Building a successful business is not always easy, but with the right attitude and work ethic, it is possible to find a niche and outsmart your competitors. However, rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, it can do a world of good to learn from those with experience, so you can hit the ground running when it comes to building a new business. With almost 30 years of experience in his industry, we spoke with Paul Kostial, President of Audience Innovation, a company which aims to cultivate businesses’ most valued targets, for both B2B and B2C, while enriching business and consumer relationships with direct+digital targeting solutions.
What’s working for your marketing clients to drive higher customer interaction? – PCK: The best strategy that’s working for our clients, large and small, is tangible touch points overlaid on their digital or online marketing strategies. Without question, the most effective results are coming from clients who integrate online and offline in their customer sales and marketing tactics. We’ve done both with and without the other, and in combination, and the results for the integrated combination far exceed the results of either independently and even, in some cases, 100X better results. The sales force is who feels the nudge, and helps them with their most cultivated client and prospect relationships, and they love these platforms because they cut through the clutter of online overwhelm, and actually amplify its impact.
Why is the tangible overlay causing bigger online marketing and sales results too? – PCK: The answer is essentially based on human psychology, and the manner in which humans integrate their lives. No one is one-dimensional, most at least, and most people are integrating multiple forms of communication in their lives today. Thus, if online only was the only answer, we’d have all humans on online platforms only, and that’s not how people live. People watch TV, and cable, and when driving, they see outdoor boards, and when at home or in the office they open their mail, and many other forms of messaging. Thus, the integrated strategy actually amplifies itself across multiple channels, and causes exponentially bigger results, and heightened customer engagement. It’s simple psychology.
How long have you been in business, and why now are your platforms so popular? – PCK: We’ve been in business for 12 years now, and I’ve been managing these types of platforms for nearly 30 years. They’ve always worked, and worked well, which is why I have some clients who’ve been with me for my entire career. More and more today, with the advent of online media, many are using and/or turning back to tangible touch points because they need the heightened engagement that tangible delivers, and they need to cut through the clutter of online overwhelm. Essentially, they look bigger by focusing tighter, and driving customer interaction, which bolsters sales and then, they expand to a new circle of customers to educate and engage.
You have multiple targeting platforms; can you explain them briefly? – PCK: Yes, we have essentially one primary platform that’s sequenced slightly differently based on the target. For example, we build B2B platforms, in-office engagement, and affluent platforms for in-home engagement. These are two of our most popular targets. Also, we target patients in doctor’s office waiting rooms, also with tangle touch points, and for retail applications, we target consumers out-of-home in 200 location types, like barber shops, beauty salons, nail salons, automotive dealerships, and 196 more location types. We also build platforms for real estate agents, insurance agents, financial advisors, just like our larger platforms, but scaled for the individual professional with smaller number of customer targets. They use these to amplify customer engagement, and referral business.
What’s the future of your business, and marketing platforms? – PCK: The future is large, as we continue to innovate new options for tangible touch points, and physical interaction for client’s customers, specifically to drive interest, education, and emotional connection to brands, both for B2B and B2C targets. There’s so much new technology available, to enhance tangible touch points, we’ll be cultivating these options for many years, and building bigger bridge-to-customer connection for client and agency partners, large and small.
If someone’s interested in knowing more, what’s the best way to reach you or your agency team? – PCK: Visit our websites, https://www.
For marketers, in closing, what’s your biggest piece of shared advice? – PCK: Just remember, humans interact with multiple platforms daily, so often, it’s best to remove yourself or reduce yourself from the online overwhelm, and place your company and brand in front of them in more enticing and less congested traffic channels. People appreciate being appreciated, so sharing a small gesture of goodwill is far better than blasting them with online stalking, and/or spamming them to the point of blocking you and/or opt out. It’s not that complicated, if you sit back and even use yourself as an example. What works to reach you? … and how do you like for companies to interact with you? … if you use this small litmus as a test, it’ll point to other options that are very viable, and will drive and deliver sales.
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