Promotional campaigns are a proven way for businesses to generate mindshare and marketshare; especially in crowded and competitive marketplaces where standing out is not just critical for success, but is essential for survival. To ensure that everything goes smoothly as planned, here are three best practices to optimize your promotion campaign ROI:
1. Choose the Right Promotion
Choosing the right promotion can be an unexpectedly challenging task. For example, do rebates make the most sense? Or perhaps contests, cross-promotions with other companies, product giveaways, integration with online channels (customer communities, social media, etc.) and so on. It’s vital to explore each option – both from a customer traction and input cost angle – to identify the right one that has the greatest chance of generating the most ROI.
2. Pay Attention to Rules & Regulations
Several years ago, Apple started clamping down on businesses giving away free iPhones or iPads, and many other high profile companies are following suit – which can certainly turn a fun and positive promotion story into a regrettable cautionary tale. At the same time, there is an increasingly complex maze of rules and regulations regarding data collection that you need to be completely on top of. For example, what customer information will you collect? How will you store it? What will you do with it?
Frankly, even if the customers participating your promotional campaign do not bother reading the “fine print” (and let’s be honest, most of them won’t!), it’s still necessary for you to ensure that non-compliance isn’t a risk, and that your efforts won’t trigger a complaint – or even a lawsuit.
3. Do not Let Demand Take You by Surprise
If you decide to offer a product (or products) as part of your promotion – whether it is smartphone cover, scented candle, or anything else -- the only thing worse than having a campaign fizzle to due lack of interest or awareness, is having a surge of demand reveal that your order fulfillment system is not equipped to handle the load. Indeed, instead of impressing customers and winning new business, you’ll enrage them and become target practice on social media.
The best way to avoid this horror show – which is much more common than you think – is by outsourcing your order fulfillment to a third party logistics (3PL) firm. They should have a proven record helping businesses like yours ensure that your promotional products are properly stocked in the right places, and delivered on time to happy customers -- whether they are located across the city, country or world.