Sales promotions are very abundant everywhere, we are constantly being bombarded by them, however, some of them really catch our attention.
When we are in front of a sales promotion, as in any commercial action, the way we communicate with our interlocutor has to be highly effective, capturing his attention in a different way than the conventional.
A person’s attention is defined by that person’s perception of reality. There are a series of techniques that allow those who use them to know what is the reality of people, in order to be able to communicate something to our interlocutor, so that he understands it perfectly.
The sales promotion strategy must be integrated in the general strategy of the company, so that when a series of steps aimed at achieving certain objectives are determined, these objectives are part of the objectives of the overall strategy.
This will allow the company’s image and philosophy to be defined by the same working parameter.
Sales promotions are based on something really simple. Ask yourself a question in order to come up with a good answer, why do people buy?
The answer is simple, because of need, desire or lack, that is, to move from a present state to a desired state. And what the customer is going to buy is not a product in itself, but the benefits that this product is going to bring. Logically, these benefits must be involved in the development of the promotion objectives.
It is necessary to have clear objectives, which are defined by what, how, when and who, that is to say, what is to be achieved, how we are going to achieve it, when we are going to start doing it and when it is finished, who is going to be responsible for these objectives, as well as to whom we are going to direct the promotion.
The objectives of the promotion can be very varied and different according to the objectives of the business strategy. By means of promotions, we can introduce new products or improve existing ones, work on the corporate image of the company to consolidate it in the market, counteract our competition in a quick way, motivate our sales network, etc…
How we are going to achieve our objectives is defined by the means we are going to use and the places where we are going to exploit the sales promotion. The places where we are going to work the promotion can be different and depending on what we are going to do, therefore, they can be actions aimed at motivating our sales network, motivating our retailers, consumers, or prescribers.
When we are going to carry out the promotion or promotions is something important when it comes to establishing a calendar for the promotion.
Who is going to be responsible for the promotion is important so that there is control over any action that is developed, e.g. Promotion of hardware items –> The responsible will be the director of the hardware area, or the sales manager, etc., whoever we deem convenient at any given time.
To whom we are going to direct the promotion is a vital point to highlight, in the most concise way possible, it is about defining what will be our target audience in this line of work. To define our target public, that is to say, to whom, we have to define a series of variables such as:
Geographical parameters:
Place of work development, locality, province, etc. Where the ideal profile is located, place of residence, and possible prescribers, i.e., whether or not they are purchase decision makers, many of them will have their place of residence located in places with a social habitat, in certain neighborhoods or places in the city, or in villas in dormitory or peripheral cities.
Demographic parameters:
Predominant sex of the sector. If our market is manufacturing, we cannot address it as if we were addressing the tourism market.
Average age of the target audience. The average age can also guide us as to the life habits of potential buyers, since we can find from the single person who does not live with his parents to the retired person who no longer exercises any type of activity.
Existing education level (University, postgraduate, professional training, secondary education, primary education, etc.). Our way of addressing one or the other has nothing to do with each case.
How much you earn on average per year. Seeing the possibilities that both in the personal and professional field you are accustomed to realize economically.
What is the maximum amount that you can decide on average without having to consult another person, step or department. In this way we can play with the personal desires that in the productive field are profitable for the person himself. This detail is sometimes only possible for us to know when we are in direct contact with specific people.
Social and cultural parameters:
Lifestyles: average family purchases.
Opinions: Regarding social factors, events, attitudes, polemics, etc.
Fashions: To the extent that fashion affects them, such as in sports, clothing, automobile, place of living, vacations, etc.
Governmental parameters:
Taxes to which they are subject, regulations that affect them in general, or autonomy, etc.
Technological parameters:
Access they have to new technologies. In this way we can provide them with 100% personalized information. Obsolescence of the technology that can occur in their work environment, family, etc. In many cases someone works all day with computer systems and when they get home they find that their child knows more about how to use technology than they do.
Profile of updating to new technological systems. Number of courses, seminars, etc., to which they usually go, since here many times many contacts are made in the professional field and it is good that our company or product can come out in the middle of these conversations.
