Complete the survey and get your free report - a €99 value + free access to the CMO Trends 2009 web-seminar in February 2009.

Fokus Integrated are currently working on an exciting new study titled “CMO Trends 2009“. The study aims at uncovering the most important trends for 2009 and should be relevant to most Chief Marketing Officers, marketing managers, brand managers, product managers and so on.

Complete all answers in the survey and receive a complimentary full copy of the report containing this study’s results (a €99 value) and free access to the CMO Trends 2009 web-seminar in February 2009 (a € 25 value).

Take the survey now

Artikel von Martin Meyer-Gossner - The Strategy Web

Wie sich die Zukunft für den CMO gestalten wird, wird in diversen Beiträgen auf unterschiedliche Weise dargestellt. Tatsache ist: die Position hat sich gewaltig verändert, erfordert einen ganzen Skillset an neuem Wissen und Denken - das Web bestimmt seine zukünftige Rolle und Daseinberechtigung.

Eine Zusammenfassung beachtlicher Beiträge, die in letzter Zeit erschienen sind…

Artikel - Der CMO als Publisher
Joe Pulizzi, Evangelist für Content Marketing in Amerika, fägt in einem Artikel, der im Oktober in der ADWEEK publiziert wurde, ob der CMO zukünftig in der Rolle des Publishers übernimmt. Seine Begründung liegt in den Wurzeln der alten Publishing Economy, denn der CMO müsse zukünftig dieselben Fähigkeiten wie ein Medienunternehmen aufweisen…

- Aufstellen eines Experten Content Netzwerk von Journalisten und Custom Publishern
- Entwicklung eines redaktionellen und Content Planes
- Motivation von Mitarbeitern, die Teil des Content-getriebenen Prozesses werden müssen und sich als Industrieexperten zu positionieren haben
- Einführung einer netzfähige, druckfähige und persönliche Content Strategie als Teil eines integrierten Marketing Programms

Er sieht die Chance für Unternehmen jetzt, obwohl er zugibt, dass die Märkte erst am Anfang der ‘Publishing und Content Revolution’ stehen. Für Amerika meint er, dass die Kunden den Unternehmen trauen wollen.

“By publishing your brand message in the form of useful information, your company and brand are in a position to become “the trusted information resource” and to create lifelong brand loyalists. Those that don’t will be left on the outside looking in, and by that time, a publishing mentality may be too late.”

Wer diesen Trend der Publishing Metalität jetzt verschlafe, habe sich irgendwann selbst die Tür zu seinem eigenen Business zugeschlagen.

Studie - Der globale CMO
Die Economist Intelligence Unit hat eine von Google gesponserte Studie herausgegeben, die die Zukunft des CMO’s ebenfalls in ein neues Licht rückt. Hierzu wurden weltweit 230 Senior Marketing Executives und über 20 CMOs globaler Unternehmen interviewt.

Die Executive Summary fasst inhaltlich folgende Statements zusammen:

Globale gegenüber lokale Balance: Das Internet hat als Massenmedium lokale wie Special-Interest Gruppen geschaffen, die gleichermassen lokal wie global bedient werden müssen.

Der vernetzte Kunde: Die interaktiven digitalen Medien bombardieren Kunden mit Informationen und haben durch ihre globalen Datenaustausch den Mitbewerb verschärft. Die Herausforderung für den CMO ist es, Kunden den Durchblick zu vermitteln.

“This enables CMOs not only to engage in dialogue with customers, but to create long-lasting relationships, enveloping consumers in the corporate brand. Of course, this requires consistent messaging to all corporate audiences—investors, employees and government regulators, as well as customers who increasingly have access to the same information.”

Schneller Wechsel der Marketing Tools und Ressourcen: Markenbildung ist die Pflicht, heute zählt digitale Kommunikation mittels interaktiven Medien als Kür - auch wenn diese kritisch beäugt wird.

“… establishing partnerships with complementary firms is essential to ensure that companies are meeting customer needs and filling gaps in skill sets necessary to expand the customer base.”

Fokussierung auf ROI des Marketingbudgets: Die Relevanz des Marketings wird durch Messung der Effizienz sämtlicher Aktivitäten zunehmen - hier hat das Internet eine zentrale Stellung.

“Hence marketers continue to focus more of their budgets on digital marketing, where effec-tiveness can be measured more precisely in click-throughs, information downloads and other forms of immediate viewer response.”

Blog - The CMO Challenge: Exiting the Comfort Zone
Die Zukunft liegt aber auch in der ungewissen Welt zahlreicher neuer Marketinginstrumente, wie Michael Dunn auf seinem Blog Meemoo2Marketingboss schreibt, bezugnehmend auf die ruhige Vergangenheit für Marketingverantwortliche. Ihre Herausforderung liegt in…

“…their fear of departing from the comfort zone of what they know – traditional media – to figure out how to best use and measure the new media that is increasingly controlled by the consumer. This arena includes Internet-based marketing, viral marketing and social marketing, among others.”

Spot On!
Es wird deutlich, dass für CMOs die Zukunft klar durch das Web bestimmt wird: Messbarkeit und MROI bestimmen Marketingaktivitäten. Das Webmarketing wird zum zentralen Schlüssel für den Erfolg des CMO.

Mehr zum Thema hier

FEDMA (Federation of European Interactive and Direct Marketing) have just launched the first ever Pan European Benchmark Study of email marketing results.

For a limited time only, it is free to advertisers and agencies as well as email service providers at large to participate. Anyone participating will get access to the comprehensive report free of charge.

The study will include numbers on the basic metrics such as Open Rate, Click-through-rate, Bounce Rate and Opt-out rates, but will also provide a picture of usage behavior, frequency, relevancy and more.

• To participate free of charge, click right here.
• Improve your email marketing via profiling - free webinar on November 21 - 2008
  

von Claudia David, Clarity Planning

Jahrelang ging es im Marketing hauptsächlich darum einen hohen Bekanntheitsgrad, eine gute Lage und einen klaren USP zu haben. Dies ist natürlich immer noch wichtig, aber heute wollen die Menschen mehr. Verbraucher verlangen Inspiration und Innovation.
Um dieses Verlangen zu beantworten entwickeln Marken wie auch Händler immer wieder neue Erlebnisse, die zum Kauf und zur Treue anregen sollen.
Folglich suchen Unternehmen nach neuen Möglichkeiten ihre Marken darzustellen um so ihre Position im Markt zu stärken und mit Treue belohnt zu werden.
Markenpflege und Handel verschmelzen. Die Landschaft des Einzelhandels profiliert sich immer mehr durch Unterhaltung und neue Anstöße. Erlebnisreiche Einkaufskonzepte mischen neue Inhalte mit Kommerz.

Der folgende Beitrag soll einfach zum Nachdenken und weiteren Austausch anregen.

Die Welt der Erlebnisse explodiert.

Es gibt die verschiedensten Ansätze, Markenerlebnisse oder Erlebnismarketing zu kreieren. Sie strecken sich von Events, Internet, über Sponsorships, Ausstellungen bis hin zum eigenen Shop. Und genauso vielseitig wie die Form der Darstellung ist auch deren Ansatz.

