The U.S. Hispanic market continues to get commitments from corporate. La Prensa Media would like to assist in your efforts of reaching this market by saving you time and money. We can assist you with advertising via print. We can provide you with low cost suggestions that may make sense to buy.
We can provide you with additional valuable savings. La Prensa Media can provide combined resources to support your print advertising by blending promotions to build sales. It is important to reach this young market while they are still exploring for new product and service preferences Why?
Most Hispanics are new to the American culture, they don't understand things the way you do. Most are just learning the process and procedures. If you patiently explain the process, you will WIN. Focus on culture and family, then explain how they benefit by using your product or service.
Advertising in Spanish is important, even among bilingual Latinos it's a matter of cultural identity and pride. Advertisers who use Spanish-language advertising and media, including Print Ad, build customer loyalty because they're perceived as understanding and relating to the Latino community.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
The Hispanic market is brand-loyal.
TRUTH: First generation Hispanics show much greater brand loyalty than second-generation Hispanics; yet, the second-generation is the brand influencer within a multi-generational family.
As children of immigrants, US born Hispanics translate the language and interpret the US culture for their parents. (This is also true of immigrants who come to the US at an early age, the so-called 1.5 genners). This early childhood behavior migrates to adulthood, making them brand-influencers throughout their life, and yet they themselves aren’t particularly brand loyal – which begs the question: Why?
As children of immigrants, US born Hispanics translate the language and interpret the US culture for their parents. (This is also true of immigrants who come to the US at an early age, the so-called 1.5 genners). This early childhood behavior migrates to adulthood, making them brand-influencers throughout their life, and yet they themselves aren’t particularly brand loyal – which begs the question: Why?
Lost in Translation: When Bad Hispanic Advertising Happens to Good Companies
Unfortunately, many companies miss the mark when advertising to Latinos. Usually it’s because corporate decision-makers are not paying close enough attention to their Hispanic marketing efforts. They simply don’t understand or carefully consider Hispanic cultural nuances when planning their outreach efforts.
Whether they are Spanish translation errors or subtle (sometimes not-so-subtle) cultural misinterpretations, these marketing mishaps are a waste of advertising dollars, often requiring additional investment to “clean up the mess” and start fresh with a whole new campaign to reach this market segment.
Some classic gaffes from the past:
When “translated” into Spanish, the Dairy Association’s astoundingly successful “Got Milk?” advertising campaign asked Latino consumers “Are you Lactating?”
During the Pope’s visit to Miami, a local T-shirt company printed shirts that read, “I saw the Potato” because in Spanish the article “the” can be either masculine (el papa) or feminine (la papa); on the T-shirt they used the feminine, which describes the tuber rather than the head of the Catholic Church!
In the late 1970’s Braniff Airlines tried to promote their all-leather interiors by translating the English slogan “Fly in leather.” Unfortunately, the literal translation invited Spanish-speaking passengers to “Fly Naked.”
Blunders from more recent years:
Cincinnati Radio Station WLW - “The Big Juan” Billboard
In early May 2007, Cincinnati’s WLW-AM launched a billboard campaign throughout the city featuring a man with a dark mustache dressed in a traditional Mexican outfit, complete with a Mexican flag and a donkey. The headline read “The Big Juan,” which was intended as a humorous play on the station’s branding as “The Big One.” Someone inside Clear Channel Communications (WLW’s owner) should have been sensitive to the fact that this campaign could offend the growing Hispanic population in town (which it did).
Tecate’s “Cold Latina” Billboard
Back in 2004, Labbat USA, the U.S. Distributor or Tecate Beer, came up with what they called a tongue-in-cheek billboard for Tecate, meant to publicize the fact that the beer was now sold in bottles, rather than only in cans. It showed a chilled, ready to drink, Tecate bottle along with the phrase, “Finally, A Cold Latina.”
This example illustrates the importance of truly understanding Hispanic culture before advertising to reach this demographic. Critics felt “the ad propagates negative stereotypes of Hispanic women as being loose and overly sexual,” but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Family is extremely important to Latinos and any offense to a family member is certainly not appreciated. As a son, husband, brother and father of Latino women I found it offensive that a company would imply that all Hispanic women are “hot.”
