Being clear on what you want to achieve is the starting point for any successful promotional campaign, staff incentive or reward programme.  Defining your desired result will then help guide your decision-making throughout the campaign planning process: from the promotional mechanics to be used, through to the choice of prize, incentive or reward, and the budget required to make it all happen successfully.

Step 1: Agree your primary campaign objective

A successful promotional campaign can be designed to achieve a number of objectives, but we would always recommend agreeing one primary campaign objective for the team to focus on. The most common primary goals include:

Spike in sales

Promotions can be developed specifically to engineer a tactical spike in sales. Many brands use this technique when demand is high but where competition is stiff. Conversely, this type of promotion can work well to improve sales during periods of low demand.

“Many brands focus on discounting or redemption coupons when trying to achieve a spike in sales. These can be helpful mechanisms in the short-term, but we would always encourage brands to explore other options with further brand advantages, such as prize give-aways and experiences. Engaging prize content can help link a brand to a topic or activity valued by the target audience. This gives the promotion a longer-term return on investment,” explains Colin Blake, NDL’s Head of Business Development.

Brand switching

Promotions can be a great way to entice loyal customers away from their normal brands. A brand switching campaign will often use a ‘money-can’t-buy’ prize incentive to stand out from the crowd, or a promotional mechanic which allows the consumer to sample the new product.

“A promotion which encourages people to switch brands has really got to stand out because so many of our purchasing decisions are long-held and automated. To get people to think about switching you’ve got to understand what your audience likes, what they aspire to or what they identify with, as this will help you to offer the right incentive,” continues Colin.

Brand reinforcement

Promotional campaigns can also be used to help build brand loyalty. A promotion which offers a highly desirable prize or incentive will reinforce the emotional connection which is the basis of long-term brand loyalty.

“This sort of campaign is all about linking the values which your brand represents and the values held by your consumers, such as quality family time or healthy living. A brand reinforcement campaign needs to associate strongly with what’s important to your customers if it’s to deliver maximum return,” Colin explains.

Step 2: Back up with secondary goals

Of course, most promotional campaigns are multi-dimensional, designed to impact consumers in a number of ways. Secondary goals can be built around brand awareness, social media engagement and feedback from your stockists. Clear goal setting at the outset gives a stronger focus when designing a campaign and helps when measuring the results at the end of the promotional period.

As a specialist prize incentive agency, our NDL Campaign Planning team can help you design high impact campaigns. With over 20 years’ experience, we’ll take care of every aspect of the promotion, including multi-territory compliance, risk management and winner fulfilment.

To talk to a member of our Campaign Planning team, please get in touch on 020 7428 3090.

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