I'm sure you've heard the saying, "Timing is Everything." This is never more prevalent than when launching a promotion. So before you jump out and launch your big promotion, check-out these helpful tips to optimize the timeliness of your promotion.
It’s a Strategy Tool, Not a Foundational Concept
I'm sure you've seen it in your mailbox; “biggest event ever", "sale of the century", "sale to end all sales” mailer used to push the FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) phobia to generate immediate sales. Did you respond to it? Probably not. These promotions are so common that they’ve become tired, and even worse, the customer begins to wonder if they ever had a shot at a fair price. Overused promotions can give your audience the impression that you’re not quite sure what your prices normally are. There’s always a sale, and the perceived value of your product or service starts to plummet.
A promotion is a strategy, and it should have a clear purpose behind it. Are you trying to create excitement around a new product? Or maybe you’re in a new location, and you’d like to draw attention to your move.
A promotion should never be solely about moving inventory or boosting sales. Otherwise, that’s all it will be to your customers, too: a way to commoditize your offerings and get a deal. Next week, they’ll happily go back to your competitor because they feel no lasting connection to your brand.
Case Study: One Great Reason for a Promotion
One solid strategy for running a promotion is to learn more about your audience. With information about their hobbies, interests, job roles, and more, you can create highly-targeted content and ads that speak directly to them and boost engagement.
Through a promotion, you can find out contact and profile information to better understand who buys your products and services, and why. You can learn about what problems you’re solving and what other problems you should attempt to solve for your audiences.
Take NewEgg, an online retail site that recruited DirectMail.io to run a “March Madness Man Cave Giveaway.” Offering three levels of man caves as prizes, the promotion required the completion of a detailed application. While marketers initially wondered whether people would volunteer that level of information for a chance at a man cave, they were thrilled to see more than 225,000 entries arrive, with 33% of applicants never having shopped at NewEgg.
This promotion was a huge success for several reasons. NewEgg was able to create awareness and sent new and current shoppers to their site to shop (and buy). Sales increased by 133%. Secondly, they were able to capture valuable contact information and insight in order to build a marketing database to create personal engagement with potential buyers for future campaigns.
Like the NewEgg promotion demonstrated, the right offer will entice your audience to provide you with the information you want or need. When the promotion is strategic, you can execute it successfully without diminishing the value of your brand.
Thinking about your next promotion? Contact us to see how our platform can help you create a promotion with teeth and value so that you can continue to build a stronger, more profitable business. Take a quick survey to see if DirectMail.io is a fit for your business.
