Conclusive MicroStrategy Marketing
Posted Monday, October 20, 2008 by larry daniel
October the 21st Conclusive Marketing (www.conclusivemarketing.com) and MicroStrategy (www.microstrategy.com) released a press release announcing how Conclusive is adopting MicroStrategy technology to put Business Intelligence ("BI") right in the middle of our services. 

To the casual onlooker that might look like a ho-hum technology announcement, but in the marketing services arena this is a meaningful signal how marketing paradigms are shifting from simply executing communications to continuously searching for improved ROI by analyzing programs.  Its not enough to outfit tomorrow's marketer to simply perform direct marketing, they need to be properly tooled to view the macro and micro condition of their programs.  We believe in a highly automated data-driven future and Conclusive is seriously investing to ensure that our clients can transition into this paradigm with us. 

Without recent tools like MicroStrategy, firms' analyzing marketing programs have all too often relied on one or two staff who know both how to think about marketing analysis and also how to engineer the data for analysis.   With MicroStrategy, however, the data engineering is out of the way and all the analysts can actually focus on, (catch this!) analysis.  The MicroStrategy report and charting options are attractive and easy to use by anyone in the marketing department.   And the impact can be dramatic. 



One client, an agency for a major automotive OEM, reports that it now takes them 10 minutes to examine data that used to take 8-10 hours to digest.  More of their team members can contribute to the analytic process, as the task of doing so is now focused on viewing, as opposed to managing the data.  And with the time savings, the resources now have the "luxury" of digging deeper into analysis.

So there is now definitely some BI in the middle of Conclusive Marketing.  MicroStrategy could be our middle name.
 
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Open Source Brand Strategy
Posted Thursday, August 14, 2008 by Jim Drummond
While it's now clear the earth is flat, data intelligence is key, and integrated marketing is all the rage, too often I find that Brand strategies are still linear and often media focused.  With the media landscape evolving incessantly these days, Brands and Brand strategy need to be agile and all-inclusive.
The concept of open source was initially a software development method that allowed for distributed peer review and transparency of process.  Opensource.org believes the promise of open source is better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility and lower cost and this has generally proven to be true.  But open source has evolved beyond software in my opinion.  Wikipedia explains the open source model as allowing for concurrent input of different agendas, approaches and priorities and made available for public collaboration. Just like web 2.0.
Brands today need to adopt an open source strategy.  Along the marketing continuum, the media and touch point options will continue to segment and proliferate.  A strategic position reliant on only current options is doomed to long term failure in our new environment.  However, a strong strategy that allows for immediate execution in any media stream or any environment and that allows for ongoing customer interaction is one that will survive as well as thrive.
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You Can't Beat Free Breakfast!
Posted Thursday, August 14, 2008 by Dave Ford
It’s amazing how much money is spent launching new products these days.  One auto manufacturer recently spent over $85 million on a new launch.  Even in a fully integrated marketing campaign, you know broadcast still got the bulk of that budget.  But it seems to me that they could have given away several cars a day for a year and really generated some viral buzz! Yet along the marketing continuum, hands on experience with brands is of increasing value these days – especially in large ticket categories.   

Toyota recently broke the ‘never done that before’ rule many times when they launched the highly anticipated new Tundra.  They showed the Tundra at places like Home Depot parking lots and construction sites while offering free breakfast for those that took a closer look. They built new displays for state fairs and Bass Pro Shops to highlight the size of key features such as brake rotors and body welds. 

In doing all of this, Toyota had a successful launch and generated terrific buzz but was stuck with an often ignored dilemma -  What happens to those people who see and like the truck, but aren’t ready to buy?  Management certainly wants to see the marketing data and ROI as with every other spend.  So how do you track the guy who ate your breakfast at Home Depot? We’ll explore those options next time!
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Integrated Marketing Solutions - Are you flying solo or with an experienced wingman?
Posted Tuesday, July 15, 2008 by Dave Ford

Imagine landing aboard an aircraft carrier at night with limited visibility and a pitching deck for the first time. Without the assistance of the Landing Signal Officer, onboard instrumentation, lots of practice on shore and an occasional peek outside the cockpit at the carrier, it would be challenging to find the carrier let alone land successfully aboard the ship.

