Digital Promotions: The Right Offer, Consumer and Provider Are All in the Mix

Digital promotions plug in with consumers of today lead lifestyles that challenge marketers to influence buying behaviors using methods beyond traditional advertising from print, TV, direct mail and radio. Now, brands need to catch up with consumers on the go, and interact where buyers work, eat, play and shop. There are digital promotions that reach and influence every socio-economic bracket and every age group, from elementary schoolers to senior citizens:

* music downloads
* ringtones
* mobile content
* social Media, including facebook and Twitter
* eBook
* online and virtual promotions
* digital movie downloads



Here's what we know about consumers and digital promotions:
According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, consumers in the United States are still feeling the crunch of a challenging economy, and they desire to keep cash on hand by buying less but making more frequent trips to the store. While keeping a product's digital promotion in mind, consider these research findings:

* communications from the store or brand aid in the shopper's decision to buy
* if the digital promotion involves a product type that they normally buy, consumers are more likely to notice a previously-ignored product if it involves a digital promotion
* oftentimes shoppers make an unplanned purchase based on a digital promotion
* some consumers will even switch to a different product when enticed by a digital promotion
* sales increase when aided by promotions in general



Unfortunately, it's not enough use just any digital promotions provider in order to increase sales for your brand. How many of us have been excited to receive free music downloads from a box of oatmeal, only to find that the online redemption site only houses music from unknown labels with artists we've never heard of? How about the time we wanted to take advantage of a free eBook promotion, but could only do so if we entered our credit card for a "free" one-week subscription? Or we tried to redeem a free movie from a digital promotions site, and the download timed out? The result of these is a killed emotional connection with a potential long-term customer, and no brand can afford that.

So in crafting your marketing strategy that incorporates digital promotions, it makes sense to keep these in mind:
1. Develop a solid partnership with a digital promotions provider who has worked with campaigns of all sizes, in various industries, for brands large and small. Tapping into their knowledge and experience will bring ideas and tactics to the table that sometimes only an outsider can contribute.
2. Keep your digital promotions campaign affordable and within your budget. One of the best ways to accomplish this, while at the same time launching promotional campaign on a large scale, is to implement promotional risk underwriting. If this type of promotions insurance isn't available through your selected provider, keep looking.
3. Employ a turnkey digital promotions provider with the highest-quality technology available. Again, it’s about ensuring that your customers experience no difficulties in redeeming your offer. An online music download engine, for example, that isn’t both PC and Mac-compatible is poison to your brand’s image.
4. Tailor your brand's digital promotions toward your target market. Recent research data released by the Neilsen Group, for example, cites the Asian and Hispanic population as the groups who are buying the highest number of smart phones over the past year. These demographics, then, may be the best for digital promotions offering free mobile content including ringtones, wallpaper and games.

Brand loyalty and increased sales for your brand extend well beyond the instant gratification and perceived value from a consumer's initial redemption of digital promotions. Precise choosing of the product, digital promotion, and provider will ultimately lead to higher numbers at the cash registers - and on your financials.

What Do Customers Want From a Loyalty Program?

Thinking about a loyalty program to boost the bottom line? Whether it is a digital music promotion, offering free gifts with a purchase, or even a buy-10-get-1 frequent buyers card, many marketers question whether they should use a loyalty program for their business, and how effective it might be.

Back in 2009, the Chief Marketing Officer Council (CMOC) studied what customers wanted from their customer loyalty program, and what marketers were providing. What they learned was that companies are not fully connecting with their customers through their loyalty programs. Most companies receive high marks for their loyalty program offerings — perks, discounts, free gifts, deals, digital music downloads — but are not providing effective or useful communication to their program members.

According to the CMOC survey, customers are looking for "deeper engagement and personalized contact" in their loyalty program, "not mass blast communications and gimmicks." In other words, loyalty program marketers should focus on:

* Personalized Communication: According to the survey, customers expect their companies to understand them better (24 percent of marketers say their customers feel they do not get enough personalized attention). Whether it is direct mail or email, the technology exists to completely personalize communication with customers. The technology has gone beyond the basic "Dear _______" mail merge program, which means there should be no "Dear Valued Customer" emails or letters. Now loyalty program communications can change out body copy, offers, and even photos and graphics, providing a completely personal experience.
* Meaningful Rewards: The CMOC also found that customers want "more relevant and valued offers" from their loyalty program. However, the survey respondents were almost equally divided about what they should offer as member benefits: 39 percent offer discounts and savings, 34 percent offer free products and premiums, and 33 percent offer points.

