How To Write a Promotion Letter

Promotion letters are written on several occasions: when an HR Manager informs an employee that he or she has been promoted (as is the sample letter below), when you apply for a promotion, or when you try to promote goods or services to customers.

In the first case, promotion letters are positive but generally they communicate the news of the promotion, rather than describe the personality of the promoted individual, though it is quite OK to mention those virtues of the employee that are the reason for the promotion.

When you apply for a promotion, the promotion letter is very similar to the letter of reference but the difference is that it is you, who writes the letter of promotion and as a result of this you need to stress more the facts (i.e. for how long you have worked for the company, what awards and achievements you have had during that time, etc,) rather than say how talented you are. When somebody else writes about your virtues is is OK but when you say that you are a genius, this sounds not very modest and is not regarded as appropriate. But if you say that you have received an award for your hard work with the company, this is very convincing that you are hard-working because your diligence is appreciated by an external authority – i.e. company management.

This kind of promotion letters are usually inter-company communication but this does not mean that it is not a formal letter, so you also need to keep to the formal rules and write “Dear Mr. Smith”, even if you call the recipient Bob and play golf with him every Sunday.

When you write a promotion letter for goods or services, the main point is to emphasize the features of the product, rather than the discounts you offer for purchasing it. Sales promotion letters are often written to your regular customers when you have news to tell them – i.e you have started offering a new product, or you offer discounts for all products if purchased by a certain date and so on.

As most formal letters, promotion letters are short, although if you are writing a promotion letter because you are applying for a position with your company and you have a long story of achievements to write about, the letter can get a bit longer but still it must not exceed one A4 page.

Sample Promotion Letter

Ms. Mary Smith
73 Park Lane,
San Diego, California
(619) 333-5555
mary_s@mail.com

December 18 2006

Mr. Neil Rogers
Human Resources Manager
United Beverages
876 River Avenue,
San Diego, California

Dear Ms. Smith:

It is my pleasure to inform you that the Board of Directors of United Beverages decided to promote you to the position of Brand Manager as of January 1 2007. We have carefully examined your performance as a Marketing Assistant with United Beverages and given your past experience in marketing and advertising as well, it was decided that we can entrust you with the responsibilities of a Brand Manager for the Joke! Beer.

As a Brand Manager for the Joke! Beer you will continue reporting to the Marketing Manager. However, you will get less supervision from her and organizing the campaign, after its major points have been approved by the Marketing Manager, is solely your responsibility, which we believe you can execute in the same brilliant way as the other marketing events you organized in the past months.

The Board of Directors of United Beverages wishes you luck and professional achievements in your new position!