Regardless of the type of company you run, marketing and building your brand is the epicenter of growth. Whether ‘word of mouth’ marketing works best for you, or you’ve crafted viral ‘commercials’ which are seen all over the world; drawing in, and keeping your target audience satisfied and loyal to your business, is an ongoing process.
While there are numerous marketing incentives that can be initiated to raise brand awareness, what works best for your company will depend largely on many factors, including: the type and quality of products or services that you offer, the client demographics of your target market, and of course, the caliber of your competition.
Keep these factors in mind when you create a brand strategy, within your business plan, and introduce a new marketing initiative. If and when one strategy underperforms, have plan b and c, still waiting in the wings, to be activated. Your target market of happy customers, and your profits, will thank you, in the end.
Purchasing incentives
These are highly attractive to consumers and clients. Rebates, rewards, and money or goods given for referrals, help bring your target market audience into your company’s sphere of influence. They also generate the positive feedback which is shared with family, friends, and colleagues, praising your goods and services. Purchasing incentives bring about brand/customer loyalty, dissuading happy consumers from seeking other competitors.
Rewarding a client with an egift card
Effectively build a bond of gratitude, as you reward client patronage, and make their shopping experience with your brand extremely positive. An egift card can generate a sense of loyalty and dedication to your company, frankly, because money is the one thing that everyone needs and uses. An egift card is ultra convenient.
It can be purchased directly online, and if you select Visa and Mastercard, it can also be personalized with your team images and/or message, and sent instantaneously, via email, or even text, making it one of the most effective client retention tools available.
Offering premium features to a client’s existing membership is a significant and powerful way to reward their loyalty. Dedicated and long-tenured clients appreciate feeling recognized. Creating an even more diverse and inclusive spectrum of features for them, specifically, will lead to continued dedication toward your brand. Amazon Prime is the perfect example of this, as customers that own this membership are graced with multiple offerings, over multiple business segments.
Bring New Customers to your Doorstep
Advertising is powerful and a necessity but you can also use a more efficient way to get new, targeted customers. Scrapegram allows you to scrape thousands of customers email address from Instagram. Use this tool to find high-value customers who are ready to hit the buy button on your product page within just few minutes.
Use their emails to send new customer offer, send upselling emails and not only that, you can use these emails to target similar high purchasing power customers through your Facebook ads.
Offering loyal clients early access to upcoming sales and promotions
Sales are a good idea for any business, but offering them first, to those who are members, or hold loyalty distinctions, is a great way to foster good will and appreciation. Holding frequent promotions means, also, that your brand will be recognized more and more easily, and eventually will become synonymous with the goods or services you offer.
Special pricing for existing customers
When a business holds special pricing incentives to lure in new customers keep existing customers in-mind and in the know to avoid them feeling left out of the loop, or unappreciated. A multitude of companies confirm that it much cheaper to retain current customers, than it is to obtain new ones. Offering special pricing incentives to existing customers, simply makes more sense.
Word of mouth at its finest in the form of referral bonuses
Referral bonuses are time tested and amazingly effective. What could be better than promoting your own brand? A satisfied customer genuinely promoting it for you! Potential clients are far more likely to accept and trust in a brand, that one of their friends, or family members recommends. Rewarding customers with a referral bonus, in the form of branded currency, an Egift card, upgraded membership, or your products, is an engagement tactic like no other, in generating gratitude and good will.
Loyalty programs that are simple, straightforward and, yes, free
These are highly appealing for your target audience. Buy 10 coffees, get one free, is one example. Depending on the complexities of the company, however, there are different loyalty programs that may be more suitable, including: earning points, punch cards, cash back percentages, and coalition, tiered, or fee-based loyalty programs.
An email marketing campaign has the capability of reaching thousands of people
Effective and scalable but because the average office worker receives well over 100 emails every day, the incentive had better be an irresistible one. Offering an impressive incentive for signing up, is a great way to break through the “I’ll just go ahead and delete this,” barrier.
More and more, companies are using social media to target their specific audience. While direct mailers, and snail mail, are still viable, these avenues are not nearly as effective for focusing on, and finding potential clients. Social media platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, and Tik Tok, offer highly populated destinations for capturing the attention of your audience.
Transactions on mobile devices account for more than a third of total ecommerce sales, according to 2017 numbers, with the expectation of that number growing, exponentially, going forward. For these reasons, implementing marketing incentive programs, alongside your company’s social media activity, can only mean more positive growth, and client retention, for a viable future, and a continuously upwardly mobile bottom line.