Brand promotions are a necessity when we decide to take the bold step of putting our business on the map. Promotions are like an open house, with a lot more invitations than usual.
Whether you decide to promote your brand online or not, there are promotion strategies you can start using today to help potential customers find your business and purchase your product or service.

1. Advertising: This is the oldest trick in the book. And it never gets old, out of style, or stops working.
- Online advertising involves running ads on your social media platform of choice. Instagram, Facebook and Twitter all offer ads for businesses to boost their pages and posts. As the process differs for most social platforms, you must find out how your chosen social media platform runs ads.
- Offline advertising involves printing out handbills, fliers or even business cards to share with the general public. When deciding to run an ad, there are certain important factors that we must consider:
- Only spend money on ads, when the product/ service you are advertising will generate more money for your business.
- Set SMART Ad goals for your business. Your ad campaigns should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. If you do not have experience setting SMART goals, it is a full-proof strategy that will be covered in-depth in another article.
- Plan and run smaller campaigns before larger ones. If you are new to advertising, it will be easier to manage a small one.

2. Discounted Sales: Every one of us loves a good discount.
20% off
Buy one, get 2 free
Brand promotions also come in the form of sales discounts on your product/ service. Consider promoting your brand during certain seasons like Mothers/ Fathers Day with a 50% discount on all your offers. Or even throwing in a free item when your customers spend a certain amount of money.
Discounted sales may not seem hard to achieve but you must understand the profit vs loss involved in your sales campaign. In some way or another, promotions must have some sort of positive effect on your business else they are not worth doing.
Measurable positive effects here may be brand awareness, improved sales flow, new leads or customers, conversion rate, or whatever indicators your business looks to improve.

3. Publicity: This involves raising awareness about your product/ service, hence raising awareness about your brand.
Coined from the word "public", publicity is all about putting your business in the public space, whether that space is online or offline.
How do you get public? Start publicizing
- Newspapers
- Magazines
- TV (or any kind of media) commercials
- YouTube ads
- Whatsapp Statuses
- Public speaking engagements
- Partnerships
- Press conferences/ briefings, etc
Pick any of these mediums that best suits your business and start publicizing.

4. Personal selling: Even though this promotion strategy is not the preferred option for most people, it is still highly effective. Personal selling is the act of one-on-one or one-to-many discussions on your product or service. It involves you going out to offices, homes, events or anywhere to speak to people about your brand and what it offers. This may also be in an online space such as linkedin, WhatsApp, or any social media platform that allows direct messaging.
For some of us who use Linkedin a lot, we have all experienced some sort of personal selling in our Messages.
For best results, combine personal selling with another promotion strategy such as discounted sales or advertising.

5. Sponsorships: Finding the right kind of sponsor for your service may not be the easiest task to do, but it is worth it. Sponsors are people who support your business by giving their money, encouragement or other forms of assistance to help grow your brand or reach a certain goal. Before you set out looking for sponsors, be specific on WHAT EXACTLY you need sponsorship on, and HOW EXACTLY you plan to use the support you are given.
For us to seek out sponsors, we should have a functional product/ service in place and we must have verified that our sales process works.
This is because a sponsor will never want to give support to or invest in a business that will bring more profit than loss or no profit at all.
If you are considering sponsorships to promote your brand, figure out your unique selling point, your sales process and your target audience before you begin hunting for a potential sponsor.

Which of these brand promotions are you kicking off March 2020 with?
It's time for your business to be seen.
Thank you for reading.