Music Promo Blog: Up Your CD Sales Next Week: 13 Ways to Have a Sale

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Up Your CD Sales Next Week: 13 Ways to Have a Sale

I found a great article by The E-zine Queen on improving your ezine sales. Course it easily translates into improving your CD sales.

"Up Your Income Next Week: 13 Ways to Have a SALE"
by Alexandria K. Brown, "The E-zine Queen"

Nothing gets people buying products or programs like a special promotion in your e-zine. Now, I know right now you're thinking, "I can't have a sale on my products or services. That's sooo cheesy!"

Au contraire, mon frere. It's all how you position it. Here are 13 ideas to consider. Choose one that would work for your business and give it a try.

IMPORTANT: You'll need to put some type of time limit on the offer to encourage folks to buy now and not later. It's also better if you explain to your readers WHY you're having the sale. You're not Wal-Mart and you can't just drop prices whenever you feel like it. Instead, give your prospects a reason. (Even a funny one -- see tip 13!)

Editor's Note: People are always more likely to buy something from you if you can give a reason. And oddly enough, the reason is less important than the fact that you are giving one! Because for some strange reason people read the word because and think they have a valid reason. (case in point)

1. Close-out sale. Have inventory you want to get rid of?
Making room for other products or new versions of products?
Then offer the current version at a significant discount.

2. "Scratch and dent" sale. Have any books, tapes, or CDs
that were returned to you by customers? Offer them at a
hearty discount for people who don't mind if they're a bit
worn.

3. Half price sale. Lop 50 percent off all your goods, or
select just one.

4. Coupon sale. Allow customers to enter a coupon or promo
code to get a discount. (If you have a decent shopping cart
program you should be able to set this up in seconds.)

5. Free shipping sale. Offer free shipping for a limited
time. Or, upgrade folks to express shipping at no extra
cost.

6. "We'll finance it" sale. Offer a payment plan - this
works great for higher priced items and programs. (Again,
if you have a decent shopping cart program, you should be
able to set up timed, automatic billing.)

7. Free 30-day trial. Get their credit card information at
the time of order, but don't charge them until the month is
up. Another variation is the 30 day trial for $1.

8. Pre-publication sale. Start taking orders before your
product is even ready. (Seeing orders come in is also a
great incentive for you to finally finish creating that
product!)

9. VIP discount. Give a special offer to a certain group.
Show your e-zine subscribers, your clients, your speaking
audiences, etc. that they're special.

10. Buy one get one free! Yes, this can even work for
information products and services. The purchaser can give
the extra copy to a colleague as a gift, or two people can
split the cost and essentially get your product or service
at half price.

11. Special bonus. Give something extra if people purchase
before a certain date. (This is a great strategy to up your
sales without cutting your prices.)

12. Package discount. Offer a big discount if they order
all your products/services or a select combination
thereof.

13. Birthday sale. Or any fun occasion... Valentine's day,
your anniversary, groundhog day, your dog just had puppies,
your kid just lost his first tooth -- have fun with it!

Now that you have a reason for your sale, you need to know how to write a promotion that SELLS. My program "E-mail Promotions That Sell" gives you the simple, step-by-step formula.

(c) 2004 Alexandria K. Brown
Online entrepreneur Alexandria K. Brown, "The E-zine Queen," is author of the award-winning home study course, 'Boost Business With Your Own E-zine.' To learn more about this step-by-step program, and to sign up for FREE how-to articles and FREE teleclasses, visit www.EzineQueen.com.

--posted by Marc Gunn at Friday, August 06, 2004
Free republishing rights are available to all articles written by Marc Gunn. You can find a complete list of such music marketing articles here. You must contact individual authors to get their permission to republish their articles.