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.

Loyalty and membership programmes can really help generate customer loyalty because of the positive association consumers feel when belonging to a club and enjoying the privileges and exclusive discounts.

When the average exclusive discount is multiplied by the number of different businesses offering a discount in a loyalty and membership programme the joint saving of a loyalty and membership programme for a member is huge.

The member sees the savings as a whole and therefore what is a relatively small amount for one business can appear to be more to a consumer. This is because the exclusive discounts are seen in the context of the complete amount saved with a loyalty and membership programme, such as The Big Savings Club.

This table shows the real value of the savings that can be made using a sample of the best exclusive discounts Big Savings Club Members can use*:

When members save this much money the associative value for brands featured in The Big Savings Club can be immense. This is the advantage loyalty and membership programmes have over seasonal sales, one-off vouchers and promotions. The loyalty and membership programmes also offer a continual point of reference for members, helping to generate customer loyalty.

The Rocket Marketing Group operates a number of different loyalty and membership programmes. They are free for businesses to be featured in when they offer an exclusive discount to members. The largest of the loyalty and membership programmes The Rocket Marketing Group operate is The Big Savings Club and with over 56,000 members the opportunity to reach a new audience and generate customer loyalty is impressive.

Contact Us if you would like to offer consumers an exclusive discount with your business through a loyalty and membership programme, encouraging consumers to spend money with your company and have a positive experience attached to your brand.

Offers correct at time of publication and subject to terms and conditions. *Big Savings Club savings have been calculated from average UK family spending figures from the “Expenditure and Food Survey” and “Family Spending Survey”, Office for National Statistics, 2006. All member privileges quoted are correct at December 2008 and may be subject to change. All figures have been rounded to the nearest pound.

The media will have you believe that we’re all sitting at home afraid to spend any money, amid the fear of redundancy and destitution. How true is this? In reality how is the recession really affecting the way people dine? And what can restaurants offer the public to turn the tide?

A recent survey conducted by the business advisory firm Deloitte found that: “Cost reduction is the top priority in 2009 for senior executives in the food and beverage industry.”

Livebookings, a marketing and real-time booking service for restaurants and diners have analysed their UK figures to monitor the amount of discounts used in their restaurants. Below is the table of results.

The amount of people using offers when booking through Livebookings has clearly increased dramatically. These results are echoed through the many things we hear and read in the media, as prudence seems to have become the latest trend, whatever your financial situation. It is clear that restaurants have taken note as there is a noticeable increase in the number of discounts and ‘credit crunch deals’ available. A popular way restaurants have found to channel these discounts, is through a dining club such as The Midweek Dining Club, Top Table, Taste London. The clubs give its foodie members a full directory of restaurants and special member discounts, easily accessible from comprehensive websites. Dining club membership figures have rapidly increased in the last few years and restaurants are recognising them as an essential tool for promoting their brand and combating the public’s reluctance to spend money.

Lawrence Hutter, Global Head of Food and Beverage at Deloitte, said: “The economic downturn has presented food and beverage companies with new challenges. It is impacting how much money consumers spend but also the way in which they spend it. Footfall in discount grocers is rising and many shoppers are trading down.”

Recognising the need for restaurants to promote their businesses in a different way, based on special offers, The Rocket Marketing Group set up and currently operates The Midweek Dining Club. Our clients have found that it is a great way to promote their restaurants by encouraging potential diners to take advantage of some fantastic discounts. With over 25,000 members, restaurant brands are promoted to a vast customer base. The special offers and discounts range from 50% off the food bill to a free bottle of wine. The best thing is that it’s completely free to register a restaurant with The Midweek Dining Club. All restaurants have to do is provide an offer for club members. It is an effective marketing tool especially for independent restaurants that don’t have a large advertising budget. And because we also pride ourselves on excellent customer service, a partnership with us is a happy experience.

So visit The Midweek Dining Club website for a taste of what we do.