Promotion Process                                              

Are you making the most of your promotional activity, a strong promotional plan will ensure you maximize return. Plan it don’t just do it.

Are you familiar with this scenario? Advertise sales person arrives at your door with the latest and greatest idea guaranteed to give instant results for very little effort. You say YES let’s go and with no planning away you go. The promotion/advert/bright idea fails. The sales person made $$$’s and you made very little or lost.

 

Here is how you avoid that trap.

• Don’t make snap decisions…know your market and ensure the idea compliments your overall strategy .

• Ensure you are very clear on who you are targeting and why. Write it down

• Develop targets for the return you expect from the promotion and a way of tracking the results. Test and measure – know if you are successful or not.

• Consider the incentives that will motivate your target market. Is it price off, rebate, points, competition, free stock or a gift?

• Always try and provide an incentive that has a low cost to you and a high perceived cost to your target.

• Consider important events that may impact your promo. Organising an event on Melbourne Cup day or the Grand Final may not be the best idea.

• Consider the most effective way to communicate with your target – advertising, direct mail, word of mouth, etc.

• Consider the impact on your inventory when the promo takes off. Do you have enough stock to satisfy demand

• Ensure you have sufficient stock of the gift if you have a giveaway.

• If the incentive is financial, what impact does this have on your Gross Profit? Understand the dangers of discounting

• Calculate how many more items you need to sell to recover your original profit. You may also decide to forgo profit to win new customers. Marketing should be an investment either in dollars now or dollars later via new business.

• Consider what your competition will do about your promotion. What can you do to combat this?

• List who you will need to communicate with to ensure all stakeholders are aware of your promotion. Your target is the obvious one but don’t forget, suppliers, printers, your team, etc. Make a list and check them off.

• Develop a promotional diary as you count down to the launch date so that you don’t miss anything.

• Consider carefully all the terms and conditions and document these. Let someone else review as a double check. Communicate T&C as part of the promo material and/or refer to your website.

• Ensure that all claims are truthful and can be substantiated, know the ACCC regulations particularly when claiming “saving”.

• Ensure all your team is fully briefed and knows the full details of the offer.

• Double check all promo material for accuracy and always have someone else check.

• Always be prepared to give the customer the “benefit of the doubt” if something is incorrect.

• Test and measure – check your results and compare to your targets as the promo progresses

• During the promo check if there are competitive offers in the market that may impact your result.

• Ask for feedback from you team and your target customers during and after the promo.

• Determine if both positive and negative feedback is accurate.

• Repeat if it works and alter for a better idea if it does not.