Running promotions is a tried-and-true way to boost sales and move more product in the short term, but it’s also an effective strategy for increasing brand awareness and customer loyalty critical to long-term success.
Your consumers aren’t shopping for your products on a whim—they need your equipment to do business, and few things are as satisfying as getting a good deal on something you can’t do without.
Wondering where to start? Here are five easy-to-implement promo ideas to kick off your Spring sales.
Reward your clients for spreading the word about your products. This option is great for customers who operate in circles with other professionals. You can reward based on referrals alone or closed deals as a result of those referrals, but either way, the discount will encourage repeat business and customer loyalty.
Depending on your products, bundling a combination of your most closely related items for a reduced price might make a lot of sense. Doing so preserves each product’s value in the client’s mind while moving more product and increasing your transaction size.
Running a time-sensitive promotion creates a sense of urgency, and when you offer flexible payment options, there’s even less reason for your buyers to hesitate. Run your flash sale once or twice a year and pair it with a branded hashtag for even more coordinated engagement on social media.
These discounts apply to a particular demographic, such as seniors, veterans, students, etc. and typically require a vetting process to ensure eligibility. For example, November 16 is National Entrepreneurs’ Day, which would be an ideal occasion to offer a targeted discount to start-ups.
When your product is inherently expensive, offering a promotional financing option through a third party is a great way to preserve its value while making it more affordable for the buyer. With Clicklease, for example, a purchase can be split into manageable payments customized to fit the buyer. The third-party aspect also negates risk and transfers the burden of underwriting, payment collection, etc., to the lending firm while you collect the product’s total value upfront.
To name just a few of the potential benefits, a good promotion attracts and retains customers, moves aging product, helps you stand out from competitors, and increases product awareness. But even the best promotion will fail to deliver results if no one hears about it. Announce your promotion over the channels your target audience visits most and/or via LinkedIn or Google Ads, email campaigns, and of course, front and center on your website.
Your promotion should include:
Coordinate the launch of your promotion with your sales reps by making sure everyone is up to speed on the details, and then enjoy the boost in sales that comes with answering the needs of your value-conscious consumers.
While offering discounts through sales promotions is a popular and effective marketing tool, it’s important to remember that, like any tool, it is most effective under specific conditions. After all, when the job requires a screwdriver, a hammer will just make things worse.
Entrepreneurs Dan Kennedy and Jason Marrs advise business owners to foster an “uneasy relationship with discounts.” Even though a well-timed and well-framed promotion can trigger a veritable stampede of buyers, too frequent or mismanaged promotions can destroy price integrity. Additionally, studies have shown that consumers perceive discounted items differently than items sold at full price. The idea is that something must be wrong with the product.
The good news is that avoiding the potential negative ramifications of discounts is simple enough: have a good reason for your promotions and craft the promotion to preserve value (e.g., volume discounts, seasonal sales, bundled deals). In this case, we’re suggesting framing the tone and reason for your promotion in the upcoming spring season.
The Institute of Supply Management reports that 63% of manufacturing supply managers hold a positive outlook for 2021, with a projected 6.9% revenue increase in manufacturing overall, meaning there’s no better time than now to join the economic upswing and bring your consumers along with you with a well-timed promotion.