Takeaways From the 2013 DMA Conference
Strategic America is a member of the Direct Marketing Association, and each year SA invests in the continuing education of employees and keeping up to date on an annual basis market trends and industry research. Here are a few key 2013 DMA Conference takeaways.
We are all aware that technology has been a major force of change in how marketers approach consumers, and also in what consumers expect out of their experience with marketers. Like it or not, technology has advanced the expectations of the consumer experience to the point that consumers know they are empowered. They expect transparent pricing and everyone is your brand’s competitor these days.
“Virtual Bar Fight”
Grabbing a new customer’s attention for a potential purchase was described at the 2013 DMA Conference as a “virtual bar fight.” Marketers used to be in charge of the consumer’s consideration — now each consumer has a megaphone, and can socially share his or her experience — making the consumer in charge of the consideration.
As a company making decisions on how to spend its marketing budget, this changes the equation between spending dollars on prospecting and increasing focus on nurturing your existing customers. This is how the buzz word “Big Data” enters the picture.
3 Data Priorities
Today’s marketer should have three top data priorities. Get smart, get strategic and use your data analytics to tear down the silos behind the data. Strategic America partners with our clients to help them do exactly this, by untangling and reviewing any customer data available and putting process in place to define insights gained.
A 2013 global survey by Teradata cited 2014 as the year that CMOs will outspend CIOs on technology purchases with 78% of marketing leaders feeling pressure to become more data-driven. Use your agency partnership to add value to your organization’s captured data.
No one in our industry would argue that we have achieved “Big Data.” Terry Jones, founder of Kayak.com and founding chairman of Travelocity.com, shared that we have yet to reach “Big Wisdom” and need to listen to the data. And there is one more reality to the savvy customers your company is trying so hard to nurture into being loyal to your brand — they are not afraid to share their experience through social media, so be prepared to monitor and respond to feedback and postings.
The Marketing Age of Big Data
This is, after all, the marketing age of Big Data, and the consumer is aware of this. Consumers want to know whether you’re listening to them, and they will share the results. As Jones says, “If you don’t like change, you are going to like irrelevance even less.”
