Smart Marketing

Your buyers want control

I just received an apology letter from WorldVision, an organization through which my family and I sponsor an African child. Here is a portion of the letter:

"We sent several notices to you over the past months stating that we planned to increase your monthly commitment UNLESS you contacted us to say that you wanted to remain at the lower rate. We recognize now that we needed to ASK you, rather than simply assume you would join us."

First off, kudos to any organization that can admit its mistake so honestly. More importantly, the apology indicates a bigger trend in today's marketing: the buyer has control.

Increasingly, marketing efforts must have an opt-in mentality to them. Buyers are swamped with spam, telemarketing calls and unsolicited direct mail and a backlash is brewing. As a result, buyers are choosing which companies they want to market to them, and which they don't.

Do your marketing efforts have the buyer's choice at the center? Are you making it easy for buyers to opt-in (and conversely, opt-out)?

The need for focus in your marketing

For a while now, I've ranted about the importance of focus in a business' marketing effort. Now, the Big Picture Small Office blog comes out with a post today about how valuable focus would be to this large, public company.

Read it carefully, then refine your focus to just one marketing priority this week. Your company's very survival may be at stake.