Effective marketing and communication using Variable Data Publication

Marketing and communication in the digital age

Customer-focused marketing and communication

Customer-focus has always been a key element of good service delivery, as well as effective communications and successful sales closure processes.

As the traditional marketing funnel is rethought in the light of changing media technologies and customer behaviour, there is also a case for saying it has become a critical factor in determining where marketing resources are best put.

No longer Madison Avenue

This is no longer Madison Avenue where slick advertising creates markets or determines market share: we exist in a global knowledge economy, where the prospective customer can easily obtain, compare and evaluate information about products and services.

The proposition has changed

Target audiences are no longer isolated individuals in a crowd representing pieces of a market share. They are now connected by social and professional networks, which filter out the disinterested. They have become groups and long-tail markets with something in common.

The significant factors that underpin traditional marketing thought now have to be refocused on the integrity and relevance of the message:

• Product has become Solution

• Price has become Value

• Place has become Access

• Promotion has become Information.

No pushing please

Customer tolerance of marketing materials and communications that are pushed at them is now low. Relevancy to them has become important and the user-experience of engagement matters.

So, the way forward is to keep it specific, keep it relevant, don’t be intrusive, follow their lead and help them visualise. Essentially make it personal. Profile the customer and give them something they actually want or respond with what they have in fact asked you for.

Multi-channel solutions for Data-driven Integrated Marketing

Digital technologies offer many different means of communication and enable various types of output, so ‘digital’ represents a multiplicity of channels, not just one. In digital technology terms multi-channel is typically used to represent the ability to deliver a set of different outcomes from a single coordinated source, which roughly corresponds to the marketing and communication profession’s concept of Data-driven Integrated Marketing (DIM).

What is Variable Data Publication?

Variable Data Publication (VDP) is the systematic delivery of alternative versions of a document, or communication, using different combinations of component; which may cover content, illustration, design, format, language, advertising and even the media channel it is delivered by; to achieve a specific, very customer-focused outcome.

Such a tailored approach to communication is likely to produce high levels of user-satisfaction and engagement among its audiences, because of the greater relevancy to themselves of what each of the recipients receives.

This may be taken to a personal level, where the individual’s profile, or stakeholder relationship with the subject matter, is referenced; or be associated with groups representing market segments, areas of interest, traits, or ‘tribes’.

16%

The quality of the lead generation is better and conversion rates are likely to increase substantially. Each campaign will be different; however, in comparison to the 2 - 3% take up of a less targeted method, a Variable Data Publication approach may yield 16% or more.

The VDP equation

Input

Today’s intelligent customers…

…should be marketed to intelligently

Prospect driven

In essence this is engaging with a prospective customer that has shown interest by their presence, though apart from that very little is known about them. The real world equivalent might be somebody walking into a shop or a showroom that the salesperson has never seen before. A process of discovery ensues, in this case performed by the prospect’s actions.

Applications of this approach might include user-generated prospectuses for universities or colleges (or for employee recruitment), catalogues or brochures distilled from a large product range, or product brochures and flyers where there are numerous variables among the specification on offer.

Listen to what the customer tells you

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Extract useful information from what is observed

Data collection

Digital technologies collect masses of data and each piece of data is evidence of something. As information collects from a VDP activity a detailed picture emerges. Analysis of this provides extremely accurate market research, which informs campaign strategy and allows the segmentation of audiences for follow up marketing activity at a level of refinement that offers highly effective customer profiling.

The ability to accurately measure the outcome of marketing and communication activities and evaluate their progress whilst current has also become an important factor since the advent of digital enabled alternatives. These are able to demonstrate return on investment (ROI) more exactly than traditional approaches and offer routes to the point of customer action that may be mapped accurately and are comparatively direct and flexible.

The creation of the document, or response to one, becomes the entrance to a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) process with the user volunteering their profile. Advanced implementations of VDP technology have CRM system tools built into them, or may be configured to pass the information across to one that is already in place (a CRM system).

Clever stuff in the middle

Marketing expertise, strategic thinking and creative skills

Some clever variables

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Together with the latest technology

... and even more cutting edge stuff

Output

Treat your customers as individuals.

Address them personally.

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Reflect the prospect in the presentation.

Show them that you know them.

Keep it relevant to them.

Engage with who they are.

Like remembering their name, remembering what they have told you, signals their importance and shows that they are being taken seriously, which also reflects on the quality of the relationship.

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Results

Prospect buy-in and satisfied customers

Give them exactly what they ask for.

Make them feel special.

Let this be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

Or...

If you already have information to work with

Or have collected data from Prospect Driven activity...

Data driven

In a print run of say 5,000 flyers it is entirely possible to make each one significantly different, yet none-the-less be part of a practical production batch. Each one would be seamlessly composed as it is printed to specifically attract the attention of its recipient by reflecting them personally and adjusting the content or presentation of the flyer in line with what is already know about their interests. That might even extend to the flyer making a different offer if certain criteria are met.

Why is it so effective?

VDP works because it answers the questions that the customer, or prospect, asks, or communicates information that the recipient can relate to – and doesn’t push only what the marketer wants to say at them (either about something they are not interested in, or using puffed up language they don’t believe).

This ‘relationship marketing’ taken to its logical conclusion, which is that relationships are most likely to be effective at a personal level.

Taking a ‘marketing orientation’ approach – identifying, anticipating and responding to the ‘needs and wants of customers’, now also extends to how they ‘need and want’ to be communicated with.

Variable Data Publication combined with multi-channel delivery enables Intelligent Data-driven Integrated Marketing.

What is it used for?

Examples of Variable Data Publication use in marketing and communications include:

• The tourism and leisure industry, for sales and repeat sales.

• Fashion retailing to promote merchandise and seasonal trends; and to increase the value of the transaction through associated sales.

• Recruitment and selection materials, both in the education sector and for attracting quality employees.

• Corporate communications with stakeholders through personalised newsletters and localised magazines. These could include separate variables for investors or staff.

• In car sales, to help close the deal.

• Any use of flyers, brochures and catalogues, promoting products, or services, in a targeted manner aimed at a segmented audience.

If you would like a copy of the accompanying overview document, which explains the concepts in more detail, please contact Magus Digital and one will be emailed to you.

Contact details:

Jonathan Stephenson

m: 0789 4512102

e: jps@magusdigital.com

w: www.magusdigital.com

All original content copyright Magus Digital 2011

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