Promotional and Relationship Marketing Strategy

Many organisations run promotions and loyalty activities as separate efforts. Campaigns chase short-term sales with discounts that train customers to wait for the next offer, while customer data sits in different systems and is rarely used to understand who the valuable customers are. Loyalty programmes reward transactions rather than relationships, messages are inconsistent across channels, and results are reported as reach or clicks rather than revenue, retention or customer value.

This programme connects promotional and relationship marketing into one strategy. It moves through five stages: understanding customers and their value, planning integrated marketing communications, designing promotional campaigns and offers, building relationship and loyalty strategies, and measuring return on marketing and customer value over time.

Built on recognised practice. The programme draws on established marketing frameworks including segmentation, targeting and positioning, integrated marketing communications, the customer journey, customer lifetime value, RFM analysis and relationship marketing theory. It references the ICC Advertising and Marketing Communications Code for responsible promotion, and the principles of data protection laws, such as the EU GDPR and national personal data protection laws in the region, for the use of customer data.

Decisions this programme improves. Which customer segments to invest in; how to divide the budget between acquisition and retention; when a price promotion helps and when it erodes brand value; which channels to use for each objective; how to design a loyalty programme that changes behaviour; and which measures show whether marketing is creating value.

How it is delivered. Twenty hours across five sessions, built around one running case: a service or retail brand that is losing customers to competitors despite frequent promotions. Participants segment a sample customer base, build a campaign plan and content calendar, design an offer and a loyalty mechanism, and prepare a measurement plan with retention and lifetime value indicators.

In-house option. For organisations, the programme can be tailored to your own customers, products, channels and data, and delivered to marketing, sales and customer service teams together.

Who Should Attend

Marketing professionals: marketing managers, brand managers, campaign managers and marketing executives

Customer relationship staff: CRM, loyalty and customer experience managers

Sales professionals: sales managers and key account managers working with marketing

Digital marketing specialists responsible for campaigns and customer communications

Communication staff in public and private organisations with customer or service users

Objectives

Explain how promotional and relationship marketing support each other within the marketing strategy

Segment customers by needs, behaviour and value, and select priority segments

Estimate customer lifetime value and use it to guide acquisition and retention spending

Plan an integrated marketing communications campaign with clear objectives, messages and channels

Design sales promotions and offers that meet objectives without damaging brand value

Map the customer journey and identify moments that build or damage relationships

Design a loyalty or customer engagement programme with measurable goals

Use CRM data and personalisation responsibly, in line with data protection principles

Recover dissatisfied customers through structured service recovery

Measure campaign and relationship performance using retention, conversion and value indicators

Course Outline

Customers and Value: The Foundation of Promotional and Relationship Strategy

Transactional versus relationship marketing
Segmentation, targeting and positioning
Customer lifetime value and customer profitability
RFM analysis and value-based segments
Customer needs, motivations and buying behaviour in B2B and B2C markets
Balancing acquisition and retention objectives

Planning Integrated Marketing Communications

The promotional mix: advertising, sales promotion, public relations, personal selling and direct marketing
Setting communication objectives and message strategy
Paid, owned, earned and shared media
Digital channels: search, social media, email, messaging apps and influencers
Content planning and the campaign calendar
Budgeting methods for promotional activity

Designing Promotions and Offers That Work

Types of sales promotion: price, value-added, sampling, contests and trade promotions
When promotions build the brand and when they erode it
Seasonal and occasion-based campaigns, including regional seasons and events
Trade and channel partner promotions
Responsible promotion and the ICC Advertising and Marketing Communications Code
Testing offers: pilots and A/B testing

Building Relationships and Loyalty

Trust, commitment and satisfaction as drivers of loyalty
Customer journey mapping and moments of truth
Loyalty programme design: rewards, tiers, partnerships and emotional loyalty
CRM systems, customer data and personalisation
Consent and data protection principles in customer communications
Key account relationships in B2B markets
Complaint handling and service recovery

Measuring Results and Improving Performance

Campaign measures: reach, engagement, conversion and cost per acquisition
Relationship measures: retention, churn, share of wallet and customer satisfaction
Net Promoter Score and customer effort: uses and limits
Return on marketing investment and attribution
Marketing analytics, automation and realistic uses of AI
Action plan: an integrated promotional and relationship plan for your organisation

Competencies

Customer segmentation and value analysis

Customer lifetime value estimation

Integrated marketing communications planning

Sales promotion and offer design

Customer journey mapping

Loyalty programme design

CRM data use and personalisation

Service recovery and complaint handling

Marketing performance and retention measurement

Istanbul

Train in Istanbul with access to Elite Academy’s full portfolio of professional programs. In a city known as a major international business crossroads connecting Europe, the Middle East and Asia, organizations and professionals can join upcoming courses or request any program to be arranged locally. Professional training in Istanbul is not limited to a specific group of subjects. Elite Academy makes its complete portfolio available in the city across management, business, technical and industry-focused disciplines. With a major international business crossroads connecting Europe, the Middle East and Asia, Istanbul provides an effective setting for international learning. Use the schedule below to view courses already planned for the destination, or contact our team to request another program and preferred dates in Istanbul, subject to scheduling and delivery requirements.