How To Promote A Product and Increase Sales

What is Promotion Marketing?

Promotional marketing is a procedure to raise awareness about the brand, product, or service with the ultimate aim to increase sales and customers. Brands are nothing without promotions. Promotional marketing is the way to present or showcase or market a product to the end-user with an aim of increasing sales.

It is the technique that encourages the end-user to take action. Promotional marketing involves steps that marketing gimmicks use to make a product huge success in the market.

Let’s cast the light on the steps involved in promoting a product:

• The first step of promotional marketing is to make the best use of all your marketing channels.
• The second step is to make your product recognisable among end-users. It can be easily done by using a name, image, or catchphrase that can be easily remembered by the customer.
• The third step is educating the end-users about the product and how it is going to help them.
• To stand out from the crowd you must show the audience your distinct feature or uniqueness.
• The final step of promotional marketing of a product or service is to generate sales and increase the revenue of the business.

How To Promote A Product

Once you are clear with your marketing steps then it is easy to come with an action plan. So let’s have a look at how to promote a product like a pro.

1. Email Marketing

Without a doubt, email marketing is the most successful way for product promotion. It has a higher conversion rate than any other marketing platform. If you send a promotional email to customers about a product or service, then it will directly land on the customer’s business or personal email account. While on any other marketing channel, the promotions get lost in between multiple things.

Email marketing is more structured as here you do not force things on customers. You are sending the email because potential consumers have already expressed interest in your offer by providing their email addresses.

That’s why it is important for online store owners to build an email list from the start.

Email marketing campaigns not only increase sales but also generate traffic. And if you are still doubting the power of email marketing, then you might have missed on the Campaign Monitor report where they claim that 70% of individuals love to know about the product or service via email rather than social media sources.

Email marketing is indeed a good way to increase brand awareness. One such example is PayPal whose Split the bill campaign was a huge success. The campaign was relatable to the audience. They used the campaign to educate users how it is easy to split bills with their friends or family friends in just a few steps.

2. Pop-Up Shops

Pop-ups shops are another good marketing strategy which are gaining a lot of attraction from the users. One thing customers want the most is to interact with the brand in person and pop-up shops provide that opportunity. So if you are running an online business then hosting a pop-up event can be a game-changer.

Hosting a pop-up shop will allow you to build uniqueness around your products, gain exposure in local media, capitalise on seasonal purchasing, offload older stock, and interact with your customers in person to gain knowledge about their needs.

Not only pop-up shops are a great way to increase brand awareness but one can use them for testing purposes too. Renting a place for a few months makes it much easier to try out venues and key demographics. Pop-up shops are one of the eCommerce marketing strategies which eCommerce businesses use to increase their customer base.

From small business owners to celebrities all are putting their foot in the pop-up shop culture. One such example is Kylie Jenner who hosted an event in Los Angeles for Kylie Cosmetics.

3. Entry and Exit Offer

Another good strategy for product promotion is to make the best use of the landing page itself. Every time a visitor lands on your website is a chance for you to market your products. By showing entry and exit offers, you can turn a visitor into customers.

It’s a great promotional approach to direct people to the promotional product as soon as they reach your site, demanding them to recognize the product right away.

Don’t be scared to think outside the box when it comes to your entry offers. Pop-ups are a great way to display the entry offers. Make your entering pop-ups more successful for conversion by including offers that your customers won’t be able to ignore.

Further, you can make use of exit pop-ups by retargeting the customer when they are about to leave the site. On-site retargeting is a good way to promote a product that has been viewed but not bought.

One such brand is Fila which is making the most out of the entry pop-ups. They are alluring customers by offering discounts and offers. While on the other hand, Photo Paper Direct is using on-site retargeting to convince customers about the product.

4. Google Shopping

Being an online store owner, it is a must to take advantage of Google Shopping. As per the Google reports, Google ad has generated 59% ad clicks compared to other marketing channels.

Google Shopping ads have a different approach than conventional text ads. Using text advertisements, you select the targeted terms that will cause the adverts to appear. But Google Shopping has complete control over the web searches that will result in your advertising being displayed to customers more effectively.

This will help shoppers to find their relevant products more easily. Almost every major brand is utilising Google Shopping.

