Did you realize that Christmas is almost here… just walk to your local mall and everything is a buzz. Recently my husband and I had to make a trip to the mall to get some items the kids needed for school, I was surprised to see Walmart open for 24 hours already! I thought they were only doing that the last week before Christmas, but as you can guess they probably make a ton more money when they open that much. Obviously, or they wouldn`t do it. Thinking about all of this, I put together an article for you on product promotion strategies you can use online to get your business a buzz, also open 24 hours because it`ll be on the internet. 🙂
When it comes to promoting a product there are definitely tools and tactics that work best. Much of the success of these tools will depend on when in the promotion cycle they’re implemented, the type of product and of course your target audience. Assuming you’re marketing to an opt-in list, here are a few suggestions for perfect product promotion strategies.
Make sure you’re not over promoting in your email communications
Email communications, like ezines and newsletters, are meant to be informative first and promotional second. That doesn’t mean you can’t promote in them, but it’s important to keep it to a minimum. A general rule of thumb, and this is by no means a hard and fast rule, is to make sure at least 80% of your content is valuable and informative.
How to articles, reviews, case studies and so on are great ways to provide value to your opt-in list. The other 20% can be promotional content. This can be an advertisement, links within your content, banner advertisements, promotional message at the bottom of your content and so on. Test and track to find the best mix and strategy for your audience.
Make sure your content is valuable and beneficial
One excellent strategy to provide 100% valuable content to your audience without any hard sell is to provide a review of the product you’re promoting. Reviews, particularly if they’re written in an unbiased tone, give your reader insight to a product. A well-written review will summarize the product’s purpose, highlight the strong points, perhaps tell a story about your experience with the product and then list a drawback or two.
The drawbacks can be written to sound benign or like strengths – much like you would do in an interview when the interviewer asks for you to tell them about your weaknesses. You turn your weaknesses into strengths. Then a quick sentence or two summary and of course a link to the product and voila, you have a great review (and promotional material for your product).
Make sure you’re not promoting all of the time
While your opt-in list expects and accepts that you will be promoting your business products and services, they don’t want to be inundated with promotions all the time. Time your promotional content right so that it coincides with launches, special promotions and even the holidays.
Your subscribers have come to expect the best from you, and product promotions are going to be held up to the same high standards. Treat them with respect, continually offer value and time your promotions well, and you’ll be on the road to more profits and a growing subscriber list.
Thanks for this valuable information. I always make sure the keywords flow naturally with the text and when I am brainstorming for good words, ask around for words that come naturally to people of all ages when looking for designated type of site.
I think these are great tips for promoting a product at any time of year, not just during the Christmas season. You make a good point about the necessity of providing valuable content to your mailing list. Most people don’t want to be bombarded by ads. So if you promote to your list too heavily, a lot of people will simply unsubscribe. Worse yet, this could lead to negative reviews about your company.
Great points to to think about, your subscribers want quality content first, they will look at your promotions as a bonus if that content measures up .Soft-Sell beats Hard-Sell anytime!
I really hate it when I have to visit supermarkets for christmas promos in early October. And now they have these very long opening hours, too. Just awful.
Vera, thanks for this post and reminding people of not overpromoting. I quite too foten see emails coming in on a daily basis promoting the same thing (or store) again and again and it really is too much. It just goes into the trash folder. Result is, that the promoter looses reputation with me -> so no sale.
This is a great time of year 🙂 but seriously now more than ever it is easy to send a quick promotional gift to all your clients. It might be that little bit extra that helps get you the next order.. you dont want to be that one vendor/provider/whatever who doesnt send something and might stand out in a bad way.
D, TM, MB – yes, it’s good to balance your email promotions out. When your subscribers recognize the value you give, the sales come along with it.
Santa – I agree, it’s annoying to get all promotions and never any valuable communication.
KPP – Great point! Clients love gifts and this is a perfect time of year to go for it. You will certainly stay in their mind when you do something over and above.
Thanks for the information on promotion. I’m glad you spoke on the issue of over promotion. That really pisses me up at times.
The idea of providing a 100% valuable content to your audience sounds great. It gives them an inside of the product leaving them aware with what to expect