connect oct/nov 2012

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October/November 2012 Marketing Insights | 4 Big Data | 6 Perception | 10 Build Your Content Marketing Plan | 14 Customer Profiling & Stereotyping | 15 INSIDE Big Data BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE AND WHY IT MATTERS TO YOU AND YOUR BRAND

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Connect October/November 2012

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Page 1: Connect Oct/Nov 2012

October/November 2012

Marketing Insights | 4

Big Data | 6

Perception | 10

Build Your Content Marketing Plan | 14

Customer Profiling & Stereotyping | 15

I N S I D E

Big DataBusiness intelligence and why it matters to you and your Brand

Page 2: Connect Oct/Nov 2012
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publisher ’s letter

Some would argue that there are no secrets anymore and that a lack of mystery exists. Great brands can have an aura about them – and a little mystery isn’t so bad. But with a level play-ing field, one where consumers have as much knowledge as sellers, trust will escalate. Today, we can do business without looking over our shoulders and wondering if we have been duped or not.

Honesty is one of the cornerstones to a solid relationship. In turn, when one party has more knowledge than the other, the chances for dishonesty increase. As a direct result of the overwhelming amount of data and the constant stream of communication in our faces, the job of today’s marketer has become even more chal-lenging. Developing a trusting relationship with a market demands great empathy and sincerity.

Fortunately, we’re stepping into a new age where marketers will rule. Your clients have the power. They can choose where, when, who and on what to use their resources. Chances are they will only spend their time and money with the companies and brands they love and trust.

Getting into the circle of trust of today’s con-sumer is difficult. Heck, holding someone’s atten-tion today is a challenge. But we can’t begin to build those relationships or hold their attention,

The End of an Era

ConTEnTs

As we have mentioned before in the pages of this magazine, there are some who believe the information age

has come to an end. The idea stems from the fact that we have more information available to us than ever

before. In addition, information is available at a moment’s notice. The surplus of information and the ease of

accessibility will have major ramifications for all marketers and businesses in general.

out and make people take notice. Our hope is that your clients soon will be able to recognize your brand identity.

Enjoy our latest issue and all the best,

Gina M. Danner

Honesty is one of the cornerstones to a solid relationship. … Developing a trusting relationship with a market demands great empathy and sincerity.

3 Publisher’s Letter

4 Marketing Insights

6 Big Data

10 Perception

14 Build Your Content Marketing Plan

15 CustomerProfiling&Stereotyping

until we grab their attention. In our cover story, Big Data, we

highlight some ideas around gather-ing data about your respective mar-kets. Good marketers know that data provides insight and that it is the key to understanding.

Our second feature, Perception, delves into what it takes to stand

PublisherGina M. DannerManaging EditorsRosanne Kirn Chris LakinArt DirectionBrent Cashman • Creative Director Jaime Mack • Graphic Designer

Connect is published bimonthly by Mail Print8300 NE Underground Dr, Pillar 122Kansas City, MO 64161copyright 2012 All rights reserved

For more information contact www.mailprint.com 866.938.3607

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Page 4: Connect Oct/Nov 2012

marketing insights

B2B companies missing out on social mentionsWhen it comes to social media to track (and follow up on) what customers are saying about their brands, B2B companies are lagging behind their B2C counterparts. According to the “Worldwide Social Media for Business” study by Satmetrix, 27 percent of B2B companies are tracking and following up on social media comments, while 53 percent of B2C compa-nies are doing both. In addition, 47 percent of B2B companies did not track or follow up on brand mentions on social media.

Can’t you hear me knockin’?the “we’re-always-on” nature of social

media means that customers expect to be engaged 24/7. So, with great power

comes great responsibility, or so it goes. Ac-cording to a recent Oracle study, customers tend to be unforgiving of companies that fail to stay on top of their social channels.

The “Consumer Views of Live Help On-line 2012: Global Perspective” study reported that 50 percent of Facebook users and more than 80 percent of Twitter users expect to receive personal responses within a day of submitting questions or raising concerns via social networks.

