Hi Pat and thanks so much for agreeing to answer a few questions for us. I have been following you on Twitter and I think you have some great insight to share. We have never met or spoken, so Im just as excited to read your responses as I hope the readers of this post will be.
DC: So to start off…WHO is Pat McGrew?
PMcG: Pat McGrew is someone with each foot firmly planted in different worlds. I started as a journalism major and I have been a practicing journalist, but more than a quarter century ago I wiggled onto a different path – corporate communication in various guises, and have been straddling the line between being a communicator and helping other people communicate ever since. I have spent the last 25 years working in data-driven communication, including 10 years as the president and CEO of GenText, which helped to build the print file transform business through the 90s. And that means I have a great understanding of both the reasons and methods for good communication and the methods and infrastructure that makes it possible.
Today I work for Kodak as the Data-driven Communication Evangelist, helping customers around the world developing best practices for using data to drive the best customer communication. I am also an Electronic Document Professional certified by Xplor International.
DC: Many of your Tweets touch upon the significance of Transpromotional Marketing (TransPromo)… can you elaborate on this?
PMcG: TransPromo is a shorthand way to start and elaborate on conversations about integrated customer communication. Back in the 90s we started with conversations about database marketing – using your company database to inform what you said to your customers. The tools weren’t really mature, but some folks did it really well! Then we moved on to relationship marketing and in the late 90s we started talking about taking the concept to the transaction bill or statement. The idea was that you already had this regular monthly conversation with your customers, why not use the paper and postage to up sell or cross sell? The term statement-based marketing evolved out of those discussions, but with all of the hoopla around Y2K remediation and the failure of some big CRM projects, it was harder to convince people it was a good idea. Again, some companies adopted techniques to add high-quality marketing to their transaction documents, but it wasn’t a gully washer in terms of adoption.
Finally, as we came into the new millennium, the tools emerged to enable marketing-driven data mining, and the document composition toolswidely installed in the transaction industry enabled database connectivity and added tools for campaign management and response tracking. To kick start the story again we created a term, TransPromo, to let us restart the conversation about how to marry transactional and promotional conversations with existing customers.
The truth is that many companies aren’t ready to take that leap, but every company can add information and education – customer specific based on their relationship – to their transaction documents. And that means more than bills and statements. It means proxies, regulatory notices, terms notices… everything!
DC: You also send a significant amount of Tweets regarding cars… where does that interest stem from?
PMcG: Cars are the other part of my life. My car is a 1967 Mustang coupe; her name is Sally. In the family we have a 56 Cadillac, a 72 El Dorado Convertible, and the MGB GT F Production Race car. Oh, we rally cross a Hyundai, too. I’ve always played with cars, and infected my son with the disease. He’s the brand coordinator and graphic artist for another company in our industry, but his alter egos include being the blogger at AllSmallCars.com and the Denver Classic Car Examiner. Any given weekend we might be at a rally cross or car show. This year the F production car is off the track having engine work finished up! The funny thing is how many car people there are in our industry… my buddies Pete Basilere and Noel Ward are as likely to tweet or note about car things as the industry.
DC: If you were a car, what make, model and color would you be?
PMcG: This is harder than it sounds, but I think I’d lean toward the Pagani Zonda (deep blue). But the new Ford Fiesta (acid lime) has my attention, for the practical side.
DC: Your LinkedIn profile summary has “Disaster Recovery in Print and Mail” as one of your specialities. What does that mean?
PMcG: Several times in my career I have been tasked with building disaster recovery plans. I’ve written articles and blogs on it. After 9/11 it became a big topic and one I spoke about frequently. The fact is that most companies that have rock solid disaster recovery plans for their IT infrastructure do not have a print and mail recovery plan that is actually workable. It’s really a huge risk that many companies don’t know they are taking!
DC: Did you have to take any Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) courses for that knowledge?
PMcG: Honestly, FEMA doesn’t understand the problem either. In fact, most vendors don’t have plans for helping their customers if they face a disaster. It comes down to applying the same rigorous processes to the entire print and mail process… every little detail… that has been applied to the IT infrastructure.
DC: How do you use Social Media to promote your ideas and products?
PMcG: I have always been a writer first, so as blogging emerged as an option for communication and then Twitter established itself as a viable communication channel medium I was anxious to jump on and see where the channels would go. I participate in three blogs regularly: Kodak Grow Your Biz, Tempering TransPromo, Beyond TransPromo*, a bunch of the LinkedIn groups, and Twitter. But, I also write articles for the trade press, and I’m always happy to guest blog for partners and customers!
The reality is that you really can’t let it take over your life. You have to weave it into the rest of your proactive marketing work!
DC: In 10 words or less, how would you convince someone who isnt using social media to get on board?
PMcG: Why waste a viable channel of communication?
DC: Lastly, if you were to give the commencement speech at University of New Mexico what would your message be regarding the future of print?
PMcG: Print is rich. It’s contextual and tactile. It is constantly becoming richer and becomes richer and smarter. But, the future doesn’t focus on print. It focuses on communication and picking the right channel and media mix to ensure that communication occurs.
*Author’s note: Beyond Transpromo was down when this was posted. The link per Pat is http://www.ccctoday.com
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