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Promotions and special events are great for brining in new customers and reminding past clients why they like your service. A successful promotion is a real boost to any business. Follow these steps to make sure your promotions are well planned and orderly.
1. Start a filing system.
Keep a file of all your past ads and direct mail pieces. Also keep a file of other companies’ ads and promotional materials that are innovative or clever. Use this as brainstorming material.
2. Keep performance records
Records of how all your past ads and direct mail performed are essential. This will allow you to find the best ones and reproduce them and give you hints on what new things might work. Also you can avoid making the same mistake twice. If an ad didn’t work the first time, there’s a good chance it won’t work a second time.
3. Have a plan
Don’t let your customers forget you. Have some kind of promotion at least every other month. Most retailers have promotions monthly. The most common reason why customers don’t come back is because they forget about the business. Promotions are key in creating a presence so you won’t be forgotten.
4. Get your staff in on it
Discuss your promotional plans with your staff. Get them involved and brainstorm with them. Put up a calendar outlining your promotional events so everyone knows what’s going on. The last thing you want is for your employee to tell a customer that they don’t know about the current promotion. If everyone is on the same page, things run much more smoothly.
5. Leave nothing to chance
Make your plans well in advance. Schedule enough personnel to handle increased business on promotion days. The more systemized your event is, the better.
6. Get your advertising done in advance
Plan out your direct mail and newspaper ads well in advance. Design your ads to build excitement. Sell the benefits of attending. Don’t forget to tell them What, Where, When, and Why. Use short deadlines, strong offers and guarantees that you can stick to.
7. The media = FREE ADVERTISING
Charity events are great for publicity. Do a donation drive. Give discounts to customers who donate items. Be sure to call the local media beforehand with a press release. You may get featured in the paper. Take your own photos and send them out with a follow-up press release.
8. Use direct mail
You need to have great headlines. Hook their attention with the benefits of attending your promotion. Make them fear the loss of missing out on your special event. Direct mail is affordable and will bring in business.
9. Make it fun
Your event doesn’t always have to be a sale. Get creative and come up with some fun ways to get people coming in. Make an event around an obscure holiday, or just pick a day for something fun like an ice cream social. If your event is successful, your customers will advertise for you through word of mouth.
10. Plan for success
Be ready for big results. If you promote your special events effectively, you may have lots of business in a short time. Be sure your products and supplies are well stocked. Do the work, do it right, then get ready for business!
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Postcards are easy to create and can generate a lot of response for your business. There is, however, a right way and a wrong way to create a postcard. Here are the characteristics a postcard must have to be successful:
Simple
Use clean designs on your postcards. You want the message to stand out when people are flipping through their mail. Don’t put too much information on the card. Pretend that each word costs you $1,000. This will help you keep text down to the bare minimum, and it’s more effective.
Timely
Send out your postcards when they will be most effective. If you have a sale coming up, make sure the postcard reaches your audience a few days before. You can also send reminders when customers need to renew, tune-up, or replace something your business offers.
Printed on both sides
A postcard has two sides. Take advantage of them. The best way to use both sides is to use one side like a billboard and put a personalized message on the other side. Ads and pictures are great for the front of the postcard. Use the back to say whatever you want.
Attractive
Your postcard needs to be eye-catching to prompt the person to flip it over and read the back. If the postcard has fun facts or beautiful photos on the front, people might save it and tack it on the refrigerator.
Measurable
A postcard can be used as a coupon, gift certificate, or any number of things. Ask people to return the postcard to receive the offer advertised. You can also tell people to mention the postcard to receive a discount. Friends of current customers who did not receive the postcard might mention it anyways to make a purchase at your store. Counting these returned or mentioned postcards will help you measure the effectiveness of your mail campaign.
