You know an area needs massive improvement when telcos actually admit they need to do a better job at it.
Such is the case with marketing their residential services, where certain large telcos’ promotional offers, deals and other marketing efforts seem to seriously miss the mark, in sharp contrast with the efforts of their cable giant competitors.
A case in point is Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ), which is directly mailing consumers whom are months away from gaining access to FiOS TV pieces that promote a triple-play bundle, with DIRECTV providing the TV element.
“It’s sad that one group doesn’t know what the other is doing,” said one top Verizon technology exec when asked about DIRECTV offer to soon-to-be FiOS TV markets.
Another is Verizon pitching sub-1 mbps Internet access price promotions and deals to customers with much higher-speed broadband access from incumbent cablecos.
To be fair, these misfires may be caused by a lack of information on customers targeted by marketing efforts. More personalized and local efforts would likely require greater knowledge of the consumers they seek.
But a report claims at least some large telcos are planning more localized marketing efforts. So maybe the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t an oncoming train.
Stay tuned, literally.
