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OnlineNewsletter
from
Davis & Associates(Strategic Marketing)
Edition
2: October/November 2000
Item
1: Quality Websites
www.boldfish.com:
simple, practical and effective tips on email marketing
www.asp-outsourcing-journal.com:
relevant, comprehensive information on the latest trends
and issues on outsourcing and insourcing. While having
a strong IT focus, the content is still relevant to
outsourcing marketing functions and operations
www.yodlee.com:
visit one of the web's innovators in e-finance
Item
2: Recommended Marketing Publication
For
current information and competitive intelligence on
financial services marketing from around the world
(including Australian articles and features), consider
the monthly bulletin:
"Bank
Marketing International"
Published
by the Dublin-based, Lafferty Group, an annnual subscription
is on the expensive side at US$899, but the content
is interesting, up-to-date and international in flavour.
For more information, visit the website at: www.lafferty.com
Item
3: Opinion Piece - "Brand Consultancies: Sorting the
Value from the Hype"
Since
the mid-90s, we've witnessed the emergence of the
brand consultant, providing specialist branding expertise
(typically accompanied by their own special proprietary
methodology and nomenclature).
Many
of these folk are refugees from advertising land or
re-badged graphic designers, often with an advertising
or design-led view of the world and scant understanding
of brand in a holistic sense (how many of the current
crop of brand consultants, for example, really understand
what brand means in a B2B context, the value of sponsorships
as powerful branding tools, or the role of customer
relationship management in brand awareness and brand
loyalty).
In
addition, much of what is recommended (and the way
in which it is presented) often has little practical
relevance or application in a "real world" corporate
environment
Notwithstanding
the above, there are some quality brand consultancies
in the Australian market who add value to a marketing
team's brand thinking and brand strategy.
So
how to sort out the good ones:
| 1. |
Find
out about their collective career backgrounds
& experience |
| 2. |
Check
out the last 2-3 projects they've worked on,
and contact the company directly, focusing
on performance versus promise |
| 3. |
What
KPIs do they propose for assessing their performance
and contribution? |
| 4. |
Do
they have "meaningful" experience in your
industry sector/s (e.g.services brands vs
consumer brands)? |
| 5. |
What
is the scope of their brand knowledge and
practical experience across a range of media
and tools (advertising, sponsorships, DM,
internet, PR, printed collateral, customer
service delivery and touchpoints etc)? |
Item
4: Direct Marketers Online
As
a potential indicator of likely trends/developments
in Australian "E-marketing", key findings of a recent
survey of 400 leading US direct marketers on online
issues, showed that:
The
primary purpose of websites was:
The
survey (State of the Interactive eCommerce Marketing
Industry) also looked at site promotion and advertising.
Currently,
55% of direct marketers are focusing on ROI ("return
on investment") and basing future growth plans around
it. Specific findings included:
-
86%
of respondents expect interactive media to provide
increased revenue over the next 3 years
-
Median
spending levels for site development are US$60,000
versus US$50,000 for promotion
-
66%
cite search engine positioning and 54% cite email
as top online promotion methods - email being rated
the "most effective", while search engines were
rated as "somewhat effective".
Item
5: Outsourcing and Insourcing Marketing
In
late June 2000, I spoke on outsourcing and insourcing
marketing at The Australian Marketing Institute's
Financial and Professional Services Conference
2000 in Sydney.
In
researching the topic, I found there was a paucity
of current, relevant information on outsourcing and
insourcing core marketing functions and activities
(and certainly nothing available in relation to the
Australian market).
While
there was a large amount of material available on
customer contact functions (i.e. call centres, customer
database management), there was neglible data on core
marketing activities such as marketing strategy and
planning, brand, channel strategy and pricing. One
of the few pieces of relevant data relates to a late
1990s survey conducted amongst US companies, which
showed that:
*
Activities typically kept in-house included:
marketing planning;product development;strategic
planning;and brand strategy
* Activities typically outsourced included:
product promotions; advertising; direct mail; market
research; and corporate literature.
I'm
planning to undertake formal market research into outsourcing
and insourcing marketing in Australia during 2001. However,
in the interim, I would be interested in hearing from
marketers - via email - what marketing activities your
organisation typically outsources and insources.
Item
6: B2B Exchange Shakeout
In
August this year, articles began to appear in The
Australian Financial Review predicting an inevitable
shakeout in the B2B exchange marketspace.
However,
analysis by emarketing (www.emarketer.com),
suggests a more "segmented shakeout", whereby:
B2B
analysts believe 3rd Party and Consortia-led Exchanges
will be seriously challenged by the complexities of
having to, in effect, establish new bureaucracies and
integrate diverse technologies - resulting in them operating
more as information hubs than B2B exchanges.
Moreover,
recent research by A.T. Kearney of more than 100 online
marketplaces, found that less than 15% of exchanges
were able to offer value-added services covering the
entire transaction process; while the Gartner Group
predicts that most marketplaces are not in a position
to provide real value-added services for at least another
18 months-two years.
Item 7: Recommended Strategy Text
One
of the world's most insightful thinkers on strategy,
Gary Hamel, has released his latest work, "Leading
The Revolution" (Harvard Business School Press);
it's central thesis: that radical innovation is the
only way to overcome relentless and ruthless competition
in today's world. Hamel's book is summarised in the
September 2000 edition of AFR's BOSS magazine.
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