Whether we like it or not Christmas is on the horizon. You can’t ignore the first signs of the festive seasons creeping into our shops – surely we have Halloween and Bonfire Night to exploit before we even want a glimpse of the likes of chocolate advent calendars and twinkling lights in every colour? No such luck for retailers who are in desperate need of a sales boost and are still pulling out all the stops with consumer incentives, improved offers in loyalty and membership programmes and many other recession solutions.

Last year sales were low due to the bleakest era of the credit crunch but this year there are reports that the recession is or could soon be over. House prices have risen to the level they were last year and people are starting to feel more confident about an economic recovery. What does this mean for the high street? Will there be a retraction of the sales and consumer incentives in the run up to Xmas if retailers feel there is no need for recession solutions anymore? If so, what will be left for the January sales?

In Nationwide’s latest Consumer Confidence Index it is clear that consumer confidence is growing, Mark Saddleton, Head of Economic & Market Analysis said: “September saw a much stronger increase in overall confidence compared with recent months and the index is now at its highest level since April 2008. Expectations for the future economic situation are also buoyant, with pessimism about the labour market situation starting to decrease.”

These statistics teamed with the fact that traditionally people spend more at Christmas could be seen to be a positive indicator of people reverting back to traditional spending habits. This could also mean sales figures dive again in the New Year as people have spent money and become cautious again when short of money. It’s a case of time will tell and nothing is certain at the moment.

The road to change is usually a slow one though, as people will remain cautious well into recovery, so to pull back discounts, consumer incentives and recession solutions could be a brave mistake for companies to make. The spending habits are still rooted in bargain hunting and whilst consumer confidence is returning, retailers still need to do all they can to encourage customers to spend money with their brand. Whether they choose to offer discounts in-store or through an exclusive loyalty and membership programme it’s still what consumers expect.

Contact Us if you are interested in creating recession solutions that feature consumer incentives for your brand through loyalty and membership programmes.

Ashley Faull joins Andy Huggins and Alan Saunders on the board of The Rocket Marketing Group. The Rocket Marketing Group has enjoyed substantial growth this year, currently employing over 40 members of staff. In the last 6 months Rocket has expanded its product portfolio to 7 great products including The Big Savings Club, The Entertainment Club and the 241 Hotel Club.

As a non-executive board member Ashley’s experience in growing businesses and his media and consumer knowledge will be a key part of this expansion. Ashley comes to Rocket having launched and worked on over 14 TV channels during his career with companies including The Discovery Channel, Telewest and ON Digital. Other business achievements include winning the Broadcast Magazine inaugural ‘Individual Achievement’ award and co-founding the sit-up channels (bid tv and price-drop tv), which won many accolades. The sit-up business was sold to Virgin Media for £194 million in 2005.

Ashley comments: “I have known Rocket and its Directors for several years and believe them to be the very best operators in their field. The company has a very exciting future and I am delighted to have become a shareholder and Director to help guide them through the next stage of their journey.”

Contact Us if you would like to work with Rocket on loyalty solutions for your business.

In the first half of 2009 the entire ad spend in the UK shrunk by 16.6% but online advertising accounted for 23.5% off this – a growth of 4.6%, according to a study by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) – the trade body for digital marketing – in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and the World Advertising Research Centre (WARC). These statistics not only point towards the change in spending but they are very telling of the reasons why. Maybe this isn’t just a recession solution, might it be signalling a permanent change in the way marketers approach their marketing strategies? So if traditional medias such as TV are shrinking what are the other options in an ad saturated world?

Loyalty and membership programmes or discount clubs

Sales promotion is very appropriate at the moment as more and more people look for the best deal, whatever they buy. This is for a number of reasons – the most obvious being the recession but the rise in internet comparison sites and the culture of having access to a number of business websites, cannot be ignored. For businesses selling a product or service offering a discount or freebie is a great recession solution, but needs to be done in a controlled manner. Just releasing an offer onto the internet can lead to over-redemption and subsequently the devaluation of your brand.

