It’s a jungle out there. You own a business and you’re competing with thousands of other businesses for customers, which means you must use every weapon in your arsenal. One of the best ways to get their attention and, hopefully, make them reach for their credit cards once you have it is a promotion. People will always want a good deal. That’s something which will never change. If the price is right, they’ll part with their cash. Here are a few promotion tactics that companies use to attract new customers:
It’s possible to create even more excitement around a promotion by setting the product at a discount price for a limited time only. A product launch is an excellent time to apply this tactic and it’s a powerful approach in the tech industry, where customers can save substantial amounts of money if they take advantage of offers. Nintendo adopted this tactic when they launched one of their gaming consoles. They sold it at $250 (approximately 223 euros) instead of $300 (approximately 268 euros).
Since it’s of real benefit to their customers, not to mention to the companies themselves, supermarkets employ this type of promotion a lot. Airlines are another type of business to make the most of loyalty schemes, which they do with ‘frequent flyer miles’. Travellers collect miles when they travel. Once they’ve travelled a certain number of miles, they can redeem them and receive a discount on a flight or even travel on a flight for free. It’s a scheme that works superbly well because the flyer will keep returning to fly with the airline in the knowledge that at some point in the future they’ll be able to travel for free.
It’s all about perception of value. For a promotion to work, the customer must consider the promotion to provide them with good value for their money. It’s not as easy as just slashing a price on a random item and hoping the customers will come. A business must run the promotion in a way that gives the customer a good deal while still increasing sales for the business and allowing it to compete with others in its industry. Achieving this balance can really help sales to rocket and, at the same time, keep customers coming back for more, which is just what the business wants.
Read next: How Your Personality Is Impacting Your Finances (infographic)
Offering a freebie
One way businesses entice customers into buying a product is to offer a freebie with it. Take personal hygiene and grooming, for instance. A department store may be selling toothpaste, so they could also offer a free toothbrush with the toothpaste. Perhaps they’re selling a certain brand of razor blade, in which case they might also provide a tin of shaving gel to go with it. Effectively, this adds more value to the original product, so the customer would feel they’re getting a good deal.Price reductions
Name someone who doesn’t want to save money. Impossible. Price reductions are a powerful promotional tool. It doesn’t have to Black Friday or Cyber Monday either. They can slash your prices at any time and see a significant uptake of your products, although holiday season and special times of the year are common times to do this, not to mention good opportunities. With a price reduction a business can lure customers away from competitors and drive them towards their own product or service.It’s possible to create even more excitement around a promotion by setting the product at a discount price for a limited time only. A product launch is an excellent time to apply this tactic and it’s a powerful approach in the tech industry, where customers can save substantial amounts of money if they take advantage of offers. Nintendo adopted this tactic when they launched one of their gaming consoles. They sold it at $250 (approximately 223 euros) instead of $300 (approximately 268 euros).
Bonuses
One industry which really masters the art of promotion is the online gambling industry. Operators are trying to steal the edge on their competitors constantly and, as a result, fans of online gambling can benefit from a wide variety of offers and enjoy the thrills of the industry. A common promotion is to offer new players a welcome bonus when they sign up to play on the operator’s website. If the player makes a deposit — sometimes of a certain minimum — they receive several free spins or other extras.Free samples / free trials
When a business is launching a product or service, it can be effective to offer potential new customers a free sample or free trial. This can help smaller businesses to compete with larger ones and the resultant word of mouth promotion is a powerful way to promote the service or product. If the product or service is as good as the business suggests it is — in other words, if it meets customer expectations — they’ll be happy to spread the word. That’s free advertising, so it could really pay dividends to put some care into manufacturing a product and into how service provision.Loyalty schemes
Loyalty schemes are terrific for building up a large customer base and can increase sales. Every time the customer spends money with the company, they receive a certain number of points, based on the amount they spend. They can then redeem these points for free merchandise or a considerable discount on their next purchase.Since it’s of real benefit to their customers, not to mention to the companies themselves, supermarkets employ this type of promotion a lot. Airlines are another type of business to make the most of loyalty schemes, which they do with ‘frequent flyer miles’. Travellers collect miles when they travel. Once they’ve travelled a certain number of miles, they can redeem them and receive a discount on a flight or even travel on a flight for free. It’s a scheme that works superbly well because the flyer will keep returning to fly with the airline in the knowledge that at some point in the future they’ll be able to travel for free.
It’s all about perception of value. For a promotion to work, the customer must consider the promotion to provide them with good value for their money. It’s not as easy as just slashing a price on a random item and hoping the customers will come. A business must run the promotion in a way that gives the customer a good deal while still increasing sales for the business and allowing it to compete with others in its industry. Achieving this balance can really help sales to rocket and, at the same time, keep customers coming back for more, which is just what the business wants.
Read next: How Your Personality Is Impacting Your Finances (infographic)
