From the start i'd like to make you understand what is sales promotion- it includes several communications activities that attempt to provide added value or incentives to consumers, wholesalers, retailers, or other organizational customers to stimulate immediate sales. These efforts can attempt to stimulate product interest, trial, or purchase. Examples of devices used in sales promotion include coupons, samples, premiums, point-of-purchase (POP) displays, contests, rebates, and sweepstakes.Good sale promotion can give really good results in profit. Every specific good must have its own unique sale promotion program.

So, let's look on  main methods in sale promotions  on my mind:






1) Sampling
Free distribution of product sales is one of the classic sale promotion methods that is fully defined in non-counted articles and books about marketing .Usually sampling promotion is spent near sale place of the good.
Usually sampling has few specific targets:
- to inform society about new product
-draw customers from rival's advertising
- simply increase sales amont in specific sale-place.

If sampling is organized correctly it can increase sales amount on 200+% in the place where it is spent. But in last time sampling lost its efficiency because it became usuall for people.Though in composition with others marketing programes it gives good result in sale promotion.


2) Tryvertising
Another way to increase sales is to give a good for a trial(test). But at this case you must understand the difference between sampling. For example, giving software for a 30days trial, is good example of Tryvertising. At this period customer can use software but as 30 days are passed he must buy it or just delete it.

In popular Appla Mac Stores you can try all there products: you can surf internet from the PC iMac, listen to a music from iPod or admire beauty of CoverFlow on mobile phone iPhone. At this case you can decide wheather these things are good or bad for you and in final you can get a wish to buy something of Appple's production.
In conclusion, Tryvertising means that a customer can try product before buying it. The main target of Tryvertising is make customer to get a wish to buy the product. Also it can be like, that the company make all possible so the tester likes the product and write good testimonial about the product or advise it to his friends(in this case word "advertising" in the Tryvertising gets its sense).

3) Transumerism

And here we will talk about a bit another model of sales that can be interested for some group of customers. So what is Transumerism ? This is a specific way of distribution of a good where customer don't buy it, but rent it for some time. I.e. instead of buying a car he lease it for a month. And on another month he can lease another car.
I'd better say that Transumers are not a group but style of life. This give to people ability not to have a stable goods but have many expressins on different things. For example Transumerism gives an ability for fashion-conscious woman to wear different cloth, bugs jewelry and so on, but not being a wife of oil-magnat.

4) Discounts
Discounts are often used by companies and it seems it is the most effective method for sales promotion. Numerous sells off and price markdowns are able significantly increase sales of a company. The main point is to organase it professionally and not to overdo it. In the long run discounts can't last forever and be using with all range of products.It's important to build strategy for specific product.
All knows that discounts are good way for increasing sales but while using it you should keep in mind about dangers that it have.

5) Competitions and lotteries
Last years making Competitions and lotteries is very popular.Such companies as Pepsi and Coca-Cola even spent competitions on TV. At this case competitions was targeted to sales promotion. Do you remember a time when you could find a code under the bottle cap that can win some prize?
To date Competitions and lotteries lost a bit of relevance, but still it is used very actively.

6) Campaign
Usually main point of this method is like: "Buy 2 bottles of Coke and you will get 1 for free!!!". It seems primitive, but at real it gives good results.

7) A gift in addition
Receive a gift after a purchase of a product. why not? Gifts can be used in few targets:
- assist on impulsive purchasing
- make agiotage, make people interested about it
Usually it used for the first target where a gift is used like accelerator of impulsive purchasing. In a moment at my mind comes an example with sales of a tea Lipton. In supermarkets you usually can see a pack of tea with yellow fim cup. Naturally the buyer gets it for free. This cup is able to stimulate many people a purchasing of a tea even if they have a pack of this tea at home. Eventually who will reject getting a gift for free?

8) Advertise newspaper
This method usually is used in composition with Discounts or/and Competitions and lotteries. Such newspaper will contain information about discounts on some products or about even on Competitions and lotteries. Very often such newspapers can be seen in supermarkets where you can find a lot of photoes of a product with bright letters about "extreme discounts" or "crazy discounts" and so on.

9) Moneyback guarantee
This is not the last point in sales promotion. It is all known that customer willingly will buy a product in case he can get his money back in case he don't like a product. It's a pity, but not all companies understand this case and it happends different not very good situations that refers to this point.

10) Shop assistant motivation
It is the last in our list, but not the last in sale promotion. This method have different ways for using, but the most effective on my case is on shop assistant's sallary. On my mind he must get fixed salary+ % from sale. At this case seller understand why he must do his best in order to sell more and in final get more money for his work.


So, it's all the list i wanted to share with. It is not the full list about methods, because in order to write about ALL of them you will need to write hole book. if you have some good ideas you can write them in a comment.
Thank you for you attention. :)