By offering an exclusive offer through a loyalty and membership programme or discount club operated by a third party agency, you get free marketing to a new and often very large customer base. Your exclusive discount can be used by the members of the loyalty and membership programme or discount club and can successfully lead to a mutually beneficial brand loyalty. This is often a free marketing option and fully operated by the third party agency, in return for the exclusive discount. Whilst the coverage is not as wide spread as TV advertising the targeted nature (to people who seek discounts) can mean that a brand affiliation is more likely.

Online

As outlined above, this media seems to be enjoying the biggest growth in recent months and this isn’t necessarily just as a recession solution. The internet has become an intrinsic part of people’s lives whether they are using it for work or social purposes. The scope for reaching millions of people worldwide is immense. Marketers are finding that even when money is spent on online advertising it is considerably less than some other medias and its success can easily be tracked making it easy for you to justify the initial outlay. Paid for online media include banner ads, rich media ads and PPC, by paying for them they have the gravitas of looking like they are from a professional company, they are more likely to look like a trusted site.

Free marketing options include blogging – these can be targeted to certain interest groups or run from your own website, allowing consumers to know the identity of your brand, expose the expertise you can offer them and show an understanding of current issues. Social media sites such as Stumble Upon, Facebook and Twitter are a modern form of word of mouth advertising and should be taken seriously. Recommendations form such an important element in our brand choices as they give a personal validation and a real account of what a business offers. Getting people talking about your brand has always been important but now there is a platform for people to shout their opinions from, on a worldwide scale.

Press Releases

This is a good form of free marketing but will probably never replace the traditional advertising campaign, though it should always be run along side an advertising campaign to optimise brand visibility. This is also a good option for creating awareness as a recession solution when there is no advertising budget. It can also be a less intrusive and more transparent way of talking to consumers that are now very media savvy. Press releases can be released to local and national papers and magazines and can be particularly effective when released to specialist publications linked to the products service that you offer; you also have a more targeted captive audience. The rise in the amount of people consuming their news online has also opened up the floodgates for releasing press releases online. There are sites that you can pay to distribute your press release to the relevant sites such as prweb.com but there’s also an abundance of sites that are looking for content and will publish them for free; again these are usually focused on specific specialist areas so your audience should be interested in what you have to say.

Direct Mail

This is one of the oldest adversaries of traditional above the line advertising. Apart from being a cheaper option it also boasts many other attributes including the ability to personalise and target specialist audiences. It can also can carry a specific campaign message and build brand visibility and recognition. Slightly larger budgets allow companies to send samples etc. and can make the message an experiential communication which instantly gives the consumer an emotional tie to the brand. Talking to people in their own homes can be a double edged sword though, whilst it talks to consumers in their own environment they can feel intruded upon and it can be ignored and written off as ‘junk mail’.

If you are interest in sales promotion through a loyalty and membership programme or discount club as a free marketing option, please Contact Us on 0845 241 2135

Promotional marketing is a great way to reach your customers and engage with their purchasing experience by giving them more of what they want – encouraging customer retention and/or increase customer spending. There are a number of agencies that specialise in developing promotional marketing strategies and those that offer high quality sales promotion/ affinity marketing solutions. We’ve identified some of the key elements that make a successful campaign and promote customer retention so that you can see how sales promotion or affinity marketing can work for your business.

Create a powerful headline

Leading with a powerful, well targeted offer will hook the consumer in instantly. Stating a percentage or monetary value of the discount such as 50% off, save £10 or 2 for 1 hotel breaks can be the most effective communication of a saving. There’s no need to complicate the message, keep it short and basic to avoid confusion – if you have a strong enough offer it will talk for itself. It’s as simple as that!

