Creating the Marketing Plan

A loyalty scheme or initiative is a data led marketing programme and no different from any other marketing programme is the need for a plan to accommodate a number of key principles that include:

• Positioning the scheme/initiative within the market – why is this programme better than any other, why will the customers engage and what will ensure longevity of operation?
• Loyalty branding – creating the identity that will be used to engage customers across a number of channels which must sustain the experience from registration to redemption.
• Testing the consumer proposition – key to ensuring success with any consumer programme is the use of focus groups, surveys and or pilot testing, ensuring that customer feedback informs the final design.
• Promotion of the programme to its core audience and through the channels of choice – creating appropriate perceptions across multiple channels which might include print, direct mail, flyers, brochures, TV / Radio, Press, In-store and Online.
• Launching the scheme/initiative – how will this be achieved, with what resources and through which channels?
• Customer recruitment – what is the strategy for signing up a viable customer audience within a timeframe consistent with success?
• Taking the customer along the loyalty journey – from registration to redemption, customers will only perceive a positive when they experience an appropriate reward and within a reasonable timescale.

Having been involved in the design and launch of many loyalty schemes and initiatives across the globe, LCUK brings a depth of experience to the stewardship of creating the marketing plan, usually in partnership with a client’s existing branding, advertising and marketing agencies.