In Britain we are currently experiencing the longest recession since records began and it is becoming increasingly hard for some businesses to continue trading. Retailers have been using numerous sales promotion tactics – encouraging consumers to spend money by offering discounts and rewards to customers who shop with their brand. With Halloween and bonfire night just passed and Christmas plus New Year on the horizon, there are many marketing and sales promotion opportunities coming along, perfect for targeting customer retention. But how valuable is it to offer seasonal discounts and what are the best ways to distribute them to the kind of customers who are likely to respond?

The changing seasons and special events such as Halloween and Christmas give consumers a reason to spend money. In the current economic climate consumers have become more cautious about spending money – often only buying the things they need. So the job of businesses and marketers is to make sure that their product is seen as a necessity. This is why seasonal discounts can work – it is seen as a special, limited time deal that everyone should get into the spirit of. The deal gives consumers the excuse they want and the sense of urgency needed to prompt an impulse purchase.

There are many reasons people respond to seasonal discounts, mainly using it as an excuse to treat themselves as well as others or merely trying to wait until the best deal is available. The element that all these reasons have in common is that the consumer is responding to a prompt – giving them permission to make a purchase even though times might be hard. These purchases range from the smallest of knick-knacks to big purchases such as furniture or electrical goods, so any retailer can benefit, given the right marketing strategy. By becoming a port of call for a seasonal discount this then showcases your complete consumer offering and encourages customer retention.

To make your seasonal offer work and ensure your message reaches a responsive audience your business needs to sufficiently highlight the seasonal discounts. This also gives you a reason to refresh your customer communications, giving them a new reason to listen to what you are selling and highlighting the brand benefits. This process should start before the event. By having a run up to an event and renewing the message as the days countdown, it gives consumers the chance to engage with the offer and consider using it.

It is also good to draw consumers in to the fun element of the season or event so they are engaging with your brand on a social level. Show insights into their lifestyle and be seen to offer to help them out with your products/ services. For example how about suggesting gift ideas at Christmas, costume ideas at Halloween or ideas for keeping kids entertained during the summer holidays? The value is in knowing your customer then showing that you understand their mindset and offering them what they want in a way that is mutually beneficial.

As well as in-store and point of purchase offers you can also offer a saving and subsequently a seasonal discount through a third party agency. There are a number of sales promotion agencies that have a substantial loyal customer base to who you can offer your discount to. The special offer you offer will then be distributed to the established customer base who respond to discounts and seasonal discount through regular e-shots, driving customer retention.

There are definitely benefits in offering seasonal discounts and some would even argue that they are still essential for retailers in the run up to Christmas, but as with anything it is essential that they are managed properly to get the best results.

Contact Us if you would like to discuss the customer retention and sales promotion opportunities for your business, by creating an exclusive discount, reward or seasonal discount for a loyalty and membership programme/ discount club.

It is clear what the benefits of sales promotions are for consumers – and they know it. Demand for rewards and consumer incentives have grown immeasurably in the last year and it’s now what consumers expect wherever they shop. On the surface it would appear that this is a one-sided relationship in which consumers are holding businesses over a barrel. Sales promotion shouldn’t and mostly isn’t something that businesses are forced to resort to. Managed properly and thought out thoroughly, sales promotion can be mutually beneficial – particularly in the current economic climate. So what are the benefits of consumer sales promotions for businesses?

Consumer retention

In the long-term a loyal customer is worth far more to a business than an occasional high purchaser. When a customer is recognised as loyal the emotional involvement with the brand is increased. Showing recognition by offering consumer incentives for loyalty stands to solidify the idea of staying loyal to the brand. Loyalty can be rewarded in a number of ways from offering a coupon at the checkout to points collection cards.

Create positive brand associations

Working together with another brand creates a sense of corporate validation and helps your brand to tap into new loyal customer bases. Whatever you trade in there are sure to be a synergistic brands for you to work with, for example hotels and theatres or gyms and sports clothing retailers. It can also work well for pushing you brand’s image in a new direction by moving away from the logical partnerships, for example if you want to raise your green credentials how about teaming up with environmental brands such as The National Trust?

Increase brand recognition

Brand recognition is essential for enticing customers to buy your product/service over another. The authority recognition gives your brand offers consumers confidence in your product/service, as they know what to expect. Increasing brand recognition comes from offering your sales promotion to a wider audience than your regular customer base. A good example of this is featuring a consumer incentive or exclusive discount in a loyalty and membership programme or discount club. These programmes are usually a free marketing option, managed by an external agency that have an large existing customer base.

Reach new consumers

Sales promotion can be one of the most effective ways to catch new customers’ eye.  The best ways to offer a discount or consumer incentive is through a loyalty and membership programmes/ discount club or a chance to win a grand prize. By doing this you are giving consumers a reason to stray away from the brands they are usually loyal to. Competitions are an instant way to catch people’s attention but loyalty and membership programmes or discount clubs go out to an established customer base and can sustain a lasting message.

