March 20, 2012

The 1%

No, not the stuff the press talks about.


In marketing/analytics, "the 1%" represents the tiny number of industry-based employees who ultimately determine whether our businesses succeed or not.  You know who these people are.
  • Your search vendor.
  • Google.
  • Retargeting partners.
  • Catalog co-ops.
  • Your marketing analysts.
  • Your email vendor.
  • Customer-facing social media managers.
Sure, there are others, but I point these out so that you have a loose understanding of what comprises "the 1%".

These folks decide who receive your catalogs.

These folks decide who receives each personalized version of an email campaign.

These folks decide what gets seen in search, and these folks direct traffic to your website as they see fit.

By directing the traffic, these folks determine the merchandise that gets purchased ... your merchants are ultimately responding to the traffic that the 1% send to the merchant.

If there was one thing that I was able to synthesize from discussions with more than 200 individuals at NEMOA, it was this ... there is an evolution in the thought process ... one where the 99% are beginning to think about how they wrestle control of a business back from the 1%.


Your thoughts?  Can control be taken back from the 1%?

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