Can you tell your story in :30, a full-page ad, or within 100,000 impressions? Often times it is hard to truly embrace a new product or service within such a short amount of time. Customized promotions and/or events are often what is needed in order to familiarize your customer with your brand. Promotions can be paired with existing advertising in order to maximize exposure and effectiveness or existing marketing efforts.

A great example of these cross-promotional marketing efforts is currently taking place with our client, Armstrong Garden Centers. We are running a traditional radio campaign for them during the Spring Gardening season. The :30 radio spots do a great job of branding Armstrong, keeping them top of mind for the customers on a daily basis. The spots are full of messaging on Armstrong’s special offers, garden party events and highlighted products throughout the spring gardening months. However, Armstrong also has a new service they are offering where customers can hire landscape designers to come to their homes and help plan out their yards. As a new service, we wanted to dedicate more face time with the customers and get the opportunity to familiarize them with the new service. Therefore, we leveraged the existing radio partnerships and designed a special promotion that highlighted the design services.

In the week leading up to Memorial Day, listeners can go to the station’s web page and write an essay explaining why they deserve a garden makeover. The lucky winner will win the services of a landscape professional to come to their home and plan their garden makeover, in addition to a gift card to Armstrong in order to make the plan a reality. The contest is supported by radio announcements from the station talent, banner ads, email blasts, and web presence. In addition to the additional coverage that Armstrong receives via the promotion, listeners also gain the opportunity to closely familiarize themselves with the product.

Promotional events/contests surrounding your product allow you to be creative and reach your audience in unlimited unique possibilities. They allow you to convey a message that is often times not attainable through the limiting parameters of traditional media and engage your customer so they fully understand all the unique selling points of your product or service.

What are some unique or creative ways that you have tied your brand to promotional events or contests?