E-Class #33: How to Plan and Execute Profitable Promotions

Checkpoint:

You have made a list of all potential sources in your network that you could ask for referral business.
You have created both a passive and active referral strategy for your business, that may include an incentive based program for your customers.

Promotion supports and strengthens your marketing efforts by driving visibility and recognition.

Promotion is everywhere. Like I said, think of all the times in a day you see the Coca Cola logo, or McDonald’s golden arches. These companies aren’t making you an offer, or even telling you what they want you to do. They’re simply reminding you that they’re out there, so that when you are hungry or looking for soda, you’ll think of them first.

Promotion and revenue go hand in hand. No matter how long you’ve been in business, or what kind of company you have; keeping your product/service in the forefront of the consumer’s mind is an ongoing process. You want to be the one they remember when they go to buy that hair product or need to get their car fixed.

In simple terms, promotion is about communicating who your company is and enticing your target audience to purchase your product or service. It showcases the marketing messages you put out into the world, and aims to achieve your marketing objectives.

It’s an umbrella term that encompasses any activity that is done for the purpose of “getting your name out there” and creating sales. It supports and enhances your marketing plan.

In this E-Class we will cover:

Why you need to promote and market your business
Types of promotions
How to create a promotional plan for your business
Low-cost ways to promote your business

Still wondering why you need to promote and market your business?

Reason One: Brand Awareness

In a marketplace that is full of variety for consumers to choose from, maintaining a presence and reputation amongst all the other brands and products is essential. This is a term called brand awareness, which really just means getting your company and its product/service known, by repetitive exposure of your marketing messages and logo to the public. Promotion is what allows you to achieve this. It also creates interest and curiosity around your product/service.

Reason Two: Repetitive Messaging

Equally important to promoting your business in general, is promoting on a consistent basis. The effectiveness of doing it suffers if you don’t commit to it on a frequent basis. This doesn’t have to cost a lot of money, there are plenty of cost-effective methods to choose from. Consistent promotion will actually increase the effectiveness of your advertising and direct mail campaigns.

The goal is to “touch base” with the public. If they gain some brand awareness and then you disappear for a while they’ll forget about you, “out of sight, out of mind”. If and when you start putting your promotional communications out there it will take a while to catch on again, and plus it looks inconsistent. And as you know by this point, the key to success in marketing is consistency!

Chances are you will need to promote both yourself as a professional or expert as well as your business.

1. You can promote yourself through networking and speaking engagements.

Building relationships is not only the foundation of a success in social situations, but also success in business situations. The two go hand in hand, meaning every situation is a chance to make a potential sale.

Some people feel awkward about showcasing themselves, but no one believes in your product/service more than you do. People sense that genuine enthusiasm and it instills them with confidence. Effective promotion begins with how you promote yourself as an individual.

The key is not to make it the only reason for networking, or at the very least not to let it come across that this is the only reason.

A casual way to create an opportunity to discuss your company is to find out about the other person first. This creates a connection and people are always flattered when you inquire about them. It also gives you the opportunity to learn about their needs and desires. Look for clues of how you could relate your product/service to help them in their life.

When it comes to discussing what “you do for a living” they will be more open to receive you’re enthusiastic promotion. Even if they don’t currently have a need for your product/service they are likely to either keep it in mind for the future, and/or pass that information along to friends and family.

This is how you create a buzz, and the beauty of “word of mouth” is born.

2. You can promote your business by complementing your marketing strategies with brand awareness campaigns.

This type of promotion is anything you do to publicize who your business is and what you sell. You’re attempting to reach a large number of people simultaneously. Examples of this are holding contests, running teaser ads, sponsoring local events and hosting your own.

One of the major advantages of using some of these methods is the organic creation of a “brand” for your company. When the messages you are putting out there are consistent, and you provide a product or service of consistent quality, it starts to “make a name” for itself.

For example, Nike doesn’t need to write lengthy description of what it’s product is, because they spent so much effort promoting themselves in the past, that now when you see their little “swoosh” logo you know which company’s being referred to.

