A REPORT ON SMART MARKETING Jagjit Singh MBA (Global) Roll no.: 5755 Ms.

Shavina Goyal February 13, 2012

INDEX
No Content Acknowledgement 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
What is Strategic Marketing

Page no 3 4 6 10 12 18 22 24 29 32

Smart Objectives in Marketing Plans Smart Marketing System 12 Smart Marketing Tips for Tough Example of Smart Marketing Smart Marketing Ideas What specific factors should you assess in a marketing audit? The smart grid needs smarter marketing 7 Ways to Improve Your Marketing Strategy with RFM Analysis

10

Bibliography

35

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mrs. Shavina Goyal, Asst. Professor, School of Management Studies, Punjabi University, Patiala who has been guiding force for my Report on Smart Marketing.

1. What is Strategic Marketing?

Oxford defines marketing as the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising. In other words the intent of marketing is simply to shorten the sales cycle. Strategic Marketing is doing this, well, strategically. Many smaller or mid-size companies (and even big ones for that matter) recognize the need for marketing, but dont understand whats involved to put together a successful, strategic campaign. Many think marketing is one of those soft business skills and dont give it the thought and resources needed to facilitate the achievement of their objectives. One form of advertising or marketing is just as good as the other, they think. Weve got $50,000 budgeted for marketing this quarter; lets just use it where the most people will hear about us. Well use $35k for TV and the remainder on radio. Strategic Marketing calls for a more structured approach where we define what were trying to accomplish, measure and analyze the markets and media options and implement an integrated campaign that will help you capture the most value for your budgeted marketing dollars by achieving your defined objectives. After you have defined you business objectives, the basic thought process should go something like this: 1. IDENTIFY your audience or market

If youre an established business, look at your consumer base and Identify the type of consumer you want more of If youre a startup, form a clear picture of what type of consumer you want to attract

2. Thoroughly UNDERSTAND your audience or market

Where do they live What do they do every day

What are their passions What media do they engage with most What messages resonate with them, etc.

3. SELECT the marketing mediums that your target is most engaged with E.g., If your audience is a teeny-bop, communicate with them through Facebook and American Idol

If youre going after business men, you may want to hit them through LinkedIn PPC and a Wall Street Journal print spot

4. DEVELOP a messaging strategy to effectively communicate with your audience

With a clear picture of your target audience in your mind, determine what message will most effectively move your target to take the desired action

5. EXECUTE a consistent, integrated campaign across your selected mediums

Keep you branding and messaging consistent. You only want one message to stick with your consumers. If you cant keep it consistent, youll become irrelevant in the minds of your audience. Each medium has pros and cons. Leverage the pros as much as possible.

6. MONITOR your results and make necessary adjustments along the way

If your LinkedIn PPC campaign is driving 30% more new business than your Google Adwords campaign, you may determine its best to shift the Adwords funds to the LinkedIn campaign

Smart Objectives in Marketing Plans

Your marketing plan provides a focus for your marketing team.According to Entrepreneur Magazine, a marketing plan is a written document that serves to outline your future marketing efforts, rally your employees around a central set of goals and provide a big picture look at your promotional strategies. Central to a marketing plan are your objectives, or what you hope to accomplish with your marketing strategy. "S.M.A.R.T." objectives is an acronym that stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely.

Specific

The "S" in "S.M.A.R.T." stands for specific. This means each objective of your marketing plan should state a specific purpose. In other words, describe exactly what you hope to accomplish for each objective. To help you develop specific goals for your marketing plan, determine what you want to accomplish, why it's important, who's going to be responsible and when you want it to be completed. For example, rather than saying, "increase marketing exposure in the healthcare industry," you'd say, "send direct marketing campaigns to the top three hospitals in New York, with the goal of increasing revenue in the healthcare sector by 12 percent within six months." Your marketing goal should be well-defined and easily understood. Focus on the how, what, and why. Generate $500,000 in gym membership sales in the Tucson market through networking and marketing activities is a lot more effective than Get more business. Setting a SMART goal gives you accountability and sets your focus on a specific, quantifiable goal.