Get it out there

There are increasingly more and more ways to communicate and distribute your consumer incentive and the more widely it is seen, the more successful it can perform. Advertising your consumer incentive doesn’t have to cost you as much as you might think and in most cases there’s a free marketing option. The internet is a good platform for reaching millions of new people but can be hard to control and can be subject to over-redemption. Online distribution methods include viral campaigns, voucher sites, social media – all of which are free marketing solutions. But remember mass-marketed campaigns can lead to brand devaluation! Keeping control of promotion distribution is now as essential as getting it out there at all.

You can also offer your consumer incentive to your existing customers at point of sale which gives you greater control of distribution numbers. Another option is to offer your consumer incentive to customers through a loyalty and membership programme or discount club, this way you are keeping it to a closed group which responds positively to discounts and could easily lead to a mutually loyal relationship.

Deliver!

When all of the hard work is done there are some checks that sound simple but that can make or break a promotional marketing campaign. First of all make sure your discount works – ensure the promo code or voucher code is active online, over the phone, in-store or by whatever redemption method you have chosen. Try not to tie you customers up in knots over the terms and conditions. Any overcomplicated, or unreadable small print will put people off – remember the purpose of the exercise is customer retention, so be friendly not intimidating.

Get some advice

Promotional marketing or sales promotion/ affinity marketing can seem daunting to set up but there are plenty of agencies out there that can help and it can still be a free marketing option when managed externally. All an external agency will ask for is an exclusive discount for the members of its loyalty and membership programme or discount club. By using an external agency such as The Rocket Marketing Group every aspect of your promotional marketing campaign will be managed from promotion to handling loyalty and membership programmes or discount club members.

Contact Us if you are interested in free marketing solutions that encourage customer retention through consumer incentives. We can discuss how loyalty and membership programmes or discount clubs can promote your brand through sales promotion/ affinity marketing.

These harsh economic times have seen a massive change in the way we all purchase products/ services. The taboo on bargain hunting has long been lifted and it’s all about the consumer trying to outsmart the business so they can get more for less. But this culture in turn has led to a decline in brand loyal consumers as they search around for the best deal available to them. The unsettled nature of consumer spending has helped superstores such as Tesco and Morrisons who can trade under the banner of value all under one roof – a one-stop-shop for everything, but surely this type of shopping experience is devoid of any emotional tie or specialist knowledge? So what can every other business do to compete and catch the attentions of the fickle consumer? Here are a few of our ideas:

1. Start with the basics! In recent years we seem to have forgotten that providing a service that’s good enough for customers to recommend is one of the best ways to advertise a brand. If a customer recommends a brand to their friends and then those friends recommend the brand to their friends the customer base could grow significantly. By neglecting your customers’ word of mouth promotion, all other marketing is futile. Providing a great customer experience is the easiest way to get talked about online too. Tools like twitter are all word of mouth based like real life – just to a much bigger captive audience. Plus in these harsh economic times it has become even more important to tap into the online and free marketing options.

2. A loyalty card is a good consumer incentive but it’s a big expense and a lot of businesses now have them so how effective are they? In today’s world surely customers want a consumer incentive that’s a little more immediate? One immediate option is a sale, but many sectors are already saturated with these. So how about rewarding consumers by working with a third party business? These consumer incentives can be anything from 2 nights for 1 at a hotel or free pampering treatment to a free 2 for 1 Movie and Game Rental Card. They can be vouchers that are distributed physically, online or virally.

3. Market your business and staff as specialists in the field – it’s doubtful that the checkout lady at Tesco knows anything about the electrical goods she’s selling. Make your product/service knowledge and customer service something that stands out from competitors and people might just choose you. Niche businesses will always benefit from the power of word of mouth too – but also consider well targeted campaigns like placing discounts and offers in a media that’s relevant to your industry!

4. If all else fails – if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em. Offer your consumers more. Sell a loyalty and membership programme or discount club such as The Big Savings Club or The Entertainment Club to your customers, the non-competing brands will help give a good association and back up the products that you already offer. Consumers will see the loyalty and membership programme or discount club as a reward for using your brand and extension of the goods/services that you offer. One step further would be to make the club bespoke so all the discounts are presented under the umbrella of your brand, a good example of this is the JML VIP Club. Loyalty and membership programmes or discount clubs area a free marketing solution as they are usually set up or run by a third party agency. In fact it can be a way for large businesses to earn substantial incremental revenue, whilst a third party such as The Rocket Marketing Group manage the programme and its members (your customers).

