Part 2: The message is in the medium

With apologies to Marshall McLuhan, I think it’s possible that he had it reversed – the medium is not the message but the message is in the medium – or at least it should be.

If transactional print represents significant greater relative value over direct mail and if it becomes increasingly difficult to deliver marketing messages via mail then isn’t it obvious that imbedding marketing messages in transactional documents is a way to take advantage of the former while overcoming the later?

Some of the deliverables of transpromotional applications may seem to be pie-in-the-sky. Nevertheless, the answers are not in the stars but in the data and in our ability to analyze it, manipulate it and use it creatively. And that – creativity – is the most important component of the process. Without it, we’re likely to spend a lot of time and money implementing technology that doesn’t pay for itself.

In many ways transpromotional finally delivers on promises made by CRM – promises made years ago whose attainment has been frustratingly elusive. Capturing customer data is a great concept as long as it results in meaningful, positive changes in the relationships the authoring organization has with its customers.

I submit that transpromotional (combined with on-line delivery) is the most effective way of improving those relationships. Additionally, if done well, transpromotional can have a significant effect on bottom lines. It reduces costs by decreasing customer service calls and lowering print volumes. Concurrently it improves customer satisfaction and retention rates. Who would complain if, along the way, it increased sales?

Consequently enterprises that want to capitalize on their investments in CRM should naturally gravitate toward transpromotional applications and to service providers who can support them. Notice I said “should”.

It’s an unfortunate truth that our industry has historically done a poor job of convincing C-level executives that document production (in their minds this equals “print”) is more than a “necessary evil”. And, as has been pointed out in other articles and other publications, maybe – just maybe, transpromotional is a way for us to finally get executive row to accept the strategic importance of printed customer communications. Time will tell.

The single greatest challenge presented by transpromotional applications isn’t technological – it’s conceptual. Standard transactional communications take customer data – name, address, account number, etc – and merge it with transactional data – phone calls you made, watts you used, things you bought with your charge card, deposits & withdrawals at your bank. Transpromotional insists that in addition to this, you must know your customer.

For example, just because you know what, when, who and how long their phone calls were last month or what they put on their charge card, doesn’t mean you actually know them. What’s their educational level? What’s the household annual income? Are they married or single? Do they have children? How old are they? How old are their children? What are the interests and hobbies of the family members? Do they own a house or rent? If they own, how long have they lived there and what is the current value of their house? Do they own a car or lease? What kind(s) of cars do they drive? Do they like to travel? Where do they go? What sorts of foods do they like?

Once you begin to answer these questions you’re on your way to knowing your customer. And the answers (that may not have been trapped by a CRM system) are relatively easy to come by – for a price. There are vendors who not only provide lists but who also provide accurate, meaningful data analysis from multiple sources that is invaluable to a successful implementation of transpromotional applications.

But we’re not done yet – stand by for Part 3.