7 Types of Consumer Promotions

These 7 types of consumer promotions are always great ways to generate buzz around your business. There is nothing that people love more than free stuff and winning. These are the tried and true methods that businesses use every day to capture people’s attention:

1. Bonus Packs: This is when you attach an extra little free item to the product you are currently selling. This is most common in the liquor industry as you will constantly see free items come with your booze. T-shirts in beer cases and shot glasses with bottles of liquor are very common things to see.

2. Contests: This is where you host a skillful competition with a prize involved. Creative written, image and video contests are the most commonly seen ones in this day and age. 

3. Coupons: Everybody loves to get a discount on products that they use all the time. Coupons are a fantastic way to get people to buy things like soap from your brand instead of the brand they usually buy from. They can be distributed online, through flyers, and physically on the shelf in the retail store. This is a key way to get people to ditch brands they’ve been loyal to.

4. Free Trials and Samples: Letting consumers try your product is a fantastic way to get them to buy your product. However, you must ensure you actually have a product that is worth buying. Squarespace has a great free trial system that lets you completely build a website and see if you like it before you give them any money or even a credit card number.

5. Loyalty Programs: These are systems that reward costumers for consistently buying products from your brand. Most businesses use a system where you get points with every purchase that you can redeem for cool stuff and discounts. Loyalty programs help build brand loyalty and keep other brands from poaching your business with things like coupons. It’s most commonly used by gas stations.

6. Rebates: A rebate is a price reduction that is supplied in exchange for proof of purchase. I personally hate rebates there a pain in the ass on both sides. You make the consumer put in effort and you have to keep track of how much money that is needed on the business end to fulfill the rebate. Most businesses do this in hopes that people never go through the effort of claiming the rebate. I personally recommend you just give people a discount upfront instead of creating a stress filled and usually difficult process. The money saved in communication exchanges will be worth it.

7. Sweepstakes: These are usually games of pure chance and bring the most excitement to consumers. What’s more fun than winning free stuff? The answer is getting the rush of gambling and then winning free stuff. Sweepstakes are my personal favourite kind of consumer promotions. It’s always fun for the consumer and is decently cheap expense wise for the business running the contest.

Even though I personally have a hate for rebates these are all solid ways to generate some extra buzz around your business. These are some of the cheapest forms of advertising and are fantastic for businesses that are just starting up. Try to keep them simple but also be as creative as possible to get the consumer excited. Now get out there and start promoting your products!