Most Latinos understand that situations like this usually arise from a lack of knowledge, understanding and sensitivity, rather than an attempt to offend. Therefore, in general, we tend to cut these companies some slack. No, I won’t stop drinking Tecate beer because of this particular advertisement (I actually love a cold Tecate with salt and lime!), but I would not hesitate to try another brand if their advertising utilized sound research and insight in the development of their message… Hey, I could like it better than Tecate!
Hershey’s “Hispanic Milk Candy”
In 2004, Hispanic pop star Thalia Sodi (Mrs. Tommy Mottola for those of you who have no idea who she is) proudly branded a new Hershey’s line of “Hispanic Inspired” candy with her name. The new line included a candy bar naively called “Cajeta Elegancita.”
There wouldn’t be an issue if the product was being marketed in Thalia’s native Mexico, where the word “cajeta” has the G-rated meaning of milk candy (loosely translated). Unfortunately for Hershey’s, in parts of Latin America “cajeta” is also a derogatory slang term for a part of the female anatomy. So if an Argentinean residing in the United States ran into this product at the grocery store, best case scenario he would have a good laugh. Even if “cajeta” is the real and true name for the Mexican confection, it would have made better business sense to go with the still-in-the-ballpark name of “Dulce de Leche” milk candy, as other companies have opted when marketing this product in the United States.
The lesson businesses should take away from all these examples is clear: when looking for employees whose job responsibilities include serving the Hispanic community, make sure you find individuals who are truly bilingual and bicultural. The same goes for outsourcing your marketing and advertising efforts. It is not only knowledge of the language, it’s understanding the differences in meaning that are specific to a particular country or region.
Even more critical is a deep understanding of the culture: knowing what to take into consideration prior to developing a piece of communication, being aware of what could be offensive or otherwise misinterpreted, and having the cultural awareness to find alternative solutions.
Even if this represents a higher investment in personnel for your company, believe me, it will be more than worth it.
Source: bad_hispanic_advertising
Whether they are Spanish translation errors or subtle (sometimes not-so-subtle) cultural misinterpretations, these marketing mishaps are a waste of advertising dollars, often requiring additional investment to “clean up the mess” and start fresh with a whole new campaign to reach this market segment.
Some classic gaffes from the past:
When “translated” into Spanish, the Dairy Association’s astoundingly successful “Got Milk?” advertising campaign asked Latino consumers “Are you Lactating?”
During the Pope’s visit to Miami, a local T-shirt company printed shirts that read, “I saw the Potato” because in Spanish the article “the” can be either masculine (el papa) or feminine (la papa); on the T-shirt they used the feminine, which describes the tuber rather than the head of the Catholic Church!
In the late 1970’s Braniff Airlines tried to promote their all-leather interiors by translating the English slogan “Fly in leather.” Unfortunately, the literal translation invited Spanish-speaking passengers to “Fly Naked.”
Blunders from more recent years:
Cincinnati Radio Station WLW - “The Big Juan” Billboard
In early May 2007, Cincinnati’s WLW-AM launched a billboard campaign throughout the city featuring a man with a dark mustache dressed in a traditional Mexican outfit, complete with a Mexican flag and a donkey. The headline read “The Big Juan,” which was intended as a humorous play on the station’s branding as “The Big One.” Someone inside Clear Channel Communications (WLW’s owner) should have been sensitive to the fact that this campaign could offend the growing Hispanic population in town (which it did).
Tecate’s “Cold Latina” Billboard
Back in 2004, Labbat USA, the U.S. Distributor or Tecate Beer, came up with what they called a tongue-in-cheek billboard for Tecate, meant to publicize the fact that the beer was now sold in bottles, rather than only in cans. It showed a chilled, ready to drink, Tecate bottle along with the phrase, “Finally, A Cold Latina.”
This example illustrates the importance of truly understanding Hispanic culture before advertising to reach this demographic. Critics felt “the ad propagates negative stereotypes of Hispanic women as being loose and overly sexual,” but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Family is extremely important to Latinos and any offense to a family member is certainly not appreciated. As a son, husband, brother and father of Latino women I found it offensive that a company would imply that all Hispanic women are “hot.”
