Dec 26, 2007
Developers and Marketers: Lots in Common!
Many people feel that marketers and developers are about as far apart as you can get on the corporate organizational chart but I beg to differ.
These two share something in common that may actually surprise you --- the value of conditional logic.
I have always stressed to the marketing types that refined campaign objectives are key for a successful promotion and applying business rules is the shortest path to success. That sounds like conditional logic to me and the best group in the organization to help understand and implement this is w-----a-----y over there on the org chart, the development group. They have expertise in this area and can help you learn the best way to leverage variable data publishing tools.
As a marketer I know (at least in theory) which groups I'd like to contact and why. My goal is to get the most relevant offer in front of each recipient and distilling the audience down to small targeted groups is the best chance I have to accomplish this. As a marketer for Elixir I know that variable data publishing tools can do this for you and the industry now offers these types of applications for a wide variety of users, including those of us not born with the engineering gene. That said, there is much we can learn from the IT group in how best to leverage our company's publishing tools regardless of where those applications reside today.
If you're a marketer just starting out with variable data publishing I suggest contacting someone in IT for pointers on figuring out the business rules for your next promotion.
After all, the rules you create are ultimately the logic that the software uses to format your brochure or document. All the heavy lifting is done by the application. Today's software can take a 30,000 foot view of the overall document production and approach virtually every aspect using your rules. For example, the entire document (brochure, postcard, even web page) can be formatted dynamically based on the recipient. Graphics, text messages, and color can be applied based on your guidelines. Rules can be established for the production process and distribution as well. Want to print on the expensive paper for a certain audience? That's easy. The development team can implement that for you. It's as easy as loading the paper tray and getting budget for the nice stock (they load the paper tray, you get the budget). Your marketing rules can even decide who gets printed documents, who gets electronic, PURLs, etc.
The variable data publishing world is your candy store!
Developers hold the keys to helping us marketers accomplish things that we simply could not do in the past. Their expertise in how to apply business logic for optimum results will put us on the fast track to getting great results from our mailings and other marketing campaigns.
More and more companies are opting for workflow solutions that allow everyone in the company to contribute to the document production process with each group lending their particular expertise.
Bringing marketers and developers together into the process is just the beginning!
The Elixir Correspondence System brings marketers and developers together to get the job done! www.elixir.com/prod_ecs_frm.htm