These rewards are useful to any business and however you want to represent your brand there is a sales promotion answer for your business, that can be effectively integrated to compliment any marketing plan.

Contact us if you would like to discuss how one of our loyalty and membership programmes/ discount clubs or consumer incentive and rewards can benefit your brand.

Over the last few years the rise in the use of sales promotion in the form of vouchers and discount clubs, has led to a culture of consumers not leaving the home for a meal/ day trip without one. Because the vouchers and discount codes accompany so much cash into the tills, it is as if the voucher has become a form of legal tender.

In order to compete for customer retention is it therefore essential that retailers now adopt sales promotion techniques and trade/deal with vouchers plus exclusive discounts, even in the run up to Christmas?

Companies use sales promotion by offering discounts, and accept them against payment for a number of products and services. The rise in the voucher is not only specific to the people who you would traditionally associate with bargain hunting, but most people now have used a discount in some form or other. Nielsen online reported that 9.8 million Britons used a coupon or reward site in 2008. In 2008 coupon and reward websites were the second fastest growing UK online sector according to YouGov. And most tellingly of all, 48% of shoppers were more likely to use retailers who offered voucher codes (Nov 2008).

Consumers are now programmed to look for discounts, if one shop isn’t offering a discount then the next one will be, so it is therefore not surprising that retailers are using sales promotion tactics by offering vouchers or exclusive discounts to members of loyalty and membership programmes or discount clubs. By doing this retailers are not only bolstering their presence on the high street but encouraging increased redemption online as well. And as internet shopping becomes the norm for many people, it’s increasingly important for retailers to establish their brand online – where it is even more important to be competitively priced, as other retailers are only one click away.

Contact Us if you are interested sales promotion for your business. We can discuss rewards for your consumers or an exclusive discount to offer members of a loyalty and membership programme or discount club.

Childhood days of collecting small change for a piggy bank may seem like a long winded approach to financial efficiency, but the lessons of prudent saving, budgeting and most importantly patience – can be key to getting ahead in the current economic climate both for businesses and consumers alike. Hard pressed consumers have become savvy at spotting bargains/ finding ways to save money and it’s important for businesses to be aware of the general change in customer’s spending habits to improve customer retention.

One way consumers are making substantial savings is by spending a little time calculating income against regular outgoings and developing a weekly or monthly budget. Looking at figures isn’t fun, and whilst this may in fact sound too simple to be of use, once aware of both how much they are spending and primarily where they’re spending it, ways of reducing this spend become much clearer. The key to customer retention for businesses is to be aware of the intended target market – knowing how they approach saving and subsequently positioning your brand as an essential purchase.

Consumers are now shopping around

Businesses operate in a competitive market and in many sectors, like energy for example, for consumers prices can seem frustratingly similar between suppliers. There is however evidence of fierce competition presented through indirect promotions like customer benefits and rewards. Even if consumers don’t take advantage of rewards immediately they retain information for future use. Price comparison sites can help with this process for utility bills and insurance especially, but sometimes this involves them engaging with your brand on the phone – consumers taking ten minutes out to get a quote or two will be receptive to any extra benefits you can communicate to them, making it easier for your company to achieve customer retention. A recent high-profile promotion is Tesco’s BOGOL (buy one get one later), designed to improve customer retention instead of just moving volume of stock.

Considering before buying

Bigger purchases like cars, furniture, computers, mp3 players, etc. can all set consumers back substantial amounts of their hard earned income. Before they buy, they can check to see if there is any scope for negotiation on price, or if the supplier would throw anything else in! More importantly though, consumers now usually ensure that they’re buying the right item beforehand. It’s too easy to regret an impulse purchase just a few months later, or to get a gift wrong for a loved one on Christmas eve. At the end of the day, if times are tough consumers should always ask, “Do I really need this?” A good technique people are using is waiting a day for every £100 in the price (or £10 for smaller purchases) – if still happy by the end of this period then they’ll at least have had a chance to think it through thoroughly and check out the competition. In this instance if you can’t  sell to them straight away, it’s about making the effort and giving them a reason to return (competitive price, the best service, any optional extras you’ll throw in just for them) – nurturing their needs and respecting a requirement for space plus reassurances.

Ordering pre-purchase vouchers

High street stores and big name brands like Debenhams, Topshop, Miss Selfridge, PC World and B&Q often either provide their own form of pre-purchase voucher, or are part of a wider voucher like Love2shop or SayShoppingPass. Through membership to a loyalty and membership programme or discount club such as The Big Savings Club or The Home & Garden Club for example, consumers are able to take advantage of savings of up to 7% on many of these vouchers. With Christmas on its way consumers will be spending more over the next few months on both everyday expenditure like energy, right through to gifts for friends and family and luxuries like good food and drink. So is this something your business can take part in? One of the easiest ways to achieve customer retention from vouchers or discounts is through a loyalty and membership programme or discount club. The operators of the loyalty and membership programme or discount club such as The Rocket Marketing Group, manage the club and can design bespoke vouchers featuring your discount to feature in print and online. This marketing service is usually free, all your brand has to do is offer members of the loyalty and membership programmes an exclusive discount.

