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Last updated: 18 July 2023
Complete guide to creating small business promotions
The right marketing ideas could be major profit generators for you. This article looks at how small business promotions attract new customers.
Everyone likes a good deal. It gives you a sense you’re getting something worthwhile that's value for money. For tradespeople, offering promotions and deals is a highly effective way of bringing in more business.
Small business promotions are types of marketing ideas. They can create strong interest in your business very rapidly. Promotional ideas are often a key part of a trade business marketing plan.
What are trade business promotions and deals?
Promotional ideas for small business offer customers an incentive for choosing to use you. They are part of any good trade business advertising and marketing activity.
You need to market and advertise your special deals so people know they are available.
Small business promotions could include:
Offering coupons with a set amount of money off your services
Making time-limited offers, such as booking your services before a certain date - i.e. ‘flash sales’
Offering discounts on jobs, like a percentage of the total cost
Offering deals for repeat business, these are a type of loyalty scheme to reward customers who stick with you
Offering deals for referral work
Offering special deals on regular work, like annual servicing
Benefits of small business promotions and deals
Promotional ideas for small business can generate more profit. This can be from:
Winning new customers
Getting more business from existing customers
Making your business more visible
Standing out from your competitors
Think carefully about the potential downside of offering promotions and deals. They could make it harder for you to sell your services at your usual prices.
Include promotional ideas in your marketing plan
Every successful business needs a good marketing plan that brings in more customers. You can use promotions and deals to generate more leads for your business.
Even a very simple plan that includes just one type of promotional idea could drive up profits. How you market your promotions and deals depends on the type of customers you think would be interested in them.
For homeowner customers, traditional methods like leaflets can work well. Offering promotions online can be easier and less costly.
A marketing plan will help you reach your target audience with promotions at exactly the right time. For example, money off gardening services during the summer months or deals on boiler servicing in the autumn.
A great place to begin is with a free marketing planning guide. Creating a marketing plan can help you keep track of your promotions and deals.
Identify your target audience
One of the most important considerations when coming up with promotional ideas for small business is knowing your target audience. They are a way of attracting new customers to your business.
Marketing ideas for small business should focus on the audience they need to reach. For business start-ups, promotions can be an essential way to quickly build a customer base.
When deciding on the target audience for your promotion or deal, think about:
Your trade: who needs you most?
Your location: who needs you most and lives locally?
Your customers’ profiles: who is most likely to choose a tradesperson (based on things like wealth profile, home ownership and other factors)
Set a budget
How much you spend on marketing ideas for small business, like promotions, is a difficult question. It depends on a lot of factors. Set yourself a marketing budget that includes the cost of promotions.
It can be easy to waste money on ineffective marketing with promotions that don’t generate much interest. That’s why it’s important to decide on a promotional idea that works best for your type of trade.
By including the costs of promotions and deals in your marketing plan you will have a 'fully costed' view. In other words, you know in advance how much it should all cost you.
Think too about the impact of a reduction in your revenue from offering customers deals and discounts. This can be covered by the extra work the promotion generates for you.
Digital promotions
Nowadays, a lot of business is won online. Digital promotions can be relatively cheap and effective.
An online advertisement, or ‘banner’ with a promotional idea or deal can be compelling. You can offer promotions and deals across multiple sources:
Local websites
Social media
Text messages
Emails
Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) is a key way that businesses advertise online. Google PPC is a good example.
For any type of online marketing where you are using people’s names and addresses, there are certain rules to follow. These are GDPR rules for managing data properly.
There is a risk of overdoing it on promotions and deals and this could put off customers. With online marketing, it’s all about creating a user-friendly ‘customer journey’.
Print promotions
Digital may dominate, but print still has a place in many people’s hearts. One of the most effective ways for trade business to offer deals is through print marketing. It may be traditional, but it’s also high impact.
Your choices could include:
Newspapers and magazine
Brochures, directories and catalogues
Flyers, leaflets and postcards
Posters and site boards
A strong message about who you are and what you do is important. But a compelling promotion or deal could be the clincher.
Trade-specific promotions
Every trade will differ in the types of marketing ideas that work best for them. It’s always worth seeing what deals your competitors offer.
Here are some general marketing ideas for different trades:
Key takeaways
Promotions and deals win customers and increase profits
Promotions are part of a business’s marketing ideas and advertising activities
Set a budget for your promotional ideas so they are cost-effective
Identify the target audience most likely to respond positively to your promotions
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