Digital music promotions have been around for several years, even back in the "digital pioneer" days of 2004 (which is a couple eons in Internet years). So it is occasionally interesting to go back and look at what other companies have done in the past.
In the summer 2004, McDonald's and Sony teamed up to launch the "Big Mac Meal Tracks" program, where they gave customers in six countries an access code that enabled them to download a free music track from the Sony Connect website with every Big Mac purchase. The campaign was run in North America and Europe; American customers received one song per purchase, while European customers received three. The digital music promotions campaign was so successful, McDonald's credited it with a 9.2 increase in same-store sales for the Q2 2004.
In a June 2004 press release announcing the campaign, McDonald's said this was not only their first multi-national digital music promotions campaign, it was the first time a digital music promotions campaign of this size was being offered — it was being held in six countries throughout June and July.
It was a promotion ahead of its time, because digital music promotions was not as common or accepted as it is in 2010. In fact, 2009 sales rang in at $4.2 Billion, while 2003 sales were only $83 million. For McDonald's to use digital music promotions in a time that it was still relatively new shows that they were interested in tapping into some new ways of reaching customers.
Even back in 2005 and 2006, experts were predicting that digital music promotions would begin to become a mainstay in corporate and retail incentive programs, and would continue to promote legal music downloads to customers.
Another benefit to the digital music promotions campaign is that it generated traffic throughout the day. Rather than a lunchtime only special, which only brings traffic during certain hours, having the digital music promotions campaign tied to a particular food item meant that it worked on lunch and dinner, regardless of the time of day. Most other restaurant campaigns tend to focus on a specific time of day — between 11 and 2 — which means that the traffic is increased during those hours, but may drop during the rest of the day.
In the 2004 press release, Jay Samit, general manager for Sony Connect said "This campaign by McDonald's will promote legal downloads, which is beneficial both to the entertainment industry and music fans around the world."
Even today, as digital music sales have increased, legal music downloads are still a concern to the music industry, so this is another benefit of a digital music promotions campaign. Users are able to download legal music with a basic purchase, which keeps both music label executives and marketers happy.
And because of the relatively low cost of a music download, marketers are able to use them as part of an overall marketing campaign, folding it into the promotions budget, rather than additional items that need to be purchased, shipped, or warehoused. Further, there is never a worry about how to dispose of leftover items, and promotional risk coverage can rein in higher-than-expected redemption numbers.
Following the digital music promotions campaign, a post promotions analysis process simply determines overall ROI, with the number of songs that were downloaded. Prior to campaign initiation, a promotional risk analysis would determine the number of downloads expected to be redeemed during the flight dates of the promotional campaign. Much like you insure your car from an accident or your home from a natural disaster, you can cover your digital music promotion against a risk associated with the liabilities associated with the costs of a large number of music download redemptions. The cost of promotional risk coverage is minimal, literally a fraction of the prize value, and is based on the promotional odds, the music download value, and the number of opportunities given to redeem the digital incentive.
It is important to recognize that free music downloads are of interest to more than just Generation Y. Now that mobile phones can play music, and MP3 player use is widespread, customers of all ages are willing and able to participate in a music promotions campaign. So even businesses that do not cater specifically to Generation Y can still use this kind of campaign to reach their own customers. With the inclusion of promotional risk coverage, a digital music promotions campaign provides marketers with the opportunity to increase conversions through valuable incentives, with a fixed promotional budget.
Source:
http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=124166
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3775657.stm
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0198-19322/The-meal-is-the-music.html
Friday, December 31, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
Digital Music Promotions Prove Valuable Brand Promotions Deliver Long Term Customer Loyalty
Digital music promotions are as powerful and wide-reaching as they are evergreen. They give your company a multi-faceted promotional tool with which you can leverage popular artists to grow your brand and excite your target market. Because new artists are continuously catapulted into the spotlight, your business has access to an unlimited resource of popular music. You can harness this resource to meet an unquenchable consumer demand. In doing so, you'll improve your brand and create a surge in product sales.
Below, we'll give you a comprehensive preview of digital music promotions. You'll learn how they work and the unique promotional advantages they offer your business. We'll also describe how to use digital promotions to deliver a memorable impact at a surprisingly low cost. Lastly, we'll explain how you can tailor digital music promotions to form a seamless fit for your target audience, regardless of your marketing objectives.
How Digital Music Promotions Work
Digital music incentives are delivered to your customers online through customized landing pages and branded music stores. The digital music promotions are launched by distributing promo codes and website URLs in-pack, on-pack, through email, text messaging, signage, custom-branded cards, and other platforms. You can customize your marketing campaign to control its reach into your target market.
When your customers visit the website URL listed on your promotion, they'll be able to choose from a library of popular artists and songs. Once your customers select their downloads, they are prompted to enter their promo code.
You'll enjoy a tremendous level of flexibility in customizing your digital music promotions. You can broaden your music library to include millions of songs, or tighten it according to your audience and marketing objectives.
Harnessing The Advantages Of Music Promotions
Because the landing pages to which your target market is driven can be customized with your company's logo and artwork, your digital music promotions dramatically improve brand recognition. And because music has such universal appeal, it is one of the most potent levers for increasing customer loyalty.
That is merely scratching the surface of their potential.
When your target audience arrives on your customized landing pages, you'll have an opportunity to introduce them to new products your company is launching. You can also require them to provide personal information prior to downloading songs. That allows you to build a valuable database that you can leverage for future marketing campaigns. While digital music promotions can be harnessed to generate a boost in immediate sales, their potential effect on your business's bottom line extends much further.
Digital Promotions: High-Performance Promotional Impact & Low Cost
Digital promotions have quickly evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry. Companies have realized digital music promotions and other digital incentives can broaden their marketing reach at a remarkably low cost. Promotional incentives can be delivered online to mobile devices, through email, or customized landing pages. Given the high-performance impact of these promotions, the cost of distribution to a massive audience is exceptionally low.
Tailor Digital Music Promotions To Your Audience
Your target market can likely be broken down into tight segments. You can launch digital music promotions that cater specifically to each of these segments, according to their taste in music. The tighter your focus, the higher response you'll enjoy.
For example, suppose you're promoting a brand that appeals to multiple age groups. A younger audience may be motivated by digital music promotions highlighting alternative rock and hip hop artists. An older audience might be more willing to respond if offered classic rock songs. Still other segments of your target market may be motivated to respond by digital music promotions featuring Latino artists. Each market segment represents an opportunity to refine your focus and tap into a targeted pool of consumers.
Entertainment Promotions Leverage High-Profile Contentdigital music promotions are merely one of several types of entertainment promotions that can help drive your brand. Entertainment that has been created to promote high-profile content such as films, video games, television shows, and CD releases can be licensed and offered as digital incentives. That allows your company to benefit from the top of mind awareness enjoyed by these entertainment properties. Imagine launching digital music promotions for your brand that ride on the coattails of the latest Hollywood blockbuster or CD release.
Executing digital music promotions For Your Company
You can penetrate new markets, invigorate your current customer base, improve brand recognition, and spur long-term sales by launching customized digital music promotions. Your entire campaign can be designed as a turnkey solution. There's no need to host the music library on your site. Nor do you need to take an active role in driving web traffic to your branded landing pages. The delivery and fulfillment of your digital music incentives are also handled as components of the back-end system.
If you are not already leveraging Digital Music Promotions to reach more deeply into your market, now is the time to do so.
Below, we'll give you a comprehensive preview of digital music promotions. You'll learn how they work and the unique promotional advantages they offer your business. We'll also describe how to use digital promotions to deliver a memorable impact at a surprisingly low cost. Lastly, we'll explain how you can tailor digital music promotions to form a seamless fit for your target audience, regardless of your marketing objectives.
How Digital Music Promotions Work
Digital music incentives are delivered to your customers online through customized landing pages and branded music stores. The digital music promotions are launched by distributing promo codes and website URLs in-pack, on-pack, through email, text messaging, signage, custom-branded cards, and other platforms. You can customize your marketing campaign to control its reach into your target market.
When your customers visit the website URL listed on your promotion, they'll be able to choose from a library of popular artists and songs. Once your customers select their downloads, they are prompted to enter their promo code.
You'll enjoy a tremendous level of flexibility in customizing your digital music promotions. You can broaden your music library to include millions of songs, or tighten it according to your audience and marketing objectives.
Harnessing The Advantages Of Music Promotions
Because the landing pages to which your target market is driven can be customized with your company's logo and artwork, your digital music promotions dramatically improve brand recognition. And because music has such universal appeal, it is one of the most potent levers for increasing customer loyalty.
That is merely scratching the surface of their potential.
When your target audience arrives on your customized landing pages, you'll have an opportunity to introduce them to new products your company is launching. You can also require them to provide personal information prior to downloading songs. That allows you to build a valuable database that you can leverage for future marketing campaigns. While digital music promotions can be harnessed to generate a boost in immediate sales, their potential effect on your business's bottom line extends much further.
Digital Promotions: High-Performance Promotional Impact & Low Cost
Digital promotions have quickly evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry. Companies have realized digital music promotions and other digital incentives can broaden their marketing reach at a remarkably low cost. Promotional incentives can be delivered online to mobile devices, through email, or customized landing pages. Given the high-performance impact of these promotions, the cost of distribution to a massive audience is exceptionally low.
Tailor Digital Music Promotions To Your Audience
Your target market can likely be broken down into tight segments. You can launch digital music promotions that cater specifically to each of these segments, according to their taste in music. The tighter your focus, the higher response you'll enjoy.
For example, suppose you're promoting a brand that appeals to multiple age groups. A younger audience may be motivated by digital music promotions highlighting alternative rock and hip hop artists. An older audience might be more willing to respond if offered classic rock songs. Still other segments of your target market may be motivated to respond by digital music promotions featuring Latino artists. Each market segment represents an opportunity to refine your focus and tap into a targeted pool of consumers.
