Combining data feeds from the online and offline worlds, listening to consumers and thinking outside the box when planning marketing strategies can all help improve response and elevate brand awareness.
Technology has created and continues to create new channels for communication and new ways for companies to listen to their consumers. Each new channel brings new benefits and new hurdles in creating the best applications. An interesting change has also occurred in the way that marketers begin to think outside the box. Making a connection with a consumer and allowing them to connect with their friends or co-workers as they complete the buying cycle has become very popular.
One example of a company making a connection, while using the latest technology, and sharing that connection in the office, is with the Dunkin Donuts Dunkin Run program. The Dunkin run combines an online order by an individual that is forwarded via email to your friends in the office asking them if they’d like to add anything to your order when you make a Dunkin Run. Their orders are sent directly to the nearest location and you are able to pay and pick it up. Payment can also be made directly from your Dunkin Card to make pick up that much simpler. So now you look like a hero to your office, Dunkin Donuts has cross sold and upsold your business, and the office is stuffed or wired from eating donuts and drinking great coffee. The end result is a win for all parties.
Another example of a company making a connection comes from Itickets.com. Acquiring tickets online and picking them on at the event is a nice feature, but after collecting an email address in the process Itickets.com takes the next step by continuing the relationship in a very personal way. Following the event an email is sent out requesting photo’s taken at the event, and if you don’t have any you are invited you to view other photos that are donated by fans at the show. Iticket.com can now add you as a friend on Facebook or Flickr, depending on the distribution channel, you look like a hero to your family for collecting these memories and the event get additional exposure and publicity. Again, everyone wins.
Finally, a Las Vegas golf course wanted to grow it’s Facebook fan club and promote more amenities via social media. They determined that since many golfers were not bringing clubs they could offer a free rental if you signed up as a Facebook fan and booked your tee time on line. Since Facebook allows you to share specials easily with your friends, you look like a hero for finding a great deal, the golf course gets players that may have stayed in the casino instead, and Facebook is able to help show more compelling reasons to choose one course over another.
The stories depicted here are just the tip of the iceberg but represent the change in thinking and the different factors that should be used when putting together a marketing strategy. The elements of technology, multi-channel communication, and social media are all utilized to make each effort better. Following this roadmap can boost your business as well.
Little Know Tips to Improve Data Hygiene Processing
As the multi-channel marketplace grows in complexity there are a few bedrock principles that continue to make sense.
The mystery of channel preference
It is increasingly more difficult to manage communication with customers and prospects because of the following conditions; new channels are introduced as technology advances, old channels are made obsolete and perceptions change, branding and image are no longer controlled solely by that company or it’s marketing department, and the pace of business in general is accelerating.
Getting “hands on” with today’s marketing efforts
For many years the operations and activities of the catalog marketers have stopped as their data files have been delivered to their services bureaus or printers.
