Personalization is a popular direct marketing tactic to help stand out among the clutter that enters consumers’ mailboxes and inboxes. But in today’s technologically advanced world, simple personalization doesn’t cut it anymore. “We follow the Seth Godin school: You have to be absolutely remarkable to make a difference,” says Jay Regan, vice president of client development at Daytona Beach, Fla.-based cross-media marketing solutions organization DME.
“So good marketing is actually awful; excellent marketing you might get your toes in the water. The name of the game is to be remarkable and get attention,” he expounds.
Here, Regan and Ed Ickowski, director of business development and sales for variable data printing and cross-media marketing software provider DirectSmile, share insights on how to make personalization remarkable.
1. Have a good database. First and foremost, you need to have a good, clean database, says Ickowski, and it’s important to have a strategy behind what you want to do with that database. “”If you’re working on a campaign for a vacation request but don’t have in the database that some people like skiing and some people like the beach, and you only send people a personalized image with their name spelled in snow blocks, well, you’ve alienated the other half of your database,” he illustrates.
2. Personalize it. No, really personalize it. Sometimes, all you know is a person’s name and address, but when you have the data to truly personalize, do it. “For customer retention especially, it is sinful to have something go out that says, ‘Dear Customer,’” says Regan. “You have the tools now that aren’t very expensive to not only call them by name, but to use other bits of the data. You know, ‘Thank you for your patronage for the last 10 years.’ ‘Thank you for being a season ticket holder for the last five years.’ ‘All the other fans in section 232 look forward to seeing you this season.’ Believe in that one-to-one communication."
Ickowski agrees: “Personalization doesn’t just mean creating a great, beautiful image on the front and the back, but it’s also putting their name in different areas and making sure the campaign matches the imagery.”
3. Do something different. DirectSmile leverages its technology to create personalized images that go back to the Godin school of thought. For example, DirectSmile can take a customer’s alma mater and create an image of that school’s band spelling out the recipient’s name on the school’s football field (see image below). “Somebody gets that personalized postcard form the university with their name spelled out on the football field, the inclination is not to throw that piece out. They’re like, ‘Wow, there’s my name!’ and they’ll turn it over to see the offer,” describes Ickowski.
4. Be multichannel. Integrate your campaign, with the personalization following suit, across all channels—print, e-mail and online. There are instances where single-channel personalization still works, but it’s becoming more and more vital to hit consumers from all angles.
5. Track it. “We will not let a program out of here unless we can track it because even if it fails, that’s the only way we’re going to learn,” says Regan. “… We actually insist with our clients, 'If you’re not going to track this, we don’t want to do business.' That sounds like a harsh statement, but we’re in this to develop a relationship. And unless you track, you’re not going to have basis to go forward. That’s important.”
To witness a campaign that incorporates all these personalization keys and then some, check out the Miami Dolphins’ recent season ticket campaign, a client of DME, that uses DirectSmile technology. The campaign was three-pronged, reaching Dolphins fans through direct mail (see image below), e-mail and an online viral video at www.mydolphinslive.com, for which each recipient had his or her own personalized URL and video.
Two big obstacles to marketing success are lack of relevance in communications and disjointed customer experiences caused by disconnected processes, data silos and static, untested content. To combat these problems, on-demand marketing solutions and e-mail service provider Responsys offers three tips in its white paper, Tear Down the Walls Between Email and Your Website.
1. Use Web behavior data to drive e-mail campaigns. After tracking and measuring Web data, connect that behavioral information with your e-mail marketing efforts, the white paper suggests. For instance, target visitors who have abandoned shopping carts by launching a follow-up e-mail campaign because they are likely the most ready customers to purchase.
Also, the white paper says to launch browse behavior e-mail campaigns. For example, send browsers who spent time checking out golf clothes and accessories golf-specific promotion. Browse behavior campaigns often result in conversion rates that are 200 percent higher than baseline e-mail campaigns, according to the whitepaper.
2. Insert dynamic recommendations in e-mail marketing messages. While product recommendations are common on Web sites, they seem to be forgotten in e-mail communications. With companies like Omniture and richrelevance making this possible scientifically and automatically, consider adding product recommendations to your e-mail messages.
This can drive conversions, upsells, cross-sells, etc.
3. Test and optimize e-mail and site content together. Instead of looking at e-mail and Web site results separately, analyze them side by side, and tie both touchpoints together, the white paper advises. Optimize your e-mails and landing pages together as a campaign, not as separate channels. This should improve your customer experience and conversion rates, and help integrate the two channels organizationally for a more consistent and relevant message across the board.
