Does Your Promotion Look Like Sarah Jessica Parker?

Does Your Promotion Look Like Sarah Jessica Parker?

In talking with many businesses about their past promotional ideas, it strikes me that many of them have a lot in common with Sarah Jessica Parker: At a quick glance, everything seems fine (or in her case, feminine), but a second glance shows that there’s some real ugliness tucked inside that glamorous package.

All insults to Ms. Parker aside (I’m sure she’s AWESOME, Ferris), it’s important for businesses to realize that a promotion needs to go beyond LOOKING like a good deal, it actually has to BE a good deal. A good deal is:

• Easy to understand
• Easy to obtain
• Easy to upgrade

Easy to understand promotions mean NO FINE PRINT! Think about common industries that use lots of fine print: airlines, cellular providers, insurance companies. Now think about how well-liked most of those companies are. Very few have any customer loyalty, because nobody wants to do business with someone they feel is trying to trick them. And the use of lots of fine print also usually indicates a company has an organizational disdain for their customers. This is usually a red flag for me that a company needs a CULTURE change as much as a change in marketing.

Easy to obtain is another important measure for your promotion. With people’s short attention spans and instant access to competitors, don’t put a special so far out of reach that only a few will ever get there. This is again a little contemptuous toward the consumer; people are smart enough to figure out that they’ll never eat in your restaurant 15 times in one month to get a free meal, for example, so don’t insult them by offering that as your promotion.

Being easy to upgrade is where I think many businesses fall short. If you are offering a specific product in your promotion, is there an alternative product some folks may like better? Do you have a plan in place in case they ask? Remember, the goal is not to make everyone follow your rules, the goal is to develop loyal customers. Find as many ways as you can to say YES!

I’d love to hear about some of your favorite promotions … or some of your bait-and-switch horror stories, where a promotion was not what it seemed at first glance!