My 11-year-old son Harrison is a promotional marketer’s fantasy come true. When McDonald’s conducts its Monopoly sweepstakes, he’s determined to increase our McDonald’s “share of stomach” as he diligently collects the game pieces. Back when Frito Lay was running its “eploid” points program, he consumed mountains of Doritos, then scoured his school playground and hallways, collecting discarded snack wrappers so he could retrieve the coupons.
Obviously, business marketers can only dream about promotional programs that could attract consumers who behaved like my son. Unfortunately, as managers we not only struggle to generate response, we’re challenged with selecting the promotional tools to deploy in the first place.
The key to meeting that challenge is proper filtering of all your options, no matter which medium is used (events, print ads, radio, billboard, direct mail, etc.). In addition, it’s important to realize that promotional efforts should extend beyond so-called sales promotions. Often what is needed are tactics that encourage other non-purchase, short-term or immediate responses as well. This is known as response promotion.
When combined with the creative ideas your team will develop, and the media choices available, your response promotion options can quickly mushroom. How do you evaluate the best ones to use? Here are the five keys to narrow your choices:
1. Consider the stages of buyer readiness
Customers generally go through several stages of buyer readiness before actually making a purchase, from Awareness > Comprehension > Conviction > Purchase > Repurchase.
Much as we would like to make “purchase” our primary objective, customers often spend time at each stage before they are ready to buy. Thus, it is essential that you know what stage your audience is in and ensure that your promotional objectives are set accordingly.
Here is an outline of how to handle promotions within each phase of buyer readiness:
Raising awareness. In this stage, customers are first hearing about your company—its name, its brand and its products. They don’t necessarily have the complete picture, so the objective should be to make the audience aware of your company and your category. For example, a consumer would be considered “aware” of Charles Schwab if they know that it is a financial company, even though they may not know what actual services the firm offers.
Consider these options:
- A giveaway or contest that’s easy to earn or participate in, yet provides an opportunity to deliver a “single net impression” related to who you are or what you have to offer. How about a contest to win a fireproof safe from Brink’s Home Security?
- Programs with budgets big enough to reach a suitable audience base. Place the priority on reaching more people with lower value prizes than fewer people with a costly prize.
- Demos that show people how something works or allows them to try it out are a great way to introduce your offering, particularly for functional or complex products.
- Free trials or samples, especially for low-involvement products or services.
Rule out:
- Discounts or other price-based promotions, except for very low involvement products, such as food products or dry cleaning.
- Sweepstakes or contests that require too much effort in order to be rewarded. Customers are rarely eager to participate in a complex rewards program or contest to win something from an unfamiliar entity.
Raising comprehension. In the comprehension stage, the audience has heard of your company and has an idea of what you offer. The goal is to get potential customers to know you better.
Consider these options:
- Demonstrations and/or free trial or samples.
- Contests that encourage interaction that will help the audience learn more about you or your offering. What about a game to find facts or trivia online by Ask.com?
Rule out:
- Discounts and price-based promotions. In the comprehension stage, customers will respond in order to learn more, but they are less likely to respond to an incentive that can only be gained through a purchase.
Raising conviction. In the conviction stage, customers already know you and your core offering. The goal here is to have the customer prefer you to your competition when the need arises. Because a customer’s ultimate purchasing decision can be driven by a number of possible reasons, most promotional tools can be considered when seeking to shift the audience to this stage in its buyer readiness.
Consider these options:
- Demonstrations and/or free trial or samples.
- Discounts or other price-based promotions.
- Contests that encourage interaction that will highlight the benefits of your offering or differentiation from competitors. What about a rock climbing challenge by Singing Rock?
Rule out:
- Nothing.
Encourage initial purchase. At the end of the conviction stage, a customer will already prefer you and it is assumed they will purchase your offering when a need arises. So the true goal of a promotion at this point is to entice a purchase before a true need comes up.
Consider these options:
- Discounts and price-based promotions.
- Contest, sweepstakes or gift rewards directly tied to purchase behavior. For example, receive a gift with a purchase or a chance to win something with a purchase.
- Rewards programs such as mileage programs, points earned for purchases, etc.
Rule out:
• Most everything else.
Repurchase/loyalty behavior. Once a customer has purchased from you once, continued marketing communications can help encourage repeat purchase or continued loyalty. The good news is that customers who have reached this stage are typically more responsive to any promotional activity you might offer.
Consider this option:
- Most everything.
Unlike promotions to encourage initial purchase, most promotional activity will help remind and reinforce the existing loyalty of a previous buyer and be more effective in generating a response behavior. As a Toyota owner, I am more likely to pick up Toyota-branded merchandise at events or participate in a Toyota contest. And, assuming a positive experience throughout, the more interaction I have with Toyota, the greater likelihood I will buy a Toyota again.
Rule out:
- Nothing.
2. Ensure consistency with your (brand) positioning and messaging
As much fun as hosting a go-kart race at the state fair would be, it would not be an appropriate promotion for Rolex. Be sure to filter or modify any promotion ideas through your brand’s positioning to ensure consistent representation and message delivery to your target audience. A go-kart race may still be viable for Rolex, if it’s held at the next BMW Owners Club gathering.
3. Be sure you can handle the execution
Some promotions sound great on paper, but once the execution details are laid out it takes too much work or money for a company’s staff to pull it off. Take the time to properly frame the scope of your promotion to suit your capabilities to avoid losing steam in the middle of the development or, worse yet, execution of the promotional campaign.
Part of evaluating your capabilities includes outlining how the promotion will be implemented. If it’s a contest where people will be sending in responses, such as a photo or essay contest, will you receive them by e-mail or postal mail? Do you need to open a P.O. Box? Who will review the entries? When and how will you announce the winner? How will you send them their prize?
4. Plan and budget to promote your promotion
Using an iPhone as a giveaway prize does no good if no one knows about your promotion. Promotions must be communicated to the audience through marketing communication media. Be sure you have adequate human, financial and technical resources to get the word out.
Apply the same marketing discipline and decision-making rigor in the plan so that all components—design, messaging, media and contests or prizes—are integrated, consistent and support one another.
In marketing circles, there’s a saying, “the medium is the message,” meaning that the communication medium is as important as the message itself. If the target audience is 65-year-old retirees, posting a video about tour packages on YouTube may not be the most efficient choice.
5. Recognize the importance of the sales effort
As much as we would love potential customers to beat a path to our products and throw money at us, sales interaction is often needed to guide them from the awareness to initial purchase or repurchase, especially for big ticket items, such as homes, cars or appliances and B2B products and services.
Make sure your sales staff is informed about the promotion when prospects or customers respond, and that they interact in a way that is consistent with agreed-on objectives. The last thing you want is to have a prospect respond to a contest, only to experience a high-pressure sales pitch or a clueless customer service response.
In marketing, there is no silver bullet. In a competitive marketplace, consumers have choices and they exercise this freedom. Regardless of the promotion, marketers must make the informed decisions with the best knowledge available.
Hopefully, with greater knowledge comes better decision-making and improved response to your promotional efforts.
If not, I’ve got an 11-year-old who’d be happy to pump up your numbers.
Herman Kwik, Ph.D., Outsource Marketing’s Marketing Integrator + Principal, is a researcher and consultant with experience in international business, import/export strategies and supply chain management.
Outsource Marketing, is a Northwest-based marketing outsourcing pioneer that offers companies a marketing department if they don’t have one, more strategic and creative horsepower if they do. Visit www.outsourcemarketing.com for more information.
