On Demand Printing and Publishing….Or is It "Marketing On Demand"? By Barb Pellow April 18, 2007 -- It is clear that today’s chief marketers face intense pressure from CEOs and corporate boards to deliver bottom line results. These marketing executives are seeking new tools and techniques to improve the relevance, accountability, and performance of their organizations. The average CMO succumbs to this pressure and has an average tenure of less than two years. In March 2007, the CMO Council released its 2007 Outlook Survey. The CMO Council is a peer networking and thought leadership organization of more than 3,000 top marketing executives worldwide. The report stated that the era of brand -centric marketing is giving way to a new breed of CMOs who are focused on measurable performance and business results. When asked about their top priorities, CMOs responded, "The number one challenge will be to quantify and measure the value of marketing programs and investments, followed by improving efficiency and effectiveness, growing customer knowledge and interactions, and improving the ROI of expenditures." Today’s CMOs are voting with their dollars. When asked about the top 10 areas of spending relative to marketing automation, the responses were as follows: 1. Marketing performance measurement dashboard 2. E-mail campaign management 3. Lead generation qualification or reactivation 4. Customer relationship management 5. Customer intelligence and analytics 6. Sales and marketing integration tools 7. Viral word of mouth 8. Marketing resource/process management 9. Customer networking and affinity building 10. Loyalty and rewards While I have only been able to visit a limited number of booths thus far at ON DEMAND , it is clear that suppliers are listening to the CMO. We are seeing the emergence of a new era in graphic communications. An event that was once focused on the latest digital printing equipment and feeds and speeds is now a forum demonstrating "Marketing On Demand" solutions. Equipment vendors and software suppliers are demonstrating and delivering tools that graphic communications companies can leverage to meet the needs of the marketing executive. While I have a lot more ground to cover on Wednesday and Thursday, I thought I would share my observations from the first day of the show. Integrated Campaign Management Solutions Reign Supreme With the CMOs’ focus on results measurement, integrated campaign management solutions reign supreme at ON DEMAND . From a definitional perspective, integrated campaign management software focuses on the design and execution of marketing campaigns. These software products enable marketers to select specific customers for inclusion in a campaign, filter other customers, decide which customers get which offers, decide the timing of when a customer receives certain offers, and determine through which channel the customer will receive the offer. Additionally, campaign management software can help detect customer responses to the campaigns and create the output for telemarketing organizations, direct mail fulfillment, or e-mail offerings. The integrated marketing campaign starts with mail, be it a printed direct mail piece or an e-mail. The document needs to be designed to attract attention. The most critical aspect of any direct mail campaign is the actual offer to drive the recipient to the next step. This is typically a link to a personalized URL. The campaign's Mail File (list of direct mail recipients) is used to generate Personalized URLs for each recipient. These PURLs are then woven into the direct mail piece with other variable data. When recipients type their PURLs into a browser, they arrive on personalized Web pages (landing pages or VIP pages) populated with cop ies, images, and offers also based on customer data. From there, the measurement and reporting of results begins. Once the individual has linked into the personalized URL, creative marketers want to gather additional data about the prospect. The offer strategy should be designed to entice the respondent to complete a brief survey or disclose interests and needs. The objective is to ensure a high level of interaction with the prospect. Systems available in the market today include built-in tracking to enable continuous monitoring of the campaign’s progress as customers enter their personalized pages and provide additional relevant information. Campaign response rates, visitor response patterns, and detailed lead information can be available 24x7 as the campaign unfolds. Because systems are template -driven, adjustments to messaging and offers can be made in a matter of hours versus days. This allows marketers to make changes in the campaign in near-real-time based on results they are seeing. Tool sets also have the ability to generate powerful reports so the marketing executive can share the impact of critical marketing programs with the entire management team. Solutions abound at this year’s ON DEMAND Show. Tools for Meeting the Needs of the CMO – Measuring and Communicating Value with Demonstrated ROI Pageflex (Booth #701) is introducing expanded cross -media capabilities and results tracking tools for its Pageflex server. The new campaign tracking feature in Storefront enables users to track each part of the campaign separately depending on what it is (e.g., print, e-mail, P ersonalized URLs ). The elements can also be tracked together as a single comprehensive campaign. For example, e-mails are tracked for the "open" rate. Personalized URLs are tracked for "who clicked through," when and who responded to survey questions. Print is tracked based on how many mailings went out and who got them. It is also possible to track who responded to the personalized URL from the e-mail versus the printed postcard. In all cases, individual recipients are tracked and users can view statistics collectively per campaign, per campaign