To keep customers coming back for more, there is nothing more powerful than saying “thank you”. Here are four new ways to reward your loyal customers for visiting your stores, purchasing your products, engaging with your content or creating content for you.

2. Reward Gaming

As “gamification” becomes the hottest marketing buzzword, companies are increasingly gravitating toward games as the format of choice for branded experiences. The benefit of a game versus a static marketing piece is plain to see – a more engaging experience that necessitates repeat visits, creating a strong community of regulars around your marketing.

“[Traditional marketing] is failing because people today are seeking more reward and more engagement from experiences than ever before,” argues Gabe Zichermann, author of Game-Based Marketing. To this end, developing gaming mechanics that stimulate initial plays and repeat visits is key.

Points:

The most commonly used form of game mechanics, points allow you to measure achievements in a linear and limitless way. This creates an environment of competitiveness in the form of scoreboards, or, to use the gaming term…

Leaderboards:

Leaderboards encourage users to become power players to the end of seeing their name reach top rankings. To maximize competitiveness, create a universal leaderboard and one that compares a user’s points with those of their friends.

Levels:

Levels make a game more “sticky” by giving users an accomplishment to work toward, similar to…

Badges:

Like levels, badges provide an incentive to keep users playing in order to unlock symbols of virtual accomplishments. Badges also become part of the user’s identity, as they can be featured on a gamer’s page within a type of “digital trophy case”.

Prizing:

Of course, none of these mechanics should exist in a vacuum. Gaming initiatives work most effectively when players can exchange their digital achievements for real world prizes. This can range from company merchandise, to company products, to larger prizes that do not necessarily utilize your product but speak to your brand – like an exotic vacation for a company that makes travel backpacks.

Social:

The final step to ensuring your game creates maximized impact is to integrate a social layer in the rewarding dynamic. Compensate users for sharing interactions with your game to their audiences on Facebook and Twitter. There are mechanisms for prompting users to post such updates, even going so far as suggesting the content of the update to enhance fluidity between playing and posting. At the very least, posts that get rewarded with points should include @-mentions (or tags, in the case of Facebook) of your company. This maximizes exposure of your company to your user’s audiences, who can click-through on their friends post to your company’s page, and gives you a way to tabulate company mentions resulting from game play. For increased impact, ask users to recognize the promotion name in the form of a hashtag (Twitter) or event link (Facebook).

Other Posts in This Series
Reward In-Store Interactions
Reward Social Participation
Reward User Generated Content

To keep customers coming back for more, there is nothing more powerful than saying “thank you”. Here are four new ways to reward your loyal customers for visiting your stores, purchasing your products, engaging with your content or creating content for you.

1. Reward In-Store Interactions:

While apps like Foursquare allow businesses to reward customers for checking in to their locations, there are far more interesting ways to customize the behavior that gets rewarded at the moment of in-store interaction.

For example, a pizza place could give away a free slice to any customer who posts a photo with their pizza on Facebook or Twitter – with an @-mention shoutout to the awesome restaurant that gave them a free pizza.

Snapping a photo is a lot more engaging than simply checking in, from the customer’s standpoint, and also from the standpoint of their audience – who is more likely to click on a picture or video than recall a checkin.

This also provides the business with ideal content for creating a strong presence on short-form, image-driven platforms such as Tumblr, Instagram, and Pinterest. In case you haven’t heard, these are the places to be right now.

Creating a custom in-store promotion may be more involved than a simple Foursquare campaign, but in terms of brand exposure – an in-store photo/video campaign can make far more of a viral splash. Clients are sharing more engaging content to larger audiences on websites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr. Creating mechanisms to stimulate content creation and content sharing is the best way to approach this trend in social media consumption.

Other Posts in This Series
Reward Gaming
Reward Social Participation
Reward User Generated Content

What is the barcode-like symbol?

You’ve probably noticed recently how QR codes are being used more and more in marketing and advertising initiatives across the globe. Many argue that QR codes have now gone mainstream. But lots of companies aren’t yet up to speed with what they can really offer.

What are QR codes?