5. Social Media

Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are the brand’s hub for promoting products. Almost every second user is using social media and this has forced brands to market their product on this platform.

Instagram is the go-to channel for brands because of its high visuals. It is the platform of millennials. And it is the goldmine for brands to land target demographic more easily. Reels, stories, and posts are engaging ways to promote products on this platform.

Another platform that has helped many businesses out there is Facebook. Brands can easily run Facebook ad campaigns to draw users’ attention.

Facebook advertising of the product or service gives you access to a wide audience of individuals who are eager for a new product launch, because of its 1 billion every day unique visitors. Facebook ads are especially more valuable since the personally identifiable information offered by the platform allows for incredibly precise audience targeting. If you are not familiar with facebook and instagram advertising then you can simply get social media marketing services from an agency for promoting and marketing a product.

6. Q and A Site

The most underrated platform for product promotion is Quora. The platform has much more to offer but most brands are afraid to step into it. This Q and A site is the hub of potential customers. This site is very popular among audiences as they get the answer to their queries or related queries in a more genuine or simplified way.

Brands can certainly make use of such Q and A platforms. The visibility of these platforms is high. If the answer is genuine it ends up getting views in thousands in just a matter of time. Let’s say, for example, you are about to launch a hair care product. Then all you have to do is use the platform to find the question related to hair products.

And then genuinely answer the query and in between, you have to do a product placement smartly so that the answer won’t collapse.

Quora has a very strict BNBR policy, so you need to make sure of that. Other than this, you can run paid ads on Quora too.

7. Blog Posts

There is no better way to captivate audience attention than blogging. Blogging has been in existence for years and is working fine for many brands. Online stores and blogging go hand in hand.

Blogging is a great strategy to boost your SEO while also allowing you to get creative with how you promote your company. Redirecting prospects and existing clients to a blog article with a call-to-action is a clever strategy to advertise an item without paying the money.

If you will add a blog article introducing the new product and its features and pricing then the single blog post will help you in the long haul.

A blog post is a good way to make the audience aware of the product features, pricing, and all.

8. Google My Business

Most people think that Google My Business is only good for local SEO strategy. But that’s not the case, one can utilise it for product promotion too. If you are familiar with the GMB dashboard then you might have noticed the event, what’s new and the offers tab.

All you have to do is take advantage of the opportunity. If your business is launching a new product then write about the product in a new tab. The thing to keep in mind is posts must contain visuals and a call to action. Also, the post will expire in seven days, so make sure to post it again once it is down.

Other than this, you can host events and make offers about the product too. Further, by answering the Q and A appearing on the keyword search, you can also redirect users to your product.

However, Google is very strict with its guidelines so make sure everything is by book.

9. Influencer

Influencer marketing is one of the effective ways for product promotion. Influencers are the god of social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn with a good number of followers. Their content is watched by many users and if brands shake hands with this influencer then the product promotion campaign can become a huge hit.

According to the report, influencer marketing generates 37% customer retention. There is this belief that when it comes to influencers, it is best to go with one with the highest number of followers. That’s not at all true, you can pick influencers based on your niche.

Niche influencers might have a little fewer followers but they will surely have the targeted audience you are looking for which will be far better than an expensive influencer with many followers.

Other than this, niche influencers are quite inexpensive too.

10. Cross-Selling and Upselling

If you are not leveraging upselling and cross-selling tactics then you are missing on something. With this approach, you don’t only increase the current value of the product order but also show customers better options.

Upselling and cross-selling are clever techniques used by marketers to convince customers buying into more items. Some people also called it a dirty trick but it is all about taking advantage of the opportunity. The modern customer loves time and if the store suggests multiple things which he/she might need at some point in the future then there is no harm in it.

Upselling and cross-selling can be used in a variety of ways, such as proposing items on the customer’s checkout page or displaying a product at the bottom of the page.

Check out our blog to learn more about what is upselling and how you can upsell your products.

11. Referral Marketing

It is one of the best marketing strategies. Referral marketing is also known as word of mouth marketing. The practice is around for quite a long time and still working fine for the brand.

We, humans, love to invest in things that we are assured of, and what is a better way to get assurance than referral marketing. It is the marketing approach used by brands and businesses where they persuade others to advocate about the product in a way that increases exposure and sales.

