Regardless of the business types, both B2B or B2C needs promotional marketing to boost sales and populate their services or products. Looking for the best promotional marketing tactic for 2023? This ultimate guide to promotional marketing has gathered everything you need to know, let\u2019s get from zero to hero now!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Promotional marketing is one of the most commonly used marketing strategies. Briefly speaking, promotional marketing refers to the practice of spreading the news and information about products, while increasing brand awareness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a marketer, you must be familiar with the 4Ps marketing mix, which are Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Promotional marketing lies within the crucial 4 elements and shall be conducted once the product or service is ready to enter the market, or when business wishes to further boost its sales with existing customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Increasing sales is the most fundamental goal of promotional marketing. It has a significant effect on boosting the products\u2019 exposure. When customers are aware of their needs, the next step in the buyer\u2019s journey is the \u201cconsideration\u201d stage, where the potential customers start gathering alternatives that could help them to solve the problems or fulfill their needs. The higher the exposure, the more likely will the product become listed in their choices. Potential customers might then be drawn to your company, hence, boosting sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Promotional marketing sometimes is not just limited to product promotions, but also about telling the story and building brand image. A brand is often associated with its products as they represent what the business is known for. Brand awareness carries value for businesses and helps shorten the decision process of customers. Imagine if you are making a purchase, will you buy from a brand you have never heard of or a brand that appears frequently on social media platforms? The answer is probably the latter.\n\nTherefore, brand awareness is also one of the important goals for businesses to do promotional marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before making solid purchase decisions, most of the customers prefer doing research and product comparison in advance. Make sure your potential customers know about your product and its edge over your competitors. Apart from detailing your product and service specializations, try to consider the appropriate tones and manners when disseminating information through different channels. Highlighting the unique selling points of your products and services plays an important role in promotional marketing as it helps you to differentiate yourself from competitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Positioning is also essential for a business when it comes to promotional marketing. Seize the chance in your promotion campaign to communicate your brand\u2019s uniqueness to your audience. You do not have to be the leader in your industry to get sales. Instead, it is the uniqueness that stays in your audience\u2019s mind. People who appreciate your style could become the most loyal customers. If fully utilized, promotional marketing would help businesses to develop a more unique position which stands out from the crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before determining promotional marketing strategies, we have to set SMART goals first. SMART goals have 5 main criteria: Specific (S), Measurable (M), Achievable (A), Relevant (R), and Timely (T). For example, \u201cSales have to increase by 10% within one year\u201d. Well-designed goals make it easier for you to measure, monitor, and control promotional marketing performances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is important to do the Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning (STP) before implementing any strategies. STP helps you to better understand who you should promote to, and what type of content you should customize for the target audience, focus your effort on the right customers who would carry value for you, and how to make yourself unique in the target audience\u2019s minds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In segmentation, identify the characteristics in four main dimensions: demographical, geographical, behavioral, and psychographic. Demographic characteristics could be the customers\u2019 ages, status, and educational levels, whereas geographical characteristics are more likely to be where they live. Behavioral characteristics refer to their attitude, use, and knowledge of your product and purchasing habits, while psychographic ones are more likely to be related to their personality, lifestyle, and values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next step, targeting means figuring out which segments your target customers that your products\/services might help to address their needs. They are also people you should focus your promotional marketing efforts on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the positioning part, you would like to find out where you are positioned in comparison to your competitors in customers\u2019 perceptions. You might find a perceptual map useful in this stage. Find a position that you could have the edge over your competitors and is unique enough that you could offer unique values to the customers. It would be a huge part when you are considering the actual copies or campaign details during promotional marketing execution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Determine how much you are willing to spend on promotional marketing. Your budget will set you up with a list of promotional channels and campaigns that you can choose from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are numerous promotional channels available, e.g. social media, TV ads, search ads, videos, and a lot more new channels that can be tried. Choose one or more channels that can best reach your target audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can get as innovative as you\u2019d like to when it comes to promotional content. Whatever the form would be, just remember that it has to match your promotional goal, target audience and be concise with the message you want to convey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consistent monitoring keeps you on track with your goal. Data gained from promotional campaigns can also be used as a reference for your next campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The performance of promotional marketing comes in different aspects and could be difficult to track. But here are a few indicators that could help you monitor your performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The above indicators are not applicable to every promotional campaign, and each indicator weighs differently according to the nature of your campaign. For example, while most campaigns focus on the number in sales volume and conversion rate, campaigns that aim to promote a brand instead of a single product may focus more on website traffic and search volume. There is no one-fits-all measurement to monitor all marketing performances, so it really depends on the goal that you\u2019ve set. If your goal is met, then it is a successful campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n