Monthly Archives: February 2015

February 9, 2015 · 1:46 pm

We’re Getting There

I’m remiss on mentioning a report that came out a couple of weeks back from the Teradata folks.  They surveyed 1,506 marketers in enterprises around the world and across all industries about how they’re using data in business decision-making. It’s an update of a survey they did in mid-2013 and my immediate response to it is that as marketers we seem to be getting there.  Where?

Let’s look at some of the results and I’ll explain my response.

  • Marketers have more than doubled their use of data-driven marketing in the past 18 months. 78 percent of marketers now use data systematically, versus 36 percent in 2013.
  • Marketers however still struggle with individualizing offers and communication. Only 50 percent routinely apply data to engage consumers. 44 percent admit a lack of consistency in omni-channel marketing. And 80 percent say that silos within Marketing prevent them from knowing how campaigns are performing across different channels.
  • 43 percent of marketers say they now control their company’s customer data (up from 34 percent in 2013). And a vast majority (83 percent) say they take an omni-channel approach to reaching customers.
  • 84 percent agree that making marketing and IT into strategic partners is vital.
  • 92 percent agree that integrating data across teams can improve customer service.

The report focuses quite a bit on marketing personalization.  Those are things such as the emails you might get from Amazon after you’ve browsed and item but not bought or the “suggested for you” content you often see as you surf.  Frankly, I often find that to be more annoying than helpful (and often bordering on creepy).  But that isn’t the point today.

One thing I’ve often found difficult in working with clients is getting them to put aside their beliefs and to focus on the facts contained with the data.  Don’t take that to mean that I think decisions should always be taken on the basis of what the numbers show us.  I don’t.  I do, however, believe that we must use the data as a guide along with our experience.  That’s why I say that “we’re getting there.”  Doubling the use of data is encouraging and the higher levels of data integration found in decision-making is a bright spot.

Your thoughts?

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February 6, 2015 · 12:03 pm

A Lesson From Big Al

Foodie Friday, and our food fun this week comes from a restaurant in which I’ve never eaten but of which I am a customer. A very happy customer, actually, and my happiness is all due to an excellent lesson in customer care.

Big Al’s BBQ & Catering is located in Raleigh. As Al’s website proclaims:

We aren’t the cheapest Carolina BBQ vendor, but we guarantee freshness and award-winning flavors you can’t find anywhere. Period. Come eat with us, or call in and order out! We’ll pack your plate just fine.

Honestly, I’ve not done that. What I have done is to order merchandise from him. You see, my Dad is also called Big Al and I thought it would be a fun surprise to send him a shirt and a hat bearing the Big Al name and logo.  I placed an online order and entered my parents’ address for shipping.  After a week when I hadn’t received an excited call from Florida I began to wonder about the status of my order.  It was then that I noticed the receipt said “local pickup” meaning they were waiting for me to walk into their store and grab the goods.

I emailed the address from which the receipt came explaining that there had been a mix-up.  Within 20 minutes I had a note back from Al himself explaining that he had tried to text me (I had used a land line on the order) to ask about shirt color and was glad I had sent the note.  Here is where the lesson begins.

A quick exchange of emails to furnish the correct shipping address concluded with Al saying “I’ll get that out to you.”  No long explanation, no haggling over if the error was on my end or on his.  Just “I’ll get that out to you. ”  This morning, I received a text – “Going to ship your Dad’s package this morning priority mail…I am picking up the freight for all your troubles.”

If you take one thing away from the roughly 1,700 screeds I’ve written I hope it’s the rock-solid focus on the customer Al demonstrated.  Heck, I’m some schlub from out-of-state that ordered a shirt and hat.  I’m not going to be coming in weekly for food.  Al treated me as I assume he does everyone – with respect, an assumption that the customer is right, and a willingness to go the extra mile.

If you are ever near Raleigh I hope you’ll hit Big Al’s for a meal.  Order out if you can.  Tell your friends to go. Even if you have other dining plans, do me a favor and swing by and let him know you admire his customer-centric focus.  I sure do. I wonder if he can ship ribs to Connecticut?

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February 5, 2015 · 11:52 am

Kidding Yourself With Content

When I was a kid we watched 7 channels of TV. There were 3 networks (no Fox yet), 3 independent stations (more than in most markets), and PBS. By the time I had my kids we had many more channels available – Nielsen would tell you that by 1995 the average home had 45. Today the number is closer to 189 in the typical home and with all the movie and sports channels the number in my house is well over 300. That’s a lot of content and I consume only a fraction of what is available.

I bring this up today because I read an excellent study called The Content Marketing Paradox. You can read through the deck here. It was written by the folks at Track Maven and it was eye-opening. As the Research Brief folks summarized it:

The study found the output of content per brand increased 78% from the start of 2013 to the end of 2014, but content engagement decreased 60%. Brands are generating a higher volume of content per channel, but individual pieces of content are receiving fewer interactions

On social networks, brand-generated content is seeing the lowest engagement rates now than anytime in 2013 and 2014, and 43% of professionally marketed blog posts receive fewer than 10 interactions. Marketers are distributing more content on more channels, while simultaneously complaining about how hard it is to cut through the noise.

This was the most meaningful statement in the piece for me:

As channels have proliferated, technologies have emerged to help marketers more efficiently produce and broadcast content, which has in turn increased the total volume being generated. But as the data above show, marketers’ “more is better” approach is not an effective response to channel explosion. Stated differently, marketers are getting better at distributing content, but are not getting better at creating content worth distributing.

So ask yourself this:  why are producing the content we are?  Who is reading and interacting?  What results have we measured?  Most importantly, how is our relationship with our customers and with consumers as a whole being enhanced by our efforts?  The silence may be deafening if the above data are to be believed.  Maybe we’re just kidding ourselves?

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