We all know the value of promotion to our companies, but sometimes it’s difficult to think of fresh, new ways of promoting our businesses. Promotion is not purchasing media to deliver a meaningless idea or message. The best promotion campaigns consist of a healthy amount of creativity and reflect the business’s personality. Here are some creative ways to promote your business.

1. Host a Sweepstakes or Giveaway
Customers and prospective customers tend to love giveaways. They feel like they have the chance to get something, for relatively little, from a company. We can use sweepstakes entries to generate leads simply by requiring participants to opt-in to our newsletters or to provide contact information that we can use for marketing purposes. Make sure that the prizes for your sweepstakes are attractive enough to most people and that customers know they are opting into marketing messages when they enter.

2. Do Community Service
There’s no better way to promote your business locally than to help those in your community who have a need. Set aside a budget as you would for a traditional coupon offer and instead offer your products or services directly to the public for free or at reduced cost. Encourage recipients of your generosity to share the good word. This demonstrates that you really care about the community and often strengthens the brand among the balance of your customers who support your brand or service.

3. Offer Coupons
Coupons and discounts are proven motivators to purchase because of a simple universal truth; people like to save money. Customers who don’t ordinarily use your services might be eager to do so if they have a coupon for either dollars or a percent off. Even if customers save comparatively little via coupons, they tend to be motivated not to “miss out” on special deals. The forms of coupon distribution are almost limitless. And don’t forget to investigate online coupons; the fastest growing category of coupon delivery.

4. Find Out About Niche Messaging Opportunities
Promotions benefit from timely messaging. Holidays are natural opportunities for a tie-in message. Chances are that there’s some type of holiday that is relevant to your product or service. For example, pet stores or pet food companies might want to celebrate Adopt a Shelter Cat Month every June or Adopt a Dog Month every September. With a little research, you can find out about a holiday that relates to your business and schedule sales and promotions around it.

5. Offer Premium Items
People enjoy special items such as bumper stickers, badges or coffee mugs with your company’s brand and slogan on them. Low cost items should be given away for free however some more significant items such as apparel can be sold at your cost so there is no actual expense to produce or distribute them.

There are many other options available if you use some creativity. If you’d like help staging a relevant and unique promotional campaign for your brand, call us at (516) 365-3999 or contact us by our online forum. Marden Kane specializes in creative promotions that can be developed and implemented quickly.