Whether it’s a slow time or a very profitable period, chances are your small business is always open to running a promotion. Do you sometimes run into promotions that seem great in theory but seem to fall flat at the register? Let’s explore some incentives that work, both in-person and online.
In-Store Promotions
Many small businesses have a physical storefront responsible for the majority of sales. You may be an owner of such a place – one that recognizes the importance of promotions that will seal the sale. In his Shopify article “3 Time-Tested Retail Sales Promotions That Drive Foot Traffic and Build Loyalty,” Humayun Khan outlines a few key strategies to help improve your bottom line. We’ve outlined them below:
Promotional Pricing
- Embrace the number 9: Did you know that an item priced at $39 might be more likely to sell than an item at $34, even though the latter is cheaper? Prices ending in 9 seem to sway customers to complete the transaction.
- Mark it down: Reducing pricing on a wide range of products, especially backed by advertising, can be very successful.
- Loss leaders: Knowing which products are in deep demand puts the power in your hands. Provide these certain products at an impressive hard-to-beat discount to bring in new customers. Your profit on these items may be smaller with the discount but will grow when customers purchase other items once in the store. These products, known as loss leaders, are powerful ways to sell overstocked items, increase store traffic, and boost brand awareness.
- Bundle it: Customers love to get a good deal and value for their money. Bundles such as “buy one, get one free” or “3 for the price of 1” make customers feel like they are beating the system, even if the price points are higher.
Leveraging Point-of-Purchase (POP) Displays
Here is some amazing food for thought: Almost 66% of all decisions to buy something are made while people are in the store shopping AND almost 53% of those decisions are impulse purchases! If you are new to POP displays, here are some examples:
- Speed bumps: Products placed on the path to checkout may entice a customer to place one more thing in the cart before checkout.
- Dump bins: Filled to the brim with products at a great price, customers can hardly resist the urge to dig in the bins to find a great treasure, especially if they are killing time in the checkout line.
- Free samples: How can someone pass up something free? It’s risk-free and effective in bringing customers back to the store for a full-product purchase!
Making Loyalty Programs Go The Distance
Because it’s more economical and efficient to keep existing customers rather than cultivate new ones, establish a loyalty program that keeps a constant stream of incoming revenue. Email marketing with roots in exclusive promotions, sales, discounts, and promotions is the best way to maintain a loyalty program. If you don’t have this rewards program for your customers, start working on your plan today!
Online and eCommerce Promotions
If your small business makes its money online not in-store, you need to have a savvy online strategy across all your channels, especially social media. Here are some tips summarized from Dave Kerpen’s HubSpot “5 Keys to Creating a Successful Online Promotion” article, to help you get to get started:
- Make participation effortless: If you want a successful promotion, make it simple. Eliminate any participation hurdles like lengthy forms or a required login. Make it impossible to pass up!
- Make people share photos: People are much more likely to engage with brands if the content is visual. Ask people to share photos as the requirement to enter the great promotion to build momentum.
- Be mobile-friendly: Since people are viewing and entering your promotions from their phone, make sure it translates perfectly to the smaller screen. Shrinking the screen simply will not do in today’s savvy world.
- Spread the word: Want your promotion to go viral? Ask for help! Ask your customers and staff to please share this promotion with their own networks to expand your reach.
- Pay-for-play: If you want the most eyes on your promotion, put up some dollars in the channels that reach your target audience.
MEASURE How You Are Doing!
There is no way to know how successful your sales promotion was if you don’t track it! Measure everything (leveraging tracking codes) to see if it’s working within the timeline you set for the campaign. If certain promotions are wasted efforts, find what works and put your time and money there.
What promotions have worked best for you? Any flops? Let’s learn from each other!
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