It’s pretty hard to achieve that by going door-to-door talking to your neighbors. Using some of the standard promotion methods to showcase your logo, and expose your company’s promotional messages gets you known a whole different level.

Start by creating a promotional plan for your business that complements your marketing plan, and this will ensure that your business is consistently being promoted.

1. Establish what you want to achieve from your promotional efforts.

You promotional strategies need to complement and enhance your marketing strategies, so when you sit down to create your promotional plan, make sure you have your marketing calendar beside you.

For example, if you’re planning to run an expensive advertisement in the local paper, you might sponsor a community event the week prior, or running several small advertisements with just your logo. You can use promotion to reinforce or prepare for big marketing campaigns.

Most of the time, you want to use promotion to help achieve the same objectives you established for your marketing efforts. So if you want to increase the number of qualified leads that contact or visit your business with an advertisement, then your promotional goal would be to increase brand recognition so that the response rate on the advertisement meets the established target.

2. Decide what message or image you want to communicate.

You want to make sure that your customers are continually getting the same impression of your product/service, and your company as a whole. To ensure this happens as often as possible, you need to carefully choose what you convey.

Then, make sure all the forms of promotion you take lead back to these core communication messages. This is a similar concept to how your promotional efforts need to correspond with your marketing goals and your marketing goals need to correspond to your company goals.

In our environment we are continually surrounded by messages from different companies. They reach us on deeper levels than we realize. For this reason it is so important to maintain consistency in what and how you are communicating with your target market. The idea is that they get the same message so often that they don’t even need to distinguish where or how they got it, it just becomes their association with what you are promoting.

This can only be achieved if you don’t have conflicting messages. For example, if you’re packaging focuses on being environmentally friendly, you’re advertising campaign is about the great value for money of your product and your press releases discuss the health benefits the consumer is confused. What are you trying to provide me? All these different messages conflict in their minds and they are left felling confused, rather than compelled to buy/try your product.

