SUBSCRIBERS RULE! Philosophy Part 1: Love Thy Subscriber
With February, the month of love (pronounced “luv”) upon us, it strikes me as the perfect time for a quick refresher on why marketers should love their subscribers.
Love Thy Subscriber!
First, a word on what I mean by “subscriber.” You see, in this digitally fragmented age, a subscriber is anyone who gives you permission to communicate with them via specific one-to-one channels. The most obvious and productive of these channels is email. I don’t just say this because ExactTarget pays the bills. I say it because the research says so.
Marketers can also acquire subscribers through channels other than email such as RSS, SMS (text messaging), Facebook (”friends”), and Twitter (”followers”). While the nuances of each medium differ both in terms of what you can send and how you send it, they each share a common reality — subscribers, not marketers, rule. In other words, the subscriber controls the relationship’s beginning as well as its end (the dreaded “unsubscribe”).
Thanks to the economy, the shrinking efficacy of traditional marketing channels, and the increasing cost of direct mail, subscribers are now much more than a “nice to have” — they are a core asset of every company’s marketing program. The reasons are simple:
- Subscribers want to hear from you.
- Subscribers are often your best customers.
- It is much less expensive to email. text, update & tweet to subscribers than it is to reach strangers via third-party advertising.
- You can reach subscribers instantly.
Clearly, there’s a lot to love about subscribers. So why do so many companies treat them like an afterthought rather than an asset? Why do so many marketers “batch & blast” subscribers rather than build relationships with them? What can we do to elevate subscriber to their rightful place of honor atop the marketing food chain?
At ExactTarget, we answered this question by launching the SUBSCRIBERS RULE! philosophy — three simple tenets that, if followed, can help any company build better, more profitable relationships with their subscribers. The three tenets are:
- Serve the individual
- Honor each individual’s unique preferences with regard to communication, content, frequency, and channel
- Deliver subscribers timely, relevant content that improves their lives
For those who attended our Connections User Conference last year, this is a bit of review. Heck, you even got a music video to nail home the point.
For those who are new to the SR! Philosophy, however, I will be digging deeper into each tenet means to your email, SMS, and social media marketing efforts in the days to come.
There’s simply no time like the present, however, to show your subscribers that you love them — and there’s no better way to do that then working hard to ensure that their preferences are honored and their needs met by each and every one of your one-to-one communications.
