“Broadcast the message and they will come!” “Segment my broadcast and I will have better response.” Both of these time–honored methods of reaching our customers have worked for as long as there was print and radio–TV to get the message out.
The obsolete marketing message
And both have become increasingly obsolete as new channels of reach have evolved,
allowing direct and personal contact with our potential customers, and better yet, free and near–free forms of marketing just for the asking.
Today’s marketing tools and methods
Today, if you are not targeting your marketing effort with predictive analysis and segment–focused communications, you are way behind others who do. Big data analytics enable us to find and target just the right audience at the right time, something we could not do even a few years ago. If you feel overwhelmed by this, there are experts waiting to serve you with new tools, ideas and channels you have never used, and which will open your eyes to powers that may shock you.
But the leaders of this new school practice customer–driven communication, personalized to the point of basing communication upon individual customer behavior.
A personal story
[Email readers, continue here…] My spouse visited a website for women’s clothing, then followed it with a search for a service using a browser. Immediately, seconds after her shopping effort, ads for that same online retailer surrounded her on the other site. Those ads could have been for a competing online retailer looking to take business from the first. But either way, targeted marketing worked with her that day. She bought again.
Interactive conversations with your customers
But the pinnacle of direct new–age marketing comes in the form of interactive conversations between company and customer, progressing from the contact through purchase through follow–up offer. Surely you’ve experienced this in your own online shopping efforts and perhaps have used that time–limited 15% discount to purchase something you may or may not have needed.
Old school or new school. Spend lots and not be sure of the return on investment; or spend much less and offer some of the savings to the customer. Hmm. Which is the win–win here?
Now, if you had a choice and the inclination to do something about it, which would you want to be? Old school? New school?
Dave
I know you know the extent of my technical knowledge is to be able to turn on my electric typewriter! However, when I read today’s story about your investment in a women’s clothing company, and clicked on the link to read the rest of the story, I was misdirected to a former story and follow up.
Your mistake or mine???
All my best,
Harley
Harley! I noticed it immediately after sending the email. It was last week’s link. To see the proper link, either click the small arrow to the right of the published insight you are taken to or just go to “berkonomics.com” directly. This week you’ll see the correct story on the front page. Hope all’s well,
Dave
Hi Dave
Just as an aside, the logical extension of using predictive analysis and some of the other tools available is to create a Customer Loyalty Program that is good for your business and good for your customer. You have to search far and wide to identify a company that does not have one and more are becoming available all the time. Perhaps a message about the creation and implementation of a Loyalty Program…….
Best regards,
Harley
And just to add – No one reading this wants ANY marketing organization to try and predict or analyze our behavior (creepy much?) or “segment” us so why on Earth would we do that to the customer with whom we are trying to build a relationship? Again, there is a MUCH better way to run marketing in 2021 and beyond.
Those are NOT the only two choices. In my experience MAGNETS work better than funnels and if you’re good at storytelling, you can ATTRACT exactly YOUR customer to YOUR product or service without invading their privacy. Because, if you get privacy wrong, the relationship is over and to me, THAT is the ULTIMATE marketing failure.