Measurable The "M" in "S.M.A.R.T." stands for measurable. The objectives in your marketing plan should also be quantifiable, which means your objectives need to include numbers. In the previous example, notice the measurable numbers "three hospitals," "six months," and "12 percent." These are quantifiable numbers you can measure against at the end of the year. Numbers are an essential part of your business. By creating a concrete numerical goal, youll be able to evaluate how effective your marketing campaign is. We obtained 10 new clients this month and generated $25,000 in sales is more meaningful than Were busier than usual, so our promotion must be working.

Achievable

Achievable, also known as "attainable," is the next component of a S.M.A.R.T. objective. To make sure the objectives in your marketing plan are achievable, be sure you aren't setting a goal you don't think you can achieve. Look at the external market forces, trends, and past sales and marketing financial statements for your company, and decide if your goals are too lofty. Can your marketing goal be achieved, or are you attempting too much? If your business is new to social media, obtaining 1,000 followers by the end of the week might be a stretch. Start with a smaller goal, or choose a realistic time-frame to meet your marketing goal.

Realistic To make sure the goals in your marketing plan are realistic, ask yourself "Do I have the resources available to achieve this objective?" Examples that would make the objectives in your marketing plan unrealistic are lack of marketing budget, not enough employees in your department, or lack of market share. You should have the resources, knowledge, and time to complete your marketing goal. Your goal should also consider external factors such as your competition. Generating 5,000 hits on your website is an attainable goal, but it might not happen during your first week on-line.

Timely The "T" in "S.M.A.R.T." refers to objectives that are timely. This means you should state when you hope to achieve each one of your objectives. In the example above, "six months" was the timeframe given for the goal. When writing goals for your marketing plan, always specify the timeframe or specific date for when you want to accomplish your goals.

Business goals arent achieved overnight, so make sure that your marketing strategy includes a time-frame in the goal setting process. Be sure to allocate enough time to complete your goals as well. We will raise $10,000 for our charity in 4 weeks by asking our customers to donate through an email and direct sales campaign will get you further than We need to raise $10,000 for our charity as soon as possible.

Example of a SMART goal Poor marketing goal: Increase company sales next year. SMART marketing goal: Generate $200,000 in web site sales from the acquisition of 25 small business clients in the Tucson market through networking and marketing activities by the end of the 2011 fiscal year. Including SMART goals in your marketing strategy will help you reach your objectives more quickly and with a defined path for success.

2. A Smart Marketing System

Some people think of marketing as advertising and promotional specials. Others see marketing as high-level planning and strategy. So, to get started, let's talk briefly about what marketing is, in the context of this book. When I talk about marketing, I am referring to any and all activities that help you plan and deliver your message to your audience. Marketing is what helps your potential customer understand who you are, what you do, what you might be able to do for them and why they should consider doing business with you. Marketing is about understanding why you are in business. It's about knowing what your strengths are and how you are better than your competitors. It helps you determine what you can do for people (your customers). Marketing helps you discover who needs and wants what you can do and who will place a high value on what you do. It helps you create a message that these people will respond to so they take the first step toward becoming your customer or client. Finally, marketing helps you deliver your message effectively to your potential customers, within your budget, so you meet or exceed your goals. Marketing goes to the very heart of your organization because it's all about why your organization exists. This book is based on a simple, yet effective system of marketing. It's easy to understand and implement. Best of all, it works. The system is a series of five steps that all marketing plans and campaigns

should include. It gives you a conceptual framework to help you get better results from all your marketing. Here is our five-step Smart Marketing System: A. Understand your GOALS or the objectives you want to accomplish. B. Know the MARKET you want to reach based on what you can do for them. C. Create a MESSAGE to deliver to your market that they will respond to. D. Commit MONEY to spend to deliver your message to your market. E. Select the MEDIA you will use to deliver your message effectively and within your budget. Throughout the rest of this book we will discuss these steps in detail. Through stories and real-life examples, you'll discover how to incorporate these important steps in all your marketing. By doing this you'll find you are able to get better results from your marketing without necessarily spending more money. You will learn to increase revenue and profits. Your business will become healthier, more valuable and more fun. You'll become a practitioner of Smart Marketing