Why wouldn't you use all the tools available to you to acquire, cross-sell and retain your most profitable customers? An integrated marketing solution from Conclusive Marketing represents a practical approach to upgrading your traditional marketing program by incorporating analytics, business rules and customer preferences. The Armed Forces provide the best aircraft, training systems and instructors to ensure that pilots learn from each flight and improve their mission readiness. Learning from each marketing event can also help you determine the best message and channel by which to reach your existing customers and prospective customers while improving your marketing ROI.

Are you are constantly challenged to build enduring relationships with your customers in a very competitive landscape? Organizations that continue to grow during these challenging times have built a core base of customers and differentiate themselves from their competitors by superior customer service and an effective integrated marketing solution. Increasing customer retention by 5% can improve your profitability by 30%!  Unfortunately, attrition can be even more damaging to profitability since it is significantly more costly to acquire a profitable new customer than it is to retain an existing customer. 

Don't fly solo as you evaluate the options to achieving your marketing objectives. As you evaluate technology and integrated marketing solutions, fly with a Top Gun. Consider an Integrated Marketing Solution from Conclusive Marketing as you look at your options for the rest of 2008 and start your planning for 2009.

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Advanced Data Processing
Posted Monday, July 14, 2008 by Tracy Guilford

Advanced data processing occurs once data is cleaned, standardized and consolidated to ensure that data is up to date.  Move updates should be applied periodically with services such as National Change of Address (NCOA).  Providers that perform NCOA updates often will also provide phone number updates and appends.  It is vital to have the accurate addresses and phone numbers to reach customers. 

Now that the customers can be reached, it is important to determine if they want to be reached.  If you are planning telemarketing efforts, you need to bounce your customer database against the National Do Not Call directory.  This will enable you to identify those who do not want to receive phone calls. 

For direct mail marketing it is important to determine if your customers want to be contacted via mail.  Data providers can flag customers on national do not mail lists.  Your company should also maintain its own do not mail indicator. 

Finally, it is essential to determine customers that are deceased.  Data providers can supply flags to indicate those customers that are deceased.  Communicating to deceased customers is upsetting to family members and will burn their goodwill with your company. 

Once data is up to date and solicitation preferences noted, the third step to continue turning data into information is data enhancement...

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Empowering the User
Posted Thursday, July 3, 2008 by beth stewart
In the past few years, this concept has driven integrated marketing services applications: provide an interface and let the individual marketer take care of their own marketing and marketing analysis.  It was sold as a win-win, as the marketer had "more control;" and, it appeared cost effective since the marketer was also their own resource.

The funny thing is, a tool that seemed "easy to use" and provided the marketer with "endless" possibilities for program development and business intelligence often left users frustrated; since flexibility can easily equate to complexity.  Most business people, regardless of their position, simply don't have the time to learn yet another tool to simply get a single report on how effect a marketing campaign was.

To me, it seems the focus for integrated marketing services needs to be on SERVICES - allowing a marketer to intelligently 1) select and target the right customers for campaigns using data intelligence (modeling and response analysis); 2) select the correct message, channel and frequency for individual campaigns and customers; and 3) leverage business intelligence tools to evaluate and continually improve ROI  and provide value to their customers. However, marketers shouldn't have to do the legwork to make all of this happen.

Conclusive Marketing has an integrated marketing services platform underway which will provide all of these services to clients - it will be exciting to see the possibilities and opportunities that this platform will bring to our clients in the very near future.
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CMO Tenure
Posted Wednesday, July 2, 2008 by Mark Rees

Gone are the good old days when marketing was straight-forward and simple.  A marketing director used to be able to plan out his or her budget for the year and then spend to that budget.  The job was highly visible and seen as a major contributor to company success. However, the more hyper-connected and hyper-speed society has become, the lower the tenure of the CMO. Is this related? Some report that the average tenure of the Chief Marketing Officer today is little more than 18 months. Why is that?

I postulate that one reason for this is that marketing directors have unwittingly become myopic…siloed into a functional role. Cata1 argues that “CMO's must move away from thinking like functional executives embedded in their own siloed departments and instead think instead like operational executives." 

Another possible reason is that marketers are still marketing in silos—in multiple, individual and siloed channels without a comprehensive view of the customer's needs and interaction with the company. "Integrated Marketing" requires more complex data analysis and marketers need to catch up.

A third explanation could be because CMO’s do not fully understand that they are now, as Thomas Davenport2 says, “Competing on Analytics”. Everything, including mass media, has become measureable. Marketing is now about Business Intelligence along the full marketing continuum. Those who don’t adopt a metrics mindset, cannot optimize their companies’ marketing spend. I recently heard Hanssens3 make this point clearly.

