Running a promotion- thoughts?

J

jblack55

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Oct 23, 2011
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I want to do a promotion to create some buzz for my store, but I also need to make a profit. let me know what you think.

The promotion:

Give away $100 worth of products a month for 12 months to the winner.

To enter the contest you must make a purchase from the store, no minimum purchase. For each additional purchase, you will get another entry in to the raffle. Also "like" the business facebook page. Once the facebook page reaches 25,000 fans (currently in the 1400s) the winner would be drawn. But to protect myself and ensure I make enough money, was thinking in the terms & conditions say " a minimum of 5,000 purchases must be made by the time we reach 25,000 fans for the drawn or contest winner to be selected"

I want to find a 3rd party software (hopefully a free one) that would randomly select the winner.


Anyone that has any experience with marketing & promotions, feed back is appreciated.

Thanks.
 


You need to have 5,000 purchases to be able to give people $100 a month? WTF are you selling, penny sweets?

Having a 25K content like that where you can go "actually no, we haven't got the money to give you the prize yet" won't turn out well. Why not give it away to your 5,000th purchaser instead, and have a different prize for the FB thing?
 
To be honest it sounds a little complicated. What product you selling and what are your margins ? You are best using the rule KISS. Keep it simple stupid. This acronym works. On the side I also run a distribution business and jewelry line. We currently have around 1500 facebook fans and find that interaction with customers and also leaving comments on other people facebook page works a treat to generate new business. Customers will enter a competition even if it's worth $50 so long as there is a perceived value in the product. If they can buy a product off you for $10 and go into the prize for $50 worth of value it's a bargain. I suppose it all comes down to profitability of the product you are originally selling. Hope this makes sense ?
 
Thanks for the feed back from both of you. You both make valid points. It is in the fitness niche and products are marked up 13%. If they spend $95 I give free shipping, any less and they pay what I pay to ship.

The reason I say 5000 purchases is, figuring making a $1 per sale, which should hopefully be more like $5 profit per sale, but was figuring low. I already have about $20k invested so want to get some return. There is thousands of stores out there like mine, so its alot of competition. But with my prices and free shipping I put up a good fight. Just need people to give us a try and see.

Currently none of my current 1400 fans have turned into customers. But they are always ready for something free! lol.

Just going off Facebook likes, if a few people purchase from the store, but get all there friends to like the page then we hit the 25k, but didnt generate enough sales. But the other side of the coin I am thinking if you use these products and you refer your friends, more then likely some of your friends do to and they would love the shot to win this.

Also as the business grows and I start moving volume, my prices for products and shipping will decrease giving me more profit with out having to raise the price.

So maybe I should try it out on a smaller scale first. Starting right now who ever makes a purchase this month will be entered into a drawing to win a $50 gift card at the end of the month? Then if it is successful, sale it up?
 
Yep to me that sounds like a better idea. Test the waters is always a good start on a smaller scale. You should maybe also hit up gyms around town or facebook them to let them know of the offer. I wouldn't worry to much about the likes on facebook at the moment focus on why the product you have is better than everyone else and sell this to the end buyer. There isn't a new product in the world only better mousetraps :) The facebook likes will follow :)
 
Start small, start right. Ive made sales on fitness niche a couple of years back. What i did was indulge in many fitness forums and contacted many fitness blog owners. The best part about this is you wont need to spend much money or not spend money at all. What you need to do is go straight to your customer and show the product to their face. If price and promise is impressive, then you can bag him in then and there. If product is effective, he will be back for more and so will the word spread.
 
Good advice guys, thank you!

I have decided to do a raffle for this month only for all customers who purchase will be entered for a $50 gift card.

Local gym facebooks is a great idea! I plan taking some post cards by the gyms once I find a designer to make them & get them printed.

So I will continue to try and promote for less money and continue to work on my seo! I appreciate the feedback. I will let you all know how it goes this month.
 
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