10 Effective Promotion Marketing Strategies for New Businesses

In this article, you will find

1. Introduction
2. What is promotion marketing?
3. Benefits of Promotion Marketing
4. Promotion Marketing: Avoid These Common Mistakes 
5. Promotion Marketing Tactics for the 21st Century Marketer
6. Conclusion
7. FAQs

Introduction

“The future of advertising is the internet.” Do you know who said this? It was none other than Bill Gates. He predicted this in 2005, and it is safe to say that he was spot on. Today, it is impossible to escape the Internet, online shopping, and digital marketing. A promotional SMS each week, a timely push notification from Uber when you are about to leave work, an email from your favorite brand showcasing their new products, and more are all part of intelligent and engaging promotion marketing tactics deployed by a majority of the brands worldwide. 

The increasing popularity of e-commerce platforms in the past decade has shaped and influenced modern marketing strategies. Gone are the days when we received pamphlets in newspapers and our letterboxes, thanks to the onset of digital marketing, which has transformed how businesses reach and interact with their target audience. 

As things stand, the e-commerce sector will continue to thrive in the upcoming years due to several factors, including convenience, smooth return policies, efforts to improve shopping experience, low entry barriers, and dwindling shipping costs, to name a few. Did you know that over 4.2 million e-commerce websites exist in the U.S. and Canada? 

With so many brands and retailers in the mix, it is imperative to stand out, establish a unique digital presence, and introduce engaging promotion marketing strategies. This article explores some of the most effective promotion marketing tactics to drive sales and sustainable business growth. 

But first, let’s understand what we mean by promotion marketing. 

What is Promotion Marketing? 

The name gives it away, doesn’t it? Regardless, let’s understand what it means. 

Promotion marketing primarily refers to the strategic use of digital marketing, online advertising, and other channels to provide tempting discounts, great product deals, and a spotless e-commerce experience to customers.  

These strategies boost sales, generate brand awareness, improve brand presence, and help businesses convert new customers into loyal, repeat buyers. 

Benefits of Promotion Marketing

Marketing marketing offers online businesses a gamut of benefits. Some of the most glaring benefits include:

• Promotion marketing increases revenue,  generates demand, and boosts purchases. 
• This marketing strategy is very effective in launching new products. 
• Promotion marketing enhances customer loyalty and engagement. 
• Brands can clear surplus or least-selling products effectively. 
• It enables companies to understand their target market. 
• Sales promotion paves the way for word-of-mouth referral, resulting in lower marketing expenditure in the long run. 

Promotion Marketing: Avoid These Common Mistakes 

There is no doubt that promotion marketing is crucial to your company’s online marketing strategy. However, it puts forward a plethora of challenges. This section will examine some of the most common mistakes marketers make in promotion marketing. 

• Online businesses should rely on more than promotion marketing to drive sales. Many brands must offer regular discounts to ensure their sales volume remains unchanged. 
• Many brands go overboard with sales promotions, which can be a significant turn-off for customers. 
• Refrain from devaluing your brand by offering discounts and often running sales. 
• Focus on promotion marketing as long as it adds value and creates an impact. If your efforts are not getting the desired results, pause, reevaluate, and try again. 
• Keep an eye on your profit margins when you invest in promotion marketing. You should ensure that your marketing efforts do not impact your profit margins. 

Promotion Marketing Tactics for the 21st Century Marketer

Ben bought a new iPhone 14 on Labor Day from Shop A and was shocked to find out his friend, Steve, purchased the iPhone 14 Pro Max at a cheaper price from Shop B. Can you tell us why this happened? 

While Ben missed out on the seller offers, discounts, and promotions, Steve did not. This example shows that Shop A’s promotion marketing strategy fell short of its competitors, resulting in unhappy and dissatisfied customers. 

Read on to find out how to avoid being in Shop A’s position and discover some effective promotion marketing strategies. The best part? Some of these allow you to advertise your business for free. 

Let’s begin.

1. Giveaways and Contests

With over 4.8 billion users worldwide, social media is one of today’s most powerful marketing channels. Almost all brands have acknowledged this and realized the need to create a solid presence across various social media channels. Many brands run contests and giveaways to assert themselves on social media and attract new visitors to their social media handles. 

Creating social media contests and giveaways is also one of the most effective promotion marketing strategies to increase brand awareness and customer engagement.  Additionally, it is a great way to collect and leverage user-generated content in future marketing campaigns. 

Here’s how She Speaks Up did it. Most brands follow a similar template where they must follow the brand’s page, like the giveaway post, and tag their friends. 

Standard giveaway template used by brands:

• Like the giveaway post
• Follow the brand page
• Tag friends

These contests and giveaways are crucial for businesses as they enable them to reach a wider audience, increase their social media followers, and create the much-required hype around their brand. 

