How To Build Connection with Promotion

The Relationship Between Connection and Promotion

Your brand’s Connection is the degree to which people feel they relate to your brand, specifically with regards to its behaviors in market. Connection can increase through Promotional activity in a few different ways. 
 
An increase in Connection can happen when discounts are run based off of branded events or circumstances, rather than on cycles throughout the year. Traditional promotional calendars may run discounts one week on, one week off or may run 50% discounts a few times per year. But these more predictive, habitual acts of promotion may not cut through when it comes to how consumers relate to your brand. 

What can work incredibly well, however, are promotional campaigns. So, when driving your brand’s Connection through Promotion, consider this: 

1. What real-world activity does my Promotion tie into? Perhaps you’re running a promotion around a major event, like the World Cup or a seasonal event, or running a campaign that discounts your product to give back to an organization or charity. Consider turning your promotion into a campaign for your brand, giving it real purpose and authenticity.  

2. What behaviors can I exhibit that people will relate to? Consider using imagery and talent in trade magazines or on promotional display units that people can imagine themselves being a part of. When advertising in store, speak like a human across all of your materials, without jargon or unnecessary frills, to make your brand appear down-to-earth and easier to connect with.

    

What should you do next?

• Consider how you can transform your promotions into promotional campaigns that do more than just discount the price of your product. They should connect with people’s interests. 
• Review your current promotional program to determine whether there are optimizations to tone of voice and talent to make the materials simple and easy to connect with. 

How to determine if it’s working.

• Keep an eye on how your brand’s Connection changes before, during, and the month after a promotional period to determine if your promotional campaign has made a lasting impression. 

• If your aim is to increase your Connection through Promotion, make sure you log your promotions into a calendar. Develop supporting materials surrounding your promotions to transform them from a standard “week on deal” to an opportunity to engage your audience around a theme or a time that they care about. Then, keep an eye on whether or not people talk about that theme through channels like social media.   
  
  
  Guidance from:
  Michael Coden | Head of Marketing, ProQuo AI
  
  Michael has spent 10 years developing and building brands across the US, Europe and Australasia for global companies.