Entertainment Promotions Leverage High-Profile Contentdigital music promotions are merely one of several types of entertainment promotions that can help drive your brand. Entertainment that has been created to promote high-profile content such as films, video games, television shows, and CD releases can be licensed and offered as digital incentives. That allows your company to benefit from the top of mind awareness enjoyed by these entertainment properties. Imagine launching digital music promotions for your brand that ride on the coattails of the latest Hollywood blockbuster or CD release.
Executing digital music promotions For Your Company
You can penetrate new markets, invigorate your current customer base, improve brand recognition, and spur long-term sales by launching customized digital music promotions. Your entire campaign can be designed as a turnkey solution. There's no need to host the music library on your site. Nor do you need to take an active role in driving web traffic to your branded landing pages. The delivery and fulfillment of your digital music incentives are also handled as components of the back-end system.
If you are not already leveraging Digital Music Promotions to reach more deeply into your market, now is the time to do so.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Digital Media Promotions Are Reaching Baby Boomers
Your digital media promotions efforts should not just be aimed at Generation Y. Sure, they outnumber the Baby Boomers right now, 81 million to 78 million, but that does not mean you should count them out.
In fact, Baby Boomers are not the technology Luddites everyone assumes them to be. Last year, Jeremiah Owyang and Forrester Research released a report that said 60% of Baby Boomers were using social media of some sort or another, and that number is only going up. In 2007, the younger Boomers (ages 43 - 52, as of 2009) were consuming social media at a rate of 46%, while older boomers (ages 53 - 63) were using it at a rate of 39%. But by 2008, those numbers had increased to 67% and 62%, respectively.
Whether it is Facebook and Twitter, watching videos on YouTube, or listening to their iPods, Boomers are some of digital media's biggest users. So a digital media promotions campaign needs to focus on the boomers.
Owyang said in his report that marketers need to focus their digital media promotions campaigns on sites like AARP Online and social networks like Classmates, Facebook, and LinkedIn. "The fact that boomers are increasingly using these tools is a clear indication that it is just not a fad," Owyang said in a February 2009 New York Times article.
The trick, said Owyang, is to engage boomers with a digital media promotions campaign that does not require a lot of effort. He said that Boomers are less likely to participate in contests that require them to write long submissions, or create and upload videos or photos. According to the Forrester report, Boomers prefer digital media promotions like taking polls, rating and voting on items, ranking favorites, or providing user feedback of services or news stories.
This means a Boomer-focused digital media promotions campaign needs to focus on the issues that interest them, not what "young people" think is cool. That does not mean avoiding a digital media promotions campaign that gives free digital music downloads, for example. But rather than tying it into creating special online content, tie it into something the Boomers already enjoy doing. Maybe they are traveling more, or they still work out and participate in sports, or they love music and go to concerts, or they are classic car enthusiasts and visit different shows and rallies.
Boomers are also joining social networks in droves, growing from 15% in 2007 to 25% in 2009. And recent figures from Facebook shows that women, ages 50 - 60, are their fastest growing demographic. This means that not only is Facebook a viable digital media promotions and advertising channel, but company-sponsored social networks are as well.
For example, a social network geared toward older travelers, athletes, or music lovers could be a great long-term strategy for digital media promotions. Consider sponsoring a travel-based social network and being visible while members are discussing different travel destinations and sharing memories.
Forrester and Owyang even recommend using digital media promotions to target Boomers with a social application: according to the report, the number of older Boomers responding to online content doubled from 2007 to 2008, 15% to 34%. For example, a music label could consider launching a mobile app that focuses on a specific music genre geared toward concert venues and bands. Then, users could follow the progress of their favorite bands, see where they are going to play, or check the schedule of their favorite nightclub or concert hall to see who is coming to town. Then share their findings with friends, chat online with other fans, and even arrange meetups at concerts.
Digital media promotions should not be limited to just Generation Y. As Owyang and Forrester Research have shown, the Baby Boomer market is a fertile playground for marketers looking to easily reach an engaged audience. A specially targeted digital media promotions campaign can be just as effective in targeting Gen Y's parents and grandparents.
In fact, Baby Boomers are not the technology Luddites everyone assumes them to be. Last year, Jeremiah Owyang and Forrester Research released a report that said 60% of Baby Boomers were using social media of some sort or another, and that number is only going up. In 2007, the younger Boomers (ages 43 - 52, as of 2009) were consuming social media at a rate of 46%, while older boomers (ages 53 - 63) were using it at a rate of 39%. But by 2008, those numbers had increased to 67% and 62%, respectively.
Whether it is Facebook and Twitter, watching videos on YouTube, or listening to their iPods, Boomers are some of digital media's biggest users. So a digital media promotions campaign needs to focus on the boomers.
Owyang said in his report that marketers need to focus their digital media promotions campaigns on sites like AARP Online and social networks like Classmates, Facebook, and LinkedIn. "The fact that boomers are increasingly using these tools is a clear indication that it is just not a fad," Owyang said in a February 2009 New York Times article.
The trick, said Owyang, is to engage boomers with a digital media promotions campaign that does not require a lot of effort. He said that Boomers are less likely to participate in contests that require them to write long submissions, or create and upload videos or photos. According to the Forrester report, Boomers prefer digital media promotions like taking polls, rating and voting on items, ranking favorites, or providing user feedback of services or news stories.
This means a Boomer-focused digital media promotions campaign needs to focus on the issues that interest them, not what "young people" think is cool. That does not mean avoiding a digital media promotions campaign that gives free digital music downloads, for example. But rather than tying it into creating special online content, tie it into something the Boomers already enjoy doing. Maybe they are traveling more, or they still work out and participate in sports, or they love music and go to concerts, or they are classic car enthusiasts and visit different shows and rallies.
Boomers are also joining social networks in droves, growing from 15% in 2007 to 25% in 2009. And recent figures from Facebook shows that women, ages 50 - 60, are their fastest growing demographic. This means that not only is Facebook a viable digital media promotions and advertising channel, but company-sponsored social networks are as well.
For example, a social network geared toward older travelers, athletes, or music lovers could be a great long-term strategy for digital media promotions. Consider sponsoring a travel-based social network and being visible while members are discussing different travel destinations and sharing memories.
Forrester and Owyang even recommend using digital media promotions to target Boomers with a social application: according to the report, the number of older Boomers responding to online content doubled from 2007 to 2008, 15% to 34%. For example, a music label could consider launching a mobile app that focuses on a specific music genre geared toward concert venues and bands. Then, users could follow the progress of their favorite bands, see where they are going to play, or check the schedule of their favorite nightclub or concert hall to see who is coming to town. Then share their findings with friends, chat online with other fans, and even arrange meetups at concerts.
Digital media promotions should not be limited to just Generation Y. As Owyang and Forrester Research have shown, the Baby Boomer market is a fertile playground for marketers looking to easily reach an engaged audience. A specially targeted digital media promotions campaign can be just as effective in targeting Gen Y's parents and grandparents.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Digital Media Promotions Cover Promotional Risk, Within a Powerful Promotional Platform
The powerful digital media promotions platform to rapidly launch your promotion, turns content into advertising. The leading digital promotions company that brings high-end promotional technology and programs to link brands with their consumer markets, Hip Digital Media acquired Promotional Currency. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Promotional Currency is a promotions and promotional risk coverage company that merges digital technology in the form of digital music, ringtones, skins and more with turnkey, fixed-cost solutions for the promotional marketplace. Additionally, Promotional Currency protects companies from over-redemption liability with its in-depth promotional risk coverage and underwriting capabilities, enabling large-scale programs that increase brand awareness and user experience. Visit www.promotionalcurrency.com to learn more.
Hip Digital Media holds MP3 licenses from all 4 major labels in the U.S., United Kingdom and Canada, Hip Digital enables innovative customer experiences with digital entertainment campaigns for Fortune 500 brands and online media companies. Additionally, Hip Digital protects companies from over-redemption liability with its in-depth promotional risk coverage and underwriting capabilities, enabling large-scale programs that increase brand awareness and user experience. Experience Hip Digital’s suite of services at HipDigitalMedia.com
Hip Digital Media holds MP3 licenses from all 4 major labels in the U.S., United Kingdom and Canada, Hip Digital enables innovative customer experiences with digital entertainment campaigns for Fortune 500 brands and online media companies. Additionally, Hip Digital protects companies from over-redemption liability with its in-depth promotional risk coverage and underwriting capabilities, enabling large-scale programs that increase brand awareness and user experience. Experience Hip Digital’s suite of services at HipDigitalMedia.com
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
The Digital Promotional Incentive of Music Download Promotions Gains Loyalty of Gen Y
Digital Promotions are creating customer loyalty of generation Y. These promotional incentive campaigns provide mobile users with immediate gratification and instant rewards. These promotions include effective brand promotions of music download promotions, skins promotions, mobile promotions. Reach Gen Y through digital incentives and you will create customer loyalty forever.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Digital Promotions Incentives of Music Download Promotions and Mobile Promotions are Gaining Loyalty
Design your digital incentive promotion with the newest music, ringtone, and branded content. Hip Digital Media, the leading digital promotions firm, joined forces with Promotional Currency, merging digital content, entertainment licensing and proprietary risk coverage models to deliver turnkey, fixed-cost solutions for the promotional marketplace.
Music download promotions are popular promotional incentives. Consumers like them because digital music has broad appeal and is easy to download and enjoy. Promotional marketers like music promotions incentives because digital music is easy to distribute and helps consumers personalize a brand. Companies are able to increase sales and customer loyalty by using music download promotions as a consumer incentive.
Mobile promotions leverage the rapid market penetration of mobile devices. With mobile phone penetration approaching 90% in the US, mobile promotions allow you to engage consumers nearly anywhere and anytime. Through powerful digital incentives, such downloadable content, instant win games, and mobile coupons, your company can create excitement, drive traffic to an event or store, build an opt-in database, and ultimately improve customer loyalty and generate sales.
