A Look at Branding from Both Sides of the Glass

While external branding gets most of the money and attention, internal branding is really what it’s all about

A Three-Dimensional Medium for Engaging Communications

This article, based on research funded by the Promotional Products Association International, looks at how using promotional products to support customer communications efforts can improve engagement.

AstraZeneca Leads the Way to Enterprise Engagement

This feature article from Engagement Strategies Magazine looks at how AstraZeneca's internal and external engagement efforts have helped to make it one of Fortune Magazine's "Most Admired Companies."

Building (and Keeping) an Engaged Employee Team

It’s a simple formula: Hire and retain top-flight talent, then put those people together into a winning team. Sounds easy, right? Well, any manager or HR exec with more than a couple of years of experience will tell you it isn’t.

Communications Key to Maximizing Incentive Results

Clear, creative, continuous. That formula guarantees enthusiasm for any program. And the Internet makes it easier than ever to make communications count.

Consumers: Incentive Overview

This article looks at the types of consumers and the motivational factors affecting consumer incentive plans.

Customer Retention: Keeping Your Best Customers for the Long Term

This white paper from the Performance Improvement Council of the Incentive Marketing Association looks at the importance of using active retention efforts to keep both consumers and business-to-business customers for the long term.

Employee Engagement, Customer Satisfaction and Profitability

This study from the Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement seeks to understand the organizational drivers of employee satisfaction and employee engagement, and the downstream effects of these employee attitudes on customers and financial performance

Employees: Strategic Issues

This article provides a model for creating incentive programs for non-sales employees.

Employees: Types of Programs

This article provides an overview and key planning considerations for the most common types of non-sales employee incentive and recognition programs.

Exploring the Building Blocks of ‘Employee Lifetime Value’

This document examines properties shared by Employee Lifetime Value and Customer Lifetime Value, which are explored in further detail in a 45-page research report entitled Employee Lifetime Value: Measuring the Long-Term Financial Contribution of Employees.

Gift Card Consolidators Offer Protection, Peace of Mind

While most people would agree that gift card consolidators are a significant force in the incentive industry, there seems to be some confusion about just what a gift card consolidator is and who stakes claim to the title.

Human Resources and Marketing: A Missing Link?

This article provides an overview of research from the Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement looking at the importance of communication between human resources and marketing.

Incentives, Motivation & Workplace Performance

This paper from the Incentive Research Foundation looks at the factors in incentive program design and implementation that can impact its success.

Let’s Pretend You’re Spain…

A bit of Brand Engagement wisdom from Robert Passikoff, Founder and President of Brand Keys, Inc., Catch his education session at this year Enterprise Engagement Expo: “The Integrated Incentive Engagement Evaluator.”

New Research Shows the Path from Engagement to Productivity

There is a real ROI to corporate efforts to engage employees, according to research by Corporate Executive Board research arm CLC-Genesee, which has been surveying and analyzing employee engagement at companies for a number of years.

Performance Management & Incentives in the Era of Sarbanes-Oxley

This white paper from the Performance Improvement Council of the Incentive Marketing Association looks at how Sarbanes-Oxley requirements can affect incentive and recognition plans.

Practicing the Power of Nice

Linda Kaplan Thaler, one of the keynote speakers at this year’s Enterprise Engagement Expo, believes that – contrary to the conventional wisdom – ‘nice guys finish first’

Promotional Products: Impact, Exposure And Influence.

This research report suggests that use of promotional products can improve advertising results.

Promotional Products—The Key Ingredient to Integrated Marketing

According to this study, combining use of promotional products with other marketing media will improve overall results.

Recognition vs. Compensation

This article addresses the fundamental question of when to use cash or tangible awards in your incentive, performance, or recognition program. It summarizes research on the subject and outlines steps to be taken in this critical area of employee motivation.

Salespeople: Strategic Planning

This article addresses the important issue of setting goals and objectives for your sales incentive plan.

Tax Considerations for Incentive Programs

This article looks briefly at some of the important federal tax requirements that apply to incentive programs.

Taxation of Employee Achievement Awards

Here's a look at some of the tax issues that apply to employee achievement awards.

