by Jim Derochea - Marketing Communications, Solutions, Multi Channel Guru
I was recently asked, “why hasn't highly relevant communications become more prevalent in the marketplace?” There is no single answer, but, instead, intertwined obstacles that have stymied universal adoption. However, help may be on the way...
In my opinion, there are two main roadblocks to mainstreamed adoption of highly relevant communications. One of the biggest factors is still overall cost or perceived cost to produce highly relevant communications compared to traditional communications, particularly given the economic state that we have been in over the last several years.
The other factor is the shortage of skilled VDP (Variable Data Publishing) Marketing Specialists who truly understand that true relevancy usually needs to be transparent to the receiver, otherwise, it tends to come of as gimmicky, intrusive or even uninteresting and irrelevant. This shortage of talent also comes into play as a factor in cost, because companies either have to pay to secure this expertise through a 3rd party or they must be able to justify the cost to hire their own full-time expert, while creating enough demand to justify their position. Ultimately, cost seems to be the overriding factor, with the talent/expertise issue being a main component of overall cost, but at the same time, is an important issue unto itself. Understanding these two roadblocks and dealing with them separately is not always easy, but companies need to address and conquer both of these issues, in order to begin to transform their communications into more impactful, highly relevant conversations with their constituents, across multiple channels.
- COST FACTORS & MYTHS:
The cost to buy, mine and manage data, even the company's own data, is one cost factor, especially for companies that have not invested in strong, integrated enterprise data technology solutions. Besides those obvious costs surrounding data, there are other significant pieces of the puzzle that affect the costs per communication that are paramount to successful personalization. One of these major pieces of the puzzle revolve around the depth & quality and the subsequent analysis of that data to determine what data elements to use & how to use them for the best "impact" with their constituents. As previously noted, a company has to either pay for a third party (agency?) to do this for them or hire highly competent associate(s) to accomplish this. It may be cost prohibitive for a company to hire a staff for this function, if the company does not plan to continuously pump out relevant communications. I feel that, to be effective, companies need to commit to making relevant communications a part of their communication fabric. If done correctly, it should be neither cost prohibitive or labor intensive. Au contraire, if done correctly, it should reap a high ROI and should create efficiencies across the board.
The "perceived" cost per piece for printed personalized communications is also a factor, especially in cases where Marketing Directors and/or Finance Directors don't understand the overall potential effectiveness (ROI) of such campaigns versus traditional static print. This may also be true when they don't have first-hand experience with actual campaigns and campaign results or don't believe that "relevance" will make a difference to their constituents. To this point, I witnessed several Marketing Directors and VP's several years ago at a highly respected personalization conference, discussing how they weren't using personalization because the cost per piece was too high and they couldn't sell it to their Finance Leaders. They did not know how to accurately communicate the costs/ROI benefits of targeted, relevant communications versus a one-size-fits-all mass communications model and therefore had little chance of getting buy-in from their Finance Leaders. I believe the needle has moved slightly since then, through education and cultural acceptance, but there still is much work to be done.
On the upside, I do think that the trend towards electronic communications such as email and the internet, has taken a slight chunk out of the cost issue, since it is theoretically less expensive to send a personalized E-Communication via email or a personal web portal, than to send a personalized printed communication. This has opened the door for many Marketers to adopt relevancy in their E-Communications, though the economy has still likely caused many companies to hesitate in adopting such practices.
- TALENT:
Based on industry researchers and based on my experiences and research, it seems that there is not enough consistent, in-depth analytics of data being applied to relevant communications in the marketplace. This could be due to a shortage of the analytic gurus who understand how to effectively use data to hit the communication mark by eliciting specific "emotional connections & actions" from consumers through effective relevancy and messaging. It could also be because many companies still don't fully understand this concept of effective, transparent relevancy and opt for gimmicky interchangeable imagery and personal content or may just be that this concept is still so very new and companies are trying to learn as they go.
