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In the third edition of Percassityperspectives, we report on research into the role of database marketing during the recession and consider the best way of working with marketing service providers. Read on for this and other industry updates, articles and commentary together with news about what we’re up to at Percassity.
2010 continues to see renewed interest in investing in data driven marketing, with engagements in data quality, strategy and enhancement taking up much of our time so far. Email us at perspectives@percassity.com to let us know about your plans and experiences, together with any comments on Percassityperspectives. We look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Percassity Marketing Data Solutions
News Round-up
Database marketing features in anti-recession strategies
According to the findings of a survey carried out among 500 marketing decision makers by GI Insight, customer data has been driving communication strategies for a number of successful businesses during the recession. Though successful, this approach has only been adopted by a minority of companies however - around 37% of those surveyed. In addition, economic conditions have resulted in a further 27% saying that they have increased their reliance on database marketing.
In contrast, loyalty schemes have grown in importance, with 71% of the companies surveyed reporting that such programmes have become more vital to their success. However, only half of respondents reported feeling that their database marketing and loyalty activities were fully integrated with other marketing efforts.
Highlighting the importance of loyalty schemes to customer retention during the downturn, Andy Wood, managing director at GI Insight, notes, “Additionally, a significant proportion of marketers have recognised the value of database marketing.” Wood draws attention to the lack of integration though: “If marketing activities are not integrated, then a business is less able to ensure consistency of message – which might hurt ROI.”
Comment: Integrating data driven marketing into wider marketing activities continues to be an issue for many businesses, with the temptation still to focus on output and volume, not quality and relevance. Hopefully the adversity of the last year or more will highlight, to at least some marketers, the importance of gaining a thorough understanding of their prospects and customers, and tailoring activity, in terms of messaging, frequency and execution, based on that insight.
New teeth for UK Information Commission
Speaking at the DMA Data Protection Conference in London at the beginning of March, Christopher Graham, head of the UK Information Commissioner’s Office, observed that there are a multiplicity of issues facing marketing currently. The need to implement information security solutions, to deliver the savings being demanded by finance leaders, and the ease of sharing data are creating conflicting pressures on organisations. In order to help focus privacy protection efforts, the ICO has secured new powers to levy substantial fines.
Coming into force from 6th April 2010, data controllers knowingly or recklessly committing a “serious” data protection breach “of a kind likely to cause substantial damage or substantial distress” will be liable for fines of up to £500,000. Only serious data protection breaches will attract fines, not each and every minor privacy breach, and a number of criteria must be met to invoke the maximum penalties.
Graham noted however that, “there are two sides to effective regulation - enforcement and education,” adding that he hoped to “keep the big stick in the cupboard”. Ensuring compliancy rather than seeking spectacular penalties is likely to remain the favoured approach, since the ICO cannot use the fines it imposes to self-fund (as is the case, for example, with the Spanish data protection regulator), instead paying any fines collected to the Treasury.
Given these tough new powers, it’s time to ensure your compliancy policies and procedures are up-to-date and adequate, but any organisation taking reasonable steps to ensure against deliberate or reckless data breaches should have nothing to fear.
Online Marketing
Are You Split Testing?
Nick Platten, SEO That Works
A common mistake among businesses embarking on a web advertising programme is not testing their advertising. All too frequently, they follow their competition in replicating the same sort of ads that they use, looking at their marketplace and following the crowd. Taking this approach, the inevitable outcome is an ad campaign that blends into the background and never makes any real inroads into competitors’ market share.
So how can split testing help? By testing your ads and comparing two variations of an ad or other marketing method, you can see what’s working and what’s not. If you are only using a single ad then you have no benchmark to compare against. It used to be that split testing was time consuming and expensive, especially in the print media world. Two ad variations would have to be run, and depending on the frequency of the publication, a wait of weeks if not months would ensue for all the data to be collated and assessed.
