An ASSET CLASS is any business unit defined by a combination of customers and contacts which requires a unique contact strategy.  Asset Classes are segments of customers and contacts usually tracked through a series of time periods.  They represent the assets which marketers can invest their marketing dollars towards the goals of attaining future revenues and profits.  They are the assets upon which marketers invest their budgets to reach corporate goals.

Think of each asset class as its name implies – an asset that marketing manages to its maximum potential.  Each Asset Class receives some level of marketing investment of budget dollars which in turn will yield some level of revenue and profit.  Marketing is managing all its asset classes through time to achieve its corporate financial goals. 
All businesses need macro segmentation to manage their customers and contacts across time.  Each business needs to define its own asset classes, reflecting how they plan their circulation budgets.

This presents an excellent optimization opportunity.  What is the amount of marketing dollars spent on each asset class which produces the future revenue and profit to meet corporate goals?  I propose two methods to answer this question – simulation and optimization. 

1. Simulate future financial returns under different spending scenarios.  Load historical customer movement and advertising productivity of your asset classes.  Make spending assumptions and then simulate the future performance of the asset classes.

2. Optimize future financial returns by finding the best spending strategies across asset classes.  Load historical customer movement and advertising productivity of your asset classes.  Enter future corporate financial targets and then find the asset class spending strategy that reaches those targets.

Marketers can be likened to Portfolio Managers.  They manage advertising budgets across their assets – customers and marketing contacts.  They balance short and long range financial goals – taking near-term profits and investing for long-term growth.  The optimal planning strategy is derived to meet and exceed financial goals.

About Randy Erdahl
Randy is an analytic marketing champion and is Clario’s Executive Vice President, Optimization Solutions and co-founder. As the executive leader of optimization solutions, he provides vision and direction for Clario Stream Solution development, as well as technical leadership to sales, marketing and direct client interaction.