This becomes a little more important when looking at the results for "typical customer complaints about loyalty programs." According to the CMOC, nearly 30 percent of respondents said that some of their customers saw little or no added value to becoming a member, 24 percent believe the rewards "lack substance." As a regular member of several loyalty programs, it is easy to see how small discounts or low-dollar value gifts for high-dollar purchases can be seen as lacking substance.

The very definition of the loyalty program is to get occasional customers and visitors to become regular customers and even brand loyalists. Given the fact that most marketers (61 percent) believe that members are their most profitable customers, it makes sense that they try to create more brand loyalists. However, the more desired result is to motivate the brand loyalists to become brand evangelists. The best way to do this is to include a reward-for-referral component to the company loyalty program.

Marketers spend over $2 billion each year to grow and run their loyalty programs. But according to the CMOC survey, only 13 percent of the respondents believe they have been "highly effective" in using their loyalty program to achieve any success. Another 25 percent say they have not been able to motivate their brand loyalists to become brand evangelists.

The long and short of it is, a loyalty program is an efficient way to turn visitors into regular customers, regular customers into brand loyalists. These loyalists can even become evangelists, given the right type of program and offer. To determine this, the savvy marketer will take time to examine her target market, the use (or non-use) of technology, and what sort of offers will keep the customers returning time after time. By finding out what their customers want, marketers can turn their brand loyalists into brand evangelists, who can bring in new customers, and grow their customer base, starting a whole new group of customers to move through the process.

SOURCE: http://www.cmocouncil.org/news/pr/2010/012510.asp

What Does New Verizon iPhone Mean For Digital Promotions?

Digital promotions experts will call February 11, 2011 the day their industry got a big boost, the day Verizon began offering the iPhone 4 to its customers. This means that not only will the Apple operating system (OS) see an increase in market share, but it means that a lot of people will be buying their first-ever smart phones, switching over from the old standard flip phones.

Some experts believe that Verizon may sell as many as 13 million new iPhones in 2011. (1) This will be a big relief to Apple, because many industry experts were expecting the Android OS to surpass them in market share in 2011.

Digital promotions professionals should be heartened by the news, because it shows that digital promotions strategies will not only have a new channel, but many, many new subscribers. Here are a few predictions for what the iPhone will mean for them in 2011.

1) Digital promotions marketers should focus on the new iPhone users. While many of the 13 million will be people switching from AT&T to the Verizon, many more will be brand new smartphone users who are switching from the standard flip phone. Digital promotions campaigns should be geared toward new users, showing them the best ways to use their new phones, and taking advantage of a new user's willingness to try new technology. For example, a campaign that includes free gift cards to the iTunes app store would appeal greatly to a lot of new iPhone users.

2) Digital promotions marketers who are creating apps need to continue to develop for both the iPhone and Android platforms. While the two operating systems are currently running neck-and-neck (according to ComScore, Google currently has 26% market share, while Apple has 25% (2)), app developers need to focus on both platforms in order to reach large portions of their audience. (Blackberry still owns 33.5% of the market share, although it has dropped 4% in two months.)

3) Digital promotions developers need to consider HTML5. This is the new html coding language that promises to replace Flash and Javascript. HTML5 is platform-agnostic, and web-based, which means anyone can use an HTML5 site, including Blackberrys and the Windows mobile operating system. Using HTML5 for digital promotions will save the cost of developing apps (which can be as much as $50,000 for a single app on one platform), but will allow the campaign to be accessed by anyone on any operating system, including laptops.

4) Traditional digital promotions properties, like wallpapers and free song downloads, will become even more popular. Rather than listen to songs on an MP3 player, smart phones have MP3 capabilities, where people can listen to music and watch videos on their mobile phones. Now, customers can redeem their free songs, movie downloads, and wallpapers directly from their mobile phones, using an app or a company's digital promotions page.