12 Smart Marketing Tips for Tough Times

If you or your management is considering cutting or eliminating marketing programs because of tough times, think again! Research shows that companies that market through a recession stand to gain tremendously over competitors that cut back. Here are 12 cost-effective marketing actions for Surviving and thriving through a down economy. In difficult financial times, running a successful service firm and business requires more than hard work. Careful decision making, cautious purchases, improved efficiency and streamlined budgeting sit at the top of the list. Adding marketing expenditures to this list may not seem prudent during down times, but you must reconsider. Maintaining and increasing marketing activities in a difficult market will help your business soar when the economy bounces back. In fact, research by the American Business Press shows that companies that continue to market themselves during a down economy grow four times faster than companies that don't. Contrary to popular belief, consumers do not come to a standstill during tough times. They just make purchasing decisions differently. Some purchasers are more diligent with research while others may start comparison-shopping when they hadnt done so in the past. Ultimately, consumers will buy items appropriate to their needs if they deem that they truly need the service or product. This is the audience that needs to be marketed to at this time. Taking advantage of the opportunities that still exist is important when considering how to weather the economic climate facing all of us. So, which marketing activities do you participate in? Here are a dozen areas to consider for effective marketing in a down economy. 1. Keep Existing Clients Loyal.

Gaining additional business from existing clients cost far less than developing business from new sources. While it's still important to develop new clients, it's absolutely critical to keep the clients you have and make sure they are thrilled with the work you provide to them. Build loyalty through excellent service, proactive advice and genuine concern for your clients business.

2. Be Opportunistic. Make your business visible to viable markets. Analyze where paying customers come from and focus investments in those areas. At the same time, keep a critical eye on areas that arent profitable and consider whether or not these targets will be fruitful when the economy turns around. If you find any audiences will not bounce back in a meaningful way, discontinue servicing those areas and focus on the future. A poor economy offers you the time to reevaluate target markets. Study how market segments have shifted over time and how you may adjust your service accordingly. 3. Understand your Audience. Be aware of how your clients are doing and if their business needs have changed. Help your customers weather the economy and they will remain loyal. This is a solid business practice regardless of how the economy is faring. Take the time to speak directly with your customers so that they know you are there to help. Learn about the industries that your clients work in, understand how you fit into that industry and offer helpful insight where appropriate. 4. Partnering. Identify other industries or professional sectors that want to attract the same client profile as you, but who arent in competition with your services. By combining efforts to market towards the same audience you cut your investment

in half. Some examples of partner-marketing include seminars, events, trade shows and other presentations. Additionally, there is a benefit to potential clients by offering one stop learning. When selecting your partner organization, be sure to avoid direct competitors and organizations that may present a conflict of interest in developing business. Additionally, make sure any potential partners share similar business development practices, philosophies, goals and budgets. You want to be sure that you are working together to produce a desirable outcome for both organizations.

5. Continue Advertising. Carefully assess your current advertising campaigns by analyzing how many ads you run and where they are placed. Do not give into the temptation to cut all advertising. There is opportunity for success in advertising in a down economy. In down times, fewer businesses will advertise, thinking it is an easy place to save money. This trend creates less competition for existing ad space. More available ad space can provide better negotiation opportunities for the media buyer. Most importantly, though, more ad space decreases advertising clutter, making your ads more visible. Work with the media outlet to strategically place your ads in more visible positions and be sure to include a call to action so that you can trace any direct business. 6. Outsource. Workload doesnt necessarily diminish in a difficult economy. Internal resources may be scarce, particularly if your organization has downsized its workforce. An alternative to hiring full time marketing staff is to hire experienced professionals on a contract basis to complete projects as they appear. Activities that are easily outsourced include writing and copyediting, web site strategy, research, media planning, graphic design and other resource-

