CRM - February 2009 - (Page 26)

Marketing Consumers themselves are cutting budgets, opting instead to save more than spend. Therefore, it’s up to companies to address their needs in a way that perhaps even consumers aren’t aware of. This, Temkin says, is where experimentation can shine.“Innovation, in a perfect world, is continually focused on the needs of your target customer,” he says. Success lies in your ability to understand the target’s needs better than the competition does. The experiments that companies should avoid at this time involve unfamiliar opportunities that cannot promise a return on investment, such as new markets or communication channels. Still, it’s not entirely impossible for a company to pursue such endeavors—if and only if they plan for how it can help them come out of the recession, in which such experimentation can actually prove to be a competitive advantage. That said, companies shouldn’t just kill all research-and-development projects. Instead, Temkin suggests holding off on any launch until conditions are more stable and customers are more willing to purchase.“When we’re talking about our target customer and value proposition, it’s not just our current value proposition, but how we’re going to maintain that.” CHEAP TRICKS All marketers are finding themselves having to do more with less these days. What it comes down to, ultimately, is how well you know your consumer, how and when you place your message, and how to provide a creative call to action, says Mike Bloxham, director of insight and research at Ball State University’s Center for Media Design. Given that, there are ways marketers can optimize their existing assets and ensure each channel is performing at an optimal level. Consumers unwilling to spend now will likely want to at some point in the future. That’s where lead incubation becomes critical, says Renan Levy, president at Intellidyn, a provider of direct marketing solutions. In working with one financial services client, Levy was told that a particular set of leads were dead and had been sitting on the shelf for six months to a year. Within three months of implementing Intellidyn’s direct marketing solution, 15 percent of those once considered dead had converted. “Not everyone’s ready at this point, but if you keep the communication— soft communication—with them and show them value over time, when they’re ready to buy, you’re there,” he says. Compared to traditional media, new digital and social media is often seen as more cost effective. A Shop.org survey released in November 2008 reported that 25 percent of retailers created a Facebook page to help boost holiday sales. However, experts warn against jumping on the bandwagon and haphazardly making the trade. “A lot of people [take] research from Pew Internet…[and] say, ‘We have to completely revamp our marketing strategy. We have to go all into the social networks and SMS,’” says Morgan Stewart, the director of research and strategy at ExactTarget, a result of what he calls being “seduced by the numbers.” Still, if you can do with $50 what you can with $100, why wouldn’t you? Mike Dickerson, general manager of eMarketing at business communications company Premiere Global Services, warns against getting too aggressive trimming budgets to the bone. Tightly map out a strategy and plan for every dollar. From there, he says, companies must be extremely disciplined in managing their performance analytics as they continually test, measure, and refine the effectiveness of each marketing strategy. SENIOR-LEVEL SUPPORT Once a brick-and-mortar operation, New Jersey–based David’s Cookies has gradually moved its operations online. Despite the shift, senior-level executives maintain a mentality that lingers on the traditional. Though Director of E-Commerce Dennis Consorte says that the company has come a long way and that executives are openminded, expectations are steep. Consorte has to show that every search term is converting directly. And, like many marketers, his budget was cut in October. Support, Temkin says, must ultimately be top-down. While the motivation and discipline don’t have to resonate directly from the chief executive officer, it should be the priority of general managers and other executives.“If your vice president is saying,‘Cut, cut, cut,’ it’s very hard to push back and say, ‘We want to look at it more holistically,’” Temkin says. With a reduced budget, Consorte has only had to get more creative, which he contends isn’t such a bad thing. “I work with what I have. We’re pretty creative in making things happen given limited resources.” In response to rising production and ingredient costs, David’s has had to increase its prices as well as abandon a free-shipping policy in favor of a $4.95 flat rate. On the bright side, Consorte says, the company has used free shipping as an incentive on purchase minimums or special products, further contributing to sales. In fact, he says, sales during the last 12 months nearly tripled compared to the prior 12 months. KNOW WHAT CHANNELS WORK FOR YOU “At the end of the day, the objective is to get results,” Intellidyn’s Levy says. “Right now, you need to make tough choices. You’re looking for channels that give you the best ROI.” One client, he said, found that its mass media channels were failing to justify 26 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT | FEBRUARY 2009 www.destinationCRM.com http://www.Shop.org http://www.destinationCRM.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - February 2009

CRM - February 2009 Contents Front Office Reality Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point Express Service CRM on Twitter Breaking Customer Service Tradition Outsprinted That’s (Not) Entertainment Running on Empty Required Reading Up Against the Downturn The Numbers Tell the Tale Make Marketing Your Megaphone! Hold Onto Your Customers! Spend Your Way Out! Constructing a Virtual Customer Experience Next Customer, Please! It’s Showtime! From A(erospace) to Z(oology) Secret of My Success Re:Tooling Scouting Report Pint of View

CRM - February 2009

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