Boosting sales is the ultimate goal of every big and small business. Successful marketers have now realized that offering discounts and special promotions is one of the best marketing strategies to boost sales.
It involves offering different reliefs in order to attract new customers and satisfy the existing ones. For me, this marketing strategy is a perfect combination of taking care of people and making a profit at the same time.
If you’re looking for some ideas for offering discounts and special promotions, you’re at the right place. In this article, I am going to discuss the top 12 of these ideas that will help boost sales easily. Let’s start.
Top 12 Discounts And Special Promotions Ideas
There are different types of discounts and special promotion ideas that companies use in order to conduct an effective marketing campaign. Some of the best of these ideas are discussed below:
1. Offer Posts on Google Business
Google Business has become one of the top ways through which people search for businesses and companies online. It is a proper online directory that contains important information of companies, such as their names, addresses, and types of services.
You can use your Google My Business Profile and put offer posts on it. The profile’s dashboard will allow you to create these posts instantly. It’s one of the best discount ideas for small businesses.
If your company’s local SEO is strong, this promotion idea will grab the attention of a lot of people and help you boost sales automatically.
Why Pick The Google Business Offer Post Technique?
- It’s free and can be used easily.
- It’s a useful technique for attracting local customers.
- This technique is a great way to build online credibility.
- It attracts people with a high intent of making a purchase.
2. Seasonal Discounts
Offering seasonal discounts is one of the most common and effective marketing strategies. It’s even more important for restaurants, retail, and e-commerce stores. The basic idea behind this strategy is simple. Your business offers discounts at any time of the season.
For example, if you sell garments, offering summer discounts at the start of summer can bring many customers. Similarly, you can offer winter, spring, or autumn discounts based on what type of audience you have.
How To Pick The Best Season For Discounts?
- Understand when the demand is high for the product.
- Analyze competitors to see when they are offering the discount.
- Pick a season according to the product relevance (for example, offer summer discounts for beverages).
3. Buy One, Get One Free
Another one of the most common discounts and special promotion ideas to focus on is the “Buy One, Get One Free”. This idea is about giving people one product for free with each purchase. Companies usually offer these discounts to make product sales in bulk.
As for the consumers, they actually get the product for half the price since they’re getting one for free. This idea is very efficient for businesses like retail stores, restaurants, and personal care brands.
Why Using This Idea Is Worth It?
- It sells products in bulk to increase overall sales volume.
- It boosts perceived value among customers, and they make more purchases.
- Extra inventory gets cleared easily.
- This idea can result in repeated buyers.
4. Offering Free Samples
If your business has launched a new product or service, offering a free sample (or trial in case of a service) can be very helpful in driving sales. People are usually reluctant to try out new products since they’re completely strangers to it.
Offering free samples encourages people to give it a try without the fear of losing their money. It can be used as one of those grand opening discount ideas, where companies attract customers right after opening. If the product is great, its sales would automatically boost. Besides improving sales, it creates a good impression on people and improves brand reputation.
Tips For Offering Free Samples:
- Set a proper feedback protocol after offering the samples.
- Keep the sample small, but don’t compromise on its quality and value.
- Try targeting the audience that is more likely to purchase the product after trying the free sample.
5. Cashback Promotions
Cashback promotions can also be very effective in boosting product sales. People get attracted to this promotion since it creates a perception of saving money. Since they’re getting some cash returned, buying the product doesn’t seem like a very bad idea to them.
The best thing about this promotional idea is that it is very efficient for almost all types of products. If you are able to execute the idea properly, chances are you’ll not only make more sales but also attract repeat customers.
How To Offer Cashback The Right Way?
- Provide clear terms and conditions that will apply to the cashback offer.
- Offer the cashback instantly to improve customer satisfaction.
- Prefer giving the cashback in the form of actual cash instead of offering redemption points.
- Offer it via loyalty programs to improve customer retention.
6. Lifestyle Discounts
Another one of the best types of discounts and special promotion ideas for boosting sales is offering lifestyle discounts. Lifestyle discounts are a price reduction offered to people who have a specific lifestyle background.
For example, if your company has a video conference software, you can offer special subscription discounts to students and teachers. It’s a great way to target a specific audience and make more sales.
Tips For Offering Lifestyle Discounts:
- Identify the right type of people who have a lifestyle relevant to the product.
- Make sure to use a secure verification system to verify the lifestyle background of people.
