Adding flavor to the Caribbean marketing mix: simple, cost-effective strategies can help you reach the diverse audiences of the region.

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So how does it taste?" I proudly asked my morn as she sampled my attempt at callaloo, a Caribbean dish made by blending young spinach leaves, vegetables, herbs and spices. After a long pause, she lovingly replied that something was still missing. I went through my mental checklist and realized that, even with all the ingredients included, the dish just does not taste the same without her secret herbs and spices administered seemingly unscientifically in dashes and pinches.

Back at my desk, pondering my freshly cut 2009 budget, I realized that the challenge facing marketing practitioners this year is no different from my trying to replicate Mom's cooking. How do we differentiate ourselves in the market by spicing up the mix and measure our success in an environment where we are forced to do more with less?

Certainly every situation calls for a unique solution, but there are some steps that Caribbean marketers can take to demonstrate a higher return on investment. You still need to get the basic recipe right, but adjusting the ingredients to taste and adding that secret spice can give you the edge.

Most marketing professionals for Caribbean businesses I've spoken to have identified at least one of the following as goals for 2009, with the overall challenge of finding a cost-effective way to achieve them.

1. Increase return on marketing investment. Many of us have had to build business cases to justify incremental expenditures in some areas or, at the CFO's request, attempt to apply scientific models to calculate ROI and explain variances. Fun! Practitioners have realized that increasing analytic sophistication to capture the right data helps to inform business decisions and can facilitate calculating the return on marketing investment.

2. Generate more quality leads for the pipeline to surpass customer acquisition targets. Some companies operating in the Caribbean have already exhausted their organic growth options and are seeking to tap into new markets. The Caribbean diaspora (Caribbean nationals living outside the region) is a market that some companies long to engage because of this group's traditionally higher disposable incomes and greater connectivity. In the current economic environment, however, many Caribbean nationals are repatriating funds because of failing international capital markets. Companies in financial services, real estate and recruitment are eager to connect with this audience.

3. Tap into social media. The Internet penetration rate of" 17.3 percent in the Caribbean as a whole may seem anemic compared with the 73.1 percent in North America, but some countries like Antigua (85.8 percent), Barbados (63.8 percent) and Jamaica (53.5 percent) present opportunities for communicators. There has also been exponential growth in Caribbean communities on popular social media platforms. Caribbean communicators are aware of this but are somewhat apprehensive of formalizing a strategy to leverage these communities, especially to gauge brand awareness, test new product ideas or even evaluate brand reputation. However, regional governments have committed to developing the information and communication technology sectors to help diversify their economies, which should help increase Internet penetration rates.

4. Focus on customer engagement. We know that it costs more to get a new customer than to keep an existing one. But more important, a satisfied customer is the best ambassador for your brand and the cheapest form of customer acquisition. Additionally, internal stakeholders are important in spreading the word on your behalf, and as such, communicators have identified these groups as important.

5. Take an integrated approach to communication. Traditional media still play an important role in communication in the Caribbean. However, if a company is interested in reaching a group with specific demographic or geographic characteristics (for example, 18- to 25-year-old male Caribbean nationals living abroad), new media would bring a more cost-effective touch point to the mix.

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A dash of new media

To achieve these goals, Caribbean communicators should consider using new media to add flavor in a measurable way, without draining the budget. The Caribbean Web is still nascent, but there are signs of growth. Some regional media houses have started siphoning content from their traditional TV, press and radio arms to satisfy the growing appetite for online content. Two examples of this convergence are the Jamaica Gleaner's YouTube channel, which serves up local videos on its web site, and the recently revamped Trinidad Guardian web site, which cross-pollinates its stories with video content from sister TV station CNC3. Most Caribbean web sites have the standard Web 2.0 tools (RSS feeds, podcasts, webcasts, bookmarking or sharing tools, blog links, etc.), allowing content to be more accessible and enabling a viral spread if users wish to share.

A number of entrepreneurs have launched platforms that showcase Caribbean content and solicit user-generated content. The Caribbean communities on established social media platforms such as Facebook and Hi5 have grown exponentially, and video-sharing applications are part of the online diet of the average Caribbean consumer. Blogs now outnumber the traditional media web sites in the Caribbean, giving citizens a voice and more power. Sites like blogoria.com and cariblogger .com aggregate blogs and provide a platform upon which Caribbean bloggers can build. These influencers are the new catalysts of behavioral change, and the growth in this area cannot be ignored.

Traditional media are great for mass communication, but it is often difficult to quantify actual returns on investment for these channels or to measure the success of a campaign. In this environment, marketers are looking for easy, cheap and measurable strategies to achieve their goals, and a dash of new media may just do the trick.

Add water and stir

In stirring new media into the marketing mix, communicators should recalibrate the overall marketing strategy to ensure that the combined tactics work synergistically and more effectively. Other complementary, low-cost strategies can be adopted to achieve your goals, such as:

* Permission marketing. Engaging customers through permission marketing opens up new ways to cross-sell and up-sell products and services. In this method, customers are asked to opt in to receive the information, implicitly giving the marketer the right to send targeted ads in the area of interest. Permission marketing has its own techniques to increase signups and, when used in tandem with other new-media strategies, can increase returns. It tends to be more efficient, since ads are sent only to people who are interested in them.

* Word of mouth. A comprehensive online word-of-mouth strategy is probably the most cost-effective way to increase brand awareness, build loyalty and ultimately affect the bottom line. Caribbean nationals are passionate and vocal about many things, and would willingly promote a local brand they believe in--if they are asked!

* Paid advertising. Even with smaller budgets, communicators can reach niche markets through targeted online advertising. Facebook and Google's Adwords allow marketers to run targeted campaigns and allow you to set your maximum budget. Some marketers may also wish to advertise on Caribbean-centric sites.

Measuring cups

It's important to have a framework set up to measure the success or failure of a strategy. As use of the Internet evolves, so do measurement models. Simply put: Online marketing ROI = Net benefit derived ! Cost of achieving that benefit

Suitable "net benefits" of online marketing investments might be:

* Improved conversion rate ([sales / number of clicks] x 100), that is, the percentage of visitors who have been successfully converted to customers. This metric is easier to calculate with new media, since technology allows us to track a click all the way through to fulfillment. Data captured can be used to cross-sell or up-sell to existing customers to extend their lifetime value.

* Better insight into the people who interact with the brand. Analytical software gives marketers a sharper look at the target audience's behavioral patterns, demographics, location and more--something that is harder to discern from traditional media.

* Increased number of signups on the web site, whether it is for a newsletter or just for further communication. These people have given explicit permission to be marketed to.

* Increased number of unique users/visitors to the web site. Some communicators may have metrics that track unique users as part of their scorecards, and new-media strategies can help achieve these.

* Increased links back to the web site, which increases search engine rankings.

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A measurement model is only as good as the data entered, and the onus is on the marketer to capture data accurately. Practitioners can now add the necessary numbers to support the request for more funds or justify a shift to new media. With proper ingredient measurement, the callaloo can be flavored to taste and enjoyed by all.

Brevard Nelson is a co-founder and vice president of customer acquisition and engagement at Caribbean Ideas Ltd. He is also the vice president of branding and visual communication for IABC/Trinidad and Tobago.