Effective marketing requires extensive planning. Reaching sales quota for each year is not instant – clear objectives and well-thought of strategies to make it happen. Costs and schedule are usually on top of the list when drawing out plans to promote products and the business. Promotional efforts like discounts and rebates attract customers. Therefore, they can also drive up sales.
Before anything else, businesses should conduct an extensive evaluation of their current situation. Time is always a critical factor – each passing minute is important in any business, especially in a fast-paced industry like retail. Competition is everywhere – demands are growing every single day and brands must always keep up.
Knowing your customers
Sales would not be possible without customers. Strategies for promotion work well when businesses know what the customers want and look for. Paying attention to clients and making sure their demands are met is an important ingredient of any business recipe for success.
Getting to know your customers by understanding their behavior is a non-negotiable in businesses – what items they buy, how much they are willing to spend, when are the purchases made are some of the things to look out for. Once these things are in place, coming up with promotional gimmicks tailor fitted to each customer type and preference becomes easier and more natural.
Local stores like Target, Walmart, and Costco are good starting points for assessing customer behavior. General public frequently visits these stores. Insights may also be generated from Staples cashback or other specialty shops by requiring customers to fill out a questionnaire before getting their rewards.
Best time for discounts and cashbacks
Getting a clearer picture of what customers are looking for may result in implementing better and more efficient promotional strategies. While shopping is a favorite of many year-round, people get particularly excited during the holidays. Sales organically spike because of the gift-buying and festivities beginning Thanksgiving until the New Year. Forecasts from Financial Times in December 2019 indicated a 3.1% increase in sales for retail, with online stores taking the lead.
Rebates during peak season could be an advantage for businesses – considering the large volume of items being purchased during this time, there are more chances of offering cashbacks to consumers. These rebates can either be redeemable within the slower months. On the other hand, discounts can be best offered during the off-peak months to entice more customers to make a sale. These rewards can also help boost revenue during clearance sales.
Plotting your schedule on your calendar
After successfully identifying when the peak and lean months are, it is time to plot your business’ own schedule on the calendar. This should be according to the set objectives and allocated budget. Take also into consideration the kind of products you are selling, the market segment of your customers and your business’ overall environment. Conducting SWOT analysis before finalizing the schedule can lead to wiser decisions.
It is always a great idea to go back to the basics of marketing when planning the best time to start running discounts or cashbacks. The foundation should remain steady while promotional tactics vary.
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