---
schema_version: "1"
id: 6c1f80f0172bd7d6236868e5d291ddb11d9e6ce1166951c8f8c6cc1a7ed71aad
title: Prerequisites for Promotions
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/mktg/264-0-0/mc_pers_promotion_prerequisites.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_pers_promotion_prerequisites.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: 6d019681a9a13ab492f4e1fbb12aa15a29279b97e8cf57f7321a427d81836560
description: To create and use promotions, review and complete these setup steps.
products:
  - Marketing
  - Salesforce Personalization
release: "264"
---
# Prerequisites for Promotions

To create and use promotions, review and complete these setup steps.

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            <th scope="col" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d60375e38">Setup Step</th>
            <th scope="col" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d60375e41">Description</th>
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            <td data-label="Setup Step" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d60375e38 ">Enable Promotions</td>

            <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d60375e41 ">
              <p style="margin-bottom:0;">Select <span class="menucascade"><strong class="uicontrol">Settings</strong> | <strong class="uicontrol">Catalog and Profile Objects</strong> | <strong class="uicontrol">Promotion</strong></span>. Turn on <strong class="uicontrol">Enabled</strong>, and click
                <strong class="uicontrol">Save</strong>. The Catalog section of the main navigation now
                includes a Promotions item.
              </p>
            </td>

          </tr>
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            <td data-label="Setup Step" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d60375e38 ">Create custom promotion attributes</td>

            <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d60375e41 ">
              <p style="margin-bottom:0;">A promotion attribute determines which promotions appear in a campaign. When
                creating a promotion, promotion attributes are optional, but they're recommended.
                See <a href="https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_pers_promotion_attributes.htm&amp;release=264.0.0&amp;type=5" title="Use custom attributes to determine which promotions appear in a campaign. Similar to other catalog item types, custom attributes can also be returned as the output of a decision. When creating a promotion, adding a custom attribute is optional, but it’s recommended.">Create a Custom Promotion Attribute</a>.</p>
            </td>

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            <td data-label="Setup Step" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d60375e38 ">Create related catalog objects</td>

            <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d60375e41 ">
              <p style="margin-bottom:0;">Personalization uses related catalog objects to track and measure customer
                affinities across item types in your catalog. Related catalog objects are
                optional. However, related catalog objects are useful in promotions for providing
                more accurate recommendations. For more information, see <a href="https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_pers_promotion_related_catalog_object.htm&amp;release=264.0.0&amp;type=5" title="Use related catalog objects to track and measure customer affinities across item types in your catalog. Related catalog objects provide Einstein Decisions with data about the promotion to improve the quality of its decisioning. Related catalog objects are optional in promotions, but they’re recommended for providing more accurate recommendations.">Create a Related Catalog Object for a Promotion</a>.</p>
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            <td data-label="Setup Step" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d60375e38 ">Consider a rule-based decisioning and machine learning strategy</td>

            <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d60375e41 ">
              <p style="margin-bottom:0;">In addition to products and content, the Personalization Catalog can be used to
                prioritize decisions around the next best action for each individual engaging with
                your company. With rule-based decisioning and machine learning, you can target
                customers in multiple channels. You can include promotions that resonate with them
                when they’re ready to act. Before adding promotions to campaigns, consider
                creating a comprehensive promotions strategy to improve personalization of next
                best offer recommendations across channels. The Einstein Decisions model trains
                with a variety of different data, including related catalog object data. </p>
            </td>

          </tr>
        </tbody>
      </table>