intense activities. By contracting with professionals, you can limit your spending and take advantage of the experience and efficiency of someone who focuses in these types of initiatives. When the project is completed, you no longer carry the burden of their overhead and salary. 7. Keep Market Share. Use a public relations campaign to create venues for informing consumers about changes in the market or other important issues they may be facing. Positive presence is essential to positioning your organization for success when the economy turns around. As a result, you will be ahead of other businesses that decreased marketing efforts, giving you the competitive edge. 8. Word of Mouth. Build and sustain meaningful relationships at all times. Ultimately, when all other factors are similar, people buy products and services from people they like and trust. Maintain relationships and develop new points of contact through sustained networking. Staying top of mind to a potential customer is the key to positive word of mouth. 9. Search Engine Optimization. SEO is essential if people are going to find your organizations website. Research shows that over 80% of customers surfing the web for information on services and products begin at a search engine like Google. SEO helps people find you through the keywords used in search engines. With a small investment in keyword research, you can identify the key words searchers are using to locate the services you offer. Once you know the words to use, optimize your site with those same terms in your content. Considering the expense of mailing and other paper-related marketing activities, SEO is less expensive and can be more easily tracked for success rates. Spending money on creating a website but

not following through with a solid SEO program is the equivalent of buying a car, but not putting any gas in it. Make the most of your website by fueling it to work the way it is intended. 10. Web Analytics. If you have a website, you need to track its utility so that you know how to best use it to your advantage. Include a web analytics system, such as Google Analytics, to measure how well your website is working. Web analytics are easy to use and customize and are a cost effective way to understand the success of your site. These reports uncover where website traffic comes from, how long they stay on your site, which areas they spend the most time in and where they exit the site. By studying trends on your website traffic, you will be able to customize the information on your site to attract the most desirable visitors. 11. Utilize E-newsletters. Make better use of your marketing dollars by transforming print newsletters into an e-newsletter. E-newsletters are a cost-effective way to maintain visibility with existing clients. Your e-newsletter should be posted on your website and can be sent out to your clients with a simple and inexpensive electronic mailing service. As with any newsletters or advertising, be sure to include a call to action so potential customers will contact you while the topic is still on their minds. Create contact hyperlinks in your e-newsletter blasts so that it becomes very easy for the consumer to act immediately. Be sure that your e-newsletter prints well so that readers who prefer to have a paper copy for their files can do so while maintaining the integrity of your brand.

12. Measure Return on Investment.

Relationships are difficult to calculate and some marketing activities arent measurable by traditional figures and forecasts. However, there is no doubt that building and maintaining relationships over time brings in business. It is important to recognize that some marketing initiatives can, and should, be tracked so that success can be determined. Whenever you open a new matter or bring in a new customer, be sure to ask how and why they chose you over your competitors. Track this information and use it to measure your marketing activities. Outside of this important step, there are other items that can be tracked for return on investment including your website and SEO programs, enewsletters, print and electronic advertising and client meetings and presentations. These activities should include a formal call to action that is traceable over time. Trends will begin to emerge over a set period of time, whether quarterly or at 6 or 12-month intervals. Compare data and draw conclusions as you plan your subsequent marketing activities.

3. Example of Smart Marketing

Lifebuoy, Surf Excel, Pureit & Brooke Bond Sehatmand lead HULs sustainable living plan.

HUL is doing some smart marketing by walking the talk with quite a few of its brands. Consider Lifebuoy. The company conducted the biggest home and personal care clinical trial with more than 2 000 families in Mumbai some time ago. Half were given Lifebuoy and education about the importance of hand washing five times a day. Compared to the control group, the target group had 25 per cent less cases of diarrhoea; 19 per cent fewer respiratory infections; and 40 per cent fewer days off school. Lifebuoy has covered a huge distance since then. Manwani says the leading soap brand with over 18 per cent market share leads the companys hand washing campaign in India to teach basic hygiene habits. The project has reached over 135 million people in India. By 2015, Manwani says, the Lifebuoy brand aims to change the hygiene behaviour of one billion consumers across Asia, Africa and Latin America by promoting the benefits of hand washing with soap. There is more. In oral care, HUL figured out that brushing twice a day with fluoride toothpaste can reduce tooth decay by up to 50 per cent in children compared to only brushing once. Pepsodent, an oral care brand, goes to 180 schools across the country every year to educate more than 150,000 children about the right-brushing, night-brushing practices.