Mobile promotions are an effective way to leverage your traditional marketing channels such as print, broadcast and out of home signage. Not only do they allow you to deliver digital incentives quickly and easily to consumers' mobile devices, but they allow you to provide instant gratification to consumers.
There is a reason digital incentives have become a must-have promotional marketing strategy. They Work. What other incentive offers instant gratification for consumers, carries high perceived value that transcends demographics, and costs virtually nothing to deliver?
Digital incentives such as music download promotions, ringtone promotions, mobile promotion, skins promotions and online instant win games and sweepstakes are powerful, multi-pronged promotional marketing tools build customer loyalty and drive sales.
These promotional incentives must be redeemed online or via a mobile phone. They can also be used to generate website traffic, build customer databases and promote repeat sales. These promotional incentives are redeemed online or via a mobile phone and can also be used to generate website traffic, build customer databases and promote repeat sales. Digital promotional incentives are delivered through a unique promo code and URL or mobile phone short code (SMS). They can be distributed in-pack, on-pack, via a custom-branded card or even virtually, making them ideal for practically every application.
Entertain your consumers with promotional incentives of music download promotions, mobile promotions, and skins promotions to differentiate your brand and boost sales through increased brand interest and customer loyalty.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Hip Digital Promotions Player
Digital music promotions evolved within the promotions industry, as Hip Digital Media, the leading digital promotions company announced that it has acquired Dallas based Promotional Currency.
About Hip Digital: Hip Digital Media is the leading Digital Promotions Company that brings high-end technology and programs that link brands with their consumers markets. Holding MP3 licenses from all 4 major labels in the US, United Kingdom and Canada, Hip Digital enables innovative customer experiences with digital music campaigns for Fortune 500 brands and online media companies. Experience Hip Digital’s suite of services at www.hipdigitalmedia.com.
About Promotional Currency: Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Promotional Currency is a promotions and promotional risk coverage company that merges digital technology in the form of digital music, ringtones, skins and more with turnkey, fixed-cost solutions for the promotional marketplace. Additionally, Promotional Currency protects companies from over-redemption liability with its in-depth promotional risk coverage and underwriting capabilities, enabling large-scale programs that increase brand awareness and user experience. Visit www.promotionalcurrency.com to learn more.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Digital Music Promotions Reach Gen Y & Boost Marketing Conversions
Digital music promotions reach active consumers, increase marketing conversions of these consumers, and increase sales. Gen Y is online. They are also active retail consumers. This group is a sought after demographic of 10-30 year olds, because they have more discretionary spending than their parents have. They communicate on mobile devices and marketers are finding it very difficult to reach them through traditional media channels. They interact with each other through social media applications and are speaking with each other about your products and services. The sooner marketers learn to join the conversation, the better for the brands they represent.
Smart phones are becoming a way of life. Nearly every coffee shop is providing free wifi to its customers, and many restaurants are following suit. The ubiquity of wireless and smart phones are making digital promotions easier for marketers to launch and providing a strong avenue to reach the coveted Generation Y demographic.
Digital music promotions gain brand loyalty of Generation Y. Investing your promotions budget into a digital music promotion will guarantee you customer loyalty. Traditional promotional incentives do not compare to digital music download promotions. Try earning Gen Y customer loyalty by investing in plastic pens , hats other promotional merchandise. Most customers will not keep their pens, but they download your music giveaway, save it to a mobile device and every time they hear the song you gave them, they will remember your brand. To follow are ideas to deploy these promotions and increase marketing conversion rates.
Social media is an active channel to distribute these promotions. Increase conversion rates by promoting the music giveaway on Facebook, Twitter, email, and a blog with links back to the promotional incentive. The viral marketing aspect of social media will increase campaign activity.
Create a promotional incentive with purchase promotion, by giving away a free music download card, free ring tones, or free wallpapers, when customers spend a set amount of money. Put the entire music promotion on a mobile supported website, and let customers download it via their smart phones.
Or create a free music promotion that rewards customers for referring their friends. With every referral you receive, the customer receives a free music download. Follow up with additional customer rewards programs.
Digital music promotions increase activity on viral marketing and grass roots marketing efforts. Use your music promotion campaign to ask customers and fans to post "like" a Facebook page, tweet a code via Twitter, or complete a marketing survey. Give them a free music download whenever they perform the requisite number of social media tasks..
Promotional incentives including digital promotions provide increased retail store traffic. Give away a music download is customers enter your store at a specific time. This is especially a great way to promote a bar or club that has a specific band or DJ coming to town. For example, you could give away one or two of their songs if people check in on the night they're playing.
Digital music promotions reach almost every audience. Gen Y is actively responding to music promotions, but other consumers do as well. The love of music spans all generations. If you are looking to reach your customer, boost marketing conversions, and increase sales, deploy digital promotions. Releasing these promotions through online applications, social media, and text campaigns will provide increased brand exposure, and boost marketing conversions. The outcome of reaching this active, loyal consumer will be a pleasant surprise and you may even learn something from them about your brand.
Smart phones are becoming a way of life. Nearly every coffee shop is providing free wifi to its customers, and many restaurants are following suit. The ubiquity of wireless and smart phones are making digital promotions easier for marketers to launch and providing a strong avenue to reach the coveted Generation Y demographic.
Digital music promotions gain brand loyalty of Generation Y. Investing your promotions budget into a digital music promotion will guarantee you customer loyalty. Traditional promotional incentives do not compare to digital music download promotions. Try earning Gen Y customer loyalty by investing in plastic pens , hats other promotional merchandise. Most customers will not keep their pens, but they download your music giveaway, save it to a mobile device and every time they hear the song you gave them, they will remember your brand. To follow are ideas to deploy these promotions and increase marketing conversion rates.
Social media is an active channel to distribute these promotions. Increase conversion rates by promoting the music giveaway on Facebook, Twitter, email, and a blog with links back to the promotional incentive. The viral marketing aspect of social media will increase campaign activity.
Create a promotional incentive with purchase promotion, by giving away a free music download card, free ring tones, or free wallpapers, when customers spend a set amount of money. Put the entire music promotion on a mobile supported website, and let customers download it via their smart phones.
Or create a free music promotion that rewards customers for referring their friends. With every referral you receive, the customer receives a free music download. Follow up with additional customer rewards programs.
Digital music promotions increase activity on viral marketing and grass roots marketing efforts. Use your music promotion campaign to ask customers and fans to post "like" a Facebook page, tweet a code via Twitter, or complete a marketing survey. Give them a free music download whenever they perform the requisite number of social media tasks..
Promotional incentives including digital promotions provide increased retail store traffic. Give away a music download is customers enter your store at a specific time. This is especially a great way to promote a bar or club that has a specific band or DJ coming to town. For example, you could give away one or two of their songs if people check in on the night they're playing.
Digital music promotions reach almost every audience. Gen Y is actively responding to music promotions, but other consumers do as well. The love of music spans all generations. If you are looking to reach your customer, boost marketing conversions, and increase sales, deploy digital promotions. Releasing these promotions through online applications, social media, and text campaigns will provide increased brand exposure, and boost marketing conversions. The outcome of reaching this active, loyal consumer will be a pleasant surprise and you may even learn something from them about your brand.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Digital Music Promotions Appreciated by 5 Consumer Audiences
Digital music promotions are becoming more and more popular for marketers. Whether you have a small business or work for a large corporation, digital music promotions are an effective, low-cost way to tap into different target markets. Thanks to iPods and mp3 players, fast broadband and smart phones, everyone is listening to digital music. CD sales are dropping, and not just because of the economy. Thanks to major players like Apple's iTunes Store and Amazon.com's MP3 store, digital music promotions are becoming easier to deploy.
Of course, successful digital music promotions are more than just sending someone a $5 iTunes card for making a purchase. The smart marketers are tying their digital music promotions into a marketing campaign centered around a particular idea or event. One hotel chain recently gave free Classic Rock songs to their frequent travelers from a specially-designed website as part of their digital music promotions. Stay more nights, get more songs.
So here are five target markets you can gear your digital music promotions campaign to.
- Julie Ann Ross
Of course, successful digital music promotions are more than just sending someone a $5 iTunes card for making a purchase. The smart marketers are tying their digital music promotions into a marketing campaign centered around a particular idea or event. One hotel chain recently gave free Classic Rock songs to their frequent travelers from a specially-designed website as part of their digital music promotions. Stay more nights, get more songs.
So here are five target markets you can gear your digital music promotions campaign to.
- Generation Y: I realize this is a rather large group. The largest of any group, in fact. At last count, Generation Y outnumbered Baby Boomers 82 million to 78 million. And it's Gen Y that's driving the digital music promotions. They're the biggest users of smart phones, SMS technology, social networks, and of course, digital music. Any time you want to reach this age group with a marketing campaign, digital music promotions will be a safe bet.
- Runners and fitness enthusiasts: Nike hit on a particularly smart idea a few years ago, teaming up with Apple, and creating the Nike+ iPod Sport Kit. It's a chip that will not only give runners their time, distance, pace, and calories burned, it will even pull up the music that matches your pace and inspires you to keep moving. It’s great for cyclists too. If you have an fitness-related business, a digital music promotions campaign that offers motivating and up-tempo music can really get your campaign off the starting blocks.
- Road Warriors: I've spent countless hours on planes and in cars, and I can only listen to podcasts for so long. But I would love to be rewarded for doing what I'm already doing, and listen to some of my favorite music. While we're not out there for the rewards, they still make a nice incentive. In fact, some Road Warriors will make a game out of it, and try to find the most profitable rewards for the fewest miles traveled. So if you can create a digital music promotions that's based on miles traveled, nights stayed, or dollars spent, you'll win the Road Warriors over.
