The successful marketing methods you used for many years can provide diminishing returns once you’ve saturated an audience. If loyal customers you earned with specific ads and promotions don’t need to see them anymore to be motivated to buy, repeating those messages might prevent you from reaching new customers. Review your marketing mix to determine how you can increase your sales by adding new promotions or modifying your existing strategies.

Review the Four P's

Marketing includes examining your product features and benefits, pricing structure and distribution channels. Once you’ve optimized these, then it’s time to use advertising, public relations and promotions to get your message out. Review the “Four P's” of product, price, promotion and place to determine if you need to make any strategic changes to how you sell before you make any tactical changes to how you advertise.

Increase Customer Contact

If you don’t have a strategy of keeping in direct communication with your customers, consider doing so. Generate email and physical address lists through the use of surveys, contests, rebates and other promotions. Create a content-rich website, Facebook business page, Twitter account and newsletter to keep your customers informed about ways to use your product they might not be considering. Add a social media strategy if you don’t have one to increase the amount of customer referrals you generate.

Review Distribution Channels

Examine the pros and cons of using wholesalers, retailers, distributors, sales agencies or reps, online selling, direct mail and direct-response print, TV and radio strategies. Analyze the expense involved in each approach, the potential sales volumes and the possible profit margins and gross profits. Test-market each choice before you commit to the full use of any one approach.

Segment the Market

Target different customer demographics while protecting your brand by segmenting the market. Be careful not to use different messages or promote different benefits using media outlets that let two different target customers see your ads. For example, if your brand appeals to hip, status-conscious young people, running ads featuring seniors in magazines or on TV can damage your image with your core customers. Instead, send direct mail pieces to the homes of seniors or modify your product to deliver the benefits seniors want and sell it under a different name to this audience. If your target audience has changed over the years, consider a complete rebrand.

Test New Media

A magazine or radio station that brought you lots of customers may have reached its saturation point and will only deliver incremental sales results going forward. Look at advertising in new media outlets with readers, viewers, visitors or listeners who haven’t seen your product or service. Media kits provided by media outlets often include the crossover readership, listenership or viewership of their competitors. At the very least, change the placement of your banners and print ads or the timing of TV or radio spots within your current media choices to reach new audiences.