Also important was the fact that respon-dents most often connected to a brand on a social network for news about products, and one-to-one customer service. In addition, al-most 31 percent linked up with a brand to gain access to a customer service representative or product expert, while 43 percent connected with a company to get a direct response to their questions.

50 percent of Facebook users and more than 80 percent of Twitter users expect to receive personal responses within a day.

For every 1,000 customers receiving a direct-mail piece, 34 will respond on average. Source: AdAgeMedia News, June 15, 2012.

Direct mail is the channel cited most by B2C direct response marketers as delivering the strongest ROI for customer contact, retention and acquisition. Source: Target Marketing Sixth Annual Media Usage Forecast34:1

19% 12%

In the U.S., 19 percent of companies feel that stand-alone direct mail generates the most business for them. In Europe, 12 percent of companies report this. Source: Pitney Bowes Channel Preference Survey.

30% of us firms cite a combination of direct mail, email and web campaigns as generating the most business for them.

Source: Pitney Bowes Channel Preference Survey.

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October/November 2012 • Connect by Mail Print

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marketing insights

the percent of marketers who have integrated mobile elements into

their marketing last year, against 39 percent who said their brands did not use mobile, and 3 percent who did not know, according to the “chief marketer mobile marketing survey.” in addition, 51 percent said they plan to run more mobile-only marketing this year, while 26 percent said they are undecided about whether to run a mobile-centric campaign in 2012, the survey reported.

Thirty-five percent of mobile users say they don’t want brands

communicating with them through mobile social networks,

according to a poll by the Direct Marketing Association’s

Mobile Marketing Council. An additional 31 percent don’t

want to communicate with brands via mobile devices. But the

number of people who already interact with brands via mobile

social media (43 percent) is actually higher than those who

say they are happy doing so (23 percent).

Mobile me, maybe

76

65%

70%

40%10%

36%

The percentage of millenials that state they would prefer to read something on paper (versus a screen). Source: Deliver

Personalizing your marketing communication increases response rates 36%. Source: CAP Ventures

70 % of students are more likely to purchase brands that support a charitable cause and 63% are willing to spend more on products tied to a charity. Source: Barnes & Noble 2012 College Marketing Report

40% of mobile ad clicks are fraudulent or accidental. Source: eMarketer

10% of magazine ads now include a quick response (QR) code. Source: Nellymoser

76% of consumers state making a purchase as a result of receiving direct mail.

Source: ExactTarget

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Page 6: Connect Oct/Nov 2012

By Michael J. Pallerino

Big DataBusiness intelligence and why it matters to you and your Brand

October/November 2012 • Connect by Mail Print

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October/November 2012 • Connect by Mail Print

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It is the numbers – including the exhaus-tive research that SGMA compiles – that has helped the association build its credibility as the No. 1 resource for sport and fitness re-search for manufacturers, retailers and mar-keters in the sports products industry. The re-search helps SGMA promote favorable public policies, and deliver purposeful thought lead-ership and product promotion.

For example, one of SGMA’s latest re-ports – the Sports, Fitness, & Recreation-al Activities Participation Topline Report (2012 edition) – was a joint effort within the Physical Activity Council, a collaboration of sports associations that includes SGMA, the Tennis Industry Association, National Golf Foundation, International Health, Rac-quet and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA), Snowsports Industries America, The Outdoor Foundation and the United States Tennis As-sociation (USTA).

Matt Powell believes that a company must know where it stands in the market-place to make strategic decisions and drive sales. And data helps. “Without adequate market research, a company cannot know how it stacks up against its competitors,” says Powell, a member of Princeton Retail Analysis, a Scarborough, Maine consulting and independent research group that special-izes in retail and consumer goods.

“Market research helps frame your de-cision-making,” Powell says. “Data can help evaluate the effectiveness of a marketing campaign. Without adequate knowledge of the marketplace, you may over or underes-timate your market potential. Companies do not exist in a vacuum. Understanding your

own (and your competitors’) strengths and weaknesses are keys to success.”

