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Every year, marketers continue to search for “the next big thing”—the industry-wide “hot
topic” that will make or break the success of their interactive marketing programs for the
coming year. As consumers around the globe continue to turn to email, mobile, Facebook,
and Twitter more than ever before, it’s imperative that marketers strive to meet customers
where they’re at in order to maximize customer engagement and opportunity.
As you look at your 2011 marketing goals and labor over next year’s budget, we’ve compiled
five resolutions in order to help you stay current with consumer demands and maintain a
successful interactive marketing program the whole year through. But this year, we’re not just
providing you with resolutions to make—we’re helping you keep them too. While diets and
exercise programs might taper off just months after the start of the new year, these initiatives
are 5 Resolutions Marketers Should Make—and Keep—in 2011.
In this report, we’ll take a look at what’s coming in 2011 and how to prepare for the interactive
marketing trends awaiting us in the coming year. Get tips and insight on the year’s most
critical aspects of interactive marketing, including the importance of data in the foundation
of your interactive programs, why 2011 is the “year of mobile,” and how automation not only
saves you time, but also helps you better meet customer needs. We’ll even provide you with
spaces to jot down your own marketing goals as you read. (After all, research shows that
those who make resolutions are 10 times more likely to achieve them!)
So before you lock down your 2011 budget and set your goals for the new year, find out what
resolutions will give you the “edge” you need to start the year off right. Take our word for it—
these resolutions will make your marketing program better than it’s ever been. And when you
need us, we’ll be here along the way to help you stick with it.
1)Make Data the foundation of my marketing
This past year, you’ve probably heard a lot of industry buzz around “data.” You know that data is at the heart of relevancy, and you’ve even heard that Data is the New Creative. But, let’s be clear— the
concept of collecting data isn’t new. Using it is.
Marketers inherently know that data should fuel their marketing
programs and overall business decisions. Thus, collecting data from customers has never been a problem. But, achieving
visibility—and usability—with that data has not always
been possible. Information has been stored in all sorts of
ways, including data warehouses and databases across the
organization that require tedious exporting in order to take any
action on it whatsoever. At the same time, today’s interactive
outlets like email, text messaging, and social media (which are
constantly finding new and innovative ways to expand), make
managing data at the same pace as the speed of technology
even more difficult. In fact, marketers are missing out on
opportunities to engage with customers because their
information and processes have become outdated before
the data is even aggregated and sorted.
Having greater visibility into your subscriber data doesn’t just
help you be more organized. Ask yourself: “How much of my
work week is devoted to sifting through data?” According
to some marketers, 40% of time at work is spent managing
data and attempting to make it more usable for campaign
purposes. But when data comes together in a single platform,
efficient information flow actually frees up marketers’ time and
resources, helping them be more strategic in their interactive
marketing programs.
2)Use mobile to connect with my customers
It seems every year we hear “this is the year of mobile.” Yet, as email and social media
become more and more sophisticated, mobile marketing is often left overshadowed. So why
is 2011 truly the year to make mobile a priority?
As consumers begin to move more rapidly from “regular” phones to smartphones, they
increase their expectation that everything (especially information) should be portable. In fact,
17% of Americans now own smartphones, according to a report from Forrester Research1, and
43% of all U.S. adult cell phone users have mobile apps, according to a report from the Pew
Research Center2. And the rates will only continue to rise.
Consumers now expect the freedom to interact with their peers and their favorite brands
at any time. Additionally, brands are expected to meet their customers where they’re at—
interacting with them whether they’re in front of their computer, shopping, or on-the-go.
As consumers become more and more available no matter their location, it’s easy to see that
we’ve become a “NOW generation.” And the best way to reach your subscribers NOW (and at
any other point) is through their mobile phone. This year, pay special attention to:
• Web usage vs. mobile web usage
• Email vs. mobile email
• Social usage vs. social via apps
What does this mean for marketers? Mobile must be incorporated into your interactive
marketing plan. Not only should you resolve to “use mobile to connect with your customers,”
but you should also “talk to your consumers through the channels they’re using.” In 2011, it’s
no longer a choice.
3)market to your customers like the individuals they are
Consumers value customer service—not just from your client support center, but from every single
interaction they have with your brand. After all, they can either say positive things about your brand
or negative things about your brand—solely based on how you treat them as a customer. While some
companies today continue to tell their customers what products and services to purchase through
advertising, the most effective marketers build a relationship with customers that provides value to
them beyond selling products or services.
In 2011, not only should your SUBSCRIBERS RULE! by honoring their unique preferences, but
your marketing messages should provide more impact and value—rather than standard consumer
“interruption” via irrelevant “one size fits all” ads. This year, effectively marketing to your customers
should be more about the level of customer service you provide—not necessarily the creativity of
your advertising.
4)Make social media a real part of my marketing mix
For many, 2010 marked the year that social media became a reality instead of just a trend for
marketers to watch out for. Communications have become more interactive with social icons at the
bottom of emails, links to Facebook fan pages, and Twitter handles included in email copy. But that’s
still not enough. While including ShareThis icons in your communications is a simple and effective
way to ease into social media, integrating it into your interactive marketing campaigns and overall
strategy is vital in 2011.
5)Use automation to save time and better meet my customers needs
Meeting customer needs is all about knowing who they are. In order to do that, you must know
everything about them—their likes, dislikes, behaviors, purchasing history, browsing history, etc. But
with all the information you’ve collected, the information they’ve volunteered, and the information
you’ve inferred about them, you’re often left swimming in loads of information that are too vast to
manage. In order to access the data, you must perform various imports, exports, segmenting, and
searches to transform the information into a usable state. And at the end of the day, let’s face it—
there’s simply no way you can manage all of your data with an Excel spreadsheet.
AUTOMATE FOR EFFICIENCY
We promise—there’s light at the end of the tunnel. With automation, tasks like data movement,
segmentation, and messaging programs become easy through “set it and forget it” functionality.
Automating birthday email campaigns and recurring newsletters is a simple way to free up time
and energy.
But in 2011, automation can’t just stop there. With the onset of the “real-time web” and the “NOW
generation” of consumers, it’s critical that subscriber preferences and new customer data become
integrated into each and every communication you send. When a subscriber changes his or her
preferences (for instance, due to a change in lifestyle like starting college or getting married), it’s
important to pay attention to how the customer responds to your communications. If you’ve set
automations that only run once a month or once a week, there’s a possibility that your subscriber’s
interest—or disinterest—in a particular communication could be completely overlooked, resulting in
frustrated customers who choose to opt out of your messages. Enter “Smart Automation.”
