Sales Promotions
Sales Promotions play a key role in a marketing communications program for any business or organization. Promotional marketing goals are usually short-term marketing tactics designed to attract attention, boost sales, offer stronger purchase incentives and to stimulate a quicker response from consumers.
Businesses typically use promotional marketing to convey new messages about their products or services. Perhaps introduce a new product, benefit or service that solves many customer’s current problems. Advertising promotions can target the trade, distributors, general public or ultimate end-users. Typical promotional formats include premiums, coupons, contests, special events or sponsorship.
By selecting the appropriate media for your needs, a strategic marketing promotions campaign can improve brand awareness and recognition, increase sagging sales, increase current customer touch points and deliver more opportunities (and reasons) for new customers to connect with you.
Public Relations
Many times, small businesses struggle to use the full potential of public relations because they do not fully understand its positive strategy. Just consider the newer digital options, which include connecting with blog writers, who can become some of your strongest, viral brand advocates.
Public relations are similar to promotions because PR events and stories also “dramatize” a company, product or service. This form of marketing is probably the most misunderstood and least used. The advantages of using public relations are really worth checking into:
- Highly credible
- Reaches many prospects often missed via other forms of promotions
- Perceived as very believable (since it is a public 3rd party)
How to Market your Company to the Press
- Establish credibility in your industry by writing for trade journals, attending professional seminars and get involved in professional organizations.
- Build a network and relationships with online bloggers
- Identify your targeted audience and understand their needs
- Use a media mix to introduce your company
- Market a story, not your company
- Share and inform, but do not self-promote
NOTE: Hopefully, your first experiments with public relations won’t be responding to negative publicity. With news spreading quickly through social media and mobile devices, negative publicity can impact and cripple a company, brand or product very quickly. If this happens to your business, the official response must be professional, tactful, transparent and strategic. If widespread damage does occur, it can become a long, tedious and costly process to get trusted consumers to return to your company, products or services.