HUL, Manwani says, is also investing in ways to supplement diets for millions of consumers including those at the bottom of pyramid. Last year, it launched Brooke Bond Sehatmand, a tea with vitamins, to address the nutrition needs of low-income consumers. Three cups of Sehatmand tea provides 50 per cent of the recommended daily allowance of key B vitamins B2, B6, B9 and B12. Pureit is yet another product in this area. The water purifier provides water as safe as boiled by removing harmful viruses, bacteria, parasites and pesticide impurities, and it delivers all this without the need for electricity and running water. The National Institute of Epidemiology conducted a year-long scientific study and established that homes using Pureit had a 50 per cent lower incidence of diarrhoea. Unilever is now launching Pureit to other markets globally where consumers have difficulty in accessing safe drinking water. Health & hygiene is just one part of sustainable living. Manwani says HUL recognizes the fact that the key to success is to design products which allow consumers to get the results they want with less energy and water. For example, in water scarce countries, nearly 40 per cent of the domestic water footprint comes from washing clothes. In many of these markets, people do the laundry by hand. Across South East Asia, Unilever has launched Comfort One Rinse fabric conditioner which needs only one bucket of water for rinsing instead of three. This saves 30 litres of water per wash for the average household. If we could convert all our laundry product users in Asia and South Africa to Comfort One Rinse, we would save more than 500 billion litres of water a year, Manwani says. The company in fact plans to halve the water associated with the use of its products by 2020.

In India, rinsing accounts for more than 70 per cent water consumption in the washing process. Surf Excel, HUL says, is a product that resolves this problem as the formulation produces less lather and hence requires less water while rinsing. Surf Excel quickwash, HUL says, saves up to two buckets of water. Considering the companys large consumer base for this product, it makes a big difference, especially in the southern states where laundry accounts for up to a quarter of the total water used. Unilevers commitment to sustainable development is not new. In fact, it has been recognised as leaders in the FMCG industry by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for 12 years running. Manwani says all these are part of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan which has three big goals: To halve the environmental footprint of our products across the value chain, to source 100 per cent of our agricultural raw materials sustainably and to help more than a billion people take action to improve their health and well-being. Over the past 15 years, Unilevers global network of 250 factories across the world have reduced greenhouse emissions by almost half, reduced water usage by two thirds and cut waste by three quarters. Unilever conducted a full lifecycle analysis of over 1,600 products across 14 countries covering 70 per cent of its sales. The analysis showed that the companys own direct impacts remain small. Research showed that 68 per cent of the environmental impact of FMCG products is generated during consumer use.

Unilever currently sources 10 per cent of the agricultural raw materials from sustainable sources. The Sustainable Living Plan commits the company to source 100 per cent of these raw materials sustainably by 2020 a tenfold increase. Some target dates are even closer. The company has committed to purchase all palm oil from certified sustainable sources by 2015. So, as Manwani says, HUL has put its skin in the game to achieve what he calls responsible growth.

4. Smart Marketing Ideas Smart marketing ideas bring products and services to just the right customer. According to BusinessDictionary.com, "marketing is a management process through which goods and services move from concept to the customer." Marketing can take many different forms, both online and offline. Businesses are always thinking of new ways to bring their product or service to qualified prospects. Employing smart marketing ideas is one way to make that happen. 1.Social Media It is fairly common business knowledge that word-of-mouth advertising trumps all else in terms of effectiveness. When you add to that the power of the Internet, the possibilities are endless. Marketing through social media websites like Facebook and Twitter can spread your message like little else. Be sure to make your social media marketing easy to participate in, and non-threatening. Deliver content that people want to share, and don't forget to acknowledge your audience in all you do. 2.Referral Programs Referral programs are a low-cost way of getting the customers you already have to market your business for you. By offering them something of value in exchange for bringing in a friend or family member, you will increase your customer base with very little out-of-pocket expense. 3.Be the Bonus One effective low-cost marketing idea is to visit businesses in your niche and offer yourself up as a bonus in one of their own promotions. As an example, if you owned a tanning salon, you could provide vouchers for free tanning minutes to a local spa. They would then include those vouchers as part of their

