6 techniques to help you promote your products step by step

If any product wants to develop sustainably, it must have a good business model. Only when the product is profitable can it ensure that it can continuously provide users with a better product experience. The profit model of traditional PC Internet is based on advertising, e-commerce, and value-added services such as games . Among them, advertising is the easiest and most widely used way to monetize.

However, with the advent of mobile Internet , many of the previous ways of playing no longer work, and advertising has been greatly affected in the era of mobile Internet . Because the screens of mobile devices are relatively small, there is very little space left for displaying ads, and the user experience of displaying ads on a smaller screen is also very poor, so the advertising-based business model has very limited development in the mobile Internet.

In the profit model of the mobile terminal, commercialization is more often achieved through e-commerce or provision of services, which requires users to pay actively. In this case, it is particularly important to guide and motivate users to consume.

The current price war among major e-commerce companies and the crazy subsidies in the O2O field are all aimed at stimulating users to consume. The logic of this model is that even if they are not making money now, they must let users use their products first, develop habits, thereby occupying market share, and then making money.

In addition to this kind of subsidy method from the rich, what other ways do we have to stimulate user consumption?

1. Limited time offer

Limited time always gives people a sense of urgency and scarcity, allowing users to reduce thinking time and make purchases quickly. This approach makes users feel that they are getting a bargain, because the products are only discounted for a limited time, and if they happen to come across it, they will miss the discount and it will be gone later. So in this case, users may not have time to think about whether they really need it. Anyway, they feel that they have made a profit, so of course they have to take advantage of it.

A successful sales promotion does not necessarily mean selling really cheap goods to users, but making users feel that they have gotten a good deal. So we often see roadside shops putting up signs like "Clearance sale in the last 3 days" all year round. This model has spawned various limited-time sales, attracting a large number of users to buy by offering low prices. Of course, the supply is obviously far less than the demand, so the vast majority of users are unable to buy. Merchants will direct the large amount of traffic they attract to other products, thereby achieving profits.

Ever since Xiaomi launched the rush-buying campaign for its mobile phones, other domestic manufacturers have followed suit. At one point, it seemed that you had to rely on rushing to buy a mobile phone. The pinnacle of this model is Tmall’s Double Eleven, which tells users that there is only one day a year where products are 50% off, so hurry up and buy them, or they will never be so cheap again. This has created a miracle of 57.1 billion in sales in one day.

2. Free coupons when shopping

When we go out to eat at a restaurant, we are often given coupons after the meal so that we can spend money next time. This situation often occurs when shopping online. After completing the transaction, the merchant will give you a coupon for your next purchase. This approach can greatly increase the user's repurchase rate, not only making users feel that they have received a discount, but also further strengthening the connection with users.

From the user's perspective, the gifted coupons can be used to offset the next consumption amount. In a sense, the coupons in hand are equivalent to real money. If you don't go, you will be wasting your money. Coupons are given to users after they make a purchase. They are not given out casually, so users will treasure such things more. So you may have this experience: friends often invite you to dinner or karaoke, and because you happen to have coupons in your hand, they will expire if you don’t use them.

3. Referral Rewards

I believe everyone is already very familiar with this method, which is used very frequently in taxi-hailing apps. For example, if you recommend a friend to use Uber, both parties will receive a 30 yuan discount. If you help a friend, both you and your friend will benefit, and I believe most people would be willing to do it. Moreover, this method of recommendation has a natural advantage of trust. You learned about this product not from an advertisement seen on TV, nor from the merchant’s own promotion, but from a recommendation from your friend. You believe that your friend will not lie to you, so products recommended by friends are more likely to gain trust. Through such viral marketing , not only new users are developed, but also benefits are brought to old users, attracting them to continue using the product.

4. Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is a group of people raising funds to accomplish something together. However, the development of crowdfunding has somewhat deviated from its essence and has in many cases become a new marketing tool. Nowadays, many crowdfunding platforms have become like commodity group purchasing platforms, but by making good use of the fresh concept of crowdfunding and adding some sentiment into it, it is still possible to come up with some innovative promotions.

Crowdfunding products already have a large number of users before they are sold or even produced. Users can make suggestions for products or services, helping merchants make products that are more popular with users. The distance between merchants and users is shortened, and the two can communicate more effectively and accumulate a large number of fans.

This group of seed users accumulated through the crowdfunding platform can help the product achieve a cold start and use the power of fans to complete the initial promotion and publicity.

Since the price of products reserved by users on the crowdfunding platform in the early stage is much cheaper than the market price, this is a very important reason why crowdfunding can attract a large number of users. Through a tiered pricing strategy with quota restrictions or time limits, users can be encouraged to participate more actively. For example, the first 10 users can enjoy a 50% discount on the original price, the first 50 users can enjoy a 30% discount on the original price, and the first 100 users can enjoy a 20% discount on the original price. This method also makes users feel a sense of scarcity, thus making them buy decisively.

5. Lucky Draw

Lottery has always been a popular form of entertainment. The mentality of making a small investment for a big gain and getting rich overnight makes many users never get tired of it.

Didn’t Jack Ma also say: You’ve got to have dreams, just in case they come true?

In Internet promotion, users can also have the opportunity to obtain high returns at a very low cost. For example, the original price of a product is 100 yuan, but you only need to spend 1 yuan or use points to participate in the lottery once. I believe many people would be willing to give it a try. After all, the cost is too small and the reward may be very high.

However, the design of the lottery rules is very important, which directly affects the user's participation. The easier it is for users to win a lottery, the more people will participate. For example, setting a certain lottery threshold and controlling the number of people participating in the lottery can increase the winning rate. Or give users a clear winning ratio, for example, one person out of every 100 participants will be selected as a winner. Raffles can greatly increase user activity and participation, and also increase product exposure and sales.

6. Virtual Incentives

In addition to directly motivating users with real money, rewards from some virtual systems can also play a big role. The biggest advantage of this incentive method is that the cost is very low, almost zero cost. By giving users points, experience, virtual titles, etc., we give users positive incentives and make them feel psychologically satisfied.

Don't ever think that these virtual things are worthless and useless. Tencent's QQ has made so much money from children who have no income yet by relying on an awesome achievement system. Just look at how many people have opened memberships and various diamonds on QQ, as well as the scenes of people going crazy to upgrade their QQ levels. You will know that even virtual things are still very attractive to users.

Some people think that Tencent is too powerful to be copied and has no reference value. Let’s take a look at Zhihu. Every day, a large number of users rack their brains to answer good questions in order to win likes and thanks.

So the key issue lies in how to design a good achievement system to meet certain needs of users. Different products have different characteristics, so the methods are not exactly the same, but the principle to be followed is that virtual achievements must be attractive to users and must meet certain needs of users, such as showing off, a sense of accomplishment, individuality, etc.

For example, in online education products, when a user completes a course, the user will be awarded a certificate. The certificate is not only the result of your own hard work, but also can serve as an endorsement to prove your ability in this area, and can also be used as a bargaining chip when looking for a job in the future.