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And the Brand Played On
Marketing professionals must get faster and better at building customer loyalty
Marketing professionals must get faster and better at building customer loyalty
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Business New Haven
2/22/1999
By: Roseann Staplins
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Due in part to exploding technology, and in part to consumers' ever-shorter attention spans, the art and science of marketing products and services continues to evolve at breakneck pace. What works today, it seems, may be obsolete tomorrow - literally.
BNH asked a range of experts from advertising, academia and the private sector what marketing trends they foresaw emerging to impact their industries in the months to come. Here's what they had to say.
Charles T. Mason is CEO of Mason & Madison Inc., an advertising, public relations and marketing communications firm in New Haven.
Many of the corporations which have gone through acquisitions and mergers - faux growth - are now realizing they've reached a point where they're merged-out. They're now faced with growing their brand.
There's tremendous talk about brand development/brand equity/loyalty marketing. The cost is many multiples to get a new customer than to retain them. That's why lease programs for cars are so popular - not because they make tons of money, but because they know when your number is up.
Because of the merger-and-acquisition frenzy, the standing of the marketing departments has gone down. A lot of companies damaged their marketing abilities. Marketing departments are not seen by some managers as players. It's difficult for agencies to have an impact on core strategies.
There's no question that the Internet and associated products are really hot. There are now a couple of studies that show that where the growth is is in business-to-business. The Internet is coming of age. We have a new company called netFeet involved in Internet work.
We're convinced that the early people into the Internet were in it for fun. When your mindset is research, the fun stuff drives you crazy. It's a lot of schtick, not true commerce. A lot of people are going to go away - people don't like this, it's too slow, takes too long to load. Professional people will be sought after to organize these sites. E-commerce is an aspect that will be exploding over the next 12 months. People are asking, 'Why are we spending all this money? What are we getting for it?'
Dick R. Wittink is the General George Rogers Clark Professor of Management and Marketing at the Yale School of Management, New Haven
To avoid the pitfalls of myopic perspectives implied by the brand-management system, managers are increasingly focusing on customers. For example, Microsoft announced on February 8 that the company will change from a product-oriented organization to a customer-oriented structure.
In the financial-services industry, many institutions are reorganizing their information systems so that management can estimate the profit contribution of individual customers.
One of the critical competitive advantages now centers around the relationships firms develop with individual customers. Research results suggest that branches (for example, of banks) with the most satisfied customers, and the most satisfied employees, are the most profitable. And by selecting to serve the customers with the highest profit potential, early movers in the arena of customer relationship-building can create long-term competitive advantages.
For the foreseeable future, marketing is about the creation of products and services that appeal to a heterogeneous set of customers. The key to doing this well lies in the development of a thorough understanding of individual customers' needs and preferences, of their sensitivities to marketing instruments, of their satisfaction with purchase and consumption experiences, and of the drivers of satisfaction, repeat purchase and word of mouth. Firms that master this process better than their competitors will be the profitable survivors.
Edie Goldberg is vice president of Goodcopy Printing & Graphics, New Haven
Clearly, the most important trend is fast turnaround. People who have their own computers are asking: If they can do it on their computers, why can't suppliers do it? We're trying to educate customers that what works from home doesn't necessarily work here.
There are probably a thousand $25 software programs out there. In the beginning we tried working with all of them, but we're educating ourselves and we're comfortable with what programs we can work with. We're telling people up front. It helps that the customer knows what they like and we can create something from what they give us.
We put out a newsletter that tells people, for example, what you need to prepare something for printing, and over the next 12 months we'll be offering seminars, setting up a Web site and taking more files over the Web.
Laura Giammattei is director of marketing & promotions for radio station WKCI-FM, headquartered in Hamden.
We're a pretty traditional radio station. We use direct mail, billboards, we fax out promotions. Some stations are looking at non-traditional methods, like e-mail contests. We may do that later this year; we're building our database now.
The biggest change would be the Internet. We promote our Web site. For example, at our recent bridal show, 1,200 of the 1,500 people [who attended] registered via the Internet. In our Loyal Listeners Club, 5,000 people have signed on over the Web site in the last six months.
The Internet is not affecting us as much as television. People still listen to the radio at their computers.
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