MJH Group suggests that clients book only full page advertisements as these build credibility, provide the best impact and establish the business as a serious option by focusing on quality over quantity.

As a more cost effective option, the 1/8 page banner is also useful for reinforcing a single message or element of the campaign especially if it appears in the same publication as a reflects the overall look and feel of the campaign.

There are a number of key factors which will make a loyalty program successful - use the list below to see how yours measures up.

The critical success factors for a well run Loyalty program include;

· Engaging the customers - Interesting offers, advertising, appropriate language and communication

· Simplicity – easy to understand the rules and rewards

· Regular contact – keep re-enforcing the benefits

· Attracting new customers – advertise the program and introduce new customers who enter the business

· Linking effort and reward – reward customers when they spend more or spend differently

· Tracking Results & Group Customisation – see what works and make offers to specific groups of customers

As discussed previously, a loyalty program is about creating meaningful interactions with customers.  The program should provide for specific offers and rewards targeted to individual customers or groups of customers that are designed to drive changes in customer behaviour and increase sales.   Loyalty and customer reward programs are not about simply rewarding repeat purchases which is the way they are used by most small business (and some larger ones who should know better!)

When helping to decide whether your business needs a Loyalty Program MJH Group asks the following questions;

• How strong are the reasons for customers to return without prompting?
• How much repeat business do you have?
• Are customers promoting your brand to their friends and family?
• What percentage of your customers business are you receiving?
• Is the revenue from each customer rising every year?

The role of a loyalty program (or a customer reward program) is to drive changes in customer behaviour through specific offers and rewards to increase sales. 

Unfortunately many businesses simply reward repeat purchases which does not result in the desired behaviour of increasing sales or improving the customer relationship.

When developing loyalty programs for clients I always focus on creating a program and associated promotions that allow businesses to build meaningful and profitable relationships with their best customers, learn more about their customers, influence customers purchasing and decision making process and provide an open and ongoing line of communication.

Customers don’t want to deal with businesses that inconvenience them, make them wait or aren’t tailored to their needs. They want to deal with businesses that understand them and recognize their needs and in response will treat them as they would a friend.  As part of on overall marketing strategy and marketing program, a Loyalty Program is an ideal way to create this relationship and communicate with customers.

A critical component of any marketing activity is how it works to create sales.

This is equally important in a consumer oriented business as it is in a business which services other businesses.

Each piece of marketing or promotional activity should be designed to move the customer one step closer to purchasing.

General branding type advertisements open up the purchasers mind to the business or to the approach of a sales person.

Other more targeted pieces of communication are designed to create a specific response - ie an offer to visit the store or a call to action to prompt a potential customer to call.

In both business to business and consumer transactions it is possible to take this targeted approach down to a micro level.

For smaller ticket items this is typically done by setting rules which apply to a group of customers for example customers who have purchased between 3 and 5 times this year or have spent over $500 in one product category receive an offer to encourage them to purchase something from another product category. A business selling office supplies would send an offer for printer paper to customers who have bought printer cartridges but not paper.

For bigger ticket items, the sales team and marketing department can work together to determine how to advance a sale for a particular customer. Options may include; running a demonstration, building a customer specific business case, organising a visit from a senior representative, sending material, performing a scoping study as a prelude to a larger project or sale, providing references and case studies, providing specific information or meeting with the customer to uncover a specific need or requirement that may have been overlooked.

Consider customer satisfaction like a bank account.

In a bank account you save effectively by making regular consistent deposits over a period of time.

From time to time you will make withdrawals - hopefully these are planned and managed but some will be for emergencies.

Customer satisfaction is best built by providing consistent and regular positive interactions and outcomes over a period of time - this could be a project delivered on time and on budget, a quick an efficient transaction, good advice, providing quality products or positively guiding and re-enforcing purchase decisions with good marketing and advertising.

The days you make withdrawals may be unavoidable - a competitor is cheaper and your customer feels they paid too much or your staff were too busy to serve them properly when they came into store.  If you have enough in the customer satisfaction bank account then your customer will weather a couple of these disappointments.  At all costs avoid the things that you can control which damage customer satisfaction and confidence - heavy discounting, untrained staff, poor staff and time management, poor quality products and not protecting your brand.