Nicht der Verkaufsplatz sondern die soziale Gemeinschaft steht im Vordergrund

Apple wie auch Starbucks haben bewusst auf das soziale Umfeld und nicht auf den Verkaufsplatz gesetzt, als sie ihre Läden konzipiert haben.
Laut Howard Schulz* dem Gründer der Kette Starbucks, ist das Geschäft von Starbucks nicht der Kaffee, sondern ein Lebenstil,
Auch Steve Jobs* hat gesagt, das er nicht im Computer Geschäft ist, sondern im Lifestyle Business. So ist es auch nicht verwunderlich, das in Apple Stores nicht der Verkauf im Vordergrund steht, sondern der Austausch und das Networking unter Gleichgesinnten.

Design als Erlebnis

Immer mehr Marken beauftragen berühmte Architekten, Künstler und Designer ihre Geschäfte zu gestalten um so Aufmerksamkeit auf sich zu ziehen.

Erinnern Sie sich noch als der erste NikeTown eröffnet wurde? Es wurde als Paradebeispiel angesehen.
Hier ein kleiner Beitrag zu Nike Town Boot Abteilung: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNIxjckrtPE

Auch Prada hat viel Aufruhr mit seinen wunderschönen und mutigen Läden in Tokyo und New York betrieben und wurde schnell zu einer „Must see“ Destination. http://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/artikel/671/12659/

Weitere bemerkenswerte Beispiele sind das KaDeWe www.kadewe.com oder die neuesten Shopping- Malls, die Design, Architektur und Angebot immer wieder neu zusammensetzen. http://uk.westfield.com/london/?redirect=no

Aus dem Herzen der Marke

Ich bewundere immer wieder die Marken, die es geschafft haben nicht nur ihr Versprechen lebendig, sondern es zu einem wirklichen Erlebnis zu machen.

„Red Bull gives you Wings“, zeigt uns immer wieder wie die Marke „beflügelt“. http://www.redbull.de/

Das Maggie Kochstudio lädt in seinen eigenen Läden/Restaurants zu Kochkursen ein. www.maggi.de

Ikea macht das Wohnen leichter, und das Einkaufen ebenso. Die Zimmer sind fertig zusammengebaut mit vielen kleinen Ideen bestückt, die Kinder kann man in einer wunderbaren und beaufsichtigten Spielecke lassen. Und zu Essen gibt’s auch was!

Bei der Marke Lego dreht sich alles um Fantasien und Kreativität. Diese manifestieren sich in allen Bereichen; durch innovative Produktideen, im Shop und bei Legoland.

Aber nicht immer ist der Markenkern der erste Ansatzpunkt um ein Markenerlebnis zu kreieren. Manchmal ist er auch nur Teil von einem Größeren. Interessante Beispiel sind hierzu „Die Autostadt“ von Volkswagen, http://www.autostadt.de/portal/site/www/ oder das Guiness Storehouse wo nicht nur die Geschichte der Marke anfaßbar gemacht wird, sondern man auch etwas über seine Trinkgewohnheiten lernen kann. http://www.guinness-storehouse.com/

Zukunft & Visionen anfassbar gemacht

Menschen kaufen Marken aber benutzen Produkte. Und manchmal haben wir einfach viel größere Visionen und Möglichkeiten für die Marke, die man heute noch nicht zeigen kann. Um dieses zu tun, bieten sich Events oder Show-Stores ideal an:

Philips Sense & Simplicity Events: http://www.philips.com/about/brand/thesimplicityevent/index….

Sony Store Tokyo: http://picturetokyo.com/en/location/sony_building.html

Aber braucht jede Marke das Erlebnis als Selbstdarstellung? Und wenn ja, welche Form ist die Beste? Natürlich sollte jeder Schritt in diese Richtung mit der gesamten Marketingstrategie angepasst werden – kurz- und langfristig. Aber trotzdem frage ich mich, ob das Experience Marketing notdürftig oder nur eine andere Option im Gesamt-Mix darstellt?

Quellen: Fast Company, www.Designcouncil.org.uk , www.marketingatretail.com, http://www.gdruk.com/

Ihre Meinung?

Ich würde mich zu Kommentaren, Beispielen oder Fragen sehr freuen.
Vielleicht hätten einige von Ihnen sogar Lust dieses Thema (oder andere) bei einem Glas Wein weiter unter die Lupe zu nehmen?

Because of the “so-called” recession, they have linked their prices to the Dow Jones index. If the index declines, so does their prices.  And not only accomodation prices, also restaurant prices.

Now - that is what I call innovation and smart marketing. Well, in fact I think it is one of the best and relevant initiatives I have heard of in a long time.

One comment on Rohit’s blog insist that this won’t have a real impact on the business of the resort. What do you think?

Check out the full story right here - thanks to Rohit of Ogilvy 360 Digital Influence

I found these three excellent marketing education opportunities. I realize that many will claim that their company currently is facing some tough times and therefore are reluctant to put emphasis on your continued marketing education.  Read on for more.

Well, in my opinion, you should focus on obtaining new knowledge, get inspiration from people in the know and flat out look for better, cheaper and more effective ways to market your product.

Having been lucky enough to speak at many marketing conferences and marketing seminars in more than 15 countries, I have often been excited about the feedback conference participants have provided only weeks after attending.

It turns out, that often attendees are able to put the knowledge they acquire at a conference or seminar to good use immediately following the event. In other words,  time and money spend are often payed back many times over within weeks after attending.

Here are the three excellent marketing education opportunities I mentioned:

1. EADIM - The European Academy of Direct & Interactive Marketing - A certificate rewarding program founded by Drayton Bird in association with FEDMA

Established by the world renowned direct marketing guru, Drayton Bird, EADIM was founded in 2008. It is the first certified course in direct and interactive marketing to be offered to the European community as a whole. The EADIM certificate was granted official recognition after a formal review in Brussels in 2008 by The PEACC Committee of the Federation of European Direct and Interactive Marketing Associations (FEDMA).

Now EADIM is ready to bid the next group of marketing students ready to join their 2009 course. The inaugural course had students from all over the world attending. And they were ecstatic about what they have experienced so far.

This is an excellent one year on/off campus programme designed to help you excel in direct and interactive marketing. Faculty includes a handful of the worlds foremost thinkers and practitioners. Go learn more.

And there’s more: It is increcible cheap. No. Really it is. You get one year of quality training for the value of two conference days. And. You can save £ 400 if you book your place before January 15th. 2009.

2.The International Senior Management Programme in Direct, Interactive & Relationship Marketing, June 2009 in Madrid in association with DMA, ICEMD and FEDMA

4 days in Madrid, Spain in company with likeminded marketing professionals and no less than 14 leading marketing practitioners from around the world. Taking place at ICEMD, The Institute of Direct & Interactive Marketing, the June 2009 summerschool will cover these three main areas:

	how to communicate more effectively using direct and interactive media
	how to market more competitively through data driven, relationship focused strategies
	how to sell more profitably by understanding and integrating offline and online channels

I will definately be there. Will you?

Go read more about this exciting summerschool.

