One of the real benefits of working in an agency environment is the constant exposure to new and different marketing challenges across a range of industries.  And while each industry is fundamentally different, the commonalities are what I am most drawn to.

Recently, I have spent time actively seeking those parallels…and given more thought to how I might use these insights to benefit our clients.

So think about this.  What do pet owners have in common with those who opt to have their oil changed on a regular basis?  How has the economy influenced these two apparently distinct consumer groups in common ways?  Sure enough, we see that spending during these tough times…on vehicle maintenance and on pet care…has been under pressure, though consumers are spending relatively less in so many other areas.

But the pressure is still there…and marketers have to drive repeat purchase activity and aggressively reinforce benefits, especially when it comes to premium products.  Based on our proprietary research in the pet arena, that means tapping into consumers’ emotions about giving pets the very best, given all of the emotional support that pets provide during these tough economic times.  In the oil change arena, the message is about the increased importance of maintaining your vehicle when cash flow is low…in an effort to avoid more costly repairs.

And I continue to believe that, when the economy tanks, the need to maintain relationships with customers is more critical than ever.  Rather than slowing down on messaging, marketers must acknowledge the situations that their customers face and showcase how continued engagement with their brand will help them weather the storm.

So once again, while the industries seem to be completely different, those who market to pet owners and oil change customers have more in common than at first blush.

It’s interesting to watch how social media continues to evolve and takes new paths. I’m pretty sure that when Facebook was created they never thought that people would be creating pages for their pets.

This morning on Facebook, I created a DogBook page for my cocker spaniel, Belle. So yes, my dog now has a wall, can post status updates and has friends on Facebook…now if I could only get her to clean up the backyard! Just for fun, I thought I’d search for dog friends for Belle. I didn’t put any limits on distance and found that their are 1.7 million dogs Belle can friend within DogBook.

This process got me thinking more about pets and social media, so I decided to do a quick search of the blogospshere and was shocked at how many dog blogs there were and, of particular interest, how many of them were written in the first person.

We are truly a nation that loves its pets, thinks of them as family and now are able to share their lives with others on a much larger scale. Of course, this process got my marketing mind going as well; with so many pets (and their owners) engaging online, what a great opportunity for related companies to engage with active, passionate audiences. Some have started already and I’m sure others will follow. But the real success will come from those who take the time to understand the audience and the social media space and learn how to engage in conversations without being invasive.

According to a recent study, 66% of Americans do not want marketers to tailor advertisements to their interests. Reading this statement made me wonder: Is that a true feeling, or perhaps was the question worded in the wrong manner? For years, studies have shown that when asked, consumers adamantly believe that advertising doesn’t affect their purchase decisions, but clearly we know that this isn’t true.  So rather than focusing on the negative perception of targeted ads, I wanted to point out some key benefits targeting provides to consumers.

1 – Less advertising
In the ideal world, advertisers truly only want to reach prospects who have interest in their products and services. Any other spending is wasted. Advertisers don’t want to be everywhere; they want to be where their prospects are. So if we can reach better prospects in fewer places, the amount of advertising consumers are exposed to is going to decline.

2 – More relevant advertising
Given my age and gender, I often fall into the “sports loving” demographic profile and, thus, frequently see ads related to sports. But to be honest, I don’t follow sports at all. When I see these types of ads, I usually ignore them, but if I see ads related to things I do like, I pay more attention. While it may be subtle, my consumer experience is better when appropriate ads are immersed in relevant content.

3 – Lower prices
This point may not seem so obvious, but if it’s true that “half of the money spent on advertising is wasted” (J. Wanamaker), more efficient advertising lowers a marketer’s overall costs, which in turn, down the line would result in shifts in pricing strategy. An interesting related side note about this consumer benefit can be found in the the same study, less than 50% of respondents were opposed to receiving discounts tailored to their interests. For those of you who are counting – that’s a 35% shift in attitude compared with tailored advertising.

Given these three points, how do you think consumers would respond to this question: Would you like to see fewer, more relevant ads for products that cost less? I believe you’d see a much different result. There are some very real concerns about consumer privacy that need to be addressed and will be critical to successful behavioral targeting…but there are also significant consumer benefits. So let’s make sure we’re not throwing out the baby with the bath water.

