ACO501 – Accommodation Sales & Marketing Topic 12 – Promoting Products

Get your customers to spread the word Get your customers to spread the word. Word-of-mouth marketing is the most effective form of advertising, so get your customers to work for you. Offer them a reward, such as a discount on their own order, for introducing a new contact to the new product or service. Get customers through the door. Introduction

WAYS TO PROMOTE YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE Marketing is more than just an advertising campaign; it should result in revenue for your business. Understanding the different ways to promote your product or service can help you make the right choice for your business. WAYS TO PROMOTE YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE

PRINT AND GRAPHIC ARTS MEDIA Depending on the type of message you want to communicate to your customers, print media offers different options, including: brochures, business cards, newspaper ads and magazines. Brochures, posters and packaging are a cost effective way to provide a variety of messages and detailed information about your products and services. Business cardscan be used to support your networking activities and give potential customers the information they need to contact you. Local newspaper advertisingisa way to reach people in your community and repeatedly exposes them to your message in order to create a stronger local presence for your business. Magazineshave the advantage of targeting a more specific audience of subscribers who are interested in the topics it covers. PRINT AND GRAPHIC ARTS MEDIA

Electronic media is a general term for any media that requires an electronic device for the content to be accessed. Some of the most common forms of electronic media include television, radio, internet and content for mobile devices. Television content captures more audience time than any other media and is targeted at home audiences. Radio is cost effective, and the audience is usually loyal to a station's program format. The internetoffers you a variety of different ways to market your product or service on a website or by email. Cellphones and smartphonesallow for marketing tactics that let you reach customers directly on their mobile devices. Social mediamarketing encourages online interaction between your customers and your business using various social networking sites.   ELECTRONIC MEDIA

ADDITIONAL PROMOTIONAL IDEAS Promotional gifts, like pens, key rings and calendars, can be given to individuals and groups that you know personally to help create a positive opinion of your company and improve its reputation. Networking and community involvement can also support the promotion of your business. You can make new contacts and reach out to potential customers by participating in trade shows, conferences, community activities and other networking events. Speaking to people about your business can be one of the most effective ways of promoting your product or service. Planning your marketing strategy will help you determine the best way to promote your product or service, allow you to measure your success against set goals and provide you with a clearer idea of where your strategy may need adjustments.   ADDITIONAL PROMOTIONAL IDEAS

How to promote a product Once you’re up and running, it’s time to start driving traffic to your store and making sales. Whether you’re still trying to get your first sale, or you’ve been at a while, it’s always good to find more ways to promote your business. If you’re looking to promote a product, read this list to find a strategy that you can use in your business. Once you do, click on the link to get step-by-step instructions on how to execute it. How to promote a product

.  What do you do when you’re struggling to find a good gift idea? If you’re like most people, you Google “holiday gift ideas for coworkers” or “unique birthday presents”. Then you scroll through the piles of gift guides that pop up in the search results.   Gift Guides

Why not get your own product included in these gift guides Why not get your own product included in these gift guides? They exist for just about every industry, type of person, and holiday you can think of. Look for the ones that rank on the first few pages in Google and reach out to see if you can be included. They could drive a lot of traffic back to your store. Contd

Email is the second most effective customer acquisition channel, behind organic search. And while ranking in search engines and getting organic traffic can take a while, email starts to work right away. That’s why you should be using email to promote your store. There’s no need to spend all your time writing and sending emails. Make it easy on yourself by setting up a collection of automated email campaigns designed to help you make more sales. There are many options such as emailing new subscribers and offering them an incentive to shop, or emailing visitors who abandoned their cart and reminding them to finish their purchase. 2. Email Marketing

3.Start An Affiliate Program If you’re struggling to make sales and you don’t have the cash to hire sales or marketing help, consider adding an affiliate program to your store. You can get other people to promote your product for a commission. You’ll only have to pay them if they make a sale. Affiliate programs typically work by creating a custom URL for each person promoting your products. They can share this link on social media, in a blog post reviewing your product, or even in a YouTube video where they’re showing it off. Through the custom links, you’ll be able to track who is driving sales for you so you can compensate them. 3.Start An Affiliate Program

Referral marketing, also known as word of mouth marketing, is one of the oldest marketing methods around. Referral marketing is all about getting other people to talk about your product in a way that will drive awareness and sales. These days you can use the web to drive even more referral marketing. Not only does it allow you to reach more people, the web makes it easier for other people to share your content—and for you to track its impact. 4Referral Marketing

If your business is online, you don’t have to open a retail store to get the benefits of selling in person. You can run a pop-up shop instead. Chances are there’s an unused space in your city that would love to have you come in for a week—or even just a weekend—and set up shop. Running a pop-up shop will help you create exclusivity around some of your products, get covered in local media, take advantage of seasonal shopping, unload old inventory, and chat with your customers in person to learn more about them.   5.Pop-Up Shop

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