What Do You Mean by “On Demand”? - by Jeff Lazerus

Not everyone agrees on the definition of “on-demand”. They’re all right, AND they’re all wrong, too.

How many ways can you make change for a dollar?
The phrase “on demand” is pretty self explanatory. Software makers use it, video services use it. Even “print on demand” has been pretty much lumped into the book publishing domain.

Digital printers and marketing service providers have taken “print on demand” a step further to include things like web to print, short run reprints of marketing collateral (maybe digital, maybe not), pick and pack fulfillment, and there are others lurking in the shadows. All of these processes are different in a lot of ways. (BTW, there are 293 ways to make change for a dollar. And probably more ways to define “on demand”).

Where did they go? Where did they come from?

At risk of clouding the issue even further, we would like to take our own stab at defining “on demand”. Perhaps the best application of the phrase for us is “on demand communication”.
Customer relationships change quickly. As marketing experts, our job is to anticipate those changes and act on them before they happen. We can’t end up like the Ancient Anaszi. Relationships are built and maintained with customers through communication, whether it is straightforward like a phone call or direct mail piece, or below the conscious level, like brand awareness efforts. When customer needs change, successful marketers need a way to change the messaging, the channel, the target and the timing at will. That is what we mean by on demand.

To be effective with your marketing communication, you must deliver a relevant message to the right person at the right time. Technology and recent advances in workflow solutions allow marketers to truly create automated, “on demand” marketing messages that not only hit the target, but add to the mix with better and better response information that allows us to alter marketing tactics on the fly. Generating distinct relevant messages, when customers want them, is the promise of all this on demand stuff. Call it what you like. The important thing for customers and marketers alike is the result. With well planned database marketing solutions, marketers can adapt to changing conditions within all the groups and sub-groups of customers at all the different points in the buying cycle and still treat them like the individuals they are. If you can accomplish this, sales naturally follow.

Jeff Lazerus is a cross-channel and database marketing professional, focused on Variable Data Printing and new marketing technologies. You can visit his personal blog at
www.jefflazerus.com

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