Sales promotion is one of the several ways companies/corporations/business owners reward their customers and in turn project their business to attract more customers.
It is all communications activities that attempt to provide added value or incentives to consumers, wholesalers, retailers, or other organizational customers to stimulate immediate sales.
The primary aim of every company running a sales promotion is to increase the customer base and increase the trust of existing customers.
When a sales promotion fails to achieve these primary objectives, it is deemed ineffective.
Before you run your next sales promo, you should take various factors into consideration.
Your sales promo should rather than piss off/rip off existing customers, it should convince them to stick with you.
If you are planning for your next sales promotion you should ask yourself the following:
- Is it going to be very costly? Will the promo cost your company a fortune?
- Is it going to reward only a few people?
- Is it going to look like lottery?
- Is it looking fictitious e.g. (win 100 million)?
- Is it going to exploit your customers?
If all the above questions are in affirmative then you are in for your worst sales promotion. Sales promo like this affects companies’ ratings negatively, if not in the short run, in the long run.
While planning your next sales promotion, ensure you have adequate resources to meet the demands that come with the promotion.
A service based business running a sales promo during which potential customers have to wait a long queue to get attended to is giving the wrong signal. Customer satisfaction is the key!
Take adequate time to study your market and know what will appeal to consumers.
A good sales promotion should
– Be very simple and rewarding for instance a promotion should be like this: Attach a little less costly item like books, pens, shirts, cups, etc with your company’s logo to your product or service.
Such that once a customer purchases your good/service they get it. Better still take a survey to know what your customers like most.
– Not be like gambling, jackpot, lotto, lucky dip etc For example a sales promotion saying buy 20 packs of tea or anything you get a raffle ticket and stand a chance of winning one million or five million. It is EXPLOITING!! Rather, it should be buy 20 packs of tea or anything and get 10% or 20% discount or Buy three packs and take one free. The later and so many other examples is the ideal and really rewarding!!
– It should make customers happy/proud of your brand and your competitors/their customers jittery and envy. A sales promotion where you offer your customers essential services as a reward for their patronage is ideal for example A cosmetics company offering to pedicure and manicure the nails of their customers free of charge when they purchase their product or a pharmaceutical company offering free blood test/consultation/check up to their customers when they purchase their product
Benefiting from your sales promotion
Though sales promotion is for rewarding customers, it should also be of some benefit to you.
For you to benefit from your sales promotion, the promotion must, first of all, be genuine, less costly, and really rewarding to the customers.
It is advisable if possible that you or your company repackages its product/service before any major sales promotion as this will boost the image of the product/service.
Ensure your product and service is of high quality.
Ensure your company’s logo and what services or products you offer are clearly shown on the gifts you give away.
Ensure you offer best of services during the promotion as this will make new customers happy and willing to return after the promotion (if possible recruit new hands to make service efficient)
Finally, it is a Sales promotion, and that it should be! Don’t make the mistake most companies make, who in a bid to grow their customer base exploit and hurt their existing loyal customers.
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