Sales promotion is an effective tool to boost the topline in the shortterm and many companies frequently take recourse to these promotions. Lessons from some companies which have been able to crack the code of effective sales promotions.

Advertising, Sales Promotion, Personal Selling, Public Relations and Direct Marketing are the five elements of the promotional mix. Of these, only sales promotion aims at shortterm results. It normally aims at increasing the sales of the product or service almost immediately.

Promotions to salespersons take the form of incentives for achieving sales targets. Promotions to trade can be more difficult. They involve educating the dealer about the scheme. Besides, the trade should honestly implement the scheme. The dealer should not forget giving the promotional gift to the consumer because of avarice or oversight. The third type of promotion namely consumer sales promotion is more difficult than the other two. Consumer sales promotions might mean giving coupons for redemption, offering free gifts or conducting lottery contests. P&G routinely gives free samples to households for trying the product. Ariel and Pantene, during their launch, have been reportedly distributed to a million households. Since the inuse experience was good, both the brands were later bought at the counter.

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