Establishing the direct-to-consumer connection maintains loyalty, brand preference, brand advocacy and gets you promoted.
For years, the consumer package goods brand marketers and product managers have relied on freestanding inserts (FSIs) to drive sales of their products. FSIs are those packets of product coupons printed on glossy paper and slipped into your Sunday newspaper. FSIs are accompanied by weekly retailer circulars that are also stuffed into the paper, but are different in that the individual product coupons can be used at any retailer.
A key benefit to FSIs is that they reach well over 100 million consumers weekly. Although redemption rates are anemic – about 0.5%, the massive circulation results in case movement. It remains the best single opportunity for CPGs to establish that direct-to-consumer connection. FSIs are the go-to channel for introducing new products or brand extensions. However, the FSIs biggest benefit – massive circulation numbers – is eroding due to the declining newspaper subscriber rate.
According to the 2012 State of the News Media by the Pew Center’ Project for Excellence in Journalism, newspaper circulation has declined from 61 million in 1990 to 43 million in 2011. 2012 figures still being tallied, but the news (pardon the pun) isn’t expected to be good.
You don’t need to look further than you own habits to determine the cause – you, and everyone else has evolved to a more digital person. You get your news in a digital form; you should get your coupons in a digital form (and I don’t mean click-to-print coupons, that is the centaur of the coupon world – only half digital).
So to keep that direct-to-consumer connection, CPG marketers need to evolve along with their customer base. Be digital. Be mobile. Be there at all times.
Card-linked offers are the newest, best way to keep that connection. And unlike paper coupons, card-linked offers can be served up everywhere, in any medium. Extend offers pre-shop, post-shop, and most importantly, during the shopping trip. Direct-to-consumer to retain your best customers, acquire new ones, expose current customers to product line extensions and win-back lost or declining customers.
And with digital offers, you have new flexibility unheard of in a paper coupon world – astonishingly short lead time for coupon deployment, ability to set redemption limits or quickly take down in offer to prevent out-of-stocks. Suddenly got an item with a short code? Set up an offer.
According to a recent Adweek article polling brand marketers, 77% believe days of traditional media channels are numbered and 68% say they need to shift their reliance on broad-based media to more of a one-to-one focus. Join your brethren. Keep your direct-to-consumer connection. Find a space for card-linked offers in your marketing strategies.
