🥅 Start with a goal.
The pressure to go on sale because/when all your competitors do is REAL.
Annnnd…. That’s NOT a good reason to go on sale.
The most successful promotions start with a clear intention and strategy.
“Make money” is too vague a goal.
“By selling whatever” is too lame a strategy.
Try something like “Bring in $X by focusing on [specific SKUs].”
Don’t be desperate, be deliberate!
🛍 Decide if you even need a sale.
Instead of slashing prices on existing products, you could reach your goal with something entirely NEW.
Or NEW-ish.
A limited-edition variant of a beloved SKU.
Expedited shipping just for today.
Exclusive subscriber perks, because they deserve 1st dibs on everything.
Now you’ve elevated your brand, instead of discounting it.
🧰 Build a war chest… and save it for an actual war.
Maybe a sale really is the best strategy for your brand. If that’s the case, prepare a RANGE of promotional tactics that could get you to your goal.
Not 1 lever, MULTIPLE levers.
Deploy the 1st and see how it goes.
If that works, great. Stop there. There’s no point using all your ammo.
If it doesn’t, pull out 1 more tactic. Repeat (or don’t) as needed.
ONLY use the levers you need.
Keep the rest in the war chest for the future.
🏹 Know when to pull back.
If you hit your goals early, congrats… Now figure out if there’s something you can turn off, so you preserve margin for later.
Raise the threshold on your gift with purchase. Check inventory and focus on the lagging items you need to move. Build out those funnels, drive ads to those products that need time in market and test in market to find their legs. Cancel the extended sale.
Take all that energy and start working toward the next win, which doesn’t have to be a sale.
🥇 Put subscribers 1st.
Your longest and highest-spending shoppers deserve the best of your brand.
Their incentives should get BETTER over time.
So I strongly encourage taking that sales energy or post-successful sales energy and channeling it into subscription.
You don’t need to wait until Presidents’ Day, Valentine’s Day, Easter, or whatever the next normal sales window is.
This strategy is evergreen.
And, I guarantee it’ll make your brand stand apart from the competition.
BEST DEAL EVER.
