Allegedly the mafia’s explanation as to why a hapless victim who has crossed them shouldn’t blame themselves is usually justified as a commercial decision with the “reassuring” rationale “It’s nothing personal – it’s just business”. This scenario (being singled out for business reasons – not execution!) came to mind recently when Northstar researched a global campaign to attract investors to a regional market. The advertising idea was a highly personalised campaign via direct marketing, dedicated print and named URLs – encouraging decision makers to follow their ideals and flattering them by setting it in a context connected to the industry sector they represented. What was fascinating in this age of consumer empowerment, individual dialogue and conversation via social media was the degree of uncertaintyand sheer variety of opinion around “personalised” marketing communications. This got me thinking, as much as anything to provoke a debate, as to the merits of talking to the customer as one given how easy it is to overstep the line and appear even further from the mark by not getting the detail right.
The recent experience at Northstar revealed that consumers started to think harder once they begun to dig deeper. After the initial warm rush from being singled out came questions about the “invasion of privacy” which became for one or two a little more Big Brother than Best Mate. The knee jerk reaction of course is to put this down to age – those that “get” personal connections as par for the course today and aren’t under any illusions the messenger actually cares are younger consumers, whereas older consumers are put in the box marked “How Dare You” equating this form of marketing with “junk mail”. The reality is more complex in that what we expect and want from personal communications is to be treated as adults. We recognise that friendship is a broader concept today; we also like being recognised for who we are or for the group or community we support – but most importantly we want you (the marketer) to get the balance right. If it’s a general call out, then position it that way. On the other hand, if you are going to get up close and personal make sure the detail is spot on. This raises its own challenges. In an era where the individual is king and everyone wants to show they understand their customer, how can you ensure these dialogues appear special and not contrived?
The problem of course with the mafia approach is that the consumer proposition is flawed from the outset. Far from being “nothing personal”, actually you are being rubbed out for who you are or what you’ve done. For the mafia that might be a mere business decision but to the person at the other end of the gun it feels very personal!
Tags: Direct Marketing, Facebook, Personalisation, Twitter
Copyright © 2011 Northstar Research Partners
