What do you do when you are surrounded by many different competitors, all of which are fundamentally selling the same kinds of products and services? What can you do to differentiate yourself from these other companies, separating yourself enough from the crowd to garner the interest of your potential customers?

One great example found at a recent wedding fair in Vancouver was a promotion offered by the Bay. The Bay is already one of the best known department store chains in Canada, but it faces countless other stores that infringe on its clientele. Given the context of a wedding fair, the Bay offered a simple but effective promotion: a free $25 gift card when you set up a wedding gift registry.

Think about that for a moment. By attracting the would-be brides with a relatively small gift of $25, the Bay could easily see thousands of dollars in sales for these gifts. The bride (and groom) would tell their guests that they are registered at the Bay and the gifts can be found there. Wedding gifts are big business. Convince the bride to register there instead of another store and you could see a huge influx in sales.

Think about how you can concoct a similar promotion for your own company that approaches a very specific demographic with a highly appealing offer. Think about how a small gift can easily snowball itself into an avalanche of potential sales.