MULTI CHANNEL PUBLISHING SPECIALIST, THE NEW PRINT BUYER

Due to the dramatic down turn in the economy over the last couple of years along with the emergence and adoption of electronic medias, like email, mobile, social networking, podcasting and web self-service, the traditional print buyer role, and print industry in general, is undergoing a dramatic metamorphosis. Since there is a growing, vast array of newer communication channels, with no defined roles or job titles associated with deployment, the role of the traditional print buyer has transitioned to include the understanding and deploying of all of the communication channels.

To date (2010) the terminology has yet to catch up with the industry, though the transformation of such terms as "publishing" (from meaning the printing of books & literature to meaning the deployment of communications (i.e. publish to the web), has helped to spark the transformation of a universally accepted terminology that reflects the new communication technologies, processes and the industry, in general. To wit, W2P used to be known solely as Web-to-Print but is now widely accepted to mean Web-to-Publish, as one example.

Graphic arts and print associations, such as Print Buyers International, are in the process of rebranding in an effort to move this transformation forward, to reflect the new generation of roles and responsibilities of the traditional print production specialist or buyer. Similarly, I positioned myself as the "Multi Channel Publishing Manager" at my last company, to reflect the role and responsibilities that my staff was undertaking over the last 3+ years.

Though the "Print Buyer" is assuming these new roles and responsibilities across the U.S., there is a strong likelihood that the "print buyer" terminology may soon become obsolete, once the communications industry adopts more relevant terminology that appropriately reflects the duties of today's Print Buyer!

My suggestion to Print Buyers??? Make sure you have learned the nuances of the emerging channels, just as well as you have mastered the nuances of print, then start branding yourself as a "Multi Channel Publishing" specialist! It's time to align the diverse skills and expertise of today's Print Buyer/Multi Channel Publishing guru, with an appropriately reflective title to help move the transformation along even even further...

WILL PRINT SURVIVE?

by Jim Derochea - Marketing Communications, Solutions, Multi Channel Guru

In the spirit of the great, Mark Twain, who once lamented, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated," so too are reports of Print being dead! Print has been evolving and will continue to do so, as the pieces of the marketing/communication pie continuously shift and new channel technologies continue to appear.

We are in an exciting era, given the explosion of communication technology, the likes that man has never witnessed, that seems to change the game nearly every day. Whether it's new G4 mobile technology & endless stream of apps, Automated Marketing Tools, Cloud Computing or exciting cutting edge game changers like Pranav Mistry's "Sixth Sense" that could render desktop computing obsolete as we know it, the landscape is perpetually changing. Print still plays a large part of the mix and will continue to do so, quite likely in different and possibly unique ways, compared to the past.

Traditional print will remain prominent in packaging, signage, business cards, etc., but many other areas such as marketing, advertising, direct mail, etc., will continue to evolve. For example, direct marketing mailings have evolved from mass mailings, to a hybrid of targeted communications via print and electronic delivery, reducing the print volume while reducing costs & increasing marketing impact. Though reduced, print is still part of today's mix.

Another example of how print is evolving, is the use of relevant printed communication to drive an electronic interaction, i.e. drive a consumer to a relevant website or email destination, that begins a 2-way dialogue and can be measured for future relevancy. And further, the same tact can be used to "tickle" additional information. Rather than mail a printed, multi-page brochure that is getting more expensive to mail, a marketer may instead print and mail a piece that includes the most impactful highlights or benefits, with a focus on driving the consumer to a particular website should they want/need the detailed information. This communication cycle might also include the option for the consumer to order or print out the material, should they want a printed version, but either way, it reduces the volume & overall yearly costs for the actual brochure, while still getting the access to that information into the consumer's hands. Again, a different way print is being leveraged in today's electronic communication revolution.

It is impossible to predict what evolved role(s) Print will have in the world, 5 or 10 years from now, due to the continued emergence of exciting new communication channels. So, it is not a question of whether Print will survive, but a question of how Print will evolve within the marketing mix.

