A Manager's Challenge-Keeping Things Fresh and Exciting !

Challenge yourself to keep things fresh and exciting in your business. You'll need to be innovative, creative, and at times, downright weird. At the end of the day, it's all about bringing something new to your workday every day-whether by making an unusual presentation or finding a way to increase efficiency somehow.

A key word here is BRING .  You need to bring freshness to your work. Put some extra effort into it and you'll reap rewards in the form of greater customer loyalty and more revenue. Here are a few ideas:

• Create a short, 30-60 second video about your business, products, or services-and post them on YouTube. You can also create a Facebook page for your company or group of products and put the videos there. If you want to get really creative, try making cartoon videos with music in the background and upload them online. This definitely will make people sit up and take notice.

• Hire an artist to do a series of paintings based on your products or services. You can put the paintings on display in your workplace and post them on your website.

• Put up posters in your store about upcoming events or special offers. For example, you can have a poster that shows how much you'll save if customers buy more than one of a certain product and attach it to any similar products in your store to drive home the point.

• Try giving away free products or gift cards to your best customers (for example, customers who spend more than $1,000 each year with your company). This will encourage loyal customers to come back for more purchases while also allowing you generate word-of-mouth advertising for your business.

• Be creative with your product packaging. For example, if you sell kitchen items, you can have a special  kitchen timer attached to the box so people can see how much time is remaining on their appliances.

• Create special coupons for your store or website and post them online. Offer free shipping and give a discount on something in your store as long as customers purchase another item. Or give away items such as pens, pencils, lunchboxes , or backpacks that are part of your product line. You can also create a loyalty program where customers earn points for repeat purchases and then use those points towards other items in your store-for example, free samples of new products or discounts on future orders.

• Host live events online. For example, you can have a webinar-type program where you give out free product samples and answer questions from customers. Or put on a "garage sale" or "yard sale" for something in your store that is close to the end of it's life cycle. People will love the value of your products this way-and some will want to buy more so they have enough to use the gifts at an upcoming party or other special event. 

• Consider creating a series of YouTube videos featuring customers (and maybe employees and interns) talking about why they love your products or services. Create short clips of someone using the product or service at home or in their workplace, and then show that person talking about why they love it. This will have a two-fold effect: First, potential customers will like seeing real people loving your products; and second, you can encourage repeat buying by encouraging current customers (and affiliates) to make similar videos for their websites or blogs.

• Switch up your website's design if you haven't done so in a while. You can even try changing the layout of certain pages by using different colors, fonts, graphics, etc.

• Ask some friends to create art for your store. You can have them do sketches, stick figures, or send you artwork via email or Facebook. Share the art with customers on your website.

• Offer old-fashioned service that something new and different. For example, get a ride to another town to drop off a large order of products from your store for free. This will take a lot of the hassle out of shipping and keep people loyal to you for years to come.

• Consider offering "take-home" samples of new products in your store. You can give customers 10% off their next purchase if they agree to take home one product and use it at their convenience while also talking about it on Facebook or online forums and blogs about your business.

• If you have a fitness business, consider offering 2 free sessions with a trainer for customers who purchase more than one workout product. This is a great way to get repeat business while also encouraging new customers to try out your services.

• Start a 12-week challenge where new customers agree to buy something from your store each week and receive a small prize or discount if they complete the challenge. Each week will have  a different theme with prizes for various challenges (for example, "use your product on this holiday" or "wear your product out on the town"). 

• Create weekly specials: Here are some examples:

o Free shipping for anyone who spends $200 on the website that week.

o Big sale on products that are getting close to the end of their life cycles.

o A "Buy 2, Get 1 Free" special for anyone who purchases two products.

o Buy ten items and get a free product in your store-for example, a new shirt or hat that you don't normally sell (in order to keep it fresh and interesting for people). 

• Consider having a progressive loyalty program where you give out lower levels of rewards based on how much customers spend each year with your company. For example, people who spend $100 per month can receive an umbrella as a reward; those who spend $500 per month can receive two umbrellas; and so on.

• Consider creating an affiliate program where people can earn money for referring customers to your store. This is a win-win situation-you get free advertising and the affiliate gets money.

• Have a rewards program for your best customers. This could include free shipping, free samples, or discounts on future orders. For example, you could have a system set up where everyone who spends $1,000 with you each year receives a coupon worth $10 that they can give to their friends so they can make purchases.

• Create special events in your stores that are going to drive traffic (for example: an open house or walk-in event for customers).

Conclusion

As you can see, there are a number of ways that you can use promotional products to increase your sales. While free samples are a great way for sellers to generate sales, there are other methods used by some of the best companies in the world. These include having your staff use the product in public places so they can talk about it with friends and colleagues at work or at trade shows; hosting live events where your customers can interact with you and others; creating bonus items that go along with larger purchases (like a free kitchen timer for those spending $1000 on their kitchen appliances); and offering special promotions (like buy one get one free, or buy ten get one free) special events and new products.