Put your business in the forefront this Christmas/New Year Season
2014 is racing to end. No-one I asked knows why, but they all agree any business survives when it's products or services are being used by the target client. How can you as a business find new clients & keep old ones... besides the challenge of getting people to know about your service or product.
It's September and in Nigeria, this period marks 'back to school' season & for some successful businesses in Nigeria, the beginning of preparations for the Christmas/New Year sales rush period.
Whatever service or product you offer, you can always package it for the forthcoming Christmas/New Year season coming. December, is a sure banker (if you start the race on time) & the one you should be looking at to close 2014 in a big profit bang.
(I am skipping the independence day celebration although the Salah Festival coming soon will be good to plan towards if you are in the food, drink, events & cow industry).
Here are 5 ideas to get a larger part of the market share by making your service or product more accessible in the time before December rush & make it affordable too. Christmas shopping, Christmas gifts never run out of part of our Christmas culture.
Please Note: The time frame suggested here is between now & December. It is left to you to choose the best time for your product/service. 1) Have a sale! Nigerians are known to love free things. Nevertheless, if 1 in every 10 Nigerian will purchase something on sale, then you 'simply' need to get over 1000 people to see your product or service before December. Remember the goal is to have your product or service known before the December period. If 100 people reply to your sale, the remaining 900 will remember you & come asking 'if you still have those cute shoes still on for sale'. > Offering a sale to your best customers will make sure they remember you later & recommend you to people. (word of mouth works wonders & is trusted a lot more). >> Offering a sale to the general public will expose your product/service to new people (like the 900 above) who will come looking in December 'if you are still running sales on those cute shoes'2) Hold a contest There are ways to do this. Your product or service can be the prize for another's product or service being bought. i.e. A pair of your shoes to be won if a dress is bought OR free chasers/small chops for every bottle of spirit bought OR complimentary movie for a 1 night stay in your pent house room. You can also make it between your own customers (and the general public). i.e. for every shoe bought, they are entered into a contest to win something bigger. The more they buy, the more their chances. (TIP: Tell them to buy for their friends & loved ones) 3) Give out samples of your product or service for free Nigerians love free things but hate to admit it. So make sure you give it to people who will readily admit they got it from you. A good way is to look though your social media followers & reward your best fan or follower. Exchange messages with them & let them know what you want to do & if they would be willing to help. (If they won't agree to help with cheer, go to the next person. You want people to be happy to use your product/service. It shows when they talk about it if they are or not.) Note: It is usually best to allow the person express themselves with their own vocabulary than giving them what to say. (If you want your social media manager to co-ordinate what is posted about your product online, the post should be personalized to each 'testifier' of your product. Try to avoid the same message, words for different people. It feels real this way & connects differently.)
Customer's Feedback
4) Offer free shipping/delivery I admit this is one trying area in Nigeria. Especially if the shelf life or fresh rate of your product is limited. i.e. food. You have to look at the cost of delivering one meat pie to someone in Badagry VS the profit made on the meat pie. Look for ways to beat this e.g. free shipping or delivery above a certain amount of purchase OR Free shipping/delivery to faithful customers that have proved consistent over time. Let them know you will be giving them this. They will talk (boast) about it. 5) Non selling products + Selling products Remember point 2 above. You can give away in a contest some of your non selling products as prizes or better still offer a 'buy two shoes & get a hat free". A customer might not wear hats but will opt for this offer to get a free hat. What you get in return is more room in your store (for more selling shoes) & a happy customer talking about where s/he got the new hat. Note: Make sure whatever you tie as a prize or a give away provides value to the customers. This is how they will read it & decide to go for it. It has to provide an opportunity for the customer to get greater value, reduce cost or help them be in a position to want/need your selling products/service. i.e. offering a N500 coupon to a/your store where the lowest product costs N1000 is a fail. So get thinking & planning on what to do to put your business in the mouths & minds between now & the Christmas/New Year rush period. Please send us your deals, sales promo & any offers so we talk about it & communicate it via our global network locally & internationally. We don't only showcase Nigeria to locals, we show people coming into Nigeria where to get the best deals & offers while in Nigeria Together we will get there & show the world what Nigeria has to offer. #PromoteNigeria Bonus Tip: Giving away a free sample of your product or service + a coupon gives added incentive to save money while buying the product if she/he likes & decides to buy. To put my mouth where my pen (or keyboard) is, if you order for a web commercial like the one below from now till December, you get it at half price + get a dedicated profile for 6 months on our travel guide. Click here to ask me more about this.
