Marketing promotion: 10 ways to easily carry out marketing activities!

When it comes to how to conduct marketing activities, many people may first think of promotions and price cuts, but in fact, promotions are also a big deal!

When I opened Weibo today, I saw this trending search: #GUCCI price cut#

The comments section caused netizens to complain: "20,000 yuan is 600 yuan cheaper, wow, how generous." "Do I care about that 3%? Add it back to me!"

No matter what people say or laugh, luxury goods generally do not go down in price because they are “expensive”. But as spectators, we have to face the reality: "If you want to sell more, you have to promote."

When it comes to promotions, the first image that comes to everyone’s mind is the supermarket’s fifth anniversary and Tmall’s Double Eleven, and the first word that pops up is probably “price cut!”

If you ask further: "How exactly do you reduce the price?" Many people may say: "What's the big deal? Just reduce it!"

But in my opinion, directly lowering prices is a stupid way of promotion.

The main purpose of a sales promotion is to boost sales, to get users who originally did not buy to decide to buy, to get users who originally wanted to buy in two days to buy now, and to get users who originally bought a 100 yuan product to buy 200 yuan.

The key to achieving the purpose of promotion is to " make consumers feel they are getting a good deal ."

The key point is to make him feel that he is getting a good deal, and it is not necessary to lower the price directly.

Since directly lowering prices is not a wise choice, what are the main promotional methods for a successful promotion?

This article will mainly analyze the three major types and ten major methods for you, so that you will no longer only think of price reduction when you mention promotion.

The first promotion method: price driven

Price changes are a double-edged sword. They can increase sales quickly in a short period of time, but they also have adverse effects that must be acknowledged:

@ After the original price is restored, consumers no longer buy;

@ If price reduction promotions are carried out frequently, the stimulating effect of price changes on consumers will become lower and lower.

So before you start a price reduction promotion, you must think carefully.

1. Direct price reduction/discount: not recommended for frequent use

In essence, discounts and price cuts are a form of promotional model, both of which are the most direct way to reduce the sales price of products.

As I said above, it is not wise to directly reduce the price for promotional activities. However, if it is in the following three situations, you can consider using it appropriately:

@ High quality and high product: Users are motivated to buy, but have not experienced it before. Price reduction can further give consumers a reason to buy.

@ Auxiliary product: This product is used to attract traffic to other products, and there is no need to consider the subsequent development of this product.

@ National promotion: For example, during the Double 11 and 618 promotions

On the other hand, there are differences between price reduction and promotion. Choosing price reduction/promotion in different situations will have different effects.

for example:

For a course that costs 5,000 yuan, do you think a 20% price reduction is more attractive, or an immediate discount of 1,000 yuan is more attractive?

I would choose the 1,000 yuan discount, and I would feel like I made a lot of money.

For that 50-yuan cup, do you think a 20% price reduction is more attractive, or is a 10-yuan discount better?

I would choose the 20% discount again, because at this time I feel that the "20% price reduction" seems to be a bigger reduction.

The original intention of offering discounts is to maximize consumers' perceived prices, so that consumers feel that the discounts are very large and attractive and should not be missed. However, although different products have the same discount amount, the two statements can give consumers different perceptions.

Generally speaking, for high-priced products, it is better to use the actual discount amount to display the price reduction promotion; while for low-priced products, it may be better to use the percentage discount to display. Regarding this part, there is a theorem before, you may wish to remember it, namely:

When your original price is higher than 100, you should display the discount with the actual discount amount. When your original price is less than 100, you should display it as a percentage discount.

Once again, I would like to remind you that when using direct price cuts or discounts for promotions, you must pay attention to controlling the timing and frequency. Otherwise, all efforts may fail.

If you have a year-end sale and reduce prices for three days, people may rush to buy. But if you lower the price every month, and only lower the price for 10 days at a time, then the price reduction loses its meaning. On the one hand, users will lose the surprise and feel that your product is worthless because it cannot be sold; on the other hand, for users who pay full price for the product, the satisfaction will be greatly reduced.

1. Coupons/red envelopes/vouchers

This type mainly means that the original price remains unchanged, and users can get their own exclusive discounts in the form of coupons/red envelopes/vouchers, so these three types are temporarily classified into the same category.

What is the difference between this part and direct price reduction?

Giving users a 100 yuan no-threshold coupon (including vouchers and red envelopes, the same below) and directly reducing the price by 100 yuan does not seem to make much difference from the perspective of the final product selling price. But for users, it is very different.

