Top 10 Shopper Marketing Ideas To Maximize Your Sales (Part 2)

phenomenagroup | March 7, 2010 at 10:34 pm | Tags: a risk-free, alternative promotion concepts, common promotion mechanism, consumer ombudsman, cost structure, key account manager, packaging, Packaging and promotion, Price reduction, promotion, promotion mechanism, sales personnel, shopper marketing, Shopper Marketing Ideas, that is fixed | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: http://wp.me/pLevZ-2i

Welcome to Part 2 of the Top 10 Shopper Marketing Ideas To Maximize Your Sales written by Ville Maila editor and contributor of the Shopper Marketing book. He is also the Planning Director of Phenomena Group Ltd.

This blog covers topics ranging from Involvement of personnel, how to use pricing, creating your own best practices, avoiding risks, investing in legal services, selecting mechanisms etc.

So, here are the Top 10 Shopper Marketing Ideas To Maximize Your Sales (Part 2):

1. Involve the sales personnel

Take the response you get from the sales personnel seriously because they know the trade. The key account manager doesn’t criticize your promotion idea just for the fun of it. If you can’t get your sales personnel enthusiastic about your promotion you’d better forget the whole project. Depressing statistics show that “big” promotion investments are almost ignored in sales to the trade presentations. That is why these promotions are big only on paper, not on store level!

2. Price reduction is your worst competitor

Price reduction is the most common promotion mechanism. Price reduction increases the demand for the product. Your promotion should always be more attractive than the price reductions simultaneously offered by your competitors. Price reduction is a guaranteed action that increases sales, so you need to be able to prove how your promotions increase sales.

3. The best practice is best

It is stupid to think that a brand owns a promotion mechanism in the same way as brands own advertising messages. A promotion is not advertising and everybody will use the same promotion mechanisms if these increase sales (e.g. price reductions).
It is only a good thing if someone else has achieved good results with a certain promotion mechanism before you. The store isn’t interested in “anything new” but in the best practices that increase cover sales.

4. Make life easier

According to an old American saying "Selling is serving”. In the 80s, partners were given leather jackets in Finland, but nowadays it is advisable to offer something else. You make the life of your purchase partner easier by offering more than one campaign alternatives. Don’t believe in only one truth, but offer the store at least 2 alternative promotion concepts. In this way you increase the rate of accepted promotions.

How do you guarantee promotion profitability?

5. Avoid risks

Always make sure in advance what the maximum costs of your promotion will be. If you always prepare for the worst you will never get disappointed. Only use promotion mechanisms which offer a risk-free, that is fixed, cost structure. A productive investment of your whole marketing budget is proof that you have done your job. An exceeded budget may in the worst case be grounds for dismissal.

6. A lawyer is an investment

The consumer ombudsman doesn't have your best interest in mind. To make sure that your promotion is legal we recommend you to invest 5% of your promotion budget in a lawyer. The other option is to use an agency that knows the intricacies of the law and knows how to avoid conditional fines and negative publicity. Generally your competitor deserves the credit for the consumer ombudsman’s interest in your campaign.

7. Compare different mechanisms

List all the promotion mechanisms you know. Could you think of more than 10? The fact is that there are more than 50 different mechanisms. You pick the right one only by comparing how well the mechanisms increase sales in your case. Compare at least three different mechanisms before you make your decision. After all, quite few people marry their first love.

8. Eliminate the non-essentials

Consider once more what you want to achieve with your actions. Then you break your promotion into parts. Evaluate how each part will help you achieve your goal. Eliminate everything that doesn’t directly help you reach those goals. If you have the courage to do this, you may get what you are striving for.

9. Do the acid test

Read out your additional value message. Did it sound attractive? Ask your mother-in-law or a school child for their opinion. Ask them to read out your message. Does everything make sense? Don’t assume that the ones reading your text are more critical than the average if your message is difficult to understand or uninteresting. Change the message or abandon the whole concept if you don’t get satisfying results from the acid test.

10. The package is the best promotion

Packaging is the best support medium, because you only need to pay for the manufacturing of the printing surface. The cost remains stable regardless of if your order is 2 or 10 million packages. That is why the package promotion gives the best return on investment. In all other promotions the costs rise if the promotion coverage is increased. How much does it cost you to make the number of special presentations 5 times bigger?

About The Author

Ville Maila - Planning Director, Phenomena

Ville Maila - Planning Director, Phenomena

Ville Maila is editor and contributor of the Shopper Marketing book. He is also the Planning Director of Phenomena Group Ltd. Phenomena Group was the first shopper marketing company to be founded in Europe.

Ville Maila,
Planning Director
+35 040 561 7899
ville.maila@phenomena.com
www.phenomena.com