- Bundle this discount system with other offers for better results.
7. Flash Sales:
Flash sales are also known to be a great way to make quick sales within a short period of time. A flash sale is actually a promotional technique where a company offers a decent amount of discount for a short period of time.
It creates a sense of urgency among people, and they try to beat the clock and make as many purchases as they can. It’s also one of those sales techniques that’s suitable for almost every type of product and service.
Why Flash Sales Are Effective?
- It’s a limited offer and creates urgency among people to make purchases.
- It can create a sense of excitement and attract in-store visits and online traffic.
- This technique persuades the audience and brings new customers.
8. Vouchers & Coupons
You can also offer vouchers and coupons to persuade people to make purchases. Vouchers and coupons work like discount certificates that people can use to get discounts while buying a product. These certificates are usually shared in print or online forms/codes.
Giving people vouchers is a great way to grab their attention. When they get vouchers, they are persuaded to make purchases since they will be getting the product at a discount. It will ultimately result in more product/service sales.
How To Use Vouchers & Coupons The Right Way?
- Set clear redemption rules and regulations.
- Make sure that the vouchers and coupons are easy to use.
- Only target audience that’s likely to make purchases.
9. Free Shipping
Many times, I’ve abandoned a product because of shipping charges. You need to make sure it doesn’t happen with your customers, at least now during the promotional campaigns.
Offering free shipping is one of the top discount and special promotions ideas that will help you boost sales. People who are usually reluctant to pay delivery charges will grab this opportunity and make purchases.
Tips To Use The Free Shipping Discount Idea:
- Try offering free shipping only for orders over a certain amount.
- Keep the offer time-limited in order to create an urgency.
- Make sure to advertise this technique prominently.
- Offer it with loyalty programs for better customer retention.
10. Joint Promotions
Surviving in a competitive market alone can be tough sometimes. Companies usually partner with other relevant companies to function smoothly and conveniently. This thing can also be used as a promotional idea.
Whenever your company partners or collaborates with a certain brand, offer discounted products to the customers. It’s a great way to promote both brands and make sales at the same time. Besides that, it helps with expanding reach by touching the partnered company’s audience.
Why Joint Promotions Are Useful?
- It’s an opportunity to make sales while promoting the partnership.
- It’s a cost-effective marketing since many partnered companies share the marketing expenses.
- The strategy offers an opportunity to make sales to the other company’s audience as well.
11. Contests & Giveaways
Offering contests & giveaways is an exciting promotional technique to make more sales. Many companies that focus on Digital Marketing tend to use this technique a lot. In this technique, companies run contests and offer giveaways to participants.
It creates excitement among the audience, and more and more people try to join the contests. If the product you’re giving to participants is good, they will purchase it again later on.
Tips For Contests & Giveaways:
- Keep the contests casual so that more people join.
- Offer giveaways to all the participants and not only the winners.
- Run contests on different social media sites.
- Keep it time-limited to create an urgency.
12. Referral Discounts
Last but not least, offering referral discounts is another one of the top discounts and special promotions ideas that you should definitely try out. In this technique, you run a referral program and give discounts or gifts to users who refer the product or service to others.
People will try to refer the product or service to as many people as they can in order to get more discount. It will result in both attracting new customers and making more sales easily. Also, it improves the company’s authenticity since people get recommendations from friends and family members.
How To Offer Referral Discounts The Right Way?
- Keep the referral process simple.
- Make sure to add rules and regulations according to your needs.
- Try giving some benefit to the person who joins or makes a purchase via referrals.
- Give a significant amount of discount or reward to persuade people to refer the product to others.
Final Summary
Bringing it all together, offering discounts and special promotions have become somewhat of a fundamental factor of modern marketing. People always get attracted towards discounts. It gives companies a huge opportunity to boost sales.
The discussed ideas are some of the top picks in this regard. Analyze your company’s needs and the nature of its relevant audience. Then, pick a suitable promotion idea and start working on it to make sales.
People Also Ask
There are different examples of sales promotion available out there. Offering seasonal discounts, coupons, and lifestyle discounts are some of the best ones.
Discounts attract customers by helping them spend less money on a product. It allows them to save money and get the same product with no compromise on the quality.
The best way to promote a new product is by offering free samples. It will attract a large audience, and people will give the product a try.
There are different ways to give discounts. For example, you can give discounts via seasonal offers, cashback offers, or coupons and vouchers.
