In this article we describe Sales Promotion, one of the most important marketing techniques often used by marketeers.
What is Sales Promotion?
Sales promotion concerns use of special – often short term – techniques with an intention of fast sales to certain targets. The sales are done by dicounts, incentives, coupons, rebates, sampling, contests, demonstrations etc. Sales promotion forms one of the four main groups of promotion potentials and is thus an important component of promotion, promotion mix and the marketing mix.
Why Sales Promotion?
Currently people are exposed to hundreds of advertising on a daily basis whereby it is increasingly more difficult to create distinctive feature or strive for targets with only that. Instead, marketers have learned that they must apply extra promotion methods in combination with advertisement to achieve the desired effect.
An example: A TV advertisement is applied for awareness and two weeks later the target group at home receives a sample to try the product via a direct mail action. By letting people get familiar with the product, a preference can emerge. Thereby an attempt is made to move the client to the next phase, in this case in the form of a purchase. In this example – between the broad offer of commercials – the advertisement broadcast might well be lost whereby awareness, preference and target is not sought.
Targets Sales Promotion
See the following article
Examples Sales Promotion
There are many different variations of sales promotion:
Business to Consumer (B2C)
| Coupons | Price cuts by discount tickets |
| Rebate | Discount after the sales - often after a certain action of the client e.g. giving an e-mail address |
| Action price | Short term price lowering with a target of short term sales |
| Sampling & Free trial |
Allow to try out a free product – e.g. free 30 days software trial |
| Loyalty programme | Clients benefits offer by the means of a loyalty programme |
| Price lowering /sweepstakes | For example, to striving for targets via a lottery a product with a high perceived value (iPad, auto etc.) |
| Trade-in | Based on making a certain exchange and message |
| Demonstration | A product demonstration |
Business to Business (B2B)
| Sales incentives |
Sellers reward resellers for good performances |
| In-store-displays | A good prominent display of products |
| Sales promotion articles | This can be in various forms, from brochures to coffee beakers etc. |
| Trade shows | Representation at trade shows |
| Action prices, free products, rebates, trade-in | Naturally these are also potentials for b2b. |
These, moreover, are not the only examples of Sales promotion, only simple viable examples.