People are engaging in products and services more than they ever have. What is the number one site people visit if they have a question? Google! Companies struggle to engage these active consumers and reach out on the multiple platforms available. So, the real question is, how do you engage users online when you don’t know where they are looking? Read on for ADR’s tips to engage online. First off, know your audience. Who are you trying to reach? Can you narrow your search to a specific niche? What websites or social media sites are they on? For example, if you sell a baby product, will you market to the mother or the father? Then, where do you advertise? Facebook, Twitter, a blog? If you can narrow your search and specify the audience you will have a niche market that is easier for you to engage. Secondly, how do you plan to attract your audience? You can’t simply offer products and hope that people online will buy. There is heavy competition for whatever product you offer. Develop a content strategy. A content strategy is a plan that involves engaging consumers by providing them with your unique information or entertainment. Examples […]
Category: Articles
How To Use Digital Rewards To Create A Successful Business
The world is going digital. Everywhere you look, there seems to be someone Googling something, searching for information, directions, and posting a tweet. Businesses are following suit and going digital as well. This not only means putting their information online but also offering digital rewards to help achieve success in their incentive programs. Successful and effective incentive programs are promotions or programs conducted by a business or organization whose core goal is to motivate behavioral outcomes from its participants. They have clearly defined goals, established rules, achievable and desirable rewards that leverage risk, center effort on goal commitment, and may have elements of competition as well as other aspects. Participants must be able to track their progress to stay motivated. They should see benchmarks as they are achieved and receive regular updates and notifications to understand how close they are to their goal. Digital rewards are rewards that are delivered via an encrypted link or QR code as enticements to motivate behavioral outcomes and increase engagement with a targeted audience. Digital rewards offer incentive program managers flexible delivery transfer options and access to real-time reporting and analytics. This type of reward is generally accessed instantly, easy to use, and […]
Who Else Wants To Be Successful With Millennials?
Millennials are now 20 to 37 years old. There are roughly 78.6 million people in Generation Y. Nine out of 10 expect to match or exceed their parent’s economic circumstances. And, virtually all expect to own a home. A perfect target for marketers. But how do you target this group? To even begin to understand this, you must look at Gen Y’s reasons for loyalty, different perspectives, different research methods, and reasons for purchase. Millennials are different from baby boomers and they have to be targeted as such if you expect them to purchase your product. Generation Y is so ingrained on the idea of connectedness. Think about it, social media, email, and the smartphone keeps users in contact with the world nearly anytime and everywhere. Companies can learn from this through customer service. What are you doing now that connects to Generation Y. Marketing now is all about how you make them feel. Create a relationship with your customers and you will see your business grow. The members of Generation Y are superhumanly efficient. They have learned to work, play, and do some activities on the side. They realize that they do not have to live in a city to […]
Bottom Line: Why Ignoring Gamification Will Cost You Time and Sales
Marketers have been experimenting with ways to gain loyalty with their customers for centuries. Gamification is the concept of using game tactics in marketing strategies. Gamification Started with S&H green stamps (1896), airline miles, and credit card points. 50-year-olds today were born in 1955. They played pong (1972), Atari 2600 (1977), along with Pac Man (1980) and Donkey Kong (1981). Read on to learn about the evolution of gamification. 1979-MUD1 is created by Roy Trubshaw, it was the first multi-user virtual world game. 1981-American Airlines introduces AAdvantage, the first frequent flyer program 1983-Holiday Inn launches the first hotel loyalty program. 1987-National Car Rental launches the first car rental rewards program 1990-30% of American households own an NES. A new generation of gamers is born. 2003-Nick Pelling creates the term Gamification 2007-Bunchball creates Dunder Mifflin Infinity, a gamified website for the TV show, The Office. It receives over 8 million page views in 6 weeks. 2009– Quest to Learn accepts a class of 6th graders into a game-based learning environment. 2010-DevHub adds a point system to its website and increases engagement by 70% 2012– Gartner predicts 70% of Global 2000 organizations will have at least 1 gamified app by 2014. 2012-Modzilla […]
How to Earn Customers Back After a Poor Experience
Poor customer experiences (CX) are detrimental to a company’s reputation and sales. There is hope thanks to a new customer experience survey from the SDL. This study consisted of a survey of 2,784 consumers across nine countries and three generations, asking them about their most major CX failure in the last 10 years. In the survey, 82% of customers who experienced a “worst CX” said they are interested in fixing the problem. Initial reasons for switching companies were a loss of trust in the company (44%), a poor quality of customer service (72%), and customer service representatives’ lack of knowledge (36%). This new research shows that 8 out of 10 respondents who switched stated that their previous service provider could have done something that would have kept them as a customer. After a bad CX, 64% of customers will stop recommending the organization, start looking for an alternative, or actively disparage the company via word of mouth/social media. This truly brings into play, “The good is expected but, the bad will go viral.” The study offered tips to regain the loyalty of those lost customers. The participants ranked the following actions in order of importance to the customer after a […]
How To Make Your Product Stand Out With Gamification
Gamification is taking off in the digital world. Gamification is an online marketing technique that takes qualities of games (point scoring, competition, rules of play) and applies them to a company’s product or service. By gamifying your company, you are creating content for your audience to engage in by earning points, unlocking levels, or showing progress bars. 90% of Americans own a mobile device, 67% are on social networks, and 52% play games on their mobile device, computer, and or tablet. Consumers are always online, accessible any time, any way (phone, computer, tablet), and anywhere. With the help of social networking sites, it is easier than ever to share messages with a mass audience. Games are an effective way to engage your audience because it focuses their minds to a task in front of them. Gamification taps into the natural human desires of status, achievement, and competition. A recent example of gamification is the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. This challenge used the truth or dare tactic, you either uploaded a video dumping a bucket of ice on your head, or you donated to the charity. Because the benefits were going to a cause, a social stigma arose if nominated participants […]
Cash: Do You Really Need It? We Can Help You Decide
Do you remember that special birthday where you were given some cash inside a card you never read? Do you really remember who gave it to you? Would it be a fair guess that you would rather have had something other than THAT? Something where you knew they were thinking of you or at least trying to think of you. It just seemed like a last minute gift or a cop out? Maybe even “cheap”? It’s a well-known saying and cliché, “Cash is King”. We all love a roll of bills in our pocket or the check that arrives in the mail. We even get excited to receive that PIN number to activate a virtual prepaid card online. Why? Generally, it is because of instant gratification and has a known or expected quality. Yes, the check usually takes a few to several weeks to arrive. Yes, the virtual prepaid card cannot usually be used for fuel, paying bills, or in the grocery store, but it’s there for other things. So why, in today’s world where most loyalty programs based on cash incentives, are they struggling to keep their end-users engaged and performing? One word: emotions. Just like the introduction above, […]
