Who said Content is King? It is not! Reputation? Neither!

by Molina

Some months ago, in a meeting with a reputation company, they defended Reputation as being the King, and Content being the Queen, it was quite convincing at the time. However, as we have experienced with different customers, you can’t ignore the hearth of the any communication program, don’t get me wrong Content and Reputation are vital, but the existence of a valuable Customer Database is definitely the star of the game, the King of Kings.

Just to clarify, when we discuss Reputation, we basically mean that as ISPs and webmail services get more sophisticated in how they assess incoming email, your sender reputation plays an ever bigger role in deciding whether your marketing email makes it to the recipient. So yes, if you don’t really care about how you’re being assessed, it’s very likely that you will end up in the junk folder. Then deliverability becomes the issue, and a big problem.

You can have great Content, magnificent Reputation, but without the continuous effort of acquiring customer information, sooner or later you will have a lot to say, but nobody to listen. So here are some golden rules of Customer Acquisition.

–          Everywhere: Every touchpoint with a customer is a valuable place to acquire customer information, and that includes the Call Center, POS, and Web.

–          Persistent: Customer Acquisition should not be seen as a finite project, it’s an indefinite project. Databases are alive, and you should be feeding them constantly.

–          Everyone: It should be part of the organization, and everyone should be aware of the need and involved, especially Marketing and Sales.

–          Actionable: Certain rules need to be followed to make the information Actionable, ask always for the customer consent to be contacted.

Bottom-line, you have a great message; you have followed the rules of engagement and have a good reputation, just make sure you’re providing the audience. So here goes the monarchical hierarchy of online marketing, Content is King, Reputation is Queen but an effective Acquisition Program is the King of Kings.