If any further proof is needed to stress that brands have a desire to steer towards marketing one-to-one, in a highly relevant and personal manner with their consumers, it’s to hear it from the groups that know a thing or two about communication.
Senior representatives from EE, O2, giffgaff and TalkTalk gathered at Performance Marketing Insights: London to form a panel of British telecommunications experts. With just a couple of months to go until this year’s event, it seems that many of the points and predictions raised in the video below still hold true.
Moderated by Dominic Baliszewksi of price comparison site broadbandchoices.co.uk, the group ploughs through a range of topics affecting the British telecoms industry, with the nature of communicating with customers sparking a great deal of debate.
Dan Michelson, innovation and capability lead at O2, claims that for his own company, a strong offering is centered around “additional benefits” and how consumers are treated in real life -
“It is all about retention and how you speak to consumers, in a one-to-one way that is totally relevant,” he commented.
“We have so much data on our consumers; I can’t believe that we’re not always relevant every single time with have a conversation with them.”
Brand advocates
Michelson says it should no longer be about acquiring new business in the ‘traditional’ way, which is causing more and more companies to look into the main people and groups that carry influence among consumers.
For Steven Lownds, then of giffgaff, the best people to carry a brand’s message are the very people being targeted in the first place.
“We realised quite early on that our best salespeople are our advocates,” he commented.
“We run two affiliate programmes: one through the traditional networks, which does very well as we engage with the cashback sites and comparison sites. We also have a programme called ‘super recruiters’ which allows us to treat our members as affiliates and works really well.”