Well done bit of opinion from Hans-Peter Brøndmo of ClickZ Experts on why many one-to-one customer marketing programs flop.
Brøndmo's main points:
- It's complicated
- It requries technology
- It requires organizational buy-in
- It requires smart people to lead
- Smart, young people move on
- It's strategic, necessitating executive support
- The economics are abused (measured program-to-program rather than as a whole)
- When the champion leaves so does the initiative
That the people are as important as the process in the development of a customer-focused marketing strategy is something that bears repeating. Most successful projects happen because somebody champions them.
In general, trade shows are not known for outstanding marketing. Truth be told, until the past decade, great show marketing hasn't really been all that necessary. But today's environment requires much more sophistication to rise above the noise. And most shows, unless they're direct offshoots of large associations or publications, haven't had the infrastructure to support sophisticated database marketing.
I think VNU understood this when it recruited Michael Ousley from American Express to become its first vice president of database marketing. I've also been impressed with Advanstar's Brian Randall, who's done some impressive things with the AIIM/OnDemand expos. Then again, Randall came from AIIM to begin with.
Besides being part of a very small club of independent show organizer executives with strong backgrounds in customer marketing, I'd wager that both Ousley and Randall are among the few show marketers who could jump outside the industry and be even more successful.
Both VNU and Advanstar would be well advised to ensure they stay on for awhile.
As Brøndmo points out in his close:
Building lasting customer relationships reaps enormous economic benefits. And it's not easy. Doing it well and reaping those benefits requires a long-term strategic commitment. If you rely on young, smart, ambitious leaders in your organization to light and carry the customer marketing torch, your program will be a blip, then probably fail. Only with strong and lasting commitment from the top and a corporate-wide culture that puts the customer in the center can the customer marketing vision begin to approach reality.
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