Thursday, December 3, 2009

Some final thoughts on customer service and Internet Marketing

Today was the last day of class in Internet Marketing 370 at Northern Illinois. We said goodbye to our graduating seniors and three students recieved the certificate in Interactive Marketing. Good luck to them and to all those graduation this semester. It occurred to me that talking about customer service at the end of class as we did could either give the impression the topic was important or that it was not important enough to cover early in the semester. For the record, customber service can make or break an internet company, or any company seeking to use technology for better, differentiated, customer service. The Rogers and Peppers marketing model of IDIC (Identify, Differentiate, Interact and Customize/Personalize) is, I believe, replacing older persuasion models such as AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire and Action). Older models are meant for the mass marketing world. In the interactive and direct marketing world, it is important to differentiate individual customers or groups of customers and treat different customers differently. Differentiation is meaningful for targeting and attracting the right customers but becomes critical with customer service. In class we looked at the British grocery chain Tesco's and how the company uses segmentation to send out multiple versions of its coupon offers depending upon customer needs in implementing the Tesco' loyalty program. Retention is important because of the cost of acquisition, the potential negative word-of-mouth from an unhappy customer and also because of long-term customer profitability. This discussion on customer service is a nice transition to database marketing next semester, where we will begin to see how databases can be used for targeted, segmented acquisition, service and retention. Stay tuned after a short break. Class begins again on January 12 for the Interactive Program at NIU's DeKalb campus. We will be teaching database marketing, marketing technology, IMC and direct marketing.

Getting a job in Interactive Marketing

Kelli Hanson talked about places to look for a job in interactive marketing. She and I strongly believe in networking through professional associations, such as CADM, BMA, AMA and CIMA. Joining the groups these organizations have on linkedin is usually free and an easy way to start getting involved. Since 80% of jobs are not posted or advertised, it is important to network as well as look on these job sites. Still, there are hundreds of jobs posted online in this field. It is up to the student seeking a job to figure out what type of job he or she wants and then to target that position and demonstrate his or her value to potential employers. Develop specialized skills that might be needed to get that job. There is no substitution for networking and hard work. Be prepared to send out at least 200 resumes and to be focused but also flexible.Dates to watch out for: February 18: Lynn Hazan, recruiter, 5pm, February 26, Okner Symposium, 9-4. Both events are required for 455 and 470 and will take place in Barsema Hall.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Legal and ethical issues in marketing

We learned this week that there are a number of laws that regulate internet and interactive marketing. I asked the students to consider a scenario where a company obtained a list of mobile phone numbers in its target market and whether the company could use the list for text messages or phone calls promoting its services. We identified a number of laws that related to this issue. CAN-SPAM, requires express prior permission before sending the message and applies not only to email but to text messages that reference a domain name (3122222455@wirelesscarrier.com) and consumers cannot be required to incur any costs for the authorization. The TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act) also prohibits the use of automated equipment to place calls to a mobile number without prior consent. In addition, the Mobile Marketing Association as published Guidelines which do not have the force of law, but also suggest that the consumer should have prior notice and consent that the text message is coming. The Do-Not-Call List would also likely apply if the company chose to call these numbers. If the phone number were obtained from children under 13, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) would apply. This simple scenario indicates that internet marketing law is complex and evolving. From an ethical point of view, both guidelines and laws point to the simple principle of permission. Getting permission is an easy way to know that dealings with the customer are both ethically and legally correct. In addition to protecting children, we also protect consumer healthcare (HIPPA) and financial (GLBA) information. However, there is no general right to privacy of personal data in the United States as is required by the European Union, for example. We also discussed copyright law and the fact that peer-to-peer sharing of music is illegal, even though facilitated by technology. We will have to see how the music industry evolves and adapts to these technology challenges.