I will finish this blog article just as I started, with a very relevant quote from Mark Twain, which happens to be on the subject of Print, "The printer's art, which is the noblest and most puissant of all arts, and destined in the ages to come to promote the others and preserve them."
~ Mark Twain

COFFEE, TEA or MILK? DO YOU KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER'S PREFERENCES?

by Jim Derochea - Marketing Communications, Solutions, Multi Channel Guru

When buying an acquisition list, do you ask whether the list includes communication channel preferences of the individuals on the list? Or have you polled your own customer base about how they prefer their communications delivered, which channels they prefer? I am amazed at how many companies still don't ask. I am likewise amazed at how many companies that do ask, only ask their customers in broad terms, lumping all communication into one bucket and then are surprised when they still don't get any increased activity or ROI.

It is a step forward, obviously, to ask for your customer's communication channel preference, but if your company sends your customers communication information across different content types, such as benefits, rewards, legislative, account data, general info and billing, to name a few, then you are not asking the right questions. At the very basic level, you need to be asking them which channel they prefer for each type of communication that your company sends them.

In my opinion, if a company asks for just one global communication preference even though they send out communication information across different content types, then they are far more likely to have a low opt-in rate for other channels from their customers. Studies show that many people still don't fully trust the internet for distributing certain kinds of personal information, such as personal benefit info, financial info or other highly personal information, so given the option of just choosing one channel, the fear of their personal info getting compromised will win out. Therefore, many customers will choose to just stay with conventional print/mail channel, to assure that their info stays secure.

On the other hand, if you ask them which channel of communication they prefer for each type of communication that you send them, then you are far more likely to get your customers to opt-in to their preferred channel for each of those types of communication. Depending on your customer demographics and your own company's objectives & ambition, you may even choose to dig deeper by asking for such information as your customer's language preferences for each channel and communication type to deepen the connection with the customer. In either case, the customer is far more likely to be more engaged with your company, because they are much more likely to actually read it, because they are receiving information how they prefer to receive it.

To illustrate the point about using other' preferred communication channel, , I heard this anecdote from Dr. Charles Dwyer during one of his insightful "Power & Influence" seminars. In essence, his story referred to a Manager who was having trouble getting a response from a key client regarding some critical information that the Manager needed to meet a project deadline.

The Manager went to the Director, to alert him of the issue and the unlikelihood of making the deadline. The Manager relayed that she had left several voice mails and emails over several days, but had yet to receive a response. The Director asked the Manager how this client usually communicated with them, to which the Manager noted, was via fax. The Director then urged the Manager to send a fax to the client to request the information. Within 15 minutes the Manager had the key information in hand, from the client. Why? Because the Director knew that the best means to communicate, engage or influence someone, was usually through the means that they preferred to use. Just as that Manager's emails and voice mails were a waste of energy and diminished the chance of her reaching her project goal, likewise is it a waste of time, money and resources to send your constituents information in the wrong communication channel. But unless you know for sure, then you are throwing darts in the dark when you choose the communication channel for them. Every so often your dart hits the target andsometimes you put a hole in those new jeans hanging over the dresser that's 5 feet to the right of that dart board, but more often than not, the dart sticks to nothing.

Having your customers choose to opt-in to their communication channel preferences will likely create opportunities to lower your communication costs (via electronic delivery channels vs. print/mail channels). You may then choose to leverage some of those savings to incorporate more relevance and actionable content into some of some of your customer touch points to make them more impactful and engaging. Not only could your hard costs to deliver your various planned messages decrease, but, the overall engagement level, ROI and retention levels should all see favorable, if not dramatic improvement, which we all know, positively affects the bottom line and helps to create a more enhanced long-term relationships with the customer.

So next time you ask your customer if they want, "Coffee, Tea or Milk?" make sure you ask them, "Cup, Glass or Thermos?"

RELEVANT COMMUNICATIONS: ROADBLOCKS TO UNIVERSAL ADOPTION

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 3^rd 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