Term life insurance provider AccuQuote knows what would be bad for its brand: advertising in airline magazines and through online obituary sites. The Wheeling, Ill.-based company also knows what sort of affiliate marketing would be good for its brand: bringing in qualified leads and increasing sales by reaching the right audience.
While AccuQuote already knows which target audience it wants to reach—affluent 40-somethings—it simply gave that criteria to the online advertising agency, Direct Agents of New York, when hiring the agency in 2005 to oversee the AccuQuote Affiliate Program. (The collaboration resulted in a finalist position for AccuQuote and Direct Agents in the 2009 ad:tech Limelight Awards for Best Performance Marketing Campaign.)
Pleased with the agency that consistently delivered quality leads to the sales team, AccuQuote decided to step up Direct Agent's management of the affiliate program by introducing transparency.
In May 2009, AccuQuote began its conversation with the affiliates the agency gathered on its behalf, starting with knowing exactly who they were. Sean Cheyney, AccuQuote's vice president of marketing and business development, provides more details.
Target Marketing: What made AccuQuote decide to add affiliate marketing into its lead generation strategy?
Sean Cheyney: Affiliate marketing has always been a part of our mix. But we've always had this blind program where, although it was working well and we had sub IDs and we were able to identify publishers by sub IDs, we decided that we wanted to have more of that direct relationship with the publisher so we could work and do more customization to generate more high-quality leads for us. But at the same time, produce a higher ROI for the publisher ... When it comes to the quality of the lead, by breaking that out for an e-mail list versus, let's say, a display ad banner, I guess the real answer is, it depends. And it depends on the audience more than the advertising channel. ... The people that we're looking to attract as customers are married couples, between the ages of 40 and 64 with a household income over $75,000, homeowners with kids. ...
TM: Was there a specific campaign throughout all publishers, or did publishers get to tweak the ads?
SC: ... We have had times where we've allowed affiliates to tweak the ad. But we have to give final sign-off. One of the biggest reasons for that is because life insurance is so heavily regulated. ... We've taken feedback, not just on the landing page, but more so on the creative itself. ... We actually like it when affiliates take that initiative, because they know what works for their audience ... One of the reasons for having this more transparent program is so we can have our creative team take that feedback from them ...
TM: How did AccuQuote find the affiliates that targeted its demographic?
SC: That's where Direct Agents comes in and really helps us find all those publishers. They've had people apply to our program that just weren't going to be a good fit for us because our audience wasn't a fit. And they let the affiliate know, and I think the affiliates appreciate that because they don't want to have their precious resources wasted. ...
TM: What portion of AccuQuote's 20 percent growth in 2009 can be credited to the transparent AccuQuote Affiliate Program?
SC: ... It's going to represent a tenth of that 20 percent growth.
TM: How does AccuQuote make its ad placement decisions?
SC: ... We do both online and offline advertising and marketing. But for the purpose of online, even an affiliate represents one portion. Search represents another portion. Display is another portion. Social media's another portion. And the way we determine it is, No. 1, we look at where are we going to hit our target audience. And No. 2, where is it going to make contextual sense? We may choose not to advertise in a place where you would think it would make sense, because it would hit our target audience. But contextually it makes no sense whatsoever. So, as an example, one thing we get approached about a lot is, "Hey, advertise in in-flight magazines for airlines." But advertising life insurance in an airline magazine kind of has a weird vibe to it. ... We get approached by ... [an] obituary site. ... And I have to tell them, "No. Your target audience may make sense, but no." ... It's so bad for our brand; I just feel like it would be predatory. ...
In this fast-moving, short attention span era of communication, nothing embodies that high-speed, quick-hitting environment quite like Twitter. The newest social networking fad, Twitter limits all communications to 140 characters or less, giving users the opportunity to quickly hear all about NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal’s latest thoughts on his former team, the Los Angeles Lakers, winning the NBA championship to what your mother is making for dinner.
But Twitter can be much more than entertainment. In fact, it’s becoming a popular marketing tool for companies from all walks of life. Here is a roundup of how three direct marketers are using Twitter to leverage their brands and create buzz around their businesses.
@SouthwestAir
Southwest Airlines, the Dallas-based airline, opened its Twitter account in 2007, seeing it as an invaluable opportunity to communicate with its customers “fact to face,” says spokesperson Ashley Rogers. Southwest uses the 140-character posts to inform followers about customer initiatives and interesting facts that are intriguing and important to them. For instance, the airline often updates weather in certain cities—information pertinent to fliers who may be worried about delayed or canceled flights—and also alerts customers of contests to win free tickets.
