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Newsweek - retention and acquisition strategies
Within today's current economic climate, it's proving even harder for marketers to attract prospects, retain customers and control costs, whilst at the same time deliver results and a good level of return.
It is always good to hear how these strategies have been implemented successfully, and on 19th February, we were fortunate to hear how this has been the case for Newsweek International at the Cogent Elliott CRM evening.
Simon Burrell, Circulation Marketing Director, presented his thoughts on the role of CRM and how it has helped bring a more targeted and successful approach to Newsweek’s acquisition and retention strategies.
Simon has worked for Newsweek for over 10 years developing innovative, hard hitting CRM and acquisition campaigns that have driven results and boosted the Newsweek brand. With extensive industry knowledge within the CRM and digital arena, and a keen speaker having given talks and debates for the likes of the DMA and PPA, Simon gave actionable insight and ideas.
The need to fuse both online and offline marketing principles
According to the e-consultancy CRM 2.0 2009 report, 43% of marketers state that their online and offline marketing communications are integrated. Newsweek certainly falls within this category.
With many customers doing their research online before they purchase, it is key to drive awareness online and offline but equally important to give customers a preference for purchasing either via the web or in more traditional channels such as via subscription forms or call centres. Optimising and personalising integrated communications is vital – driving a more relevant and personal approach to marketing has meant that Newsweek has increased online sales by over 100% in 2008 vs. 2007.
In many companies there is still a large gap in what marketers are doing in terms of driving personalisation and optimising the opportunities that integrated campaigns have to offer. Only by continually testing response rates of various mediums such as DM and landing pages, DM followed up by emails etc., will true fusion and customer centric communications be generated.
Customer is King
According to a report by Gyro International 2008, trends in CRM are changing along with the market – over 80% of marketers are investing more in CRM because of the economic downturn.
Knowing your customers’ wants and needs is essential. Newsweek has successfully differentiated their service offering and their brand in order to create stand-out by adding value to the subscription offering through enhancements such as the Newsweek Loyalty Club. Subscribers can enjoy a wealth of benefits when travelling, which range from discounts with hotels and car rentals to complementary passes to over 250 private clubs around the world.
In addition to their regular subscribers, Newsweek identified that there was also a need in the foreign market for students to use the magazine as an English language tool. Thus, the Newsweek English Programme was introduced, which aimed to broaden their target market by offering eight monthly lesson guides if a subscription was taken out. Identifying this need and gap within the market allowed for a more targeted and relevant approach to be taken in communicating to this very specific customer segment.
Within the current climate the customer is King, it’s a buyers market and it’s how you enhance and offer value to your service that will differentiate the winners from the losers.
Building an international customer base
Invisible barriers to do with cultures and differences in attitudes can lead to marketing strategies failing to make any impact internationally. It is important for international organisations to think globally but act locally. Newsweek has enjoyed success with their international campaigns by getting to understand the needs of the local market through research. Looking at key competitors and investigating cultural differences has led to Newsweek’s DM average response rates exceeding industry averages – achieving a 2.4% net response.
There are many opportunities ahead so leverage what you know and test what you don’t as this will be crucial to your CRM successes in 2009.
For further information, please contact Emma Lilley on 0121 627 5040 or email emma.lilley@cogent.co.uk