Category: Internet Marketing

_As President of Wiest & Associates Inc. – “The Customer Acquisition and Retention Company”:http://www.wiest.ca/ (r) – Daniel G. Wiest has long been considered one of Canada’s leading direct marketers, and now one of Internet marketing’s innovators._
*One Degree:* “What skills or techniques from the direct marketing world do you think are most lacking in Internet marketing and what do we lose by not having them in our online tool kits?”
*Dan Wiest:* I apologize in advance if this response rubs a few readers the wrong way, but please scan my entire answer before deciding how loudly to cheer or jeer. In return, I promise not to sound too much like my grandfather’s “when I was your age…” ramblings in the process.
One big shortcoming I see too frequently is the absence of leveraging that core knowledge we’ve already gained from offline testing. I’m not saying that pure Internet marketers don’t generate rich information and insights. Quite the opposite. In fact, I think we’re kicking the pants off of the traditional media holdouts with the wealth of actionable data we’re able to produce. And we’ve become the masters (sometimes…) at turning that information around to produce even more relevant communications and offerings.
But the preceding decades have rewarded us with vast resources of test results, analytics and careful study of the factors that motivate people. Somehow these historical treasures seem to have gotten pushed aside in the excitement surrounding all of the new tools and techniques.
Forget about the new tools for a moment, and consider this: I don’t imagine for one second that human needs and wants were somehow genetically altered by the arrival of the Internet. Yes, the techniques and media options for matching and delivering solutions those human needs may have changed dramatically. But human behaviour itself hasn’t. So why not begin with the knowledge of what consumers have already been proven to respond to?

Ken Schafer is looking to do a piece for One Degree about how Canadian companies are using instant messaging as a marketing platform. If you know anyone doing this – or if you and/or a client have success you’d like to share – post in the comments or contact Ken directly.