One-to-One Marketing Starting to Hit its Stride

Forbes contributor, Lisa Arthur, published an article in September 2011 "The Next Big Thing for Marketing."  She mentions one-to-one marketing (1:1 marketing) had been coined 15 years earlier by marketers to "describe a CRM strategy that emphasized this kind of a highly personalized interaction."

The article highlighted this formula as a means to achieve results:

Intelligent 1:1 Marketing = Mobile Devices + Triggers + Social Media + Point of Sale Data

One brand that successfully engages with me and keeps me coming back for more is Starbucks.  They are one brand that I actually look forward to hearing from - whether it is in my email inbox or text message on my smartphone offering me a promo code for a specialty drink or pastry.  Perhaps I'm just a caffeine addict or I've become too partial to Starbucks.  However, at the end of the day, I find myself interacting with their brand in a variety of ways.  

• I visit retail stores to order my favorite drink or grab a Bistro box for a snack.  
• I use my Starbucks app to pay, track my rewards, redeem my rewards and to reload my gold card.  
• I visit the Starbucks.com rewards site to send egift cards to my colleagues and friends (part of the #AJO effort).  
• I shop at my grocery store and buy packages of whole bean Starbucks coffee and then enter my "Star Code" at the rewards site to get even closer to my next free drink.

My fascination with the Starbucks brand began when I saw former senior executive, Howard Behar, speak about his book "It's Not About the Coffee" - it's about the importance of people over profits.  There are plenty of critics who are not shy about sharing their opinions and beliefs about the brand.  Truth be told, Starbucks tries a lot harder than most to use the formula above to increase their customer lifetime value.  

As a loyal customer, I welcome the targeted approach.  I applaud any brand's effort to make it easy for me to engage and interact with their brand.  I know I'm one of many in their database, but I'm a sucker for the personal touch.  I just wish every other brand would jump on the band wagon too.  The formula is out there - why aren't more brands getting it right?