QR codes are a form of two-dimensional bar code originally created to track automotive spare parts, and now increasingly used in mobile marketing. For example, if you find a QR code printed on an ad and scan it with your mobile phone, you will be transported, almost instantly, to a specially designed website where you can learn more about the product, get more details on a promotion or perhaps get a discount offer.

How do I generate QR codes?

There are plenty of online sites where you can generate QR codes for free www.qurify.com/en/ is one of many.

What can I generate QR codes for?

You can generate QR codes not only for website URLs, but also for email addresses, social media profiles, text, and even maps.

How do I scan (or read) QR codes?

If your phone doesn’t come with one already installed, you need to download an app called a QR code reader. Basically, the way a QR code reader works is by allowing your mobile phone camera to act as a scanner. Just take a picture of a QR code and you’re automatically transported to the destination page.

What can I use QR codes for?

You can use QR codes for many different things. You can direct customers to your mobile website or a promotional page for your products. If you sell tools and equipment, you can link your QR code to a video showing how to use them. If you sell property you can use a QR code to direct customers to an online virtual tour of your homes. If you own a restaurant you can point a QR code to Google Maps showing customers how to get there. If you’re an independent professional you can create a QR code for your email address, website, blog or LinkedIn profile. The possibilities are endless.

Source: University of Manchester http://alumni.newsweaver.co.uk/newsletter/1ifi9hrq14a1ugkeyqj6rf

Promotion advertisers now have the ability to reach consumers based on their requested choice of page. Promotions and advertisements can now be served and targeted either by the profile of a consumer or the content requested from a site.

For example a company that manufacturer’s high quality golf balls can now target promotions to an individual searching for golf related products or tee times. These types of tactics are the polar opposite of traditional promotions which depended on mass media reach to connect with potential customers. Instead they focus on relevance and timing to consumers who are considering a purchase of a specific product.

The next few years will see a wave of digital natives and other tech-savvy folk leaving their office and home PCs and stepping out into a world swarming with internet-connected devices and context-specific information services LeSourd (2011). LeSourd coined this trend SoLoMo (Social, Location, Mobile) meaning the convergence of people, information, services, things, and places on modern mobile platforms. Futhermore he suggested that the effects of these changes would impact retailers on the high street, because high touch points rule brand loyalty

Shapiro (2011) defines the marketing world as two camps: the “one-to-many” camp representing the marketing model of the last 25 years (e.g. one brand markets to many people), and the “many-to-many” camp, where we reframe social media as a lead performer (but not the solo performer) in a bigger, newly emerging community-centered marketing system. Her construct gives an excellent contrast of traditional mass media versus social media.

For those of you unfamiliar with the term Lurkers, think of Lurkers as spectators who consume content but do not contribute. The skeptic may go as far as calling them digital parasites, while the visionary sees a new untapped market.

In Internet culture, a lurker is a person who reads discussions on a message board, newsgroup, chatroom, file sharing or other interactive system, but rarely or never participates actively. Research indicates that “lurkers make up over 90% of online groups”

In most online communities, 90% of users are lurkers who never contribute, 9% of users contribute a little, and 1% of users account for almost all the action.

While traditional marketing continues to emphasize branding and creative as the most important features of a campaign, digital promotions are evaluated almost entirely on performance results which are captured and measured digitally. Justifiably marketing budgets are rapidly migrating to new media channels, because traditional perceived success factors, such as emotional stimuli created by the warm and fuzzy feeling of a traditional campaign can no longer compete with actual facts and figures.

Edelman (2011) contends that up to 90% of spend goes to advertising and retail promotions. Yet the single most powerful impetus to buy is often someone else’s advocacy. For this reason numerous new models and performance measures have emerged in the sales promotion industry. A recent UGC video contest we built had 132 entrants and 636,774 video views, meaning 98% of the participants were viewers.

Reach is a vital element of any promotion, however traditional methods continue to produce diminishing returns. Therefore promotions need original engaging content, mainly produced from its own customers.

The digitization and networking of information has forever changed the way marketers and consumers connect. So be prepared to change or risk extinction

Facebook has decided to shut down Facebook Deals after only a four month trial.

