You've heard about integrated marketing for years but today's reality goes beyond connecting tactics and conducting multi-channel campaigns. What’s happening is a convergence of both online and offline marketing methods as well as a fusion of digital channels and newly evolving opportunities. What's driving it is the rise of Web 2.0, dominated by user generated content, social networking, citizen journalism and growing access to and transparency of content – personal and otherwise. Learn the alchemy behind creating your own marketing fusion in the digital age, how to leverage components to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts, and why you can’t afford to keep online marketing in the silo or out of the mix any longer.
Investment in The Coconut Industry by Nancy Cheruiyot
Beyond Integration: Welcome to Marketing Fusion
1. BEYOND INTEGRATION WELCOME TO THE ERA OF MARKETING Karen Talavera, President Synchronicity Marketing Thursday May 21, 2009 FUSION Florida Direct Marketing Association Annual Summit
15. Digital: Three Significant Channels The inbox has morphed. Customers expect new and better ways of communicating with and engaging businesses; anywhere, anytime. Social Mobile @ Email
16. Tri-Messaging Effect Integrated, Personal Channels & Devices Rich Content-Experiences & Conversations; Anywhere, Anytime More Empowered People & Businesses
23. Trade Value, Access & Exclusivity for Permission & Data MARKET – visitors, users, members, buyers BLOGS WEBINARS MICROSITES E-LETTERS RELATIONSHIP CAPITAL WHITE PAPERS MULTICLIENT PROGRAMS MAGAZINES NEWSLETTERS CONFERENCES DIRECTORIES MAGAZINES BUYERS GUIDES TRADE SHOWS CUSTOM PUBLICATIONS LIST RENTAL CONTENT FOR SALE GATED COMMUNITY “ MEMBERSHIP IN EXCHANGE FOR DEMOGRAPHICS” E-MAIL ADDRESSES TRAFFIC
24. Aim for Dialog Marketing A series of centrally-coordinated, intentional communications tailored to audience member consideration paths and sequenced to guide them through the buying cycle
It’s technology-driven and enabled but dynamic and organic. Our best predictions usually don’t match the innovations consumers come up with on their own, and the exponential pace of adoption when a good idea really goes mainstream.<number>
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We’ve been hearing about integrated marketing for years now, but I think it’s only recently become a reality, a reality that goes beyond making connections. What’s really happening is a fusion of both intentional and unintentional impressions, communications, and information. That fusion is taking place as the result of greater transparency between companies and customers, more holistic ways of having customer conversations, the rise of Web 2.0 as it’s called (dominated by User Generated Content and everyone seemingly talking to everyone else about anything and everything they can) which of course carries into social media sites like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Flicker, and more. Because this is evolving in real time, there’s never been a better time to leverage email. In fact, the great news is how far it’s come in less than a decade, from out of the silo into the very heart of the mix.<number>
So, as advertising channels increasingly grow both more fragmented and more targeted, we see less consumer time and attention given to any one. However, with channel proliferation each channel becomes part of a holistic whole that frames brand and customer perceptions, so the idea is they need to work together, in concert. You can’t afford disconnects between online and offline marketing, nor between the different components within each context.<number>
Another macro-level trend that has accelerated to maturity with the rise of the Internet is that the customer is in control like never before. The traditional gatekeepers aren’t in charge anymore. Gone are the days when editors controlled the ads people saw and the editorial they read. With YouTube, blogs, peer review sites, social networking and the viral nature of pass-along email, your customer is exposed to many more impressions of your company and brand than you can possibly control or influence. So the new challenge for marketers is to stay tuned in to that customer conversation – not just conversations with our customers, but the conversations our customers have with other customers about us. We need to be in a position of service, poised to address problems, needs, and desires. (highlight outer circle points).<number>
So, I see email marketing as the new nexus powering, connecting, pushing and pulling customers and prospects into the many marketing channels and contexts we’ll be operating in. In its early days, it was a great connector between offline direct response like mail, catalog, and phone and it still is. Marketers can leverage multiple channels to gain greater mind share with customers, and of course email can convey information and offers in ways traditional advertising can’t compete with – faster and cheaper than is possible otherwise – which is a huge time advantage marketers now have. What’s really interesting though is how it’s also become the lynchpin of customer contact online. It is still the workhorse powering social media, nudging and alerting members to check in, or transmitting personal messages when a member isn’t actively engaged in a social network. It powers Web site activity, pushing and pulling customers to interact with us online, and by doing so speeds channel migration, streamlines operations and accelerates customer service. And of course, because email has become as ubiquitous a point of contact as the phone, it’s now a primary data element on most customer lists, our online connector to things happening in our offline worlds like events, store openings, mergers, etc.<number><number>
It’s a consumer preferred channel for hearing from companies. Use has been on the rise and is predicted to continue to rise to 2013. Also, consumers prefer it over the phone (2009 sherpa study p. 25). It’s the conduit for enabling and confirming the media use above.
