Sales promotion, how to sell products, guide, tips, secrets

1. Sales promotions is simply to sell your products to your customers or clients within the shortest possible time and the lowest cost. It belongs to the one-time marketing concepts with which you might use to start or expand your business or to boost your short-term revenues. You should remember that your promotional offer should have some value to your customers and should also be related to your competitive edge. Sometimes, a discount is the easiest promotional offer, but this is far from enough. You should have creative ideas that can beat your competitors. For that, you should study your competitors' products and find something unique of your products.

2. Next, you should know how to beat your competitive edge. Besides the discount tool, you can also include bonus products and your services. Such promotional tools will not only bring in additional business, but it will also let your customers know your other products or services.

3. Once you have your promotional offer set in motion, you must begin to promote your sales promotion as soon as possible. This is where many businesses fall short in their advertising and marketing efforts. The cause of failure is that you miss the proper time, that is, the time period that you study your competitors and the time that your sales promotion can reach more customers or clients, for example, the holiday season.

4. There are also other ways to promote your products. If you own a store, you can do an in-store promotion, that is, placing in-store signs at appropriate places like at the entry, near relevant sale products and at the checkout counters. Let your employees mention the promotion to all the customers that come in. A great way to advertise with little to no money is to have your employees wear cap, buttons, tags or stickers that promote the product you are trying to sell. Another way is to place promotional flyers in the bags at check-out counters.

5. Another great way to promote your products is through the Internet. If your company has a website, highlight your promotions on your website's main page and create a web page about your promotion, and then create a link that you can place on other websites. For getting more traffic from your website, you can first do some link exchange with other websites and also do some search engine optimization, SEO as people usually call it (For more information about SEO, please go to SEO tips, tricks, secrets). Collect email addresses from your customers and send them your promotional offers, but remember: Don't spam! With a few moments of your time, you can advertise your products without spending a cent.

6. Another cost-effective way to advertise and promote your business is to change your voicemail message to reflect the sales promotion. If you have to place your customers on hold for any reason, have your on-hold message speak about the current promotion within your business. And finally, have your employees call your existing customers to inform them of your current and upcoming promotions. Again, Don't spam!

7. Another very good marketing tool is to send out postcards. They can be a cost-effective way to get the word out to your existing or potential customers, for little to no money. If you have developed business relationships with your competitors, you can consider to do a joint promotion. It can be very cost effective and promote unity within the business community.

8. Get involved within your local community. Find out what's going on within your local community. Are there any trade shows or fairs coming up? See if you can't sponsor a booth by advertising your business. There are many networking breakfasts and lunches within the local business community that can help promote and market your business. In the meantime, don't forget to find out who your competition is, especially if you are a new start up business. This, too, can be a very cost-effective way to advertise.

9. Don't be afraid to be very creative with your campaign. Come up with a catchy slogan. Don't be concerned if it sounds irritating or a little "off the wall." Remember that it is the "squeaky wheel" that always gets the grease! Have fun with it! Make it interesting! Build your existing or potential customers' curiosity up so much that they have to come in and see what all the ruckus is about! Offer free samples to the first 100 customers who enter the store. The possibilities are endless.

10. Finally, plan ahead. Advertise during the seasons where sales are normally slow. Find out why this part of the season is slow, for example, are people on vacation? are the parents getting their kids ready to go back to school? Do you have a product or service that flourishes during the holiday season, or does your business have problems? If you sell a product or service that most of your existing or potential customers would purchase during the holiday season anyway, it may be smart to structure the majority of your advertising budget towards your slower seasons of the year. Why waste advertising dollars, even if it is the holidays, if you know your customers are coming in anyway? Don't do as your competitors do and spend endless wasted effort and dollars going from one promotion to another.

More tips and secrets on internet sales promotion which includes ebay, craigslist, and kijiji.

1. Offer detailed and essential description: the size, the color, the style, or any other relevant information a buyer might need to make a decision.

2. Do not try to fool anyone. Tell the truth.

3. Better to post a photograph with your products.

4. Ask a reasonable price.

5. Well-desinged title will give you more traffic. The title should be key-words oriented because the result of people's search is based on the keywords of the title. When designing the title, keep the following in your mind:

1) Use symbols to stand out such as ******* OR @@@@@@@@
2) Use ALL CAPS when appropriate.
3) Write the ad as if you were talking to a person that could care less about the model number (or brand)
4) Use keywords that people would actually use when searching for a big screen tv.

6. For Craigslist advertiser, repost your ads every 48 hours. This will make them appear at the top of the list.

7. For Craigslist and Kijiji advertiser, don't respond to emails asking to ship the item - this is a well-known scam.

8. Accept multiple payment options. The more payment methods you accept, the more likely you are to find a buyer.

9. For ebay, try shorter auction times.

10. Offer satisfaction guarantees, warranties, or returns.