10 Steps to a Successful Program
Now that premiums, incentives, rewards and recognition have become such an important part of the marketing arsenal, it’s beneficial to take advantage of the growing amount of research and best practices to make sure your program has the best possible results. While research provides compelling proof of the impact of incentive programs (See Top 10 Most Valuable Resources), it also suggests that these programs, like any marketing technique, can backfire if not properly planned. Here’s a list of critical issues to address.
1. Strategic planning. The best results come from a formal plan with goals, measurable objectives, strategies, plans, and timelines etc. This process includes identifying all of the levers that could affect the outcome, and should include an involvement process of those who can help you achieve success. Strategic planning takes more time up front, but the discipline pays off in more measurable results. Fundamentally, the plan should answer such questions as: how will you engage people to do what; how will this contribute to organizational goals, what factors could address the outcome, and how will you measure it.
2. Link to other organization touchpoints. Business has become so complex that success often depends on partners elsewhere in the organization or in the distribution channel. Make sure your strategic plan specifically addresses the other areas of your business that could affect the outcome and what you can do in terms of cooperative planning, communications, or incentives to make sure you don’t fall victim to unintended obstacles.
3. Management and administration. Any incentive program, whether focused on external or internal audiences, represents a marketing campaign with specific goals, measurable objectives, strategies, plans, and actions. The best results come when someone has accountability for implementation, measurement, and results. Many companies turn to outside experts for this function, in the same way that advertisers use agencies.
4. Rules of the game. No matter what the audience of your program—consumers, salespeople, channel partners, or employees—the qualifying structure is critical to make sure people have attainable goals and there are no loop holes. Whether a formal recognition or incentive program, an ad hoc recognition effort, or a consumer promotion, the best results come when you have simple, clear parameters defining the distribution of rewards and recognition. “It’s not fair,” is a refrain encountered almost as much in the business world as at the kitchen table with kids.
5. Award selection. A growing body of research proves that most managers prefer noncash awards to achieve specific business objectives. For consumer programs, awards help create buzz and excitement and reinforce your brand. For employee programs, they can help convey a sense of support and foster positive workplace emotions. The awards you select are similar to the media you choose for your advertising; they make a major statement about your organization and its understanding of your target audience. If the program involves consumers, you also have to consider federal and state regulations, and you always want to choose suppliers you can trust to deliver the right awards on time to the right people, even if redemption occurs long after the program began.
6. Communication. Remarkably, many incentive programs overlook the powerful communication and training opportunities afforded by incentive programs, which tend to foster a higher level of engagement than almost any other type of marketing program. Make sure you take full advantage of your incentive program not only to tout the awards but also the skills and attitude people will need to win.
7. Training. When it comes to sales, channel partner, or employee programs, it’s as important to address capability as it is engagement and communication. It’s not enough for people to want to do something, or even for them to know what to do: they have to be capable of doing it. The most-productive incentive programs incorporate learning and reinforcement opportunities.
8. Tracking. Web-based technology makes it easier than ever to turn your incentive program into a real-time performance enhancer. With the right approach and connection to technology, your program can deliver back invaluable information as to what’s happening in the field in terms of sales, productivity, and quality—whatever your targeted results.
9. Measurement. One of the great benefits of incentive programs? Measurability. Yet, surveys have shown that less than half have any formal results measures. You can get more mileage out of your programs by taking advantage of the fact that they usually involve a highly defined audience with built-in tracking of behaviors, so you can usually find out whether in fact people changed their behaviors
10. Feedback. Because incentive and premium programs are targeted at carefully defined audiences and specified plans, invaluable information almost invariably gets generated related to how to run a better program the next time.