Database marketing agency Merkle announced the launch of its Integrated Customer Marketing optimization framework today.
The framework is designed to help companies manage the sales, marketing and services aspects of customer and prospect relationships.
“Direct marketers have gotten very good at optimizing a campaign at a point and time,” said David Williams, president and CEO of Merkle. “But I would argue that they are very bad at optimizing behaviors over a long period of time. We’re saying move from a campaign mentality to a customer mentality.”
The focus of the framework will be to segment customers based on attitudes, values and behaviors, manage prospect and customer data and measure the amount of impact that sales, marketing and services have on customer behavior, according to the company.
“This is a great environment for the Integrated Customer Marketing optimization framework,” said Williams. “I think that macro trends are very positive for this kind of thinking. I think people are going back to the core of their business, people are focusing on the customer and asking ‘is the money we’re spending really having a positive impact on the customer?’”
“For me, integration, effectiveness and customer-centricty are three very positive macro trends,” Williams continued. “I think what this framework brings forward is a way to organize your thinking and your capabilities to truly get integration at the customer level.”
