“Moments matter,” said Kyle Lacy, an author and thought leader on digital marketing trends, at the recent Connections 2014 Conference in Indianapolis. “Every touch point and every connection is an opportunity to deliver a seamless brand experience to delight your customers.”
Tags: brand consistency, marketing technology, localized marketing, local marketing, marketing channels
“A penny saved is a penny earned.” We’ve all heard the wise words of Ben Franklin at some point in our lives. And when it comes to your personal finances, it’s generally pretty good advice. Even when it comes to business, specifically your co-op / market development fund, there’s a tendency for leadership to be content with money going unspent – it helps the marketing and sales teams finish the quarter or year within their budget and the leftover money simply drops to the bottom line. But when you really look at the numbers, sorry Ben; a penny saved is revenue left on the table.
Tags: sales, marketing technology, marketing resource management, co-op funds, market development funds, indirect sales channel
It wouldn’t surprise anyone if I said technology plays a big role in our daily lives. We spend most of our days staring at a screen of some sort, whether it’s in our office, on a bus, train or airplane, walking down the sidewalk, or just sitting on the couch. And as we become more comfortable with technology, we’ve placed more of our responsibilities in the hands of technology. This is as true of people as it is business.
Tags: marketing leadership, marketing technology, marketing technology vendors, marketing technologist, marketing talent, local marketing automation
Jul 16, 2013
We are in an age of "permission marketing." This was the topic I had the pleasure to hear Seth Godin speak about at the Integrated Marketing Week Conference last month. One of his main points: All media is optional. If people don’t want to talk to you or listen to you, they don't have to. We're past the time when marketers can just cram messages down people's throats. Everyone skips the commercials on DVR. In the subject line of an email, you essentially are asking them to open your email. In the opt-in form on your website, you have to ask them to sign up for your newsletter. You can’t just say attack the audience with your product; you have to build a connection first.
The Connection Economy
This significantly reduces the value of the mass market, according to Godin. The real value for your marketing dollar is on the edges – the places where specialized info will be most valued. The edge is more receptive to specific messaging. Think politics and religion if you want more vivid examples – the edge craves content on their subject and consumes it at much deeper and higher rates because there’s more passion there. That's where you’re making your connection, and that’s what drives Godin’s notion that we are living in a "Connection Economy."
Tags: branding, content strategy, messaging, B2B, content marketing, marketing technology, marketing resource management, connection economy, seth godin
Jun 25, 2013
We all have a pretty good idea of what traits we like to see in new employees. There’s a laundry list of cliché adjectives nearly every manager at some point is guilty of pulling from when putting together a job listing. We want our candidates and future employees to be dynamic, motivated self-starters with a passion for whatever their specific role will entail. The point is we know, almost to a fault, what we’re looking for in an employee.
Well, any human employee, that is.
Tags: creative production management, integration, marketing technology, marketing resource management, local marketing automation
Jun 13, 2013
It’s a no-brainer to say customer service matters, but some recent studies really quantify just how much it matters. In one study, respondents indicated that they stand to lose up to 21% of annual revenue as a result of not offering a positive, consistent and brand-relevant customer experience. Another study says that bad customer service stories are more likely to be shared than good customer services stories, with 62% of B2B and 42% of B2C customers purchasing more after a good experience.
It’s really important for us at DocuStar to make sure the client experience is a positive one. My goal is for the client to consider us a part of their team. After all, we practically serve as an extension of their marketing department for some projects. Whether you work B2B or B2C, reaching that level of intimacy with your clients is critical for sustained success but can be difficult to achieve. I think there are four things you can do that will put you and your client in a position to succeed:
Tags: marketing, B2B, B2C, business-to-consumer, client service, customer service, marketing technology, customer experience, customer retention
Jun 11, 2013
From Deadlines to bottom-lines, I put my marketing department under constant pressure to show ROI. This means every project and every process must be evaluated and prioritized based on the resources available and the return it will generate. In short, you need to get the most out of your team at all times. Basically, success comes down to productivity.
Tags: creative production management, workflow, marketing budget, process automation, collaboration, marketing technology, marketing productivity, marketing resource management, local marketing automation
May 29, 2013
Stay better informed as a marketing professional with this monthly series highlighting the latest developments in all things marketing. Get caught up with the May Marketing News Snapshot.
Tags: branding, marketing news, online marketing, google, Twitter, Tumblr, B2B, Yahoo, B2C, content marketing, USPS, advertising, May, email marketing, social media, marketing technology
In our April Marketing News Snapshot, we shared this article from Direct Marketing News. It features Susan Wojcicki, SVP of Advertising at Google, discussing five trends shaping the future of digital advertising. While they all warrant monitoring, these three in particular jumped out at me, coming from a marketing technology background. For deeper explanations of the trends, be sure to read the article by Ryan Joe. To see how the future of digital advertising compares to that of digital marketing, and the role marketing technology plays in that future, keep reading below!
Tags: branding, digital marketing, online marketing, google, online advertising, advertising trends, marketing, scalability, digital advertising, marketing trends, creative production, collaboration, brand consistency, marketing technology, personalization
Apr 18, 2013
The proliferation of information has empowered consumers like never before. There are all kinds of third-party resources at their fingertips for them to get the skinny on brands, products and services, and more ways than ever before for them to share their own experiences and opinions about those same brands, products and services as well. The scary thing about this for marketers and CEOs isn’t that so much information as out there, it’s that this information is unregulated and unfiltered. They feel they’ve lost control of their message, and to a point, they have. But the real issue managers and leaders should be concerned with isn’t control- it’s communication.
Consumers no longer have to go on your word as a business, but that doesn’t render your word meaningless. According to the Edelman 2013 Trust Barometer, the way businesses need to communicate their message has changed greatly. Influence no longer takes place as a fixed monologue dictated by the few with goal of control. Instead, it’s flexible dialogue co-created by many that is all about empowerment.
Tags: branding, trust, messaging, brand advocacy, employee engagement, MRM, marketing technology, marketing resource management
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