What is the definition of business promotion?

Business promotion describes a series of marketing practices that businesses use to boost sales and enhance brand visibility. This promotion of a business might include exclusive deals for existing customers, discounts for those visiting a retail location during a certain time frame or gift offers when customers purchase a set amount of product.

Billboards and posters are forms of business promotion as well, bringing awareness to both brands and the products sold by those brands. Typically, business promotion includes one or more elements of these three factors:

• Effort:Some examples of promotion for business that require effort are billboards and posters.
• Concept:Concepts within business promotion usually relate to discounts, such as limited time only prices.
• Item:Company promotion using items includes things, such as handing out branded T-shirts or mugs at conventions or events.

Types of business promotions

Businesses promote their goods and services in a variety of ways. The following promotional methods are the most common:

• Business cards and flyers: Old methods still work, even in the modern era, making business cards and flyers left in key locations a great way for service-based businesses to get the word out.
• Word of mouth: Good service leads to a good reputation, and good word of mouth business promotion is something that money can’t even buy.
• Internet-based promotion: Promotion of business on the internet is a must, including setting up a website and social media accounts, as well as using online advertising.

What is product promotion?

Product promotion is the process of using various mediums at your disposal to encourage customers to buy certain products. Product promotions may include sales and discounts for a limited amount of time on products you wish to move quickly. Because customers typically want a good deal, product promotion sometimes makes the difference between them buying a product or not.

How is product promotion different from advertising?

Both product promotion and advertising fall under the general umbrella of business promotion. Product promotion, however, differs from business promotion in its intent. The goal of advertising is to spread awareness about your company or product.

By contrast, product promotion assumes your audience already knows about your product and may have already purchased one of your products. Through product promotion, your goal is to encourage new or existing customers to buy a specific product—usually right away, rather than later. Here are some examples to show the difference:

Example 1

Advertisement:A TV commercial demonstrating a well-known chocolate brand’s manufacturing process

Product promotion:Free chocolate bar samples at a wholesale store

Example 2

Advertisement:A web advertisement for an online women’s clothing boutique

Product promotion:A 50% coupon for any dress purchased from the online boutique within one week

Example 3

Advertisement:A radio jingle for a local car wash and automotive service center

Product promotion:A free car wash with every general service during October

Types of product promotions

Businesses use many methods for promoting their products. Here are some examples that you can try with your company:

• Social media contests: Take advantage of your followers’ social media reach by creating social media contests that reward those who share your posts with entries into drawings.
• Loyalty programs: Use punch cards or computerized loyalty programs to reward customers who return to your business again and again.
• Buy one get one (BOGO): BOGO deals pull double duty by drawing customers into your shop and helping you clear out older inventory before restocking.
• Free samples, coupons or products: Everyone loves a freebie, and when your product impresses, those freebies lead to sales more often than not.
• Discounts: Like freebies, everyone loves a discount, so offering one typically leads to more foot traffic at retail locations and web traffic for internet-based shops.
• Charity events: Showing you care about a cause sometimes entices those who wouldn’t otherwise buy to make a purchase.

Roles to hire to help develop promotion strategies

A variety of professionals can help develop promotion strategies for products. Here are a few examples of professionals you can hire to help out with your product promotions:

• Product promotion specialist:A product promotion specialist helps businesses create promotional content for campaigns and analyzes the projected customer response after it launches, including how much revenue you earned from a product promotion.
• Promotions analyst:A promotions analyst makes sure marketing and sales campaigns align with the company’s long-term goals. These marketing professionals can help ensure your product promotions have a strategic purpose within your company.
• Marketing manager:Amarketing manager oversees all the marketing campaigns in their departments. These workers help establish ideas for future campaigns and coordinate ideas between their teams and the sales department. They can delegate promotion-related tasks and make sure the marketing department adheres to their deadlines.
• Marketing events coordinator:If you want to host charitable or promotional events, consider hiring a marketing events coordinator. These pros can oversee the event planning process and help market the event to promote a particular product you offer.
• PR specialist:For small businesses, it might be useful to outsource your promotions to a public relations specialist. PR specialists help business owners establish their marketing goals and create marketing campaigns. They can also design promotional content and oversee promotion launches.

Business promotion FAQs

Here are some frequently asked questions about business promotions:

What are the four business promotion strategies?

The four key strategies for promoting your business include:

• Advertising: Money spent on ads and outreach to make sales or boost brand awareness
• Sales promotion: Short-term discounts and gimmicks, such as BOGO offers
• Direct marketing: Cutting out the middleman by contacting customers directly
• Public relations: Handling press releases and keeping business branding positive

What is a promotional calendar?

A promotional calendar is a schedule a company creates to time product promotion launches throughout the year. These typically include planning time, deadlines, launch dates and conclusion dates for each promotion. Companies usually create promotional calendars in a digital format, so all team members can access them.

What is the difference between product promotion and institutional promotion?

Product promotion is driven toward promoting your products and services. By contrast, institutional promotion is driven toward promoting your company’s overall brand.