Promotional campaigns are a great way to gain exposure and get people excited about your business. Most people think of a promotion in terms of a discount, which is a super way to drive sales, but promotions come in all shapes in sizes.
Here are 11 types of promotions to help grow your email list, increase social media engagement, and drive sales.
1. Enter to win content
This one is quick and easy, as all you need is a prize and a way to collect email addresses.
Cash is ALWAYS king, so offering a gift card will help you cast the widest net, though you should know that not everyone will stay with you for the long term.
2. Wheel of Fortune
Creating a promotion in which people “spin to win,” is a lot of fun, as the element of chance often attracts people to enter just to see what they’ll get.
The idea is that you have a handful of prizes, and everyone who spins will win something, but they have to enter their email address to get their prize.
Prizes can be a mixed bag of discounts (amount off, BOGO, free period) with free swag.
3. Sports
Creating a promotion around Fantasy Football or March Madness can be great for service-based companies. These longer promotions can help you build relationships during the promotional period – especially if you get people talking along the way with chat or a smack talk board.
4. Photo contest
Asking people to share a photo and tag you, or your contest hashtag, is a great way to spur engagement, especially on Instagram.
This is especially effective method of gaining exposure if you have a product that people can snap pictures with.
5. Photo caption
The idea here is that you take a funny picture, pop it on social media and ask people to add a caption. This might be a silly animal picture, or a shot of someone on your team with an awkward look on their face.
This one isn’t really about your products or services, but it is a way to humanize your brand and help build relationships.
Generally, you’ll only run this for a day or two, so a simple prize like a free t-shirt, or $10 gift card is totally acceptable for a prize.
6. Trivia
Simple and straight forward: pop a trivia question on social media, and the first person to write in the correct answer gets a prize. Like the photo caption, it’s fairly quick and simple, so simple prizes will work.
This one is most effective if it’s turned into a regular series, so you teach people to “tune in” on a certain day (Trivia Tuesday or First Friday) and drive engagement in the long-term.
7. Discounts
Everyone likes a deal, so the simplest way to encourage people to buy is to give them a discount.
You can run this promotion for a specific period of time, or make it conditional:
- 25% off all sales during the month of May.
- Enter your email address to receive 10% off your first purchase.
8. Flash Sale
Flash sales follow the same principles of discount, just for a short period of time because it forces people to take action immediately, or suffer from FOMO.
If you are a product–based company, using flash sales to clear out inventory, such as odd sizes or colors, can be extremely effective.
9. BOGO
Offering a two for the price of one deal is a huge attraction for many people, especially if you tie it into some kind of holiday shopping.
- On Mother’s Day you might say buy one for you and one for Mom!
This also works for subscription services – buy one month and get the second free.
10. Free Period
If you offer some kind of subscription service or membership site, giving people the chance to take a test drive is a great way to bring them into the fold.
11. Philanthropy
This type of promotion combines a drive for sales with a way to show your social responsibility. The idea is that you will make a donation of some sort for every sale during a certain period.
- You’ll plant a tree for every purchase made on Earth Day.
- You’ll donate 10% of sales to breast cancer research during the month of October.
Unless you are offering a low-cost product, this one may not generate a huge amount of new sales. What it can do is help tip the scales for someone that’s been considering working with you.
If this got your creative juices flowing, but you need help pulling it off, we’re here for you! Contact us today to discuss options to get your promotional campaign up and running.