CMO’s should be the voice of the customer, driving the company toward customer-centricity. Christensen and Raynor4 assert that “What customers really want is for you to do their jobs for them”. I agree.  Marketers must focus on the customer and must focus the entire company on the customer if they want to last.5

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1Carlos Cata, "CMOs, Stop Obsessing over the Tenure Stat." Advertising Age 79, no. 20 (2008). 
2Thomas H. Davenport, "Competing on Analytics," Harvard Business Review 84, no. 1 (2006).
3Dominique M. Hanssens, Daniel Thorpe, and Carl Finkbeiner, "Marketing When Customer Equity Matters," Harvard Business Review 86, no. 5 (2008).
4Clayton M. Christensen and Michael E. Raynor, "What Customers Really Want Is for You to Do Their Jobs ; to Make Innovative Products That Drive Growth, Companies Must Forget About Demographics, Product Attributes and Market Size Data, and Focus on the Specific Jobs Customers Need to Get Done," CIO 17, no. 4 (2003).
5Jennifer Rooney, "Marty Homlish Knows Why CMOs Don't Last," Advertising Age 79, no. 14 (2008).

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Why Database Marketing ROI Success is as Challenging as Catching Fish on a Fly
Posted Tuesday, July 1, 2008 by jay buford
Jay Buford Fly Fishing

Not only is fly-fishing on a beautiful, cold water stream relaxing, it is the challenge of imitating nature in it's most pure form that makes me feel alive. Stealthily entering the water you envision the fish in their gin clear world, facing upstream, patiently waiting for the almost invisible aquatic insect to catch their attention. The reaction so sudden, yet so cautious, if you blink you have missed the moment; the opportunity. Imitating the natural environment with a perfect presentation, tremendous focus and the willingness to try variations; different flies, angles, tippets and times of day all make the sport so rewarding when finally you feel the fish on your line. You have succeeded despite the noise of others enjoying the river in their own way, splashing and thrashing, throwing rocks, hitting canoes with paddles...sometimes seeming like they do not care that they are creating havoc for the river residents.

 

Producing Marketing ROI holds the same challenge for me, both the art and the science of direct marketing must combine perfectly to create the opportunity to generate leads, acquire and retain business and ultimately ROI. The marketer, like the fly-fisherman, is faced with environmental factors that can determine the outcome despite a perfect presentation. Customers can be spooked by the economy, by their unique personal situation or even by disruptive competitive practices that create noise that mask the well-designed and timed marketing communication, to the perfect database, you have so carefully delivered.

 

So how can the marketer evolve campaigns to create a higher probability of success? Just like in fishing, one must discover the most fertile waters (data and business intelligence) and then deliver a consistent, relevant and timely message that cuts through the noise and restores the natural order. The marketer must enjoy the refinement of all aspects of the marketing continuum in order to be successful. The variables and iterations are endless; therefore the supporting tools and solutions must be just as robust. Think of Conclusive Marketing as your "Marketing Outfitter," providing unique marketing solutions that allow you to consistently capture the attention of the finicky consumer.

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Built to Evolve: True Marketing ROI
Posted Thursday, June 26, 2008 by jay buford

What interests me about marketing is its dynamic nature. There are no set rules—it's an ongoing evolution. I'm looking to explore this process as we seek to integrate, execute, and measure to continuously improve yourmarketing ROI.

 

Sound familiar? Many companies believe they deliver on marketing ROI, but what they generally deliver iscampaign ROI—a single campaign-email or direct mail, a single point in time, or a “high-five” for getting the campaign out the door. Even more “high-fives” if there are actually leads generated! 

 

Is that lead considered ROI? Absolutely not! Too often companies are tracking "leads per investment" instead of "return on investment." 

 

Ture ROI comes from viewing the complete marketing continuum—from business intelligence to data intelligence and data delivery (communication event) all the way through to response analysis, sales tracking and finally, the financial results that provide the ability to measure the efficacy of the entire effort.

 

Once prepared for the dynamic nature of the marketing process, you’re better able to adapt quickly to market changes, respond to immediate opportunities and more importantlymeasure true marketing ROI.  I look forward to sharing how we use integrated solution frameworks to manage this ongoing evolution with you.

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