2. Discount Codes

Let’s admit it. We all love discounts, don’t we? Even neuromarketers agree that discounts promote positive feelings such as pleasure, happiness, and more. Discounts are psychological motivators that influence and encourage consumers to buy a product. Additionally, discounts compel consumers to think, especially when they see a good deal. If you are not yet convinced, take a look at these numbers. 

Around 70% of millennials will look for a discount before purchasing something. A whopping 66% of consumers revealed that they would buy something if it had a discount code, even if they did not have the initial intent to purchase the product. While there is no doubt that discounts drive sales and give a sense of value to customers, it is essential to use the right discount code type at the right step of a buyer’s journey. 

Here are a few examples. 

• Discounts for new customers

Typically, many brands offer a first-time discount to entice customers into buying their products. However, some customers may not approve of this approach. This is why it becomes crucial to strike a balance. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to create discounts for new customers. 

• Discounts for consumers who have bought at least once from your brand

Here, you can see how Secret Lab offers an exclusive discount code for its subscribers. This is an excellent way to increase your subscriber list and nudge one-time customers to make further purchases. 

3. Free Shipping

When online shopping enters the picture, free shipping becomes essential. Why? Because it influences the buyer’s purchasing decisions. When online businesses offer free shipping, they entice their visitors to purchase. 

Mind you, free shipping is no longer considered a perk by customers. In fact, it is a given expectation. Regardless, when customers see “free shipping,” they are more likely to explore your store and make a purchase. 

This is because of the influence of the word “free” on the human mind. It’s an irresistible emotional trigger; that is where you need to hit the nail. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to create free shipping discounts on Shopify. 

What is stopping you from doing the same? We understand – while the term free shipping is loosely thrown around in the e-commerce space, it is not free. Someone has to pay for shipping. How to offer free shipping economically is one of the significant hurdles for online businesses. The solution? Get an end-to-end understanding of shipping costs and incorporate them into your financial models. You can also ask your customers to fill out a form, make a minimum purchase of a specific value, or write a review to be eligible for free shipping. 

See how Under Armour has not only mentioned the eligibility criteria for free shipping but also offered a discount code to incentivize customers. 

Here, Supplement Xpress offers a discount to its customers in exchange of their email address.  

4. Sales 

We all look forward to the Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or Labor Day sale. Sales promotion marketing is designed to generate immediate results. These tactics are implemented based on consumer behavior, time of the year, competitive landscape, competitor positioning, etc. 

From flash to seasonal sales, this section primarily sheds light on leveraging sales promotion marketing to drive revenues and increase your online business’s exposure across the various stages of the customer’s life cycle. 

Sales promotion aims at achieving the following objectives:

• Increase demand and drive purchases
• Capture consumer attention
• Boost brand exposure
• Improve sales 

Typically, sales promotions last for a limited period and are complemented by engaging marketing campaigns. Now, let’s explore some of the most common sales promotion campaigns. 

• Flash Sales

Creating a sense of urgency to boost sales, flash sales are a great way to clear old or surplus stock. These sales are effective as over 50% of purchases occur during the first hour of the flash sale. 

This is an excellent example of a flash sale. The copy reads, “Offer ends in less than 24 hours,” creating a sense of urgency in customers. Additionally, Quillbot also backed the flash sale with an email campaign. 

• Seasonal Sales

Seasonal sales are linked to a particular time of the year and primarily play with the consumer’s emotions, elevated interest levels, and the anticipation of a special occasion. This encourages them to make purchases during the limited sale window. 

Take a look at how Amazon runs seasonal and holiday sales. 

5. Deals

Well, technically, sales, discounts, and deals fall under the same umbrella of promotion marketing, where businesses and brands offer products and services at reduced prices. While sales are typically linked with a limited window, and deals do not come with such stringent restrictions. Most brands offer great discounts on different products throughout the year. 

• Bundle Deals

Some brands use the “Buy more, save more” trick very well. They entice customers to buy more products without feeling guilty. Customers are convinced they are getting a good deal when they pair their initial purchase with add-on products.

Sony makes its bundle deals irresistible. The company offers multiple bundle deals giving its customers plenty of options. 

• Carrier Deals

Deals can come in different shapes and forms. Most cellphone companies offer customers great deals on new phones if they use a particular network carrier. 

Apple does it so well we couldn’t help but share it with you.

• Generic Ongoing Deals

Most brands have a separate deals section where customers can look at discounted products, exclusive deals, clearance stock, and more. While most deals are updated occasionally, some go on throughout the year. 

Check out IKEA’s deals section. 

• Buy 1 Get 1 (BOGO) Deals

Buy one get one or BOGO deals are the most effective promotion marketing strategies to drive sales and increase revenue. It’s easy to guess why BOGO deals work, as consumers get a free product with their purchase. What’s the catch? 

Most brands offer BOGO deals to sell unpopular merchandise and outdated products and clear their stock. Regardless, BOGO deals are an excellent way to reward loyal customers and invoke customer excitement. 

Take a look at Aeropostale’s BOGO deal. 

Many brands offer different types of ‘buy one’ deals such as ‘buy one get two free,’ ‘buy 1 get 1 for 50%, and more.  