Through a referral, marketing brands get more exposure. This beautifully crafted approach offers something to customers so they spread a message about a new product with their friends and families.

12. Press Release

To get better exposure for the newly launched products and services, a press release is the safest option. Press releases are a great way to get publicity. You can use press releases to improve traffic to your website, raise brand/product recognition, and promote yourself and your firm as experts in the field.

There are thousands of PR websites whom you can contact about the press release. Not only do these sites have authority but have tonnes of traffic too. So if you get lucky to land yourself in their press release section, the product will get the required attention.

Other than this, having a press release section on your website too can be really helpful. Here you can drop news about an event, product, etc launched by you. If you think a press release is very hard to do then you can try contacting local bloggers too.

13. Affiliate Program

Most business owners overlook the power of affiliate programs but it can be your weapon that drives sales to your business. An affiliate program is for a small and medium-sized business that can’t spend tonnes of cash on hiring marketing professionals. The purpose of the program is to make affiliates who will work on your behalf for a commission.

The majority of SaaS-based businesses today have an affiliate program. Let’s understand the program in detail. In the affiliate program, the very thing users have to do is sign up for the program. The user can be anyone, blogger, vlogger, etc. Then the brand or business will verify the person’s details and then approve the program. Once the user is approved for the program, the brand will send them an affiliate link with credentials for their dashboard. An affiliate link is a unique link for users which they can promote on their blog or vlog.

The user will get the commission if only the purchase is made using that link. Blogging is a good way to earn an affiliate commission.

14. Reviews

Reviews are not only a good way for generating new leads but it is also the best marketing strategy. The very thing end users love to do is gain knowledge about the product before buying it. And if they would see the client testimonials and reviews on your landing page or platform then you are doing him a favour in making a decision.

By attaching social proof to your website, you are showing yourself as a trusted brand. Nothing is better than when the customer itself talks about the product. Statistically speaking, 84% of the audience prefer to read reviews before making decisions.

Further another good way to promote your newly launched product is by reaching out to your existing customers and asking them to write a review for you. And in return, you offer them an upgrade or free trial of the product.

15. Contest

Organising a contest will not only get you exposure but will also help in generating more leads. There are many kinds of online contests but nothing works better than giveaways. As the name implies, in this contest you offer freebies to users who win the contest.

Contests are a great way to put your product out there but still, many contests fail. The reason is a lack of research and no pre-planning. So to get the most out of it, it is important to do all your homework. The very first thing you need to decide is where you are going to conduct the contest. Then based on that, decide the plan, such as contest rules, timing, etc.

Different platforms have different algorithms. If you are going to run a competition on Instagram then hashtags play an important role while on Facebook, caption helps in drawing attention. So it is best to gain knowledge about the platform.

Landing Page – Key Ingredient For Product Promotion

All these ways would be a huge waste if you forget to pay attention to the crucial ingredient for product promotion which is the landing page. All this promotional strategy will redirect customers to your homepage and if the customers get disappointed here, then all these efforts will be of no use.

So the landing page of the business must be top-notch. Further, many marketers believe having a product-specific landing page rather than the official page. When it comes to specific landing pages, three types of pages draw conversions. These are the squeeze page, sales page and pre-sell page.

A squeeze page is generally used to collect leads. On this page, you ask visitors to give their contact information by offering something like a guide or ebook in return.

The pre-sell page is a mixture of sales and blog post pages. Such pages consist of a heading, information, reviews, call to action, and much more.

And finally, the sales page has a defined goal which is to convert customers anyhow. So the page is designed accordingly. Such pages are short and engaging to captivate users. Further, testimonials and reviews are the heartbeats of this page.

Most business owners also prefer videos on their sales pages as videos are more engaging.

Conclusion

That’s all! Now you know all about the effective ways to market a product and how to promote a product. The ball is in your court now. If you want to reap the benefits of eCommerce, it is a must to make an effective strategy to promote and advertise your products

Marketing and promotion is a crucial aspect of any business and it should not be overlooked in any case. Having a good product is important but if you will not employ advertising efforts then it won’t get the required recognition. After all, products don’t sell themselves, marketing and advertising play an important part in selling. So employ all these strategies and make your product a huge success.