Many things can go right with your Candles of Eden and other promotions. When promotions run well, and sales soar, it’s great. You’re customers are enthusiastic about what you are offering them and how you are offering it to them. You’re enthused because you are reaping dividends for time, effort, and money invested.

However, sometimes promotions can fail. They may fail miserably; or they may have some measure of success but not the level you anticipated for the promotion. The thing is you can’t put your finger on what went wrong. Something did go wrong, though, and maybe more than one thing. That’s when you have to analyze the specific promotion to find out what worked with it and what did not. In this way, you will not make the same mistake next time.

The following are five reasons promotions can fail:

Same Old, Same Old

Are you running the same promotion this year that you ran last year, the year before, and the year before that? Have you dragged out the same displays, the same signage, the same streamers, and so on. Does your promotion seem shop-worn and stale…that same old, same old, that your regular customers see every season.

Isn’t there a different way you can promote your SoyLuscious® Soy Candles this year? There definitely is, and all it takes is some creative thinking on your (and your staff’s) part to come up with something new and vibrant.

Lack of Focus

Is your promotion to general? Are you promoting gift items in general to everyone, or are you promoting quality Candles of Eden products to discerning soy candle buyers? You need to know who your target niche is for a specific promotion. With promotions, you cannot always be all things to all people. Often, you have to be some things to some people.

When you focus a particular promotion on a sub-niche of your clientele, you speak to them directly in their language and spark their interest. You then gain that targeted market seriously interested in a certain unique product line such as your SoyLuscious® Soy Candles. They are more likely to buy instead of just browse because you have tailored your promotional message to their wants and needs.

Timing

Timing is important when it comes to eggs, and business promotions. Being too late to take action can ruin both. Your promotion efforts must be in place before you are too far into a selling season. Take the prime candle-selling season now upon us. Are your Candles of Eden promotions in full swing or ready to launch in the next week or two? Do you even have promotions planned for your different product lines? It’s imperative that you do, and it’s important that they are the right promotions for the right season.

Further to all of this, the timing for delivery of inventory must be right on schedule. In addition, the timing for preparation of signage, pamphlets, flyers, brochures, and staff requirements must be exact. Being too late for any of these elements of your promotional efforts can hamper the promotion before it even gets going.

Unreliable Inventory Streams

Unreliable inventory streams are not having the right suppliers meeting your inventory needs. You may publicize a specific promotion through various advertising platforms – then not deliver. You may promise the moon and end up stalling on the launch pad because you cannot access enough product, or variety of product, at the right prices.

At Candles of Eden, we strive daily to offer you  great quality. We also strive to ensure you receive quantities and varieties desired, at the best prices possible. Make sure your other product suppliers can fulfill your inventory requirements for your promotions and all your merchandise needs.

Budget Not Suitable For Promotion Type

Did you institute a mammoth promotion without a budget to match it? Did that classy, elegant promotion you planned for your store, SoyLuscious® Soy Candles and other product lines end up coming across as cheap and tacky because your budget could not meet the promotion’s requirements.

Money talks in business today. Don’t plan a super-fancy, customer-participation promotional gala, then have to scale it back on the cheap because you do not have the finances to run it properly. Whether it’s a store anniversary promotion, a Christmas party type promotion with customers invited or whatever, make sure you can deliver the goods promised in a first-class manner. You do not want to run a promotional event that looks like a weak imitation of what your original intent was.

Evaluate your promotions for the above five elements. Make sure your promotions are innovative and focused. Make sure their timing is right and that you can access the inventory you need. Finally, make sure you have a suitable budget for the type of promotion planned. When you take the steps necessary to ensure  promotions succeed – the word ‘failure’ will not enter your vocabulary.