Life-changing events—like a move to a new home, a recent marriage, the birth of a baby and starting a new business—represent examples of how critical timing can be to a marketing strategy. Research has shown that these types of events often trigger purchasing sprees as people adapt to new stages in their lives.
It’s basic human dynamics. As a person moves from one stage of life to another, all kinds of changes take place, including the magazines and books they read, the insurance they need, the furniture they buy, the travel plans they make, how they spend their free time, their future financial planning requirements, and much more.
Using trigger data to target the best prospects for your campaign offers a value proposition. Marketers don’t have to guess that a purchasing decision “might” be made. They know that purchasing decisions will be made. Data that is weeks, or even months old, undermines the whole concept of marketing to trigger events. Marketers should go to great lengths to get their clients the data they need within days of a particular event taking place.
The marketplace offers lists of new businesses and business owners; new movers; new construction homeowners; new parents; and parents of children going off to college. But marketing to prospects at the right time isn’t just about having the best available data; it’s about putting that data to work with the right offer. It is about marketing to the right person, at the right time–and the marketer has to be saying the right things.
Marketing programs that center on timely life event data need to offer solutions that make sense for the life event. Sending a 20% off coupon to a new mover is a great way to attract a new client to your catalog or store. But it isn’t as effective as congratulating that mover on their new move and making reference in your offer to products and services that you know that they need. Remember, it isn’t just about the data; it is how you use it that determines the success or failure of your campaign.
Darren Amato is vice president-sales of Princeton, NJ-based Milestones Data Marketing, a division of ALC.