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As you consider how to target your audience through email, it helps to think in terms of the main flavors of segmentation schemes available. First, there are demographic and firmagraphic data elements which categorize groups of people by either consumer or company characteristics. Consumer characteristics are criteria such as age, gender, income and education. Company characteristics are attributes like annual revenue, number of employees, years in business, and industry. Second, there is contextual targeting, which groups individuals by the source of the email address, referring web site, or their general online interests. Third, there are self-reported preferences and interests. Forth, there is behavioral targeting based on past known actions. And finally fifth, there is lifecycle targeting which identifies people at a specific life stage and matches offers or services to their known needs at that stage.<number>
While any of these targeting schemes alone may be satisfactory, the fact is a combination of more than one type of targeting attribute will usually yield the best response. The reason is simple: When you identify your target audience by a blend of personal characteristics, known behaviors, and time and place criteria, you are defining a more specific group which more closely matches your best customer profile. In short, the more specifics you give yourself to work with, the better you are able to pinpoint the people most interested in what you have to offer.<number>
Third, all prospects and eventual customers typically progress through the same lifecycle stages, as illustrated here. Different stages in the lifecycle are logical trigger points for distinct messages. For example, new customers usually need onboarding and education to become familiar with and increase use of planning or networking functions, while loyal customers benefit from more in-depth information, segmented offers, and rewards. And especially inactive or defecting customers are ideal for win-back programs.<number>
Here you can clearly see the types of messaging most relevant to different customer lifecycle stages and how the messaging strategy evolves over time. The key here is relevancy. Know your audience, where they’re at, why they’re at the stage they are, and you’ll know what to say to them that clearly keeps them interested in maintaining communications with you. Fail at this task, and your audience(s) will tune out or worse yet, opt-out of your email.<number>
This is the time to invest in database crunching. Data analysis, modeling, scenario planning and profiling can be incredibly valuable.<number>
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So where is all this heading? If we’re to market “smarter” we need to utilize the Internet to its fullest potential, which means greater individualization and customization of content and communications.<number>
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1) In the world at large, the rate of change is accelerating exponentially. (see notes). This is reflected in the lifecycle of email which has matured in less than a decade. The implications of this broad trend for email marketing are change will be constant and rapid. Best practices will quickly become obsolete. Just when you’ve learned it all, the world will change on you. You’ can’t afford not to keep your finger on the pulse. This is a continuous education challenge, which also means testing to learn and continually improve performance. The bar must be constantly raised just to keep pace with your competition, let alone outpace them. You must proactively stay dialed into this channel; reactivity won’t cut it. And finally, the channel itself will evolve as the technology of the Internet and email-capable devices evolves.2) In the world at large, human communication has been revolutionized in less than a century. When you consider that a little over 100 years ago it could take months for information to reach all parts of the globe, now it takes only hours. We’ve been born into and are living in ongoing revolutionary times when it comes to communication. Today we have digital, global, instant messaging through a variety of channels. The implications for email marketing are that it can no longer be viewed as batch and blast. It’s not one-way, it has effectively become two-way. Any way you cut it, you’ll hear from your customers and your challenge is to listen. If you screw it up, you’ll hear complaints and opt-outs; if you do well, you’ll get response, pass-along and maybe even praise. But if you hear nothing, be alarmed. Silence is deadly but telling. Your customers will be talking, perhaps in other forums like blogs. The unwritten reality is your audience is in control because they control access to the email box. Offend or overwhelm them and you’re out. Which brings me to relevancy – that $64 million word of email. Relevancy will cease to mean better list segmentation and content management, and will become inclusive of temporal and behavioral just-in-time valuable messaging which reaches the right people at the optimal time based on what you know they need and want. One size fits all might still have its place for news and announcements, but marketing will increasingly reach the segment of 1.3) Humanity is increasingly realizing the oneness of the universe. Physics has proven the interconnectedness of everything at the subatomic level with the field of quantum mechanics presenting a model for the complex matrix of life. Science has spotlighted our interconnectedness with the earth with the revelation of man-made global warming and keystone species extinction. We can no longer deny every action has a repercussion - the so-called butterfly effect. This has resulted in new ways of thinking in which we can view things systemically - as matrixed - rather than as separate or compartmentalized. The analogy extends to email. Gone are the days when email should be relegated to the corner cubicles of the online marketing group. Instead, it’s an intrinsic component of both online and offline marketing, the glue which can connect efforts within a media type as well as across media types (online and offline). Yes email can be a channel in itself, but it also empowers social media networks, content distribution (blogs) and drives Web traffic. It must be utilized holistically and leveraged all across marketing rather than simply as a promotional avenue. <number>