Trade Promotion Mechanics

Trade promotion mechanics


What is a trade promotion? A trade promotion is a free entry competition, to promote goods and services, conducted by a registered business.

Trade promotions are a great way to increase brand awareness, increase sales, and promote brand loyalty. There are many ways to conduct a trade promotion, depending on what you want to achieve from your promotion, the time frame, and budget.

From our extensive experience with marketing compliance and drafting competition terms and conditions, our top five trade promotion mechanics to drive sales and generate brand awareness are:

1. Online Entry Forms

2. Manual Entry Forms

3. Social Media Entry

4. Instant Win

5. Attend an event for Entry

Let’s run through the benefits and how to use the competition mechanics in more detail!

Online Entry Forms

Online entry mechanics are one of the most popular competition mechanics, due to their simplicity and effectiveness.

Generally, businesses will require entrants to make a purchase, and then direct them to a website to fill in an entry form. This is a great way to automate the competition process, especially for capturing data for marketing purposes, and conducting the competition draw once the promotion ends.

Online entry forms can also be used as a tool to control entries. For example, if only one entry is permitted per person per day, the entry form can be used to identify and prevent repeat entries based on the name or email the entrant inputs.

To ensure online entry mechanics are effective, ensure you capture sufficient data from the entrant in the entry form, for example, full name and phone number so that you can contact the winner once the promotion has concluded.

Manual Entry Forms

Manual entry forms are commonly provided to eligible entrants at the time of purchase and submitted in a box that is located within the store or venue. For this reason, manual entry forms entice consumers to enter the promotion at the time of purchase, meaning they are less likely to forget to enter and engagement with the promotion will be increased.

To maximise engagement, staff will need to be aware of the entry requirements and point of sale material should be clear and prominent to promote purchase and entry.

Promoters should also be aware there are Privacy notification requirements when collecting personal information, and a notification statement will need to appear on the form as stipulated by Australian Privacy Act.

Social Media Entry

Utilising your social media platform for competition entry is a great way to maximise brand awareness and engagement and increase followings.

Some common examples of social media trade promotion entry mechanics include:

· Tag a friend in an Instagram post

· Locate the promotional post on the Promoter’s Facebook page, and provide an answer to the question in the comments

· Take a creative photo, post it to your Instagram account and tag the Promoter.

Notably, Facebook and Instagram both have their own Guidelines for conducting promotions on their platforms. Facebook does not allow entry to be conducted on the entrants personal page (e.g. post a photo to enter on your Facebook page and tag the Promoter) and does not allow ‘tag a friend to win’ mechanics. Promoters also need to ensure that it is a requirement for Instagram profiles to be public to view entries.

Instant Win

Instant win mechanics provide consumers immediate reward, which can work to entice customers to make a purchase.

Some common instant win mechanics include:

· Purchase a product, receive a game card and scratch to win.

· Purchase a product, receive a unique code, and enter online to reveal if you are a winner.

· Purchase a product and open the packaging to reveal if you are a winner.

Consideration should be given to how consumer’s information will be collected to award and fulfill the prize. It is also recommended that proof of purchase or a unique identifier such as a unique code, barcode number or receipt number is required to enter or claim a prize, to avoid fraudulent claims.

Attend an event to enter

To increase engagement with your brand at an event, and stand out from the crowd, a simple prize draw could be the way to go. It may also be useful in collecting data for marketing purposes.

Some common entry mechanics include:

· Business card entry in a box located at the event;

· Automatic entry upon registering for the event;

· Attend the event and fill out a manual entry form.

Again, Promoters should also be aware there are Privacy notification requirements when collecting personal information, and a notification statement will need to appear on the form as stipulated by Australian Privacy Act.

Guaranteed compliance for your next competition, sorted.

Plexus Promotion Wizard offers end-to-end legal support for competitions & promotions. Custom T&Cs and the right permits without any hassles, 90% faster and half the cost of traditional legal firms.

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