The Economics of Engagement

In today's economic environment, employers are struggling to find every advantage possible to thrive, grow or simply to stay in business. For most US based organizations payroll represents the largest expense. Advantages therefore, come first and foremost through better talent management.

The Economics of Retention

A carefully considered employee retention strategy can help boost engagement and reduce hiring, training, and other costs associated with turnover.

The New Face of Engagement

The old tools for reaching and building relationships with customers aren’t working as effectively anymore...

The New Role of Rewards and Recognition

What's the role of rewards and recognition within the field of enterprise engagement? There is almost nothing more engaging than a carefully selected reward or gift well suited to the recipient and commensurate with his or her contribution, as a customer, channel partner, or employee.

The Road to an Engaged Workforce

This research article identifies several characteristics driving employee engagement, including employee satisfaction, and identifies organizational communication as a key driver of employee satisfaction.

The ROI of Integrated Marketing

This article defines integrated marketing and looks at the the importance of communication to program success.

Why Incentive Programs Endure Recessions

Historically, incentive programs, unlike other sales and marketing strategies, have endured economic downturns. In fact, according to a review of past Incentive Federation and industry studies, the incentive industry managed to grow following the recessions that occurred in the late 1980s, after September 11, 2001, and during the downturn of the late 1990s, following the dot-com collapse.

‘Hey! There’s a Person in There!’

To survive and prosper in tumultuous economic times, a firm’s most important operating asset is a resilient, innovative corporate culture – and the engaged employees who promote it from within.

A Look at Branding from Both Sides of the Glass

While external branding gets most of the money and attention, internal branding is really what it’s all about

A Three-Dimensional Medium for Engaging Communications

This article, based on research funded by the Promotional Products Association International, looks at how using promotional products to support customer communications efforts can improve engagement.

AstraZeneca Leads the Way to Enterprise Engagement

This feature article from Engagement Strategies Magazine looks at how AstraZeneca's internal and external engagement efforts have helped to make it one of Fortune Magazine's "Most Admired Companies."

At Last, A Real Way to Measure ROI

This study, sponsored by the Incentive Research Foundation, attempts to find a practical model for determining the return on investment (ROI) for sales and dealer incentive travel programs.

Avoiding Brand Damage

How to determine whether partnerships will help or hurt your brand

Awards Selection Study Phase I: Preliminary Insights From Managers

This study by the Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement looks at the relative effectiveness of cash vs. non-cash incentives in a variety of motivational applications.

Awards: Compensation Vs. Recognition

This look at the different definitions and objectives of compensation versus recognition suggests that cash awards don't work as well as non-cash awards in incentive programs.

Awards: Overview

Awards: Presentation

How awards are presented can be as important as the award itself. Here are some tips.

Awards: Recognition Awards

Recognition programs can motivate employees if used in the right way.

Building (and Keeping) an Engaged Employee Team

It’s a simple formula: Hire and retain top-flight talent, then put those people together into a winning team. Sounds easy, right? Well, any manager or HR exec with more than a couple of years of experience will tell you it isn’t.

Business Motivation

This article looks at how motivational tools can be used to boost performance and build loyalty and engagement.

Business Motivation: Glossary of Terms

Here's a glossary of basic marketing and motivation terms.

Business Motivation: Key Issues

This article looks at the ten key steps that are common to any internal or external incentive marketing strategy.

Business Motivation: Suppliers

Here's a listing of the various types of suppliers available to meet a variety of incentive and motivational needs.

Calculating the ROI of Recognition Programs

Measuring the ROI on recognition programs is difficult, given the range of benefits and their long-term impact, but it can be done. This article from the Enterprise Engagement Alliance offers some ideas on how to do it.

Communications Key to Maximizing Incentive Results

Clear, creative, continuous. That formula guarantees enthusiasm for any program. And the Internet makes it easier than ever to make communications count.

Connectivity, Engagement and the Power of Positivity

Noted author and management guru Don Peppers discusses the role of engagement – both internally and externally

Consumers: Incentive Overview

This article looks at the types of consumers and the motivational factors affecting consumer incentive plans.

Customer Retention: Keeping Your Best Customers for the Long Term

This white paper from the Performance Improvement Council of the Incentive Marketing Association looks at the importance of using active retention efforts to keep both consumers and business-to-business customers for the long term.