What is an incentive marketing company? Business Dictionary defines incentive marketing as a form of advertising in which the consumer is rewarded for purchases. In this case, to me, the term incentive marketing sounds more like something a robotic salesperson would say while waving a piece of paperwork labeled "Sales widgets". While some businesses may use this form of advertising as a part of their regular advertising campaigns, some companies will utilize incentive marketing techniques as an additional method of increasing sales. It is also used in certain industries such as the airline industry, wherein incentive marketing is used to attract new customers to the airlines.
A well-thought-out incentive marketing strategy can have very real and measurable results. Incentive marketing can provide a great boost in sales, as it is almost guaranteed that the customer will purchase a product or service that they had previously not considered purchasing. If you are thinking about using incentive marketing strategies, you should first identify the main areas in your business that you plan to focus on. Ask yourself?
Once you have identified the core areas of your business, you should determine what types of rewards can be offered to achieve your goals. For instance, if your incentive marketing company sells mortgage plans, you might want to consider offering incentives for the application of a specific customer. You could offer them a discount on their current mortgage rate if they purchase a certain number of points within a specific time frame. Again, you want to identify the customer's motivation for purchasing the product, which means you should determine whether the incentive is a form of benefit or a form of punishment.
Once you have determined which marketing incentives you would like to offer, you will need to determine how to effectively distribute those incentives. Some companies create an incentive marketing program by requiring customers to complete a short survey online after they make their initial purchase. This survey typically asks them to rank the various marketing tools that they use and usually includes an incentive for the customer to subscribe to a free trial. The free trial can be a valuable marketing tool, especially if you manage to capture the email address of the subscriber who receives the most subscriptions.
If your incentive marketing program offers surveys to ascertain the effectiveness of your marketing tools, then you will also need to determine how to collect the data. Although you can purchase a database of completed survey offers online, it is often easiest to simply encourage participants to complete one survey. After all, why pay participants $1 for a survey if all you are doing is collecting their information? Remember that rewards marketing programs do not have to be restricted to paid surveys, they can be non-payout products such as coupons, free samples, or special offers. It is important to have a reward attached to each and every marketing opportunity you implement.
If you have already established an incentive marketing program, it may be beneficial to include a segment on your website that encourages visitors to share their thoughts and opinions with other Internet users. You can encourage subscribers to use an online survey form by offering a limited-time offer for a product or service as a way to encourage them to participate. If you are looking for a more sophisticated way to attract subscribers, then you may wish to consider creating an all-inclusive "rewards" program, which rewards customers with vouchers and points based on the level of participation. The beauty of these types of programs is that they are relatively easy to create and maintain. Your customer base will continue to grow as people realize that they are rewarded in various ways for taking the time to share their opinions.
Another way to implement an incentive marketing strategy is to utilize an autoresponder to send a series of messages on a regular basis. You can also use other Internet marketing tools to promote customer loyalty including banner exchanges, which are when two different companies agree to display their logos on each other's website in return for the customer giving them permission to display their logo on the recipient's website. However, if you wish to build customer loyalty through incentive marketing, it is important that you provide the best value to your customers. If you oversell or undersell the products or services that you are offering, this may have a negative effect on your overall profit margin.
Some marketers choose to implement the use of multi-channel incentive marketing strategies, which allow them to gain access to multiple areas of interest to draw in new customers. For example, if you have a coffee shop that offers a variety of different types of products, you may wish to consider adding a free incentive program where customers can collect discount coupons that can be used at select locations. This can bring new customers into your business who already enjoy drinking coffee, but may not have time to travel to all of the different coffee shops. Multi-channel incentive marketing can work wonders for your bottom line if you approach it correctly. By taking advantage of the many different opportunities that are available through the Internet, you will be able to increase the amount of revenue that you make from your business and, ultimately, increase your customer satisfaction.
