ADD INNOVATION TO EVERY PROMOTION

I’ve had the good luck to work on blue-chip sales promotion and shopper marketing programs for some of the biggest brands – Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Frito-Lay, Kraft, P&G, GM, SC Johnson, Microsoft, NBC, Electronic Arts, to name a few – who know that getting maximum sales lift or awareness from a promotion or retail program requires ideas that go beyond simple couponing or price-offs.

PROMOTIONS ARE POWERFUL BRANDING ASSETS

They can be potent tools for communicating your brand, if used imaginatively. Offering your audience the chance to save or win or earn an extra-value offer can open up a very authentic conversation, if it’s done right.

Otherwise, they might be irrelevant, a drag on your bottom line. As Paco Underhill, renowned “environmental psychologist” and author of Why We Buy: The Science Of Shopping, once put it about continuity/loyalty programs:

“Customer loyalty programs have to have relevance to the individual customers to be effective. Some of the programs just don’t generate returns.”

TAKE FOUR STEPS FORWARD 

So I apply a time-tested four-step process  to concept and execute effective sales promotions and shopper marketing strategies, the kind that really resonate with your consumers and build brand equity:

1. DIG FOR INSIGHTS: Make the offer or shopper experience relevant to your target by understanding what motivates and engages them, and how the retail environment affects their actions.

2. INTEGRATED PLACEMENT: Find the optimal touchpoint for your program. “Action Alley” at Walmart? Facebook? Viral video? On-pack? A coupon FSI? Delivered guerrilla style? What offers the shortest distance between offer and purchase, and minimizes costs?

3. BREAKOUT CREATIVE: It’s got to cut through the ever-increasing clutter and static, be branded and distinctive, and supply a strong call to action that clearly directs people to engage.

4. ANALYZE & OPTIMIZE: Especially in digital channels, we can make on-the-fly adjustments to offers, messaging and placement to extract maximum R.O.I. from each program.