The New Normal for CMO's

Avi Dan authored an article featured in AdAge titled, The New Normal for CMO's - click here. Based upon the blog comments he received, there were mixed sentiments on what people thought. Regardless, customer engagement is a key takeaway from this article.

Ideal customer engagement today would be best defined as the appropriate timing of relevant messages that are unique to each individual consumer - an aspirational tone from past and current CRM efforts. Beyond that though, there are various ways to engage today. From social media marketing, traditional advertisements to other engagement strategies such as meetings and events, the one thing we know based upon past experiences is that everyone is wired differently. Such is the case, having a one-size-fits-all strategy is a thing of the past, now is the time to truly adopt integrated strategies that better connect organizations with their customers (past, present and future) for more effective outcomes that better support and align to business objectives.

There's an obvious shift in the media mix more so now than ever; and that will continue to further evolve moving forward. We've moved on and evolved our preferences, as consumers (whether B2B or B2C), from an engagement standpoint. Digital tactics, both web 1.0 and 2.0, are increasing in their roles as traditional media plays less of a dominant one; although still critical to varying degrees depending on a variety of variables such as markets and customer types. However, the first-level of engagement evolution, specifically websites and email marketing, have saturated and overwhelmed many customers. For the most part, we've managed these new media platforms with a traditional approach. Analytics needs to and will be key way in how these and other contemporary channels integrate with traditional formats to increase relevance, conversion rates, advocacy and other key performance indicators included in a robust lifetime value model.

The CMO's main responsibility has always been to focus on market needs and identifying how the organization best addresses these through product and service offerings. However, to remain effective in a rapidly changing set of markets, CMO's have to work in a more latitudinal way. Latitudinal from the sense that while identifying effective strategies that support business objectives remain a core function, they also need to better ground their evaluations and expectations of their business plans and priorities based upon sensible tactical executions. Considering the many changes and shifts in the market, identifying best-practices and keeping a keen eye on their customers needs and preferences (at the individual level) will better ensure the continued level of competitive differentiation, customer demand and market presence required to be successful.

5 Ways to Increase Campaign Response Rates and Avoid Relationship Penalties

Consumers have had enough! A continued exposure to a steadily increasing number of marketing messages, campaigns, advertisements, offers and the like are suffocating relationships. Think about it, messages exist everywhere from traditional magazine, newspaper, television and radio to blogs, emails, web pages and the list goes on and on and on; okay, you get the idea. To quantify this trend, in Accenture’s 2001 Insight Driven Marketing Report, a typical consumer went from an average of 650 messages they were exposed to a day in 1985 to over 3,000 in 2001; share of mind has definitely become a competitive field for businesses.

The unfortunate effects on the attitudes and behaviors of the consumer as a result of undifferentiated, overly abundant and brimful frequency of messages necessitate action by which companies communicate to their existing and future customers. The following five steps will assist in getting a lift out of response rates and increase in overall campaign performance.

1. Integrated Media Channels
Even with the most appealing offer that is strategically appropriate and tailored for specific individuals, response rates are not guaranteed. The main hurdle that remains is that of effectively connecting and communicating with your audience. Determine what channels are most preferred by your targeted audience and create a media plan that integrates direct marketing efforts into a connected stream of touch point activities.

2. Targeted Messaging.
Regardless of the communications channel(s) used, a degree of customization – whether personalization, versioning or targeted offering based upon what is known of the customer – will greatly assist with response rates. At the end of the day, effective campaign performance is about relevance – promoting and communicating directly to me what I may want, when I might need it and from who I might buy it.

3. Don’t Beat Around the Bush, Be a Straight Shooter
Although it’s important to capture the immediate attention of the customer in the headline, do so with brevity and clarity. Another pitfall of campaign efforts is that while a creative message begins with a lead-in, it quickly strays away from what originally captured interest. Often referred to as somewhat of a bait-and-switch, this tactic quickly diminishes the credibility of the promoter in the mind of the consumer. As such, relationships can be damaged and future opportunities can be hindered.

4. Consumers Like it Simple
Hypothetically, if a communications piece went out and it had all of the necessary components such as being targeted, was straight to the point and even involved integrated communications channels, response rates can still be ineffective if the consumer isn’t lent a simplified means to respond. Often enough, campaigns become disenchanting for the consumer due to a clear call to action being missed, an overly complicated process to respond or demands that are too high from a time perspective to complete the transaction.

5. Don’t Over Communicate
Email is one of the largest culprits to consumers being bombarded and overloaded with offers, representing instances where they are receiving hundreds of emails each week. As a result, this channel continues to dwindle in its effectiveness. While new channels have emerged from texting, RSS feeds, PURL’s, Social Media and the like, it’s important to remember that you don’t need to be everywhere, all of the time, hounding (if not annoying) customers and potential customers. Consumers are simply overworked and, for the most part, getting more and more turned-off. Think of your touch point activities as currencies and spend wisely. Awareness isn’t always a good thing, especially if perceptions are not all that flattering.

These guidelines are pertinent to any sector or market situation. Following any number of them provides improved results, but incorporating all of them into communications planning yields a synergistic effect that turbo-charges the effective connectivity with the customer.

The ROI of CRM - Customer Data, Check; Now What?

Okay, so you have the technological foundation laid for CRM, but what’s next? This is a common question corporate executives are left with after spending millions of dollars of development costs associated with the architecture of data bases to bank customer data. No, it’s not as easy as you were probably lead to believe, there’s no green button that puts everything into motion, simply terabytes of data electronically warehoused that are providing no business benefit in their standalone state. So, where do you go from here?

While some organizations have gone with a shoot then aim approach with only results that have shaken the needle, success has been wreaked from those following a disciplined strategy; mining, analyzing and synthesizing the data they hold. Analytics has become the enabling ingredient of CRM solutions. Considering the profile of today’s customer is quite different from just 10 years ago, understanding their differences, likes, dislikes, drivers and other characteristics has become paramount in developing solid business strategies to grow relationships. Why is this important?

-Brand loyalties are weakening and not nearly as strong as they once were

-Consumers are better educated. The advent of the internet provided the perfect outlet for consumers to source from in making their purchase decision(s)

-Promotions have desensitized customers to the point of being numb

-Consumers are more price conscious and demanding value in what they pay, the service they receive and the level of convenience experienced

-Consumers are not as easily put into a segmented class. There are far more segments today than ever

Been caught with your CRM pants down? Still not clear on what all the technology and customer data you’ve successfully centralized provides to your organization? Share your thoughts on how you recommend moving to the next level.