Catalog marketers have been combining marketing with technology (MarTech) since the Internet was moving on 14.4kb modems. Let’s explore how catalogers pioneered this movement and are still leaders today.
- Catalogers discovered the raw power of large amounts of transactional data, and became the early adopters of scoring models.
- Catalogers developed models and still lead the way in attribution for offline and online sales.
- Catalogers connected marketing with technology to track ROI from the beginning while many digital channels still rely on ROAS.
Let’s start with a definition of Mar Tech:
“Virtually anyone involved with digital marketing is dealing with Mar Tech, since digital by its very nature is technologically-based. The term “mar tech” especially applies to major initiatives, efforts and tools that harness technology to achieve marketing goals and objectives.” — “Mar Tech Today” (publication)
Obviously, Mar Tech is deeply intertwined with digital marketing and vice versa – nothing unusual there. But there are some surprises in the way that catalog marketers have innovated in the Mar Tech universe.
- They first discovered the raw power of blending marketing data and technology.
Catalog marketing developed two major discoveries for leveraging technology. The first was on the data side with the introduction of cooperative databases. We discovered in the 1990s that the model of sharing data yielded response rates that exceeded expectations by an eye-popping amount.
This astounding discovery was only possible due to technology. We were able to crunch overwhelming amounts of data to execute the scoring models that worked so well. Today, Google has realized an incredible amount of success leveraging massive amounts of transactional data and turning it into profits. In their case, they own all of the data themselves and that makes things a lot easier!
Catalog had a role on the creative side as well. When digital cameras entered the scene, they did so first in the commercial space. Which made catalog marketers, along with magazines, one of the earliest adopters in shaping digital photography for commercial use in catalogs, developing the standards and workflows that evolved into what we use today.
- Catalog marketers developed attribution models and still lead the way.
As internet e commerce grew in scale, catalogers realized there was an attribution overlap. As online orders grew to 20%-30% of all transactions, the attribution overlap problem became critical. It was at this tipping point that revenue from phone/mail and web channels were adding up to 120% what actually went into the bank account. Catalogers had to find a solution.
Each brand has to arrive at a solution that works for them and their stakeholders, and we have developed and fine-tuned systems to allocate revenue between online and offline orders like these for many of our clients.
E commerce companies who are new to mailing catalogs are at the front end of this journey. While Google Analytics offers 6 or 7 ways to attribute online sales, by its nature as a web analytics tool it leaves offline channels, including catalog out of the equation. Catalog marketers have a lot of experience and knowledge that could be useful to first time mailers only used to digital attribution models.
Attribution serves as the very foundation of reporting on profits and ROI. If revenue is carved out inaccurately, the entire ROI view will be distorted. Catalogers had to figure this out early. Which leads to…
- Catalogers included ROI from the beginning of its blending of marketing and technology.
Due to the high cost and long lead time for printed catalogs, catalog marketers long ago had to draw a clear connection between costs and profit, and developed sophisticated methods for measuring return-on-investment (ROI). This is often lost in the world of Mar Tech, where ROAS is the standard. This is problematic because it accounts for marketing spend but little else, failing to account for cost of goods or shipping and thus leaving an incomplete picture of expenses related to each transaction.
Catalogers pioneered the blending of marketing and technology. The most successful are still leading the way in driving advances in marketing processes. These brands have embraced Mar Tech to drive new business. However, many other catalogers are resting on their laurels of the past and falling behind in deploying Mar Tech strategies. The players in the Mar Tech world themselves would be wise to get the more advanced catalogers involved in solving some of their problems. We’ve been there, and have the battle scars to prove it!
Tags: catalog marketing, data, digital marketing, Geoff Wolf, MarTech, Technology