own promotion. Without really lifting a finger, you would have customers sent to your door, ready to be impressed. 4.Email Marketing Email marketing is a way to send your marketing messages to as many people as you want, with the click of your mouse. There are a few different ways to get people to give you their email address, but the most effective is to give something of value away in exchange for it. Include an opt-in form on the homepage of your website, offering a free report or newsletter. To download the report, they must give their email address. Always ask for permission to avoid SPAM, and always include a way for them to unsubscribe when you send emails. 5.Use Your Employees Using your own employees to increase sales is a smart marketing idea not many business owners consider. Create some type of sales contest or other incentive for employees to participate in. Give them each personalized business cards/coupons to hand out while they are not at work. At the end of each week, total up all the cards that were cashed in, and reward that employee with a prize. Make sure it is something worthwhile. This will bring new potential customers into your business with little effort and expense on your part.

6.Become an Expert Positioning yourself as an expert in your field is always a smart marketing idea that can be utilized online or offline. You can write articles about your business niche and submit them to online directories. The idea is to show up in search results when people search for keywords relating to your business. You can also put on a free luncheon/seminar for business people or consumers and give a

presentation about some element of your business. Invitations can be sent out to rented prospect lists through the mail.

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5. What specific factors should you assess in a marketing audit?

Here are 40 questions for evaluating the effectiveness of your marketing and developing a smarter marketing strategy. Brand

1. Does your brand clearly communicate what you are about and convey the highest value you deliver? 2. Does your brand effectively differentiate you from every other supplier in your marketplace? 3. Is your brand promise well understood and consistently executed at all levels of your organization? 4. Is your brand identity being properly used in all media? Market 5. Do you know your most profitable customers and are you targeting prospects that look just like your best customers? 6. Do you understand the factors buyers consider when selecting your product or service and are you focusing your marketing campaigns on those factors? 7. Have your customers changed the way they find, buy, or use your product or service and have you adjusted your marketing plan accordingly? 8. Are you actively upselling and cross-selling products and services to your current customers? Messages 9. Do you have three to five key marketing messages that youre consistently delivering in all media? 10. Do your marketing messages resonate with your target audience? Are you talking about the things your customers and prospects care about? 11. Do these messages match the experience customers have when they interact with your staff? 12. Are you tailoring messages to specific market segments when you have the opportunity to do so? Marketing Channels 13. Are traditional marketing channels such as advertising, direct marketing, and public relations still delivering enough value to warrant the investment they require?

14. Is it time to shift some or more of your marketing to new channels such as social media and mobile marketing? 15. Are you maximizing the value of the proprietary channels you control, such as newsletters, invoices, product packaging and inserts, vehicles, and buildings? Marketing Tactics 16. Do you know which marketing tactics are generating the best results leads, conversions, or sales at the lowest cost? 17. Can you cut the cost of any of your tactics by changing formats? 18. Are you integrating social media into traditional marketing tactics like direct mail and advertising? 19. Can you create a mobile app to promote your product or connect with your audience? Creative Approaches 20. Is your creative attention-getting? Does it stand out in a crowded marketplace? 21. Does your creative engage the prospect immediately in your sales message and enhance the delivery of the message? 22. Is the call to action loud and clear? Does the prospect know exactly what to do next after reviewing your marketing materials? 23. What will people remember most after seeing your marketing: your clever creative approach or your product? Offers 24. Is your offer resonating with prospects? Are more and more people saying yes? 25. Does your offer showcase your product? 26. Does your offer deliver real value to the prospect? 27. Are you tailoring offers to specific market segments or types of buyers? Collateral and Sales Tools

