Precision Marketing: Maximising Revenue through Relevance

Citation

George R. Cook (2013), "Precision Marketing: Maximising Revenue through Relevance", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 30 No. 1, pp. 89-90. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363761311290876

Precision Marketing is an interesting read and is centered around and focused on how marketers today need to develop specific perspectives, capabilities and skills required to deliver the most powerful and highest possible positive impact results relating to the firm ' s key business objectives. There are no shortages of challenges in today ' s highly competitive marketplace with very sophisticated, highly informed and demanding customers. Previous mass marketing campaigns are no longer effective and will have to give way to more precise, customized marketing efforts if the firm is to enjoy a successful and differentiated position within the marketplace.

This paperback book is divided into ten bite-sized chapters that provide excellent detail in terms of how marketers can make better use of marketing budget dollars and in the process gain a higher R.O.I. for their efforts as the firm attempts to reach various different customer segments. The objective is to clearly target the right person through the right channels with the right messages and on a timely basis.

The following is a brief synopsis of the key points made by the authors in building and deploying the Precision Marketing process.

Consumers have finally “had enough.” They are clearly passing over and block out unwanted massive advertising campaigns with digital video recorders that let them skip over unwanted commercials; with spam blockers to lock out meaningless emails; and byusing the do-not-call lists to prevent all of the bothersome, intruding phone calls. Consumers today are obviously “in charge” and they are letting marketers know it.

Companies that clearly understand the meaning of relevance to the customer will be identified and patronized by that customer so long as the companies communicate with them using pertinent messaging and valu-e added solution transactions that work in the customer ' s best interest. Marketers need to view the relevancy objective through the eyes of the customer, which will then provide them with the direction they need to take in terms of the ultimate in customer satisfaction. Message consistency is absolutely necessary across all marketing media channels. These data-driven insights obtained by the marketer will assist in delivering the right message to the right person at the right time.

In Precision Marketing the authors are talking about a data-driven decision-making approach which will be more rational in nature and fact based. We need to think in terms of a more “outside in” vs an “inside out” approach in terms of a better understanding of consumer needs and wants. The marketing process that the authors advocate involves a series of six key steps: determine the overall marketing objectives; gather pertinent data; perform a detailed analysis (of the data) and the develop an appropriate set of analytical models to evaluate and understand the data in an attempt to identify relevant customer insights); develop key strategies to address the opportunity; deploy the strategy/campaign; measure and evaluate the eventual results and of course, make any needed adjustments or revisions to the strategy at the end point. Mentioned by the authors are some key and frequently heard objectives: customer acquisition; customer retention; possible reactivation in term of lost customers; and growth in terms of customer revenues and profits.

With regard to data gathering, while a time-consuming step, albeit an important one, we need to carefully look at all customer touchpoints and as they involve every function within the business structure.

The analysis and modeling of the data gathered is critical to understand exactly what we have in terms of relevant consumer data and what we can potentially do with it to assure relevancy and to be as precise as possible in our overall marketing efforts. Segmentation plays a major role here to clearly identify our key customer groupings, enabling our touching the right consumer base with the right message that will resonate with them. The authors discuss some key segmentation techniques in the book: traditional; rules-base; response modeling; and finally predictive analytics, and most of us in the marketing field are acquainted with these techniques and probably have used them from time to time.

In terms of strategizing, at this point we have developed a plan or consumer campaign and we are ready to develop an “action plan” that will become the centerpiece for launching our precision marketing effort. Key items that are involved here are: the campaign content; the various creative aspects of the campaign; the consumer offerings involved; a resonating communication message aimed at the targeted audience and, finally, a decision on how we will measure the results at the end point.

Deployment, step seven of the process, is simply moving the plan into action! Marketing plans, programs, and actions are of no benefit to the firm if not deployed effectively, completely, and on a timely basis. Windows of opportunity are only open for short periods of time, and if we do not take advantage of same, competition surely will! Deployment could involve a full scale national launch or a more conservative phased-in launch, perhaps based on geography. In some cases, before commercialization or a full-scale national launch, we may want to conduct market tests of our program to assess the viability of same.

At the end point, campaign conclusion, we will want to measure the results based on our program objectives and identify any needed revisions, making adjustments for future such marketing programs. The marketing metrics that we should have in place to assist in the final assessment should provide us information on such key elements relating to: improvements in – market share, sales, revenues, profits, R.O.I. and of course, customer satisfaction.

From an organizational standpoint the Chief Marketing Officer, being the key person in this Precision Marketing Process, must assure complete alignment as it relates to the various elements of the marketing program with top management of the firm – CEO, COO, CFO, CIO and in general the entire organization to assure that all personnel are “on the same page” and will provide direction, guidance and support towards the total marketing effort. A key point in this effort is to assure that the firm is clearly differentiated from competition with relevant messages that positively resonate with the targeted customer base and that maximize the firm ' s revenue objectives and total customer satisfaction in the end.