Most Latinos understand that situations like this usually arise from a lack of knowledge, understanding and sensitivity, rather than an attempt to offend. Therefore, in general, we tend to cut these companies some slack. No, I won’t stop drinking Tecate beer because of this particular advertisement (I actually love a cold Tecate with salt and lime!), but I would not hesitate to try another brand if their advertising utilized sound research and insight in the development of their message… Hey, I could like it better than Tecate!
Hershey’s “Hispanic Milk Candy”
In 2004, Hispanic pop star Thalia Sodi (Mrs. Tommy Mottola for those of you who have no idea who she is) proudly branded a new Hershey’s line of “Hispanic Inspired” candy with her name. The new line included a candy bar naively called “Cajeta Elegancita.”
There wouldn’t be an issue if the product was being marketed in Thalia’s native Mexico, where the word “cajeta” has the G-rated meaning of milk candy (loosely translated). Unfortunately for Hershey’s, in parts of Latin America “cajeta” is also a derogatory slang term for a part of the female anatomy. So if an Argentinean residing in the United States ran into this product at the grocery store, best case scenario he would have a good laugh. Even if “cajeta” is the real and true name for the Mexican confection, it would have made better business sense to go with the still-in-the-ballpark name of “Dulce de Leche” milk candy, as other companies have opted when marketing this product in the United States.
The lesson businesses should take away from all these examples is clear: when looking for employees whose job responsibilities include serving the Hispanic community, make sure you find individuals who are truly bilingual and bicultural. The same goes for outsourcing your marketing and advertising efforts. It is not only knowledge of the language, it’s understanding the differences in meaning that are specific to a particular country or region.
Even more critical is a deep understanding of the culture: knowing what to take into consideration prior to developing a piece of communication, being aware of what could be offensive or otherwise misinterpreted, and having the cultural awareness to find alternative solutions.
Even if this represents a higher investment in personnel for your company, believe me, it will be more than worth it.
Source: bad_hispanic_advertising
Diferencias Generacionales entre Hispanos
Por Juan Tornoe
Cuando el empresario promedio dice, “Quiero alcanzar a los hispanos”, generalmente está tratando de alcanzar a un universo de personas mucho mayor de lo que su presupuesto, gama de productos, o su huella geográfica le permitiría.
Hay muchas formas de desglosar al mercado latino, pero una que es bastante práctica y permite tiempos de reacción/adaptación cortos es el separar a los hispanos por generaciones.
Primero definamos, de manera general, a que nos referimos con esto de generaciones:
1ª Generación: Aquellos miembros de la comunidad hispana que nacieron y crecieron (una buena parte de sus vidas) en Latino América; son aquellos que migraron hacia los Estados Unidos. Lo que nuestros amigos Americanos llaman, “foreign-born;” nacidos en el extranjero.
2ª Generación: Nacidos en los Estados Unidos de padres – por lo menos uno – inmigrantes; aquí incluyo a aquellas personas que a una temprana edad migraron con sus padres desde Latino América y han vivido y crecido la mayor parte de sus vidas en los Estados Unidos.
3ª Generación o más: Nacidos en Estados Unidos de padres nacidos en los Estados Unidos. Aunque pueden identificar una conexión con Latino América en su árbol genealógico, todo lo que ellos (y sus padres) han experimentado la gran mayoría de sus vidas, por no decir toda su existencia, es la vida en los Estados Unidos.
Podríamos entrar en mucho más detalle al respecto, pero desde ya estoy seguro que usted ha comenzado a ver las claras diferencias en cuanto a puntos de vista y experiencias entre estos tres grupos.
El Hispano de primera generación va a estar intelectual y emocionalmente mucho más conectado con su país de origen. Por ende, mercadearle productos de “nostalgia” – aquellos que le son familiares y le recuerdan de alguna forma a su país, representa una gran oportunidad. Otro aspecto igual de importante es el idioma en el que puede mercadearle a este grupo. Especialmente a nivel de su local o tienda, el ofrecer la posibilidad de escuchar y leer información en español acerca de sus productos o servicios harán una gran diferencia. Aunque esta persona sea bilingüe, el darle la oportunidad de interactuar en su idioma natal representa una gran ventaja competitiva.