28. Are your sales brochures, displays, and sales demonstration tools accurate, complete, and up to date? 29. Are your sales tools integrated with your brand and your marketing campaigns? 30. Do you need new tools to educate prospects about your industry or product? Data 31. Are you capturing customer and prospect data to build a robust marketing database? 32. Are you compiling email addresses for an ongoing sales dialogue? 33. Are you tracking and recording response and transactional data to create full profiles of your customers and their behavior so you can target future promotions? 34. Is your customer and prospect addressing data accurate and complete and ready for the new USPS standards for mail deliverability? Website 35. Is your website built around the needs and interests of your visitors? 36. Is your site easy to navigate, with most information available in three clicks or less? 37. Are you delivering high-value content that establishes your credibility? 38. Are you inviting visitors to engage with you via blogs, podcasts, RSS feeds, and social media? 39. Is your site fully optimized for search engines? 40. Are you regularly adding new content and inbound links to increase your SEO rankings?

this knowledge to craft a smart marketing strategy that delivers a higher return on your investment.

After Youve Answered the Questions Once youve completed your marketing audit, you should have a better understanding of how your marketing is working and what you need to do to achieve your objectives.

The smart grid needs smarter marketing

Consumers Top of the list of challenges for the industry is overcoming a lack of understanding among consumers of the benefits a smart grid could bring, such as lower energy bills, greater energy efficiency and lower carbon emissions, and just why they should fork out to rewire much of the country's electricity network. "The future is all-electric, just look at DECC's 2050 work," said Dustin Benton, senior policy adviser at the Green Alliance think-tank. "But who has told consumers they cannot replace their gas boiler with a similar one?" Promoting the benefits of the smart grid is not helped by the nebulous nature of the word, experts argued, adding that the waters are further muddied by products such as in home energy use displays, which are not truly smart meters but are often marketed as such. The UK is looking to fit 53 million smart meters by the end of 2019, but experts bemoaned a failure adequately to promote this rollout and the difficulty of explaining that smart meters are just one component of a smart grid that should ultimately include demand management functionality and improved load balancing across the grid. Moreover, experts are concerned that a top-down approach to the 11bn smart meter rollout could spark suspicion and mistrust among consumers, especially as some energy companies are guilty of trying to push other products and services when installing the meters. "Smart meters have been perceived as a way to get more information or raise rates," Conant said. "We need to get to a point where consumers recognise them as a technology that solves the problems they need solving." His comments were echoed by Howard Porter, chief executive of theBritish Electrotechnical and Allied Manufacturers Association, who warned that UK

consumers are "not yet aware of the future challenges to the UK electricity grid that require the suggested smart solutions". "In countries like Denmark, where they already have a much higher percentage of renewables and the resultant intermittency problem, there is already a higher degree of consumer recognition for smart grid solutions," he added. "But that is not yet the case in the UK." Attendees agreed that energy companies have not done a good job in communicating the benefits to customers, who are on the whole unaware that the UK energy network faces serious long-term challenges. However, they remain divided on how best to communicate the case for smart grid technologies, disagreeing over how much information consumers require. Some argue that there is no need to underestimate the public's ability to understand and embrace emerging technologies such as smart meters, while others argue that people do not need to understand how the smart grid works or even see how much energy they are using through smart meters. They just have to see the reduction in energy bills that should result from a more intelligently managed grid. After all, Dunstan said, people don't care about ethernets as long as their wireless broadband works. Policy In contrast, experts agreed that the government needs to do more to promote smart grid technologies. Some cited a lack of understanding among politicians as to how best to decarbonise the economy, accusing policy makers of concentrating on greening the electricity sector, but forgetting heat and transport. "People assume that to decarbonise electricity will be easy and that's why we started there," said Professor Dermot Roddy of Newcastle University's School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials. "Only very latterly have we had incentives for [green] transport and heat."

