As costs increase, value is becoming more and more important to your customers. They are stretching their budgets and trying to get the most for their money. We’re all feeling the pinch. That’s why offering a sales promotion can bring in loyal customers and help you reach new ones.
5 Easy Ideas for Sales Promotions
When selecting a sales promotion, make sure you talk about value, not the cheapest price out there (unless you can afford a loss leader). Most small businesses don’t want to get into a pricing war with big competitors. Big business can afford to cut costs a lot deeper. Instead, talk about more value for the money with these examples:
- Flash sales – get people excited about following you on social media by announcing special sales and discounts to your social media pages (or your newsletter, if you have one). Make sure the sale is only valid for a short time (a few hours or today only) so you drive immediate action.
- Additional gift certificates promotion – with gift certificates you’re getting the money ahead of giving the product or service. Create a promotion where purchasers receive an additional amount $10-25 based on every $100-$150 spent. This is a great “buy one for others, get something for yourself” promotion for the holidays.
- Buy now, save later – Run a promotion that rewards early holiday shoppers by saying if they spend $100 or more now, they’ll get a discount coupon to use later/at a specified date.
- Additional savings – send out a coupon via email for 20% off. For those who open the email but don’t purchase within a day, send them a new email for 25% off. That might be enough to drive a purchase.
- Offer a mystery sale for customers – create a scratch-off or a “spin the wheel” reward for everyone who buys from you. They know they will get something but the mystery of what that something is will incentivize purchases.