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All you need to know about sales promotion

“Sales promotion” refers to those marketing activities that stimulate consumer shows and expositions. It may be further defined as a vital bridge or a connecting link between personal selling and advertising.

Sales promotion

In most cases, sales promotions come in the form of discounts.  As a matter of fact, discounts affect the way consumers think and behave while shopping. Also, the type of savings and its location can affect the way consumers view a product and affect their purchase decision.

The two most common discounts are:

i) price discounts that are provided on sale items and

ii) bonus packs that are provided on bulk items.

Price discounts mean the reduction of an original sale by a certain percentage. On the other hand, bonus packs are deals in which the consumer receives more for the original price. Companies introduce different forms of discounts in advertisements to convince consumers to buy their products.

Sales promotion activities are undertaken to achieve the following objectives:

1. To boost sales by leveraging the media which are complementary to press and poster advertising.

2. To distribute information through salesmen, dealers etc., in order to ensure the product getting into satisfactory use by the targeted consumers.

3. To entice customers to make purchases at the point of purchase.

4. To incite existing customers to buy more.

5. To introduce new products and services.

6. To attract new customers.

7. To efficiently meet competition from others.

8. To check the seasonal decline in the volume of sales.

Sales promotion includes several communications activities that provide added value or incentives to consumers, wholesalers, retailers, or other organizational customers to stimulate sales.

Due to all these advantages, the importance of sales promotion has increased tremendously in the modern times. Eventually, massive amounts of money are spent on sales promotional activities to attract the consumers in our country and also in other countries of the world!

 

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Lead generation strategies: Part V

1. Corporate literature:

You should know how to create efficacious professional brochures and fliers that effortlessly sell for you by educating your prospects about the benefits you offer. These brochures and fliers should be capable of addressing their questions and their needs for your product or service. Basically, your brochures and fliers should help boost lead generation and bring in as much profit as possible.

2. Podcasting:

Podcasting is a concoction of ‘broadcasting’ and ‘i-pod’. It is a form of audio broadcasting on the Internet. The reason it became linked with the iPod in the name was that people download the broadcasts (audio shows) to listen to mostly on their iPods.

It is a medium for businesses to globally distribute their ideas and create a following of like-minded fans. It is beneficial for industries such as journalism, education, and entertainment allowing anyone to freely create and distribute news and media as it helps in an enormous lead generation in the long run.

3. Premiums, gifts and offers:

The Lead generation offers, gifts and premiums are irresistible bribes that give a piece of valuable information to the sales prospects in exchange for their contact information. These are positioned on the landing pages of websites.

4. Profits on the back end:

If most of your sales and profits occur when customers repeat purchase from you again and again, you should make it a point that you are doing everything possible to motivate as many customers as you can to make their initial buying decision as quickly and easily as possible. Making it easy and enticing for the customer to start doing business with you by adding extra incentives or by making your initial sale at break-even or a small loss, means that you will benefit sooner rather than later from all the repeat business.

5. Experiential marketing:

This is a marketing strategy that directly engages consumers and encourages them to participate in brand development. Experiential marketers believe that consumers should be actively involved in the production and co-creation of marketing programs.

These are the major lead generation strategies that will boost up your sales in the long run.

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Lead generation strategies: Part III

1. Effective advertising through advertorials and news stories: 

Advertising is a great help when working with lead generation.  If you approach advertising in a scientific manner, following proven principles and facts, it no longer has to be a hit and trial sort of a mechanism. There are many proven ways of using advertising in a highly targeted manner that can help you grow your business. This includes:

i) advertising only in media that reaches a sufficiently large number of your target audience

ii) focusing the entire thrust of your communication on your prospect’s interests rather than your own

iii) giving your prospects enough information and education regarding your products and services

iv) offering them something appealing that’ll compel them to end up purchasing your goods.

2. Bookalogs and Catalogues:

A bookalog is a unique marketing tool that is quite beneficial when trying to make the most out of your lead generation efforts. The bookalog is a positioning instrument for a firm and contains valuable information, generally knowledgeable in nature. Creating a definite product differentiation, there is a connotation that the product is unique enough to be written about in a book. Bookalogs abide by all the proper direct response rules.

On the other hand, catalogs are lists of goods and services on sale with their descriptions and prices published in the form of a printed or electronic document. Inculcating these two marketing tools also act as a boon for lead generation.

3. Networking and publicity:

Effective networking is vital to your success. Virtually anyone you might want to contact or meet is only four to five people away from you, such that anyone you contact can further provide you some more contacts. Basically, the idea is to make new contacts, develop quality business relationships based on trust and contentment, educate the people you meet about what you do and the benefits offered by your products or services. Gradually build your network, use your contacts database effectively, and grow your business further.

You can also leverage the power of media for public recognition as media are insatiably hungry for factual, interesting, and newsworthy information they can share with their customers, members, employees, listeners, viewers or readers. PR approached correctly, will give you free coverage on radio, television, in magazines, newspapers, trade journals, newsletters and through websites who serve the marketplace you wish to be a part of.

4. Consignment selling:

Selling goods on consignment is explained as a situation whereby goods are shipped to a dealer who pays you, the consignor, only for the merchandise which sells. The dealer, referred to as the consignee, has the right to return to you the merchandise which does not sell and without obligation. Consignment selling allows a seller (manufacturer) to place merchandise in wholesale and retail outlets. This is done so as to provide an additional exposure to the buying market. It can help the retailers stock goods in inventory because no capital of theirs is stocked up in inventory.

5. E-Commerce:

These days when people want information, they surf the web to find what they need. Moreover, they prefer shopping with an ease of sitting back and purchasing online. Therefore, you need a good website that maximizes your exposure. It’s obvious you don’t want to look old-fashioned, isn’t it?

Your website needs to be appealing, informative, and easy to navigate. So that you obtain a constant stream of new prospects. You also need to establish a system that deftly converts them into customers that peaks up your sales.