Expect the unexpected: That’s the number-one tip for promotion marketers as 2011 gets under way. And if that’s not specific enough for you, we asked several industry pros at Aspen Marketing Services for advice on what to keep in mind in the year ahead.
Grab rich data from social media sites to predict behavior. Focus on places, such as Facebook pages, where you can watch how consumers interact with the content and what information prompts them to post. Then use the data to determine relevant topics and promotions going forward.
“We have to wedge our way in to grab that data and find out who those customers are,” said Cathy Lang, COO of Aspen Marketing Services, which ranked No. 4 on the 2010 Promo 100, with 2009 U.S. net revenue of $274 million.
Get beyond traditional marketing metrics of contacts, clicks, conversions, and sales to get at sentiment. Look at favorable and unfavorable comments, and respond to them to show consumers that you are listening to them.
Engage in customer retention warfare. The sluggish economy of the past few years has forced marketers to rethink how they interact with existing customers. This in turn has prompted the implementation or upgrading of customer retention programs.
“Existing customers have become that much more important, and to understand and cultivate that relationship so that they buy more is really a trend,” said Steven Howard, president of the advanced analytics, Aspen Marketing Services. “There needs to be a relevant communication stream through whatever means the customer prefers. Don’t talk to them the way you the marketer want to because it’s convenient; talk to the consumer the way they want to be spoken to.”
Find new audiences to target and the best ways to reach them. To understand which potential market sectors act similarly to your existing customers, you’ll want to consider database modeling. “Modeling analytics is where rubber meets the road,” Howard said.
Test multiple options, using standard direct marketing practices: Establish a control, then test new creative, timing, and messaging to gain a better response than that of the control. Conduct this sort of testing in terms of contact management strategies, prospect modeling, and predictive analytics. Then focus all the models on maintaining lifetime relationships and increasing revenue. You can also apply these learnings to social media.
Create a unified customer database. Integrate online and offline data in one central database to provide the foundation for one view of the customer, then use that view to determine your messaging and marketing.
“You have to find a way to have one universe for your customer database and to be able to capture all the interactions with that client brand,” Lang said. “You then have a universal view of the customer to be able to talk to them in a unified manner. The biggest challenge for marketers once they have that rich information set is to discuss across the organization what it means and how to best leverage the data for competitive differentiation and to drive profitable revenue.”
Remember that ROI is king and drives everything marketers do. Deadlines and expected turnaround times are getting shorter and shorter, with clients requesting immediate returns.
“More than ever before, there is a focus on ROI,” Lang said. “No longer is the payback 12 or 15 months; it’s hitting the bottom line in a shorter timespan. Every thing comes down to ‘Prove to me that there is a return on investment, and give it to me now.’”
Marketers should be asking: What are the key metrics we can measure? How do we analyze and then translate that into a financial metric for the company? What are the keys to success? How do we define success? Answering these questions entails, among other things, establishing key benchmarks such as response rates and closed sales.
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