Six Basic Steps to Plan Your Next Promotion:

Start by evaluating the Market Environment. What are the category trends? What are your brand’s and competitive brands’ growth patterns? What are the characteristics of current consumer behavior? What are the anticipated market conditions? What channel considerations need to be made?

Do a Brand Situational Analysis. What is your consumer profile? What are their purchase habits? What are the regional variations? What is your brand positioning? What are the strengths and weaknesses of your competition? What is the seasonality of the promotion and how will that have an effect?

Set clear Objectives and Strategies. What do you want to accomplish? How are you going to accomplish your objectives? Promotion objectives should be clear, concise, measurable, realistic and linked to your business and marketing objectives. Be very specific about what success looks like.