5. Loyalty and membership programmes or discount clubs can be used to feature a discount and then distributed by other non-competing businesses. Your discount will be presented to a new sector of consumers in association with other brands encouraging new customers to become loyal to your brand. This is a quick and easy free marketing solution that is handled by loyalty and membership programme or discount club agency such as The Rocket Marketing Group. All your business has to do is offer an exclusive discount to discount club members.

Contact Us if you are interested in free marketing solutions such as developing a loyalty and membership programme, featuring your business in a loyalty and membership programme or purchasing rewards as a consumer incentive.

As Morrisons announce an underlying profit before tax up 22% to £359m (2008/9: £295m) and the Halifax reporting that house prises rose another 0.8% last month there are now definite signs that the recession is slowing and maybe even that the end of our current economic problems are on the horizon. What does this mean for businesses and the average consumer? Will consumers maintain their spending ransom on businesses, forcing them into drastic recession solutions or will we eventually see the end of the sale season?

It’s hard to know whether people have just changed their spending habits and this is how it is going to stay or if it’s just a fashion/fad/phase that will pass. Businesses and marketing departments definitely have a tough road ahead rebuilding the worth of recession battered brands. This has been an important era for marketing as the spending culture has changed so dramatically. In some cases this is not just due to the recession but the increasingly wide spread use of online shopping, the recession has just acted to highlight the shortfalls of ageing business models – and these are possibly the businesses that won’t emerge from the sale.

Throughout the last year marketers have relied upon discounts and sales as the complete recession solution but now as we move out of this era will the lower prices be forced to remain and move from a desperate recession solution to the norm. All businesses need to start regaining their brand value by ending the sale season and finding other ways to offer consumer incentives. There are other free marketing solutions available which both benefit the consumer and business involved.

These free marketing solutions involve consumer incentives that promote brand loyalty rather than a ‘shop where’s cheapest’ mentality. A good way for businesses to tap into this culture but maintain their brand value is through affinity marketing. This is a free marketing tool which can offer consumer incentives in a number of ways including through loyalty and membership programmes or discount clubs. These clubs work well because they are not exclusively recession solutions. Companies such as The Rocket Marketing Group operate a number of loyalty and membership programmes or discount clubs. Businesses feature in the loyalty and membership programmes or discount clubs as a free marketing solution; all they have to do is offer members an exclusive discount. These discounts act as consumer incentives and they can effectively drive loyalty for the brands featured in the discount club.

If you are interested in free marketing through affinity marketing – featuring your business in one of The Rocket Marketing Group’s loyalty and membership programmes, purchasing a consumer incentive or selling the clubs and generating an incremental revenue please Contact Us.

The Rocket Marketing Group launches The Home & Garden Club on the 19th August, as an answer to Britons feeling the pinch, not moving house and being more inclined to make home improvements and enjoy their garden.

The Club offers members a fantastic collection of discounts on a range of great products, all designed to make Home & Garden improvements affordable. Home & Garden Club members receive a Savings Directory and a fully functional Home & Garden Club website. Both provide members with access to over 30 exclusive offers. There are amazing discounts at major retailers on a range of products from furniture and plants to gifts and home entertainment.

Andy Huggins, Managing Director of The Rocket Marketing Group said: “This is the perfect time for a product such as The Home & Garden Club as people spend more time at home and save money, as a consequence of the recession. This new club is packed with great offers including our new Blockbuster 2 for 1 Movie & Game Rental Card. The Home & Garden Club helps consumers to maintain or create a perfect haven at home, whatever their budget.”

For anyone interested in purchasing The Home & Garden Club or for more details visit the website at www.hgclub.co.uk or Contact Us.

