subject: History's Best Marketing Incentives [print this page] Incentive marketing is not a new practice, having been used in some form or another since the late 1700s. In the past 200 plus years, marketing incentives have taken many shapes, from trading cards and stamp books in the earliest days, to modern, advanced technology such as computers and iPads. As time has gone on, there have been many changes to incentive marketing, but here, we're going to focus on some of the most successful programs in history.
One of the most well-known loyalty programs in history is the stamp-trading program of the 1890s, which exploded in the 1940s and 50s, following World War II. In stamp trading, the goal was to collect stamps from your favorite retailer, filling pages of a book. Once you'd collected enough stamps, you could redeem them for different items from the store, or from a special catalog full of incentive marketing rewards offered by the company.
You'll probably remember one of the most well loved incentive programs of all time from when you were a kid. You would get up each day for breakfast and hope you were finally down to the last bowl of cereal so that the prize would pop out into your bowl. The fun came in the surprise itself and in anticipating the prize,but really, it was all about the toy in the box. This ploy worked so well because children's favorite cereal would change based on what prize was offered by the company that made the cereal.
Another of the most successful programs that almost everyone knows about is the rewards card. These are credit, and now, debit cards, which are branded by stores, banks, gas stations and any other company offering you rewards for using their cards. These rewards may be discounts, flights, free merchandise, cash back or just about anything else. Spending more money means that you earn more points and rewards.
Recently, banks have offered some very successful programs. These incentives could include anything from stationary to computers, or maybe even cars. In all actuality luxury cruises are a good option for high end customers too.
Offering your customers a benefit to remaining loyal allows you to ensure that they will not just stay with your bank or company, but that they'll refer their loved ones as well. We've listed just a few of the most successful programs. If you're considering including incentives in your marketing plan, you should talk with a specialist in the area so that you can set up a program that is going to be effective and help to ensure you get the results you're after.
