An Introduction to Promoting Custom Decoration Services
When most people think of marketing it is likely that promotion comes to mind, but this is actually only one aspect of marketing. Considering that promotion is defined as all methods through which businesses communicate their brand and products to consumers this should come as little surprise. In fact, without promotional efforts, it would be nearly impossible for a new product decoration business to gain market share. Promotional planning is the process of optimizing the utilization of marketing tools, strategies, and resources to promote a decorated product with the intent to generate demand and meet set objectives. Without a solid plan, promotional activities can be wasteful, and even harmful to a product decoration business’s reputation. Promotion is essential for a decoration business to increase consumer product knowledge, generate sales, and set the business and its decorated products apart from the competition.
The Promotional Mix
The promotional mix is a combination of five different promotional tactics that marketers use to promote their business. The promotional mix consists of personal selling, advertising, direct marketing, sales promotion, and public relations. It is up to decoration shops to figure out the best way to combine each of these types of promotion to achieve the optimal results for their business.
Personal selling is the process by which a representative of a business persuades a potential customer to purchase the business’s goods and/or services. Once a decoration business has found potential customers, also known as leads, it is up to a salesperson to convince a lead to make a purchase. This is not an easy process, as customers have varying wants, needs, and objections for purchasing a particular product. This is easier for decoration businesses that offer multiple decoration processes, as they are able to satisfy more customer needs. In order to make a sale, a salesperson will often have to overcome customer objections. This can be achieved by either eliminating the objections through explanation/demonstration of the product or decoration process, or by minimizing the impact of the objections. Personal selling takes time to master. When prepared with the right marketing materials, however, a salesperson can convince a client to consider their business for his or her next custom decoration order.
Advertising
Advertising is the promotion of a business and/or its products through paid media, including, but not limited to, radio, television, newspapers, and digital media. Advertising is likely the best way for a product decoration business to communicate its brand to large audiences. Advertising is a good way to achieve awareness, but it can have a complicated relationship with the return on investment (ROI). ROI is a major financial consideration of all businesses. Traditional advertising methods (newspaper, radio, and billboards) often work well for local decoration shops, but they are also more difficult to track.
It is important that product decoration businesses find a way to track the results of their advertising, otherwise it is difficult to tell whether an increase in awareness created by advertisements is actually leading to increased sales. Advertising campaigns run through a social network, like Facebook, or search engine, like Google, are much easier to track, making it easier to determine the ROI on those campaigns. Advertising is typically used to promote a brand’s image or promote a certain product. So, if an advertisement is not contributing to a brand or helping to sell a product, then the business is wasting its money and must move on.
Direct Marketing
Direct Marketing is a form of advertising that allows businesses to communicate directly to a specific group rather than a mass audience. Direct marketing can take many forms. Mailing catalogs, letters, emails, and text messaging are all examples of direct marketing. Direct marketing is often used to market to existing or former customers, which is especially important for product decoration businesses. Repeat customers and clients are where the majority of money is made for most product decoration businesses. It is a good idea for businesses to send emails, even if they are just an update on the business, to clients at least 3-4 times per year, including thank you cards during the holiday season.
Sales Promotion (Word of Mouth Marketing)
Word-of-mouth-marketing (WOMM) is one of the most powerful forms of marketing. In fact, WOMM often is a factor in the success or failure of a decoration business. Often, the biggest clients that businesses gain come from referrals by other clients. WOMM involves a business’s current clients telling their friends, family, and associates about their experience with that business. While it is not always necessary, offering a reward of some kind to a customer who successfully refers another person to the business is a great way to incentivize customers to spread the word about your business. While smaller orders can be a waste of time with low or no profit, they can lead to large referrals that can make up for the small margin on the small order many times over.
The Different types of Advertising Media
When it comes to media for advertising, there are plenty to choose from. Media is communication channels through which information can be disseminated. In the case of advertising, media is the channels through which advertisements can reach consumers. These days, media can reach consumers almost anywhere they may be, and that gives marketers more options than ever to promote their message to their target market.
Print Advertising is the practice of promoting a product or business through any printed media, including newspapers, magazines, billboards, and newsletters. Both newspapers and magazines are distributed locally, regionally, and nationally. This gives them a wide reach and the ability to target ads geographically. Newspapers advertisements are still a good option for small product decoration businesses, as they can help to attract customers from the local community to a business.
Broadcast Advertising is the practice of promoting a business or product over the two primary broadcast media, television and radio. Consumers spend a large amount of time in front of TV screens and listening to the radio, which makes broadcast advertising quite attractive to businesses. However, it is difficult to target specific markets with broadcast advertising. Channels can offer demographics for their average listener or viewer, but they are less specific than those one could target online. Another issue with broadcast advertising is that production costs for TV advertisements are typically higher than any other type of advertisements. For most small product decoration businesses, TV advertisements are simply too expensive to produce and air. Radio advertisements can follow consumers everywhere, but they can only describe products, not show them. If a decoration business has a large market, however, then broadcast advertising can still be beneficial.
Online advertising is the practice of using the internet to promote products. Online advertising is the most diverse advertising media, offering many ways for businesses to reach consumers. It also the fastest growing type of promotion due to its high ROI through well targeted advertisements. Online advertising is able to target consumers so well because the media is interactive. Consumers search for products, visit business websites, and share a lot of information on the world wide web. Print and broadcast media, on the other hand, are created for the masses. For small businesses, like most product decoration shops, online advertising is often the best option. Online advertising allows a business to track its marketing efforts, and it also allows a business to advertise to its specific target markets. So, for those decoration businesses that do not ship orders they can only target local customers. Whereas a product decoration businesses that takes orders online can target customers who fit the business’s target market anywhere in the country.
Outdoor Advertising is the practice of advertising in locations that reach consumers outside of their homes, including transit advertising, billboards, benches, and more. While these types of advertisements are typically printed signs or banners, improvements in technology have increased the popularity of digital outdoor advertisements. Digital displays and billboards offer the ability for more dynamic advertisements, and also allow for a single display to show more than one ad. While it is not the most efficient method of advertising, outdoor advertising near to a product decoration business can attract some walk-in business if that is what the business is looking for.
Specialty Advertising is the practice of promoting a business or product with promotional products. Promotional products are useful for common items that are branded with a business’s name or logo and distributed to consumers. Common promotional products include pens, mugs, calendars, apparel, stress balls, and keychains. The purpose of specialty advertising is to give consumers something they will use and/or see frequently that will remind them of the business, and therefore develop a positive association with the business. Specialty advertising is especially helpful for product decoration businesses because many of the products they sell can double as promotional products if the business puts its name or logo on them. This is a great way to not only advertise for the business, but to show off its decoration capabilities.
Conclusion
Promotion is one of the most important factors in a product decoration business’s success. Over time, product decoration businesses will get much of their business through referrals and word-of-mouth. However, promotion is the only way to ensure that, from the outset, a decoration business can communicate its brand and its abilities to consumers. Most small product decoration businesses should focus on high-ROI, local promotional methods like print media or online advertising. Over time, as a business grows, its promotional tactics will change as it tests various methods, but the key will always be to attract customers that will come back time and again for their various product decoration needs.