“After testing Deals for four months, we’ve decided to end our Deals product in the coming weeks,” Facebook told Reuters.
The product, which launched in late April, was an attempt to bring the popular daily deals phenomenon to Facebook’s 750+ million users. It launched in San Francisco, Austin, Dallas, Atlanta and San Diego, but quickly rolled out to other cities.

The idea was for Deals to serve as an incentive for Facebook users to integrate the also now defunct Facebook Places (a poor copy of Foursquare) in their daily lives — and they were also an incentive for marketers and major brands to put more money into the Facebook platform.

However, the Facebook Deals were less like a Foursquare coupon awarded to the user after a checkin and more like a Groupon voucher, meaning the user had to buy a certificate for a certain good or service at a steep discount, typically half off its retail price, then redeem it later.

Examples of the new breed of Facebook Deals from brands include “unlimited bowling with six friends for an evening for $60 (75% off)” and “luxury winery tour and 25% off all wine purchases for $50.”

The market for daily deals has become more competitive in recent months, however, and many are questioning the entire business model in light of Groupon’s questionable financials.

It’s no secret that a brand’s success on Facebook is largely contingent on Facebook-only discounts and content, but Facebook’s Deals had been – in the words of Vinvius Vacanti, co-founder of Yipit.com – “an underwhelming product and experience”.

This does not necessarily mean that daily deals are ineffectual. Vacanti said it best: “I don’t believe this means daily deals are not a viable business. It more suggests that large media and tech companies can’t just ‘turn on’ daily deals and expect them to work. It has to be more thoughtfully integrated into their existing product”.

In other words, customization is still king. And, consumer engagement needs to be customized to the space, the way people interact within that space and the content and brands they care about. AdAge conducted a study about the deals space revealing that 52% of people feeling overwhelmed by the amount of emails they receive and 60% feel the deals market is just too crowded.

With this much competition, the quality of the deals can dwindle to the point of becoming SPAM instead of exclusive content customized to the consumer’s interest.

As Christopher Au tweeted, “Nobody needs more laser hair removal daily deals in their inbox anyway.”

Augmented Reality (AR) as a technology has existed for more than 15 years, with tailored applications in industrial automation, theme parks, sports television, military displays, and online marketing (AIB, 2009). Forrester research defined AR as; The concept of AR simply put is the overlay of virtual or artificial information either in the form of visuals, graphics, or text onto a medium, which is then projected over an actual image stream. This additional information can then be augmented to the user either by using a wearable display setup or through a fixed location setup.

The next stage of internet engagement is going to be its connection with physical space. AR will be an important tool in this evolution. Based on a Total Immersions definition, there are 3 types of AR; Web-based AR, Kiosk-based AR and mobile AR. Web-based AR uses PC and webcam with a marker, image or through motion capture. It is the most common type of AR since it runs on Flash and does not require a plug-in or any kind of download. It is also the most economical option and can be easily integrated with social platforms. However, users need to have a webcam in order to use it.

Kiosk based AR is capable of running more powerful AR applications using 3D or facial tracking. It can leverage multiple platforms and can reach broader users through out-of-home or point-of-purchase marketing. Also, the user does not need a marker or a webcam for using it. However, it is relatively more expensive. Mobile AR uses the viewfinder to show the digital information in user’s surroundings. Mobile AR can leverage location and, with smartphone adoption rising, its potential reach is increasing. However, mobile is a fragmented environment, since some smartphones run on different platforms, such as iOS and Android, and the battery life of a smartphone can be an obstacle. Additionally, hype around this type of AR is hard to control. (Adage, 2011)

According to Gartner Inc, AR is one of the top 10 strategic IT technologies and is expected to be a $1.5 Bn industry by 2015 . However, viability of reaching this number is much debated. According to some experts this number will be reachable since AR can be applicable to many industries and has various use cases. On the other hand, some experts argue that this number is not realistic since AR will take time to reach mainstream adaption.

Approximately 42.5 million people enter online sweepstakes every year and millions more participate in SMS and social media contests. In fact, contests and games are the most popular brand tactic used to grow followers and fans in the social media space. Twenty-four percent of the U.S. online audience play branded social games at least once a month with 68.7 million U.S. consumers expected to regularly play branded games of chance by 2012. (ComScore)
Contests, games, and sweepstakes are a key component of the social media marketing movement because they target specific demographic segments, cross diverse brand categories easily, and — most importantly — provide a measurable return on investment while creating meaningful engagement with consumers.