3. Permission marketing ABC - a DVD and handbook set developed to teach you all you need to know about permission marketing legislation in more than 20 countries. EXCLUSIVE

In fact, you cannot find this information anywhere else. FEDMA and Fokus Integrated produced this 5 module course with an objective to teach you important components you need to know about permission marketing.  The legal factpack covers more than 20 European countries. The course covers online as well as offline channels including one module providing hands-on input to your permission based email marketing strategy.

Buy the DVD + Handbook at a very low price now. You will not regret you did. Guaranteed.

Stay tuned for more marketing education opportunities - signup for the Meemoo2 Marketingboss Newsletter and get the free report Marketingboss Regrets 2007 and Resolutions 2008 - click here

In the week starting October 27, I found these articles of interest at the DMI News website powered by Direct Marketing International

1. Majority of consumers will change brand to help environment survey says
New research has shown massive consumer support for environmental issues and green DM initiatives – and marketers are advised not to ignore the findings.

Ninety per cent of people believe everyone has a responsibility to play their part in reducing global warming; 92 per cent are prepared to devote time to achieving a greener lifestyle and all but 37 per cent are prepared to pay an extra £10 on each flight to offset their carbon footprint.

These are the surprisingly altruistic findings of a major study by online research company CCB fast.MAP, in which more than 2,200 consumers voiced their feelings about various environmental issues.

Article found at: DMI News
Read full article here

2. Data divas Rosemary Smith and Jenny Moseley explain changes in USA and UK telemarketing regulations

Almost simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic, changes have been made to the rules covering telemarketing. It seems that a combination of consumer pressure and government concern means the sector will be under the spotlight for the foreseeable future.

In the USA, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) – which is charged with regulating telemarketing – has reacted to significant consumer complaint and announced that pre-recorded telesales messages now require signed opt-in, in writing, from the consumer. Unsolicited recorded calls have been banned in the UK since 2003 and the Information Commissioner has taken action under the PECR regulations (including rapping political parties on the knuckles for use of this technology).

Article found at: DMI News
Read full article here

3. Ian Hughes shares his recession survival tips

By the time you read this article, anything may have happened. Even though the lead time between me writing it and you reading it is only a matter of days, the world is evolving faster than any of us could imagine.

Airlines, banks and construction have all had a rough time (and that’s just the A-B-Cs).
Who would have thought that Fannie and Freddie would be nationalised? (Actually, I did predict it two months ago, but I was joking.) Who would have imagined that Lehman would go under or that Merrill would be bought? Who would have guessed that XL and Alitalia would disappear, or SAS, for that matter.

So, in such uncertain times, what ray of hope can we offer? Well, I did try to be positive in my column here last month, by focusing on the fact that, in a recession, there is a flight to DM, because those who can spend through a recession often win coming out the other side.
But what can we do, as business people, to ensure we survive? Well, survival is one of the things I have learned to do best, having crashed and burned during the last .com bust and having run a telecoms company during that bust.

So, here’s Ian’s handy guide to surviving a recession:

1) It’s all about value
People get worked up about value. They think it refers to price; it doesn’t, it refers to a perception of utility in the mind of the consumer. Something that has a poor utility value achieves a low price point. A lot of companies lose sight of the value they offer. I work in an information business where the value of our data is only as good as the use our customers have for it. That means, I am always thinking about what people will do with my information and how it will add value.
I always think about my customers. I’m not saying I am perfect, but asking the ‘why do customers buy this and what can we do to increase the value of that purchase?’ question is always a good technique

Article found at: DMI News

Read full article here

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Our customer satisfaction doubled in comparison to last year”.

“Our customers are the most satisfied throughout the industry”.

“95% of our customers consider our service excellent”.

Everyone has heard these statements and of course they sound good, but are they really valid?
The truth is that - in fact - many empirical studies are not valid. In many cases, basic rules of empirical research are ignored, results often become eyewash leading to misinterpretations and wrong (re-)actions.

The following article written by TeleFaction describes the most common empiric pitfalls and shows how these can impede the right course of direction.

Wrong Intervals
Although outstanding customer service is concordantly considered one of the most important differentiators in modern economy, many companies do not know which level of service-quality they actually provide to their customers. In a desperate attempt to get an overview of what customers want and feel customer survey initiatives are done each year, sometimes only every second year. These surveys are not only costly to conduct, but do not even provide a comprehensive picture of reality. When customers are surveyed only every 12+ months, this irregularity and infrequency makes it impossible to measure the effect of the actions that had been taken by the management to improve customer service. Too long time spans between customer surveys lead to unclear relations between cause and effect become unclear; ambiguity rules.

READ THIS ARTICLE AT RETURN ON BEHAVIOR MAGAZINE. CLICK HERE

Let’s face it, more and more people are worried about the current economic conditions and how they will be impacted. Comments such as, “Our inquiries have really dropped off,” “People are sure taking a long time to make buying decisions,” “Our customers are demanding more from us or leaving,” “Pricing pressures are becoming the norm,” “Far more “shoppers” than buyers,” “It costs a lot more to find new customers these days,” “Customers are defecting at all time high rates,” along with many other similar and related comments.

This article is sponsored by Return on Behavior Magazine published by TeleFaction.

Now, more than ever, is your time to Be Disruptive, Build Loyalty and Change the Game so you not only survive, but thrive in the future! This is not the time to hunker down and hope the storm blows over quickly - it is here for the foreseeable future. What are you going to do to Take Advantage of it and come out stronger when the growth cycle kicks in again? What are you going to change from what you are doing today to give you different results?

Most look for ways to cut the fat out of the organization and improve processes to squeeze every dime out of operations - certainly something to consider. However, while this cost-cutting effort is going on, what are you doing to focus on the group that actually pays you money - the customer? How are you capturing more revenue so you can increase profitability and dominate your competition?

We recently conducted our own informal research to find out what companies are doing to attack this situation and move themselves to the head of the pack - or why they weren’t. We began by asking a number of business owners and executives in a variety of organizations to give us their thoughts on these same questions. We hoped to learn some new ideas in addition to validating or modifying our own hypothesis about what we were seeing. The comments and discussions were very interesting and confirmed one thing - we were “dead on target” with our hypothesis. However, one question kept coming up in almost every conversation we had, “How can we beat our competitors and win more share of wallet from our customers?” Stay tuned..

There is no question we are experiencing some economic challenges today - most indicators are telling this story. And even though no one wants to talk about the “R” word, it may very well be here or looming in the near future. Many businesses are seeing decreases in sales and getting more pressure to cut their prices to compete for the same customers. One executive we talked with asked, “How can you build loyalty during these times when customers are looking for more services than they did before and at a lower price?” Great question. The answer I gave him wasn’t the one I think he expected to hear. I said to him, “Be Disruptive and Build Loyalty when everyone else is hunkering down. There are great opportunities in these times if you act “proactively” instead of “reactively.” If you haven’t built a following of loyal customers before now, begin immediately and be blatant about it. This will move you ahead of your competitors today and help ensure you have them when times get better. Customers (and employees) still want and organization to deliver a consistent, repeatable experience and to keep their promises - that still reigns above price.” He agreed.

