It was a valuable and inspiring three days in Atlanta last week at the Franchise Customer Experience Conference (FCXC). Prior to FCXC I wrote about the importance of having a game plan heading into the conference. This certainly paid off for me, as I took a great deal away from the time spent meeting and learning from franchise leaders about their approaches to franchise customer experience.

The conference experience doesn’t end when the microphones are turned off and the vendor exhibits are packed up. Indeed, during the final session of the conference, Franchise Founders CEO Matt Friedman reminded all of us it’s just as important to share what we learned from FCXC with our organizations. So, in that spirit, I’m sharing with you some of my biggest takeaways from FCXC 2022.

Tags: customer experience, data, franchise marketing

Like so many businesses, Vya has been assessing the longer-term impacts of COVID-19 – for our own business and for our clients. While we can’t fully predict what will happen next, we do believe that in a post-COVID economy, you can’t just go back to being the company you were before 2020.

Tags: data, marketing data analytics, data-driven marketing, data and analytics, customer data management

I completed my college studies at Abilene Christian University which is located in Abilene, Texas. I really like Abilene and look forward to my class reunions. However; for marketing organizations, Abilene is to be avoided when mentioned in the context of the “Abilene Paradox.”

Tags: marketing strategy, data, disagreement, groupthink, agreement, leadership, task force, the road to abilene, marketing organizations, conflict

Friend or foe? It’s a question many creative agencies are asking when it comes to new technology. Does new software that improves creative production workflow give in-house creative teams the confidence and bandwidth to replace agencies, or does it make the agency more appealing because it augments their ability to serve the client? Let’s take a look at some ways technology is helping creative agencies adapt to a changing advertising, marketing and PR landscape to try to answer that question.

Crossing channels
There has always been some crossover between marketing, public relations and advertising, but the lines between those functional areas have never been blurrier. All of those functions are now, for the most part, carried out on the same channels, and there are a lot of those channels to manage and keep an eye on. Part of the problem is when one thing happens on one channel, it’s not long before it spills over onto another channel (think about the concept of “going viral”).

Tags: marketing, technology, advertising, data, pr, public relations, creative agencies

Everyone has caught themselves daydreaming of a scenario where they said the right thing at the right time in the right place. Maybe it was about a marriage proposal, or falling into a dream job; either way, that goes to show that all (or at least most) of us at some level recognize the inherent value in the relationship between message, time and place. These elements are no less valuable when it comes to marketing and sales. Think of all the legislation that exists to prevent businesses (legit and non-legit) from saying anything in the “wrong place.” The CAN-SPAM Act and the National Do Not Call List are the biggest examples that come to mind.

The point is, no matter if it’s getting engaged or sending a webinar invite via email, it’s hard to know exactly what the right thing to say is, when to say it and where to say it. In business, the challenge is two-fold:

Tags: big data, data analysis, sales, messaging, relevance, digital age, marketing, business results, audience engagement, can-spam act, technology, metrics, measurement, data

Part one of this series addressed trends in marketing localization as measured by CMO’s and reported in a recent CMO Council study. In this blog, we discuss how to adapt your content to local buyers and markets. Below are some tactical suggestions for localizing your marketing efforts.

Tags: marketing campaign, MRM, personalization, data, localized marketing, marketing resource management

arketing localization is here, and myriad factors are driving the shift. A new study released by the CMO Council reviewed the trends in marketing localization as measured by CMO’s. 

Tags: personalization, data, localized marketing

Companies are often challenged with applying market insights gained from tactical segmentation. But once target segments have been identified, how do you maximize segmentation within your marketing promotions strategy?

Tags: MRM, Continuity Campaigns, data, marketing resource management, sales and marketing alignment

In today’s dynamic marketing environment, it is increasingly important to be able to localize and personalize your marketing messages. Lately, there’s been a lot of marketing buzz about “Big Data” as a means to deliver personalization. If it feels a little nebulous, you’re not alone. A 2011 IBM CMO study (n=1,700) found that 71% of CMO’s feel unprepared for the data explosion.
Many organizations understand the benefits of big data, but don’t have the budget for centralized platforms and advanced analytics. Even when budget is not a barrier, implementing the analysis tools for big data can be complex and lead to long implementation timelines. In the interim, harnessing your organization’s existing data (even if imperfect) with a Marketing Resource Management (MRM) system can be a cost-effective step towards successful localized marketing.

Tags: MRM, marketing technology, personalization, data, localized marketing, marketing resource management