segment, or per user. Since the campaign is rolled up, it is also possible to see the exact number of "touches" to a recipient. Tracking responses is essential for all campaigns. MindfireInc. (Booth #1651 with partner Saepio) added new graphing features including pie charts and line graphs to the campaign dashboard. According to MindfireInc. Executive Vice President Carolyn Valiquette, "Marketing executives need help rapidly interpreting the data as well as sharing it with other functions in the organization. The graphing capability helps marketing executives understand and communicate ROI." XMPie (Booth #1655) is demonstrating modifications to PersonalEffect v3.2. One of the key enhancements includes improvements in the uProduce Dashboard for tracking marketing results. BlueTree Direct (Booth #1473) recently launched BlueStream 2007. With this software, all campaign results are recorded in real-time and can be viewed in a marketing dashboard for quick and easy access. Users can have a high -level or detailed view of each campaign, response rates, activity summar ies, and much more. According to Bill Hishon, Vice President of Business Development & Partnerships, "Marketers can analyze return on investment for every marketing dollar spent. Users can compare responses from various types of campaigns (print, e-mail, Ad words, telesales, etc.), observe Web site hits versus actual Web form submissions, view a summary of responses per question or item measured, and link back into the CRM for individual response details. This helps users to streamline marketing efforts by target marketing into key areas where returns are higher, and enables them to predict and capitalize on future spending." interlinkOne (Booth #556) is demonstrating its integrated collection of online marketing tools. According to President and CEO John Foley, "Measuring value is critical to our clients. Our system provides real-time reports that provide detailed feedback about marketing operations. It is critical to know how many people opened your e-mails, which campaigns generated the highest response rates, the most profitable messaging vehicle, and which products were most popular." Document Sciences (Booth #409) is emphasizing its xPression third generation technology and its Web -enabled capabilities to handle real -time interactive and batch documents. There is a strong focus on "engaging and connecting" with customers in real -time to improve the overall efficiency in the communications. The company’s recently released xPresso for Dreamweaver lets users quickly deploy graphically rich e-mail and Web landing pages. It ensures the use of consistent content by combining variable data with digital assets through document assembly logic to generate personalized e-mail and customized Web landing pages that are generated in real time. xPresso for Word 2007 leverages the new features of Microsoft Word 2007, providing a suite of editing tools that enable users to transform static designs into personalized customer communications for delivery via print, e-mail, or the Web. EasyPurl (Booth #1042) is a platform designed for companies involved in creating, printing or distributing direct mail promotions. Designed to work behind the scenes, EasyPurl provides a platform for creating PURLs and customized landing pages for direct mail. It also has a tracking system to identify which direct mail recipients visited your landing page. Responsive Solutions (Booth #322) is demonstrating its Customer+ Solution. Customer+ uses a single workflow and user interface. M arketers, designers, and ad agencies can collaborate to develop multiple print and electronic direct marketing pieces that work together seamlessly. Each piece can include "triggers" that automatically drive subsequent mailings based on response/no response, as well as the type of response so marketers can continuously improve their customer service and mailing efficiency. Customer+ is designed for marketing professionals, and Responsive Solutions indicates that implementation takes full advantage of templates and doesn’t require any technical skills . After less than an hour of training, users should be able to select the appropriate template and provide a set of questions for the PURLs , at which point the system automatically directs the respondent to the most appropriate landing page. Saepio (Booth #1651) announced its first true variable data product. The improved variable data printing (VDP) capabilities enable personalized communications while retaining ease of use and field marketer engagement. End-user controlled content mapping and the ability to nest variable insertions based on top-level choices are unique VDP features added to the Saepio product line. Saepio is also partnering with MindfireInc, Objective Advantage, and USAData to deliver integrated marketing campaign management. Saepio is leveraging direct mail list sourcing through USAData , using the Mindfire engine so that an end- user can create a Saepio VDP program with personalized URLs, and implementing Objective Advantage JDF Symbio to streamline workflow. Yes, It is "Marketing On Demand" Success with marketing executives will be crucial to the growth of digital print service providers. Marketing is evolving from an art to a science with a heavy focus on ROI and analytics. As interactive multi-channel marketing gains momentum, there will be more focus on accountability and proving that campaigns translate into growth and profitability. Marketers want to optimize campaigns and improve their performance. Marketing is facing significant change, and you can play a key role in successfully driving that change. "Print on demand" has given way to "marketing on demand." Stay tuned—on April 25, we will consider how transactional software suppliers have transformed offerings to meet the CMO s’ priorities for marketing efficiency and effectiveness.