One of the benefits of Catalyst Direct being located in Rochester, NY is our access to leading universities, including Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). 

Specifically in regard to personalized print communications, RIT has the only formal program in Imaging Science in the nation and the first nationally recognized information technology degree, created in 1993.  This proximity and knowledge has helped us to become one of the leaders in the country in implementing variable date printing (VDP) solutions—which we do for a number of clients.

However, we sometimes take it for granted.

It’s funny, having been involve in variable data printing for more than 5 years, it seems like a normal thing to us. Yet, we are constantly amazed at new business prospects that don’t really have an understanding of VDP in principle or application.

Variable data printing takes the power and targeting of traditional direct marketing and energizes it by making it even more personal with specific content and images.  In its simplest form, it’s personalizing the salutation or name or swaps out images based on the target’s gender.  More robust VDP uses specific content where there may be amazing amounts of customized information for hundreds of markets, with text and images for groups or individuals based upon which segment of the market being addressed.

We use VDP to speak to customers of our clients not only by name, but based on where they live, their behavior, habits, past purchases, equipment used or vehicles types and more.  It’s a powerful tool that enables us to make content relevant—to take it beyond advertising to become information that they want to use because it’s personal to them. 

Want to learn more? Drop me a note or call me at 585-453-8309.

 In my last post I wrote about Catalyst Directs’ belief in the integration of Sales and Marketing in order to move prospects through awareness to consideration and, ultimately, to the purchase decision.

 Another important aspect of this process is the development of relevant content—so that your customer is getting information that is in synch with where they are in their decision process.

 No Awareness

When there’s no awareness of you, your product or service, the first job is to create it. While DM is not known as an awareness medium, there are things you can do: create engaging and breakthrough dimensional mailings, PURLs, referral campaigns, guerilla campaigns and more. The one thing you have to achieve is answer your customer’s big question: What’s in it for me?

 Awareness

Once you’ve created a sense of who you are, what you stand for, promise and deliver, you can start providing your prospects with information that will help them build their business—and their confidence in you. This information can include articles in trade publications under your byline, white papers, industry and analyst reviews (provided by you), research reports (purchased, found or created by you), events and trade shows. You can provide information through follow-up mailings to your original target, as well as key influencers, PURLs, microsites  and telemarketing.

 Consideration

Now that you have begun to gain traction, you have entered a very critical stage in the relationship. Content can include webinars/seminars, relevant case studies and success stories, events, podcasts. The goal here is to not only stay on the radar, but stay on the radar with useful, relevant information that positions you as knowledgeable, on top of it, and the “go-to” choice.

 Lead

Now that you have the qualified lead, keep the communication focused on business-related offers. Now it’s time to put your closers to work. Don’t forget to update your microsite to reflect the ongoing status.

 Conversion

Don’t stop now—the real work is just starting. Continue building relationships with thank-you letters and customer feedback surveys. Now is the time to over deliver and start working toward those customer testimonials.

Is this the only process? Of course not, but it works. Contact me and I’ll show you how we’ve put it to work for our B2B clients.

The process of putting your life online, in aggregate, has been called “lifestreaming,” so it’s inevitable that brands (having personalities all their own) would join in: Here’s a good introductory article on lifestreaming for brands.

An Excerpt: “It’s fairly obvious why companies want to get their brand out into social media sites like Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and then wrap it up into feeds. It’s to get their brand out beyond their website, to engage users and entice them into discussions about their products.”

While this article implies that lifestreaming for brands is particularly focused on lifestyle products, we’ve already recommended it to some of our non-profit clients.  For organizations who wish to build a feeling of “membership,” a lifestream can be just the thing to keep people involved but do so at little or no cost.

Kodak, one of our largest customers, is ahead of the curve here.   You can view (and subscribe!) to the Kodak stream here.  (BTW, kudos to Kodak for using off the shelf tools like FriendFeed, Twitter, and Flickr… they are doing it right!)

Please note: This post was originally written using the term “brandstream,” but I have since learned that that term was trademarked by Fricken Company in 1998.  Kudos to them for identifying such an important trend so early on!   Fricken does business as “Brandstream Inc.” and was founded by Scott Bedbury, the author of A New Brand World.

Found this excellent review of mobile trends in the US and UK.   Visit Mobile Life 2008 and download the full report (pdf).