Princeton Retail Analysis mines its data through focus groups, independent data and research providers, industry statistics and lots of surveys. “The internet has made the process more sophisticated,” Powell says. “Marketers now have the ability to mine data and col-lect information quickly and accurately. Pow-erful software also enables a marketer to sift through the data and understand it on several levels. I believe we will get even more sophis-ticated over time. We’ll get richer information even faster. We’ll be able to create feedback loops with the end consumer to improve the customer experience.”

Details, Data, DetailsQuiz time: Try to remember a major decision your company made. The decision may have compelled you to devour everything and any-thing you could get your hands on – endlessly sifting through reams of data.

Keith Hickerson, principal of Evans Conti-nental in Signal Mountain, Tenn., knows that knowledge is power. He understands that hav-ing more information drives smarter decisions and that the more details you absorb, the bet-ter off you are in the long run. A nationally respected business and branding strategist, Hickerson has more than 25 years of experi-ence in branding, marketing, public policy and operational results for Fortune 500, non-profit and professional firms.

“At the brand level, research is vital on two fronts: determining the current percep-tions of customers and prospects; and deter-mining what brand positioning is capturable,

SnaPShot:howtheProCeSSofgatheringdatahaSEvOLvED

“twentyyearsago,about60 percent of data from interviews was gathered

viaphone.today,about60percent of interviews are gathered via online data

collection – only 20 percent is done by phone and 20

percent via mall intercepts. Increasingly, companies

are monitoring online behavior/purchases to

collect data on customers/potential customers.”

– Joe Hair, Ph.D, Senior Scholar, Professor of Marketing & Professional Sales, Founder of the DBA program in the Michael J. Coles College of Busi-ness at Kennesaw State University

data, data, data. When it comes to branding, building and solidifying what your message means to the intended audi-

ences, nothing is more critical to your strategy than data. The data, you might say, is the brand.

“Companies of all shapes and sizes...have utilized our participation reports and annual sales studies to get a grasp of

how big an industry is and where it’s headed,” says Tom Cove of the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association. “Knowing

that’s the case, our commitment to excellence and accuracy is paramount. For many companies, the biggest reason they

decide to join Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA) is to get access to the research. We take our role as the

provider of research very seriously.”

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Page 8: Connect Oct/Nov 2012

Big Data

sustainable and differentiating,” he says. “Branding is always a judi-cious mix of leading and reflecting, and elevating the best elements of the brand’s core to build a compelling vision of the future.”

At the product and service level, Hickerson says that while research is important for improving current offerings, it may not always be the best way to identify big innovations. “Relying too heavily on research from current customers can lead businesses toward incremental change, but rarely to reinvention.”

Hickerson believes that directional data is helpful for companies looking to secure their brand moat, as maintaining brand relevance is vital to compete well. “Insight is just as important as information,” he says. “Companies must find that ‘aha moment’ from the trends they’re seeing and be able to translate that opportunity to their brand and op-erational capabilities.”

Data-Driven Segmentation&MessagingWhen it comes to data, Jeff Hayes is the man with the numbers. As president of InfoTrends, a leading worldwide market research and stra-tegic consulting firm, he has conducted numerous strategic market and product planning assignments for a host of firms in the consumer imag-ing, office equipment and production printing industries.

Brands such as Adobe Systems, Canon, Eastman Kodak, Hewlett Packard, IBM, International Paper, Lexmark, Ricoh, Sony, Toshiba and Xerox all have turned to Hayes for research, analysis, forecasts and advice to help understand their market trends, identify opportunities and develop strategies to grow their businesses.

“Two of the most important ways that market research and data can help enhance a company’s sales and branding efforts are to guide target-ing and messaging,” Hayes says. “Companies have scarce resources and

must focus on the best customer segments and deliver relevant mes-sages through preferred channels to drive sales.”

Hayes says that customer data from your website, CRM or other operations systems (e.g. field maintenance logs, customer support calls), along with data from occasional surveys and third-party sources (think Dun & Bradstreet, ZoomInfo, social media) are essential to segment your customer base, using various behavioral, attitudinal and, what he calls, “firmographic” attributes (industry, location, company size, credit score).

