As I mentioned in my post Wednesday, the theme of the 2010 Forrester Marketing Forum is how marketing organizations can – and should – adapt. The first keynote for the forum, from senior Forrester analyst David Cooperstein, provided the context for what adaptive marketing means. Unsurprisingly, the primary theme of his keynote revolved around social media and how marketing organizations large and small can adapt their efforts to better engage – rather than react – to consumers.Cooperstein does an excellent job of comparing marketers to journalists, and consumers to “viewers.” This is a reasonable analogy because talented marketers are nothing if they are not good story tellers… no matter where your marketing concentration falls along the marketing continuum, from brand to search to direct digital marketing. In fact, one point is clear from Cooperstein’s context – the value exchange for content has to be worthwhile for the consumer. And, the only way to deliver the right type of content to an audience is to first understand the audience.
“Data is not the answer, the use of it is what is important” – David Cooperstein
Marketers have spent years collecting and interpreting data. But, to Cooperstein’s point, less emphasis has been placed on how best to extract value from that data. Analysis serves a purpose, without a doubt. But, what is the data actually doing?
Cooperstein went on to delineate the three keys to achieving adaptability within a marketing organization. While all three were valuable, the latter two are the most important. First, Cooperstein encouraged marketers to listen more and react intelligently. He outlined how it is possible to pull off this key to adaptability within a social media context, but reacting intelligently to a customer’s expressed and implicit online behavior is not exclusive to social media. The same approach should drive a more relevant email experience, it should connect the Web site channel behavior with email, and it should encourage the exchange of valuable information through mobile.
Cooperstein also encouraged marketers to target the audience better. He encourages targeting to individuals, or a group of individuals that share common traits. This probably sounds obvious, but the point he is making is to avoid the trappings of list-based marketing. Determine which data points characterize individuals, then build a segment. Blasting a list simply will not work any longer, through any channel. The more consumers use social media, the more they expect a brand to be part of the conversation, regardless of which channel the marketer is using to communicate.
How do you see data’s role in adaptive marketing for your organization?
