When Kobie Marketing writes about the need for omnichannel loyalty and engagement, an enterprise-level initiative to drive, track, measure and reward incremental behavior throughout the enterprise and customer experience, often we’re speaking about the following channels: smartphones, tablets, social media, digital signage, kiosks, TV, radio and print.
Either by chance or design, we tend to write out those channels in a roughly descending order of perceived contemporary importance. But that doesn’t mean print has lost relevance – especially when you consider the diversity of print options available. Today, publications like the Wall Street Journal include QR codes at the bottom of most of their print articles. Such tactics combine print’s disposable ease with digital engagement. Likewise many magazines also use the same technology. Even more than newspapers, magazines retain a distinct level of appeal and segmented customer base. Rather than breaking news, their long-form content offer analysis, becoming conversation starters and continuers.
That’s why Kobie Marketing is proud to follow in that tradition by launching its own Kobie Quarterly Magazine. The Kobie Quarterly will showcase Kobie’s thinking and insights on all aspects of the loyalty industry.
Each quarter we will address different verticals through the lens of the following big-picture loyalty trends (and more):
- Proliferation of Big Data, its analysis and the ability to derive meaningful consumer behavioral insights that place a premium on promoting genuine experiences over traditional points-for-rewards conversion
- The convergence of devices and channels (think smartphones, tablets, digital signage, kiosks, radio, TV, print, etc.) through omnichannel loyalty engagement along with the data sets they bring to the table
- The rising importance of emotionally-driven loyalty (program status aided by elements of gamification and social media) versus strictly tangible rewards e.g. discounts or coupons
- Consumer demand for traditional, personalized engagement (read: handwritten notes or 1 to 1 contact) augmented via new technologies gathering behavioral and psychographic knowledge
Available in print and PDF, the goal of this publication is to advance conversations about loyalty through our observations, commentaries, insights and, in some cases, criticisms of the developments taking place. Our first edition, tied to the recent CRMC conference in Chicago featured a strong retail and restaurant focus.
No matter your vertical, the loyalty industry has become a varied, dynamic and exciting place, with new customer engagement tactics being proposed (and rejected) all the time. Anything this changeable and subject to the latest technologies and consumer trends bears close watching.
We hope you enjoy our first edition and look forward to future magazines. As this is our inaugural issue, like all of our blogs, we welcome your feedback. What story follow-ups would you recommend we pursue? Is there anything your brand is addressing loyalty related that you’d like to see tackled? Let us know in the comments below. And like the Kobie Quarterly itself, continue the loyalty conversation.