El Latino de segunda generación se identifica de cierta forma con la canción interpretada estupendamente por Facundo Cabral titulada “No soy de aquí, no soy de allá”. Ellos viven una doble realidad; en sus hogares, con sus padres inmigrantes, viven vidas “en español”, siendo educados, interactuando, comiendo, y entreteniéndose de manera muy similar a la que sus padres lo experimentaron en sus tierras natales. Al cruzar el marco de la puerta de entrada de sus hogares entran en el mundo estadounidense en el que han crecido y se han desenvuelto desde que comenzaron a ir a la escuela o guardería. En su mayoría entienden muy bien ambas culturas y consumen indistintamente productos/servicios de ambas. Aunque hablan – y hasta quizá lean – español, con distintos grados de competencia, el ofrecerles información e interacción es inglés hará que se sientan más a gusto al interactuar con su negocio.
Aquellos que forman parte de la tercera generación o más (4ª, 5ª, etc.) aunque retienen ciertas costumbres y tradiciones de sus antepasados, están mucho más asimilados que los otros grupos, es decir, con cada generación de cierta manera se va “olvidando” la hispanicidad y se va adoptando más la tradicional cultura estadounidense. Esta última afirmación parece ser algo contradictoria, pues dado que los Latinos son la minoría más joven y de mayor número en el país, están influenciando y redefiniendo de manera pronta y poderosa a lo que se conoce como “mercado general”. Independientemente, existen diferencias con las generaciones anteriores. En cuanto al idioma, es probable que aunque entiendan español, no tengan vocabulario suficiente o se sientan lo suficientemente cómodos para hablarlo. Ya que tanto ellos como sus padres han vivido en los Estados Unidos toda su vida, están sumamente familiarizados con todos los productos y servicios que se ofrecen en el país y dependen/utilizan mucho menos productos que tradicionalmente son categorizados como Latinos.
Los porcentajes de estos grupos generacionales varían según los distintos mercados, pero una cosa es cierta: Aunque el número de hispanos de primera generación continuará en crecimiento conforme pasa el tiempo, estos representarán un porcentaje menor de la totalidad del mercado latino. Es decir que cada día los hispanos de segunda, tercera y siguientes generaciones representarán un mercado más y más grande. Si desea expandir el alcance de su empresa entre todos los hispanos y hacer crecer su negocio, debe entender las diferencias generacionales y utilizar este nuevo entendimiento para poder mercadear efectivamente a todos.
Cuando el empresario promedio dice, “Quiero alcanzar a los hispanos”, generalmente está tratando de alcanzar a un universo de personas mucho mayor de lo que su presupuesto, gama de productos, o su huella geográfica le permitiría.
Hay muchas formas de desglosar al mercado latino, pero una que es bastante práctica y permite tiempos de reacción/adaptación cortos es el separar a los hispanos por generaciones.
Primero definamos, de manera general, a que nos referimos con esto de generaciones:
1ª Generación: Aquellos miembros de la comunidad hispana que nacieron y crecieron (una buena parte de sus vidas) en Latino América; son aquellos que migraron hacia los Estados Unidos. Lo que nuestros amigos Americanos llaman, “foreign-born;” nacidos en el extranjero.
2ª Generación: Nacidos en los Estados Unidos de padres – por lo menos uno – inmigrantes; aquí incluyo a aquellas personas que a una temprana edad migraron con sus padres desde Latino América y han vivido y crecido la mayor parte de sus vidas en los Estados Unidos.
3ª Generación o más: Nacidos en Estados Unidos de padres nacidos en los Estados Unidos. Aunque pueden identificar una conexión con Latino América en su árbol genealógico, todo lo que ellos (y sus padres) han experimentado la gran mayoría de sus vidas, por no decir toda su existencia, es la vida en los Estados Unidos.
Podríamos entrar en mucho más detalle al respecto, pero desde ya estoy seguro que usted ha comenzado a ver las claras diferencias en cuanto a puntos de vista y experiencias entre estos tres grupos.