- Stay At Home Parents: Tie your digital music promotions campaign into a product or service that a SAHM or SAHD is going to take advantage of. Parents are just like Road Warriors: they're already doing their thing, regardless of the incentives. But if they can get a little something extra for buying a product from you, instead of your competitors, they're more likely to take advantage of it.
- Entrepreneurs: Whether it is due to the economy, or the fact that more people have a burning desire to start their own business, we're seeing more entrepreneurs and in the business world these days. They are working in coffee shops, meeting at restaurants, and trying to keep costs as low as possible. When you start looking at their buying patterns, you see coffee shops being a big part of an entrepreneur's budget. The smart coffee shop owner is going to attract the entrepreneur crowd with a digital music promotions campaign. Instead of giving away a free cup of coffee, try giving away free downloads of the music you're playing in the store. And if you have musicians play on the weekends, be sure to include any of their music in your campaign.
- Julie Ann Ross
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Hip Digital Promotions Incentives
Design your digital promotions with the newest digital media content, including digital music, digital download promotions and ringtones of your customers' favorite artists. Hip Digital Media, the leading digital promotions firm, joined forces with Promotional Currency, specializing in promotions including promotional risk coverage to prevent over redemption on promotions. These two digital music powerhouses joined forces to merge digital content, with entertainment licensing, and proprietary risk coverage models, to deliver turnkey, fixed cost solutions for the promotional marketplace.
Digital Promotions Are Gaining Customer Loyalty
Digital promotions can go a long way in earning customer loyalty, which is very important to your business. That's because return business is going to be much more profitable than your new business.
It can cost five times as much to find a new customer than it does to keep an old one. It also takes a lot less effort to keep old customers than it does to find new ones. Plus, if you can convert returning customers to raving fans, you'll have people telling their friends about your business. You just don't get that word of mouth marketing by trying to gain new customers; it comes from the customers who are loyal to you and your brand.
But while most companies will use discounts and special offers to maintain customer loyalty, digital promotions make it possible for you to increase sales and keep your pricing at its current level, which can boost your profits even more.
That's because when you offer a discount, the savings comes off your profit margin. A 10% discount could be as much as a 20% or even 30% cut into your profits. But digital promotions will be much cheaper, cut into your profits less, and encourage customer loyalty in a way that a coupon just can't.
So, not only have you reduced the value of your product, you've just told your customer, "it's really not worth as much, and in fact, we overcharged you by 10% earlier." You also haven't done anything to earn their loyalty. You haven't done anything to make them love you, tell your friends about you, or come back again and again.
Digital promotions are a lot like a frequent buyers program ("Buy 9 items, and your 10th is free"). These programs are wildly successful, and customer loyalty marketers love them. That's because they compel the customer to return several times, until they make enough purchases to get their free item. (Coupons don't do that.)
Your digital promotions can be more along the lines of "buy 10 items, and get 5 free ringtone downloads," "refer 5 friends, get a free wallpaper," or even "upgrade to our premium membership, and get a free skin for your iPhone or Droid." You can tie your digital promotions into any fulfillment condition you want: purchases, references, upgrades, you name it.
The great thing about digital promotions is that 1) they only cost you the number of songs, which can be less than $1 per download, or the cost of the skins, which can be less than $7, depending on the provider.
Another great thing about a digital promotions campaign is that you can easily measure the ROI of the program. Whenever someone completes their condition — buy the 9 items, refer the 5 friends, etc. — you can determine who did it, when they downloaded their digital content, and how many more times they met the conditions to get more content.
You can also examine all this data to determine who your best customers are, who your most profitable customers are, who brings in the most new customers (and how much they spent), and even your most popular digital promotions content.
You can also test your digital promotion campaigns. Do some A/B testing of two different campaigns, and compare their success rate. You can test the different times of year, or the different levels of difficulty of fulfillment, or even compare it to two different types of giveaways, and use that data to see what kind of digital content your customers would like to "win" in the future.
Digital promotions campaigns are an excellent way to gain customer loyalty, while preserving your profit margin. You can tie the digital promotions directly into sales, it has a higher perceived value, you can measure your ROI, and even use it for market testing. It's the perfect marketing solution.
-Julie Ann Ross
It can cost five times as much to find a new customer than it does to keep an old one. It also takes a lot less effort to keep old customers than it does to find new ones. Plus, if you can convert returning customers to raving fans, you'll have people telling their friends about your business. You just don't get that word of mouth marketing by trying to gain new customers; it comes from the customers who are loyal to you and your brand.
But while most companies will use discounts and special offers to maintain customer loyalty, digital promotions make it possible for you to increase sales and keep your pricing at its current level, which can boost your profits even more.
That's because when you offer a discount, the savings comes off your profit margin. A 10% discount could be as much as a 20% or even 30% cut into your profits. But digital promotions will be much cheaper, cut into your profits less, and encourage customer loyalty in a way that a coupon just can't.
So, not only have you reduced the value of your product, you've just told your customer, "it's really not worth as much, and in fact, we overcharged you by 10% earlier." You also haven't done anything to earn their loyalty. You haven't done anything to make them love you, tell your friends about you, or come back again and again.
Why Digital Promotions Will Outperform Coupons
Digital promotions are a lot like a frequent buyers program ("Buy 9 items, and your 10th is free"). These programs are wildly successful, and customer loyalty marketers love them. That's because they compel the customer to return several times, until they make enough purchases to get their free item. (Coupons don't do that.)
Your digital promotions can be more along the lines of "buy 10 items, and get 5 free ringtone downloads," "refer 5 friends, get a free wallpaper," or even "upgrade to our premium membership, and get a free skin for your iPhone or Droid." You can tie your digital promotions into any fulfillment condition you want: purchases, references, upgrades, you name it.
The great thing about digital promotions is that 1) they only cost you the number of songs, which can be less than $1 per download, or the cost of the skins, which can be less than $7, depending on the provider.
You Can Measure the ROI of Your Digital Promotions
Another great thing about a digital promotions campaign is that you can easily measure the ROI of the program. Whenever someone completes their condition — buy the 9 items, refer the 5 friends, etc. — you can determine who did it, when they downloaded their digital content, and how many more times they met the conditions to get more content.
You can also examine all this data to determine who your best customers are, who your most profitable customers are, who brings in the most new customers (and how much they spent), and even your most popular digital promotions content.
You can also test your digital promotion campaigns. Do some A/B testing of two different campaigns, and compare their success rate. You can test the different times of year, or the different levels of difficulty of fulfillment, or even compare it to two different types of giveaways, and use that data to see what kind of digital content your customers would like to "win" in the future.
Digital promotions campaigns are an excellent way to gain customer loyalty, while preserving your profit margin. You can tie the digital promotions directly into sales, it has a higher perceived value, you can measure your ROI, and even use it for market testing. It's the perfect marketing solution.
-Julie Ann Ross
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
A Mobile Promotion Without Promotional Risk
A Mobile promotion is an excellent way to reach today's Generation Y customers through modern technology. A recent report — that any mobile promotion professional should read — showed that global data traffic exceeded an exabyte of data in 2009. That's 1 billion GB.
All told, there are 4.6 billion mobile phone users around the world, with a penetration rate of 68 percent. This is why mobile promotion strategies are so important in today's marketing world. In fact, mobile promotions may be one of the best marketing tools to come along in decades.
A mobile promotion doesn't require the traditional process and costs we've become accustomed to paying. No shipping, no packaging, no worrying about what to do with thousands of leftover tchotchkes.
That's because a mobile promotion is digital. Now, instead of giving out swag, you can give customers music downloads, movie promotions, special ringtones, and mobile games. Now, rather than sending out direct mail to people who might not be ideal customers, you can send out SMS messages to existing customers and people who sign up for your text club — people who want to hear from you. Everything is happening virtually, which means you don't have to worry about storage space
Of course, before you go planning your next campaign, make sure you include promotional risk coverage in your budget.
Promotional risk coverage is basically promotional insurance that makes sure you don't overextend your marketing budget or get yourself into a lot of trouble.
Let's say you wanted to run a contest where someone could win $100,000. The odds of someone winning are pretty remote, but what would you do if someone did win, and you didn't have $100,000? That's where promotional risk coverage saves your bacon.
Promotional risk coverage is also helpful to mobile promotion campaigns. It protects your campaign from over redemption on special gifts and downloads.
Let's say you've arranged with a music label to offer 5,000 downloads of their artists' songs as part of your mobile promotion campaign. But the stars align for you, the promotion takes off, and you end up with 15,000 downloads.
In the first week. And you've got four more weeks to go.
Most people would shut down their campaign right there, desperately hoping to cut their losses. That's where promotional risk can save you. Since it insures against instances like this, you're covered. The music label will still get paid, you can allow the mobile promotion to go on, and you gain more customers than you ever imagined.
We saw this happen in 2009, when Indianapolis-based Marsh Supermarkets ran a coupon promotion on Facebook, where they gave a $10 coupon for any purchase of more than $10... including $10.01.
They had 2,200 fans on Facebook, so the promotion should have cost $22,000. But 45,000 people redeemed the coupon. Marsh canceled the promotion, which angered a lot of their customers, and they took a big hit in the media.
But the biggest hit was the $450,000 in over redemption of the coupons — $428,000 more than they had expected. While they did generate a lot of resentment on the part of their customers, that was minor compared to what they could have lost if they hadn't shut off the promotion.
While it wasn't strictly a mobile promotion, it was a great example of why someone needs promotional risk coverage. Imagine if the same thing happened to your mobile promotion campaign. What would you do if customers were passing the free download codes to their friends? Would you cancel the campaign? Would you risk the backlash from your loyal customers who didn't get a chance to redeem their songs, just because a few people ruined it for the rest of them?
So is it a matter of people being irresponsible and greedy? Or did a mobile promotion succeed beyond our wildest expectations, and we didn't plan accordingly? While we like to think it's the latter, it's still hard to plan accordingly. No matter how wild our expectations are, we can't always see every possibility. That's where promotional risk coverage would have saved our mobile promotion campaign. And our bacon.
