It starts with an idea.. a way to get your customers to come to your event or sale and to get them to spend money at a time when they are not as likely to do so. So you think of a something…a discount, an open house…a fundraiser. Now what? Here are a few tips on making your next promotion or event more successful. It is all about your plan and that is all about specifics.
Effective promotions start with honest and creative planning
There are lot’s of ways to get people excited about your promotion, but the key is to get your goal met and not just to fill the room or showroom. Before you plan your event, try jotting down a few things about your goals so that you can find the best solution.
- What do you want the public to do? – Clarity of a goal helps it get achieved. Be specific how much do you need to accomplish for the promotion or event to meet your goals? What action do you need the participants to take that would be the most helpful?
- Set realistic goals. Unless you are doing something dramatically different or segment marketing with a new list or increasing the budget, you cannot expect to double or triple your normal results. So set your goal higher than in the past but keep it proportionate to what you are investing in time and effort as well as investments.
- Determine how to measure results– Is it sales dollars, units moved, seats filled or funds raised or website views? Determine what you hope to get out of it and agree on the best way to measure your results.
What is a reasonable time period to accomplish your goal?– It takes time and typically the longer you have to plan the better the result of the promotion. However giving the public too much time to respond can also be the kiss of death. A two day sale often does far better than a one week sale. There is something about deadlines that makes us procrastinate when they are not imminent.
- Put some money into your efforts– You really can’t get something for nothing. So if you really want to see improvement, you have to be willing to spend some money or add something new to the pot. If you don’t have cash, consider enhancing your list with a partner’s cross promotion. Online ads are targeted and can be very reasonable. For a facebook campaign, consider adding some money for paid ads. Add Google adwords or YouTube campaigns to get views on your videos. Once you set the goal, it is easier to f0cus on the delivery.
- Social Share Your Promotions – People love an event or promotion and the better they like them, the more they sell their friends on joining them in the glory. Make sure your ads, invitations and communications have a social share bar so that people who receive the notifications and invites can click a button and share it with their friends, connections and other social media sites.
- Post, tweet, link & share —Use your own social media pages to show your connections and their friends what is going on. Show the turn out, photos, the goals you are trying to reach and keep them updated on your progress. Invite people to review you. The more exciting it seems, the more people will get involved, if you can keep the posts interesting and fun. Ask your fans to share your promotion with their friends. If you don’t ask, they might not think of it on their own.
- Beef up the fun factor—As Mary Poppins said, for every job that must be done there is an element of fun. You find the fun and snap, the job’s a game! Gaming and apps are taking over the advertising industry and many people are finding ways to make promotions and events be the next best thing. Think about your business and see what you can do to make your next promotion or event the most fun yet! It can be as simple as photos and posting them, but get your customers involved.
Want to learn more? Come to my Social Media & Email Marketing Classes and hands-on laptop bootcamps for help developing your next Promotion. It doesn’t matter what your business is, we can find a way to design your next promotion or event effectively to accomplish your goals. Interested in using Constant Contact to grow your business? Click here to get started integrating your marketing tools today.
Liz Harsch, has been helping small and medium sized businesses make the most of their marketing investments since 1988. Her company, Tailor-Made Advertising is an Authorized SCORE workshop presenter and an awarded Constant Contact Email Marketer and Authorized Local Expert presenting Workshops for Constant Contact, SCORE, SBDC, Metropolitan Water District, multiple Chambers of Commerce, The City of Los Angeles and other Organizations. If you are interested in a quote or more information on a mobile website email us at tmade.mkt@verizon.net. For more information about Liz or Tailor-Made Advertising, visit tailormadeadvertising.com. To schedule Liz Harsch as a speaker on Traditional and Online Marketing, Social Media, Analytics or Email Marketing for your organization, Email us at tmade.mkt@verizon.net or call us at 310-791-6300.
