What Is Incentive Marketing?

A lot of business owners think that the term incentive marketing platform is just used to refer to an "incentive program" – a special way of paying employees. But the truth is, it is a lot more than that. Incentive marketing is a whole range of strategies and tactics used to generate new business, increase customer traffic and improve profitability.

The most common form of incentive marketing platform involves giving discounts on certain product line, including food, fashion and even car parts. Incentive marketing has been around for decades, but it was primarily used in terms of raising sales for product lines with no obvious niche. Thanks to a little thing called the Internet, this technique has now found its way into the lives of many online businesses. Even small companies can take advantage of this new kind of business, as well as businesses who run their own websites.

One of the most important components of the business of incentivizing people is creating a public relations campaign that will bring about the required change in behavior. For example, if a person was a loyal customer of a company before, but then they receive a discount for purchasing that same product, they may be motivated to go out and buy more of it. For the more traditional model of incentivizing customers, there is a need to tweak pricing to be more appealing to them. Sometimes, there needs to be a little added bonus of some kind in order to get a customer to spend their money in that particular manner. This may be as simple as a small discount or perhaps a money-back guarantee on any purchases of that particular product.

Incentive marketing is also used to encourage new business, to attract new customers and to improve profitability of a firm's business. If a company wants to drive traffic to their website, or just build an immediate following of loyal customers, they can do so by offering an incentive such as a free sample or a free eBook. The problem with this is that it may not always work, which makes it necessary to come up with more creative ways to keep customers coming back.

A new feature of incentive marketing is "sponsorship," which is a method of increasing loyalty among customers by providing incentives for memberships to companies and services. Such services can include joining a newsletter, buying a product from a particular brand or purchasing a membership to a social networking site. Many companies have benefited from using this strategy in recent years, as evidenced by the large numbers of users who remain loyal to the major social media sites despite years of high profile advertising campaigns.

Incentive marketing is used in a variety of ways, including in-store coupons, mail-in rebate programs, virtual prizes and contests. Incentive marketing programs are also used in telemarketing, which can actually be very effective at driving traffic to your website. When combined with website promotion, it can be an exceptionally powerful tool for bringing in customers. That's why so many companies and Internet marketers use online marketing as a method of increasing sales.

Since so many companies are now considering it as an investment, this sort of marketing approach offers great advantages and also allows for low cost materials and options. Because it has been used for a long time and is still in its infancy, there are a lot of opportunities available for a business owner to be able to implement and test various approaches. This means that this form of marketing may never get old as long as there are new and innovative tactics being applied to it.

With so many companies are taking advantage of this type of marketing, it is becoming more common every year in recent years. Incentive marketing can be a powerful tool for promoting a business, whether they choose to use it or not.