Chapter 9: Strategic (Merch) Promotion Opportunities

Q4, OND, End of Year…

Whatever you want to call it, it’s coming. And if you’re wondering how you can bump some revenue numbers on your products and retail merchandise, there’s a lot more in The Merch Blueprint, but this chapter is especially for you.

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Creating a promotional plan for your merchandise takes a bit of planning if the goal is to strategically grow your brand, increase sales, and protect your core brand offering. It also takes intention. While it’s easy to jump to discount products or merchandise to move volume or increase revenue when you’re selling online… That can detract from your brand image. Instead, set up merchandise promotions that benefit both short- and long-term objectives.

The following strategic promotions are things that draw attention to your merchandise specifically to sell, while other promotions (like artist contests and cause marketing) are more focused on brand building.

The strategy behind giving away merchandise instead of your product lies in how it’s serving an audience. Someone looking for free stuff may decide not to buy your product after winning a giveaway, but an unfamiliar consumer is less likely to enter a giveaway for merchandise featuring a design by a brand they don’t know or identify with.

Especially for brands in regulated spaces (like alcohol) or that are pricey (like grills or furniture), giving away merchandise can be a less expensive way to drive engagement with your audience.

Giving away merchandise once a month (or quarter) via your email list is great content and an opportunity to continue to grow and engage your email list. You can give away merchandise on social media to drive engagement and encourage new followers. You can also align specific merchandise giveaways with broader brand campaigns (rather than running them at a regular cadence) which gives you another way to drive people to a platform where you can reinforce your brand message.

If you’re looking to operate giveaways across channels, I recommend hosting them via a reputable platform. If you’re only running the giveaway on social media, you can probably manage to run a giveaway from a post (just be sure to use appropriate disclosure, as recommended by your lawyer or trusted legal resource). If you’re not sure where to start, you can always check to see if others in your industry have done giveaways and check their disclaimers.

Here’s the thing: discounts are easy. They’re also potentially harmful to your brand narrative and product value. No matter what you’re selling, discounting should be used sparingly (regular discounting teaches consumers to buy on sale; it’s a game chain grocery plays well).

But discounting merchandise brings less risk. As with giveaways, discounting merchandise rewards current customers and brand fans, rather than attracting more price-conscious consumers.

I recommend only using discounting in two formats: as an incentive to get customers on your email list and when you’re looking to create a limited-time reason to buy. An example may be Black Friday - Cyber Monday, but I would encourage bundling during the holidays rather than offering discounts.

Get creative to sell slow-moving or aging inventory before you default to discounts, but if you must, consider keeping sales in a retail location or limit the amount of items on sale at a given time.

Bundles, pairing, or free gift with purchase are all ways to combine multiple products to hide a discount (and not assign it to your product).

The goal is to protect your product’s visibility and value at full price. Yes, people can and will do math to see that a bundle is a discount, but you’re not physically (or digitally) writing a lower price next to your product.

Bundles are a great way to tell a story about who your target consumer is or what they’re interested in. Creating a bundle for travel fans featuring a travel tumbler, weekend tote, and your single-serve protein powder packets tells a story to someone browsing your website or perusing a retail location.

If bundling products is complicated from a platform standpoint, sharing pairings as a blog post or social media content is a great way to highlight a merchandise item alongside a product.

Another type of bundle is a free gift with purchase. Done with the caveat “while supplies last” creates scarcity and encourages people to take action, even when your product is readily available.

Similar to “free gift with purchase,” incentivizing a larger cart size is a technique that works for both product and merchandise and increases average order value.

You can offer a merch item for free or cover shipping over a certain order amount. You just want to ensure you’re setting perks at the right intervals. If you’re selling a $70 bottle of bourbon, you want your cart perks to start past $100 (ensuring people will add merchandise or a second bottle to their cart if they want to take advantage). The higher the interval, the better the perk.

Strategic promotions aren’t the only way to weave your merchandise into your overall brand marketing calendar. Artist collaborations, co-branded merchandise, and Cause Marketing are all ways to create buzz around your brand and products using your merchandise as a canvas. These tend to be more complex to organize, so nail down the basics first.