Once we know to whom we are going to launch the promotion, what we are going to do and how, in addition to the why, we have to start informing all those who are going to be directly or indirectly related to the promotion, for example, the network of retailers, wholesalers, commercials, etc…, in addition to achieving a good coordination with all those who are going to be involved.
Types of promotions.
POINT-OF-SALE ADVERTISING
The PLV’s are advertising at the point of sale, it is very important that these PLV’s have two characteristics, they have to be very visual, so that our product does not go unnoticed over the rest of existing products, and incite to touch the material of which it is composed. Normally, when we have a great offer of products, these form the data component of the purchase, that is to say, they are what offer data to the consumer, and when there is a great variety in all this, the consumer is going to look at the most eye-catching thing, besides in what he can feel.
This type of promotion is of vital importance, especially in markets where consumption is massive and competition is very aggressive.
In the promotion we have to make the selection congruent, that is to say, that the person who buys our product sees something interesting, hears something that pleases him and feels something nice.
This will allow our product to impact our buyer in an interesting way, leaving on him what is called anchoring. This anchoring will allow him to have highly positive sensations every time he consumes our product. In addition to making the customer buy what the customer really wants to buy, and without any subsequent purchase remorse.
The possibilities that allow this type of promotions to be done are:
HOW TO ANIMATE THE POINT OF SALE
The most important thing for a promotion to be effective is that it is related to movement, with something that is not only static, but something dynamic, static things end up boring in many cases because they do not offer changes in our perception, this is like comparing a photo and a movie, the information that the consumer will get from our product will be greater the more alive the product is.
Good promotions usually use shows in which there are people doing something, which can be more or less fun and attract our attention, although it is important that our company or brand is clearly seen and remembered later.
In some cases hostesses are used to hand out brochures or samples, if so in your case, it would also be important that these hostesses have some basic knowledge about your products and their use, since one of the things that makes people feel satisfied is that the company from which they buy the product is solving their doubts “in situ”.
Product tastings and demonstrations are always a good attraction, our three processing systems are in operation, we see a lady or gentleman, dressed in a certain way, who also has a product that he is going to give us to try and who is going to be explaining the origin of the product, it is something that can be interesting.
In these cases we are always seeing someone who is different from what we normally see, hearing what product we are going to eat, and our appetite is dancing because we are going to eat the product.
However, it is the result of that product that the potential customer is interested in, so we can offer him something that will really help him, for example, if it is a computer system for hairdressers, we can give him a photo with his most attractive hairstyle, if it is a word processing system, we can give him a catalog of sheets with the fonts he has, etc.
We have to make the customer have all the senses covered and deal with the needs, desires and shortcomings of the potential consumer. Demonstrations are usually to a small group or to a specific person, so the professional who performs the demonstration can get along better with the people who are receiving the information, and no other method achieves this.
It is very important that the demonstrations are performed by qualified personnel to answer all the questions of potential users, in addition to having knowledge from a global point of view of what information is most requested by users or what they most like to receive. A qualified person will rarely show incongruence in his gestures or manners, nor will he have problems to park any doubt, which he does not know how to answer, in a friendly and professional way.
Demonstrations also have their place, such as in consumer centers, hypermarkets, supermarkets, etc. And an important place are also the fairs, in this type of events we can work very well a promotion about our product, because the type of people who will receive the information of this information are people who want to receive it.
In certain types of products, places like hypermarkets or fairs serve to later make a personalized demonstration at the customer’s home, if they let us sneak into their home we have a lot to gain. The furniture companies, when they sell a product that requires installation at the customer’s home, send a specialized assembler who recommends to the customer how beautiful a pine table would look in the center of his dining room, and the customer’s home is where more subsequent sales can be achieved.
SHOWCASES
Curious window displays always attract people and are a very effective way to work with people’s desires, when we see a model in a clothing window display we always think how good it looks or how that suit would look on me.
If in your case you work with window dressing, the posters in which you put the new price crossing out the old one, the sales, the liquidations, etc, are always interesting for the buyer.
The shop windows can also be a place that allows to see an open step to the potential consumer by means of a demonstration or tasting, whenever the product allows it.
The decoration, depending on what is being sold, creates an interesting atmosphere. If you sell fish, a decoration as if the customer were in the sea helps to get him/her involved in the desire to buy a fish.