Dear Friends,
Marketing practices
(and consequently, marketing careers) are changing faster than most of us
can comprehend. This month we feature two articles that give a fresh
perspective on this phenomenon – one from a recent grad, and another from an
Executive Recruiter. Also, we highlight new capabilities with our WiseGuys
software in the area of multi-channel matchback functionality.
As always, please let us know how DMSI can fit into your database marketing plans!
Bruce Gregoire,
President and founder,
Desktop Marketing Solutions, Inc (DMSI)
Adjunct Professor, Marketing Information Systems
Johns Hopkins University Graduate School
The Professor's Corner: New Grads Seize the Web as Their Channel of Choice
The
Database Marketing graduate marketing class I teach at John Hopkins
consists of two parts: Direct Marketing and Interactive Marketing. It
should be no surprise that most students—particularly the younger
ones—take a greater interest in the latter rather than the former. A
case in point would be JHU grad Leah Messina, who has built her award
winning business providing web services and community building
consulting to her clients. Here is her view of emerging marketing
practices:
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"When I started my digital marketing firm, Sinuate Media, I had come
from managing accounts at an online marketing agency, and prior to
that, leading promotions efforts at an online teen magazine called
Kiwibox.com.
In a sense, Interactive Marketing was all I knew—how to make a website
“sticky”, how to build online communities into prosperous virtual
environments, and how to engage consumers with brands in a digital
space.
Marketing has evolved to a point where companies must think of their
brand in two ways. The first way is their offline brand—how customers
see, feel, touch, use, and access their product or service. The second
way is their online brand—how customers perceive their company, their
ethics, their product viability, and availability. With the influx of
blogs and social networks, consumers are now relying on one another
for product recommendations. A classic example is the success of
TripAdvisor (www.tripadvisor.com)
with their customer reviews, ratings, and candid photos. Peer-to-peer
recommendations have much more weight in today’s digital environment
and are now more available than ever.
Consumers have more control in the interactive space than offline
because of anonymity and the speed at which information can flow. From
Wal-Mart to solopreneurs, some have learned the hard way that they
need to be on top of their online marketing channel after discovering
less-than-favorable blog articles or discussions about them. Their
introduction into interactive marketing was a quick and harsh lesson
as they aimed to do damage control.
It is now marketers’ responsibility, especially for Interactive
Marketing Managers, to figure out where consumers are retrieving their
information from online and how to use new technology to make sure
their brand has presence there. Whether it is a tagging site like
http://del.icio.us/ or a location-based community review site like
www.yelp.com, marketing online is more often about having
information readily accessible in as many places as possible so when
your customer wants it, it’s there. If they can find you, that means
more traffic to your website, more products sold, and more brand
experiences to build repeat customers."
Learn More: Visit
www.sinuatemedia.com or contact Leah Messina at
leah@sinuatemedia.com or
410.235.5531.
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Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby? The
Challenge of Multi-Channel Response Matching
The old Jazz standard illustrates the guessing game faced by today’s
multi-channel marketers: how to matchback responses to a specific
marketing campaign. Veteran DM staff from postal campaigns will
remember when this was a straightforward process. The returning source
code and/or response device identified the proper campaign to credit.
That, of course, has all changed.
Problem:
This multi-channel issue was dramatized by an e-commerce client who had
just completed their very first print catalog campaign. They, of
course, were looking for an excellent response after the catalog dropped
in July, However, our matchback response reporting gave little
encouragement – original results were dismal. But further research
revealed that a June e-mail campaign was being credited with July
responses – i.e. the June campaign was “stealing credit” for the July
campaign results.
Solution:
Starting with WiseGuys, our flagship marketing software, we quickly
implemented an enhancement that allowed a variable segment-specific
response window: in this case, 7 days for email promotions, 90 days for
the print catalog. Now the July catalog received complete credit for
all the July responses, matchback results doubled, and our client was
much happier with their catalog. And yes, an A/B split test showed the
catalog outperformed the control group by almost double.
Learn more:
See
www.desktopmarketinginc.com for more info on WiseGuys. Also, a recent Atlas Institute study found that users exposed to both search
and display ads convert at a rate of 22% higher than search alone, and
400% higher than display alone. For an in-depth discussion, see
www.atlassolutions.com/convstory/index.html?ID=1
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Ready for Your Next DM Career Move?
This month, we asked MaryLou Brown, President of MLB Associates, an
Executive Search firm, to highlight current trends in hiring DM staff.
Here are her thoughts.
"Measurable Marketing" is definitely the direction our client companies
are headed, and they're looking for marketing staff that are on the
forefront of this trend. Certainly, each campaign, whether it's direct
mail, email, DRTV, direct response advertising, or outbound
calling, needs to be evaluated and refined based on response and
conversion rates. But corporate management is looking for more from
marketing.
Our clients look for direct marketing candidates who understand the
bigger business picture, who know how to keep their eye on the bottom
line while still focusing on the activity at hand, who keep abreast of
the newer techniques and tools available to them, and who still have the
communication skills needed to be influential across the organization.
Moreover, in a smaller company, one may still be a hands-on modeler or
production tracker while wearing this larger strategic hat.
How do you prepare yourself for career advancement? Don't lose the
database or direct marketing skills that probably got you into this
business, keep up with the techniques, products and services that are
being developed in the industry, and learn as much as you can about the
company you work for - its strategic direction, its competitive
position, and how marketing can be most effective.
Learn
More: Contact MaryLou directly for more info on the position openings
below: 518/523-2371 or Marylou@mlbassociates.com.
Say hello and be sure to mention DMSI when you call.
VP/Management
Supervisor – Integrated Marketing Agency
We’re looking for an Account Management Supervisor with 10 – 15 years of
agency experience in strategic and tactical direct marketing, several of
those years within the financial services (credit and debit card)
industries. Will manage/mentor a team of 10 +. MBA required. Relocation
assistance provided to Upstate NY.
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