We've seen great leaps in process automation, advances in working practices and the evolution of the value chain in most industry sectors but not in the direct marketing industry -- it's time for change.
"Change is a constant" is one of those annoying statements often uttered by people who also tell us that "it could always be better". However annoying, we must realise that we need to look at the direct marketing value chain -- data, media, production, distribution and delivery, and customer response management -- in a new way. And it's not just how much better we can be creatively and how the data can be more targeted, because this is what we do already.
Looking at the value chain starting with data, excellence is easy to find with companies developing better ways of segmenting, profiling and visualising data -- all with a view to finding an audience of similar-looking prospects. We would then send this audience the same mail piece treating them as a collective instead of individuals -- one-to-many.
We then drive them online or through a call centre etc, and the good call centres with caller ID systems can even answer the phone with an intimate, "Hello Matthew, I'm Jane how can I help?" Yet if I visit the generic website nobody knows who I am, what I want or even knows that I've been. Therefore, the first thing that could be set up is individual URLs, for example, www.intimis.biz/matthew.mills, so companies would then know that I have visited and understand my interests and preferences.
There are some really good case studies coming out that see companies addressing this whole issue with true one-to-one direct marketing across print, email, SMS, MMS and the web, which is totally measured and tracked, feeding non-converted response web visits into outbound telemarketing or further DM activity based on increased individual knowledge. Organisations like the DMA, CAP Ventures and HP have done huge amounts of research into this area that shows it really does work. And through personal experience I can confirm it also with results four times those achieved using conventional activity with the same data and creative work.
True one-to-one marketing is both more expensive and hard to do operationally due to the complexity and the level of campaign management required. It's only when you've experienced the positive results that removing the pain of getting there becomes the focus. Then you need to believe "it could always be better", and it can. There is a new generation of DM start-ups coming to market with propositions that see this level of process automation, eg single click solutions that connect directly with the database using web technology and applying the business rules developed by the data and marketing strategy teams, processing the data in real-time.
This processing can then generate web content and individual URLs, messaging variants, image use etc in any language. It can also merge this information with the creative executions and deliver a press-ready stream back over the web to digital print presses anywhere in the world or deliver the SMS, MMS or email directly to the recipient. With these new one-to-one platforms it's possible to develop and deploy complex CRM activity in a totally system-driven manner without compromising on brand or creativity -- leaving the marketing team to innovate not administer. The loop is closed when campaign-based information, knowledge and opportunities etc are all passed in real-time back to CRM systems.
Not only does this one-to-one approach remove complexity and time, above all it mitigates the automation cost and the expensive digital print costs. The end result is a direct marketing campaign that works much harder at a potentially reduced cost, which means less grey hair for all involved.
Maybe the balance of 80% acquisition activity and 20% CRM that we see across most of the industry is set to change, especially when more and more enterprise marketers recognise that CRM done well can deliver more pound-for-pound growth to the bottom line than most other activity within their remit.
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