Why is My Promo Turning into an "Oh No"?

Promotions, such as sweepstakes, games, coupons, contests and loyalty programs, can be a great asset to your company’s success. However, they can also fall flat if you do not implement them properly. How do you know when your promotion has gone from fantastic to flat?

Timing

The longer a promotion runs, the more likely it is that you will decrease the perceived value of your product or service. Running a six month trial of a service at a steep discount might make clients balk when that seventh month rolls around and they have to pay full price. Stick with three months or less on a trial run to prevent long-term damage to your overall pricing strategy.

Predictability

How many times have you thought about buying something and then stopped and thought, “Labor Day is next week, they always have holiday promotions, I’ll just wait until then,” and then not bought what you were looking at? Your clients think the same way. If you always run promotions with holidays or every third Tuesday, they’re going to catch on and wait for promotions to sign up for or buy your services. This also leads to bargain hunters who will go from company to company to get good deals, use a company until their promo is up and then move on to another company with a new promotion. Converting bargain hunters to permanent customers depends on developing brand loyalty. For example, if your excellent customer service or high-quality products impress them, they are more likely to stay with you after prices return to normal levels.

Amount of Effort Required

Make it easy for clients and potential clients to enter and participate in your promotions. Have promotions so that people have multiple methods of entry - send out postcards, internet, etc. You need to make it easy, 60% of people won’t enter promotions or sweepstakes because they don’t know what to do.

You should also make sure your employees are spreading news of the contest via word of mouth. If you have employees promoting your promotion, it not only looks great for your company, but it opens the window for potential participants to ask those employees questions about your company, how to enter and how your business can help their businesses to succeed.

Creativity

This may be one of the most important steps in running a promotion. You need to make sure that you’re being creative and engaging. Lacking creativity can reduce the participation in your promotion by over 50%. If you were asked to enter one of two contests, which would you choose? Which image is a better attention grabber?

Probably the second one, right? You also need to make sure that the prize is worthwhile. A prize that is not compelling can reduce the impact of the promotion by 78%. How many times are you asked to “participate in our survey” and are you more likely to do it when they add “for a chance to win” or for “$10 off your next order”.

A successful sweepstakes will be one that focuses on their audience, includes credibility, creativity and emotionally engages the reader. A promotion must be enticing from beginning to end. Your headline is what brings people in, your content keeps them going and the prize gets them to stay. Without all three elements, you will have an “oh-no” rather than a promo.

Need help with a promotional idea, but aren’t sure how to work it? Bounce your ideas off the marketing team at JoomConnect. You can contact us by phone at 607-433-2200 or head over to www.JoomConnect.com and Live Chat with us today!