For coupon users, the most intuitive feeling is: "I can see the original price and know that this course is 499 yuan, but because I have a coupon, I can spend 100 yuan less than others."

This seemingly simple intuitive feeling contains three cognitions that can promote user purchases.

First of all, it satisfies the user's desire to get a bargain .

There is a classic saying: "Users don't buy cheap things, but they like the feeling of getting a bargain." I spent 100 yuan less than others, so I got a bargain. This operation is not a loss~~

Secondly, it will not reduce users’ perception of the product’s value.

If you purchased the course directly for 449, you would think that the value of this course is 449. But if you use a coupon, the perception is "I spent 449 to buy a 499 yuan course."

Because the coupon method requires users to obtain it to a certain extent and users will pay for it, the coupon itself is valuable to users. Therefore, for users, the value of this course itself is still 499 yuan, but I got a discount because of the coupon.

Finally, make users feel superior.

That is, "I have it", which proves that this coupon may not be available to others, so many promotional activities may be limited to new users or only open to old users. Another common type of coupons distributed in "internal coupon groups" or "senior member groups" are of this type, and their characteristic is "creating a sense of scarcity to encourage consumption."

JD.com in-app purchase group:

1. Full discount

Full-discount means that when the consumption amount meets different ranges, different levels of discounts can be obtained.

Therefore, consumers will buy more goods to get greater discounts and achieve the purpose of completing the order.

There are two main specific ways: one is to use coupons after meeting a certain discount level, and the other is to get an instant discount when placing an order after meeting a certain discount level. But essentially there are two reasons:

First: It’s very simple, just attract customers to place orders. The clear discount amount makes users feel that they will lose out if they don’t buy, and gives users a clear reason to buy: “If I don’t buy it, I will have to spend 30 yuan more in the future.”

Secondly: stimulate users’ desire to place additional orders and increase sales. The product I'm buying now costs 189 yuan, and now I can get a 30 yuan discount if I spend 199 yuan. So I will definitely buy another one to get the 30 yuan discount.

Therefore, a reasonable discount gradient can greatly increase sales.

But it should be noted that it is extremely important to set appropriate thresholds for full-spending discounts.

Because the "full" in the full-reduction policy determines the threshold for enjoying the discount. If the threshold is too low, customers can easily reach it, and it will not be possible to stimulate customers to buy more products and increase the average order value. On the contrary, if the threshold is too high, it will cause customers to have too high a cost to place an order and lose their desire to buy.

1. Pre-order/Second sale/Group purchase

Generally speaking, pre-orders, flash sales, and group purchases all adopt the form of "price difference shaping" for promotion.

What shapes the price difference? Specifically, "99 yuan for a limited time sale, and the original price of 199 yuan will be restored after 3 days." The comparison between 99 yuan and 199 yuan is the creation of the price difference.

Pre-order, flash sale, group purchase, they use different operating methods to compare two different prices.

Specific form of pre-order: pre-order for 99 yuan in advance, and the price will be restored to 199 yuan * days after the launch.

Specific form of flash sale: limited time flash sale at 99 yuan, and the original price of 199 yuan will be restored after * hours.

The specific form of group buying: 199 yuan for a single person and 99 yuan for a group of three.

As the saying goes, there is no harm without comparison. Providing consumers with clear price comparisons can enhance their perception of promotional prices and encourage them to place orders quickly.

The second promotion method: product driven

If prices cannot be changed, can we not carry out our promotional activities?

Of course not. Next, let’s see how to find some interesting promotional methods based on products.

1. Buy one get one free/sample trial

I put buy-one-get-one-free and sample trials together here because, in my understanding, a good buy-one-get-one-free promotion and sample trials can achieve similar effects.

A buy-one-get-one-free promotion is when customers buy goods and are given additional products or services to directly increase the value of the goods. The purpose is to stimulate consumers to place orders through direct benefits, thereby quickly increasing sales in the short term.

For gift-with-purchase, the choice of gift is particularly important. The first and foremost premise is that the gifts must be consistent with the product’s functions, features, brand attributes and connotations.

To put it bluntly, the best case scenario is that " this gift can first increase sales and satisfaction, and secondly, the gift experience can also make users buy the product again, that is, it plays the role of a sample ."

For example, if you buy a set of skin care products and the merchant gives you two facial masks as gifts, and you find them good after using them, you may buy the masks again. But if the skin care products you buy are still samples of the same products as gifts, the effect will actually be weakened.

As an aside, this may be why many people like to use small samples of cosmetics, because generally speaking, in order to allow consumers to experience the samples before purchasing them, the effect of small samples is the best.

