Technology is the great enabler for today’s consumer marketer. With more sophisticated analysis and segmentation tools, one can process data, discern patterns and, ultimately, validate models like never before.

But, no matter the tools, the greatest customer relationship management strategies and modeling systems won’t work without proper consumer insights. That’s why Deutsch Inc. – a New York-based full-service integrated marketing and communications company – seeks first to understand the behavioral patterns, values, beliefs and attitudes of a client’s target audience, and only then develops a detailed, targeted communications plan to promote the product or service.

“The most successful direct marketing plans still come down to finding the right person and sending them the right offer, at the right time,” says Fred Rubin, partner and director of the company’s interactive and direct divisions, iDeutsch and directDeutsch. “Technology helps us target customers and prospects effectively, but understanding what the best offer is, what kind of messaging will resonate, when to send it – that’s the art of direct marketing that makes us great. We put ourselves in the position of the consumer, and always remind ourselves, ‘Just because I can doesn’t mean I should.’”

This strategy enabled the company to reach consumers and persuade them to “opt in” for more information. “At a time when consumers are increasingly signing up for Do-Not-Call lists and adding spam filters to their e-mail, we’re working around this by instead offering consumers venues – like Web sites, toll-free numbers and mail – through which to contact us,” Rubin says.

There’s no doubt that the Internet and other tools have allowed consumers to be much more proactive in managing the flow of information they receive. This new reality, coming to be known as “CMR” (customer managed relationships), means that understanding consumer behavior and values is more critical than ever in order to make a connection with a prospective customer that is both relevant and that adds value – and leads to a sale.

“The purchase funnel starts with consumers noticing a product and ends with the purchase of a product and a strong, ongoing relationship with the brand. But now, by combining new technology with our existing consumer insight, there’s this whole area in between where we can implement things like lead generation to help us capture these people when they’re really making that brand choice,” Rubin says. “We continue to look very closely at how consumers gather information, narrow their choices and, ultimately, how they shop for a product – and once they buy, how we can continue to extract even greater value from the relationship.”

For Rubin, customer managed relationships present more opportunities than challenges. “We create highly tailored messages that are relevant to our audience and deliver them via the most appropriate medium. Consumers control the tools. Our role is to help them make the decision we want them to arrive at in the end,” Rubin says. “By better understanding consumers, customer managed relationships have allowed us to seize many more opportunities.”