Sales Promotion

One of the most underrated tools for marketers is the good old reliable sales promotion. These short term promotions are often seen as just that — short term activities to generate some extra sales.

But to a direct marketer, a sales promotion is a chance to gain knowledge and start a relationship with a customer or prospect. It is a long term tactic not a short term one.

If the promotion includes a competition of some sort, the marketer can receive hundreds of thousands of entries all with useful data which can be used to communicate with the entrants.

If you capture an e‑mail address you can then contact all entrants to advise them of the winner (how often do you enter a competition and never hear who wins?) and also to make them another offer, or gain some knowledge by directing them to an online data capture form.

You can also use a sales promotion to increase your database by encouraging the entrants to forward the promotion to their friends and colleagues (see viral marketing).

Sales promotions can be used for business‑to‑business or consumer markets. The MAD team has conducted hundreds of them so if you'd like to make your sales promotions go a lot further and give you a better long‑term ROI, then call or e‑mail Malcolm Auld or Paul Anderson on +61 2 9976 0900 or inquiry@madmail.com.au.