“It’s sort of like Southwest’s personality,” explains Rogers. “We’ll talk about fun things we have going on in the office or things going on at the airport like a costume contest. … We don’t use it for one specific thing. It’s really just an extension of our brand online.”
That personality is sparked by Christi Day, who Rogers calls Southwest’s “Twitter girl.” Day is part of the emerging media team at Southwest, in charge of all new media, and she runs the Twitter account for the company. The great thing about that brand extension is the direct feedback the airline gets from customers. For instance, many fliers have tweeted about the Wi-Fi planes Southwest is testing, offering wireless Internet access in the air. These types of communications let Southwest know what its customers like and do not like about the airline, though Rogers says Southwest has found Twitter to be an overall positive environment, and it gives credibility to the company. “You have to be where your customers are. … We have over [128,000] followers. It’s like we have [128,000] ambassadors for our brand out there.”
Rogers notes that communications on Twitter “can’t just be all corporate speak. It’s got to be natural … It’s a personality; it’s Christi. It’s not Southwest Airlines just feeding you all this information. It’s a conversation online.”
@TurboTax
San Diego-based Intuit has taken the Twitter bull by the horns, using it in a variety of ways for its TurboTax brand, says Colleen Gatlin, TurboTax’s corporate communications manager. These tactics include:
• Gathering information about the products.
• Having conversations with people.
• Answering tax-related or product-related questions, such as:
- Which products should I use?
- How do I find them?
- Where are the best deals?
TurboTax’s Twitter account, manned by a team that includes Gatlin, her PR department and the social media marketing manager, among others in the company, highlights the interaction with customers in its activity on the social networking site. During tax season, TurboTax held an hour-long tweet-a-thon where people could type questions while a room full of TurboTax experts answered them in real time. And that’s not all.
“It’s really beneficial to understand what people are saying and what they think about your brands and products,” says Gatlin. “… It also is a great indicator of any potential issues, good or bad. For example, we put out TurboTax for Macs this year … and we got some instant feedback from people.”
Another unique application was TurboTax’s Twitter Google ad, which incorporated the five most recent tweets from the TurboTax account. TurboTax leveraged its relationship with Google and the AdSense network to get placement on about 300 sites to drive people to Twitter, not to sell product, but to get people engaged with TurboTax online. The ad, which can be viewed at Twitter.taxmojo.com, is no longer active, but it was wildly successful for TurboTax during the last two weeks of the 2009 tax season.
@NHL.com
The National Hockey League is known to have some tech-savvy fans, so the NHL uses Twitter to “make the experience of being an NHL fan more fun,” says Director of Corporate Communications Mike DiLorenzo. The NHL stumbled upon this social networking phenomenon this year and has found it to be an incredible way to communicate with its customers, the NHL fans.
“What [fans are] most appreciative of is the two-way dialogue,” says DiLorenzo. “… I make it a specific point that any fan that reaches out to me with a question or suggestion, I reply or acknowledge. One of the things that has been most universally appreciated or accepted is that we’re listening to them and interacting with them and hearing them out and taking their suggestions.”
And a fan suggestion led to an idea that has sparked a quasi-movement in NHL circles. For the start of the NHL playoffs, which began on April 15, the NHL hosted a Tweetup in New York City at its retail store on 6th Avenue. The Tweetup, which consisted of rounding up NHL fans from Twitter in the NYC area to have a viewing party, actually originated from a suggestion from a fan in New York who approached DiLorenzo and said, “Hey, we have a pretty solid number of fans. We should all get together and meet in person one night.”
The NHL responded by hosting the event at its store, which offers HD TVs and a big space that could accommodate a party. “People started to pick up the idea, and the New York event was a mass success. But the most interesting thing was we had 22 other cities come online and self-organize their own viewing parties in their own cities for that night,” DiLorenzo says. The league, seeing the excitement from the fans surrounding the event, sent party packs out to all 23 locations that organized Tweetups, including party favors, giveaways and autographed merchandise. Another Tweetup took place in Montreal for the NHL draft, with the NHL providing tickets and more freebies.
“Our approach moving forward will be for major NHL events—whether it’s the draft, the Winter Classic outdoor game, the Stanley Cup Finals—we will be providing very formal support to those grassroots events.”
The benefits of using Twitter are virtually endless for the NHL. “Fans feel more engaged. The more they feel engaged, the more they’re going to spend more time and emotion and passion … money with us.”
Those benefits are so attractive to the NHL that it is in the midst of carving out dedicated resources devoted to social networks, employing staff focused solely on the NHL’s presence on Twitter, Facebook and the like.