This summer the recession is set to continue but there are a number of factors which will help certain businesses do well during this period. Tapping into these and understanding how to make the most of valuable consumers will be the key to a successful summer. Some of the elements that could help British businesses do well this summer include:

The good weather

Early predictions have told us that we should have a hot summer in Britain this year. Although the forecasts are not completely reliable, we have been blessed so far with the sunny weather.

Chief Meteorologist at the Met Office, Ewen McCallum, said: “After two disappointingly-wet summers, the signs are much more promising this year. We can expect times when temperatures will be above 30 °C, something we hardly saw at all last year.”

Not only does the good weather put Brits in a good mood but it means that they become valuable consumers as they spend money on their gardens, barbeques, days out, nice food for picnics etc. These are all important for British Businesses to have a successful summer.

Ian Cheshire, Group Chief Executive of Kingfisher plc, said: “We have made a good start to the year, boosted by better weather and a later Easter.  B&Q in particular capitalised well on this increased demand, growing its market share and doubling its retail profit.”

Less people are going abroad for summer holidays

Despite the rise in the amount of budget airlines and cheap package deals over the last couple of decades, a foreign holiday is still considered a treat. In the last year a lot of people have been looking for ways in which to cut back and they have been realising the easiest way to do this is by forgoing luxuries and treats. This has largely been bad for British businesses but the reduction in the amount of people taking a foreign holiday could be a blessing for a lot of others. When Brits stay at home for the summer they are valuable consumers.

RAC revealed that nearly two-thirds of those that holidayed abroad last year are staying put this year and short distance travel plans are up 33% on 2008.

The Caravan Club has noticed a positive change this year reporting that advanced bookings for 2009 are up by 40% on 2008.

More people visiting Britain

The weak pound may mean that we don’t get much for our money in Europe, but this works both ways. Can we expect people from other European countries to flock to Britain for a cheap holiday? For them it’s possibly the best time to visit the UK, at a time when they’ll get more for their Euro. If this proves to be true Britain will get a new group of valuable consumers.

Interest rates at an all-time low

This has an effect on the amount of disposable income people have. For those on a tracker mortgage the interest rate drop will not have just eased the financial pressures on them, but could well have released another pocket of disposable income. Brits are being cautious with their money but with savings rates also low it’s not as appealing to save any spare money either.

It is important to make sure that the British people who are spending money in the UK do so with your business and one way to do this is by marketing your brand through a loyalty and membership programme. The Rocket marketing group develop loyalty and membership programmes, offering members discounts from a range of companies offering everything from shopping to leisure. It is completely free for companies to feature in the loyalty and reward programmes when they offer an exclusive discount to members. Across all the clubs Rocket has over 120,000 full active members nationwide. Therefore this makes it a powerful marketing tool for British Businesses. Loyalty and membership programmes target those in the UK who are looking to spend money on a good deal. Targeting these consumers could make this a successful summer for your British Business.

Contact Us if you would like to discuss how a loyalty and membership programme can work with your business to encourage consumers to use your products/ services, and help you have a successful summer.

When will consumers start enjoying the shopping experience again? The British Retail Consortium has recently reported that consumer spending increased 6.3 per cent from April 2008. With sales figures up on this time last year, can we see this as an indicator that the general guilt of spending any money unnecessarily has subsided? And is there anything businesses can do to make the public love shopping again?

Stephen Robertson, Director General, British Retail Consortium, said: “The best sales growth for three years is good news but let’s be cautious. A sunny Easter that fell in April this year is the key reason why overall sales are up compared with last year when Easter was in March and miserable. Sales of garden goods, outdoor leisure, clothing and food did well but other non-food sectors missed out on the seasonal boost and the total spent on food rose less than food inflation, indicating the amount sold dropped.

Following a tough winter, there’s some pent up demand but there’s no reason to think customers suddenly feel flush or eager to spend. With unemployment set to grow through the rest of the year, mounting jobs worries will hold back spending for some time. It would be great if the historically weak performance of the last twelve months was behind us but we shouldn’t celebrate yet.”