Not yet made the most of customer retention by offering consumers an exclusive discount through a loyalty and membership programme or discount club? Contact Us today.

As a customer, the brands you consider yourself to be loyal to may be different from the brands that consider you to be loyal to them. Is this because businesses measure loyalty by statistics – the potentially biggest spending consumers are considered the most valuable/loyal whether they have an emotional attachment to the brand or not? These consumers are not necessarily the most valuable in terms of long term profitability or opportunity for the ‘word of mouth’ marketing (which is increasingly important during the social networking revolution). For customers, loyalty is more of an emotional concept and brand affinity is normal for defining who we are; subsequently we can become more susceptible to act upon the call to action or passing on core brand messages.

A lot of marketing campaigns fail to address this 3 dimensional element of consumer loyalty and miss the opportunity to reward and encourage consumers that whilst in business terms are not considered loyal, but in social terms most definitely are.

In the case of loyalty marketing is it not therefore important to not only reward the loyalty of high spending customers (through points schemes etc.) which of course should always be the main priority, but to also reward those who through their brand loyalty ensure continual use of the brand and bolster the positive associations with a brand?

Loyalty marketing or sales promotion has emerged as a mutually beneficial programme that seeks to appease both customers’ and businesses loyalty needs. From a customers’ point of view they are receiving what they consider to be a special discount – particularly in the current economic climate, this can be seen to help financial burdens. A percentage discount can ensure the reward is given in direct correlation to the amount spent, so everyone is rewarded for the amounts they spend.

It boils down to consumers needing to feel valued no matter how much they are spending – surely if your brand nurtures its consumers through loyalty marketing, its consumers will nurture your brand?

Contact Us if you are interested in loyalty marketing by featuring a discount in a loyalty and membership programme or discount club to improve customer loyalty by rewarding new and existing customers.

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.

Here at Rocket we work hard to save money for thousands of customers who join our loyalty and membership programmes or discount clubs, both internally and for our clients. Critical to our success however, is our excellent ongoing relationship with our partners. Affinity marketing relies upon the mutually beneficial relationship between the loyalty and membership programme or discount club managing agency, brand partners and consumers.

We pride ourselves on researching some of the most recognisable, long standing and reputable brands on the high street and online for our affinity marketing business. On top of this we also work with small to medium sized businesses that are the best in their respective fields, providing niche products and services. This means that members of our loyalty and membership programmes or discount clubs get the best of both worlds – some great savings on everyday living, and even more on those special high value purchases, one-offs and gifts.

Our dedicated Partnership Marketing (affinity marketing) team talk regularly with our partners, both new and old, in order to constantly develop and extend their promotions. There’s a lot of flexibility in the way our products can represent partner offers, so it’s important to work on getting it right. Just like all marketing vehicles, maximizing effectiveness is all about testing and progressive improvement.

Communication at a personal level lets us provide a helping hand for our partners, especially at the start of a long and healthy relationship. With over 7 years of experience as specialists in managing loyalty and membership programmes and discount clubs, we know that we’ve developed some skills in making sure offers present real value for consumers whilst delivering results for our partners. We can help to work through all aspects of your offer, from a catchy headline that will drive redemption, to powerful photography selection that’ll catch the eye. We can even make sure your terms and conditions are represented in plain English to make sure customers stay happy.

Sales promotion and affinity marketing are hot topics right now thanks to dramatically increasing consumer demand for improved value – partly fuelled by the recession, but also driven by Britain’s national obsession with bargain hunting and the prevalence of broadband internet access. Successful use of sales promotion is not limited to corporate Pizza giants however – never underestimate the public’s appetite for greater choice and their respect for excellence! Our unique membership clubs place your message in front of a massive potential customer base that we know can spot a good deal when they see one.

Shared brand value benefits all of our partners too. Mixing major corporations with smaller enterprises is mutually beneficial – enjoy the trust and quality assurance of globally recognised brands, with the bespoke offering and natural customer service focus of SME’s. Getting your company name in front of the right consumers is just the first step in a successful marketing campaign – making sure that it carries with it the right message and associations is naturally next.

Over fifty businesses in the UK already work with us to successfully present exclusive sales promotions to our diverse customer base. Are you leading the way in your industry, produce a unique product / manage a unique service, or provide second to none customer service? Are you committed to presenting consumers with real value during difficult economic times?

Do you want to drive sales and brand awareness for your business? If you are interested in affinity marketing through rewards and consumer incentives or loyalty and membership programmes or discount clubs then let’s start talking today, 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.