El Hispano de primera generación va a estar intelectual y emocionalmente mucho más conectado con su país de origen. Por ende, mercadearle productos de “nostalgia” – aquellos que le son familiares y le recuerdan de alguna forma a su país, representa una gran oportunidad. Otro aspecto igual de importante es el idioma en el que puede mercadearle a este grupo. Especialmente a nivel de su local o tienda, el ofrecer la posibilidad de escuchar y leer información en español acerca de sus productos o servicios harán una gran diferencia. Aunque esta persona sea bilingüe, el darle la oportunidad de interactuar en su idioma natal representa una gran ventaja competitiva.
El Latino de segunda generación se identifica de cierta forma con la canción interpretada estupendamente por Facundo Cabral titulada “No soy de aquí, no soy de allá”. Ellos viven una doble realidad; en sus hogares, con sus padres inmigrantes, viven vidas “en español”, siendo educados, interactuando, comiendo, y entreteniéndose de manera muy similar a la que sus padres lo experimentaron en sus tierras natales. Al cruzar el marco de la puerta de entrada de sus hogares entran en el mundo estadounidense en el que han crecido y se han desenvuelto desde que comenzaron a ir a la escuela o guardería. En su mayoría entienden muy bien ambas culturas y consumen indistintamente productos/servicios de ambas. Aunque hablan – y hasta quizá lean – español, con distintos grados de competencia, el ofrecerles información e interacción es inglés hará que se sientan más a gusto al interactuar con su negocio.
Aquellos que forman parte de la tercera generación o más (4ª, 5ª, etc.) aunque retienen ciertas costumbres y tradiciones de sus antepasados, están mucho más asimilados que los otros grupos, es decir, con cada generación de cierta manera se va “olvidando” la hispanicidad y se va adoptando más la tradicional cultura estadounidense. Esta última afirmación parece ser algo contradictoria, pues dado que los Latinos son la minoría más joven y de mayor número en el país, están influenciando y redefiniendo de manera pronta y poderosa a lo que se conoce como “mercado general”. Independientemente, existen diferencias con las generaciones anteriores. En cuanto al idioma, es probable que aunque entiendan español, no tengan vocabulario suficiente o se sientan lo suficientemente cómodos para hablarlo. Ya que tanto ellos como sus padres han vivido en los Estados Unidos toda su vida, están sumamente familiarizados con todos los productos y servicios que se ofrecen en el país y dependen/utilizan mucho menos productos que tradicionalmente son categorizados como Latinos.
Los porcentajes de estos grupos generacionales varían según los distintos mercados, pero una cosa es cierta: Aunque el número de hispanos de primera generación continuará en crecimiento conforme pasa el tiempo, estos representarán un porcentaje menor de la totalidad del mercado latino. Es decir que cada día los hispanos de segunda, tercera y siguientes generaciones representarán un mercado más y más grande. Si desea expandir el alcance de su empresa entre todos los hispanos y hacer crecer su negocio, debe entender las diferencias generacionales y utilizar este nuevo entendimiento para poder mercadear efectivamente a todos.
Seven Ways to Energize Sales
In this highly competitive marketplace, it's vital to keep your marketing campaigns fresh, new and on target. This fall, kick your marketing into high gear with this seven-point checklist.
1. Reestablish Listening Posts
Smart marketing relies entirely on understanding your customer. You need to know not only who they are and what they buy, but why they buy -- and why they choose to buy from you. Redouble your efforts at dialogue through social media, message boards and blogs. And get direct feedback from customers or clients, or via your front-line salespeople.
2. Announce Special Promotions
Use special incentives to draw customers to short-term promotions. This fall (much like the last), cost-conscious consumers are looking for good prices and great value, and promotions are a winner with most all economic groups. Coupons are increasingly vital, and there is a major rise in the desirability of online coupons.
3. Polish Lead Management
Over the summer, lead tracking and follow up may have become a bit haphazard. Be certain everyone who takes inbound calls asks every new lead where they heard about your company. Make the leads generated by your online, print and broadcast advertising trackable. And where possible follow up all leads within 24 hours. Today's sales are built on trusting relationships that grow from excellent customer service.
4. Focus On Fresh Ideas
Don't rely exclusively on a small team or just your marketing staff to produce fresh ideas. Make innovation everyone's responsibility this fall with brainstorming sessions, company retreats or by giving special recognition to individuals with the smartest suggestions. If your business has few employees, assemble a seasoned advisory board or form an online advisory group made up of members of your target audience to give input in exchange for sales perks.