But now the Internet brings a fantastic opportunity to split-test ads, web pages, opt-in forms, sales copy, headlines, video and audio - quickly and inexpensively. Depending on what marketing platforms you use, you can test down to geographical area, age, educational and other demographic filters in order to really assess your target market soft-spots.
By using the Internet to test your marketing you can find out what works and then expand into other media, including print, knowing that at least you have a proven marketing message that should give you a positive response.
Opinion
Is there an optimum model for client-vendor relations?
Charles Eaton-Hennah, Director, Database Marketing Consulting
Something I've often pondered but never seen discussed, is the question of how best to work with your data services vendor - via a dedicated account manager or direct with the bloke (or lass) who does the work? There are advantages to both and you should give consideration to which one will work best for you when selecting a vendor.
An account manager should be able to add value in terms of business decisions, oversight of the bigger picture of a project or account and have the facility to call on specialists as needed. They will also probably have a better phone manner!
The bloke-who-does-it however is the one closest to the coalface. They know your data, the feeds, the processes and technology better than anyone else. In addition, your requirements do not reach them after being filtered through layers of account managers, programme managers, resource managers and others, adding time, inertia and probably cost to the activity.
Needless to say, there are downsides. A programmer or analyst may not understand the business issues, might lack a full mastery of all the optimum solutions, be over stretched, and might be “challenging” to deal with. Also, you’re stuck if they go on holiday, leave, or get run over by a bus. Finally, as the client, you are likely to have to get involved with devising solutions, so you’d better know your stuff.
In reality the optimum engagement model is driven by the size and complexity of your requirements. The ideal is a small, multi-disciplinary team, with short communication paths, decent processes and sufficient cover. If your large would-be vendor arrives at the pitch in serried ranks, it could be a sign of a top-heavy structure, siloed skills and a bureaucratic culture. Proceed with care and demand so see a proposal for a smaller, dedicated team if you want to maintain an efficient and effective vendor resource.
From the Blog
Highlighting a recent post from our companion blog Diary of a Marketing Insight Guy, in this issue we look at lead handling. Sign-up to receive regular postings on marketing data strategy, operations and insight from the Diary of a Marketing Insight Guy blog.
Following the clues to a successful sale
One of the common traps into which Marketing often falls is to treat a lead as a one-off event in isolation to anything that has gone before or after. This results in every response from a given individual being treated as a new lead, rather than as a package of interest in a company’s products and services.
But leads are like clues in a detective story. In a criminal investigation, Police are often said to be “following multiple lines of enquiry” - in other words, following-up on leads. These leads, or clues, whilst separate from each other, may all point to the same end result. In our case, this is a successful sale, but by themselves each clue may not be enough to solve the mystery. Whitepaper downloads and webinar attendances may not mean much by themselves, but put together they point to an interest in a specific solution or a particularly pressing need.
This is where good lead management becomes crucial, and where so many software solutions fall short. Many systems treat leads as separate, unrelated events and make no effort to tie them all together and present the evidence as a whole. It’s little wonder then that Sales are driven to distraction with a stream of seemingly trivial clues, whilst not being able to see the big picture. At the same time, vital evidence is overlooked - leads go to waste without being followed-up.
We owe it to ourselves to recognise the short-comings of the tools we have available and address these problems. Otherwise, marketing investment will continue to go to waste and fail to deliver the results expected.
Read this post on the Diary of a Marketing Insight Guy blog.
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Percassity DevelopmentsMarketing operations will come to the fore in 2010
Although the term marketing operations is still not in wide circulation on these shores, its prevalence in the US points to its likely greater adoption in the UK before long. Percassity director Simon Daniels gives his thoughts on what this means and the benefits to be gained in a Database Marketing magazine special feature with contributions from fellow industry practitioners. Read the full article and let us know what you think!
Challenge Percassity!
Put us to the Percassity 3 in 30 Challenge! In as little as thirty minutes, we’ll discuss the challenges you are facing with marketing data strategy and marketing operations, and come back to you with three suggestions for improving your marketing effectiveness.
