Marketing and sales are an integral part of any business to make sure that the product reaches potential customers and compels them to buy your product. Besides advertising, sales promotion is a sales technique that takes the product to the customers instead of bringing customers to the product. Sales promotion is one of the most popular sale methods used globally to keep dealers and customers engaged with the brand.
If a brand does not utilize sales promotion techniques, it may be lost among hundreds of other products. There are numerous objectives of sales promotion that eventually aid to more sales.
Attracting new Customers
One of the techniques used in sales promotion involves giving samples to the customers. When customers are unsure about buying a product and receive samples, they believe that the brand is so confident in its quality that it does not shy away from offering a chunk of the product for trial. By offering samples and discounts, sales promotion basically focuses on generating a new customer base and building a brand on the trust of loyal customers.
Introduction of New Products
Introducing new products into the markets is among the most challenging and risky tasks, both for the brand and the dealer. If a business decides on introducing a new product or service into the market, convincing the dealer to display the goods is a huge task. Most dealers do not want to risk their clientele by offering products they are unsure about. Offering samples and discounts to the dealers can lure them into putting up your product for sale initially before it gains a place among other products.
Staying in Limelight
Have you seen your previous-favorite spice brand offering “buy one get one free” and resisted buying a set?
We understand that it is not easy to resist such offers, and the brand knows that. When they observe that the products are not as popular as before, such schemes are introduced that excite the customers and add to sales. They could be discounts, additional offers, or extra samples of other products. Targeting your potential customer base with the right kind of offers can help you achieve this objective of sales promotion.
Enhancing sales in existing customer base
If you think that sales promotion activities only help gain new customers or introduce new products into the market, they help retain old customers. Some schemes like getting a new bottle of oil on submitting two empty bottles or receiving coupons on spending a particular amount on an item can help keep your old customers attached to your brand. Sales promotion enables you to improve sales even with the previous customers without engaging more.
Increasing off-season sales
It is common to find an expensive refrigerator at a discounted price in winters or a premium electric heater at reduced prices in summers. While you may think, “what’s the need for low prices in seasons of low demand?” it is quite important to keep the products running.
Many products like air conditioners and heaters are seasonal, and the sales sometimes drop a lot in seasons of low demand. To ensure that the product maintains stable sales throughout the year, many companies offer discounts and coupons on purchases.
Increasing brand awareness
You may often come across an absolutely new brand offering samples of their product at the supermarket and convincing you to buy their product. One of the objectives of sales promotion strategies is to increase brand awareness among people and make them accustomed to their brand. Increasing brand awareness ultimately adds to their sales.
Making consumers switch brand
If you are a new brand in the market, brand awareness acts as a part of sales promotion to enable people to switch from their current favorite brand to yours. If your promotional activities reach the right potential consumers, they will most possibly shift from the brand they are using to switch to yours. However, it requires extensive marketing along with sales promotion to achieve this objective.
Encouraging B2B Sales
Some businesses are more inclined towards B2B businesses than B2C, requiring more effort than the latter. Most businesses would not want to change their old source and purchase a new brand in bulk. Sales promotion strategies allow businesses to engage wholesalers by offering some extra material at the same price or giving samples and gifts they can use. Encouraging B2B sales through sales promotion is one of the leading strategies to promote relationships with other businesses.
Stabilizes sales of slow-moving products
Sales promotions are widely adopted as one of the last resorts before discontinuing a product. If a brand observes continuous instability in the sales of a product that is not generating enough revenue, incentives and samples or discounts are offered to dealers to attract customers and present the products among the top choices. Many dealers only agree if the products are up to the standards. This way, sales promotion can sometimes give life to a dying product.
Eliminating the risks
Another objective of sales promotion is to reduce or eliminate the risks consumers sometimes associate with the product. You can give them a guarantee or offer to buy one get one free offer to attract them and ensure that they are getting value for money and their money is not wasted. This helps eliminate the risks associated with the product and improve sales.
The Bottom Line
With increasing competition, using techniques to stabilize and improve sales is inevitable. Sales promotion is one such strategy that allows you to bring the product to the consumer without looking for it. It ensures the product reaches the right potential customer base, and once objectives of sales promotion are met, they contribute significantly to sales and brand awareness.
Matthew is a Co-Founder at BusinessFinanceArticles.org. Matthew was a floor manager at a local restaurant in Wales. He lost his job after the pandemic and took initiative to make a team and start the project.
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