Promotion Pitfalls: 4 Things to Avoid for Your Next Online Promotion

We’ve spent the past two weeks telling you what to do when you’re promoting an event or sale online. But the path to Promotion Kingdom is long and strewn with challenges, so there are just as many things you should avoid as you send your advertisement into the web ether.  

Here is our list of four things you most definitely should not do during your next online ad campaign:

 

(Don’t) Do the “Hard” Sell

  You know how we’ve always told you that you should be letting them come to you? Our insistence on this basic principle stems from the idea that if you do things the right way, customers will come without the need to force their hand.   The hard sell rarely works well online. Shouting “Buy Now! 90% OFF! Limited time only.” won’t make your product fly off the shelves. For one, this type of advertising (we sometimes refer to it as caveman marketing) feels inherently spammy, and if there is one thing online users have built an aversion to, spam-iness is it.  

(Don’t) Ignore Engagement Level

  You obviously want your next promotion to be the most exciting thing on the Internet, but things don’t always go as planned. If you’re getting really good feedback on your promo, by all means keep posting and re-engaging the customer base. But if your promo gets no attention whatsoever, don’t assume reposting will solve the problem.   Flooding inboxes and walls with content noone is interested in might make you seem desperate. Instead, change something (ideally, something drastic) about your advertisement style and try again. Sooner or later, you’re bound to hit a nerve with your audience. When that happens, bump up your posting rate and take advantage of that hard-earned customer engagement. Which brings us to:  

(Don’t) Be Afraid to Change the Rules

  If you’ve tried different ad strategies and you get the sense that people are just not “feeling it”, you shouldn’t be afraid the change the entire event, sale, or promotion. Of course, this isn’t always possible, but a less extravagant event or less profitable sale that goes spectacularly well is better than one that keeps to your original goals but bombs like the Hindenburg.  

(Don’t) Forget About Your Friends

  If you’ve been listening to us at all, your business brand should have an immaculate, larger-than-life facade. But, presumably, your company also consists of actual people (and, if you’re cool like us, maybe a few robots), who, depending on their level of nerdiness, know other people.   Sometimes, word of mouth between friends can really help a campaign take off, so don’t be afraid to encourage employees to engage with the promotion online, from their personal accounts. These first few comments will give your campaign legitimacy, and heck, noone will even know they did not arise organically.   There you have it. Avoid these Four Pitfalls of the Promo-calypse and your next ad campaign will be a roaring success. More importantly, join us next week when we will summarize all of our wisdom about dominating promotions by driving client engagement into a handy infographic!   [templatera id=”10395″]