All told, there are 4.6 billion mobile phone users around the world, with a penetration rate of 68 percent. This is why mobile promotion strategies are so important in today's marketing world. In fact, mobile promotions may be one of the best marketing tools to come along in decades.
A mobile promotion doesn't require the traditional process and costs we've become accustomed to paying. No shipping, no packaging, no worrying about what to do with thousands of leftover tchotchkes.
That's because a mobile promotion is digital. Now, instead of giving out swag, you can give customers music downloads, movie promotions, special ringtones, and mobile games. Now, rather than sending out direct mail to people who might not be ideal customers, you can send out SMS messages to existing customers and people who sign up for your text club — people who want to hear from you. Everything is happening virtually, which means you don't have to worry about storage space
Of course, before you go planning your next campaign, make sure you include promotional risk coverage in your budget.
Promotional risk coverage is basically promotional insurance that makes sure you don't overextend your marketing budget or get yourself into a lot of trouble.
Let's say you wanted to run a contest where someone could win $100,000. The odds of someone winning are pretty remote, but what would you do if someone did win, and you didn't have $100,000? That's where promotional risk coverage saves your bacon.
Promotional risk coverage is also helpful to mobile promotion campaigns. It protects your campaign from over redemption on special gifts and downloads.
Let's say you've arranged with a music label to offer 5,000 downloads of their artists' songs as part of your mobile promotion campaign. But the stars align for you, the promotion takes off, and you end up with 15,000 downloads.
In the first week. And you've got four more weeks to go.
Most people would shut down their campaign right there, desperately hoping to cut their losses. That's where promotional risk can save you. Since it insures against instances like this, you're covered. The music label will still get paid, you can allow the mobile promotion to go on, and you gain more customers than you ever imagined.
We saw this happen in 2009, when Indianapolis-based Marsh Supermarkets ran a coupon promotion on Facebook, where they gave a $10 coupon for any purchase of more than $10... including $10.01.
They had 2,200 fans on Facebook, so the promotion should have cost $22,000. But 45,000 people redeemed the coupon. Marsh canceled the promotion, which angered a lot of their customers, and they took a big hit in the media.
But the biggest hit was the $450,000 in over redemption of the coupons — $428,000 more than they had expected. While they did generate a lot of resentment on the part of their customers, that was minor compared to what they could have lost if they hadn't shut off the promotion.
While it wasn't strictly a mobile promotion, it was a great example of why someone needs promotional risk coverage. Imagine if the same thing happened to your mobile promotion campaign. What would you do if customers were passing the free download codes to their friends? Would you cancel the campaign? Would you risk the backlash from your loyal customers who didn't get a chance to redeem their songs, just because a few people ruined it for the rest of them?
So is it a matter of people being irresponsible and greedy? Or did a mobile promotion succeed beyond our wildest expectations, and we didn't plan accordingly? While we like to think it's the latter, it's still hard to plan accordingly. No matter how wild our expectations are, we can't always see every possibility. That's where promotional risk coverage would have saved our mobile promotion campaign. And our bacon.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Mobile Promotions Including Music Downloads, Ringtones, Movies, and Games
Design your mobile promotion with the newest downloadable releases of music downloads, ringtones, and mobile games. Your promotion budget can be fixed with mobile promotions including promotional risk coverage.
It is worth the risk, but you don't have to take it. Promotional risk coverage protects your promotion budget from over redemption and assists you in fixing your advertising and marketing budget.
Promotional Currency is THE leading digital promotions firm, merging digital technology, artist licensing and promotional risk coverage to deliver turnkey, fixed-cost solutions for the promotional marketplace. Ask us why you can afford large prize offerings including mobile promotions on a budget. Fix your promotion budget with Promotional Currency, THE Digital Promotions Authority. http://www.promotionalcurrency.com
Friday, March 19, 2010
Four Reasons Your Entertainment Promotions Should be Digital
Your entertainment promotions may run into some trouble if you're not keeping up with the times. If you're still handing out trade show giveaways like pens, hats, and coffee mugs, you're going to lose some of your street cred with your customers.
These days, your entertainment promotions need to include digital incentives like music downloads and ringtones. Here are four important reasons why you need to stop giving out the logoed apparel, the baseball caps, and the 1 GB thumb drives as promotional incentives.
This year was first time Generation Y outnumbered the Baby Boomers, 82 million to 78 million. These Millennials were born with a computer mouse in one hand, and a cell phone in the other. Their media consumption is more online than offline. They read their news online, they watch YouTube and Hulu instead of TV, and they communicate by texting on their cell phones. Some of them are so mobile, they don't even use email anymore.
This means if you want to appeal to Generation Y, your entertainment promotions need to be digital in nature: music download cards (plastic or digital), ringtones, free online movie rentals, etc. Any of these are going to appeal to Generation Y more than the typical knickknack brick-a-brack you find at every bank opening, community festival, or trade show.
Tie your entertainment promotions into both sales and just showing up. Give people a free song download for visiting your location, and five more for spending $50. Doing this will create both goodwill for your brand, and will give people the kind of incentive they really enjoy.
Back in 2009, broadband Internet access had reached 60% of American homes. Broadband means we can go online faster. Pictures and documents download faster, communication is faster, we can watch movies online, communicate via video. And best of all, music downloads faster.
When you consider that Generation Y are some of the biggest consumers of digital music, increased broadband makes entertainment promotions like music downloads a win-win situation for both the customer and the marketer. Why not take advantage of that with your next entertainment promotions campaign?
There are so many cell phones in this country, you'll have an easier time finding people who don't have a cell phone than trying to figure out who does. We love our cell phones. We trick them out, download all kinds of apps and ringtones, and even take pictures, record videos, and listen to music on them. And if you have the time, you can even talk to someone.
People love customizing their phones so much, they'll even pay money for snippets of songs for ringtones. They'll download wallpapers of their favorite brands. And they'll even buy skins to decorate their phones. So your entertainment promotions should take advantage of this cellular obsession, and start giving your customers what they want: a cooler phone than the ones their friends have.
If you're sponsoring a special event, include some digital swag in your entertainment promotions campaign. Let people download custom ringtones, special wallpapers, and even promotional apps.
Rather than paying for design, production, and shipping costs, a digital promotion can be done strictly via websites, SMS (text), email, and even Twitter. So if your budget is limited, why sink your shrinking dollars into preparing your entertainment promotions campaign?
Why not take those dollars and put them into increasing your number of giveaways, the scope, or even the promotion of the campaign itself? Why pay to ship 500 coffee mugs to a trade show, when you can collect business cards and send emails for free? Why pay for embroidery costs on 1,000 baseball caps when you can spend the extra money on giving away music or ringtones? By using digital promotions, you can remove all those costs associated with just preparing your promotion, and put them toward actually giving away the entertainment promotions swag.
--Julie Ann Ross
These days, your entertainment promotions need to include digital incentives like music downloads and ringtones. Here are four important reasons why you need to stop giving out the logoed apparel, the baseball caps, and the 1 GB thumb drives as promotional incentives.
Generation Y Loves Digital Entertainment Promotions
This year was first time Generation Y outnumbered the Baby Boomers, 82 million to 78 million. These Millennials were born with a computer mouse in one hand, and a cell phone in the other. Their media consumption is more online than offline. They read their news online, they watch YouTube and Hulu instead of TV, and they communicate by texting on their cell phones. Some of them are so mobile, they don't even use email anymore.
This means if you want to appeal to Generation Y, your entertainment promotions need to be digital in nature: music download cards (plastic or digital), ringtones, free online movie rentals, etc. Any of these are going to appeal to Generation Y more than the typical knickknack brick-a-brack you find at every bank opening, community festival, or trade show.
Tie your entertainment promotions into both sales and just showing up. Give people a free song download for visiting your location, and five more for spending $50. Doing this will create both goodwill for your brand, and will give people the kind of incentive they really enjoy.
Increase in Broadband Boosts Digital Entertainment Promotions
Back in 2009, broadband Internet access had reached 60% of American homes. Broadband means we can go online faster. Pictures and documents download faster, communication is faster, we can watch movies online, communicate via video. And best of all, music downloads faster.
When you consider that Generation Y are some of the biggest consumers of digital music, increased broadband makes entertainment promotions like music downloads a win-win situation for both the customer and the marketer. Why not take advantage of that with your next entertainment promotions campaign?
Smart phones are becoming more popular
There are so many cell phones in this country, you'll have an easier time finding people who don't have a cell phone than trying to figure out who does. We love our cell phones. We trick them out, download all kinds of apps and ringtones, and even take pictures, record videos, and listen to music on them. And if you have the time, you can even talk to someone.
People love customizing their phones so much, they'll even pay money for snippets of songs for ringtones. They'll download wallpapers of their favorite brands. And they'll even buy skins to decorate their phones. So your entertainment promotions should take advantage of this cellular obsession, and start giving your customers what they want: a cooler phone than the ones their friends have.
If you're sponsoring a special event, include some digital swag in your entertainment promotions campaign. Let people download custom ringtones, special wallpapers, and even promotional apps.
Digital Entertainment Promotions Mean a Bigger Bang for Your Buck
Rather than paying for design, production, and shipping costs, a digital promotion can be done strictly via websites, SMS (text), email, and even Twitter. So if your budget is limited, why sink your shrinking dollars into preparing your entertainment promotions campaign?
Why not take those dollars and put them into increasing your number of giveaways, the scope, or even the promotion of the campaign itself? Why pay to ship 500 coffee mugs to a trade show, when you can collect business cards and send emails for free? Why pay for embroidery costs on 1,000 baseball caps when you can spend the extra money on giving away music or ringtones? By using digital promotions, you can remove all those costs associated with just preparing your promotion, and put them toward actually giving away the entertainment promotions swag.
