Relevance. Responsibility. Results. Memories of DMA08 in Vegas…

Just back from the DMA08 Conference & Exhibition in Las Vegas! If you’re following us on Twitter, you would know this already (psst - that’s a hint to click the twitter link and start following us if you’re not already). Anyhow the show was full of buzz and I’m not talking slot machine / casino buzz. I’m talking fabulous attendees, vendors and keynotes!

Ty Pennington

The opening keynote was with Ty Pennington, the host of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”. He got on stage after painfully long opening remarks by John Greco, the DMA president & CEO and a bunch of other people on the DMA board, not to mention a few senators etc. Ya, that was a little too much propaganda for me and most of the people waiting for Pennington. Anyhow, moving right along, the overall theme of this opening ceremony was around Relevance, Responsibility and Results – the 3 R’s.

The DMA people referenced the need for marketers to continually be factoring these 3 R’s into every move we make. That’s the short version = I’ll spare you all the looooong details so we can cut to the good stuff. 

So when Pennington finally got on stage, Greco asked him to relate these 3 R’s to what he does with his show. And it was quite easy to see how his involvement with “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” does just this.

The relevance of the makeovers typically starts with a serious understanding of a family’s needs. Not everyone needs the same house and Pennington explained how important this understanding of what makes a family tick really matters for makeover relevance. He says he really digs deep into lifestyle needs to help ensure he creates a home with matching relevance.

As for responsibility, this was a cool one too. More and more, Pennington is embracing environmentally friendly options in home-building. If it can be green, he makes it green. If it can be recycled, it’s recycled, etc. He’s very aware of being environmentally responsible.

And of course results. There isn’t a home makeover that doesn’t score top marks. If you’ve ever watched the show, you know what I’m talking about. The tears say it all!

In talking to Eric Hollebone, one of my colleagues at Sitebrand, he reminded me how well these 3 R’s tie into Sitebrand’s value proposition. Actually, when we apply the 3 R’s to Sitebrand and our Segment&Serve personalization platform, I’m wondering why we weren’t asked to speak right alongside Pennington! Maybe we need to pilot a show called ~ “Extreme Makeover: Website Edition”? We’re already doing it without endorsement by ABC - just look at some of the genius stuff our customers are doing (see case studies galore). I may be on to something here. I better call my agent! I digress…

Let’s consider Sitebrand’s Segment&Serve solution and the 3 R’s:

1. Does Segment&Serve speak to relevance? Yes! The name says it all. Segmentation that leads to better targeted messaging is all about relevance. That’s just one way of looking at it.
2. Does Segment&Serve speak to responsibility? Yes! We could look at this many ways, but think about this one example first. As marketers you’re spending lots of money driving traffic to your site. You’re also measured on conversion. But what are you doing to take responsibility for the piece in the middle – the persuasion piece of the sales funnel. If you’re using web personalization, you’re proactive ways are very responsible since they help maximize your acquisition spends on things like email and search.
3. Does Segment&Serve speak to results? Yes! Hmm, where do we start! I think the best route is via our case studies. Sitebrand is all about measurable results – increased conversion rates, cart spends and loyalty. Decreased cart abandonment and so on.

So what are you doing to ensure your marketing efforts tie into relevance, responsibility and results? That’s something to think about..better yet, action on.

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Posted in Carolyn Gardner, Conversion, Customer Experience, Optimization, Personalization, Segment&Serve, Sitebrand, eCommerce, online marketing