AUTHOR KEITH WARDELL PUTS MARKETERS BACK IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT AT 25TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE FOR CATALOG AND MULTICHANNEL MERCHANTS
Orlando, FL, May 21, 2008 — Keith Wardell, author of Marketing Out of Control, today keynoted at the 25th Annual Conference for Catalog and Multichannel Merchants (ACCM) in Orlando. Co-produced by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and MULTICHANNEL MERCHANT, ACCM concludes on May 22.
Marketing Out of Control, a handbook for profiting from the new balance of power, explores how marketers can adjust to today’s consumer-centric marketplace. Wardell’s ACCM presentation, “Four Transitions: Profiting from a Consumer Controlled Marketplace,” explored how to do just that.
“There are so many good things happening in terms of technology and the opportunities for better communication with customers,” said Wardell. In today’s day and age, he elaborated, marketers find themselves in a position in which consumers are controlling the process of purchasing and the information used to purchase. With the evolution of the Internet and wireless, increased consumer fragmentation, and a larger number of choices and decisions available, customer satisfaction becomes all the more important.
Wardell presented four transitions a company can harness to help them overcome these challenges and profit from a consumer controlled marketplace:
From Major Channel Proactive to Multichannel Reactive
The proactive, more traditional approach involves the “awareness” and “engagement” stages of a campaign, and tends to be a one-time event with a broad audience at the discretion of the marketer, explained Wardell. Once the customer takes the initiative by contacting the marketer, the approach becomes reactive. Messages can then be delivered individually in response to their initiative.
From Mass Marketing to Merchandising for the Individual
Citing a recent study by the CMO Council, Wardell stressed the importance of moving from mass marketing to personalization, and how this approach tends to involve data-driven reactive campaigns. “Personalized marketing techniques are still in the early stages of being integrated into most companies’ marketing campaigns and budgets,” he pointed out. “The data tells us when to talk to them, and also what content to send them, based on past purchase behavior.”
From Product Proliferation to Mass Customization
The third transition, Wardell told ACCM conferees, is the move from product proliferation to mass customization, which involves customizing everything ─ the product, the selection, and the delivery.
From Consumer Confusion to Simple Solution
Wardell told ACCM conferees that the last of the four transitions is the move from consumer confusion to a simple solution. The challenge here, he explained, is “How to make those transactions not product-centric but customer-centric. In the world of customer initiative and few sustainable product advantages, simplifying your process and your incentives can make you stand out.”
Concluding his presentation, Wardell predicted that marketing budgets will be increasingly moving away from the areas of engagement and awareness, and into that of collaboration and transformation. “Once the customer comes, there will be more investment in how that customer is treated, and in making that process easier.”
Over the past 30 years, Wardell has devoted his career to improving marketing efficiency. Most recently, he founded Exemplar Inc., dedicated to providing relevant, multichannel communications for clients such as Staples, HSN Improvements, Kraft-Gevalia, and New Line Cinema.
ACCM attendees received a complimentary copy of Marketing Out of Control and immediately following the keynote presentation, Wardell was available for a book signing.
The Direct Marketing Association (www.the-dma.org) is the leading global trade association of businesses and nonprofit organizations using and supporting multichannel direct marketing tools and techniques. DMA advocates standards for responsible marketing, promotes relevance as the key to reaching consumers with desirable offers, and provides cutting-edge research, education, and networking opportunities to improve results throughout the end-to-end direct marketing process. Founded in 1917, DMA today represents nearly 3,600 companies from dozens of vertical industries in the
In 2007, marketers — commercial and nonprofit — spent $173.2 billion on direct marketing in the
The Power of Direct: Relevance. Responsibility. Results.
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