10 Profit Producing Promotion Ideas
A promotion is a way of drawing attention to your business whether it be through advertising or other means. Special offers, sales or contests that are not normally available usually produce impressive results. It is an effective way for any business to draw in new potential customers and to retain existing customers.
By running periodical promotional offers that are fun and interesting, you are keeping your business fresh and alive. But more importantly, you are showing your customers you want to help them save money, thus making them feel special and appreciated.
The ideas for promoting your business are unlimited. Be creative and make your promotional offers fun and unique. Encourage interaction with your customers to make them more memorable.
Below are ten great ideas that are sure to pump up your sales and produce profits! We all know the standard discounted prices, bogo, and other sales but by putting new and fun twists on these proven tactics you are making them fresh and exciting!
1. Silver, Bronze and Gold Tickets – Hold an Olympic Event. Let everyone know that each and every customer will receive a silver, bronze or gold ticket with their purchase. These tickets allow the customer to save a good amount on any following orders or offer instant savings with the ticket.
For example:
Silver Ticket = 25% Savings.
Bronze Ticket = 35% Savings.
Gold Ticket = 50% Savings.
These numbers are just examples of course and can be changed to suit your business or you can use a dollar amount instead of percentage.
2. BOGO with a Twist – Put a fun new twist on the old BOGO standby. With each BOGO purchase, offer a certain amount of points depending on the amount of purchase. When the customer reaches a certain amount of points, offer him/her a free item of a certain value, or a gift card, etc. 50 points = free $10.00 item; 100 points = free $20 item and so on.
3. Business Card Codes – Put special discount codes on your business cards. Let people know they will need the business card when they make the purchase to get the discount. This is a good way to get people to take and keep your business card and could lead to many new customers.
4. Refer a Friend – Offer a gift or discount to anyone who refers a friend. Offer a discount to the friend for any purchases as well as a gift card, or coupon to the customer who referred the friend. Make the discounts a percentage of what is purchased. Or offer so many rewards for the purchase, depending on total of purchase. Each level of rewards gets a larger discount or gift. You could also hold a refer a friend contest. The one who provides the most friends or highest friend purchases will get a substantial prize.
5. Trivia Contest – There are very few of us who do not like trivia. Post a new trivia question each week. Customers must come in or email/text their answers with a special code found on your website or in your newsletter. At the end of the month offer a prize to the one with the most correct answers. Or, in the case of several people getting the same amount of questions correct, enter them into a drawing for the prize with all runners-up getting a smaller prize. There are so many fun ways you can offer trivia as a means for your customers to save money.
6. Name a Product – Hold contests for naming your products, coming up with flavors, choosing colors, etc. Many successful companies hold promotions such as these and they produce huge results.
7. Customer Appreciation – Have a customer appreciation day. This can be done online or offline. Have refreshments, games, prizes, contests, etc. Offer demonstrations of your products or services and have a Q&A session afterwards. Really be creative and make this event special. Obviously, online and offline events will be different but either way, your customers will know you appreciate them!
8. Customer of the Month – Take the old employee of the month idea and use it for your customers. Rewarding loyal existing customers is just as important as getting new customers.
9. Scavenger Hunt – Provide people with a short list of items and for each item the customer brings in or sends online, they will get rewards, points, dollars off, etc. For an online scavenger hunt, the person must find the items on a website and then have them provide the link. These items must be unique so they are not too easy to find. Of course, you don’t want them to have to work too hard. Just have a light, fun game to bring some interest. Your customers will enjoy seeing how many items they find and how much they win for finding them.
10. Daily Special – Have everyday be special for your customers. Each day offers a new savings. For example: Monday = $5.00 of this item. Tuesday = Save 10% on everything and so on for each and every day. If this is too much for you, just do it one week out of the month. Make it work for you, your business and your customers!
The above ideas can certainly be adjusted to fit whatever business you are in or details can be changed to suit your needs and your customers’ needs. These few ideas in no way encompass all the possibilities of how you can attract new and existing customers. But, hopefully, they will get you started and your creative juices will start flowing for more successful promotional ideas!