1. Combination promotions

Last Friday, I, who love to show off my beauty, went to Etude House to buy liquid foundation. As for why I didn’t go to Estee Lauder, it was of course because I am (pin) and (poor) enough.

Before entering the store, I looked at the balance on my Alipay account and emphasized to myself that I was only going to buy liquid foundation this time.

But just as I picked up the liquid foundation, the sales lady pulled me to a large set with beautiful packaging and said: "The weather is dry now, so it will be best if you pair your liquid foundation with this newly launched essence. You see, this liquid foundation is 188, and this essence is 168. But if you buy this set now, the original product is 356, but the set only costs 306 yuan, and if you spend more than 300 yuan, we will give you a three-piece skin care set (sample) worth 199 yuan. Buying a set can save half the money, and the effect will be better when used together."

As you can imagine, the final result was that I bought the set. I was impressed by the sales lady’s skills and admired the importance of product combination sales.

At present, there are two common types of product combination promotions. One is a combination of multiple similar products, such as the following figure:

The other is the combination of non-similar products, such as the cosmetics I mentioned above. For example, the following figure:

The two different types can achieve different promotional effects. The specific method to be used can be determined based on your own promotional needs and product conditions.

1. Value-added Services

This part is easy to understand. It mainly refers to providing additional services based on the original product. The specific form of service needs to be set according to the product type and consumer needs.

For example, common value-added services for electronic products mainly focus on warranty, as shown in the following figure:

In the knowledge payment industry, services will be more important, such as class teachers supervising students and lecturers answering questions.

The third promotion method: emotional drive

Why is rational consumption being called for? Because most people can't do it.

Everyone hopes that they can face life rationally, without being disturbed by emotions, and not making wrong choices due to impulse, but we have to admit that most of us cannot be completely rational.

And our emotional part is the best marketing tool for businesses. We will spend double the price on a bouquet of flowers on Valentine's Day and triple the price on a packaged Christmas apple on Christmas Eve.

And this is the content of our part, that is - what kind of theme will the promotion have and what kind of emotions will it arouse among consumers. So what’s the use of this theme? For example, the price is also reduced by 50, you can feel the feeling brought by the following two themes:

Promotion 1: Product promotion, 50 off

Promotion 2: Today is Mother's Day, all products are reduced by 50, I wish all moms a happy Mother's Day!

Therefore, no matter whether you choose a price-driven promotion method or a product-driven promotion method, you need to give your event a theme that is attractive enough to consumers so that the effectiveness of the event can be enhanced.

1. Festival Marketing

Festival marketing is a marketing activity in extraordinary times. It is a special activity different from conventional marketing. It often exhibits the characteristics of concentration, suddenness, abnormality and scale.

Especially in the Internet age, no matter what kind of business it is, they will take part in the festival and release some marketing information. In recent years, some festivals have even been created, such as "Double Eleven" and "618". Throughout the year, there are festivals in almost every month.

Therefore, festival marketing has become one of the daily marketing methods of enterprises.

1. Celebrity Marketing & Cross-border Marketing

When businesses give away autographed photos of idols or autographs of authors, these are all considered celebrity marketing. I won’t go into details about this part here, and I can write a special article about it later.

1. Emotional Marketing

When people face different things, they will inevitably have different emotions, both positive and negative. We use time as the horizontal standard to conduct emotional analysis. There are four main types:

@ Memories: such as the article that went viral on the Wenchuan earthquake;

@ Expectation, longing, and hard work: You can never imagine the happiness of rich people;

@ Regret, regret: To our youth, to the girls we chased together in those years;

@ Fear, worry, anxiety: Your peers have achieved financial freedom, but you are still earning a salary of 5,000 yuan.

Because of anxiety, you can't wait to improve yourself. Because you have expectations for the future, you study hard, such as when you see this article. (Among emotional marketing, the best one in the past two years may be “anxiety”.)

Summarize

Today I will mainly introduce you to ten different promotional methods: price-driven promotion, product-driven promotion and emotion-driven promotion. In the specific implementation, a variety of promotional methods can be combined according to actual needs to achieve the best promotion purpose.

Finally, I would like to emphasize three issues:

First of all, the promotion method needs to be consistent with your goals and products, and cannot be generalized;

Secondly, promotions must be done with caution and not overly relied upon, otherwise serious sequelae will occur;

After the final promotion is over, the results should be analyzed in a timely manner to accumulate experience for the next event.

Well, that’s all for my thoughts on Gucci’s promotional activities. Goodbye~

Source: Jianghu Xiaodao