PPB October 2019

Challenges Where Marketers Can Help 1 Recruitment and retention. Tech companies face steep talent shortages now and that challenge is expected to continue. 2 Promoting new technologies. Making innovative tech and tools available to clients and consumers, such as AI- based customer support. 3 New product promotion. New product introductions can be more challenging for tech companies because of the complexities in design and use. 4 Differentiation. There are more than 100,000 software and IT companies in the U.S. and 99 percent of them are small- and medium-sized firms (under 500 employees), so differentiation is of paramount importance. Top-Performing Tech Firms Look At Rewards Differently Executives at top-performing technology firms are significantly more likely than those at average-performing firms to: • Regard their reward and recognition programs as a competitive advantage (twice as likely—86 percent vs 44 percent) • Believe that rewards and recognition are a critical tool in managing the performance of the company (15 percent more likely) • Strongly agree that their reward and recognition programs are effective recruitment tools (33 percent more likely) Tech companies also take incentives and rewards seriously in these ways: • Top-performing firms are 10 percent more likely than average firms to create “bottom up” budgets for incentives, calculating the appropriate investment as a percentage of the participant’s income • Excluding incentive travel, top-performing technology firms invest $119 in non-cash rewards on an average per employee and $451 per top performer • Top-performing technology firms spend $124 more on their top incentive travel rewards than average-performing firms do • Top performers are 27 percent more likely to design and manage programs with strong collaboration among multiple departments (27 percent more likely) • Top performers are more likely to structure their programs with the goal of reaching each participant versus only recognizing the top performers (22 percent more likely) • Top performers are 25 percent more likely to use both reward points and twice as likely to use a group incentive trip The most important requirement for classification as a top performer in this research was financial growth: more than five percent growth in revenue or stock price. Source: Incentive Research Foundation A retail technology store opened its doors in a mid-sized community. Each year, the city hosts a home improvement show where many local businesses operate a booth to meet members of the community and get some exposure. At the show, the store handed out the Powerplate Wireless Charging Pad . Show attendees were excited about the useful wireless charger. The store saw an uptick in store traffic for several months after attending the show and attribute the increase to the wireless charger it distributed. Source: Beacon Promotions Techno l ogy Real-World Solutions 54 | OCTOBER 2019 | GROW