Welcome to the Dove Direct Print and Marketing Blog. Today's post, "Mine and Manage Data for Brand Loyalty," discusses brand loyalty as the litmus test for brands and marketers. Marketers would be wise to avoid mass audience targeting, which is of paramount importance to contextual marketing approaches because mass marketing no longer works. It has never been an efficient way to gain new business or retain customers over the long term. In 2021, it will be necessary for the brand to commit to audience targeting. Successful audience targeting requires both data mining and management, coupled with personalization platforms. Without investing in these marketing platforms, brands run the risk of becoming obsolete in the consumers' minds. Audience targeting provides brands with updated information about the consumer, making sales and marketing easier to perform, thereby netting optimum results. Remember, the act of selling is made that much easier when the marketing department can provide enough personal information to convert a researcher into a buyer.
Quote of the Day: "Without big data, you are blind and deaf and in the middle of a freeway."
– Geoffrey Moore
2021 will bring more digital transformation, machine learning, remote human interaction, and live data capture. For the near future, at least six months into 2021, an extended shelter-in-place directive remains in place until the pandemic shows signs of retreat. That said, business operations will continue, and many will need to adapt to changing consumer behaviors. Some brands will need to develop Covid-Impact Buyer personas. The good news is that Facebook and Google are producing smarter algorithms. These digital platforms can help reach the chosen target audience and expand the likelihood of success by creating look-alike audiences.
Data Helps Reduce Churn
The interesting phenom about data is that it can help create target personas and reduce churn. Many sellers claim to put their customers first; however, surveys from the customer's perspective don't support those marketing claims. Brands must talk directly with customers to determine and communicate what matters to them in this era. Then the magic happens, and the brand can create a solution to solve customer problems.
According to the National Museum of American History, legend has it that Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "If you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door." The Sage of Concord said it this way, "If a man has good corn or wood, or boards, or pigs to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles or church organs, than anybody else, you will find a broad hard-beaten road to his house, though it be in the woods."
Therefore, solution-based marketing plays a massive role in the overall marketing strategy. When a brand can communicate its commitment to solving a problem, opportunities abound with the probability that the consumer base will beat a path to that brand's door. To better and more efficiently target those consumers looking to solve a problem or challenge, data mining and management arise to the fore. Another benefit from that data is the ability to better understand and respond to customers, thereby reducing churn.
Identifying the Customer Experience
The customer experience can only be improved if there is data combined with the art of personalized marketing communications. Customers will interact with the brand if the brand invites two-way engagement that opens the dialogue for both the customer and the brand to arrive at a shared conclusion mutually. Some industries still struggle with offering variant packages based on "what we don't do." How many times has your organization told a customer, "Oh, we don't do that."
We contend that some requests are not achievable for a brand to implement. For example, the automotive industry continually must defend the infamous "prototype vehicle." You know the car. It's the one that everyone falls in love with during the automotive show but never seems to make it to the showroom floor. It's the one that excites car buyers year after year, yet the consumer will never be able to purchase such a vehicle.
In this context, albeit debatable, the brand must make changes to their product offerings that make revenue sense. It can stick with the tried and true make and model or determine the level of change necessary to provide a new and exciting car while maintaining a healthy profit. Data, along with personalized communications, can shed more light on the idea of creating new solutions, i.e., new products, new services, and new offerings. Such information could prevent a brand from going down a rocky path that may have been based solely on intuition or a gut feeling.
The 2021 Customer Has Changed
Customer behavior has changed and evolved because of Covid-19. The impact of this disease and the havoc it is wreaking around the globe are troubling. However, this change pales over the course of history related to the evolution of human behavior. The notion that we'll get back to normal is akin to believing that Covid-19 will disappear completely. Similarly, it is doubtful that we will ever return to what we call "normal" pre-pandemic behavior.
Therefore, brands and marketers will have to reassess and understand the 2021 customer via data collection. Further, to get that information, brands will need to use multiple methods to collect, ascertain, and build audience profiles that reflect today's shelter-in-place consumers. We expect to evolve into a post-pandemic consumer. Further, depending on the country's overall status and the world at large, consumer behavior changes could be temporary or permanent.
Understanding the 2021 customer will require a new process. This process should relate to marketers and brands instituting new or revised customer profiles based on the data results. You may also find and develop an approach that delivers justification for creating unique customer persona profiles that relate solely to a post-pandemic world.
Personalization at Its Best
Once the data has been cleansed and categorized, the personalization aspect moves front and center. We know that email blasts come with personalized names. We also know that any time a consumer purchases online, they will generally receive email blasts or pop-ups with suggestions to repurchase the product, upgrade, or buy more. The outreach is personal, but it may not be relevant, and when it comes to personalization, relevancy is everything. That said, social media, email marketing, blogs, video marketing, and the like can personalize their communications. However, if you are going to hitch your wagon to a star, that star being increased revenue and new customers, you need to ensure that your wagon can cut through the clutter.
Direct mail marketing has all of the ingredients to ensure your wagon contents are seen and read. Direct mail marketing will continue to become more valuable beyond being the most trustworthy medium on the planet. Print's variable digital printing technology, based on data, delivers much more than first and last name. Variable digital printing technology can also include demographic and psychographic data that personalizes the communication efforts down to granular levels. It doesn't get any better or more focused than that.
The Net-Net
Brand and marketers that take data and personalization seriously and place those marketing platforms on the front burner will more than likely be at the front of the pack sitting atop the brightest revenue star. Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to read "Mine and Manage Data for Brand Loyalty."
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