Using Your Most Valuable Resource

With all the buzz about Social Media/Web 2.0, it's easy to forget about marketing to your customers. Social media is great to connect and provide customer service, but not so great for sales messages.

The area that needs further exploration is database marketing (aka CRM). Per AdAge.com, most companies are not doing this well.

It doesn't make sense to bombard your customers with thoughtless messages when you have the data to target them more appropriately. The best way to start is testing messages and response rates on a small sample of your data.

For example, I worked on a campaign targeting customers who bought a vehicle and paid an interest rate over 12%. Assuming they made their payments, they might qualify for a lower rate and a newer car. We targeted customers who had purchased three years prior, assuming they rebuilt their credit and now had equity in their vehicle. They were sent e-mail (if we had their address), a postcard and the sales staff followed up with phone calls. We found the customers were very transient and were difficult to locate. We then tested customers with the same criteria but who had purchased two years prior. The results were much better.

The key is to segment your data, run the campaign and measure the results. Once you analyze the results, you test again.

Business today is about using resources wisely. This applies to your customers and your marketing budgets.

Mary Allemon Dot Com Is Live

As part of my job search, I decided to create a website to promote my candidacy for advertising/marketing positions. After all, one of the skills I have is website strategy/development. Instead of just telling someone, I thought it might be best to show them.

So, http://maryallemon.com was born. Yesterday.

Resumes tend to be a bit dull, so I also thought this could showcase my personality a bit. I have more strategic ideas than listed on the site... if you want more information, all you have to do is set up a time to meet with me.

Enjoy!

Feedback is welcome and appreciated.

The Need for Relevance

Savvy marketers know your company/product/service needs to be relevant to your customers in order to survive. It's shocking, however, how many smart people get too caught up in what they've always done and forget this.

In the last few years, my focus has shifted from negotiating the best TV CPP's (of course it's still important) to relationship marketing. It started with database marketing using CRM tools. It's evolved to involved social media. The ultimate goal of these forms of targeted communication is to build relationships with your customers and stay relevant.

I attended a social function recently with some friends who I consider talented marketers. We were discussing social media and a friend pointed out the value in what I was learning because, "no one else wants to take time to learn it." I'm still stunned by that comment. A lot of people are taking the time to learn it. In this business, you have to stay current or you become...irrelevant.