Relevant Content Is No Longer Enough

Written By Ted Grigg

Only a few years ago we rode horses to the store. Then came trains, planes and automobiles. After a while, mail order became the rage as retailers considered it stealing its customers.

Then came the Internet, email, the smart phone and the cloud. Customer control became the norm and information moved literally at the speed of light.

Social media allowed customers to share information about products they were considering buying with their peers. Peers, after all, were not the mouthpieces for the company, but offered totally frank opinions and truth about their real experiences with the product.

In other words, the opportunity to uncover the truth about any product was no longer under the complete control of the advertiser. Companies, after all, would tell you what you wanted to hear so long as they made the sale.

So it seems clear "relevant" information has now taken a back seat to "genuine“ information.

The Dudley Moore Crazy People comedy about the impact and appeal of truthful advertising has come to roost. In some ways, this 20-year-old film offers a vision of the future.

Genuineness requires the truth even if it exposes product or company weaknesses.

Could it be that truth requires a high degree of genuineness about both the good and the bad? In the end, the truth will come out anyway.

Customers know that most companies want to create great products. They also appreciate companies who listen and show a willingness to address their product problems head on.

The opportunity for genuineness offered by the Internet has now grown to full bloom with the advent of social media.

Unable to fight the trend, companies must now bend to the will of the customer by giving away much of the control of the message over to its own customers and prospects.

True genuineness builds customers' confidence that the company's quality products can withstand the genuineness required by the new marketing environment.  

Ted Grigg

Ted Grigg is a direct response strategist who helps growth-focused companies reduce risk by identifying weak assumptions before they become costly mistakes.

Over the course of his career, Ted has evaluated several hundred million dollars in direct response testing across direct mail, digital, print, television, telephone, and other channels. His work combines direct response strategy, acquisition economics, customer analysis, creative evaluation, offer development, and disciplined testing.

Ted has worked on both the client and agency sides of the business. That experience gives him a practical understanding of the pressures facing executives, marketing teams, agencies, and service providers—and of the problems that arise when activity, media volume, or creative preference replaces a clear economic objective.

His consulting work helps organizations examine such questions as:

  • Are acquisition goals economically realistic?

  • Is the allowable Cost Per Sale supported by customer value?

  • Are targeting, offers, creative, media, and response paths working together?

  • Are tests structured to produce reliable business decisions?

  • Are unproven assumptions being treated as facts?

  • Is the organization measuring sales outcomes rather than convenient proxies?

Ted’s experience includes the development of direct mail and multichannel acquisition programs for insurance, healthcare, financial services, technology, nonprofit, manufacturing, retail, transportation, communications, government, and business-to-business organizations.

For a national direct-to-consumer insurance company, he developed a direct mail format that defeated established controls and helped expand the productive use of compiled prospect lists from less than 10 percent to more than 30 percent of total direct mail circulation within one year. He also planned Medicare lead-generation programs for more than 60 regional and national HMO and PPO organizations, with some programs exceeding sales projections by as much as 60 percent.

Ted founded Wyse Direct, a direct marketing division of Wyse Advertising in Cleveland, where he developed acquisition programs and helped launch a new technology product for Seiko Instruments by generating a predictable flow of qualified sales leads for its national sales organization. As vice president of new business development for the Grizzard Agency, he helped broaden the agency’s strategic capabilities and pursue new commercial and fundraising opportunities.

He is the author of The HMO/PPO Marketing Plan—A Step-by-Step Guide, published by Executive Enterprises, and has written numerous articles and conducted webinars on direct response strategy, testing, creative development, and marketing economics.

Ted earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Abilene Christian University and completed two years of graduate study at Texas Tech University. He is the founder of DMCG, LLC.

http://www.dmcgresults.com
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