Sales promotion, as one of the main elements of marketing, is the practice of increasing sales, improving product availability, or stimulating market demand. It can focus on consumers, sales staff in your company, or intermediaries i.e. retailers and wholesalers.
The key goal of a sales promotion campaign is to attract new customers and to hold the current ones while taking advantage of seasonal opportunities.
This article offers information about:
- Sales promotion definition in marketing
- Benefits of sales promotionÂ
- Steps of launching a successful sales promotion campaign
- Sales promotion by Peekage
Sales promotion definition in marketing
It's all of the non-personal activities conducted to increase sales over a specific period of time.
Most sales promotion tools focus on adding some value to the products for the consumers, such as discounts, rewards, rebates, etc in order to get them to take action and buy a product.
Some of the most common and effective tools or methods of sales promotion are as follows:
- Coupons
- Discounts in many different forms
- Contests
- Refunds and rebates
- Samples
- Point-of-purchase display
- Self liquidator
- Loss readers
- Premiums
- Prizes
- Special sales
Also read: Sales Promotion Types; Plus 18 Examples & Ideas
Benefits and uses of sales promotion
Promotion is an inseparable part of marketing. There will be hardly any profit in running a business without promoting it. Sales promotion is a subcategory of promotion and it is used for various reasons, all of which contributes to the overall revenue generation for the company.
- Increase sales to counteract competition or during down period
When it gets hard to compete with your rivals in the market or when it's a commercial low season, businesses find it the best chance to run sales promotion campaigns to keep their profit level high.
- Create interest in your products
This is to turn a profit from the unpopular products you might have. Some common methods to get rid of such products are: flash sales, buy one; get one, 3 for 2, and promo codes.
- Build traffic in the store
An ordinary customer usually gets hyped and feels the urge to buy when they see a sign saying 'sales' or 'n% discount'. By attracting customers to your stores, not only does it help you sell your less popular products, but also it helps with making profit from your money-making goods.
- Stock clearance
It simply means the process of 'clearing' or getting rid of surplus products that are not profitable for any reason. Selling overstock items at the end of the season is very common among fashion retailers.
- New product trial
If you're introducing a new product to the market, it's best to run a trial at a discounted price to test the product popularity and consumers' reaction. Moreover, it's quite difficult to persuade consumers to buy your product for the first time. There are some incentivizing methods to get them to test your product: big discounts, free samples as an extra gift for every purchase, point-of-purchase display, etc.
- Staff motivation
During down periods, sales promotion campaigns can motivate your staff to be more active and sell more products. It energizes them especially if they're on a commission-based salary.
You may be interested in: Sales Promotion Strategies: From Concept to Practice
Steps of launching a successful sales promotion campaign
Sales promotion process consists of five major steps:
- Setting the goals of the sales promotion campaign
Example: clearing 80% of overstock items
- Designing a message for your audience (customers, intermediaries, sales staff)
Example: Buy two; Get Three | only this week on labeled products
- Choose a media to deliver the message
Example: The website, billboards, SMS, Email, flyers
- Defining a reception point where you'll be meeting your audience
Example: Your shops, your website, a counter in a mall
- Putting it into action
Example: Selling the products according to the planned setup
Also read: Seven Consumer Research Methods; 2022 Version
Tips to launch a sales promotion campaign
A successful campaign would require your team to take every step in line with the tips below:
- Choose the right audience and tailor everything (message, media, etc) to their preferences. For instance, generation Z consumers are rarely likely to read your sales promotion announcement on brochures and flyers.
- Define measurable and attainable goals for the campaign. This allows you to evaluate the success rate of your work in the end and gives you insights for the next campaign.
- Set limits to sell more! Offer a limited amount of products during a limited period of time. This trick may trigger consumers to feel the urge of buying the products because they won't be available anymore in the future.
- Take the opportunity to do consumer research. You can encourage your consumers to fill out a survey to get a coupon, promo code, or free samples. It's a win-win deal; you get to collect consumer insights and they get to save money on their purchase.
- Offer real value to your customers. They should feel they'll gain something valuable if they buy your product.
Sales promotion by product sampling
Peekage, as a digital product sampling platform, runs sales promotion campaigns for SMEs and big brands.
With access to its app-based user database, Peekage selects the best target group for your campaign and takes care of sample distribution in three ways: in-home deliveries, digital eCommerce codes, and physical trials that consumers can pick up at a local retailer.
Also read: Definitive Guide About Product Sampling
Key takeaways
- Sales promotion is one of the most common and practical ways to enhance revenue generation.
- It basically works on different methods for getting the customers to take action and buy your products.
- A sales promotion campaign must have a measurable goal and be directed to the right audience.
- Sales promotion by product sampling is one of the most popular ways to introduce a new product and get the consumers to test it.
