Page 273 - (DK) The Business Book
P. 273
SUCCESSFUL SELLING 271
EVERYBODY LIKES
SOMETHING EXTRA
FOR NOTHING
PROMOTIONS AND INCENTIVES
arketers often use the retailer or wholesaler, so that they
IN CONTEXT offer of a free gift, prize, will, in turn, direct consumer
M discount, or bonus to attention toward certain products.
FOCUS
sway customers into buying Both push and pull incentives
Marketing incentives
merchandise. This strategy is can cause a short-term lift in sales,
KEY DATES known as “incentive marketing” or but over time their impact wears off;
1895 Postum Cereals in the “sales promotion.” It is commonly promotion fatigue sets in, or the
US introduces “penny-off” used to launch a new product, incentives become too expensive.
coupons to promote its cereal. regenerate interest when sales The success of a promotion is
growth is flat, or to help build the measured by looking at return on
1912 The offer of “a prize in
company’s reputation or brand. investment (ROI). When this begins
every box” is used to tempt US industrialist William Wrigley to fall, or the company’s reputation
US customers to buy Cracker was a pioneer of incentives aimed suffers from a surfeit of promotions,
Jack popcorn. at encouraging purchases. In 1892 the strategy is no longer working. ■
he started marketing his chewing
1949 US grain producer
gum offering gifts, or “premiums,”
Pillsbury devises a marketing
to successfully woo customers
campaign based around a
away from the established brands.
product-linked cooking
It was a tactic he returned to often
competition.
to stimulate sales growth.
1975 The “Pepsi Challenge One thing I’ve learned is that
Taste Test” helps the soft- Push and pull you can’t push technology.
drink brand outsell Coca-Cola In modern marketing terminology, It has to be pulled.
in supermarket sales. Wrigley used “pull” incentives: Bill Ford
gifts or price reductions that US industrialist (1957–)
1992 Electrical goods maker
stimulate consumer demand, so
Hoover offers a free flight to
that retailers are forced to stock
any UK customer spending
more of the product. Marketers can
$160 (£100) on a product.
also use “push” incentives: these are
The offer is so popular that it compensations targeted toward the
costs the company almost
$79 (£50) million.
See also: Understanding the market 234–41 ■ Creating a brand 258–63 ■
Generating buzz 274–75 ■ Marketing mix 280–83
