Customer Engagement Agencies shaking up the Marketing Industry in the UK

Alterian Partners see dramatic improvement in ROI through adopting a Customer Engagement model

London – 25 August 09 – Alterian (LSE:ALN), the leading international integrated marketing platform provider, today announced that its partners are seeing dramatic improvements in marketing success and return on investment through adopting a Customer Engagement model to their marketing outreach. Three UK based Alterian partners that are leading the sector are Marketing Databasics (MDB), Targetbase Claydon Heeley (TBCH) and RAPP. Through recognising a need to change their marketing model, and how to successfully conduct a customer engagement campaign, they are all seeing significant results.

“Traditional marketing as we know it is dead” said James Eiloart, senior vice president sales, UK, Europe and Asia Pacific, Alterian. “Across our partner base we are seeing an increased focus on customer engagement. Engaging with customers in a two-way dialogue, connecting online and offline channels within an analytics framework, and fully measuring the value of each individual customer is the way of the future. We feel that this ‘revolution’ in marketing calls for a revolution in the strategies of the providers of services to marketers and we are proud to say that three of the market leaders are Alterian partners.” Eiloart continues, “in particular the work that Marketing Databasics, Targetbase Claydon Heeley  and RAPP are doing is revolutionising the market and they can only be described as true leaders in the space.”

Steve Grout, Targetbase Claydon Heeley UK CEO, sees this revolution is driven by technology, “The change we are seeing is a result of the connected world around us. With social networks and the emergence of web and GPS enabled mobile phones, people are now always online and always contactable by friends, family and brands.” In particular, Grout sees this as the natural way for marketing agencies to move, “The great thing about customer engagement is that it can it fit into people’s existing business models.  We are moving from TV to Youtube, social networking and the rest, agencies have moved from a mass broadcast model to one where they are engaging with people on an individual basis. The only barrier we see to this becoming ubiquitous is an agency’s thinking and vision.”

One Alterian partner agency using their vision to realise some dramatic increases in return on investment is MDB. One Alterian partner agency using their vision to realise some dramatic increases in return on investment is MDB. Mark Robinson, Managing Director, MDB can reveal, “Our vision is true customer engagement via multi-channel marketing optimisation where data and insight really drive improvements in ROI.  Typically, incremental ROIs from optimised customer engagement has been in the region of an 20-40% improvement across the marketing budget. This dramatic increase is due to better use of all channels, more immediacy of contact and more appropriate contact; the customer feels like they are part of an intelligent conversation. This can only be achieved by having a holistic view of the customer across all the touchpoints.  Our key goal in using a customer engagement based approach is to increase sales whilst making the marketing budget more efficient. With the results we have seen so far we can most definitely say that has been achieved.”

MDB was placed as a leader in the Forrester Wave™ for UK Database Marketing Service Providers, Q2, 2009. The report notes that MDB “…receive general praise from its clients, especially related to account management, proactive service and client intimacy.” Commenting on the report, Robinson continued “we were delighted with such positive feedback.  At the end of the day, our goal is to add significant value to the client relationship through data, insight and innovation.  As channels become more diverse, keeping on top of the customer interactions is key.  One of our clients has seen project investment in customer engagement pay back over five times within a year, and the savings will of course be ongoing. In times of recession this sort of efficiency allows the client to leap ahead of the competition by driving appropriate and timely contacts across their marketing programs.”

Gavin Hilton, Head of Strategic Planning, RAPP agrees and thinks that the future lies in effective customer engagement. “People are starting to edit their brand choices. They are looking for brands that they trust and can associate with their values,” says Hilton. “We were a very traditional direct marketing agency up until about 10 – 12 years ago and remain very data driven, but now we recognise that customer engagement is the way of the future and, as we come out of the economic downturn, customer engagement will become a prerequisite.”

Hilton acknowledges that to be effective in customer engagement it is not just a matter of saying you will change; agencies need to look at how they operate and adjust their business model accordingly. “To be effective in this space we realised we had to switch models to become a quality, value add strategy provider. We needed to fully understand who our audience is and what they do. You have to think about measurement in a holistic way.” Hilton concludes, “If you do this right you can see dramatic ROI from customer engagement.” RAPP’s efforts were also commented on in the Forrester Wave™ for UK Database Marketing Service Providers, with their “...strong strategy, analytics, creative, and execution and fulfilment capabilities” placing them as one of the leaders in the market.

Results like those being seen by Marketing Databasics , Targetbase Claydon Heeley and RAPP, in the UK are also being seen in other markets around the world. One country seeing a similar change in the industry is the US.