Okay while I know that Monday isn’t really part of the weekend, did you take advantage of online sales when you were supposed to be working today?
Yes—I’m looking at you!
But I’m not going to tell.
As a born, bred New Yorker, I’m accustomed to holiday shopping starting the day after Thanksgiving.
Eager to take advantage of the sales, my mother and I would head out in her grey sedan only to get stuck in traffic by the local shopping strip. But it all seemed worth it if we came home with at least a couple of shopping bags filled with bargains.
But this year was different.
The commercialization of the holidays gets earlier and earlier.
Stores started getting dressed up for Christmas soon after Halloween. In the local Container Store, my husband and I heard Christmas music on Veteran’s Day weekend.
Even worse, Pre-Black Friday Sales started a week early.
From a marketing perspective, I don’t think this is a good strategy.
Why?
Because it means that you’re competing mainly on price. From a business perspective, this translates to a downward spiral since there will always be another business that is willing to go lower than you.
Further if you decrease prices too much, chances are that you’ll give away your entire profit on the items. If you don’t know your business’s costs, there’s a good possibility that you lose money. In other words, your costs exceed the amount of
money you receive.
So what can you do as a marketer?
Make sure that you get the most out of every promotion all year long.
I learned this lesson back when I was head of marketing for 6 product lines at Bertelsmann. In our first promotion of the year, we included a sales flyer from another offering.
Since the flyer advertised the main product of the month at a steeply discounted price, it reduced the sales of the item for all of the orders.
Ouch! It was a big hit to the revenues for that product line!
After that experience, I made sure that I maximized every element of each promotion. I knew that something could happen that was beyond my control.
And you should do the same!
Actionable Promotional Marketing Tactics:
To maximize your promotional campaigns test these tactics.
Bear in mind that what works for one business, may not work for yours.
Also, each time you run a price-related special, its ability to generate business erodes. For this reason, it’s a good idea to continually change your offering. Also always be testing!
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Create an annual calendar of promotions. Aim for one promotion a month for most B2C businesses.
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Manage post-purchase relationships. Don’t overlook post-purchase relationship building. Use your messaging and content to ensure customers keep your products with “how to” content and to upsell them related or additional products.
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Track special purchases such as birthdays and anniversaries. For example, I sent my sister-in-law a bottle of wine for her birthday. This year, I called the same store that made a delivery to her office last year. They should have me on a
reminder list to lock in my purchases.
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Plan special promotions for slow sales periods. For example, offer deferred savings to holiday shoppers when they buy in January. Alternatively use slow periods to celebrate your business’s anniversary.
Social Media Marketing World 2019