How promotions can help your business

Whether you are a startup or a business that seeks growth, promotional activities are necessary and vital for getting your brand in front of the public and attracting new customers. Regardless of your company's product or service, your strategy should involve a good mix of online and offline promotions. Some methods are well known, such as the proven and tested print and electronic media ads, but other lesser known methods can be just as effective.

Though your business promotional plans should be based on individual needs and circumstances with regard to time, labor, and costs, you should conduct some research to ensure your option is effective in reaching a wider customer base and can lead to high conversion rates.

Online-based promotions

The Internet has come to define the dynamism in the changing face of promotions and advertising, offering a platform that ensures you get your message across a significantly expanded audience at low cost.

Business website: If you haven't already, set up your business website. You'll need to choose a domain name, register it, and find a hosting company for the site such as Web.com. Invest in designing a functional site filled with useful and interesting information related to your business that has an easy-to-navigate layout. Use your site to promote your business, provide information, and even sell your products.

Be generous to ensure customers check back regularly. Offer freebies such as a free downloadable eBook, samples of your products, and tutorials and how-to information about using your products or services.

Incorporate search engine optimization (SEO), such as the use of search keywords on your site, to ensure your business comes up in organic search results. Submit your site to website directories and share links with other related sites.

Content marketing: This involves sharing valuable information with your readers without requiring them to buy anything. Position yourself as an expert who is genuinely willing to help resolve your customers' problems. You can do this by participating in forums and blogs, either on your site or on other platforms. When you post in forums, mention your URL, link some keywords and phrases to your site, or emblazon the post with details about your business. By contributing original, helpful information, readers will likely go to your business pages for more details.

Email marketing: You can reach a wide group of people through email marketing, as well. Send out a newsletter with useful information, DIY hints, or humorous anecdotes in addition to updates about your business. Include a "call to action" such as "Buy now," "Read more," or "Download now."

To avoid the spam folder, make sure to get recipients' permission before contacting them. Create lists of current and potential customers that you can contact on a regular basis. Companies such as Constant Contact can manage lists and assist with email marketing campaigns.

Timing is key. Your email should not disrupt recipients' lives or affect their sensitivities; for example, marketing emails over the weekend, public holidays, or when there is a disaster in the news are counterproductive.

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising: Start advertising your business online to access more potential customers. PPC allows you to set a price that you are comfortable paying every time someone clicks on your ad. These ad formats are convenient because they allow you to set a daily advertising budget that you can cancel and restart any time. Consider expanding your reach by targeting ads on apps for smartphones and tablets.

Surveys: Conducting short, interesting, and comprehensive surveys allow you to get feedback and insight about your business. Take advantage of free tools like SurveyMonkey; you can link this to your business website or social media accounts. Ask people directly what they want as well as for feedback on products, services, and promotions.

Consider including a short follow-up survey, by phone or email, every time a customer purchases your products. You will gather information that will help you improve your marketing. You also come across as a business that cares what the customer thinks and one that strives to provide the best service and product.

Social media: Social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+ can offer your business an effective way to promote products and services in a more relaxed environment. These networks, when used correctly, provide one of the best vehicles for direct marketing. Potential customers see your business as in touch with people on a more personal level, rather than an entity just trying to sell something. This lessens the divide between your company and the buyer, presenting a more appealing image of your business.

Brick-and-mortar store promotions

Although traditional advertising methods still work — think billboards, an ad in the daily paper, or a TV commercial — there are several other subtle and inexpensive ways to promote your business. And they can be just as effective, if not more so.

Consumer referrals: Develop a customer referral incentive program to encourage existing customers to refer new customers to your business. Offer to give them free products, cash rewards, and big discounts to incentivize them. With this promotional strategy, you leverage your customer base as a formidable sales force.

Product giveaways and freebies: This can be helpful, especially if you are introducing new products or services. Product giveaways allow potential customers to sample your goods as a way to promote the brand. This can be an in-store promotion so that the public can be enticed to purchase the items.

You can also give branded promotional gifts. These should be functional items that the consumer can use, such as your business card on a magnet, key chain, or pen. This keeps your business in plain sight, as opposed to business cards that are often relegated to the drawer.

Point-of-sale promotion: As a promotional strategy, point-of-sale and end-cap marketing rely on convenience and impulse. With a point-of-sale strategy, new products or those that you want to sell quickly are placed near the checkout counter, where consumers buy on impulse as they wait to pay for their goods.

Similarly, the end-cap sits at the end of the aisle and typically features products you want to promote or move quickly. This positioning enables easy access for the customer.

Frequency card programs: Adopting frequency cards or loyalty programs builds store traffic and entices holders to visit time and time again. Customers are issued unique cards that keep track of their purchases, which can be redeemed for prizes or discounts once a certain points threshold is attained. Customers are rewarded according to how much they spend on purchases, which can be a viable promotional strategy.

Causes and charity: You can support a charitable cause and give your business some free publicity at the same time. You may sponsor a boys' junior soccer league tournament or support an initiative that helps the disadvantaged in the community. Rather than making money through a hard-sell campaign, you will be promoting your brand and/or business by getting your logo and name in front of the public as a leader who cares about the local community. You will gain a socially conscious image as well as customers.

As with any marketing strategy, people are the stock-in-trade, and you should aim to utilize only those methods that get customers to your door effectively and affordably. Networking is key, and with a little experimentation and time, you are bound to focus on the most productive promotions for your business.