Here are the top five tips for success in online promotions.
#1 CLEAR OBJECTIVES
When developing an online promotion make sure your promotional objectives are clear. A promotion designed to generate trial of a new product, for instance, is not necessarily the right promotion for long-term loyalty, while a program to drive opt-in email registrations may require a different set of parameters. Baseline metrics should be established at the outset so that the right type of promotion is employed and performance can be quantified.

#2 ENGAGING EXPERIENCE THAT IS PRIZE APPROPRIATE
Online promotions should engage participants with immersive branded experiences that resonate and should be more than just a blatant prize pitch. While prizes are an important component of any online promotion, they should support the overarching brand objective while appealing to the target demographic and involving visitors. Whether it is user generated content, an interactive game mechanic, or even just the ability to select from among available prizes, always make visitors part of the experience when structuring your program.
You also want to make sure the prize fits both your target audience and your brand. You may want to consider multiple prizes and even discounts, giving participants the feeling they have a real chance of winning something. For instance, Woman Within – a leading online retailer- recently launched a “Tee Time” advergame on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/womanwithin?v=app_4949752878 that utilized an escalating discount feature. The higher your score, the greater your discount for Woman Within apparel. Simple, yet effective.

Don’t forget to make it fun! Don’t just put out a sweepstakes, give-a-way or contest. Consider your target audience. What do they like. How do they behave online? What would they be likely to participate in? This is true for the type of promotion as well as the prizes.

#3 TIMING AND BUZZ-BUILDING
Your contest or sweepstakes should have a clear beginning and end. The internet is the land of instant gratification so making the promotional event too long could have diminishing returns and lessen buzz around the promotion. On the other hand, you want to allow enough time to effectively promote the contest or sweepstakes and allow for others to share and respond.
Regarding buzz, you can make your interactive promotion viral by leveraging the power of the internet to exponentially grow the reach of your promotion. Tell-a-friend components, plug-ins such as Facebook Connect, integrated Twitter feeds, and more turn online promotions into natural lead generators.
Don’t forget to leverage the PR opportunities! Once winner affidavits of eligibility and liability releases secured, award prizes publicly and turn it into an event. This will not only continue the buzz around the promotion, but people want to know who won, what they won and why they won. Depending on the prize, you may be able to leverage the winner’s enthusiasm in social media sites by encouraging them to talk about their experience and win. This also reassures participants that prizes were awarded. Dairy Queen, for example, recently wrapped up a video contest in which six lucky winners won a MINI Cooper http://www.dairyqueen.com/us-en/mini/ . Instead of just giving the cars away, the vehicles will be awarded to the winners at local restaurants to engage local media and leverage the promotional “after-effect”.

# 4 KNOW THE TYPES OF PROMOTIONS AND SELECT WISELY
There are very subtle and very important differences between online “sweepstakes,” “games” and “contests.” Brands must ensure they choose the best option to fit their marketing goals, audience behaviors, desired engagement, and that their online promotion is structured to comply with the various laws surrounding games of chance.
Online Sweepstakes generally have two principal components: (1) a registration component and (2) a drawing element for prizes (daily, weekly, monthly or at the end of the program). Interactive elements can be incorporated into the Sweepstakes to create rich user experiences with branded elements but no skill is required by the entrant.
Online Games are generally a variation of a sweepstakes; however, they require a perceived element of skill to engage participants at a deeper level. Share-it features are often integrated to spread the reach of the promotion. They are sometimes referred to as “Instant Win Games”.
Online Contests are not generally games of chance. Unlike a Sweepstakes or a Game, they require entrants to exhibit a degree of skill (make a video, submit a photo, write an essay, etc.) that must be graded by a panel of judges using an established criteria set forth in the Official Rules. Contests typically require the deepest level of brand engagement.

