In adopting new marketing tools, don’t forget old tricks

Tantalizing technology promises to put targeted marketing messages directly in the hands of customers, but industry insiders call for prudence before investing in some methods, as a flood of messages may turn off shoppers. Companies are leaving little to chance in the current economy, making every marketing dollar count.

Even with targeted marketing messages, it’s a challenge to reach an audience, said Michael Ellwanger, president of EFX Marketing, in Hammonton. “So often, companies are losing that communication process. They expect to close a sale with very little personal” communication, he said.

Though a range of Web-based tools is available, said Tracy Dacko, president of the Business Marketing Association’s New Jersey chapter, marketers who stick to fundamentals are excelling.

“While there are a lot more measurable ways of marketing yourself now, you can’t just throw out a video online or a survey on SurveyMonkey.com,” she said. “It’s the core stuff people need to pay attention to.” Dacko also is creative director of Alchemy Consulting & Design LLC, in Warren.

Mixing traditional marketing with newer media is how Sam Harrison, a partner with marketing and public relations firm Linett & Harrison, in Union, said companies can get the attention of an audience.

“We try to reach people in terms of their behavioral context,” he said. For example, if a desired audience frequents shopping malls, he recommends getting messages to them at the mall through signage, print or digital means.

Not everyone can be reached through mobile and Web-based marketing, said Ann Subervi, president of marketing and public relations firm Utopia Communications, in Eatontown. “If you’re trying to reach an audience of baby boomers, those people are still reading traditional print publications and still consuming mass medias like television and radio,” she said.

Subervi said software available to smartphone users makes it possible to market to customers based on their immediate location. Programs can point to restaurants, coffee shops and other local destinations in relation to where the customer is standing.

But though Ellwanger said he is keeping an eye on trends in this area, he has not had requests from his customers for the latest in marketing technology. For the older-than-40 set, for instance, “e-mailing over the phone is cutting edge,” he said.

Many businesses are taking a wait-and-see approach for these newer marketing methods. “The average business, printers and auto mechanics, is sticking to traditional marketing efforts,” he said.

Dacko called the problem “a catch-22. A lot of companies are not going to employ some new method like mobile marketing until they know people are going to respond to it. But we’re not going to know if people respond to it until people try it.”

That said, rising postage rates are making e-mail contacts more prevalent, Ellwanger said. “A lot of companies try to get clients to opt into a direct mailing list, and then introduce their services through e-mail,” he said.

Using e-mail to reach a target audience, however, must be done with care, Harrison said. “People get so many e-mails. Oftentimes, they delete and don’t read them,” he said. “It’s become more and more challenging with e-mail blasts.” Writing a creative subject line is important to encourage recipients to open the e-mail, Harrison said.

He recommends using opt-in lists that contain e-mail addresses for recipients who are more likely to open messages.

“Do your homework before you do any of these things,” Harrison said. “I find that people want to jump to the next hot thing, but they haven’t researched it properly.”

Rather than simply sending out regular e-mail blasts to customers, Ellwanger said his company also tracks who is opening the messages. That can help match the marketing messages to fit the recipients who are interested. “They can track who’s opening the e-mail and what [links] they click on,” he said.

Bombarding potential customers with marketing messages — regardless of what form — can quickly sour the relationship, Dacko said. Targeted campaigns on a smaller scale are more effective, she said. “They don’t want that constant communication with them in certain instances,” she said.

E-mail to jpruth@njbiz.com

 

published 5/18/2009 - NJBIZ