indie marketer of the year
WINNER: JERRY McKENNA
SVP/CHIEF SALES AND MARKETING OFFICER, CABLE ONE
Jerry McKenna gets our top marketer nod because he not only
has championed Cable One’s successful forays into digital cable, high-speed
Internet and phone service, but he never stops striving for better ways to market
the triple play. This year McKenna gained oversight of Cable One’s newly combined
sales and marketing force, leading a focus on analytics as a driver for more targeted
marketing campaigns. He lets us in on the latest marketing plans at Cable One, which
serves nearly 704,000 subscribers in Alabama, Arizona, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.
C able One’s
Compe titive
Advantages
\ Value: Cable One
offers $240 in annual
discounts to customers who take three or
more services from
the company.
\ Human touch: M
cKen-na says customers still
want to speak to a real
person, so Cable One is
committed to keeping
humans on the line.
\ Service: Cable One
offers same-day service
to customers who call
by 3 p.m., a guarantee
some larger distributors
can’t match.
CableFAX:The Magazine: Your purview recently expanded to cover ad sales as well
as marketing. Why restructure now?
Jerry McKenna: We are trying to install throughout the company a real sales culture.
We are looking to better integrate our system management to foster a higher sales
level. That means putting the best people for service on the service calls, and those
who are really good at sales on the sales calls.
CFTM: As part of that integration Cable One this year has dramatically increased data
tracking. How is that working?
JM: The biggest challenge we have is to come up with fresh acquisition strategies.
We are now using a lot more metrics so we can track every promotional tool we have,
from direct marketing to freestanding ads. We can better estimate cost per sale and
see what’s working.
CFTM: Have any trends emerged?
JM: The one that has really popped has been based on trigger marketing. Say we
have a basic cable customer who wants to add digital. We follow up with a promotional offer on another product. Our response rates have been ve to 10 times better
than other marketing channels, so much so that we extended the program to all new
install customers. And we’re about to start testing that same program among customers who’ve had a service visit.
CFTM: By design, Cable One was late to launch HD. What have you learned?
JM: You need to create awareness of the services you offer. A few years ago we combined our HD receiver with our DVR, and we’ve had great success—20% penetration.
We will never have the same quantity of HD networks as Direc TV and Dish, but our
strategy is to put the best product out there we can. ♣
T rig ge r marketin g has r eally popped. Say we have a basic sub
who w ants to add digita l. We follow up with a promotion for
a nother product. Our response rates have been five to 10 times
better. We’ve extended the program to all new installs.