“All this data must be organized and analyzed to develop insights that can drive actions,” Hayes says. “Depending on the amount of infor-mation and rigor of your analysis, you may use simple spreadsheets or more advanced data tabulations, regression analysis, and segmentation modeling software to characterize your customer base and identify high value prospects. Some companies prefer to develop in-house expertise to gather and analyze this information, while others look to outside experts that have the appropriate tools and experience to create a program and deliver results.”

In either case, Hayes says it is critical for senior management to be involved so they can articulate their requirements, understand the pro-cess and have confidence in the results and recommendations. He be-lieves that insights from this type of program can help determine whether you should make a promotional offer to a customer and what type of offer has the highest probability for success. “This approach has its roots in business-to-consumer (B2C) markets, but can be applied to some business-to-business (B2B) markets, too,” he says.

“There will always be an art to marketing and sales, but increas-ingly these processes are being driven by data,” Hayes says. “The most successful firms of the future will have a strong proficiency in collecting, analyzing, and applying data to optimize their sales and marketing resources.”

waySyouCanStartMiningfordata

While you may aspire to have the marketing sophistication of a P&G or an Amazon.com, there are steps you can take to get started right now. Jeff Hayes, president of InfoTrends, shares 8 points.

1. Make an inventory of your customer touch points

2. Figure out what data you have, what data you need and how best to collect it

3. Collect and compile your data for on-going analysis

4. Analyze your data and develop a market segmentation scheme

5. Test various messages and promotional offers, and measure the impact

6. Continue to refine your data collection, analysis and messaging

7. Get senior management involved – there will be costs and may be some internal “turf” issues that need to be resolved, plus you want their buy in when the data challenges traditional assumptions

8. Consider working with an agency or consulting firm, especially to help you get started

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October/November 2012 • Connect by Mail Print

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arket research helps frame your decision-making. Without adequate knowledge of the marketplace, you may over or underestimate your market potential.”

– Matt Powell, Member, Princeton Retail Analysis

youCan’ttargetyourBestCustomersBlindlyBad leads equal bad results. Stop marketing to the wrong people and instead market to your ideal customers by using the 80/20 rule.

80% of your revenue will come from 20% of your customers. But do you know which part of your database belongs to that 20%? Mail Print can help identify the 20% of your customers who are the cream from your current database. We will help you identify your bull’s eye client and them match them with millions of individual U.S. households based on thousands of lifestyle and demographic characteristics. Here is your chance to go beyond age, income, and gender!

We can help you: • Identifyyourmostresponsiveprospects • Predictcustomerlifetimevalue • Identifyclientswhohaveapropensitytobuy • Spotcross-sellandup-sellopportunities • EnhanceyourcustomermodelingforimmediateROI

You’ll see the difference in your bottom line.To take your direct mail to a new level of targeting, call 866-938-3607

and ask for your account rep, <sales_rep>.

9

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Page 10: Connect Oct/Nov 2012

GOLDSTAR

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October/November 2012 • Connect by Mail Print

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t oo often, the cart comes before the horse. When creating a brand, a company spends all of its creative

energy on a visual, rather than what will make them viable to a customer.

“People are tempted to start with something like a sexy tagline,” says Lisa Earle McLeod, a sales leadership expert who works with orga-nizations such as Apple, Kimberly-Clark and Pfizer to help create pas-sionate, purpose driven sales forces. “We need to think a little more earnestly, and factually, about how we really make a difference in the lives of our customers.”

Here are branding experts’ takes on creating and delivering a brand that will make a lasting impression on customers and potential clients.

By Graham Garrison

using your brand to make an impactful first impression with potential customersGO

LDSTAR

PercePtion

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Page 12: Connect Oct/Nov 2012

Perception

‘nobleSalesPurpose’In order to effectively communicate one’s brand, McLeod encourages companies to de-velop a Noble Sales Purpose. “It is a declarative statement in how you make a difference to your customers,” she says. “That is the linchpin of your brand, as well as all of your sales activity.

People think they must have this sexy brand with a great tagline, but it doesn’t mean anything. Customers are going to be a lot more interested if you have something simple that says, ‘We help our customers become more ef-fective and successful, here is how we do it.’ Especially in a B2B sale, you’re not buying an ‘aspirational’ quality, you’re buying results.”

