Today via email, I received the Executive Summary released today by Lyris (penned by The Economist Intelligence Unit) titled “Mind the marketing gap – Sizing up marketer and consumer perceptions.”  The article indicated “The findings of…surveys indicate some gaps in marketers’ perception of how consumers want to engage with brands, what influences their purchase decisions and how they view privacy.”  I found this article very interesting and I’ll share some tidbits from it below.  Considering their findings, I began thinking about how we marketers view our marketing campaigns vs. how consumers interpret our attempts, successes and even failures.

When designing websites, I often say that I create with my marketing & copywriting hat on and then flip it backwards to gauge the visitors utilization response.  Is it user friendly?  Does the imagery and written content engage me?  And so forth.  Admittedly, I don’t always do that with print collateral to the same extent.  But I should.  So I want to share some of what the Executive Summary disclosed in hopes of educating both you and I on what we’re doing right, wrong and what we should be doing and considering as we engage our consumer audiences.  It’s just a few tidbits but you can access the whole article on the hyperlink above.

Marketers Graph “Consumers are put off by superficial personalization, but they appreciate customized product recommendations.
About 1 in 5 consumers say that customized offers are more likely to meet their needs than mass market offers and
that inclusion of personal details (e.g. previous transactions) makes them feel valued as customers.”

 “Ways of engaging and influencing consumers vary by industry. Industries like travel, automotive and entertainment are investing in data to increase customized promotions. For automotive executives, deep analysis of consumer data top
the list of marketing strategies at 30%—higher than the all-industry average of 23% and up from 13% five years ago. The
automotive industry leads all others in spending on corporate websites, which is closely aligned with consumer
preferences. The clothing industry, on the other hand, spends more than other industries on branded social media
pages, even though clothing consumers are least likely to say they prefer to engage with brands through those
channels.”
Marketers Graph 3Marketers Graph 2