--Julie Ann Ross
Using a Consumer Loyalty Program to Boost Sales
A consumer loyalty program can go a long way in helping you find and retain new customers, as well as keep existing ones. A consumer loyalty program tells your customers you value their business, and you want them to keep coming back.
Take the simple coffee card, for example. That's one of the easiest, most common type of consumer loyalty program you'll ever see. It's simple: buy 9 or 10 cups of coffee, and your next one is free. We've embraced this idea so warmly that we could float a battleship with all the free coffee we've drunk.
If you want your consumer loyalty program to be successful, it needs to be easy to use. If your customers buy a product X number of times, they can get the same product they're already buying.
A frequent buyer card is the best example of a consumer loyalty program, because it rewards customers for doing something they would normally do anyway. But it has the added effect of getting them to do it more frequently.
You can do this with music download cards or free ringtones. Give away one card or ringtone with every 10 items your customers buy, every 10 times they use your service, or every 10 friends they refer. Any kind of digital incentive can be marketed with a consumer loyalty program.
The thing we really like about a consumer loyalty program like music downloads is that they're hard for the customer to abandon. They'll think they can't give up my loyalty card once they've started it. They get the card for the first stamp out of habit. "I could quit any time. Maybe I'll try a different program and see if I can find a better one," they promise themselves. But they go back, because they don't have time, or because it's a habit.
Once they cross that threshold of three or four purchases on their card, they figure they might as well keep going. That other program will still be there. "I'll check it out next week, after I get this song. Once I hit seven or eight, I can see the finish line. It's just up ahead. A couple more purchases, and WIN! I get a free song!"
And anyone who knows anything about customer loyalty management uses this kind of marketing, and will try to give away a digital incentive, or even a few, to the really loyal customers. "Go nuts," they tell us. Because they know they've more than made up for the cost of the extra freebies by bringing them back 10 other times over the last few weeks. In fact, by offering a consumer loyalty program, they've probably brought the customer back a few more times each month than they might have otherwise visited. A real customer loyalty management pro will also know how to keep track of the average number of visits of their customers, and can track how effectively their promotions are increasing sales.
There isn't one.
Okay, there are a few, but it usually happens if the consumer loyalty program is not run properly. If you don't promote it to your customers. Or if your offer is too difficult — buy 100 songs in 30 days. Or the reward is not motivation enough — buy 100 songs in 30 days and get one free ringtone.
By making the reward seem worthless or cheap, or the purchases too difficult to reach, you can actually hurt the effectiveness of your consumer loyalty program.
You can find almost any kind of consumer loyalty program if you look hard enough. Look online, check out a few consumer loyalty program, case studies and digital incentive programs. And visit a local coffee shop and check out their program. Once you get your first cup, you'll be hooked.
--Julie Ann Ross
Take the simple coffee card, for example. That's one of the easiest, most common type of consumer loyalty program you'll ever see. It's simple: buy 9 or 10 cups of coffee, and your next one is free. We've embraced this idea so warmly that we could float a battleship with all the free coffee we've drunk.
Psychology of a Consumer Loyalty Program
If you want your consumer loyalty program to be successful, it needs to be easy to use. If your customers buy a product X number of times, they can get the same product they're already buying.
A frequent buyer card is the best example of a consumer loyalty program, because it rewards customers for doing something they would normally do anyway. But it has the added effect of getting them to do it more frequently.
You can do this with music download cards or free ringtones. Give away one card or ringtone with every 10 items your customers buy, every 10 times they use your service, or every 10 friends they refer. Any kind of digital incentive can be marketed with a consumer loyalty program.
The thing we really like about a consumer loyalty program like music downloads is that they're hard for the customer to abandon. They'll think they can't give up my loyalty card once they've started it. They get the card for the first stamp out of habit. "I could quit any time. Maybe I'll try a different program and see if I can find a better one," they promise themselves. But they go back, because they don't have time, or because it's a habit.
Once they cross that threshold of three or four purchases on their card, they figure they might as well keep going. That other program will still be there. "I'll check it out next week, after I get this song. Once I hit seven or eight, I can see the finish line. It's just up ahead. A couple more purchases, and WIN! I get a free song!"
And anyone who knows anything about customer loyalty management uses this kind of marketing, and will try to give away a digital incentive, or even a few, to the really loyal customers. "Go nuts," they tell us. Because they know they've more than made up for the cost of the extra freebies by bringing them back 10 other times over the last few weeks. In fact, by offering a consumer loyalty program, they've probably brought the customer back a few more times each month than they might have otherwise visited. A real customer loyalty management pro will also know how to keep track of the average number of visits of their customers, and can track how effectively their promotions are increasing sales.
The Downside of the Consumer Loyalty Program
There isn't one.
Okay, there are a few, but it usually happens if the consumer loyalty program is not run properly. If you don't promote it to your customers. Or if your offer is too difficult — buy 100 songs in 30 days. Or the reward is not motivation enough — buy 100 songs in 30 days and get one free ringtone.
By making the reward seem worthless or cheap, or the purchases too difficult to reach, you can actually hurt the effectiveness of your consumer loyalty program.
You can find almost any kind of consumer loyalty program if you look hard enough. Look online, check out a few consumer loyalty program, case studies and digital incentive programs. And visit a local coffee shop and check out their program. Once you get your first cup, you'll be hooked.
--Julie Ann Ross
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Music Download Cards Promotion of Candlewood Suites
Music download cards are a great digital promotion to reach both Generation Y as well as Generation X and Baby Boomers. While many people think that only Generation Y uses digital media, there are plenty of Gen Xers and Boomers who love their MP3 players too. And they're buying music like crazy.
Hotel Stays = Music Download Cards
Holiday Inn brand, Candlewood Suites, used that knowledge to reach their own customer base by offering music download cards to their Holiday Inn Priority Club members. The typical Priority Club member tends to be people in their 30s and older, frequent business travelers, and probably still listening to the music they heard in high school and college.
They created an entire campaign of music download cards around Classic Rock songs — music of the Boomers and older Gen Xers — that would appeal to many business travelers: stay at Candlewood Suites Hotel, and for each night you stay (because business travelers stay more than one night), you'll earn Priority Club points, be entered for a chance to win a $1,000 Ticketmaster gift card, and get five free music downloads. One night, one card; two nights equals two music download cards.
Users could choose from the hit list on the custom landing page, or find their favorites on the entire catalogue. All they did is punch in the numbers on their music download cards, download their favorite songs to their MP3 players, and they were all set. Now, business travelers could be reminded of their youth, while making grown-up salaries.
Book Online More = Music Download Cards
They even sweetened the deal: book your stay online, get another card. This meant that if you were a frequent traveler, you got as many music download cards you could shake a mouse at.
The upshot of this is that by having guests book their suites online, they can reduce call center costs. And reducing call center salaries for the cost of giving away some music download cards means Candlewood Suites saw an immediate ROI, before the final sales figures were ever calculated.
Measuring the Effectiveness of Music Download Cards
If a company chooses, music download cards can also be tracked to individual users. Since each card is given a specific number, the analytics can show when a particular person uses one of their music download cards. They can also pinpoint how frequently a person stays, visits the corporate website, and whether the program increased their number of stays. Future promotions can target only those guests who stay a certain number of nights, or use specific features of the website.
User Interaction Improves Response
Finally, users were encouraged to vote for their favorite classic rock hit. The Beatles won with 3,096 votes, Led Zeppelin came in second with 1,595 votes, and Queen was last with 432 votes (despite the awesomeness of "Bohemian Rhapsody"). All told, the top 10 bands earned 9,755 votes. Or to put it another way, at least 9,755 people participated in the program.
How to Use the Data
Let's consider some possible future uses of this data. Claire spends six nights in Candlewood Suites over the summer, and she downloads a few Journey songs (among others). Next summer when Journey is back out on tour (yes, they still tour), Candlewood Suites can send Claire some notification emails when Journey is going to be in cities with a Candlewood Suites in them.
Carl spends six nights in Candlewood Suites and downloads songs by the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and The Eagles. When the Stones release their next album (no, they're not dead yet), they can offer it as a digital promotion gift to Carl if he stays for three nights at a Candlewood Suites next Spring.
While we're not sure of the final results, we do know that Candlewood Suites saw some great success with their music download cards program. With some careful planning and market research into your customer base, companies can increase (and easily measure) the ROI of a digital promotions campaign.
--Julie Ann Ross
Hotel Stays = Music Download Cards
Holiday Inn brand, Candlewood Suites, used that knowledge to reach their own customer base by offering music download cards to their Holiday Inn Priority Club members. The typical Priority Club member tends to be people in their 30s and older, frequent business travelers, and probably still listening to the music they heard in high school and college.
They created an entire campaign of music download cards around Classic Rock songs — music of the Boomers and older Gen Xers — that would appeal to many business travelers: stay at Candlewood Suites Hotel, and for each night you stay (because business travelers stay more than one night), you'll earn Priority Club points, be entered for a chance to win a $1,000 Ticketmaster gift card, and get five free music downloads. One night, one card; two nights equals two music download cards.
Users could choose from the hit list on the custom landing page, or find their favorites on the entire catalogue. All they did is punch in the numbers on their music download cards, download their favorite songs to their MP3 players, and they were all set. Now, business travelers could be reminded of their youth, while making grown-up salaries.
Book Online More = Music Download Cards
They even sweetened the deal: book your stay online, get another card. This meant that if you were a frequent traveler, you got as many music download cards you could shake a mouse at.
The upshot of this is that by having guests book their suites online, they can reduce call center costs. And reducing call center salaries for the cost of giving away some music download cards means Candlewood Suites saw an immediate ROI, before the final sales figures were ever calculated.
Measuring the Effectiveness of Music Download Cards
If a company chooses, music download cards can also be tracked to individual users. Since each card is given a specific number, the analytics can show when a particular person uses one of their music download cards. They can also pinpoint how frequently a person stays, visits the corporate website, and whether the program increased their number of stays. Future promotions can target only those guests who stay a certain number of nights, or use specific features of the website.