There are three steps to help you identify your “Noble Sales Purpose.” The first step is to identify how you make a difference to your customers, McLeod says. Do you help them be more efficient? Do you help them be faster? Do you help them reduce costs? Do you help them bring service to their customers?

The second piece involves identifying how you are different from your competitors. “How you’re different from your competition might be that your products last longer or you give better service,” McLeod says. “It might be that you care more and you’re more fun to work with.”

The final piece is a more personal ques-tion. “On your best day, what do you love about your job?” McLeod says.

“Those three things speak very factually and emotionally to your brand,” she adds. “You identify how you impact your customers, it speaks to differentiators and it also has this inspirational quality to it. We use those three areas with clients and brainstorm around those, and that helps us establish their Noble Sales Purpose.”

The Noble Sales Purpose will look different for each industry and each company. For exam-ple, one of McLeod’s clients is a manufacturer of component parts for railroads, and their Noble Sales Purpose is, “We make transportation safer, faster and more reliable.” “It’s not the sexiest thing in the world, but if you think about their industry, it’s huge,” McLeod says. “If you want your transportation safer, faster and more reli-able, well, you better buy your stuff from them.”

Another one of her clients does project management software, with the Noble Sales Purpose: “We help people build a better world.”

Finding the audience, setting the hookJenna Lebel, VP of Global Marketing for Like-able Media, says researching who you are de-livering the message to is just as important as the message itself. Likeable Media leverages social media and word of mouth marketing to create more transparent, responsive and like-able companies, organizations and government entities. It has consulted and helped develop plans for brands such as 1-800-Flowers.com, Verizon FiOS, Neutrogena and Stride Rite.

“Know your audience,” Lebel says. “If you want to grab someone’s attention, you really need to know the audience you’re try-ing to attract and really understand them, not just a profile of them, but insight into their behavior, psychographics instead of just demographics.”

Lebel recommends companies figure out their core message, and then how best to adapt that to certain audiences. Coca-Cola is a great example, she says. The Coca-Cola brand has a long history across many demographics, but the core remains intact. “They’ve never really

“ People think they’re having a brand problem, when in fact they’re having a customer problem, and the customer problem is causing you the brand problem.”

– Sales leadership expert Lisa Earle McLeod

“ Know your audience. If you want to grab someone’s attention, you really need to know the audience you’re trying to attract and really understand them,notjustaprofileof them, but insight into their behavior, psychographics instead of just demographics.”

– Jenna Lebel, VP of Global Marketing for Likeable Media

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October/November 2012 • Connect by Mail Print

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gone too far from that core message they’ve always had. Once you have the core, you can just adapt it to different audiences, but the core values are still prominent in that message.”

When it’s time to deliver the message from the brand side, you must disrupt “sche-mas,” or mental models used to make the world work, a term coined by marketing guru Steve Knox.

“Basically, we all have a prewired way of thinking about things,” Lebel says. “We can predict certain outcomes. An effective brand can come in and completely disrupt that and put something outside of what we would nor-mally think to grab attention. Anything that will connect with people on an emotional level, or motivate them, can be powerful in grabbing someone’s attention. There always needs to be that hook. Whether it’s an emotional hook, or motivational hook, it needs to be the right mes-sage to reach that audience.”

usingmistakesWith the rise of the digital and social media world, mistakes are discussed more than brands would like them to be, Lebel says. Mis-takes are inevitable. Luggage is lost. Cars break down. Restaurants don’t deliver service on par with customer expectations. And print solution providers will find product quality or service slips through the cracks on a project.

“If that brand can just be human – if it’s a mistake, own up to it,” Lebel says. “If it’s coming into the spotlight for business reasons (i.e., Chapter 11), disclose. Keep everybody in-formed. People always think of a brand as so far from an actual human being, but if you can illicit some of those human characteristics and values into a brand, you’ll connect more deeply with consumers.”

