Obstacles in Transpromo Communications
By Skip Henk on July 14th, 2008
I have had the opportunity to speak with over 50 companies about the obstacles in Transpromo communications. Some who have implemented Transpromo, others who are considering. Interesting is the fact that there are some common denominators:
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A champion — someone who sees the value, understands the opportunty and views it as a “revenue opportunity” as opposed to just a operational savings.
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Compelling evidence — as mentioned earlier in the blog, the lack of documented success due in part to people not wanting to lose their competitive edge by sharing too much.
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Internal politics — Transpromo is an organizational committment. The larger the organization, the tougher it is to get the support. All of the parties involved within the company must be involved to be successful. Therefore, success is driven tops down.
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Assuming there is a champion who gets senior management support a phased plan that outlines objectives, applies metrics and that can effectively take a company from where they are to where they want to be. Important is the “phasing” and not trying to do everything at once.
Many of the issues that have been brought up would be part of the plan … data, marketing messaging, procurement procedures, etc.
Accomplishing items 1-4 — and seeing it through including measurement.
Also found that service bureaus viewed Transpromo as a major opportunity — Some corporations do, but many view as a competitive pressure.
Skip Henk is President/CEO at Xplor International. He can be reached at
July 15th, 2008 at 8:47 am
Skip,
These are points very well taken.
Another element to watch for is an organization in some kind of crisis.
My own experience is that while the conventional wisdom is that new activities are motivated in business by “greed and fear” – “a high ROI” or a “defensible advantage” – it is usually fear that breaks through the clutter and gets decision makers to focus.
Given the panic presently moving through the financial industries and the newspaper industries and the unease that is moving through pharma, I wonder if any one is seeing a increase of transpromo activity in these sectors.
July 16th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Good points Henk. It’s refreshing to see someone acknowledge that TransPromo comes with obstacles. I’d like to add that TransPromo applications are a mix of marketing strategy, data analytics and exectution — and all these areas require unique disciplines. One model to effectively address this skill mix is through forming an alliance between organisations with experience in each of these areas, refer to: http://www.veedeepee.com/2008/07/transpromo_alliances.html
July 16th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Eliot I absolutely agree about the lack of alliances. It would seem that a process that literally spans an entire corporate organization would benefit.
The first vendor companies that form those alliances, can effectively go into a company and do a quick evaluation, present to management a compelling argument BASED ON that companies profile … will make a ton of money.
It would be worth the right companies forming a separate company (joint venture) to accomplish this. Been done before in other industries.
Michael, you too are correct. Panic is real. It is interesting that you bring up the newspaper industry. Everything you hear in that industry is negative. Some newspapers have some of the pieces such as the paper, itself and the web.
Newspapers need to assume the evolution of technology …
If I was a newspaper I would use the paper to drive people to my website and get as much demographic information that I can about them … the day is not so far in the distant future where we will have a flexible piece of “plastic”, the size of a sheet of paper and be able to download the news from my “favorite” newspaper (or any newspaper)….
The newspaper that knows ME and sends relative information, whether it be “print”, audio or video …. and ads that cater to my demographics is where I will go…. and I will pay for that service. (and advertisers will pay to reach me)
Newspapers need to look at the ideal Transpromo “model”and assume the evolution of technology … (could go on and on) It is about RELATIVE information when, where and how I want it.
My prediction if done correctly: electronic newspaper subscriptions, (we pay for TV which was at once unheard of) very very targeted ads … higher ad revenue
July 17th, 2008 at 2:42 am
While I tend to agree with most of what Skip and others say…..however. for those of us….who trive on trees (no pun intended!)…..I guess, it also requires champions on the suppliers (better still “partners”!) side to rise above the usual…..be convinced first on the real value that “transpromo” brings to customers’ business.
On the never ending issue of “cost vs value”….I guess, one needs to make a proof statement first with customers current applications, if done properly, it takes the story itself….upwards to Sr.Mgmt for real implementation.
My conviction comes from a belated success (after 14 months!) where even a 5-yr old highlight colour printing system is made to produce transpromo telecom bills (customer’s agency plays a role for the right adverts/images)…..I’m sure it is just a matter of time before they are compelled to take the leap into full colour! They have learnt how to play with different images…higher level of segmentation, analytics, dynamic image recall…..all could be build up, slowly,more like the “ground floor” first….then a few others.
With todays output devices and compositions software, one can always begin at transpromo concept proofs…and then build up further. …
Anyway, let’s keep the conversation going….let’s believe that we will make this seemingly uphill task…..a little easier!!
August 4th, 2008 at 9:00 am
Hi Skip:
You make some excellent points, as do those who have posted their comments. To echo your sentiments, transpromo is not rocket science, but it does require education, collaboration, planning, execution, and monitoring.
The barriers to adopting transpromo marketing within enterprises — primarily silos, political turf wars, short-term focus and thinking, and the accelerating velocity of change — are formidable, but will be overcome, I believe. As we know, transaction documents are the most relevant and personalized of all customer communications, so it is natural that firms will eventually gravitate to the statement as an ideal marketing vehicle through which to converse bi-directionally with their customers. In fact, the transaction document — the production and distribution of which is mandated by statute — is one of the few vehicles left to firms where customers expect/want to receive the documents and messaging, and where there is reasonable assurance that the documents will be read by the recipients. If the goal of enterprise marketing communications is to foster relevant, bi-directional conversations with loyal customers, thereby increasing total customer value through cross-sell/up-sell activities, using the transaction document as a marketing communications platform will become a “no-brainer.”
The current challenge for the vendors/builders of transpromo solutions — and huge opportunity — is to show potential customers how all of the solution pieces fit together. This needs to occur through education, consulting, and tactical selling at the line-of-business level in addition to the executive level. PSPs can be very useful here, too, as they can provide missing capabilities to enterprises, especially in the areas of data integration, graphics, and execution.
For those who are waiting for empirical evidence that transpromo “works” before they consider deploying it, my advice is to examine some of the great case studies and success stories about those who are doing it. For example, the transpromo solution fielded by Oniya Shapira on behalf of Cal in Israel is a tremendous example of how to plan and execute a successful transpromo marketing program. There are many others available that can illustrate the proper methodologies, the pitfalls, the lessons learned, and the benefits to be gained through transpromo marketing.
August 19th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Reading all these comments just took 10 years off my life. I’m 30 again, 10 pounds lighter, and with a lot fewer wrinkles. Meaning, how ironic it is that these are the exact same observations, obstacles, and goals that were being expressed a decade ago after the first few years of 1:1 printing (ah, the days when we called it “variable data printing”). Reading these comments just took me back to the “good old days” when Flocks of Seagulls were still playing on the radio and if you wanted an Indigo E-Print, you had to buy two! Truly, “what is old is new again.” I’m not sure if it’s comforting or disconcerting!
Heidi Tolliver-Nigro
August 20th, 2008 at 7:56 am
Heidi,
Yes, an incredible blast from the past along with … color, online viewing file formats and so many more.
You hit the nail on the head …Transpromo is the new “buzzword” for advanced personalization, a twist of 1:1 marketing, CRM and necessity, facilitated by new software and hardware technology and brilliant marketing.
Comforting in the fact that we recognize an adoption curve … disconcerning that we somehow continue to “be behind the curve” in terms of acknowledging time and effort.
Was a good business decision when it was 1:1 marketing … and still is.
Skip Henk
Xplor International