What happens when companies don't invest in Direct Customer Communications?

I would love to be a fly on the wall when marketing departments are thrashing out plans for their marketing campaigns at the beginning of the new financial year.

I am willing to take a bet that in general, direct digital communications - considered the ginger-headed step children of marketing disciplines - receive mere scraps of the budget pie, whilst the glamorous fat cat traditional and significantly more expensive media channels take the lion's share. This translates into a minimal requirement for a comprehensive digital communication strategy, as there is relatively little money left to allocate to it. And this is where it all goes wrong.

I do admit however that this strategy is slowly changing, as social media is gradually being included into marketing strategies, but frankly it is not happening fast enough.

To illustrate my point…

I believe most companies' marketing strategies look something like this:

A couple of big campaigns are planned for the year. The objective: drive as much brand recognition as possible using a number of marketing channels; TV, Radio, Print, Trade Shows, PR, Internet Ad spend and perhaps throwing in an Email Campaign. No direct communication plan. No social media strategy.

The problem…

If one had to measure the effectiveness of these campaigns over time, it will be noted that the brand recognition curve peaks midway through the campaign and then decreases rapidly into that "quiet" period in between campaigns, until a new campaign kicks in again. Assuming that brand recognition translates into sales, this does not deliver a constant flow of sales. A fairly simple analogy, but I think you get the point.

The solution…

Marketing strategies should look like this:

This translates into the following:

• Spread the budget across slightly smaller campaigns and constant direct communication
• Effectively reduce specific campaign budget spend, whilst shifting resources to a direct customer lifecycle communication programme that is targeted, relevant and cost effective throughout the entire year and not just once off 'spray and pray' blasts
• Invest in a social media programme to monitor conversations in the social space, and drive a loyal brand following

The cost of delivering direct digital communications programmes is far less and arguably achieves a better ROI.

To sum it up - By reducing specific campaign budgets and allocating additional funds in a constant direct communications programme throughout the year, while supporting it with a social media strategy, you mitigate the "quiet" periods and drive the brand recognition curve higher.

Always communicating. Always top of mind.

Assuming again that brand recognition translates into sales, to ensure consistency, use direct communications and social media constantly throughout the year, in conjunction with smaller more targeted campaigns. This is a far better marketing strategy.

For more tips on how to harness the power of digital communications, chat to an eMarketing Specialist.