Broadband is now no longer simply a
technological upgrade from dial-up, but a conduit for a host of communication
and entertainment services – the so-called triple-play of voice, video and
Internet. It therefore requires more sophisticated and targeted marketing.
This will be especially
important over the next few years as broadband reaches a saturation point and
the effects of a slowing economy begin to impact on consumer spending. The next phase of broadband service
competition will be driven by marketing rather than technology.
eMarketer estimates that by 2012 there will be over 533
million broadband households worldwide, of which 94.3 million will be in the
United States. A good percentage of these broadband subscribers will also be
subscribing to a bundle of services including voice-over Internet protocol
(VoIP) and Internet protocol TV (IPTV).
Greater bandwidth to the home means more media options for marketers.
This is especially true for IPTV and video-on-demand, but consumers are increasingly
consuming bandwidth-intensive applications—especially online video.
eMarketer estimates there were nearly 138 million US Internet users who accessed online video at least once a month in 2007 and this will grow to 190 million by 2012.
The opportunity in targeting, tracking and measuring
content and media usage across devices is growing, but marketers have to know what they're doing.
An additional challenge for marketers is that the choices
for consumers in the voice, video and Internet market are becoming increasingly
complicated. For example, consumers are now choosing between a fixed-line phone
and a mobile phone; high-speed Internet versus very-high-speed Internet; cable
TV versus Telecom TV versus Satellite TV; Premium TV versus Basic TV and
bundles of each type of service.
While service providers would do well to offer consumers
something of a self-service model so they can pick and chose what they want,
marketing campaigns need to complement this strategy by trying to address the
needs of particular consumers. The shotgun approach will be less effective as
broadband reaches saturation and particularly if service providers are
targeting premium customers.
Marketers need to highlight the compelling point
of difference between themselves and their competitors, and in non-technical
language make a simple pitch. For example, AT&T recognizes that many of its
customers are switching their fixed-line home phones and going to mobile voice
only, so AT&T is offering a mobile/broadband bundle for these
customers.
But perhaps most importantly for marketers is the need to
focus on identifying how consumers can use broadband and the
associated services to enhance their lives.
Can broadband save people time? Can
people save money with new broadband services? How can families, friends and
colleagues better communicate? Does the technology foster personal creativity?
Will it help me find love?
Marketers should never steer too far away
from what is essentially important for everyone. Verizon’s My Home 2.0 campaign which
shows how a family’s life can be transformed by upgrading the family home to
the latest technology, provides a good example of how to best illustrate the
‘real’ impact of new technology.
Part 2 of this article will appear in Monday's eMarketer Daily.