Band 6+: There are different methods businesses use to increase their sales. What are the different ways companies use to increase sales? Which one is the most effective?

Companies can choose from various methods to boost their turnover. This essay will outline some means that can be used to improve sales and explain, why in my opinion, advertisement through testimonials is the best way to improve sales of a product.

A common way to increase sales is advertising. Since decades, advertisement proofed to be a substantial mean to clearly communicate the benefits of a product to the customers, to finally motivate them to buy those products. Commercials can be distributed through many channels. Nowadays, digital advertisements play a crucial role in the marketing mix of a company. Although advertisement is an important part of strategies to reach higher sales, it is not the only option. Using customer data to segment customers in different groups to achieve a higher degree of relevance to each customer segment, can be a useful way to boost sales. For example, fashion brands like Tommy Hiliger or Zara, segment their customers in different groups and communicate different offers and messages to each segment via newsletter or traditional letters.

In my opinion, a certain type of advertisements, the so called testimonials, are the most effective way to advertise and to convince customers to buy a certain product, as testimonials are more trustworthy than the traditional advertisements. Testimonials explain the features and benefits of a product from the customer perspective. Companies often reach out to influencers and ask them for their opinion on a certain product. For instance, beauty companies like L’oreal oftenly gift their newest products to a specific group of famous influencers, so that they create reviews and use their reach to inform their followers on the new cream or cosmetic product.

In conclusion, companies can use various tools to improve their sales, like traditional advertisements or segmentation of customers, while I believe that testimonials, a specific type of commercials, are the most effective way to advertise, as they are more tangible for people as traditional commercials.