The other word we kept hearing in our discussions was the “C” word - “commodity.” As businesses are being squeezed on price, their customer base is defecting to their competitors. If they hadn’t already built an experience that created loyalty, along with the products and services to differentiate themselves, they ended up drifting toward the commodity space. This is where customers see little, if any, differentiation between businesses and begin to move toward the lowest price point - resulting in no distinction or value for the experience. Once customers believe you are a commodity, the only way to compete is to lower your prices - creating a downward cycle turning your product or service into a commodity. This is absolutely not where you want to head unless you have a model that always wins on price.

For example, one of our clients, a software development firm, was seeing exactly the same picture - pressure on price and no clear differentiation. Upon further investigation, we found the reasons were lack of consistency in the experience and focusing on the “wrong” promises. The customer told us many times, “If they could just keep two or three of their promises all the time we would give them more exclusivity and more opportunities.” You can read more about them on our website under Case Studies.

Our research shows that companies have the best chance of surviving, and even flourishing during tougher economic times, when they have more Loyal Customers than their competition. While this may seem intuitive, it is amazing how few have really actively focused on this effort. The best companies have invested the time and resources to build Trusted, Loyal Relationships with their customers. As the economy slows, customers gravitate to these companies because they know they will receive a consistent and repeatable experience. These companies don’t sit back and relax, they continue to build from the powerful vantage point they already have over their competitors. They are in the enviable position of being on top and controlling the experience while their competitors spend extra dollars and resources to try and win these customers away. A case in point is Southwest Airlines. They were still very successful, even during the attacks of 9-11 when air travel dropped off sharply, and remained profitable (unlike the other airlines). Why? Because they had done what was necessary to build a loyal customer base and capitalized on supporting them during this difficult time.

With what we have seen and heard, we wanted to share a 5 Step process we believe can help businesses thrive in the current economy and well into the future. These Steps are a compilation of both the responses we received from our research and our own experience. There is no “magic pill,” but what we can give you is a specific recipe of proven Steps you can take to build Loyalty quickly and rise to the top of the list with your customers. These Steps aren’t difficult to grasp but will take some effort to execute so you can Consistently deliver a Truly Awesome Customer Experience each and every day and create your own list of loyal customers.

Here are the 5 Steps..

1. Start by truly understanding your client base. Get some analytics about your customer so you can truly understand the revenue and profitability of your customers. Analyze where the revenue is coming from, by segment and by category. See which customers, products and services drive the majority of sales. Find out who is most profitable for you today, even if it is only at the gross margin level. Truly “understand” where your revenue and profits are coming from in your customer base. This will help feed the other Steps going forward.

2. Now ask some tough questions. Are we in alignment between what we are doing operationally and how this supports our most profitable customers? Are we focused on different customer segments because of economics or some other reason? Are these the markets we should be in both short term and longer term? What do the competitors look like in each of these segments? Should we focus on a different segment due to lack of competition and opportunity? Ask tough questions of your management team, based on analytics, to truly understand where opportunities exist. This Step is all about understanding your customer and the competitive landscape. Time spent here will help you focus for Step 3.

3. Now find out what is going on externally with your customers - the experience you deliver. Go out and get some good information directly from your customer so you know what experience would differentiate you from your competitors. This can’t be wimpy information either. It has to be fresh, unfiltered and from their own voice to give you what you need. You can waste a lot of time and money on meaningless survey’s and research. Resist doing what you have always done in the past and go get the “good stuff” directly from your customer. You are looking for what they believe are the “loyalty factors” and “promises” that will differentiate you. Use an outside firm since there isn’t time to waste and the customer usually gives deeper information to someone not associated with your organization. This can happen quicker than you might think. Another example, when we worked with a law firm (case study is also on our website) they realized they were not focusing on anything that differentiated them. They needed this input to turn the ship around.

4. Now focus on implementation and retention. Since you now know which customers have the greatest profitability and what it would take to move them to becoming “Loyalists,” you are ready to build and implement the “truly awesome” customer experience. Identify changes you can, and need, to make in the processes of your organization to ensure the consistent and repetitive delivery of the experience - systematic and throughout the organization. In our book, “Creating and Delivering Totally Awesome Customer Experiences,” we stated, “Eliminate the Random Acts of Excellence and Chaos and you can deliver a consistent and repeatable experience.” This means providing everyone in your organization the information and tools to understand exactly how to deliver this experience the same way every day. Customers thrive on consistency.

5. Start delivering the new experience, communicate it and then measure the results. Communicate to your customer what you are doing. They will appreciate you focusing on them and Changing the Game in the experience. Build your messaging around the changes you are making and what you are delivering. Build your “Brand Promise” around the “loyalty factors” and “promises” your customer wants. Integrate this into everything you do and say and do it over and over and over again. This demonstrates consistency and avoids the impression of “flavor of the month.” This is who you are and what you stand for and believe in. Repeating the message and keeping your promises builds Trust, which leads to Loyalty and Retention.

Now you have a proven 5 Step recipe for taking your organization into a leading position. Even if you are, or have been, trending downward because of the economic times it is not too late to start. Focus on understanding and building the Promises and Loyalty Drivers into the customer experience immediately and you can turn things around faster than you might think.

Even if you only begin to build some loyalty to survive today, when the economy turns upward you will reap more benefits than ever before with a base of loyal customers to build upon. Remember, Loyalty is an “earned” state and not a given. If you want to build loyalty now and in the future, don’t just window dress it. Rally around it and make lasting changes - your customer will notice. Start today. Be Disruptive, Bold and take control and you will find yourself ahead of your competitors and beating them today and tomorrow.

In the week starting October 20, I found these highly interesting comparative videos where Samsung compares their Instint phone to Iphone. Talk about a challenge.

1. Replacing the battery comparison

2. Price comparison

3. And the best : Coverage comparison

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Article by Michael Leander

Bounce rate is an important marketing metric for email marketing. Similar to returned physical direct mails, bounced emails are - in fact - something you want to avoid completely. Well, it is not likely to avoid bouncing emails, but you should strive to reach bounce rates of maximum 2%. That means, if you send your permission based email to 100 people, only 2 will not be delivered to the recipient.

This article provides you with a brief overview of the definition of bounce rate, touches slightly on the deliverability issue and reveals some stats about the matter.

Bounce rate is measured as the ratio of bounced e-mails to total e-mails sent. Bounce backs are the emails sent back to the server that originally sent the e-email. Bounced emails are not delivered to the intended recipient. And that is not good.

Deliverability is a big and highly important issue for email marketing
Having worked with many clients across many countries, I have often experienced clients putting less emphasis on the qualitity of their permission based email marketing list. It is a fact, that maintaining any database just isn’t as sexy as working with the messaging, creative, call to actions and so on.

But if you want to achieve better results with your email marketing, it is advisable that you focus more on your deliverability rates. In fact only 30% of practicing marketers don’t take the time to figure out their actual rate of delivery -  according to MarketingSherpa “Email Marketing Benchmark Guide 2008″.

