Sales promotion is a valuable instrument of marketing communication. Skilfully used, it facilitates the implementation of the assumed strategy, based on specific sales goals. What is this tactic? And what are they promotion tools sales? we suggest!
What is a sales promotion?
Along with the dynamic development of marketing, we can notice the growing popularity of sales promotion. This mechanism has become an inseparable element of today's marketing. T. Taranko in his publication "Marketing communication. The essence, conditions, effects "writes that sales promotion is" a set of activities aimed at creating extraordinary, additional and short-term incentives increasing the attractiveness of the product for the buyer and increasing his willingness to buy ". In practice, this means additional benefits for potential customers or people who have purchased a specific product. Benefits are attractive discounts, freebies and others. The idea behind sales promotion is to influence the consumer's behavior at a specific moment.
Sales promotion it gives marketers a lot of possibilities. This mechanism can be implemented in many different ways using different tools. What are the types and tools of sales promotion?
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2 types of sales promotion
Sales promotion can be carried out in two different ways - in accordance with with a pull or push strategy. Pull strategy, i.e. the strategy of attracting, consists in directing promotion directly to the consumer in order to build loyalty and subscribe to his awareness. Thanks to the promotion, the customer decides to buy the product. Thus, he hopes to find it in retail stores. Consequently, retailers have to buy goods from wholesalers who source from the manufacturer.
Push strategy is an aggressive promotion of goods that first go to wholesalers, then to retailers and only to consumers. It's about creating a kind of promotional chain that will ultimately lead to sales. The push strategy is most often used for everyday products, where the brand is of little importance - consumers do not pay attention to it.
Sales promotion forms and tools
Depending on the selected strategy, one of the 3 forms of sales promotion is used. These are the promotions:
- consumer - aimed directly at consumers, the most popular and diversified model, the purpose of which is to encourage potential customers to buy,
- commercial - returned to intermediaries, its purpose is to encourage them to sell and promote the products of a given producer,
- internal - addressed to employees, its idea is to motivate employees to work effectively.
Each form is implemented through selected sales promotion tools.
Sales promotion tools for consumer promotion
Promotional campaign addressed directly to consumers, its purpose is to encourage them to take advantage of the brand's offer. Various incentives can be used to implement this idea.
These include:
- free samples,
- coupons,
- promotional packaging,
- bonuses,
- special advertisements,
- discounts and price reductions,
- contests, lotteries and games with prizes,
- awards for the best or regular customers,
- trade stamps,
- on-site promotions.
Although the idea behind the above sales promotion tools is to interest consumers in the brand's offer at a given moment and a short-term increase in sales, in reality the effects can be much more spectacular. A skillfully used consumer promotion can contribute to building a positive one corporate image in the long term. This type of promotion is the driving force behind the entire marketing campaign. Especially today, in times of incredible opportunities offered by the Internet, we can build consumers' attachment to the company by using simple sales promotion tools. An example is online lotteries or contests that engage customers for a long time, which we can use to convey corporate values, build their trust and build positive relationships.
Tools for trade promotion
Currently, building lasting relationships with business partners is of great importance. Long-term B2B cooperation based on logical, mutually beneficial principles often guarantee spectacular success on the market. Due to the wide market and high competition, it is necessary to constantly take care of the quality of common interests, showing partners the benefits that result from them and, in a way, encouraging them to further cooperation and promote the products in our offer. Various sales promotion tools can be used for this, e.g .:
- variable price,
- discounts,
- sales bonuses.
The tools should be adapted to the purpose, preferences and form of activity conducted by a given business partner.
And what to use as part of internal promotion?
The last form of sales promotion is internal promotion, which focuses on keeping employees interested. Its idea is to motivate the team to better and more effective work, which will translate into real benefits for the company. After all, employees are the best capital of any enterprise! That is why it is worth taking care of their full commitment.
As part of internal promotion, you can use such tools as:
- bonuses for sales employees,
- bonuses for employees whose task is to acquire new customers,
- remuneration systems for the best employees.
Why is it worth using sales promotion tools?
The use of sales promotion in your marketing activities is a great support for the entire strategy aimed at achieving specific sales goals. Sales promotion:
- due to its specific nature, it can bring quick results, visible in the form increasing sales,
- it is easy to measure, the so-called you can easily measure its effectiveness compared to other forms of advertising,
- it is cheap - its implementation is not associated with such high costs as, for example, the use of mass media in promotion,
- strengthens or builds a competitive advantage,
- creates customer loyalty to the company,
- is a great way to product launch.
It is worth bearing in mind, however, that the improper use of sales promotion may have the opposite effect to the intended one. Acting in an intrusive way not only discourages people from buying, but also may even have a negative impact on the company's image. The sales promotion mechanism should be used in a thoughtful and careful manner. Then it will bring the best results.