What is an incentive marketing company? Well, it is simply the use of incentives to get people to purchase a product. Incentives can come in many different forms, but the general idea is that you reward someone for doing something that benefits you directly. Everyone loves to be rewarded, particularly for doing something that they were going to already be doing anyway. When getting a tangible (or digital) incentive, our brains send out a message of happiness because it is in our genetic code.
The reason that incentive marketing works so well is that you are able to measure the effectiveness of your incentive programs right away. Once you see results, you can track the programs so you can make sure that the rewards were effective and not just a passing fad. For example, if you are running a weight loss program, you want to make sure that you are offering program members prizes to encourage them to stick with the program. This keeps your members happy and motivated as they continue to lose weight. After all, wouldn't you rather join a weight loss program that gives free gym memberships or gives money back to every member who doesn't make the desired number of gym visits in a year?
Another aspect of an incentive marketing strategy that is important is that you actually spend approximately the same amount of money on memberships as you would on advertising. Most companies will tell you that they don't want to spend additional funds on their reward programs because they feel that it is unnecessary. The reality is, however, that memberships have been proven to result in increased sales and increased profits. If you want to increase your revenue and profit margins, you must allocate additional funds towards incentive marketing programs. This can be accomplished by placing equal emphasis on both the quality and quantity of your reward programs.
One of the most powerful tools that you can use in your incentive marketing strategy is loyalty programs. Many incentive marketing company offer their valued customers the option of receiving discounts or even cash back just for referring other friends and family to them. While loyalty programs are typically thought of as a very small part of the overall package, they can provide a powerful incentive marketing strategy. The more referrals you have coming into your business, the better chance that you have of increasing your revenue.
You may be wondering how you get rewarded for referring other people to your company. Depending on which incentive marketing program that you participate in, you may be able to get rewarded in a variety of ways. Some companies will pay you a percentage of the total purchases that your referrals make. Other companies will pay you a percentage of the new business that your referrals open up for you.
What if you are a customer who is not a network-affiliated customer? How can you use incentive marketing to build your network? One way that many companies use reward programs to help increase customer loyalty is to offer a series of bonuses over time. This could be something as simple as a rebate off of one's first purchase or it could be something as large as a rebate on your next purchase after referring five friends. Either way, your loyal customers will feel great when they receive these types of rewards from you, and you will receive credit towards those purchases as well.
The last group that you should look at using in your incentive marketing program is your potential customers. The key to using marketing incentives to motivate your customers is to find out what types of things your customers are interested in. This is an easy way to get your customers motivated to engage in your marketing efforts. You could start offering a 10% off sale on one of your products if your customer refers five friends. This could easily motivate a customer to buy your product because they know that they will get some sort of benefit if they refer five friends.
Some common non-monetary rewards that you can use to motivate your customers are coupons, free samples, free consultations, and referrals. Coupons are a good incentive to use because they are easy to distribute. You simply ask people to print them out at home, and the coupons usually end up in their baskets or other containers. Free samples are great because you can offer them to anyone who would like to take advantage of what you have to offer. Finally, referrals are nice because they can be tracked so that you know exactly how effective your promotions were.