And that is bad. Because - according to Lyris, Q2 Email Advisory Report Card (2007) - permission-based emails are reaching consumer inboxes about 75% of the time. In my opinion that means that 25% of your recipients are not receiving your email at all.
In the same survey Lyris found that 16% of permission-based emails are still being directed straight to a junk or bulk folder. Now if you are sending to only 1.000 people, 160 of them are not reading your email. At all.

In another study - the Internet Retailer Survey Report on Email Marketing (2007) - marketers reported these delivery rates:

• 40.2% of marketers report deliverability rates between 90.1% to 100%
• 19.1% of marketers report deliverability rates between 80.1% to 90%
• 14.8% of marketers report deliverability rates between 70.1% to 80%
• 9.6% of marketers report deliverability rates between 55.1% to 70%
• 16.3% of marketers report deliverability rates between 55% and below

- Internet Retailer Survey Report on Email Marketing (2007)

So it is fair to say, that deliverability is one of the biggest and most constant challenges for any email marketer.

Email bounces and failure to deliver your messages happen for several reason including;

- Email address no longer exists
- Mailbox is full (happens more often than you think)
- Recipients server is unavailable at the moment
- Your email is perceived as spam

This article did not intend to study this area indepth, as it is indeed a quite substantial topic. But I will write about what you can do to improve your deliverability rates in a new article soon.

Until then, why don’t you:

1. Sign-up to the Meemoo2 Marketingboss newsletter

or

2. Check out this Permission Marketing ABC course complete with DVD and Handbook.

The first rule of stellar service delivery is: Service is all about expectations..

You buy a product; you expect it to work the first time. You go to a discount supplier, you expect the quality to be less than the high end dealer, but you still expect what you buy to work, first time every time. When it comes to products, expectations are pretty clear. People expect a good quality product based on the price they are willing to pay for it. When it comes to service, expectations can get a little fuzzy.

When a customer begins a relationship with you he or she already has a specific set of expectations. These expectations are based on their perceptions of you, your company and your industry. They are formed through personal past experience, and the experience of others with whom the customer interacts.

Consider the last time you went into a self-service gas station. What did you expect? Other than the pump to be working, not much else right? After all - you are doing all the work. You have the opportunity to Satisfy, Dissatisfy or Impress-and two of these are bad. Delivering below expectations is obviously bad, but in the context of creating loyalty, so is simply satisfying customers, because they are getting nothing more or less than they expect.

If it exceeds your expectations, you’re impressed, and If the service you receive meets your expectations you are satisfied.

If it is below your expectations…well, you know. Creating customer value and loyalty comes from consistently exceeding expectations.

Prof. Benjamin Schneider and Prof. David E. Bowen published an article called “Understanding Customer Delight and Outrage”.

Delight and outrage?
That may sound a bit melodramatic but this concept is critically important to providing basic customer service. Consider this hypothetical bell curve measuring the quality of service delivery in general: Basically, most service falls into the median of the curve - the take it or leave it level of service. If you provide this level of service the customer will be satisfied.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT RETURN ON BEHAVIOR MAGAZINE

>>von der Servicebarometer AG

Die Werte sinken auf breiter Front, die Freundlichkeit der Mitarbeiter lässt nach und frühere Erfolge in der Kundenorientierung schmelzen dahin.

- Jedes Jahr ein wenig freundlicher. So haben Kunden bisher die Mitarbeiter in den Geschäftsstellen und im Handel erlebt. Jetzt scheint es, dass Kundenfreundlichkeit für die Unternehmen und Mitarbeiter an Stellenwert verloren hat: Alle im Kundenmonitor Deutschland untersuchten Branchen erreichen nicht mehr die Freundlichkeitswerte aus dem Vorjahr. Gemessen auf einer Skala von vollkommen zufrieden (=1) bis unzufrieden (=5) haben Kunden an die Optiker vor zwei Jahren noch die Traumnote 1,77 für die Freundlichkeit ihrer Mitarbeiter vergeben. In diesem Jahr geht der Freundlichkeitswert auf 1,91 zurück. Banken und Sparkassen gehen von 1,96 auf 2,02 zurück und Drogeriemärkte verlieren ebenfalls sechs Basispunkte und kommen nur noch auf eine 2,35.

Während die Freundlichkeitswerte in allen untersuchten Branchen sinken, entwickelt sich die Gesamtzufriedenheit insgesamt noch uneinheitlich. In der Kundengunst konnten sich die Krankenversicherungen, die Mobilfunkanbieter, die Fachmärkte für Heimtierbedarf sowie Banken und Sparkassen vorerst nochmals leicht verbessern. Zu den großen Verlierern in der Kundenzufriedenheit zählen dieses Jahr die Fondsgesellschaften (-10 Basispunkte) und die Lebensmittelmärkte (-7 Basispunkte).

Dies sind zentrale Ergebnisse des Kundenmonitor Deutschland 2008, der umfassendsten Langzeitstudie zur Kundenorientierung. Die unabhängige Studie misst seit 1992 jährlich die Kundenzufriedenheit bei privaten Verbrauchern in Deutschland und wird von der ServiceBarometer AG in München herausgegeben. In diesem Jahr standen 24 Dienstleistungsbranchen auf dem Prüfstand der Zufriedenheitsforscher. Annähernd 23.000 Kunden wurden von März bis September dieses Jahres repräsentativ für die deutsche Bevölkerung telefonisch befragt.

Kundenzufriedenheit sinkt im Lebensmittelhandel

Die Lebensmittelmärkte verzeichnen den stärksten Rückgang in der Gesamtzufriedenheit seit Beginn der Messung im Jahre 1992 und sinken mit 2,40 auf den niedrigsten Wert seit 2002. Zurückgegangen ist insbesondere die Zufriedenheit mit dem Preis-Leistungs-Verhältnis und die Art und Weise der Preisauszeichnung. Diese Verluste in der Kundenwahrnehmung haben vor allem die Discounter (-10 Basispunkte) zu spüren bekommen. Dabei drücken insbesondere der langjährige Champion Aldi (-13) und auch Lidl (-11) den diesjährigen Discounterdurchschnitt nach unten.

Die Stromversorger bieten ihren Kunden weiter eine enttäuschende Kundenorientierung. Mit der Durchschnittsnote 2,77 sind die Stromanbieter erneut Schlusslicht im Vergleich der untersuchten Branchen. Seit sechs Jahren befindet sich die Zufriedenheit der Stromkunden im stetigen Abwärtstrend und liegt damit deutlich niedriger als vor der Marktöffnung.

Top-Unternehmen 2008

In allen Branchen gibt es allerdings auch einzelne Unternehmen, die es in besonderer Weise verstehen, ihre Kunden zu begeistern oder sich dem Abwärtstrend zu widersetzen:

So kann sich Yello Strom mit einem Zufriedenheitswert von 2,32 deutlich vom schlechten Branchendurchschnitt (2,69) absetzen.