#5 LEGAL, LIABILITY AND LOGISTICS/PLATFORMS
Pay close attention to the development to official rules, privacy policies, prize sourcing/fulfillment, consumer affairs, winner handling/notification, and more because there are a host of issues that must be carefully managed. There are also a number of legal considerations to consider so it’s best to engage a professional firm with proven experience in online games, contests, and sweepstakes to help you structure an online promotion that is in compliance with federal and state regulations.
In fact, on March 8, 2011, the FTC released its list of Top Consumer Complaints areas for 2010. The category of “Prizes, Sweepstakes, and Lotteries” had 64,085 complaints, accounting for five percent of all complaints the FTC received, most having to do with brands not following or understanding their outlined rules and regulations. Some areas to be mindful of include:
• Laws surrounding Games of Chance
• State requirements for bonding and registration of Games of Chance
• Judging criteria for contests
• Children’s Online Privacy Protection (COPPA) -for Under 13’s
• Intellectual property rights and patents
• Regulated industries
• International laws for programs that cross national borders

Brand promotions are increasingly consumed on-the-go, so you want to consider the most relevant platforms for your core audience. Designing and building promotional campaigns that are three-screen friendly and are ideally platform agnostic will deliver the widest audience. In terms of mobile, for example, programs should provide a full experience regardless of the underlying operating system to increase reach and drive conversions.

In summary, here are several key points about interactive and online promotions to keep in mind as you move forward:

• Online promotions are flexible. They can exist as stand alone programs or as bolt-on features to wider integrated campaigns.
• They accomplish a wide variety of marketing objectives.
• When compared to other marketing solutions, they are cost effective, can typically be launched at a fraction of other programs, and are natural lead generators.
• Make sure your promotional objectives are clear when considering an online promotion and that metrics for measuring the success of a program are considered prior to execution.
• Engage a promotion firm with proven experience developing online games, contests, and sweepstakes to ensure that all technical, logistical, and legal considerations are addressed.

Read up on a recent campaign we delivered with partner Maritz for Embassy Suites. It highlights the power of games in existing loyalty programs. It asks the question: “Why should I reward customers that are already loyal to my brand?”
http://www.maritz.com/News-Events-and-Insights/Social-Community/Man-vs-Brand/Brand-Engagement/Suites-Surprises-and-DelightsOh-My.aspx

Article Highlights:

• “The question usually surfaces after recommending a surprise & delight strategy that consists of a brand giving something of value to a customer just for being one of their best. A great example of the impact such a strategy can have is with a recent promotion we co-created with the Embassy Suites brand marketing team.”

• “One test group was linked to an online game experience where they were educated on the brands values and in the process they played their way towards their own selection of gifts. The interactive game was designed in collaboration with Maritz’ partner, Brandmovers.”

• “And the results speak for themselves. The email open rate for surprise and delight segments had a 53 percent average and the guests that received this unique treatment increased their stays by 10 percent over the control group. They also spent nine percent more during the promotion period. Remember, there was no requirement to book a room, but it occurred at a higher rate and with guests that were already loyal to the brand. Overall, the promotion generated a 246 percent ROI and we, ourselves, were “surprised and delighted” as these loyal guests responded by bringing a greater portion of their wallet share to the brand.”

In short it’s how people consume and process media in both time and priority.
Usually monochronic people process one thing at a time and then move on to the next task, preferably in an orderly and sequential. Whereas polychronic people deal with multiple tasks simultaneously or conduct many tasks at once.

So why is this relevant to marketing communications?

Because two generations have been taught to process information contrarily to their parents or other family members. This produces a unique dilemma to many marketers. The question is how should I allocate promotional media budgets? To understand this dynamic we first of all need to identify who is a Monochronic or Polychronic consumer. Secondly what type of device they prefer or use the most often.

Most people over the age of 40 were instructed to read sequentially, one word and then page after another. This was perfect for the mass media marketers of the 40’s to 90’s. In the late 90’s people started to defy conventional messaging by disrupting the control channel and attention span. While most monochromic consumers accepted and embraced broadcast media, younger generations did not.

Conversely the digital consumer (whose main demographic is under 40 and mostly grew up with computers, internet, cell phones etc) rejected or changed media distribution and consumption based on their personal preferences and also processed multi-media at the same time.

So consider these differences during your next planning meetings.