6. Product Bundling

McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Domino’s, Apple, Nike, and so on. Each of these brands has aced the art of product bundling. While you can see elements of upselling and cross-selling, product bundling enhances the idea of offering complementary and discounted products by adding value and convenience. 

It is a win-win promotion marketing strategy for both businesses and their customers. On one hand, businesses can increase their average order value (AOV). boost sales, and minimize their marketing costs; on the other side, customers can purchase more products and save money simultaneously. 

Here are a few good examples of product bundling. While the main product in this example is the iPad Air, Apple encourages customers to explore a few more products that enhance the user experience of the main product, i.e., the iPad Air. If this seems valuable for your e-commerce business, here’s an in-depth article on product bundling. 

7. Loyalty and Referral Programs

Setting a loyalty program in place is one of the most innovative and effective promotion marketing strategies many brands use. It forges stronger relationships with customers, increases the chances of referrals, and a seamless way to collect valuable customer data. Again, as seen with product bundling, loyalty programs also play an essential role in minimizing marketing expenditure. 

Launching a loyalty program involves thorough planning and foresight. One of the key points businesses should consider is the ease of joining the program and clear communication while creating a loyalty program. Your customers should reap the benefits of joining your loyalty program and not just collect thousands of reward points in their wallets. They should be able to enjoy a more personalized experience and get discounts and rewards. 

Have you seen Starbucks’s loyalty program? 

Here’s a glimpse. 

Referral marketing, akin to loyalty programs, reduces marketing costs and is one of the best ways to incentivize customers. How? Your loyal customers are marketing your products for you by referring them to someone in exchange for a discount. 

Take a look at T-Mobile’s referral program. 

8. Cart Abandonment Offers

Most brands have abandonment issues and for good reasons. The combined value of all the products left in the cart by customers across the globe is $4 trillion annually. If you scan through your inbox, there is a high probability of finding an abandoned cart mail. Additionally, most e-commerce businesses lose around $18 billion in sales revenue annually. This is why brands try to convince their customers to complete their purchases. Let’s admit it, Nobody likes to be ghosted. Some of the most common reasons for cart abandonments include:

• Confusing checkout process
• No promo codes
• High shipping costs
• Long delivery times
• Vague return policy
• Lack of payment options

The content of your brand’s abandonment email can change according to the root cause of the problem.

Look at how one brand uses words like “last chance” to create urgency and tap into the fear of missing out (FOMO). 

9. Popular Products 

From electronics to footwear to clothes, you will always find ‘trending products’ or ‘popular products’ on an e-commerce website. Whether it is the latest iPhone or a fresh product line, the buzz around popular products is essential in influencing consumer choices, shaping new trends, and driving demand. 

Additionally, by catering to customers with an attention span of around 8 seconds, online marketers and businesses are already battling with odds stacked against them. Showcasing trending or popular products effectively grabs your customer’s attention and sells seasonally relevant products. Most companies dedicate a section on the home page to display popular and top-selling products. 

Check out how Amazon displays the most popular items of this season. In this example, you can see popular products in the electronics category. 

10. Personalized Recommendations

Gone are the days when generic advertisement was enough to attract customers. The modern consumer seeks personalized shopping experiences where their shopping history, unique preferences, and online behaviour are considered. The onus is on the online business to offer personalized shopping experiences to their customers that resonate with their tastes. A well-timed product recommendation can either result in an additional sale or the sale of one product over another. Further, personalized recommendations can also. influence customers to skim through a product category they didn’t know they needed. 

Nike does an excellent job by providing personalized recommendations at various stages of the buyer’s journey. 

Conclusion

If you are planning to launch an online business, you will need to invest in promotion marketing at some point to drive sales and establish a solid footing in the market. That said, you should ensure you define your goals and work toward accomplishing them without deviating. These promotion marketing tactics have enabled thousands of online businesses to flourish and take their business to new heights. There’s no reason why your online business cannot achieve the same degree of success and growth. 

All you need to do is tweak your strategy in line with your objectives and make consistent adjustments for every stage of the sales funnel. 

FAQs

What is promotion marketing?

Promotion marketing is a type of marketing where businesses offer products and services at discounted prices to drive sales and growth. 

What are the different types of promotion marketing?

The different types of promotion marketing include product bundling, discounts, deals, referral and loyalty programs, personalized product recommendations, and more. 

Is sales promotion worth it?

Whether sales promotion is worth it or not will primarily depend on several factors, such as your target audience, business objectives, business type, and the type of promotion.

How can I measure the effectiveness of my campaigns?

You can measure the effectiveness of your campaigns by monitoring key parameters such as return on investment (ROI), customer acquisition costs (CAC), customer retention, and reading customer feedback. 

What are the drawbacks of promotion marketing?

Some of the major drawbacks include devaluation of the brand, reduced profit margins, maintaining customer loyalty, and attracting price-sensitive customers.