Lesen Sie mehr auf Return on Behavior Magazine bei TeleFaction

>>von Anne M. Schüller

Empfehlungsmarketing schlägt klassisches Marketing

Das Empfehlungsmarketing in all seinen Facetten hat den Siegeszug unumkehrbar angetreten. Entsprechend einer Untersuchung von TWI Surveys wird die WOM-Werbung (Word of Mouth) innerhalb der nächsten fünf Jahre die klassische Werbung überholen. Einer Erhebung des Wirtschaftsmagazins Inc. zufolge war das Mundpropaganda- und Viralmarketing für die 500 am schnellsten wachsenden US-Unternehmen schon 2006 der größte Erfolgstreiber. Es lag auf die Frage: „Wie werden Ihre Produkte beworben bzw. vermarktet?” mit 82 Prozent auf dem ersten Platz, Anzeigen kamen auf 74 Prozent, Mailings auf 46 Prozent, TV nur auf 9 Prozent.

Mundpropaganda in neuem Gewand

Die gute alte Mundpropaganda hat sich in kürzester Zeit modernisiert. Anglizismen wie Advocating, Peer-to-Peer-Marketing, Buzz-Marketing, Influencer-Marketing, Street-Marketing, Virals und Superspreading machen das Thema plötzlich ganz trendig. Social Networks, Communities, RSS-Feeds, Wikis, Postings und Votings in Foren und Blogs, online-basierte Empfehlungssysteme, Linkstrukturen und all die anderen Applikationen, die so gerne unter dem Begriff Web 2,0 zusammengefasst werden, haben das Internet zu einer wahren Spielwiese für alle möglichen Formen des Empfehlungsmarketing gemacht.

Ob Hotels, Autos oder Finanzberater - alles unterliegt heute dem bisweilen gnadenlosen Urteil der Internet-Nutzer. Branchenspezifische Bewertungsportale schießen wie Pilze aus dem Boden. Über Empfehlungen via Web lässt sich bereits richtig Geld verdienen. Und schon gibt es jede Menge Tools zum Opinion-Monitoring von Mundpropaganda im Internet, die Konsumentenäußerungen zu Marken bzw. Consumer-Themen systematisch auswerten. Neben den loyalen und ertragsstarken A-Kunden rücken zunehmend die sogenannten ‚Market Mavens‘ in den Fokus, die als Meinungsmacher und Referenzgeber fungieren. Ihr Urteil beeinflusst das Kaufverhalten ganzer Gruppen. Die Suche nach passenden Multiplikatoren wird demnach im Marketing der Zukunft eine tragende Rolle spielen

Lesen Sie mehr auf Return on Behavior Magazine bei TeleFaction

1. Letting loyalty guide your customer experience
Leveraging customer information to create targeted offers and promotions is only part of the loyalty marketing equation. The other part is to know how to prioritize customer needs based on their total value to your brand. Edward P. Foy Jr., co-founder and CEO of eFashion Solutions, has woven loyalty marketing principals into the e-commerce operations his company manages for the likes of DKNY, Playboy and Baby Phat. Foy discussed his approach to creating a customer-centric culture to improve customer loyalty. Joining him with additional thoughts on customer-centricity was David Rosen, Senior Vice President, Loyalty Lab.

Watch it here:

2.Facebook: Where Loyalty Marketing Gets Social
Online social networks like Facebook represent terrific new opportunities for marketers. Seth Goldstein, Co-founder and CEO of SocialMedia, an application network with millions of engaged users, explained how marketers can leverage social media activities by reaching out to consumers where they’re congregating online. David Rosen, Senior Vice President, of Loyalty Lab shared additional perspective on the intersection of loyalty marketing and social media.

Watch it here:

3.Where Loyalty Fits in Your Customer Communications Strategy
Loyalty has taken on new meaning in the marketplace as more marketers examine their retention and relationship strategies. Wendy Lynes, Retail Pactice Leader at Harte-Hanks, discussed the role of loyalty marketing in a broader customer communications strategy. She offered a case study that illustrated her points. Joining her was David Rosen, Senior Vice President, Loyalty Lab.

Watch the webinar for free

4.Email + Behavioral Insight = Success
With the role of email in multi-channel marketing campaigns evolving, new technologies are making it easier for marketers to integrate data and coordinate contacts through multiple-channels. Marketers are also integrating email marketing with web analytic tools, so that they can understand consumer behavior at a deeper level and act on that insight. Marketing communications can now reliably be targeted not just on past purchases, but current, observed interests. Ed Henrich, an email marketer since 1997, shared insights on how to link email to these powerful new analytical and behavioral tools. Ed was joined by Dave Hendricks, Vice President, Sales, of Loyalty Lab, who posed some of the most common questions he encounters when talking to marketing professionals.

Watch it here:

5.Going from Many-Siloed to Merged Channel
New technologies to improve the shopping experience have put many retailers in the difficult position of playing catch-up, with consumers even more so than competitors, especially in the multi-channel realm. A trio of veteran technology and retail practitioners examined the challenges retailers face in merging sales channels and where new technologies can help. Evan Schuman, a veteran IT journalist, Mark Barry, a marketing technology investor and former Microsoft executive, and Michael Greenberg, a Loyalty Lab executive and former marketing chief for a major sporting goods retailer, explored developing trends in multi-channel retail.

Watch it here:

Customer retention has always been one of the most cost effective ways to increase business revenue. According to the international consulting firm Bain & Company, you can increase profits by as much as ninety-five percent through increasing retention by as little as five percent. If organizations fail to focus their efforts on servicing current customers while spending excessive amounts on acquiring new ones, they are wasting their efforts and much of their revenue.

>>by  Bob Lucas

Most customers are look for good value for their money, especially in hard economic times. They are also attuned to product and service pricing. Even so, many customers are likely to pay a bit more to organizations that demonstrate a true concern for customer needs and a willingness to go out of the way to provide quality service levels. Certainly, providing service that differentiates your organization from others requires effort, training, and staffing, but the return on investment (ROI) is well worth it long term. You cannot expect to approach service with a “fix it and move on” mentality. Service a process, not an event. It requires dedication of time, money and resources and a commitment to provide whatever it takes to satisfy your customers.

Here are five strategies that you can use to enhance your organization’s customer retention:

1. Create brand recognition.
The most successful companies and those that stay in business for decades or longer, are the ones that spend time and effort planning and executing strategies to acquire and sustain brand recognition. This means creating a market presence where customers know who they are and what they provide. Think about organizations such as, Sears, JC Penny’s, Firestone, Ford, AAA, Maytag and Macy’s. When you hear those names, you know what they do and what to expect from them.

To establish your brand recognition, you must first identify what it is that you want to be known for, to whom you will market it, how your will market it, and ways to offer quality products and services at a competitive price. Once you establish these criteria, you can set out to spread the word through advertising, product and service sampling, strategic partnerships, customer acquisition, and effective service.

2. Get regular feedback from your customers.
You cannot address customer needs if you do not know what they want. A big mistake that many service providers make is that they look at articles and other sources that say “customers want…” and go on to list what all customers want. While such resources can be a good indicator, unless you ask your customers what they expect and want regularly, you are likely spending time and money providing the wrong thing to your customers. For example, in good economic times competitive pricing may not get people in your door or to your website. However, when money gets tight cost may become more important to your customers. Additionally, depending on the type of products or services that you provide, customer needs may be different. For example, for customers looking to buy construction equipment, safety might be an important concern. For someone buying women’s clothing that is not likely a big issue. Take your customer’s service pulse regularly in order to keep up with their changing and specific needs.

