Promotion marketing is an excellent tool for driving traffic and increasing sales. However, some companies who aren’t experts in promotion try to run such programs on their own, and experience unintended, negative consequences.

To increase sales, Gallery Furniture in Houston, TX ran a promotion borrowing sizzle from the most recent Super Bowl. However, the store owner is an expert in furniture – not in promotion marketing.

Gallery’s offer was a simple one: Purchase furniture totaling at least $6,000, and if the Seahawks won the game, the purchase price would be refunded. The Seahawks prevailed, and Gallery’s refund to customers skyrocketed to $7,000,000. Gallery’s mistakes included:

1. Not considering the economics of the offer
2. Not insuring the offer to protect against a financially harmful payout
3. Running a potentially illegal promotion — offering a chance to win a prize based on a purchase is considered illegal gambling in most states, which could result in a significant fine to the promotion sponsor

Promosis helps our clients avoid such pitfalls —

• We draw on our decades of experience to develop direct response promotions that enhance a company’s brand.
• When appropriate, we take advantage of our relationship with one of the most highly-rated insurers in the world to obtain affordable insurance that permits the opportunity for offering huge prizes without costing millions of dollars.
• We keep pace with constantly evolving Federal, State, and local promotion laws and guidelines.
• To provide peace of mind, our program administration services include indemnification – or protection – in the event an issue arises as a result of the promotion implementation.

Want to drive sales to your business or consumer clients with a direct-response promotion? We can help you keep it motivating, legal and affordable. Just shoot us an message or give me a ring to get started.

For the sixth straight year we’re helping Kayem, the maker of the famed Boston Red Sox “Fenway Frank” and New England Patriots “Sack Attack” sausage, reach multiple segments of their wholesale audience and reward them for their purchases. The goals of the promotion are two-fold:

1. To increase retailer awareness of the variety of Kayem products
2. To increase the SKUs offered at food service locations

To accomplish these goals, Kayem will distribute rebate instructions along with eligible SKUs to participating accounts. Each account can earn significant rebates on case purchases. The more SKUs they buy, the more they earn per case – it’s that simple. Kayem chose cash rebates as their promotion tool because they’re simple to communicate, straightforward to execute, and widely accepted in their industry.

Want to drive sales to your business or consumer clients with a rebate? We can manage the entire program for you, so you can focus on what you do well; after all, you’ve already got enough to do, don’t you?

Bose Corporation and Sports Illustrated recently collaborated on a Super Bowl XLVIII-themed sweepstakes to celebrate their respective connection to America’s “unofficial holiday.”

The promotion Grand Prize included a trip for two to Manhattan, transportation, and tickets to the Big Game. The prize also included a meet and greet with Peter King, the founder of “Monday Morning Quarterback (MMQB)” – the world’s most widely read NFL blog.

The Monday following the Super Bowl, Peter’s notes included the following:

“Cool event Sunday: breakfast with Roy and Cathy Gruss, of Missoula, Mont. They won an all-expenses-paid trip to the Super Bowl from Bose, and part of the trip (Bose is a sponsor of The MMQB) was a meal with me. So we met at 9 a.m., on the East Side of Manhattan, and Roy, wearing his Montana Grizzlies jacket, and Cathy told me their story of the weekend.”

If you’re interested, Peter shares additional details about the Gruss’ exceptional experience.

How many people read MMQB? Well, on January 20, Peter’s column experienced its largest audience with 5.5 million impressions* — over a million of which were viewed on a mobile device.

How dramatically would your business benefit from a massive increase in online and mobile awareness? Perhaps we can help you figure out the answer.

Perhaps we can help you plan your efforts so you can set your strategy, tactics, and budget now to avoid that unsettled feeling you get in your stomach when you realize your numbers aren’t where they need to be – and you’re not prepared to take corrective action.

I invite you to give our Scan & Play Instant Win Game a click for a chance to win a nice little prize. We develop all sorts of promotions such as this one to help salespeople sell more, buyers to buy more and existing customers to spend more and stick around longer.