We all have seen numerous cases of personalized communications over the last several years. Some really bad, some eye-catching & some even relevant. But the best communications are usually the ones we may not immediately identify as a personalized communications. The content and message is based on personal preferences and other personal data, but is not obvious or intrusive. Several years ago, I attended a VDP workshop, where the instructor gave an exquisite example of such a campaign. I have changed the concept details slightly and left out some detailed information, as to not infringe on the company copyrights or to come off as an advertisement for them.
- EXAMPLE: Effective & transparent use of relevancy
The instructor's son was all excited and came to his father to ask him to sign him up for a particular roadside service. Wondering what got his son all excited, the instructor asked his son why the sudden urgency and excitement to sign up for such a service. The son reached into his back pocket and pulled out a postcard he had received in the mail from this roadside service company. At first glance, it looked benign, with the only apparent personal information being in the form of the standard name & address in the mailing area. The son excitedly began to tell his father about the service. "It says," the son started, "Have you ever broken down and had to have your vehicle towed? Dad, I was just towed, like 2 weeks ago!" The son went on reading the postcard, "Even if you only were towed 15 or 20 miles, it could cost you up to $100 for towing service." The son then explained how he got towed to a repair station, 18 miles from where he broke down and it cost him $90 in towing fees. The ad went on to highlight how he would never have to pay for towing again, if he was a member of their roadside service. The son exclaimed, "If only I received this a couple of weeks ago and became a member, I wouldn't have had to use my meal money for school to pay for the tow!"
Being somewhat of a VDP guru, the instructor suspiciously took the postcard and after a few phone calls, determined that this was NOT a coincidence that his son got this postcard, but it was actually a very transparent, yet effective use of personal data that had been recently collected. He found out that this particular roadside service company had partnered with numerous towing companies in a specific region of their state. They asked the participating tow companies to collect and send them the basic information of any non-members on a weekly basis, that they had to tow, along with date of tow, miles towed and total cost of the tow. To the casual recipient, it appeared to be a timely coincidence that they received this postcard fresh off the nightmare of being towed, when in fact it was a succinct, effective and transparent use of relevant data. It also highlighted that you don’t necessarily need a ton of data, just the right data that is relevant to your message and the action you are trying to influence from your constituents.
- CONCLUSION: Help is on the way…
So, how will we get there? How will we get to the point where the use of use of relevancy in communications is commonplace? I believe that there is a perfect storm brewing for enabling technology and solution providers to flourish as we move out from under the dark economic cloud. As companies regain their footing and regain their confidence in the economy, they will be looking to make investments in technology that will empower them to create & deliver more impactful, relevant messages while streamlining their communication processes and allowing them, as marketers, to be much more efficient and agile.
There are already many such enabling technology solutions out there offered by companies like InterlinkOne, Neolane, CGX, PPI Solutions, Unica, TFC and Aprimo to name a few. These companies offer robust Multi Channel Marketing Suites or Enterprise Marketing Management Suites that include all of the marketing tools needed to easily develop, deploy and measure relevant communications and campaigns across all channels, including incorporating variability to any communication. Most of these companies offer solutions that integrate a Digital Asset Library, Rules Engine, Marketing Mart Database and Reporting Analytics to help companies produce & manage all Communications and Campaigns (Campaign Management) that can be deployed across Multiple Channels. Creating once, using often, across any channel while having the ability to report and analyze the effectiveness of communications so that the data can then be used to influence future communications. Imagine doing what you do today, communication-wise, but with the ability to do it more efficiently and with much more impact, speed and relevance. Once adopted, Marketers will quickly realize how simple, yet powerful, these technology solutions are and how cost effectively they can produce, track & analyze robust communications and campaigns.
The time is right, it’s the perfect storm, for companies to partner with or adopt these enabling technology solutions as the economy begins to recover. Then, we will begin to see a wave of innovative, highly relevant communications, that will soon become more and more prevalent in the communication world.
Jim Derochea
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