NEW YORK, Oct. 9, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- According to new research from Experian Marketing Services, a recognized leader in data-driven marketing, 90 percent of marketers struggle to move beyond single-channel marketing programs to optimize their marketing across channels or around the customer. The company today announced an expansion of its strategic, cross-channel consulting offerings to address this need and help organizations increase the sophistication and effectiveness of their marketing programs.

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The new program, which offers marketers strategic guidance around common marketing pain points, is designed to help them progress up Experian's Marketing Sophistication Curve(SM). The curve is a framework and road map that allows organizations to accurately assess the state of their marketing operations and identify the steps necessary for creating individualized marketing experiences around the customer.

"Recognizing the need to change and knowing how to make that happen are two entirely different things," said Matt Seeley, president, Experian Marketing Services, North America. "While the industry is exploding with marketing clouds and automation technology, most organizations have unique challenges that off-the-shelf software doesn't address. Experian's Marketing Sophistication Curve offers marketers help with the first critical step in that process: an understanding of where you are today and what you need to do tomorrow."

Experian Marketing Services is offering marketers a free online assessment to identify where they fall on the curve on its Website: http://ex.pn/1nXGpjq

The four phases of Experian's Marketing Sophistication Curve

The culmination of more than 30 years of experience working with the world's top brands to improve their marketing effectiveness, Experian's Marketing Sophistication Curve outlines four primary phases of marketing sophistication:


    --  Phase I: Single-Channel Optimization -- Brands at this stage seek new
        sources of data and analytical approaches to do more with existing
        programs and tools. They struggle to achieve a higher performance from
        data-driven campaigns.
    --  Phase II: Multichannel Marketing -- Organizations at this stage engage
        customers across multiple channels but seek greater consistency. They
        struggle to incorporate newer channels, like mobile, into their
        messaging strategy.
    --  Phase III: Cross-Channel Marketing -- The marketing organization at this
        stage implements cross-channel marketing programs but struggles to
        organize data and target campaign content around customers easily,
        consistently and in useful time frames.
    --  Phase IV: Cross-Channel Optimization -- This is the apex of modern
        marketing, where customer context, location and timing merge with every
        imaginable form of customer data to create a single, shared and
        immediate view of the customer across all channels.

Improving marketing by addressing the common pain points

Experian Marketing Services' new cross-channel consulting program offers marketers a set of new bundled offerings around three common pain points that must be addressed as marketers move from one phase of the curve to the next: acquisition, growth and retention, and win-back.

"As new technologies and channels are introduced, consumer behavior changes, and in return how we assess and approach these traditional marketing issues needs to evolve," continued Seeley. "The curve's framework and the addition of the new strategic consulting bundles to our existing portfolio are part of our long-term commitment to be both a superior marketing technology provider and a strategic partner for leading marketers around the world."

For more information about Experian's Marketing Sophistication Curve and strategic programs, please visit http://www.experian.com/assets/marketing-services/brochures/strategic-consulting-programs.pdf.

About Experian Marketing Services

Experian Marketing Services is a global provider of integrated consumer insights and targeting, data quality and cross-channel marketing. We help organizations from around the world intelligently interact with today's dynamic, empowered and hyperconnected customers. By coordinating seamless interactions across all marketing channels, marketers are able to plan and execute superior brand experiences that deepen customer loyalty, strengthen brand advocacy and maximize profits. For more information, please visit http://ex.pn/1fSccNf.

About Experian

Experian(®) is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients around the world. The Group helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score, and protect against identity theft.

Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended March 31, 2014, was US$4.8 billion. Experian employs approximately 16,000 people in 39 countries and has its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; California, US; and Sao Paulo, Brazil. For more information, visit http://www.experianplc.com.

Experian and the Experian marks used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Experian Information Solutions, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

Contact:

Suzanne Blackburn
Experian Marketing Services
1 212 863 4648
suzanne.blackburn@experian.com

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SOURCE Experian Marketing Services