your target audience and goals, one type of promotion may be more useful than another. For example, if your goal is to develop your company's brand and increase sales, public relations and direct marketing may be the best choices. If you are attempting to expand your reach and influence potential buyers, you may choose advertising to reach a larger audience.

5. Plan your campaign

Plan your marketing campaign by determining your target audience, market, advertising medium and type of promotional marketing. This can help create content that is suited for a specific audience and medium. Set marketing goals for your campaign and be sure to establish metrics to measure the success of your campaign strategy.

6. Conduct the strategy

After choosing your marketing strategy, conduct your strategy and manage your advertising closely. It may be useful to monitor the reaction consumers have to both your product and campaign. Monitoring reactions allows you to make proper adjustments as needed.

Read more: 16 Promotional Strategies To Effectively Market Your Business

7. Review your marketing strategy

Use marketing analytics to determine whether your strategy met your marketing goals. It is important to review what methods worked and to identify where your strategy could have been more effective so you can learn and improve your marketing strategy for your next campaign.