Your local business must think beyond traditional marketing tactics to stay competitive. Online promotions offer an opportunity to reach new customers, engage the community, and drive foot traffic like never before. KickoffLabs makes this process seamless, empowering you to create impactful online promotions that work.
Why Run an Online Promotion?
- Reach More Customers: Online promotions allow you to engage potential customers both near and far. KickoffLabs helps you create engaging landing pages and referral programs that expand your audience.
- Boost Brand Awareness: Regular online promotions help build brand recall. KickoffLabs makes it easy to run campaigns and track what works.
- Cost-Effective Advertising: Online ads, even with small budgets, can be effective. KickoffLabs provides analytics to measure your return on investment and refine strategies.
- Increase Engagement and Loyalty: Promotions encourage sharing and repeat visits. KickoffLabs’ reward features motivate customers to keep coming back.
- Drive Foot Traffic: Digital promotions with in-store offers drive more visits. KickoffLabs helps bridge the online and offline experience.
- Stay Competitive: KickoffLabs enables you to meet customer expectations and compete with larger brands through high-quality online promotions.
Promotion Ideas to Get Started
Referral Contests
What Is a Referral Contest? This type of promotion encourages your existing customers to refer friends or family to your business in exchange for rewards, such as discounts or free products.
Why It’s a Good Idea: Referral contests leverage word-of-mouth marketing, one of the most trusted forms of advertising. By incentivizing customers to refer friends, you not only grow your customer base but also build trust with new leads since they’re coming through a recommendation.
Example: KickoffLabs user, NOBO, ran a successful referral giveaway for a local retail dispensary, where leads earned a free in store credit for every friend that they referred. This helped boost in store foot traffic to all of NOBO’s local locations.
Exclusive Discounts for Email Subscribers
What Is an Exclusive Discount Promotion? This type of promotion offers a special discount that is only available to people who sign up for your mailing list, encouraging new customers to subscribe.
Why It’s a Good Idea: Offering exclusive discounts helps grow your email list, which is a valuable asset for future promotions. It also provides a reason for potential customers to engage with your business and motivates them to visit in-store.
Example: A local nail salon offered a 20% discount to their email subscribers when they brought a friend along. This method greatly increased word of mouth engagement, which in turn increased both foot traffic and repeat customers.
Instant Win Campaigns
What Is an Instant Win Campaign? Participants enter for the chance to win a prize instantly, such as a free product or discount, creating excitement around your brand.
Why It’s a Good Idea: Instant win campaigns generate excitement and create a sense of immediacy that encourages participation. Customers are motivated to engage multiple times, leading to increased brand awareness.
Example: Microsoft ran an instant win campaign where visitors in store received a scratch and win card. Each card contained a prize, ranging from small discounts to free big ticket items.
Limited-Time Coupons
What Is a Limited-Time Coupon? A digital coupon with an expiration date that encourages customers to visit your store within a specific timeframe to redeem the offer.
Why It’s a Good Idea: Limited-time offers create urgency, prompting customers to act quickly. It’s a great way to drive foot traffic during slow periods or promote new products.
Example: A local coffee shop used limited-time coupons to boost morning sales. The campaign resulted in an increase in weekday traffic during the promotional period.
Social Media Challenges
What Is a Social Media Challenge? A promotion that encourages customers to post photos or videos related to your business on social media for a chance to win a prize.
Why It’s a Good Idea: Social media challenges are an excellent way to increase brand engagement while reaching a broader audience. When customers share their experiences, your business gets exposure to their networks.
Example: A local craft mall launched a fun giveaway to get into the holiday spirit! Customers were encouraged to take a selfie in Santa’s Workshop, then tag the business on social for a chance to win a trip!
Milestone Rewards
What Is a Milestone Reward? Customers earn rewards when they achieve certain milestones, such as making a certain number of purchases or visiting your store multiple times.
Why It’s a Good Idea: Milestone rewards encourage repeat business by offering incentives for reaching specific goals. This keeps customers engaged and loyal to your brand over time.
Example: A local gas station awarded points to customers for every purchase they made. Points could be accumulated and exchanged for tiered rewards.
Holiday or Event-Themed Promotions
What Is a Holiday or Event-Themed Promotion? A special offer or discount tied to a holiday or local event, which makes your brand part of the celebration and draws attention during specific times.
Why It’s a Good Idea: Tying promotions to holidays or local events helps your business stay relevant and gives customers a reason to engage with your brand at specific times of the year.
Example: A coffee shop ran a Veteran’s day promotion to honor local Veteran’s. This promotion boosted sales significantly during the holiday.
How to Promote Your Online Promotion Locally and Online
To maximize the success of your online promotions, it’s important to promote them effectively both locally in-store and online. Here are some strategies to consider:
In-Store Promotion
- Signage: Use eye-catching signs, posters, or digital screens in your store to inform customers about ongoing promotions. Highlight the benefits of participating, such as discounts or rewards.
- Staff Engagement: Train your staff to talk to customers about the current online promotions. Personal recommendations from staff can help generate interest and participation.
- Receipts and Flyers: Include information about your online promotions on customer receipts or hand out flyers at checkout. This provides an easy reminder for customers to participate later.
- QR Codes: Place QR codes around your store that link directly to the promotion landing page. This makes it easy for customers to engage with the promotion on their phones while they are in the store. To generate QR codes for your promotions, you can use free online tools like Canva’s QR Code Generator and QR Code Monkey. These platforms allow you to create customized QR codes that link directly to your promotion landing pages, making it easy for customers to engage with your offers on their smartphones while in-store.
Online Promotion
- Social Media Posts: Use your business’s social media accounts to share details about the promotion. Encourage followers to like, share, and tag friends to spread the word.
- Email Marketing: Send promotional emails to your subscriber list highlighting the benefits of the promotion. Make sure to include a clear call-to-action link that directs recipients to the landing page.
- Local Influencers: Partner with local influencers who can share your promotion with their followers. This is a great way to reach a broader audience and build credibility.
- Local Online Communities: Post about your promotion in local online groups or community forums. Many towns have Facebook groups or community websites where you can share information about local events and promotions.
Conclusion
Running online promotions is more than a trend; it’s a vital tool for local businesses to connect with their community, build brand loyalty, and drive sales. KickoffLabs makes it easy to create, track, and optimize these promotions, ensuring your business remains relevant and thriving in an increasingly digital world.
Check out our team’s top guides below and start promoting your business online with a giveaway:
- Promoting your business online with a viral giveaway
- 6 tips for running a successful giveaway
- The complete guide to running a successful giftcard giveaway
- Using giveaways to promote locally
Ready to take your local business to the next level? Start creating impactful online promotions with KickoffLabs today and watch your customer base grow.