“People think they’re having a brand prob-lem, when in fact they’re having a customer prob-lem, and the customer problem is causing you the brand problem,” McLeod says. “You don’t fix the brand problem until you fix the customer problem. In a lot of situations, when a company does have a problem with a customer, it is a huge opportunity for the brand. The way you respond to that will distinguish you. Every airline loses luggage, every-body misses a ship date, but it’s your response, and the way you articulate that response.”

SquareoneWith branding, whether it’s the creation stage, implementation or damage control, customers – not gimmicks – come first. “The companies that do it well have two things going for them,” McLeod says. “They really do focus on how to

hello,youMayhaveheardofMeCoMPanieSthatdoBrandingright

nike:“Nike’s ambush marketing campaign during the Olympics real-ly grabbed people’s attention,” says Jenna Lebel, VP of global marketing for Likeable Media. ”They weren’t even an official Olympic sponsor and they were still able to capitalize on the Games by taking a local approach (local athletes from small towns named London were highlighted).”

APPLE:“We think about the cool factor of Apple, the reality is that at a basic level, it’s very practical,” says sales leadership expert Lisa Earle McLeod. “They make products for the way people live. The cool stuff is the periphery.”

“Customers are going to be a lot more interested if you have something simple that says, ‘We help our customers become

more effective and successful, here is how we do it.” – Sales leadership expert Lisa Earle McLeod

make a difference with their customers. They are very clear on how they affect people’s lives. The second piece is they’re creative in how they com-municate that. One of the mistakes we make is that we assume their success lies in their hocus pocus art form. When really, that’s step two.”

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Page 14: Connect Oct/Nov 2012

14columnist

steP no. 1: situational analysis – This first step addresses every channel. This is where you use the information from your persona and engagement cycle mapping to look at your cur-rent “situation” to determine where you can have the most impact with your story. Obviously, some of your existing marketing efforts (blog or web-site) will come into play here. The idea is to map what you have to what you need to effectively tell your story. Ask yourself: What do we do that

tells this story? What must change? What must stop (if anything)? This will help you prioritize and budget the tactical things that must get done.

steP no. 2: channel objectives – This is where you map channel objectives to the engagement cycle. It’s okay if a chan-nel only “contributes” to another channel. For example, based on the goals of your content marketing and the story you’re telling, you may decide the primary objective of your

Facebook page is to create increased and loyal traffic. To drive that traffic,

you may need to create a following on Facebook. So your first “objec-

tive” will be to “build your Facebook “Likes” to create that community.

steP no. 3: content plan – This is how you map the channel to the larger

story structure. This typically takes the form of an outline or narrative

and is used to organize your content plan for the channel. For example, in the situa-

tion described in Step No. 2 – because your primary objective for the Facebook page is to in-crease loyal traffic to your blog, you want to build a community. So the first part of your content plan for Facebook might be a “contest,” email market-ing program or some other type of community building action to build subscriptions. The second part might kick in once you’ve reached a “goal” (number of subscribers, etc.). Next, refocus your content to drive specific personas to your blog.

steP no. 4: metrics – We use the word metrics here very specifically, as opposed to key performance indicators (KPIs) or “results.” With as many channels as you have working,

against all the different campaigns – and as your content marketing inevitably will overlap into your channels – you want to track metrics. Here, metrics are “goals” that will align with your plan.

steP no. 5: Personas addressed – Not every channel will address every persona. So, for each channel you’re considering, identify which personas will be addressed. Once you’re done with your channel plan, approach it holis-tically and make the needed adjustments. You may find you’ve done a great job of creating a channel plan that fails to address your most critical persona. Or, you may find you’re trying to address too many personas through one par-ticular channel.

steP no. 6: content management process – For this stage, ensure that you have a method and process (e.g., people and tools) to manage the content and conversation for this particular channel. What will you manage? Who will do it and how?

steP no. 7: editorial plan – Lastly, you’ll need an editorial plan. This will be set to your global editorial calendar, but doesn’t iden-tify dates or times yet. The editorial plan will help you define velocity, tone, desired action and structure for this channel’s content. For example, for your Facebook page, you might have the following: velocity (three posts per day); tone (friendly, funny, tongue-in-cheek at-titude); desired action (we want them to click through to the blog); and structure (10 to 20-word post, plus pictures [if applicable] and a conversion link).

