Touchpoint management allows companies to optimize all the interactions with existing and potential customers. Different touchpoints can be chosen at certain times of the day depending on the consumers predicted activities to result in a more meaningful targeted impact.
Click on the image below to take a look at some of the different daily interaction options.
Email is on our minds around here at Wilen Media having just gotten back from the MECLABS Email Summit in Las Vegas last week.
We believe that email can be used as a strong tool in cross channel marketing.
The buzz in the marketplace is about Research in Motion (RIM) and a potential acquisition by Samsung. Depending on whom you’re listening to, it’s a complete rumor (Samsung) or the possibility may still be on the table (self-described sources close to the situation).
In any case, if RIM were to be acquired by Samsung, the 2nd largest cell phone manufacturer after Nokia,that could bode well for BlackBerry®.
As it stands right now, most techies have already dubbed BlackBerry® as yesterday’s platform and believe it won’t continue to do well in this Apple® and Android™ world.
What’s RIM saying? Understandably, its CEO, Kevin Michaluk, is dropping hints that BlackBerry® might license out its platform and that RIM might place an Android™ app player onto its PlayBook™. He even suggested that BlackBerry® services could end up on other platforms. Android™? Apple®?
Who knows, and who knows what to really believe. If you look at the numbers, BlackBerry® is scrambling while Apple® is breaking all profit records and Android™ is on a tear rising steadily. What we do know for sure is that mobile devices are continuing to transform how we communicate, market and live our lives.
Did you know that there are over 2 billion loyalty memberships in the U.S.? This translates to more than 18 memberships per U.S. household.
These are the latest figures from the 2011 COLLOQUY Loyalty Census. Still, their popularity, not every marketer is optimizing their loyalty programs. Many are missing the real pot of gold at the end of the loyalty program rainbow which is DATA.
Through sophisticated data analytics chronicling customers’ purchasing habits, use of loyalty reward points and lifetime value to a company, marketers can leverage their loyalty programs to extract valuable market intelligence.
For example, loyalty program data can be used to benchmark their customers’ experience, identify best customers and in turn, use that data to attract new, ideal customers. The information can be applied to evaluate everything from channel partners to the performance of direct mail and Internet marketing programs.
Are you minding and mining your loyalty program data and, if so, how? Wilen wants to know.
Executive Vice President, Paul Caravello discusses the changes in this year postal pricing system and opportunities that arise because of these changes.
Last week, Joe Laratro of Tandem Interactive shared his experience on Google Analytics at Florida Direct Marketing Association. He explored the idea of how leveraging KPI, or key performance indicators, helps owners of active Web sites to truly understand what their prospects and/or clients are tracking and how to leverage the prospects’ experience. He also discussed how keyword measurement and other methods help businesses to make their Web site the most productive tool by providing great intelligence to the Web owner.
Joe Laratro showed that it is imperative and also extremely productive to have a pulse on the Google Analytics methods. It will provide incredible intelligence about your viewers!
Turn out was great and everyone seemed to have learned something new from Joe. We want to thank the FDMA for inviting us to be part of the event and look forward to sponsoring more great seminars in the future!
- Jeff Jurick
Director of Sales
Wilen Media
Every article and comment surrounding the recently revived Internet censorship proposals on Capitol Hill are centered around the unpopular idea of a government-regulated World Wide Web. As a Chief Technology Officer, I can sympathize with individuals and organizations struggling to protect their competitive advantage — their intellectual property. However, sharing information and collaborating ideas with the intention of advancing our quality of life — through technology, industry and education — should never be regulated. The latin phrase scientia potent est best explains our position on the SOPA and PIPA legislation. Knowledge is power. If we limit access to our greatest resource for knowledge, we limit our potential. Instead, we should all stand opposed to the idea of toll booths, traffic cops and speed bumps on the Information Superhighway.
-Gregory Dean
Chief Technology Officer
Wilen Direct
Okay so we all know the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is in BIG trouble. Post office closures, rate hikes, and talk about its complete elimination have dominated news regarding the agency for some time now. But anyone who is betting against the USPS might want to rethink their wager.
Why? Because despite the onslaught of online news information, e-commerce and Email marketing, 50% of U.S. consumers prefer direct mail over Email. This is the finding of a research study conducted by the marketing firm of Epsilon Targeting (i.e., the Consumer Channel Preference Study of 5,000 North American consumers) and released on December 1, 2011. By the way, that figure is up from 34% in Epsilon’s 2010 study. The 2011 survey found that a similar number of Canadian consumers, too, prefer direct mail over Email.
Epsilon’s research also uncovered this finding: 25% of the consumers surveyed deemed direct mail “more trustworthy” than email. Many other studies, past and present, support this finding.
By the way, direct mail is not only favored in B-to-C marketing, but in B-to-B as well. An August 2010 Marketing Sherpa Benchmark Survey found that a total of 79% of B-to-B mailers found their direct mail to be effective (22% “very effective” and 57% “somewhat effective”).
Where does direct mail factor in your marketing? What are your direct mail plans for 2012? Wilen wants to know.
By all accounts, 2011’s Black Friday far surpassed all retail sales expectations – both online and in brick and mortar sites. comScore (NASDAQ: SCOR), a global leader in measuring the digital world, reported U.S. Black Friday online spending at $816 million; up 26% from 2010 figures.
comScore’s data ranked, in this order, Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Target and Apple the top five online retail sites for sales on 2011 Black Friday. Leading retailers also saw in-store sales increases. The figures for brick and mortar traffic ranged from an average of 6.6% over 2010 figures for all retailers (ShopperTrak) to 15% for department stores like Macy’s and over four times normal sales for Apple Retail stores.
Question: What marketing techniques did the most successful Black Friday retailers use to generate sales? Answer: Multi-channel, multi-media marketing and good old fashioned promotions.
Based on web analytics monitoring consumer behavior during the period leading up to Black Friday and through Cyber Monday, many consumers started their shopping online by researching products and prices and then going to the retailers’ brick and mortar sites or returning to the websites to make their purchases. Retailers used their loyal customer lists to market heavily using email promotions and special promotion “CODES” to motivate shoppers.
And, of course, there were the retailers’ catalogs offering free shipping to encourage online sales or promotions for website and/or in-store purchases. Direct mail pieces with coupons and customer loyalty reward cards also combined to drive traffic and lift spending. According to the National Retail Federation, the average spend per person from 2011 Thanksgiving to the Sunday before Cyber Monday increased to $398 up from $365 last year.
We didn’t even mention mobile which proved especially effective for luxury retailers whose sales are still largely occurring in stores and not online.
What’s been your experience with multi-channel, multi-media marketing? Wilen wants to know.
