A well-thought-out advertising campaign can not only recoup the promotions’ costs, but also guarantee an organic growth of loyal customers. What rules are most often forgotten by business owners when launching discount campaigns and how much do they lose because of this revenue?
Organizing promotions is the most effective marketing tool, which can increase revenue by at least 30%. Their main advantage is that they interact directly with the buyer, draw his attention to the product and stimulate the purchase.
Before launching a promotion or discount, decide what would be its purpose:
- increasing customer loyalty;
- brand promotion;
- increasing turnover.
When the goal is defined, planning begins. The action plan includes the coordination of the quantity of goods involved, the order of execution and the conditions. The next step is setting up the terms. Remember that all activities are limited in time. They cannot last more than a month, otherwise, the buyer gets used to the price and begins to perceive it as ordinary. At the end, you should make a report. It must include both the costs incurred for the implementation of the advertising campaign and the obtained results.
Who should comprise the report and how much does it cost?
If you intend to organize a single event in several outlets, then you may be able to cope with this task alone. On the other hand, if you've designed a large-scale campaign, it's best to delegate it to an advertising agency. Make a detailed brief for them, describe the terms of reference, your goals and the results you want to achieve by the end of the campaign.
When choosing an agency, pay attention to the following points:
- is it able to implement the project, does it have the necessary resources;
- how competent is it in such events, does it have a portfolio or similar experience;
- what methods will they use to achieve the goals;
- what report it could provide by the end of the campaign.
How to avoid mistakes, what rules of action to consider and what tools to rely on to ensure increased profits?
The first rule - the cost of implementing the campaign must not be higher than the desired result. Large companies direct from 1% to 5% of revenues to promote their business.
The second rule - not all tools are equally effective in all industries. For example, sampling would be effective if it is a product that cannot be tried by more than one person at a time. In this case, the cost of the samples will be higher than the expected coverage of the audience.
The third rule - discounts do not apply to luxury items. A person who is accustomed to buying expensive goods will be very alert to promotional offers. If the price of the product is low, then one will fear counterfeiting, defects or low quality.
How to evaluate the result?
You can evaluate the effectiveness of an advertising campaign by comparing your financial performance before and after the promotion. A report will show how were the objectives planned at the beginning of the campaign achieved through the results.
Keep in mind that the results of the campaign could be affected by the season or a change in the company's pricing policy, the emergence of strong competitors for the product, etc.
Finally, the lack of sales growth during the events may indicate that without their implementation, there would be a sharp decline in demand for the company's products for some reason. A well-implemented campaign could have helped prevent this.