Businesses have done a lot to try and entice the public back into spending and it is working to some extent but there are limitations to the success consecutive sale periods can have. It can damage overall consumer loyalty, devalue the brand and the rewards can rarely match what a loyalty and membership programme can offer?

When the objective is to make consumers feel rewarded for buying and/or remaining loyal to a specific brand, a loyalty and membership programme can do this extremely effectively. The other advantage is that marketing a brand in this way incurs no cost for participating businesses; all they have to do is offer an exclusive discount for members. A business’ customers who are members of the loyalty or membership programme receive extra free rewards which give added value to the exclusive discounts they receive from the business.

The Rocket Marketing Group operates a number of loyalty and reward programmes and the largest of these is The Big Savings Club. The Big Savings Club features businesses offering exclusive discounts, from a variety of sectors including Shopping, Entertainment, Travel, Health, Fashion, Kids and Motoring. When a customer joins this club they are given seven free rewards which they can redeem along with the discounts offered by the featured businesses.

Rocket feel that consumers should really start to love shopping again when they receive the exclusive discounts and free rewards contained in The Big Savings Club. The rewards include a Free European Flight, Sail to France for Free, Free UK Hotel Accommodation, Worldwide Accommodation for a week for just £200, 2 for 1 Golf, City Cruise and £400 off a Holiday to Florida.

Contact Us if you would like to discuss how a Rocket Marketing Group loyalty and membership programme and free rewards can make consumers love shopping at your business.

Offers correct at time of publication and subject to terms and conditions.

In some ways business is no different to other areas of life. When times are hard even the fiercest of rivals have to come together to defeat a common enemy. In football, players who compete against each other on a weekly basis will come together to represent their country; pop stars will share the limelight with other bands on a TV show to encourage people to buy music. It’s also the theme of numerous films, but in reality it can actually work well. With the state consumer confidence and the economy is in, businesses that offer products and services to the public should maybe look at ways to rally. The need to increase consumer confidence and push consumers to spend is a shared interest; so supporting each other by working towards this goal is a powerful marketing proposition.

External influences can also help and the government has introduced measures to boost consumer confidence and push consumers to spend their money. The measures include lowering repayments on tracker mortgages by continually reducing interest rates, introducing schemes which help people to get on the first rung of the property ladder and bolstering the banks in an attempt to encourage them to start lending again. With these measures and many others in place worldwide the economy and consumer confidence is starting to show glimmers of an upturn, but how can businesses further encourage the increase in consumer confidence and push consumers to spend more money?

In the coastal town of Rye, a lot of businesses decided to come together and make it known that they accept Euros in their establishments and this has proved to be very beneficial. The success of this scheme has made the national news this week, proving that in this instance pulling together seems to have worked.

Mr Holman of the town’s Chamber of Commerce said that using the Euro had so far proved more successful, “than we ever dreamt of.”

Another example of businesses rallying for a common goal is in the East Sussex town of Lewes, where they have united to design and print their own currency – the Lewes Pound. This initiative aims to encourage locals to spend their money locally.

In larger towns and cities shopping centres are possibly the most visible example on the high street of businesses coming together to give consumers a one stop shop for a range of goods/ services, pushing consumers to spend their money in one place. The shopping centres often offer car parking/ crèches etc and advertise/ promote what they collectively offer customers.

This is also the aim of loyalty and membership programmes which promote a range of businesses along side each other. Businesses can offer an exclusive discount to members and feature in a guide which is set up, managed and promoted by a third party. Alternatively businesses can sell the loyalty and membership programmes as a bespoke club to existing customers, providing them with a full service of products.

The Rocket Marketing Group currently operates 5 loyalty and membership programmes covering many areas including Travel, Lifestyle, Shopping, Entertainment and Motoring.

Contact Us if you would like to discuss what a Rocket Marketing Group loyalty and membership programme can do for your business.