User Interaction Improves Response
Finally, users were encouraged to vote for their favorite classic rock hit. The Beatles won with 3,096 votes, Led Zeppelin came in second with 1,595 votes, and Queen was last with 432 votes (despite the awesomeness of "Bohemian Rhapsody"). All told, the top 10 bands earned 9,755 votes. Or to put it another way, at least 9,755 people participated in the program.
How to Use the Data
Let's consider some possible future uses of this data. Claire spends six nights in Candlewood Suites over the summer, and she downloads a few Journey songs (among others). Next summer when Journey is back out on tour (yes, they still tour), Candlewood Suites can send Claire some notification emails when Journey is going to be in cities with a Candlewood Suites in them.
Carl spends six nights in Candlewood Suites and downloads songs by the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and The Eagles. When the Stones release their next album (no, they're not dead yet), they can offer it as a digital promotion gift to Carl if he stays for three nights at a Candlewood Suites next Spring.
While we're not sure of the final results, we do know that Candlewood Suites saw some great success with their music download cards program. With some careful planning and market research into your customer base, companies can increase (and easily measure) the ROI of a digital promotions campaign.
--Julie Ann Ross
Monday, February 22, 2010
Why Digital Promotions Are Better for Trade Shows
Digital promotions are replacing — or should be — the traditional trade show tchotchkes and giveaways we've been subjected to over the years. Maybe it's because I'm in the digital promotions business, or because I've got enough cheap plastic pens to last two lifetimes, but I really think these digital promotion campaigns are going to be the wave of the trade show future.
For one thing, the effectiveness of digital promotions, like music downloads, ringtones, or even online gift cards, are easy to prove. Basically, I can track whenever someone downloads a song or ringtone using one of my promotions. In fact, I can tell you exactly who downloaded it and when. If it's someone important, I can know to the second when they accessed their digital promotion, and make the appropriate followup.
For another thing, I can target my digital promotions. Rather than buying 5000 flashlights and handing them out to anyone who walks past my booth, I can purchase the list of show attendees and send them an invitation to stop by the booth where they'll receive a free music download card. I can pick and choose who will receive my invitation, and then keep track of who stopped by.
Or I can come at this from the other end and email a special download to everyone who stopped by my booth. This way, I can send my giveaways only to potential customers, rather than giving one out to everyone who stopped by looking for a freebie.
Believe it or not, you're helping the environment by giving away digital promotions items. Rather than creating one more plastic widget (pollution), which needs to be shipped (oil and gas), and will sit forgotten until it dries up and you pitch it (landfill), a digital promotions campaign doesn't need any sort of offline promotion if you don't want it. You can promote your digital freebies by email, Twitter, and Facebook if you want. Or you can use offline promotional methods using some of the different green technology out there.
They also don't require a lot of distribution efforts. I can give out my digital promotions by giving away a stack of cards to people who visit my booth, or just by emailing everyone on my list. There are benefits to both. If I hand them out, I can talk to the people I'm giving them to. This lets me make a sales contact, and tell the person about my product or service. But emailing them is free, and a big time saver. Rather than giving the same message over and over to a handful of people, I can reach dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of customers. And best of all, by using variable data, I can keep track of who received it, took advantage of it, and then converted into a paying customer. Handing out 5,000 flashlights won't let me do it with the same accuracy and ease as digital promotions do.
Like I said in a previous postdigital promotions provide your customers instant gratification. People can redeem their giveaway immediately or at their convenience. They're also easy to redeem. They don't take up space in the customer's luggage, they're not forgotten or given away to their kids, where your customer never sees them again. If it's a song, they'll hear it on their MP3 player, and remember where they got it. If it's a ringtone, they'll think of you whenever their phone rings. Not like a stress ball, Frisbee, or funny hat, which I've seen at previous trade shows.
--Julie Ann Ross
For one thing, the effectiveness of digital promotions, like music downloads, ringtones, or even online gift cards, are easy to prove. Basically, I can track whenever someone downloads a song or ringtone using one of my promotions. In fact, I can tell you exactly who downloaded it and when. If it's someone important, I can know to the second when they accessed their digital promotion, and make the appropriate followup.
Digital Promotions are Targeted
For another thing, I can target my digital promotions. Rather than buying 5000 flashlights and handing them out to anyone who walks past my booth, I can purchase the list of show attendees and send them an invitation to stop by the booth where they'll receive a free music download card. I can pick and choose who will receive my invitation, and then keep track of who stopped by.
Or I can come at this from the other end and email a special download to everyone who stopped by my booth. This way, I can send my giveaways only to potential customers, rather than giving one out to everyone who stopped by looking for a freebie.
Digital Promotions are Green
Believe it or not, you're helping the environment by giving away digital promotions items. Rather than creating one more plastic widget (pollution), which needs to be shipped (oil and gas), and will sit forgotten until it dries up and you pitch it (landfill), a digital promotions campaign doesn't need any sort of offline promotion if you don't want it. You can promote your digital freebies by email, Twitter, and Facebook if you want. Or you can use offline promotional methods using some of the different green technology out there.
They also don't require a lot of distribution efforts. I can give out my digital promotions by giving away a stack of cards to people who visit my booth, or just by emailing everyone on my list. There are benefits to both. If I hand them out, I can talk to the people I'm giving them to. This lets me make a sales contact, and tell the person about my product or service. But emailing them is free, and a big time saver. Rather than giving the same message over and over to a handful of people, I can reach dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of customers. And best of all, by using variable data, I can keep track of who received it, took advantage of it, and then converted into a paying customer. Handing out 5,000 flashlights won't let me do it with the same accuracy and ease as digital promotions do.
Digital Promotions are Immediate and Efficient
Like I said in a previous postdigital promotions provide your customers instant gratification. People can redeem their giveaway immediately or at their convenience. They're also easy to redeem. They don't take up space in the customer's luggage, they're not forgotten or given away to their kids, where your customer never sees them again. If it's a song, they'll hear it on their MP3 player, and remember where they got it. If it's a ringtone, they'll think of you whenever their phone rings. Not like a stress ball, Frisbee, or funny hat, which I've seen at previous trade shows.
--Julie Ann Ross
Why Digital Promotions Are Better for Trade Shows
Digital promotions are replacing — or should be — the traditional trade show tchotchkes and giveaways we've been subjected to over the years. Maybe it's because I'm in the digital promotions business, or because I've got enough cheap plastic pens to last two lifetimes, but I really think these digital promotion campaigns are going to be the wave of the trade show future.
For one thing, the effectiveness of digital promotions, like music downloads, ringtones, or even online gift cards, are easy to prove. Basically, I can track whenever someone downloads a song or ringtone using one of my promotions. In fact, I can tell you exactly who downloaded it and when. If it's someone important, I can know to the second when they accessed their digital promotion, and make the appropriate followup.
For another thing, I can target my digital promotions. Rather than buying 5000 flashlights and handing them out to anyone who walks past my booth, I can purchase the list of show attendees and send them an invitation to stop by the booth where they'll receive a free music download card. I can pick and choose who will receive my invitation, and then keep track of who stopped by.
Or I can come at this from the other end and email a special download to everyone who stopped by my booth. This way, I can send my giveaways only to potential customers, rather than giving one out to everyone who stopped by looking for a freebie.
Believe it or not, you're helping the environment by giving away digital promotions items. Rather than creating one more plastic widget (pollution), which needs to be shipped (oil and gas), and will sit forgotten until it dries up and you pitch it (landfill), a digital promotions campaign doesn't need any sort of offline promotion if you don't want it. You can promote your digital freebies by email, Twitter, and Facebook if you want. Or you can use offline promotional methods using some of the different green technology out there.
They also don't require a lot of distribution efforts. I can give out my digital promotions by giving away a stack of cards to people who visit my booth, or just by emailing everyone on my list. There are benefits to both. If I hand them out, I can talk to the people I'm giving them to. This lets me make a sales contact, and tell the person about my product or service. But emailing them is free, and a big time saver. Rather than giving the same message over and over to a handful of people, I can reach dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of customers. And best of all, by using variable data, I can keep track of who received it, took advantage of it, and then converted into a paying customer. Handing out 5,000 flashlights won't let me do it with the same accuracy and ease as digital promotions do.
Like I said in a previous postdigital promotions provide your customers instant gratification. People can redeem their giveaway immediately or at their convenience. They're also easy to redeem. They don't take up space in the customer's luggage, they're not forgotten or given away to their kids, where your customer never sees them again. If it's a song, they'll hear it on their MP3 player, and remember where they got it. If it's a ringtone, they'll think of you whenever their phone rings. Not like a stress ball, Frisbee, or funny hat, which I've seen at previous trade shows.
For one thing, the effectiveness of digital promotions, like music downloads, ringtones, or even online gift cards, are easy to prove. Basically, I can track whenever someone downloads a song or ringtone using one of my promotions. In fact, I can tell you exactly who downloaded it and when. If it's someone important, I can know to the second when they accessed their digital promotion, and make the appropriate followup.
Digital Promotions are Targeted
For another thing, I can target my digital promotions. Rather than buying 5000 flashlights and handing them out to anyone who walks past my booth, I can purchase the list of show attendees and send them an invitation to stop by the booth where they'll receive a free music download card. I can pick and choose who will receive my invitation, and then keep track of who stopped by.
Or I can come at this from the other end and email a special download to everyone who stopped by my booth. This way, I can send my giveaways only to potential customers, rather than giving one out to everyone who stopped by looking for a freebie.
Digital Promotions are Green
Believe it or not, you're helping the environment by giving away digital promotions items. Rather than creating one more plastic widget (pollution), which needs to be shipped (oil and gas), and will sit forgotten until it dries up and you pitch it (landfill), a digital promotions campaign doesn't need any sort of offline promotion if you don't want it. You can promote your digital freebies by email, Twitter, and Facebook if you want. Or you can use offline promotional methods using some of the different green technology out there.
