Incentive Marketing in a Nutshell

Content Marketing, Marketing

The interconnected world we live in has widened customers’ choice of brands. How can you stand out amongst local and global competitors? One way is with incentive marketing. Incentive marketing is a strategy in which businesses use rewards and other motivational offers to market their brand, products, and services to encourage customers to act by creating a pleasant and exciting customer experience. Keep reading as we explore several types of incentives and share a best-practice guide for incorporating them into your marketing strategy. 💡 Find out why customer experience is vital to achieving business success in this blog: 5 Reasons Why Customer Experience Matters

Types of Marketing Incentives:

1. Buy One Get One Free

This is a great incentive to use when you are trying to boost sales or unload some surplus stock of a specific item. It can also help drive awareness about a new line.

2. Loyalty Programs

Hit two birds with one stone by implementing a loyalty program. This is an excellent way to attract new customers and keep your existing customers happy and interested! You can implement different types of loyalty programs such as points-based or value-based programs. Test out which one your audience positively responds to and then implement it.

3. Sweepstakes and Contests

Gather customer data, increase brand awareness, and create excitement – this is all possible when you host contests. An example of a successful contest is Food Networks #BlendedBurgerContest, individuals were encouraged to create their own burger patties, using 25% mushrooms. The contest helped Food Network gather tons of user-generated content for future marketing efforts and there were just under one thousand hashtags for the contest on Instagram alone – this might not seem like much but making a recipe from scratch is quite a task so in context it’s very impressive! Other popular incentives include giveaways, referral programs, and exclusive memberships – all of these have one thing in common, they bring benefits!

Best Practice Guide:

Keep it simple

Don’t overcomplicate the incentive or the steps customers need to follow to get it. Customers don’t want to do extra work to attain the reward you offer; it should be easy to understand and achieve. Take a look at Chipotle’s reward program for an inspiring example of a simple and clear incentive. The program follows a simple point system, where customers have the opportunity to earn more points and reward badges if they put in a little extra effort. And there is the added bonus of further incentives like a free beverage with sign-up or a birthday surprise!

Keep it relevant

If you are a software company, rewarding a customer with an in-person spa experience would not make sense. Keep it relevant to your business, some examples include rewarding them with free trials or exclusive software perks. This can help keep your customer’s attention on you and what you offer. For example, Tim Hortons’ Roll Up The Rim campaign keeps everything centred around its business. When customers buy a hot beverage at one of their chain stores, they stand the chance to win a prize. This is relevant because the campaign centres around attracting customers to the store, buying Tim Hortons’ coffee, and repeating the process. It constantly keeps the brand top of mind. Source: Tim Hortons

Keep it real

It’s important that you follow through on your promises. If you don’t deliver on the reward, customers can take to social media with their grievances and negatively impact your brand reputation. Use the reward delivery as a chance to get some good publicity. Ask the receiver to share it on social media for extra reach and brand awareness! Read next: Experiential Marketing: How Brands Can Create Captivating Customer Experiences

Let’s Wrap Things Up

Incentive marketing has a diverse range of benefits from improved brand perception to a boost in sales. This strategy is not one to ignore – just remember to remain authentic when implementing it. If you liked this guide, you might also enjoy: Content Strategy: What All Marketers Should Know

The Core Principles of Agile Marketing

Gone are the days when marketers could afford to take months to turn their ideas into marketing campaigns. The combination of technological advancement and evolving customer expectations is propelling brands to embrace agile marketing techniques. This is an approach...

Podcasting: A Game-Changing Marketing Tool for Brands

The popularity of podcasting and audio streaming has skyrocketed over the past few years. An increasing number of influencers, content creators, and brands are jumping on the podcast wave to connect with their audience in new and engaging ways. With this advent of...

Interactive Marketing: How to Engage Your Customers

Are you looking to take your content creation to new heights, connect with customers like never before, and differentiate your brand from competitors? Then it’s time to implement an interactive marketing strategy. Through this approach, brands can personalise messages...

Relationship Marketing: The Key to Longevity

Did you know a 5% increase in customer retention can lead to a 95% increase in profit? With statistics like that, there is no denying the importance of building and nurturing your brand’s relationships with its customers. The best way to create these strong,...

Incentive Marketing in a Nutshell

The interconnected world we live in has widened customers’ choice of brands. How can you stand out amongst local and global competitors? One way is with incentive marketing. Incentive marketing is a strategy in which businesses...

Content Strategy: What All Marketers Should Know

Content strategy is something that is often spoken about in the social media and marketing space. But have you ever stopped to consider what exactly is meant by this term? Understanding this concept and knowing how to create an impactful content strategy is a core...

How To Get Paid Social Media Right: Top Tips and Tricks

Did you know that more than half of the population uses social media? With people taking to social networks to research more about their interests and interact with businesses, this presents a fantastic opportunity for brands to increase their reach and drive online...

Marketing to Gen Z: 5 Things Marketers Should Know

Generation Z, also known as Zoomers, is the generation born between 1996 and 2012. While they share many characteristics with the Millennial generation that comes before them, Gen Z has some truly unique behaviours. Growing up with a wealth of information at their...

Business-to-Human Marketing: A Comprehensive Guide

In a world where marketers rely on technology to communicate with customers, taking a step back and implementing a business-to-human (B2H) approach is a strategic way for companies to increase trust and confidence in their brands. We examine the importance of this...

Digital Marketing: Everything You Need to Know

What comes to mind when you hear of January 1, 1983? That’s when the internet was born. Fast-forward 39 years later, it has grown to envelop every part of our daily lives. Think about the last thing you bought online. Perhaps it was a new washing machine or a printer...