5) Digital promotions should be more locally-focused. Google recently announced they were focusing all their development attention on mobile usage for 2011. Google has already begun offering voice search with Google Maps and a turn-by-turn GPS navigation system (still in beta), and pulling local search results into Google Places from review sites like Yelp and UrbanSpoon. This means local retailers and restaurants should begin using digital promotions to increase traffic and sales to take advantage of the multitudes of new smart phone users.

The new iPhone-Verizon deal spells all kinds of new opportunities for digital marketers. With an expected 13 million new iPhone users in 2011, it is also safe to assume the Android platform will continue to grow as well. By focusing on brand new users, making digital properties available to all platforms, and focusing on local mobile marketing, digital marketers will see some amazing successes in 2011.


1) http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/01/10/verizon_may_spend_more_than_5_billion_subsidizing_iphone_sales_in_2011.html
2) http://comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/1/comScore_Reports_November_2010_U.S._Mobile_Subscriber_Market_Share

Three Ways Promotional Risk Coverage Can Improve Your Promotion

Promotional risk coverage can save your bacon and improve your promotional campaign. It allows you to offer people a chance at winning big ticket items, but doesn't mean you have to have a big ticket budget.

Here are three ways promotional risk coverage can help marketers offer huge prizes without having to flee the country if they ever paid out.

1. Because Someone Will Eventually Win
While the odds of being struck by lightning are only slightly better than winning the lottery (or worse, depending on your outlook on life), the odds of winning a small contest at a local event are much, much better.

For example, an annual golf fundraiser includes a new car if someone hits a hole-in-one on the 9th hole. While it may seem like a good idea to save money by not actually paying for the car first, keep in mind that the United States Golf Register says that the odds of a hole-in-one are anywhere from 1 in 20,000 to 1 in 33,000: much lower than the risk of being hit by lightning.

So what happens if a golfer hits that 1-in-33,000 shot? While every marketer loves the attention that the contest brings, none of them want to think about what will happen if someone makes the shot, and they did not have the car covered.

Promotional risk coverage will cover the possibility of someone hitting the winning shot. In this case, the risk is placed with an insurance company, and the marketer pays a small fixed fee. If a contestant wins the prize, the promotional risk coverage kicks in, and the insurance company covers the difference.

Rather than risking the cost of the car in a contest, for a fraction of the prize value, the promotional risk policy gives peace of mind to the organizers and prize providers.

2. Because You Need to Make a Big Splash
In cases where a campaign needs a high-value prize, but there is no room in the budget, promotional risk coverage makes it possible.

For example, in some fast food contests, the restaurant will offer several million dollars in prizes, but they are counting on the fact that not every prize will be redeemed, and the total prize value will not be reached. However, there is a careful balance between gambling that not all the prize money will be claimed, and having enough in the budget to cover it.

If a marketer wants to offer $500,000 in possible prizes, but believes that only $300,000 will be collected, a promotional risk policy could cover the difference if contestants actually collect on all the prizes. This allows the marketer to make a bigger splash with the contest, entice more customers to play, and still cover all costs should the unexpected occur.

3. Because You May Get More People to Enter
A similar promotional risk strategy is necessary for coupon programs, rebate offers, and even free music downloads.

For example, a marketer wants to launch a free music download program, and has budgeted for 50,000 redemptions of the song. However, the campaign is a wild success, and there are nearly 90,000 redemptions of the music. This means the marketer must come up with the licensing fees for the additional 40,000 songs.

Of course, if she had purchased promotional risk coverage, for a set fee, she could cover any possible overages, without incurring any anger and wrath from customers for canceling the promotion unexpectedly, or risk losing her job because she did not plan accordingly. In this case, promotional risk coverage removes the risk of a larger-than-expected redemption rate, and helps keep costs under control.

These three promotional risk strategies can help marketers keep marketing costs under control, allow for small campaigns to become big ones without risk of staggering losses, and even cover an unexpected success. For more information and to implement this type of campaign, it is important to speak to a promotional risk coverage specialist.

A Digital Music Promotions Case Study Provides a Valuable Promotional Incentive

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

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.

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.