5. Renew Retention Campaigns
Do you have regular e-mail or direct mail promotions that go out to your entire customer base? This fall, use e-mail to crank up your retention campaign by putting it on a consistent weekly or biweekly schedule. Soon you'll have discovered which incentives and messages work best to retain and upsell current customers and convert prospects, and yield the highest return on investment.
6. Enhance Your Giving
In this era of rising social responsibility, customers and prospects want to know you're a good corporate citizen, and this is a great time to align with a nonprofit. Businesses that rely on local customers benefit from helping community-based causes. You can provide pro bono services or undertake a promotional campaign to raise charitable funds. Just be sure to promote the undertaking via your website and the press. You'll provide help where it's needed most and earn appreciation from customers that leads to sales.
7. Freshen Your Content
When was the last time you updated the content of your website and your family of sales and marketing tools? Since your website is generally the first place prospects go to learn more about your business, it's crucial the site's appearance and themes are current. Imagine someone following a logical path from your website through each step in your sales process, and make sure all materials and messages they encounter flow seamlessly from one to the next. With more shoppers than ever browsing the Web this fall, it's a great way to jumpstart sales.
1. Reestablish Listening Posts
Smart marketing relies entirely on understanding your customer. You need to know not only who they are and what they buy, but why they buy -- and why they choose to buy from you. Redouble your efforts at dialogue through social media, message boards and blogs. And get direct feedback from customers or clients, or via your front-line salespeople.
2. Announce Special Promotions
Use special incentives to draw customers to short-term promotions. This fall (much like the last), cost-conscious consumers are looking for good prices and great value, and promotions are a winner with most all economic groups. Coupons are increasingly vital, and there is a major rise in the desirability of online coupons.
3. Polish Lead Management
Over the summer, lead tracking and follow up may have become a bit haphazard. Be certain everyone who takes inbound calls asks every new lead where they heard about your company. Make the leads generated by your online, print and broadcast advertising trackable. And where possible follow up all leads within 24 hours. Today's sales are built on trusting relationships that grow from excellent customer service.
4. Focus On Fresh Ideas
Don't rely exclusively on a small team or just your marketing staff to produce fresh ideas. Make innovation everyone's responsibility this fall with brainstorming sessions, company retreats or by giving special recognition to individuals with the smartest suggestions. If your business has few employees, assemble a seasoned advisory board or form an online advisory group made up of members of your target audience to give input in exchange for sales perks.
5. Renew Retention Campaigns
Do you have regular e-mail or direct mail promotions that go out to your entire customer base? This fall, use e-mail to crank up your retention campaign by putting it on a consistent weekly or biweekly schedule. Soon you'll have discovered which incentives and messages work best to retain and upsell current customers and convert prospects, and yield the highest return on investment.
6. Enhance Your Giving
In this era of rising social responsibility, customers and prospects want to know you're a good corporate citizen, and this is a great time to align with a nonprofit. Businesses that rely on local customers benefit from helping community-based causes. You can provide pro bono services or undertake a promotional campaign to raise charitable funds. Just be sure to promote the undertaking via your website and the press. You'll provide help where it's needed most and earn appreciation from customers that leads to sales.
7. Freshen Your Content
When was the last time you updated the content of your website and your family of sales and marketing tools? Since your website is generally the first place prospects go to learn more about your business, it's crucial the site's appearance and themes are current. Imagine someone following a logical path from your website through each step in your sales process, and make sure all materials and messages they encounter flow seamlessly from one to the next. With more shoppers than ever browsing the Web this fall, it's a great way to jumpstart sales.
Four Steps to Launching a Loyalty Program Structured programs can help you grow your business, retain customers and trump the competition.
uild a solid loyalty-strategy plan: This is where your creativity comes in. All components of the program should be clearly considered and vetted, such as timing, branding, value-proposition, attractive incentives and rewards, loyalty currency (points, cash-back, discounts, coupons, etc.), and marketing channels.
You don't have to reinvent the wheel, look to companies that have a solid loyalty program in place for inspiration and ideas. For instance, the Neiman Marcus loyalty program makes excellent use of attractive incentives, while Subway offers a good example of a program based on loyalty currency.
