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From UPto75.com we present to you another 20 promotional ideas, the concluding article of this series totaling 50 promotional plans. These 50 ideas are culled from plans and trends we have noticed across the world that could help you increase your sales. The response to the 30 promotional ideas we shared earlier has been highly encouraging and has prompted us to share our expertise and learning further, so that it benefits more merchants.
Each of the ideas given below can be adapted for different purposes to increase sales so we suggest that you use the one that is most appropriate to your business. So, here come the next 20 promotional ideas that could take your business to the next level.
1: Guess and Win: To promote your place and the experience it gives to customers, there can be no offer more sensational than this. Let your customers guess or predict the outcome of a sports event due on a specific day. If they are right, they get a discount on their purchases from you. Zha Cafe, a concept coffee shop located in Adyar, Chennai, gave an offer during IPL4 cricket matches where the one who guessed right could eat for free if their favorite team won! One had to register their favourite teams in advance of course. It is a great way to make people comfortable with the place, and certainly a fine way to encourage new and repeat customers!
2: Special Day Offers: On special days like the Teacher's day, Mother's day, Father's day etc that have a sentimental value attached to them, make a special offer to the mother-child, teacher-student duo or group so they get special discounts when they purchase stuff together. Everyone loves these little gestures and such an offer would only prompt a bit of an impromptu celebration between the customers and spread considerable good will about your business. People remember such gestures and they will remember your store long after the event is over. Tiffany’s in Bengaluru had an offer recently on Mother's Day where one could take their mother to Tiffanys restaurant and get 20% discount on the bill and a glass of wine free. Now whoever went there would certainly remember Tiffany’s would they not?
3: Big On Sale, Big On Discount: Sell in bulk on any product or service with a discount to match the bulk purchase. The discount helps in making the whole deal attractive, encourages brand loyalty and volume of sale. For example, Groupon has struck a deal with Quinzos where one gets 50% off on a deal for eight sandwiches or salads - bulk sale gets a bulk discount. Similarly one could give a deal for say 30 Happy Meals, Buffets, Car Servicing etc. Once customers buy the deal, perceiving value in it, they keep coming back to you to use the discount.
4: Pamper the Customer with a Choice of Free Gifts: Offer a choice between two or more free gifts and make the customer feel like a Queen, or King. There is however a danger of the customer falling into indecision and wanting both! But it does catch the customer’s attention as it is different.
5: Step-Up Free Gifts With Sale Size: Reward your customers based on their order size. Step up the reward with the order size so that the more they order, the more gifts they get, or the higher the gift quality. It makes immense sense for customers who have decided on buying the product anyway and strengthens their loyalty that much more. It also helps to prompt those who are undecided yet, to buy something of a higher value if the gift appeals to them.
6: Match the Lowest Price: Make an offer to match the lowest price in the market. This will send the signal across to customers that you are price friendly and that they are assured of getting the best deal with you. However this scheme works only if you are competing on price. Travel Republic.com a UK based company offers to match the lowest price offered by its competitors i.e. if you find a lower price than the one you bought at Travel Republic and you get a refund for the difference.
7: Long Term Guarantees / Warranties: Offer long term guarantees for a year or longer, or even a lifetime guarantee with your product so the customer feels that she is covered. This builds trust and forces a decision when the customer is unsure between brands. Ceat tyres offered an unconditional life time replacement guarantee scheme for its entire range of Secura two wheeler tyres.
8: Single Price, Any Item: This works a bit like a dollar store but with a variation . You can have a section in your store where you pick up anything for one price. During the recent IPL4, Fortune Hotel, Bengaluru, gave an offer on any beer or any veg or non-veg starter for Rs. 99. Anything 99 Not out! It is an innovative way to make things simpler. State the price and the deal up front – so everyone knows what’s coming their way. Now they can concentrate on the main action.
9: Rebates: Offer a coupon or check for a value that will be given after a purchase. Big bookstore and retail clothing chains such as Landmark, Westside and Crossword Bookstore chains use this technique where they give a coupon for a sum which can be used against future purchases based on a certain amount of purchases done now.
10: Installment purchases: Where the one time price may daunt the customers, installment schemes work wonders. Take a down payment which is attractive and offer installments to be paid monthly with no interest. High value products such as cars, two wheelers, real estate, consumer durables, holiday packages are some of the items that are sold through this scheme. Several companies tie this up with EMIs on credit cards. Make the process smooth and the watch the sales zoom.