Once you create content, you must decide how to distribute it. Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute, outlines seven factors to consider while building your content marketing channel plan. For the whole story, check out http://mprnt.co/7contenttips.

7 tips to build your content marketing channel plan

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Airport security guards are warned not to violate civil rights by profiling passengers. Human Resource recruiters are under watch by the EEOC so they don’t racially profile candidates. And police officers are under constant watchdog scrutiny to prevent future criminal, predictive, or racial profiling.

However, Chief Marketing Officers are one of the few professionals who must profile people as part of their jobs. Of course they must follow privacy and disclosure laws, but a successful marketing manager can and should profile customers with the intent of selling them appropriate products and services.

Customer profiling in the marketing world is defined as finding new prospects just like your best customers by comparing the demographic profiles of these individuals with your prospect population.

During what we’ll call the lazy years of marketing, marketers might describe who they believed to be their best customers to a list broker and that list broker would sell them a list of prospects based on a few pieces of business or consumer criteria (revenue, location, number of employees or age, income, education).

Fast forward to today and multiple overlays (one option includes 140 different overlay tools of variable data) can be applied to your customer database to pinpoint with laser accuracy what your prime customer profile is and how to duplicate it. Just turn over your customer file to be matched against a comprehensive dataset of U.S. business and/or consumers to create a customized market penetration analysis. The strength of customer profiling lies in its ability to provide consumer business demographic overlays, revealing your true customer.

Using data to drive your business decisions, you can then take your marketing (and your business) to a whole new level and construct marketing models to squeeze even more sales out of your budget.

healthcare company Fine tunes its marketing spend through Profiling and analysis

A $20 billion healthcare company used analytics to optimize its marketing spend. Client marketing was geared towards direct to consumer advertising, with TV accounting for more than 50% of the budget. The seven-brand portfolio had a high spend-to-sales ratio of 25%, and management wanted to increase efficiency.

Using data sources such as the client’s internal data, as well as financial and government records, models were built to measure sales by marketing tools targeted to pharmacists and other audiences.

The models found that 13% of sales were due to direct marketing programs, TV

commercials, pharmacy displays, and sales calls. However, this was unprofitable relative to the 25% spending-to-sales ratio. As a result, this healthcare company reduced spending 10% and held the savings to optimize

its current budget. The reduced spend scenario increased profits while maintaining sales.

how you can apply data and Profiling

Don’t let the analytics or terminology stop you from profiling, analyzing your data and conducting data mining. There are plenty of companies on standby to assist you with creating a snapshot of your best customers and best marketing approach to reach them. The best data is data that is put into use finding more great customers.

blog.mailprint.com

When CustomerProfilingand StereotypingAre All in the Line of Duty

Scan here or visit

http://mprnt.co/OF0jxH to read the blog

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Looking for a long-run letter solution with the flexibility to change at a moment’s notice? Are you tired of wasting shell inventory and throwing money down the drain? With Mail Print’s new HP T200 Inkjet Web printing capabilities, we give you great flexibility for testing a variety of messaging formats without breaking your budget.

Every marketer wants to use variable data to test letter copy and layout, but in the past, cost has been prohibitive for longer runs, so you’ve been stuck with printing shell inventory and managing multiple versions of black imprinting. Those days are over.

Printing up to 200 ft. per minute in full color, the HP T200 can handle whatever size project with ease. And with the 100% variable capabilities, every piece can be customized to your recipient without the high costs and creative confinement of shell printing.

So let your imagination run wild and take testing to the extreme by creating a truly unique campaign that allows you to speak in a relevant manner to each individual person on your list.

What does this mean for you? • Mail to thousands or millions of recipients • Customize and send personalized pieces to

each one of these recipients • Segment and test to the extreme within the

same production run • Still maintain effective production costs To learn more about taking

your direct mail to a new level visit www.mailprint.com/t200 or call Mail Print at 866.938.3607 to learn more.

ADVANCED VARIABLE DATA PRINTING

NEW INVESTMENT. NEW OPPORTUNITY.