Prepare a calendar of events and timetable to successfully complete the plan. Talk to your vendors and suppliers about providing assistance to showcase their products or services in exchange for supporting your program.
2. Embrace a loyalty mindset company-wide: There needs to be a philosophical change in the way your company views loyalty for your employees, vendors and customers. Starting at the highest level, it's crucial that each department within your small business fully understand, support and embrace the loyalty strategy that you're going to unveil.
Once your plan is in place, provide training at all levels within your business. The training program should be an ongoing and mandatory employee obligation. This will offer the highest possible success rate to impact your company's bottom line.
3. Set up your systems: Depending on the sophistication of your program, you'll need to ensure that the proper systems are in place to effectively run your loyalty program. There are many tasks to consider, including the process of enrolling, identifying and tracking your loyalty customers. In addition, you'll want to consider having flexible software in place in order to efficiently set up promotions, run reports and add or delete program options at your preference.
Vendors such as Valutec offer loyalty software and a variety of gift and loyalty card services, from card design to transaction reporting. Start by talking to your point-of-sale provider, credit card processor, your IT staff and vendors for software recommendations. Note that the cost of getting started can vary drastically by industry, so be sure to do your homework.
4. Market and launch your loyalty program: After putting the pieces together, it's time to promote and launch your program.
Depending on the size of your small business and its geographic footprint, you may want to consider a soft launch or pilot launch prior to releasing the program to your entire customer base. This will allow you to work through any potential snafus.
Either way, be sure to allocate plenty of time to drum up interest prior to going live. This can be achieved through in-store promotion, online promotion, receipt messaging, e-mail, text and social media.
One option you may want to consider is assigning a team to focus on specific action items to boost membership, such as a special sign-up day that promises incentives for instant enrollment (a free product or service paid by a sponsor or manufacturer).
Once the program has launched, your customers will be curious about how the program works. It is your job to display and explain the program rules in a simple and concise message. Put your best offering forward as your customers will want to know exactly what the program offers them and why they should enroll.
You don't have to reinvent the wheel, look to companies that have a solid loyalty program in place for inspiration and ideas. For instance, the Neiman Marcus loyalty program makes excellent use of attractive incentives, while Subway offers a good example of a program based on loyalty currency.
Prepare a calendar of events and timetable to successfully complete the plan. Talk to your vendors and suppliers about providing assistance to showcase their products or services in exchange for supporting your program.
2. Embrace a loyalty mindset company-wide: There needs to be a philosophical change in the way your company views loyalty for your employees, vendors and customers. Starting at the highest level, it's crucial that each department within your small business fully understand, support and embrace the loyalty strategy that you're going to unveil.
Once your plan is in place, provide training at all levels within your business. The training program should be an ongoing and mandatory employee obligation. This will offer the highest possible success rate to impact your company's bottom line.
3. Set up your systems: Depending on the sophistication of your program, you'll need to ensure that the proper systems are in place to effectively run your loyalty program. There are many tasks to consider, including the process of enrolling, identifying and tracking your loyalty customers. In addition, you'll want to consider having flexible software in place in order to efficiently set up promotions, run reports and add or delete program options at your preference.
Vendors such as Valutec offer loyalty software and a variety of gift and loyalty card services, from card design to transaction reporting. Start by talking to your point-of-sale provider, credit card processor, your IT staff and vendors for software recommendations. Note that the cost of getting started can vary drastically by industry, so be sure to do your homework.
4. Market and launch your loyalty program: After putting the pieces together, it's time to promote and launch your program.
Depending on the size of your small business and its geographic footprint, you may want to consider a soft launch or pilot launch prior to releasing the program to your entire customer base. This will allow you to work through any potential snafus.
Either way, be sure to allocate plenty of time to drum up interest prior to going live. This can be achieved through in-store promotion, online promotion, receipt messaging, e-mail, text and social media.
One option you may want to consider is assigning a team to focus on specific action items to boost membership, such as a special sign-up day that promises incentives for instant enrollment (a free product or service paid by a sponsor or manufacturer).
Once the program has launched, your customers will be curious about how the program works. It is your job to display and explain the program rules in a simple and concise message. Put your best offering forward as your customers will want to know exactly what the program offers them and why they should enroll.