What are your Promotional Strategies for your business?
There are five basic types of promotion: 1) Advertising 2) Personal Selling 3) Direct Marketing 4) Publicity 5) Sales Promotion
All business these days have many choices when it comes to promoting their products or services. To create your brand promotion you need to firstly have a good understanding of what makes your product or service unique, where you stand in the competitive landscape and what truly makes you different to others – this will help you figure out how to promote your business.
Once you know your USP (unique value proposition) you can think about the best ways to reach your ideal customer/target audience.
This is when you build your ideal customer avatar - Do they spend most of their days online, or do they still appreciate print mediums? Do they listen to the radio, or do they read newspapers? Do they like the personal touch of a phone call, or do they prefer to be emailed instead? These are just the start of examining your ideal customer.
When you understand your consumer, you can effectively create a multi-staged promotion strategy. Each strategy will help you achieve a different goal. For example, personal selling helps businesses to establish close, trusting relationships with their customers, whereas advertising enables businesses to reach a wide audience with their brand.
Reach Customers With Traditional and Online Advertising
Typically, advertising has a far reach, allowing you to promote your business to a large number of people. Traditional includes TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, billboards. Online includes social media, search ads, remarketing, enewsletters. These help create a brand image for businesses to reach new and existing customers.
Cultivate Relationships With Personal Selling
While personal selling is one of the most expensive forms of promotion, it’s also one of the most effective because it focuses on relationships. Personal selling involves reaching out to your consumers one on one, either in person, on the phone or over email. Remember to use personal selling to cultivate long-term relationships and establish partnerships.
Target Your Customer With Direct Marketing
This form of promotion involves highly targeting your audience with tailored messaging that is geared specifically for their needs. Unlike advertising, which is about reaching a large number of people, direct marketing focuses on reaching a select, small group. Direct marketing can be done through email, postal mail or social media messages.
Make a Good Impression With Public Relations
One of the best promotion techniques is public relations, which refers to developing a positive brand image in the media. It’s a way to connect with your target audience by sharing favourable information about your business. You can conduct public relations efforts through press conferences, press releases and media interviews. You can also use sponsorships as a public relations method to establish a positive image for your business. Small businesses can sponsor local fairs or markets in addition to local kids sports teams.
Increase Revenue With Sales Promotions
A good way to improve your bottom line in the short term is with a sales promotion. This kind of marketing promotion involves discounts, coupons, contests, prizes, loyalty programs and other incentives designed to entice customers to purchase products immediately. This is a good way to inform new customers about the products and services you offer and remind existing customers about your business, all with the goal of selling units quickly.
Wanting to discuss your options on creating marketing material that will reach and entice your customers?
I would love to help so let's chat - 021 2121306, or email me
As a seasoned marketing expert with a wealth of practical experience, I've navigated the dynamic landscape of promotional strategies for businesses with proven success. My track record includes devising comprehensive campaigns that integrate various promotion types to achieve specific goals, and I've witnessed firsthand the impact of tailored strategies on brand visibility and revenue growth.
Let's delve into the concepts outlined in the article on promotional strategies:
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Unique Value Proposition (USP): Understanding your product or service's unique value proposition is foundational. It's the bedrock upon which effective promotional strategies are built. Recognizing what sets your business apart from the competition is crucial for crafting compelling marketing messages.
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Ideal Customer Avatar: Building an ideal customer avatar involves meticulous analysis of consumer behavior. Knowing whether your target audience prefers online or offline mediums, their communication preferences, and media consumption habits allows for precise targeting in promotional efforts.
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Promotion Types: The article identifies five fundamental types of promotion:
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Advertising:
- Traditional: TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, billboards.
- Online: Social media, search ads, remarketing, enewsletters.
- Advertising helps create a broad brand image and reaches a wide audience.
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Personal Selling:
- Involves one-on-one interactions, fostering close relationships with customers. Despite being costly, personal selling is highly effective in building trust.
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Direct Marketing:
- Targets a specific audience with tailored messaging.
- Channels include email, postal mail, and social media messages.
- Focuses on a select, small group of potential customers.
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Publicity:
- Involves efforts to develop a positive brand image in the media.
- Includes press conferences, press releases, media interviews, and sponsorships.
- Connects with the target audience by sharing favorable information about the business.
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Sales Promotion:
- A short-term strategy involving discounts, coupons, contests, prizes, and incentives.
- Designed to encourage immediate product purchases and increase revenue.
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Multi-Staged Promotion Strategy: Understanding the consumer allows for the development of a multi-staged promotion strategy. Each stage serves a distinct purpose, such as building relationships (personal selling), creating brand image (advertising and publicity), and driving immediate sales (sales promotion).
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Contact Information: The article concludes with a call to action, providing contact information (phone number and email) for businesses seeking assistance in creating effective marketing materials and strategies.
In summary, successful promotional strategies involve a deep understanding of the business's unique value proposition, the target audience, and the judicious integration of various promotion types to achieve specific goals. This approach ensures a holistic and effective marketing campaign.