3. Make it easy for customers to provide feedback.
Do not forget to ask for feedback following a sale or service encounter. This is a big mistake. If you do not ask, most customers will not tell you. Some studies show that if customers are disappointed, they will not tell you. They will simply go away and then tell others about their negative experience. This can lead to the loss of that disgruntled employee while missing the opportunity to serve those who heard their story. You need to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly related to how well customers perceive your service efforts.

Read the full article here

This article is sponsored by Return on Behavior Magazine published by TeleFaction.

I just discovered that Google Analytics - one of several webanalytics tools used on my blogs - allow me to benchmark key website analytics metrics. It is easy and simple to use. You simply chose a category of businesses you would like to benchmark. In the case of Meemoo2 I chose, business/marketing services.

Apart from the category benchmark option, Google Analytics have divided websites and blogs into small, medium and large.

In the image to the left, you see that this blog - Meemoo2 - is doing quite well compared to the benchmark.

For example, the bounce rate (the number of people arriving to your site whom leaves again immediately) -which by the way is phenomenal for Meemoo2 - is only 0,83% compared to the benchmark of 39,53%. The amount of time visitors spend on the site is 2 minutes and 3 seconds in average for Meemoo2 whereas the benchmark is a measly 19 seconds.

Google Analytics also allow you to compare your site to other websites in the areas of:

- total number visits (for any given period of time)
- pageviews
- pages per visit
- percentage of new visits (vs. repeat visitors)

The devil is in the details
I like the flash-based details you see one mousing-over certain areas of the graphics. It looks just like this:

it shows that Meemoo2’s bounce rate for August 28 was 6,25% while the benchmark was 40,11%. - a difference of 84%. (nice). Please do note, however, that a bounce rate of 40% or more is not uncommon at all. In fact, many marketers are struggling to attract (relevant) visitors, and convert these visitors to call-to-action areas of their website.

For a better understanding of your standing compared to the benchmark, Google Analytics have indexed the benchmark. This means that - for example for pages per visit - I can see that the benchmark index is 1,92 pages per visit compared to 3,82 pages per visit for Meemoo2.

Consider using Google Analytics for your own website. It is uncomplicated to get started, and - surprise surprise - it is absolutely free.

Marketingboss TV offer you more than 200 free videos about marketing. You will find lots of educational, inspirational and educational videos as well as many examples of great viral marketing campaigns, outstanding TV commercials and funny commercials. You will even find banned commercials - i.e. commericals that for one reason or other did not pass the consensus.

Go to Marketingboss TV to watch. It is free, no registration is required to watch.

To be effective, marketers need to up their game, take on the new media, and be prepared to be adventurous, extending their influence over many of the critical business growth drivers, says Michael Dunn in this article. Michael Dunn is the Chief Executive Officer of Prophet - you can meet him at the CMO Conference in Zürich on 25th. of September 2008.

The continuing struggle that marketers face when it comes to maximizing – or even measuring – the effectiveness of marketing investments is showing no sign of abating. And that is likely keeping many marketers from advancing to the next level.

In Prophet’s recently unveiled 2006/2007 Best Practices Study: “The Effectiveness Imperative,” 84% of
respondents admitted that marketing return on investment (MROI) is not well understood in their
businesses. As one respondent shared, “we’re still learning exactly how to measure effectiveness.”

Marketing effectiveness is an increasingly critical issue to corporate decision makers. Pressure is mounting on marketers to drive growth as evidenced by performance against business metrics – market share,
sales and revenue, margin, and shareholder value.

Marketers know that to meet that challenge, they must understand the optimal interplay between all kinds of marketing efforts and levers. At issue is how traditional and emerging social media tactics perform separately and against each other, and then, when factors like price variations are inserted in the mix. They must learn to better evaluate ROI of marketing spend on a more holistic basis, as well as against business measures.

The 2006/2007 Best Practices Study revealed a variety of barriers to creating more effective marketing
organizations and initiatives. Conducted in late 2006, it surveyed more than 100 senior marketers with businesses in the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany. Nearly half the respondents work for businesses of between $1 billion and $9.9 billion in revenues – 60% of them employ 5,000 or more employees.

Owning the four Ps – or not
The study showed that not understanding MROI isn’t the only factor that’s holding marketing back. It’s a
general lack of influence over many of the critical business growth drivers that separates marketers, who
own strategy in terms of marketing communications, from Marketers, whose purview extends fully into all of the four Ps.

Marketers fully get and agree on the most important activities driving business growth. Topping the list, 72% of respondents said, is execution of business strategy, followed fairly closely by improved customer experience, at 64%. New products also ranked high, at 52%.

Yet, they admitted to playing a minimal role in areas of the business most closely aligned with customers, and which are, as a result, critical to sustained business growth. Well over one third of study participants said they have no involvement in either customer service delivery or in pricing. Almost half said they were not involved in activities to enhance sales force strength.

Instead, the vast majority laid claim to a classic MarCom sphere of influence – advertising, online marketing, promotions, for example, along with marketing and brand strategy.

This critical gap between marketers’ knowledge of what it takes to create solid business results, and their
actual level of influence over those levers that bring about growth, poses a significant risk to both the brand promise and the overall customer experience. For the fact of the matter is that the best strategy and the most creative advertising cannot sufficiently forge the kinds of customer relationships or drive the material impact expected of today’s marketing leadership and their organizations.

Exiting the Comfort Zone
Another factor that prevents marketers from fully measuring up to the call for improved effectiveness is
their fear of departing from the comfort zone of what they know – traditional media – to figure out how to best use and measure the new media that is increasingly controlled by the consumer. This arena includes
Internet-based marketing, viral marketing and social marketing, among others.

It’s not that marketers don’t see the evolving importance of new media moving forward. More than half of respondents to our study said it would play a critical role in the future marketing mix. But for now, more than one third admitted, “I do not understand how to best use and leverage new media to meet my
business objectives.”

And they may never catch up, if short-term spending patterns are any indication. The vast majority of
respondents indicated that their 2007 marketing spend was focused on traditional advertising in traditional
media, accounting for an average of 27% of their budget allocation. Meanwhile, only 13% of their budgets were earmarked for non-traditional media advertising.

This is problematic when consumers – their customers – are tapping into new media a lot more aggressively than marketers are leveraging it. Statistics show, for example, that the average person spends 23% of his or her ‘media time’ online. And an incredible 70% of media consumers use multiple formats simultaneously.
Meanwhile, when asked to rank the spectrum of tactics in their toolbox, whether traditional or new, only
one-third considered them to be effective as a group. How they know for sure, however, is the issue: Over
54% of respondents indicated that no marketing activity was measured consistently.

Yet, participants showed that part of the general reluctance to depart from traditional media might lie in
the ‘devil you know’ syndrome. Among those that do employ metrics, the most measured activity is print
advertising and promotion, at 54%, followed closely by sponsorships and events (53%), and television
advertising (52%). Interestingly, some of the most measurable activities – loyalty and customer
relationship management programs and Internet banner advertising – were among the least measured, by 39% and 36%, respectively.

