Marketing is simple.

All of the answers you need to grow your business are hidden somewhere in a database. The customers most likely to become platinum buyers are there. So are the hit-and-runners. Being able to recognize them quickly is the difference between a successful marketing campaign and a dismal failure.

The problem is that the volume of data is overwhelming to even the most sophisticated marketer. How do you know where to start to find the right information at the right time? Once again, it is simple…ask the right questions.

Don’t be misled by this post or any others that tell you about the simplicity of data management. Simple isn’t easy. It can be quite hard finding the right information when you need it to make decisions.

Multiple channels feeding data into multiple systems managed by multiple departments makes simple data analysis extremely challenging. How do you know what is available? And, how do you find the key information that moves your company forward?

Start with the money and work backwards.

This will usually begin with your order management system. Here are some questions to get you started:

• Where are your order placed? Be careful that you don’t confuse point of origin with source. Some channels drive sales to others. For example, catalogs consistently increase online sales because of the convenience.
• How do your customers find you? And, how much does it cost to move a prospect from shopping to buying? By channel? Acquisition costs vary by source. Knowing your numbers allows you to plan your campaigns so they generate revenue and profits.
• What do platinum customers have in common with each other? How about hit-&-runners and other segments? The sooner you identify them in the marketing cycle the more efficiently and effectively you can market to them.

You may have noticed that we already have a group of key questions without moving very far past customer acquisition. One question leads to more. If you systematically work through your questions, you’ll find the answers you need. If you don’t, then you need to improve your questioning skills. When all else fails, question everything.

Twitter’s new design changes the dimensions required for backgrounds with content. Your customized background, designed to optimize the available space won’t work with the new look. For example, BestBuy’s background is simple and fits the brand well. It includes a list of URL’s so people can find all of their sites. It looks like this with the old version of Twitter:

Changing to the new version reduces the visibility of the URL’s as seen below.

If you aren’t using the new Twitter, take a test drive now to see how your background looks. Don’t worry, you can return to the old version by clicking the down arrow next to your user ID on the top right of the page. It allows you to exit the preview.

How often do you receive direct messages (DM’s) thanking you when you follow someone? I receive them about fourteen percent of the time (yes, I counted.) The majority of those messages are automatically generated ADM’s (96%). The rest are sent manually as in, typed out individually and often personalized.

People are either passionately opposed to ADM’s or nonchalant about them. I fall in the nonchalant category. I don’t mind when someone invites me to look at their website, visit their Facebook page, or read their blog after following them. I do mind repeated reminders, but that’s for another time.

The personal DM’s are different. The sender is making an effort to connect with me. The problem is that quite often, he or she sends the DM before following me. This means that I can’t answer the message. This usually occurs with new Twitter users. Presumably, it’s because they don’t know that you have to be following someone for them to DM you.

If you are debating about whether to DM, ADM, or skip the whole DM process, here are some suggestions:

• Know whom you want in your community. If you want to be followed by the Twitter influencers, skip the ADM’s and review their profile page before DM’ing them. Some say, “Do not DM me” in their profile. If your community is for your customers and prospects, welcome them and tell them the best way to contact you. Your objective is to connect with them. Make them feel comfortable reaching out to you. An ADM will serve you well if it is targeted to the right people.
• Don’t DM or ADM anyone you aren’t following. It is impossible for them to answer you. If you are using an automation tool, set it up to auto-follow before it auto-messages. This will mean that you follow spammers and bots, too but you have to take the bad with the good when you automate.
• Watch your numbers. If your community members of choice are unfollowing you after the DM’s, it probably means that they don’t like your messages. Figure out whether it is the content or the process and adapt as needed. In the end, you own your social media strategy and are responsible for its success. Find the best practices that work for your organization. It is always about what works for you, your business, and your community.

Note: This post is the first in the evolution of the #wecEtips that ran on Twitter for more than two years. It allows us to expand beyond 140 characters.

If you had a retail store, would you send people away when they asked for more information about your products? Imagine how it would be: Someone enters the store and asks about the artisans that make your items. You tell her to go 30 miles northeast and she can meet the artist. She leaves, and then returns later that day with a question about the materials. You give her directions to the supplier.

Even though this doesn’t make much sense, it happens every day when online shopping. Including links that provide additional details is a best practice that increases the trust factor. But, when external links open in the same window, it sends your visitors away. If they are motivated to buy, they will return. If they can find you again. Are you willing to take that chance?

Wouldn’t it be better to control the path your visitors take? This allows you to move them from initial interest into the marketing loop without them getting lost along the way. A simple rule of thumb is to always open external links in a new window. The process is easy. All you have to do is add the code “target=_blank”. Remember this when your programmers say that it is “too complicated” (translation “I’m too lazy to worry about the details.”)

Take a minute now and visit your site. Start clicking. Are you moving systematically towards conversion? Or, are you spending your time navigating back to your site from external links?

Your visitors need your guidance. Provide a clear path for them to follow. It increases conversion and reduces complaints.

About ten years ago, there was a movement in the catalog industry to reduce mail volume. It seemed like a good idea. Customers were increasingly migrating to websites to place their orders. Segmented sales were down. Order processing costs were significantly lower for web orders when compared to the call center. Why spend the money to mail catalogs when people were ordering online?

Some companies took the time to test their new strategy. Others took the leap and only mailed their top performing segments. The first few mailing were wonderful. Costs were down and the orders continued to flow. Sales dropped a little, but the savings more than compensated for them.

Until the sky fell…

Catalogs are a backend business. Every campaign builds on previous mailings and contributes to future ones. We were measuring long tails decades before Chris Anderson coined the phrase (and yes, we were calling it that because the sales curve looked like the picture below.)

Sales trickle in the first few days and then climb rapidly as the catalogs arrive in mailboxes. They then drop quickly as the impulse buys are completed. This is the point where the tail begins. The shelf life of the catalog is determined by the content. For example, Williams-Sonoma does an excellent job of increasing the shelf life by including recipes in their catalogs. The tail of a catalog can go for years. When you add more mailings, the residual revenue increases.

Lessons learned the hard way…

The first lessons learned by the catalogers who stopped mailing were that catalogs trigger sales and orders placed online are less traceable (You don’t have that friendly voice saying, “please turn to the back of your catalog and give me the code in the blue box.”)

Smart catalogers learned even more. They realized that channels are not equal. Some generate more revenue. Others reduce costs. Some increase customer loyalty. Others attract more prospects. Using the strengths of one channel to offset the weakness of another allows you to strategically leverage them to maximize your growth and profitability.

Do It Yourself

The first step is to find the strengths and weaknesses of your channels. They may vary from other companies. Once you know how customers and prospects use your channels and which ones are the most effectives for sales and savings, you can develop a strategy that fits your business.

For example, you may find that orders placed online significantly reduce operating costs, but incoming calls generate higher average orders. Which works best for your business? Point your customers in that direction.

You may also find that one channel attracts more prospects than another one. Are they good prospects that are convertible into long-term customers? Or, do they turn into hit-&-run customers, here today and gone tomorrow? When you know who you are attracting and how they cross channels, you can adapt your marketing to provide the best for your prospects, customers, and company.

Don’t expect an easy solution where you point all customers in one direction and all prospects in another. You can do it that way, but it won’t maximize your return. Continuously fine-tune the process until you have a custom path from “hello” to the marketing loop for every customer and prospect.

Note: This post was inspired by comment to me from Elizabeth Weisser on twitter. Thank you, Elizabeth.