News
The Next Big
Thing: Advanced Marketing Analytics
By Michael Caccavale, CEO of
Pluris Marketing Solutions
Executives have heard the following phrase countless
times: Marketing needs to get more analytical. The
strategies, processes and technologies used to
identify, acquire, and retain loyal customers are
changing. Companies struggle to find out what makes
their customers tick while budget constraints make
finding the best customers and prospects more
difficult. Add in the unprecedented volume of
messages across every conceivable channel, and the
world of marketing becomes a very difficult place.
This is where advanced marketing analytics can be
used. Analytics turn data into action by targeting
the right individual with the right offer or
promotion with the right message. Analytics is no
longer a “nice to have” tool, but a “need to have,”
integrated component of a marketer's overall
execution platform. The dynamics of the marketplace
demand an analytic platform that is truly integrated
with the entire marketing process and continually
updated to assure relevance.
Today, marketers require advanced insight into
customer and prospect behavior well before creative
is completed or the marketing program is put into
action. In the past, models were used to predict
such behavior, but today's marketers need to know
more. The idea of developing a model for a campaign
or program simply can't work in the current
environment.
Even in a simple model with only a few services in,
for example, telecommunications, a cellular provider
would need nearly a hundred models to provide truly
advanced knowledge about a customer's expected
behavior across half a dozen service plans.
Statistics is no longer a means to an end for
increased lift. It is now the mechanism by which
marketers must discern or uncover advanced knowledge
about a customer's behavior, and, most importantly,
be able to use this knowledge in all marketing and
sales activities.
Armed with this knowledge, the marketer can better
manage the entire marketing lifecycle, from planning
to measurement. For example, in one firm we have
worked with, the marketing plans for the year are
based on the expected results (driven by advanced
analytics). The firm's marketing executives can
contemplate shifts in marketing spend across
programs and have a very real sense of the expected
lift and return on these dollars.
A proper platform must be put in place to handle the
entire analytical modeling process. It needs to
fully support all analytical model development,
scoring, accuracy checking, performance
verification, and integration with the marketer's
toolset, campaign, measurement, ad-hoc and reporting
platforms. Furthermore, the analytical capability
and integration must be automated, saving the
modeler time and letting the advanced analytic
resource focus on providing value.
One of the most common best practices using advanced
analytics is the redistribution of contacts from one
customer group/segment to another early in the
planning process. With an integrated analytics
platform, marketers can view future contact plans in
light of expected response and returns, and
redistribute marketing dollars (and contacts) on all
outbound channels to address their strategic needs.
During the execution stages of each program, the
marketer can evaluate real results against expected
results and further reallocate contacts while
programs are in market.
By leveraging the advanced analytical platform,
marketers can optimize offers on inbound channels
like customer service and inbound sales.
---Source: Reprinted from DM News Feb
6, 2008 issue www.dmnews.com. Michael Caccavale is
the CEO of Pluris Marketing Solutions. You can reach
him at mcaccavale@plurisinc.com.
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