They also don't require a lot of distribution efforts. I can give out my digital promotions by giving away a stack of cards to people who visit my booth, or just by emailing everyone on my list. There are benefits to both. If I hand them out, I can talk to the people I'm giving them to. This lets me make a sales contact, and tell the person about my product or service. But emailing them is free, and a big time saver. Rather than giving the same message over and over to a handful of people, I can reach dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of customers. And best of all, by using variable data, I can keep track of who received it, took advantage of it, and then converted into a paying customer. Handing out 5,000 flashlights won't let me do it with the same accuracy and ease as digital promotions do.
Digital Promotions are Immediate and Efficient
Like I said in a previous postdigital promotions provide your customers instant gratification. People can redeem their giveaway immediately or at their convenience. They're also easy to redeem. They don't take up space in the customer's luggage, they're not forgotten or given away to their kids, where your customer never sees them again. If it's a song, they'll hear it on their MP3 player, and remember where they got it. If it's a ringtone, they'll think of you whenever their phone rings. Not like a stress ball, Frisbee, or funny hat, which I've seen at previous trade shows.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Customer Loyalty Programs Using Promotional Risk Coverage
Your promotion budget can be fixed to increase customer loyalty with digital promotions including promotional risk coverage. It is worth the risk, but you don't have to take it. Promotional risk coverage protects your promotion budget from over redemption and assists you in fixing your advertising and marketing budget. Promotional Currency is THE leading digital promotions firm, merging digital technology, artist licensing and promotional risk coverage to deliver turnkey, fixed-cost solutions for the promotional marketplace. Ask us why you can afford large prize offerings including digital promotions on a budget. Fix your promotion budget with Promotional Currency, THE Digital Promotions Authority. http://www.promotionalcurrency.com
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Promotions Using Promotional Risk Coverage to Build Customer Loyalty
Promotions budget solution to increase customer loyalty starts with digital promotions including promotional risk coverage. It is worth the risk, but you don't have to take it. Promotional risk coverage protects your promotion budget from over redemption and assists you in fixing your advertising and marketing budget. Promotional Currency is THE leading digital promotions firm, merging digital technology, artist licensing and promotional risk coverage to deliver turnkey, fixed-cost solutions for the promotional marketplace. Ask us why you can afford large prize offerings including digital promotions on a budget. Fix your promotion budget with Promotional Currency, THE Digital Promotions Authority. http://www.promotionalcurrency.com
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Brand Promotions Using Digital Media Reach Generation Y
Digital brand promotions are a great way to reach Generation Y. In fact, some Gen Y marketing experts will tell you digital brand promotions may be the only real way to reach them.
This is important, because Gen Y — born between 1977 and 1994 — are worth $200 billion in spending per year, and they affect another $300 - $400 billion in family spending (i.e. restaurants, clothing, and even cars). But they're ignoring ads on traditional media, choosing instead to consume media online and on their cell phones, the home of digital brand promotions. So they're not actually seeing your TV commercials, hearing your radio spots, or reading your newspaper ads.
This will actually make life easier for the brand promotions manager. As Generation Y consumes more media online, your digital brand promotions can be quickly created, easily tracked, and changed or dropped when you find something is working.
Gone are the days of traditional brand promotions through TV ads and radio campaigns, where you had to wait until the end of the sales quarter to see if your efforts had any effect. Gone are the days of guessing whether it was your billboards or the TV spots that resulted in the most sales. With digital promotions, you can get real-time results and see if people are buying, watching, or downloading whatever product or service you're selling. If they're not, change a few of the creative variables and see if that makes a difference.
Social media sites like Facebook and MySpace are a great way to reach Gen Yers and effective avenues to build a database for your brand promotions campaign. Purchase digital ads that are delivered to people who your target demographic. For example, you could promote an upcoming concert by selecting people between the ages of 18 - 24 in the cities on the tour. Brand managers collect names to build a marketing database, by offering social media users free music downloads or ringtones to people who register for the promotional giveaway.
You can further enhance your concert brand promotions by offering prizes or swag to the fans who promote the concert to their friends, asking them to forward it to their friends. Then, collect everyone's information, and you're also building a future contact list of fans where you can promote future concerts, upcoming albums, and merchandise. Gen Y is responding to digital promotions and prize offerings in a big way.
Text messaging is another great way to reach Generation Y, because they're texting like crazy. A recent report on NielsenWire says the average teenager is texting 3,146 times per month. So your digital brand promotions should include texting. Text promotions reach these consumers in their element.
Whether you're creating an opt-in text club, or including ads as part of a service, like sports scores or news updates, people are more willing to accept brand promotions messages as a part of a service. And the more useful your service is, the more often they'll see your ad. In fact, according to an article in the New York Times, during the 2008 NFL draft, Coors sent text messages about draft pick updates and put Coors branding on each message.
Generation Y is also skipping the TV in order to watch YouTube and Hulu videos instead. If you got the brand promotions budget for it, consider placing ads on Hulu videos, rather than buying a TV commercial. Since Hulu will only show 3 or 4 commercials per 30 minute show, people are more willing to sit through them, rather than getting up or flipping around. Several of our friends have watched shows on Hulu, and actually even taken the time to rate commercials, rather than ignore them.
In short, Generation Y is online, and they're responding to those brands that communicate directly with them. Rather than trying to reach them through traditional promotions, give digital brand promotions a try instead. Communicating with Gen Y through relationship marketing is a surefire way to reach them and get them to respond to you.
--Julie Ross, Rostin Ventures
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
A Promotion Budget Including Promotion Insurance Can Save Your Job & Reputation
Planning your promotion budget may just be the thing that saves your job, when you remember to include one very important item: Promotional Risk Coverage.
Let's say you want to launch a promotional contest that offers a large cash prize. You know that giving away $20 isn't going to get anyone's attention, but you're worried your promotion budget can't handle giving away a free car either.
Or can it?
That's where promotional risk coverage becomes an important addition to your promotion budget. Basically, you insure your contest against someone actually winning the prize.
Let's say you're running a contest at your Chamber's annual golf outing, and you're giving away a new car if someone hits a hole-in-one on the 14th hole. You decide to save on your promotion budget by risking that no one will actually hit a hole-in-one. After all, the odds of someone actually hitting it are quite high — the United States Golf Register says it's anywhere from 1 in 20,000 to 1 in 33,000.
Pretty decent odds. You could probably offer the car, knowing that no one will hit it. But what if they do? What if someone makes that 1-in-33,000 shot? It could happen. People get lucky all the time, so why not at a golf contest where the hole-in-one prize is a $25,000 car?
That's when your promotion budget, your job, and possibly your company, are in the toilet. That's when you wish your promotion budget had promotion insurance.
You can see examples of smart promotional risk coverage all the time, in big prize contests both online and offline. And in most cases, those companies didn't have the big promotion budget to give away that new car, trip to the Pro Bowl, or a brand new house. Sure, those companies are hoping that no one wins those big prizes. But they're being very careful in case someone does.
Promotion insurance only costs a fraction of what the actual prize is worth. It's based on the value of the prize, the odds of someone winning, and the number of chances a customer gets to win. A promotion budget expert in promotional risk coverage will suggest a promotion — and a prize — that will fit within your promotion budget.
Promotional risk coverage is also important to prevent over redemption of your coupon offerings, and insures a bad contest doesn't get worse. That's when your promotion budget can really take a hit.
Case in point: Marsh Supermarkets is a small chain in Central Indiana. Last summer, they ran a Facebook coupon campaign that gave $10 off any purchase of more than $10. Coupons were given only to their Facebook fans. There was no real promotion budget, no planning, and no legal disclaimers in case they needed to end the campaign early.
Some marketing experts described what happened next "like that episode of WKRP in Cincinnati where they threw turkeys out of the plane."
The store had 2,200 fans on Facebook, so at most, the campaign should have cost $22,000. But people over-redeemed the coupons — 45,000 or so — for a purchase as low as $10.01. (Remember that the coupon was for any purchase over $10.) So Marsh canceled the promotion after a few days, and angered a lot of their customers.
Lesson number 1 is that you always need to talk to someone in marketing risk management with experience in prize insurance, before running a major contest. But lesson number 2 is you need to make sure your promotion budget includes promotional risk coverage.
While we don't know if they had any promotion insurance in their promotion budget, this could have at least mitigated the losses the store experienced. If they had spoken to a promotional risk coverage professional first, they might have avoided a lot of the problems and backlash they experienced.
As you can see, including promotional risk coverage in your promotion budget will not only let you run a bigger campaign, but in the case of Marsh Supermarkets, can save your reputation and your job.
--Julie Ross, Rostin Ventures
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Digital Promotions Including Promotional Risk Coverage Roll With The Moment
Your digital promotion budget solution to increase customer loyalty starts with digital promotions including promotional risk coverage. Promotional Currency is THE leading digital promotions firm, merging digital technology, artist licensing and promotional risk coverage to deliver turnkey, fixed-cost solutions for the promotional marketplace. Ask us why you can afford large prize offerings including digital promotions on a budget. Fix your promotion budget with Promotional Currency, THE Digital Promotions Authority.
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Sunday, January 10, 2010
Digital Promotions Creating Customer Loyalty of Gen Y Forever
Digital promotions continue to spur billions of dollars in annual sales for product suppliers. By offering promotional incentives, through mobile promotions, online promotions, music download promotions, and other custom promotions, companies can tap into a vast pool of consumers that would otherwise be all but unreachable.
Promotional Currency brings a powerful combination of brand promotions including promotional incentives, entertainment promotions, music download promotions, ringtone promotions, mobile promotions, online instant win games and artist licensing - offering brand partners the first one-stop source for all online promotions, wireless and digital promotions.
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