The perennial difficulty of raising funding is another barrier. The UK needs 200bn of private investment to upgrade the grid, but a CBI survey earlier this month revealed that the country's transport, waste and digital networks are putting investors off. "People who pay for [the grid] will want some returns," said Conant, adding that the same is true for consumers funding upgrades through higher energy bills. "The smart grid business model hasn't been considered," stressed Colin Calder, chief executive of PassivSystems. "And if it's not fully considered, endorsed and supported we won't be able to deliver any of this at scale." The solution, as with most new technologies, is greater policy stability, delegates said. Roddy argued that focusing on one or two low carbon technologies, such as the smart grid, will be more beneficial than trying to encourage a whole range. Calder suggested levelling the playing field in the electricity market so that micro-generators and the Big Six operate on an equal footing. "The wholesale energy trading market is broken," he said. "Any energy producer needs to have the right to put energy on the grid on the same terms as everybody else." Ultimately, however, experts returned again and again to the urgent need to convince consumers to embrace smart grid technologies. It seems increasingly apparent that, with smart grid technologies ready to roll, the industry now requires a smarter marketing plan.

7 Ways to Improve Your Marketing Strategy with RFM Analysis Do you know which of your customers are most profitable to your business? Or even how to measure customer profitability?

One of the best ways to gauge the value of a customer is to perform a recency, frequency, and monetary value (RFM) analysis of your customer data. Heres how RFM analysis works and seven ways you can use insights from RFM for a smart marketing strategy. How RFM Analysis is Done RFM analysis looks at all the transactions in your customer database in a specific time period, usually the last two to three years. The purpose of the database analysis is to determine the value of your customers based on how much they buy from you, how often they buy, and how recently theyve made a purchase. With RFM, you assign a value to the recency of the transaction (the more recent, the better); the frequency of transactions in the analysis time period (the more frequent, the better); and the monetary value of those transactions (the higher the monetary value, the better). Once the analysis is complete, you have a measure of each customers profitability, so you can rank cusotmers from most profitable to least. You can then divide this ranked list into ten equal customer groups (deciles). The top two deciles (top 20%) are your best, most profitable customers, the ones who have bought from you most recently, who buy from you most often, and who purchase at the highest dollar amounts. Deciles 3-7 are your next best customers. Deciles 8-10 are your least valuable customers.

6.

7 Ways to Use RFM for a Smart Marketing Strategy

Here are seven ways to use RFM to target your marketing campaigns more precisely and utilize your marketing resources more effectively:
1.

Understand your best customers. Once youve identified your best

customers, you can create demographic profiles to gain insights into the characteristics they share. You also can append data to their records, such as company size or NAICS code, for an even fuller picture.
2.

Find the low-hanging fruit among your next-best customers. Take a

careful look at the customers in deciles 3-7 whose demographic profiles are similar to your best customers. This is likely to be your best upselling opportunity.
3.

Target the right prospects on rented mailing lists. Armed with

information about the characteristics of your best customers, you can be extremely selective about the names you rent on commercial mailing lists, which can cut your costs and increase response.
4.

Reallocate sales support. RFM can help you reassess the level of sales

support appropriate for each customer based on their value and potential. Your goal should be to deploy your most expensive sales resource your sales team on customers who already generate the most profit or have the highest potential to buy more.
5.

Develop tiered direct marketing campaigns. Focus high-end direct

marketing campaigns on your highest-value customers and mail less expensive campaigns to lower-value customers. You might send best customers a personalized direct mail package with a product sample, for example, while others get a simple self-mailer offering a free product sample on request.
6.

Test a high-end marketing campaign to high potential customers. Once

youve identified customers in deciles 3-7 with the same demographics as your best customers, test a more elaborate direct marketing campaign to these customers to try to increase their profitability.

7.

Decide which customers to drop from marketing. Customers in deciles 8-

10 probably should be dropped from your mailing lists and marketing campaigns because of their low value. It may be costing you more to sell to them than theyre worth.