A renewed emphasis on employee retention and workplace performance, along with customer loyalty, target marketing and measuring marketing return-on-investment, has seen a shift from the mass marketing model to integrated, targeted business strategies that incorporate the use of people performance management and engagement techniques.
Motivating people in business is a real focus for corporate executives now as they begin to see the effects of record lows in unemployment, increased competition in most product categories and a rapidly changing media landscape that is making it much harder for marketers to reach consumers. Add to this the relentless pressure to reduce costs and innovate and it’s not hard to see why performance improvement practices are now being embraced by most organisations.
An effective performance improvement strategy is the use of incentive marketing, a term which refers to the tools and solutions that contribute to maximizing the performance and engagement of all the people important to an organisation.
Director of WaKaMo! Business Media and organiser of Asia Pacific’s first exhibition and conference for the incentive marketing industry, Mark Harvey believes it is fast becoming the winning component of a successful business strategy.
“It will be those organisations that embrace incentive marketing as a part of their business strategy that will attract the best talent and build relationships with customers,” he said.
“It’s not difficult to understand there is a direct connection between motivated employees, satisfied customers and profitability. Managers who use incentive marketing practices to engage and motivate their people will find it much easier to achieve organisational growth in the future.”
So what exactly is incentive marketing? According to Mr Harvey, it is about the use of a combination of products, tools and initiatives that drive organisational growth by capturing the power of your best people and customers.
“There is a wide variety of tactics that can be used to motivate people in business including sales incentives, reward and recognition programs, motivation events, incentive travel, team building activities, trade promotions and employee benefits,” Mr Harvey said.
“These are effective tactics on their own but incentive marketing isn’t just about one marketing tactic or medium, it’s about integrated solutions working together to engage consumers, channel partners, salespeople, and all employees in the quest to continually increase sales and customer satisfaction.
“When you blend a combination of these together with an effective communications strategy, employee training and a good compensation plan, you are connecting all the key elements that contribute to human performance and financial results and that is powerful.”
He said that unfortunately, despite the billions of dollars Australian organisations spend on incentive programs each year, many programs routinely violate basic program principles.
“By failing to include objective measures, target audience involvement in the development stage or provide proper communication and training, many organisations are not realising the full potential of their programs. This is why we created the Motivation in Business Summit. There is a need for managers to better understand and learn how to create, execute and manage an effective performance improvement strategy. We have meticulously researched and designed a two-day conference that addresses the challenges of corporate executives who have the responsibilities of maximizing performance and engagement of employees, salespeople and channel partners.
Motivation & Incentive Expo and Motivation in Business Summit will be held at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre on July 25 and 25, 2007. For more information, contact Mark Harvey on 0419 775 488 or mh@wakamo.com or visit the event website at www.MotivationBiz.com.
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