To create truly satisfied customers make sure you understand what is important to them and structure your business and your offer accordingly.

The one for one rule of sponsorship maintains that in order to secure value from a sponsorship a company should invest as much in promoting their involvement as they do in supporting the event.

Companies who actively promote the sponsorship affiliations through advertising, newsletters, web sites and in customer interactions (either via direct sales or in-store) will gain a much greater benefit from their sponsorship investment.

Disaster Recovery Planning relates to establishing a framework by which your company can continue to function following a “disaster”.

Disasters can be broadly broken down into the following types;

1. Product or Service Disaster - a problem with the product or service provided by your company - this could include a product failing in use and injuring a customer or a shortage of supply of a product that is in high demand
2. Organisational Disaster - can include a catastrophic event such as an explosion at a production facility or office, a serious workplace injury, or negative news about a companies stability
3. Public Relations Disaster - a current affairs program running a story on your product or a past employee “speaking out”
4. Industry Disaster - a problem that effects the industry in which you operate
5. Market Place Disaster - This could relate to an environmental disaster, an “act of god”, a disaster effecting your customers, a situation effecting your market place or your geographic area of operation

While it is not possible to plan for every eventuality, it is possible to develop responses to possible scenarios identified in a risk management assessment. It is also possible to plan, document and educate staff as to the appropriate procedure to respond to a problem or disaster that has not been anticipated.

When planning your approach, consider the following;

• Who will be responsible for planning the response?
• Where will the information regarding Disaster Recovery be stored for safety?
• How will you establish the facts of the situation and your organisations ability to take appropriate action?
• How will you establish if you need to respond?
• What will you say to the media/public while you are preparing a response?How will you determine your response?
• Who will sign off the response before it goes public?
• Who will give a legal opinion on the situation/response?
• What are the likely outcomes of the planned response (or lack of response)?
• Who is nominated to respond to the media on behalf on the company?
• How will you follow up your response with updates and information bulletins?
• Who will be responsible for ensuring the companies actions are in line with the response?

MJH Group suggests that businesses avoid discounting as discount offers will errode long term profitablility and undermine brand equity. As an alternative to discounting, we suggest using bonus offers or value adds. 

The distinction between discounts and bonuses or value adds is that the bonus or value add is designed to change future behavior.

For example “Buy 2 shirts and receive a bonus tie”

The reward of the tie drives the behaviour that we would like customers to exhibit – purchasing 2 shirts in one transaction instead of the usual 1.

The bonus adds to the customer experience however unlike a discount, it does not damage the brand equity.  The expected outcome is that a proportion of customers will adopt the behaviour of purchasing 2 shirts in future transactions regardless of the bonus offer.

An area of marketing which is sometimes overlooked is conversion.

A businesses marketing and advertising may be working well to bring in potential customers or leads but if they are not converted into sales then a proportion of the advertising investment will be wasted.

A lack of conversions will typically be attributed to one of the following factors;

1. The offer is wrong

2. Customers are not being engaged or followed up correctly

3. The customers are wrong

If the offer is wrong it means that it is not compelling enough to secure a sale - perhaps competitors have something similar cheaper and perhaps customers don’t understand why your product or service is better than the cheaper alternative. Make sure that the value proposition (what customers actually get in exchange for their money) is clear and compelling. Customers do not buy on price alone so making the offer compelling does not mean being the cheapest, it means having a strong offer which represents good value. If customers do not understand the offer and why it is compelling then look at the way you (or your sales team) is explaining it.

We have all experienced good and bad service. For a retail business, improving conversion can be as simple as training floor staff on how to engage and interact with customers. Greeting them when they walk into the store and acknowledging them them if they are waiting to be served is a good start. For other businesses, improving conversion typically relates to improving sales team disciplines in prospect and proposal follow up.

If the customer is wrong then the campaign needs to be targeted at a different customer segment - this may mean changing advertising media, messages or the brand values in order to attract the right kind of customer. In this instance, it may also be worth examining the offer to make sure that you have enough options to cater for different customer needs and budgets.