3. Choose several different promotional strategies that support your objectives and marketing plan.

Place reminder advertising. On weeks (or days) you don’t advertise in the local paper, run a small black and white teaser ad that features just your logo and contact information.
Distribute your marketing collateral in relevant places. Often, grocery stores and community centers have a community board or rack card stand. Place your brochures and business cards, or coupons, in places your target market will see them.
Sponsor local events. In exchange for your sponsorship you’ll receive free advertising in all event materials and signage. By affiliating yourself with certain causes or organizations, you’ll be communicating your company’s values to your target audience. This creates a positive image, especially when you support a cause that is important to everyone. You can also sponsor events that are related to your business – for example if you own a running shoe company, you could sponsor a local race.
Use clearly identifiable packaging. Design the packaging for your products and services in a highly unique and identifiable way. The unique design will get people talking, and set your company apart from the competition.
Design a unique customer service twist. Think of a customer service strategy that would be unique to your business, and make it your ‘signature’. For example, Sleep Country’s deliverymen all wear cloth booties over their shoes to protect customer carpets. People remember little touches, so much so that it could be what gets your company remembered before any other.
Start participating in trade shows. Plug into the local trade show circuit, and identify any opportunities to showcase your product or service on a grand scale. These typically involve setting up a booth and standing representing your product for two or three days.
Be generous with business card distribution. Give your business cards out generously, including to family and friends. You never know where the trickle down effect will have an impact on your business.
Creative logo placements. Have your logo and phone number printed on your vehicle, or on strategically visible signage around your building. Think of rarely used places that can be seen from a distance, like roofs.
Sell company-branded merchandise. Print t-shirts with your company info on them, and wear them on the weekends or sell them to your customers. Or, have t-shirts printed for special events to identify yourself and your team – for example, during sports races and competitions or during sponsored events.
Position yourself as an expert. Write articles on your area of expertise, and submit it to local newspapers, trade magazines or newsletters in your industry. Reference your company, and be sure to include contact information.
Join a professional association in your industry. Most professional occupations have an association or club that you can be a part of. Other associations are categorized by industry. Generally, these memberships will provide you with great networking opportunities through meetings and functions held throughout the year.
Be diligent about flyer posting and distribution. Once you post flyers in the community boards at grocery stores and community centers, make sure you update them regularly. Hand out flyers or coupons on the street on a weekly or monthly basis.
Be a part of all local business organizations. In addition to professional associations, consider the other business groups in your area. Groups like the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club and Lions Club can be great networking opportunities, and will provide your business with sponsorship opportunities.
Harness the power of the media to showcase your uniqueness. I’ll show you in more detail how to do this in the next E-Class, but think about all the unusual things about what you do. Stories or news that the media would be interested in sharing with their audience. Then, send a press release to select publications telling them about it.
When you do get published, post it everywhere. Make the most of the publicity you do receive by posting it on your website, and on the walls of your business. If you can get permission from the publication to reprint the article, offer it to other news organizations. You can also make copies and send them out with sales letters to act as testimonials.
Secure speaking engagements. This will further position you as an expert. Approach local organizations – both professionally based and community based – with proposals to speak on topics of relevance. Make sure you are confident in your public speaking skills, and practice your speech several times before you deliver it. Speaking engagements will not only bring you revenue, but give your business exposure to targeted groups of people. You can also hire a manager or agent to book engagements for you.
Offer free demonstrations. If your product or service is appropriate, give demonstrations of it to whatever groups or individuals might be interested. Or, teach others how to use some tool you use in your work.
Run a contest. Engage your customer base with a contest. Make sure the prize is something that your customers (existing and potential) would want, and something that is related to your business. It could be something from your store, or donated by a complementary business. Promote the contest in the newspaper.
Giveaway products with a high perceived value. People love to get free swag, especially when it’s useful, interesting, or information-rich. Give away free information brochures, or reports on topics related to your products and services. You can also use this to build your customer contact database – for example, the client would have to provide their contact information before they receive the free information package. Make sure anything you give away for free is branded with your company logo and contact information.
Hold any kind of event. A themed event will attract the attention of crowds and the media. Get creative, but make sure it’s relevant to your business and your brand. For example, offer lunch with Santa to kids in December, or street-side organic cooking classes on Earth Day.
Tie in an offer with a local charity. Is there a charity or local cause that your company supports, or that has an extra need this year? How about the food bank or local shelter? Donate products or services to this cause as a raffle prize or gift at a fundraising event. Your company will receive exposure to the event attendees and raffle draw participants.
Get a local celebrity to visit your store. This may take some persistence, but it will work wonders towards getting your business name in the news. Take a picture of the celebrity in your store during their visit and issue a news release. Or, have the celebrity spend a few hours signing autographs, doing demonstrations, or performing a free show. Any celebrity will work – from local to national celebrities, political figures and mascots.
Host booths at community fairs and festivals. In addition to trade shows, consider hosting a booth at local community festivals and events. This works for street parties, celebrations and holidays. Also consider regional fairs and large-scale festivals.
Host a seminar. This tactic isn’t reserved for just consultants or office-types, any business owner can find a relevant topic to hold a seminar on. They key is to find a topic that interests and is meaningful to your target audience; things like their personal needs and hobbies. For example, if you run a health food store you could run nutrition seminars, or if you provide interior decorating services, you could hold a hour-long meeting on easy home décor tips.

Always remember to run the numbers on your promotional activities, and make sure you’re seeing a return on investment.

While you may not always be able to link your promotions directly to leads or sales, make sure to keep an eye on how much you spend promoting your business. This is a part of your overall marketing budget, and should be a part of your ROI calculations.

Also remember that the impact of your promotional strategies on your business may also take some time. When you are trying to build recognition through promotion, your target audience usually needs to be exposed to your brand a few times before the true impact (yes! I want that product) will be felt.

In the next E-Class I’m going to show you how to get free promotion that is just as effective as testimonials in driving customer confidence.

Until next time!