11: Buy-back scheme: A guaranteed buy back scheme that you will buy back returned goods any time increases customer confidence tremendously in not just the product but the retailer as well and prods him into making a purchase. These schemes work well with consumer durables such as televisions,tyres etc. Hindalco has offered a buy back scheme for its Aura alloy wheels.
12: Money-Back Guarantee: In this scheme, a customer pays up front—but if dissatisfied can return the item for a full refund. Like the free trial, this offer removes risk but allows you to use customer inertia because only a small percentage of people will take the trouble to return something. In a competitive market, money back schemes tend to draw some attention. For example Airtel and Aircel had Money Back schemes when they launched their Iphone 4, Tata Photon also had a similar offer. Even in electronics, eZone had a Money back offer.
13: Double-Your-Money-Back Guarantee: This promotion scheme serves more to catch the consumer on shock value by promising them a Double their Money Back offer. Of course one must be pretty sure that the consumer will not come back for a return in such cases – either the product must be really good (or really not worth the money of coming back for a return). Since most people never make a return, this is a simple way to dramatize both your offer and your guarantee for low-priced items. Enviro Guard, a fertilizer agent for the Aggrand brand of fertilizers, offers not just a double your money back but a triple your money back scheme. Similarly, Magic-Zymes, an odor remover, gives a 30 day double your money back scheme!
14: Pre-Publication Offer: This is a popular offer used by book publishers, especially for expensive reference works. You need to plan your print run, so you offer a special deal to reserve copies. Readers are guaranteed a copy and save money, usually 10% or 15% off what others will pay. Actually, you could use this for anything that is "published," such as software. For example, MapsWorldwide.com gives special discounts for pre-publication orders!
15: Price-Increase Announcement: When you announce price increases ahead of time customers take advantage of the old prices and buy in bulk to stock up. A classic example, though unintentional, is that of fuel price increases, which are announced in the press, forcing long queues of vehicle-owners to fill up before the price hike comes into play. Similar strategies are used by fan and air conditioner manufacturers before summer, when prices are bound to go northwards.
16: Bill Me Later: In this offer you get the benefit of a free trial offer but with a sense of obligation. It actually appeals to the customer a lot more than an offer where you pay cash up front to the customer because customers perceive value in the product and also build a relationship based on trust with you. Such relationships could be lifelong relationships many times. In such deals the customers are postponing the payment (an accepted mode of payment in today’s world), but are not discounting the value! Billing later adds to the brand value yet gives a fillip to sales. Lenovo lists Bill Me Later as one of the ways to shop for its products online.
17: Rush-Shipping Service: This promotional scheme works when you promise to ship an item overnight or within a shorter time period than normal shipping. Now this has great value especially for items that have to be delivered on a particular day – say Valentines Day, Mothers Day etc. The extra service can be offered at normal shipping charges to make the customer feel obliged - and happy to be doing business with you. Chocolates, jewellery, gift items, rakhis and such other items are ideal for rush shipping services.
18: Associate With a Cause: Announce a special promotion for a cause. For example a cause like the Girl Child Day. On that day announce a special promotion - and earmark a part of the sale proceeds to an organization involved in promoting the cause. This will give you sales plus you earn a few brownie points to your brand.
19: Discount Pegged to a Current Event: Another interesting way is to involve the crowd into the discount scheme by pegging it to a discount – say for every sixer hit during an innings. Benzz Park, a business hotel located at T. Nagar in Chennai, made an offer of 2% discount on every six hit during an innings (10 sixes in an innings would add up to a 20% discount). This kind of a scheme would get the crowd involved in the game, make them wait till the end of the inning to avail the discount, and maybe stay longer for the next innings as well. Everyone is happy.
20: Give Existing Customers Special Prices on Upgrades: In products where there are frequent technological upgrades, in terms of versions, you could give existing customers special prices on the upgrades. For every new version give existing customers an option to upgrade to a new version at say, 25% of the price. This scheme results in pushing sales for the new version, and reduces risk of piracy too. Music companies, software companies can use this scheme to good effect. Music companies can also have a membership club that gives all members new music at a fraction of the cost.
We hope that these 20 promotional schemes help you increase your sales. Happy selling!
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