IN APRIL, I attended the Kodak Graphic Users Association (KGUA) as a member of the press. This group is probably one of the longest running user associations in our industry, previously having been associated with Creo and Scitex before all of the acquisitions. This was the first time the group invited the press, and I was pleased to be there with four other colleagues from North America.
With 314 members in attendance, it was the largest gathering the group has seen—at least in the past several years, even with the economy in turmoil, Drupa around the corner and the IPA Technical Conference competing for many of the same attendees in the same timeframe. The group’s board attributes this spike in attendance (a 50 percent increase) to the aggressive integrated marketing campaign (IMC) conducted to drive attendance and interest in the group.
The campaign involved more than 59,000 direct marketing pieces between mail and e-mail, with 23,000 of those incorporating personalized URLs (PURLs). There were some 400 hits back to the PURLs as a result of the campaign. In addition to increased attendance levels, KGUA membership is up 11 percent over last year.
Personalized Touch
There is a message here: Integrated marketing campaigns work! But they can be intimidating. An integrated marketing campaign, as I have discussed before in past columns, consists of a direct marketing campaign, generally highly personalized, that uses not only the mail, but also integrates the Web and e-mail, as well as other communications media. Increasingly, especially outside of North America, this includes SMS messaging to handheld devices such as cell phones and PDAs.
It can also be argued that these campaigns are more environmentally friendly. In theory, since they are more targeted and relevant, and deliver higher returns, there should be fewer pieces that are mailed and discarded without being read. They also allow marketers to be able to reach out to potential customers with a postcard or tri-fold instead of sending a full catalog, for example, to pique interest while cutting down on paper usage and postal costs, highlighting key products or services for the recipient and directing them to the full catalog on the Web. Some of the communications are delivered electronically, further reducing paper waste.
The reason integrated marketing campaigns can be intimidating is that an effective campaign is very data-centric. It requires the analysis of accurate data to understand what the most relevant offer will be, and there is also a need to integrate relevant imagery, often on a piece-by-piece basis. Errors can be devastating. They are also intimidating because they require the integration of alternative media, which is not necessarily a core competency at most printing firms today.
In addition to the great success story that the KGUA shared about its integrated marketing campaign, I also came away from the event with a couple of new ideas about how to make this transition easier.
It often makes sense to seek a partner to help you ease into this market, leveraging his/her expertise to get started. Sometimes these partnerships are long-lasting; sometimes they are simply a way to get started until the appropriate business volumes and internal expertise are in hand. But how do you find the partners? At the KGUA, two initiatives were highlighted that could make this process easier.
First, Kodak announced that it would be migrating its Market Mover Network to the Kodak Graphics Community, a Web 2.0 “social” networking community, sort of like Facebook for printers. This community is available to Kodak InSite users, of which there are about 1,000 at the present time. Members can create a directory entry for their business, search for business partners around the world and create their own networks.
Kodak provides the vehicle, and the businesses work out all the details in those peer-to-peer networks. Members can browse the community, see who is out there, connect with each other, develop business relationships and exchange content to continue to develop and evolve the vision of being the most efficient deliverer of content, print and e-commerce. I believe that this is only the first of many such networks that we might see developing in our industry to facilitate our transition into this new, more complex world.
Virtual Sales Force
The second initiative is called the Direct Marketing Alliance, founded by Alin Jacobs of DME in Daytona Beach, FL. The Direct Marketing Alliance is separate and independent from DME, although DME, of course, is a founding member, along with Corporate Press. According to Jacobs, this group will act as a virtual sales force for printers wishing to add integrated marketing services to the mix.
Direct Marketing Alliance salespeople will help you through the sales process. Work can either be produced by DME and/or Corporate Press with a fee paid back to your company, or prepared for production by your shop. An intriguing aspect of this offering is access to DME’s state-of-the-art video studio, making it easier to include video in campaigns.
While both of these options are limited at present—with the first being limited to InSite users and the second being limited due to a very tightly controlled, phased rollout—they are hopeful signs for the future that could signal the availability of more initiatives of this nature, as suppliers to the industry and other enterprising individuals see the light and get them rolling.
Meanwhile, the tools are getting easier to use. Kodak demonstrated Integrated Campaign Manager, which will be available in early 2009, and will be shown at both Drupa and Graph Expo. While a live demo was not available, from the screen shots, it looked to be a sophisticated, easy-to-use solution.
A data mining expert was involved in its development, and the solution makes it easy to segment and subsegment data, automatically identifying those records that meet a defined set of criteria and are likely to be interested in a given type of offer. Equally important, it culls out those who are less likely to be interested. It will also integrate with various enterprise systems on both the enterprise and production sides for a more unified approach to campaigns.
Integrated campaign management works. It is not only the future of our industry, but it is here today.
And, there are so many different ways to skin this cat that any business should be able to participate. I hope this column has given you some ideas about how to proceed, as well as some encouragement to take that all-important first step, if you have not done so already.
Start with promoting your own business! You can experiment in a safe environment and benefit from the increased effectiveness that these multichannel campaigns deliver. It is also the best way to demonstrate this capability to prospective customers. It sets you apart and intrigues the marketer, who is a campaign recipient.
Here’s hoping you get a lot of “How did you do this?!” calls when you launch your first campaign. PI
—Cary Sherburne
About the Author
Cary Sherburne is a well-known journalist, author and strategic marketing consultant working primarily with the printing and publishing industry. She is a frequent speaker at industry events, a regular contributor to printing industry publications and has written three books, which are available for purchase through the Bookstore section on Printing Impressions’ Website (www.piworld.com). Sherburne can be contacted at Cary@SherburneAssociates.com.
- Companies:
- Eastman Kodak