SmartConcept pursues old, but reliable marketing tool

MANILA, Philippines - Businessmen from start-ups prefer the old traditional marketing concept where their products and services are explained personally and directly to their future customers.

SmartConcept Inc. president and CEO Nick Tun, who now spearheads the country’s direct marketing tool, said businessmen prefer them because they are cost-efficient and effective. Tun, a Burmese businessman who established his marketing company in 2008, said they have already four offices nationwide with at least 120 advertising agents marketing about 100-plus clients engaged in restaurants, fast-food chains, and pizza chains, car-care centers, entertainment, health and fitness, salons and body spas, skin care and dental clinics, and amusement parks.

Under the SmartConcept marketing, establishments are being promoted for free. There is no cash up-front that is involved between SmartConcept and its client. Depending on the agreed price, SmartConcept will sell discounted coupons to bring in new customers to the establishment. One card, with as many as 25 coupons, could be sold for P399 to P499 to a prospective customer. Inside the card are several coupons with varying degrees of price discounts that the cardholder can use to defray some of the cost of food in that particular restaurant. This makes the coupon user save between 30 to 50 percent on their bills each time he visits the restaurant.

The cost on the part of the client will come in only when the card is bought and the cardholder dines in his restaurant. That is the only time that the client incurs costs through discounts, which form part of its marketing expense.       

All promotions have time constraints. In the case of SmartConcept, its promo runs for a period of seven months (restaurants) and 10 to 12 months (services) only. During the agreed promo period, SmartConcept Inc. offers Customer Loyalty Coupons to increase the frequency of an establishment’s customer base by 25 percent on average.

The Customer Loyalty Coupons is very effective in maintaining and expanding market share even amid new and stiff competition. SmartConcept Inc.  Customer Loyalty Coupons helps an establishment sustain advertising when marketing budget is limited. SmartConcept marketing agents will cover 100 percent of the client’s target area and personally invite new customers to visit the facility for the first time and entice infrequent customers to come back more often,” explained Tun.

Tun, who is married to a Filipina, explained that his army of direct marketers normally does the promotion within the vicinity of the restaurant or 100 meters away from the establishment. They are not going to sell to the existing customers of the restaurant; instead they look for new ones. SmartConcept marketers also sell the cards in subdivisions surrounding the restaurant.

This marketing tool is effective because it’s productivity-based. “Our client will not spend a single centavo until we are able to sell,” said Tun. As a result, most of the clients are repeat clients.

Mt. Albo, a spa and massage establishment, has been its repeat client for the past three years. They serve as the marketing arm of this company when it was just starting with only two outlets. “Now, Mt. Albo has eight branches,” said Tun.

On the part of the customers, Tun said their P399 or P499 payment for a card would be recovered already on their first visit to the store, but they would benefit more from the coupons as their visits become frequent. The rationale is that since people pay for the coupon, they intend to use it unlike the free coupons they find in newspapers and magazines that they don’t really pay much attention to.

 “If you don’t pay for it, chances are you won’t value it as much as you would to the coupon that you invested in,” said Tun.

To ensure against fake coupons, each card has a control number and is checked against the record of the establishment.

For start-up companies, direct marketing is like introducing the company to a targeted market, people who normally go around the area where the client’s outlet is located. This marketing tool is also beneficial to big companies because it not only creates continuous awareness about their brand, but also generates loyalty from their new and existing customers.

SmartConcept is creating awareness about the establishment with its direct and personal marketing approach.

Customer Loyalty Coupons is 100-percent self-funded program, there is no monetary outlay on the client.

“You don’t pay SmartConcept even as we function as an extended marketing arm. That is the major difference between SmartConcept Inc. and other traditional media vehicles like TV, radio, newspaper, magazines or billboards where the advertising cost is very high and up front, but the success of your advertisement is never guaranteed,” explained Tun.

SmartConcept will develop customized program to attract new customers to a business by offering them various benefits and discounts. The benefits and discounts given to Customer Loyalty Coupons holders are also decided by the client and must be agreed upon by SmartConcept Inc.

“The benefits and discounts a client decide to give to its new ‘Customer Loyalty Coupons’ holders is the only expense on his part throughout the entire program,” said Tun.

SmartConcept Inc. will design and print in full color Customer Loyalty Coupons and brochure about the business. “Nothing will be printed without the client’s written approval,” said Tun.

For inquiries, visit www.smartconceptinc.com or e-mail inquiries at info@smartconceptinc.com.