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Looking for promotional plans to kickstart your business campaign? Got a deal, product or service to promote and are short of ideas? Here is a part compilation of 50 promotional ideas that you can use to promote your product or service. This list would suit all products and services and all types of budgets - be it a high end, premium product that requires a promotional pitch without diluting its brand or a simple deal that calls for an innovative, cost-effective pitch - '50 Promotional Plans' has all that and more.
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'50 Promotional Plans' has been compiled to help retail businesses browse through the many options that are available. You need not reinvent the wheel there are so many tried and tested, creative models out in the open already. Use the best fit to get the maximum visibility, cost-effectiveness, reach, branding, footfalls, sales and much more.
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| Here is a sample list of 15 such ideas for starters : |
- Happy hours: Forget beverages; all businesses with non-peak hours can use this great tool. Fitness centres, salons, coffee shops, metered cabs, for example, can all make up their own happy hour offers to increase capacity utilization. For example, Green Mill Restaurant and Bar, Wichita, offers a Kids Free Menu on Tuesdays between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Kids under 12 get to eat free and also get a kids free item with each adult entrée! Get the whole family in! VLCC, a slimming and beauty salon, offers 50% off during happy hours between 11.30 to 4.30 for a limited period.
- Free trials: Expensive or technologically new products get faster customer acceptance through free trials. Your prospects can actually touch and feel the product or service and once they get a taste of things to come, you get them thinking on how to acquire it! Online games, software, songs, ebooks are all available for free downloads! Netflix and Blockbuster for example, send in free videos once a month for trial! Golds Gym, a fitness centre with an all India presence, conducts Fitness Tuesdays where interested members are given complimentary workout classes and members get free energy drinks and weekend gift vouchers and merchandise.
- Customer care: How about free drops by pubs after late nights! This service comes as a measure of how much you really care for your customer. True friends don't let their friends drive drunk! Unbounded loyalty and priceless goodwill! The Reform Place, Durham, England, pays for a free taxi ride to customers provided that they billed four times the fare at the pub. Reason – competition and customer loyalty. In Indiana, USA, PDQ Taxi Owners Association offers free drops to bar patrons to overcome drunken driving problems and - it works! 25 bars participated in this service as well.
- Complimentaries: Nothing brings a smile on your customers' face more than an unexpected complimentary. Be it a snack with a beverage or a small gesture on somebody's birthday, complimentaries are addictive and keep customers coming back. Keep that smile plastered on your customers' face and you have just bought enduring loyalty, rather cheaply one may add.
- Group discounts: Items like a refrigerator, LCD TVs etc can bring in group sales if you offer heavy discounts on group sales. Friends and relatives motivate and push one another to go for the next aspirational level if there is a substantial discount. And you get a block sale going!
- Cross promotion: Subscribe to a magazine or a holiday package and get a nice premium gift like, say, a pair of premium casual wear at a cost of Re. 1! Can you see your customer feeling smug about the deal already? India Today does that with Reebok if you've noticed.
- Motivational offers: Decrease the waist or your blood pressure and get that discount equivalent to your improvement. We care for you and we also have a walking testimonial for us! All round good if you ask me. Pearlene's in Winnipeg, US offers its designer clothes at a discount to those who lose weight – 10% off for a 10 lb loss and so on. They record your weight when you start the 'We support your loss' program and support your weight loss.
- Fun offers: Your waist size plus 20% off! It's a fun way to get your customers laughing at the offer and wanting to try it out. A whacky offer with low loyalty but what the hell, they will remember the good time and the good offer. Some more whacky offers? Colleges in the US apparently offered scholarships for left handed students, for tall people, for short people, for sweet tooths and even for twins. Jealous21, an Indian apparel brand, had a promotions campaign where customers got discounts equivalent to their waist size plus 21% !
- More the merrier: The more people you bring on the bigger is the party – for you. Get 3% extra for each new member you bring in. Or how about a group discount! Cruises, travel, theatre, theme parks do this. Contiki offers packages where 10 people get 10% off and the eleventh person gets it absolutely free! In fact they have plans for 3, 4,5, 7 and 10 people! Theatre Royal, UK offers group discounts as well for its shows!
- Free service: How about having the expert consulting your customer right then? Or a recipe book by post or a fashion tips newsletter? Add value and make the customer feel cared for. Get a hair cut in next one month and get free hair lessons from Jawed Habib. From romantic ideas to health queries, kite flying to drumming, surfing to job aptitude, free expert advice works best when it comes to proving one's credibility.
- Spare the customer: When you sell the car, sell spares too – at a handsome discount. Give 40% discount on all the spares if they have purchased the car from you. Coupon codes could be given which can be used online to get the spares you wish. Motorbike and car spares, cleaners spares are some of the advertisers of this service. Prestige pressure cookers is one such advertiser too.
- Sell attractive packages: A whole package is more interesting than one product or service alone. Shoes could get a lot more interesting if they came with an attractive package of 5 pairs of socks, polish and Hawaii Sandals! Or a hotel that offers stay for 2 Nights and 3 days, with complimentary breakfast + lunch + free airport drop for just Rs.7800! That sure does sound like a deal! For example Kerala tourism offers packages for honeymoon tourism, backwater tourism, religious tourism, ayurveda tourism etc starting from a day trip to 10 days and includes all that is involved with the experience. Not just hotels and resorts!
- Pay just the shipping cost. Get the product absolutely free : This looks incredible! But you do get VCDs, DVDs Free. All you need is pay for shipping. You make money on the deal with the courier company of course! Anv CDs, USA, sends you a free CD if you pay standard shipping charges. Video Professor also uses this model – they should know, they built a multi-million dollar business around this model.
- Referral: Introduce one new member and get 50% off the monthly fee. Saves marketing costs for you and keeps clients happy and busy. Dr. Smith, a get thin program, based in Georgia, US, offers a referral credit to show their clients how much they appreciate their compliments. Similarly, Mark Rogers Photography, a Bay Area photographer, offers 15% off or a 75 print credit to clients who refer paying customers.
- Block renewals: Have your customers renew membership for a period of 6 months, and offer them a one year membership! It does work out of course and the customer feels good at having had a good bargain! Season ticket renewals, domain name renewals, magazine subscriptions, motor insurance are some that promote their products and services in this fashion.
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There are so many more ways to take your offers to your customers and making their life seem like a never ending roller coaster of surprises. Enjoy the pleasure of surprising your customer pleasantly, so it brings on that smile. And if they smile, you sure have got it made.
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Keep watching this space for more such exciting ideas. More...
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| Tags :
Marketing Promotion Ideas, Sales Promotion Ideas, Marketing Promotion Suggestions, Sales Promotion Suggestions, Marketing Promotion Schemes, Sales Promotion Schemes
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