03 Oct GET READY, GET SMART, AND GET RETAILING FOR THE KICK OFF OF SPRING!
Spring Retailing Mini-Series #1
The first instalment in our Spring retailing blog mini-series has arrived. To open this new mini-series, we’ve compiled some dynamite tips on how to achieve victory when developing and implementing sales promotional activity. Sales promotions are a great way for your retail business to incentivise potential customers to purchase. Here are 5 key elements of a successful sales promotion, and how you can use them to increase your bottom line profit.
What makes a sales promotion work?
1. Target Audience
Over the course of a lifetime , loyal customers spend upwards of 10 times the amount spent by average customers! Many marketers believe that by casting a large enough net, you will be able to locate those individuals simply by the virtue of percentages. The problem with this mentality is that its remarkably inefficient, with only a small fraction of prospects and leads “paying off” to offset the initial investment.
By pre-determining a target audience, businesses can put their marketing resources to better use and can get target those most likely to become loyal customers without wasting and resources on those who aren’t. Once you have a clearer idea of what kind of customers use your product or service, identify exactly what kinds of problems your product or service is designed to solve. With these two factors in mind, you should focus your sales promotion toward those who are most likely to be genuinely interested.
2. Measurable Goals
There is no denying the importance of setting goals. When designing a sales promotion your goals need to be more specific than just “increasing sales”.
Ask yourself what the most important objective of your promotion should be. Are you hoping to draw in new customers, or are you more inclined to focus on customer retention? Do you want your customers to purchase more frequently, or would you like for them to increase the average amount that they spend on a purchase? Are you interested in regaining the attention of former customers who have taken their business elsewhere?
Developing goals will allow you to chart your performance as the campaign progresses, and to identify aspects of your campaign that need to be amended or further developed.
3. Limited Availability
Behavioural psychologists have found that human beings tend to assign greater value to things that they perceive as scarce.
The best marketers have learned how to take advantage of this by offering limited-time deals. A sales promotion such as a free gift with purchase may seem like an attractive incentive for motivating sales, but unless that promotion is only available for a limited time or in limited qualities, then a large majority of customers will not be interested. On the other hand, if those customers are faced with the possibility of missing the promotion if they don’t act quickly, they’ll be far more likely to commit.
4. Visibility
In-store signage, promotional ends, dump bins, employee word of mouth, social media, your business website, email contact and flyers are all effective mechanisms in letting your customers and prospective customers know about your sales promotion. High visibility of your promotional activity is key, but be sure to account for the marketing cost of promoting your promotion (otherwise, you might end up spending more money on advertising than you’ll make back through increased sales).
5. Value
When all is said and done, the customer is interested in just one thing: VALUE! If your sales promotion doesn’t offer your prospective customers real value, then all of the limited time offers and targeted marketing in the world isn’t going to make your sales promotion a success.
Ask yourself what kind of offer your potential customers will find most interesting, and then determine whether or not you can afford to give it to them. If you can, then you may have found the perfect sales promotion. If you can’t, then scale it back until you come to a compromise that will be interesting to your target audience, while still remaining cost effective for your organisation.
Our goal is to help you build a stronger, more profitable business. Call Stewart (+61 410 479 329) for a complimentary consultation to find out how Golf Connect can help you grow and protect your business. It is a sensible place to start!