Pressure is mounting on marketers to drive growth as evidenced by performance against business metrics – market share, sales and  revenue, margin, and shareholder value.

Given the lack of consistent measurement, it’s a small wonder that MROI is such a mystery to the
overwhelming majority of marketers participating in our study and the businesses they represent. When asked why metrics were so elusive, 57% said they had neither the right models nor the right analytic tools. Forty nine percent cited insufficient market data and research.

The Case for Empowered CMOs
It’s time for that situation to be rectified. Nearly 75% of respondents ranked marketing effectiveness as one of their business’ top three strategic priorities. Nearly one third said they have been charged to deliver.

But the ability to do so requires a different sort of marketing leader than has typically characterized the
function in the past. Our term is for it is the ‘Empowered’ CMO. Such leaders are disciplined thinkers who ably balance development of big, breakthrough ideas that set the general direction of a flight plan along with the ability Well over one third of study participants said they have no involvement in either
customer service delivery or in pricing.

They are strategic thinkers with a relentless customer focus. They’re also expansive thinkers, particularly relative to marketing’s role in driving business growth. Through effective investment and ROI measurement, they are able to prove marketing’s value to the organization. And they’re entrenched at the strategy table – with the CEO solidly in their corner.

By ascertaining respondents’ degree of influence over the four Ps of marketing, we were able to break out those who qualified as Empowered CMOs.

‘Empowered’ CMOs are disciplined thinkers who ably balance development of big, breakthrough ideas that set the general direction of a flight plan along with the ability to land the plane. They are strategic thinkers with a relentless customer focus. These individuals are more likely to have greater executive and organizational support. They control more critical growth drivers, for example – 60% (versus 40%) of the non-empowered CMOs were primary decision-makers for product development, with some 50% (versus 25%) for pricing. They’re also more likely to be accountable for revenue (67% versus 15%), margin (57% versus 10%), or volume (58% versus 10%).

We also found that Empowered CMOs behave differently and are more forward-thinking. The study found that 12% of empowered respondents’ budgets were allocated to new media, for example, compared with 9% of more traditional marketers. And they are more willing to depart from historical measurement approaches to try in-market experimentation to test out the effectiveness of their tactics. Some 52% of empowered respondents (versus 27%) use ‘test and learn’ to measure their television advertising, while 63% (versus 29%) use it to test out loyalty programs.

Embarking on the Effectiveness Path
To answer the call for growth, marketers must take a series of steps that will ultimately help transform their
roles and the influence their organizations wield as effective contributors to the top and bottom lines.

These include:

• Anticipate customer needs.
Marketers must stay ahead of the curve on trends and developments that are shaping customer choices. It’s critical, for example, to be far more collaborative with customers than has ever been the case in the past.
How? It starts by paying more attention to what they say and do – monitoring blogs and other social media, for example. It also requires marketers to be open to more innovative research techniques designed to yield more fruitful insights and improve the customer/brand relationship.

• Think Marketing.
A more expansive perspective on how all four Ps of marketing affect business economics is what separates Empowered CMOs from more traditional marketing leadership. This is what will lead marketing to become a greater influencer of the business agenda.

• Test and Learn.
An experimental, test-and-learn culture lets marketing prove out various tactics on a smaller scale that offsets financial risk. Unlike the historical modeling on which marketers have heavily relied, this approach allows the mixing of new initiatives, new media, and the optimal blending of new with traditional customer outreach. It also demands a sharp focus on balance between short, and long-term, objectives.

• Build a scorecard.
Marketers must become accountable for their actions, and that requires systematic and consistent measurement of key initiatives. Over time, the ability to better build a case and own up to outcomes will result in a more effective marketing organization.

• Take risks.
Marketers need to break free of their cocoons of comfort with traditional tactics and techniques and learn to take risks. The new media realm is ripe with opportunity, but until they learn to experiment with it, marketers will find themselves in the uncomfortable position of playing catch-up with their customers.
The creation of more effective marketers and marketing organizations that employ the optimal mix of strategies, tactics and metrics to drive business success is not just a ‘nice to have,’ but a ‘must have’ in today’s environment. By understanding the challenges to achieving marketing effectiveness and responding to them in a measured, forward-thinking and customer focused way, marketers can ensure a win/win for all
involved over the long haul.

The creation of more effective marketers and marketing organizations that employ the optimal mix of strategies, tactics and metrics to drive business success is not just a ‘nice to have,’ but a ‘must have’ in today’s environment. By understanding the challenges to achieving marketing effectiveness and responding to them in a measured, forward-thinking and customer focused way, marketers can ensure a win/win for all
involved over the long haul.

Michael Dunn is Chief Executive Officer of Prophet.

I had the honor of presenting some ideas on the topic “How to find customers through new media” at EADIM’s first week of training in Brussels last week. EADIM (European Academy for Direct and Interactive Marketing) was founded by Drayton Bird. Yes - that’s right. Advertising legend the late David Ogilvy said he (Drayton Bird) “knows more about direct marketing than anyone in the world. His book about it is pure gold. His speeches are not only informative, but hilariously funny.”
I only spent 2 days in Brussels. But I learned a lot. And a lot more than I expected. And I am going to share what I learned. For now, I am going to sum it all up in 5 important learnings. These learnings are important IF you really want to get ahead in the game of marketing.

To further your career in marketing, you need to become a success at your present marketing job. Once succcessful, you will find yourself in a situation where better jobs will be thrown at you. That is - if you don’t decide to become self-employed in the meantime.

When time allows, I will follow up with more learnings.

But. First things first. Please do forgive my grammatical mistakes. I have only 30 minutes to write this article. So I am bound to make heeps of mistakes. Please do not shoot me.

5 learnings all marketers need to know about career development

1. Know thy audience
I have seen it again and again. Marketers “forget” to define the audience they want to engage and to stay focused on their target market. Most companies have not written a customer strategy - many companies don’t even know what it is. And what is worse; more often than not, we seem to “forget” to care about the needs, wants, dreams, problems and pains of our target group(s).  In other words, we all know the learning of the famous Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard - yet we do not apply his wisdom.

In fact in Brussels I too made that terrible mistake. I prepared a presentation targeted at marketing people with 1-3 years experience. An hour later I knew that I should have prepared at presentation relevant to very smart and quite experienced marketing professionals. Because it turned out that EADIM students are just that. They are professionals who have made a smart move by joining EADIM with an objective to become even smarter.

I won’t make that mistake again. Ever.

2. The packaging has changed - but everything is still the same
Having been part of the internet marketing hype for some 12-14 years, I have often heard selfproclaimed internet marketing specialist utter statements such as “old school marketers don’t know jack-all about internet marketing”. And I am ashamed to admit, that I have often agreed with them.

Why?

Because sometimes I tend to avoid confronation. But if you ask EADIM teachers such as Drayton Bird, Malcolm Auld, Professor Srikumar S. Rao and others, they will tell you that nothing has changed. Becoming a succcesful internet marketing person requires a thorough understanding of direct marketing and the very basic principles that have proven themselves for decades.  Drayton Bird claims that even todays most successful internet marketers all consider one particular book (written many, many years ago) their Bible.