The year ahead - An IDM view
Companies and marketers should armour themselves against these tough times by investing in skills and technology to make direct marketing better targeted, timely, effective and measurable than ever before. (Free download)
How to ride a recession? Here’s a Direct answer
As the economic chill tightens its frosty grip even around the throats of long-established high street brands, is there really any hope to offer businesses in the foreseeable future?
There’s no doubt that 2009 will be a tough year for many of us, but there is a predicted thaw on the way, and marketers need to be prepared for it.
Given that marketing spend is usually one of the first in the firing line when cuts are threatened, marketers are used to the idea of having to fiercely protect their budgets. But the successful marketers of 2009 will be those who effectively direct budget to the right areas.
Those of us who are old enough to have worked through previous downturns have learned that the fundamentals of direct marketing are well-suited to surviving a recession.
Firstly, direct marketing is efficient. It reduces waste by enabling tightly targeted communications that use budget intelligently, based on insights gleaned from a carefully managed database.
Secondly, direct techniques are eminently measurable. This means that poor-performing expenditure can be redirected immediately and effectively to more productive activity.
We’re aware, though, that direct marketers have had their share of bad press in recent times, with the terms ‘junk mail’ and ‘spam’ racking up countless column inches and sending the temperatures of Daily Mail readers into orbit, and we’re the first to condemn both activities as bad marketing practice. Junk mail and spam are unsolicited communications that are unlikely to engender the good will, let alone the custom of the recipients.
The key is relevance. The best direct marketers never forget there are such things as recycling bins (often right next to the front door!) and ‘off’ buttons, giving consumers several ways of skilfully avoiding unwanted messages. Today’s professionals have learned to create messages that consumers accept, even actively welcome, seek out, share with others – and ultimately respond to. The modern direct marketer’s aim is to create a dialogue with each and every customer and prospect which is targeted, personal, timely and relevant. We listen as well as talk and we use the feedback we get to refine future communications. And the whole process should be ongoing. Marketing becomes a continuous and deeply personal series of conversations that bring your brand to life.
Good direct marketing depends on accurate, permission-based data – but before you roll your eyes and consign data to the realms of the geeky, take a moment to think about the colossal amounts of information we can learn about our customers today. Then think about how we might use that information when we come to communicate with them. Data is both a valuable and an exciting resource. Today there are new sources of data – think Web 2.0 and social networks; new techniques when collecting it – think experience data, Research 2.0; and new technologies to make sense of it all. Now more than ever, it’s imperative that organisations know how to collect and use their data intelligently, innovatively, creatively - and of course responsibly.
Admittedly, in a sea of information there’s always a risk of being swept off in the wrong direction, dragged down, even drowned. That’s why you need good people with the right skills and knowledge to understand the information that’s in front of them, distinguish what’s significant, translate it into predictions of future customer behaviour and disseminate all this in order to facilitate its intelligent, innovative, creative and responsible use.
Thanks to digital technologies, all of this can be done not in months but in days, even hours – or less!
Digital is a fantastic medium. It is the ultimate direct marketing platform. You can do everything that you can in ‘traditional’ direct marketing, but faster, cheaper, better targeted and more measurably. Via digital media, it’s far easier to have a real conversation with customers, delivering a depth of brand experience like never before.
But digital marketing is not a new breed of marketing. What it is, is a new medium and channel to market. All the technology in the world won’t change the basic rules of customer behaviour and their motivations for buying. Digital is a set of tools that are only truly effective when used by people who understand the basic tenets of direct marketing.
So where does that leave us? In the knowledge that the efficient and targeted approach of direct, combined with the ability to understand the potential of vast amounts of data, as well as digital marketing expertise are what’s required to see us safely through this recession. But how many of us have all those skills?
The answer is precious few.
That’s why, as well as protecting our marketing spend, we also need to safeguard our training and development budgets. For the cynics who are thinking “Well, the IDM would say that, wouldn’t they?”, don’t just take our word for it. A recent (December 2008) McKinsey Report on training affirms that the companies who will weather the economic downturn the best - and be in the strongest position for growth when economic conditions improve, are those who invest in professional development programmes for their employees. Marketing techniques and technologies are moving at such a pace that even the most experienced professionals are finding that they need to continually update their knowledge.
And at an individual level, when your skills are sharp and your knowledge up-to-the-minute, you greatly increase your own professional value. You’ll also have better insurance against redundancy and will be more attractive to future prospective employers. In fact, a recent report from London Economics (An Economic Impact Assessment of the CCPMO – December 2008) put a figure on it – if you get yourself professionally qualified, you could be worth an extra £152,000!
Don't let the cold economic wind stunt the growth of your business or your capabilities. Strengthen your direct marketing skills in times of a downturn. It'll help see you through and you’ll be poised for growth when the wind blows fair again.
