1-2-1 Marketing

To create a relationship with the customer is of course nothing new in the field of marketing. Relationship-marketing has always been important when it concerns the marketing of services. However, the possibilities to market products and services while at the same time constantly develop customer relations has increased. This is because the development and usage of new technology, but most importantly, the new thinking this new technology has led to.

1-2-1 Marketing is in itself perhaps nothing new. Back in the old days, the village butcher would know what cut of beef each customer would want or if one particular customer preferred lamb or chicken on Saturdays. What is new is of course, and still quite unexplored in Australia, is how you can still have this kind of one-on-one relationship with your customers and collect information on their preferences despite an ever expanding customer base that most companies and major brands face.

To create deeper relationships with clients is valuable – both because revenue is likely to increase from a loyal group of customers and because costs related to finding new customers might be kept down. After all, we all know that the costs involved in keeping an existing customer are significantly lower than acquiring a new one. This is of course due to the fact that the company can streamline its information and save on the costs of unnecessary marketing (narrowcast rather than broadcast).

1-2-1 Marketing is actually both a strategy and a way of promoting your company and its products or services. The basis of it is to have a two-way dialogue with the customer. This dialogue requires cooperation and coordination within the company as many people are involved in creating and deepening the relationship with a customer. For example, an open dialogue with the client could result in the development of a new product or service, all facets from product development, sales and marketing are then dependent on this dialogue and need to get involved in the conversation with the customer. In principle, the whole company is involved in the creation of a deeper relationship with their customer.

When we talk about 1-2-1 Marketing, we’re talking about more than simple direct mail or emails that are personalised by each customer’s name. We are in fact referring to the entire cyclical process where we engage customers in a conversation via different customer touchpoints, driving them across different media, collecting information, and then using this information to continue the conversation and develop real customer intimacy.

Most of the time, 1-2-1 marketing campaigns are sent out as personalised letters or emails informing the potential buyer of an offer perfectly suited for them. In more advanced cases, this may be connected to a personalised web-page where an already loyal customer may buy more and even update their details and preferences. Hence, we can see that obtaining information about the customer is at the basis of every successful 1-2-1 campaign. To be successful in our 1-2-1 marketing we must not only consider the classic pillars of marketing; product, price, place and promotion. But we must also bear in mind some other equally important thoughts, namely: interaction, relation and network. It may also be argued that these last thoughts must be considered before we can name a price, offer a product and promote it.

Let us consider an example that will take us, in a few steps, from having a basic understanding of a customer as someone who happens to find our place of trading to a client whom we can have a life-long interaction with through 1-2-1 Marketing. For example, let us consider a shoe-shop. Through ads in the local newspaper, our shop informs potential customers about their products and prices. Some day perhaps a campaign with favourable prices is launched. The message is spread broadly; a few people come to the shop. In the shop, we may try to tie customers to us by way of a loyalty scheme concerning a few ‘two-for one; offers, ‘leather boots winter special’ etc. All in all, our shop has very traditional view of marketing. However, after a while, we may want to deepen our understanding of our most frequent customers. Maybe we launch a web-site showing our ‘latest news from Italy’ and offer an online buying service. Here the customer tells us when he or she will want the shoes, in what order? Is the client a hiker? Or is it only high heels from Milan? Price can be altered by deciding time and quantity. We must collect as much information as possible to be able to come with a perfect offer at a perfect time. Do we know what our clients work with? Is it the hiking season? Perhaps we can send our hiking-boot buyers a personal letter about the season’s new boots with a suitable deal? The next time we might have a website linked to his special offer. Did the clients buy anything? Yes? No? Why not then? Have we misunderstood something? It might be worthwhile calling a few top customers.

What we want is to have a client whom we know and who knows us, that is a perfect recipe for increased value for both of us and a perfect way to spread the word of mouth: our most valuable marketing tool.

Image byRW photobug

Communications