Request your Percassity 3 in 30 Challenge session and take the first step towards solving your marketing data strategy and marketing operations issues.
EventsForthcoming marketing operations and insight themed events and networking opportunities. The Future of Interactive Marketing (And What To Do About It), April 14 2010, Waltham, MA
New England Direct Marketing Association breakfast meeting on the current state of interactive marketing and best practices to help marketers overcome present challenges.
Internet World 27-29 April 2010, London
Europe's longest running event for digital marketing and online business.
The IDM B2B Marketing Conference, 19 May 2010, London
The 7th Annual Institute of Direct Marketing event dedicated to business to business marketing issues.
International Direct & Interactive Marketers Forum, June 15-16 2010, New York
Direct Marketing international magazine’s conference featuring top-level experts and practising direct marketers.
The Data Marketing Show 29-30 June 2010, London
Part of the MarketingWeek Live exhibition, aimed at marketers looking to improve, understand, and develop their data driven marketing.
Email us with details of events you would like to be included in the next issue of Percassity perspectives. Elsewhere on the web...Our pick from the blogosphere and twitterverse. Let us know of anything interesting you've read that we should include next time. David Raab ( @draab), writing in his excellent Customer Experience Matrix blog, posted a series of great pieces on the relationship between database and digital marketing. Commenting initially on developments from Unica and Alterian, David went on to ask “ Can Database Marketers Learn Digital Tricks?” before Clarifying the Differences Between Database and Digital Marketing. Well worth taking a few minutes out and having a read. Interesting piece and ensuing discussion around the concept of The 4 C’s of B2B Marketing from CMO-at-large Paul Dunay ( @PaulDunay). Creating the best content, finding the connecting with your target audience, sustaining the communications pattern until they are ready to convert is the route to success in business to business marketing asserts Paul. Note-worthy Tweet-wisdom has included “Sometimes you just have to cut out the dead wood... And block the followers who speak a lot but don't say anything” from @GrahamHill and “It is not a question of how well each process works, the question is how well they all work together- Lloyd Dobens #coaching #quote” courtesy of @rapidbi (aka Mike Morrison). And don't forget to follow Marketing Insight Guy @mktginsightguy for regular Tweets on marketing data strategy and marketing operations. Recruitment
Situations vacant. Contact us if you have a role you'd like featured. Senior ConsultantAnswering business and marketing challenges with innovative, insight driven solutions, leading multi-disciplined teams on UK and international projects. Full corporate package. McGraw Stone ConsultingVP, Strategy & Analytics, BarcelonaInnovative dot.com company looking for a strategic analytics powerhouse to lead 4 divisions. Reporting to the CMO, this will be their No2 in Marketing for Europe. €140-160k. Blue PelicanSenior Analyst, West LondonWorking for a media giant, this role will be highly strategic, leveraging customer data to reduce churn across their entire portfolio of consumer propositions. SAS or SPSS experience necessary. £48k. Blue PelicanAnalysis ManagerJoin a leading independent direct marketing agency and assist with the development and implementation of strategic analysis solutions and insight across their entire client portfolio. Jobsworth RecruitmentAbout Percassity SolutionsCo-founded by former Gartner colleagues Simon Daniels and Charles Eaton-Hennah, Percassity Marketing Data Solutions is a marketing data, operations and insight consultancy. Adopting advisory and implementation roles, we address challenges such as lack of focus in prospecting activity, labour intensive campaign execution, sales and marketing integration issues and woolly measurement of marketing results. We help to: - Enhance and obtain data for campaign activity, and ensure the best possible data quality
- Implement marketing automation systems and campaign execution processes
- Use analytics to optimise marketing activity targeting
- Refine contact strategy to maximise response and reduce disengagement
Read more about how we can help with your marketing data management challenges or download our quick reference guide to Percassity Solutions.
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