A new marketing forum has been formed for those who are keen on a highly individualised, lifecycle-based approach to marketing. The new 'Individualised Lifecycle Marketing' (ILM) Forum aims to drive market acceptance and adoption of the ILM targeting strategy.
The ILM Forum (not to be confused with the Russian information lifecycle management forum of the same title) already involves marketers from Continental Airlines, CDW, Intrawest, OgilvyOne, PETCO, Quill, RSA Security and Salesforce.com. According to the forum's sponsor, Responsys, marketers are faced with growing challenges to achieve ROI and differentiation using existing strategies, and many are realising the need for more refined targeting tactics.
Led by an advisory board of marketing executives from the travel, financial, retail and technology industries, the forum is focused on helping marketers engage in Individualised Lifecycle Marketing, which may sound like a new buzzword but actually means "the automated, scalable process of sending highly targeted, relevant messages at opportune moments in the customer lifecycle".
Old ideals revived
The strategy involves not only understanding what stage of the lifecycle customers are in but also observing their unique life events and behaviours (such as an online purchase or shopping cart activity, a request for information, or even a lapse in account activity). Throughout the customer lifecycle, every interaction between a company and an individual provides an opportunity to improve the relevance of messages - and consequently the ROI of marketing campaigns.
The ILM Forum aims to provide information, research, best practices, and dialogues to advance industry implementations of a sustainable process and framework for ILM-centric strategies.
The way ahead?
According to Jeanniey Mullen, director of email marketing for OgilvyOne, "We're big believers in the ILM framework. We focus on helping our clients build equity and value in their marketing programmes, instead of just one-off campaigns. By investing in lifecycle marketing programmes, companies improve response rates, increase value, enhance loyalty and affinity, as well as gain market distinction and trust."
Scott Olrich, CMO for Responsys, added: "Marketers need to automate and build equity in their programmes, so they can ultimately be more strategic and deliver greater value to their customers and their organisations. ILM will help marketers balance business priorities and consumer priorities at each point of interaction throughout the lifecycle, resulting in stronger returns, retention, and long-term success."
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