As marketers, we have certain business objectives and financial goals we need to meet. So, what do we do? We focus on campaign strategy to hit our numbers. Still prevalent today, we strive for finding the right customers, in the right segments to target the right message in the right channel. But campaigns today are […]
According to a Walker study, Customer Experience is the new competitive battle field for organizations. In fact, the study states that by the year 2020, the customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator. 2020! If this research is accurate, organizations that take little or no action will eventually lose market […]
The thing about marketing is, it’s always changing. And another big shift in technology to enhance customer experience is evolving. Have you ever seen the Minority Report? The movie was set in 2054 and had a scene where John Anderson (Tom Cruise) ended up walking through a futuristic mall. As he snaked his way through […]
Personalizing the customer experience is becoming more than an effective way to compete. It’s evolved to become a business imperative. Why? Because our customers have come to expect it. And because those organizations that are investing in the capabilities to deliver great customer experiences are reporting superior performance and growth. The personalization impact is becoming […]
Companies are catching on to the fact that delivering personalized customer experiences really does create competitive advantage. And every marketer knows that the best customer experience strategies are driven by data. So smart marketers are collecting data at every touch point across the customer journey to better understand what customers want and need. And they […]
As marketers, we need to be where our customers are. Where they go, we follow. And that means managing a seemingly endless list of digital channels and managing the technology tools that support them. Boston Consulting Group reports, “a medium sized B to C company uses an average of 19 tools in its marketing organization.” […]
Customer engagement can be defined as the depth of a relationship between your customer and your brand. In our customer-centric marketplace, achieving loyalty is largely the result of frequent positive engagement. And more positive engagement can be achieved with real-time customer interactions. In fact, real-time customer engagement is a game changer, and mastering the ability […]
As Marketing Leaders, we are often charged with delivering consistent customer engagement across the many functions within our enterprise. Functional teams operate in silos and each function has their own view of the customer. It can be quite a challenge for Marketing Leaders to influence these disparate functions without having direct control. Building a Customer […]
The world is producing more data than ever before and it is only going to continue to grow. A recent Harvard Business Review article cites that by 2020 44 trillion gigabytes of data, will be produced every day. For context, 1 gigabyte holds the contents of enough books to cover a 30-foot-long shelf. For marketers […]
Mapping customer journeys by touchpoint has become a popular process for today’s marketers. Why? Because customer experience has become the most critical driver in securing conversions and new revenues, as well as ensuring retention and customer value growth. And, creating a visual map that illustrates the multiple ways your customers interact across each touchpoint is […]
The traditional marketing approach to campaign strategy isn’t as effective as it used to be. Many marketing programs still push products based on business need. The timing of campaigns continues to be calendar or event-driven. And marketing communications are still strategized, designed and executed in single channel silos. Yet, customer expectations keep getting higher and […]
Advanced personalization marketing demands investment in key martech categories if you want to stay ahead of, or at least on pace with, your competitors and most importantly your customers. But, with over 5000 marketing technologies and hundreds of categories to choose from, it is difficult to cull through which martech trends are important to take […]
A customer first strategy, focused on advancing personalization tactics, is necessary to retain and build the lifetime value of today’s demanding customer. But most companies are not able to enact such a strategy. Why? Partly because the CIO and CMO relationship has not been reimagined to deliver the transformational change needed for a customer first […]
Customers expect personalization and a unified experience across every channel, Yet, many organizations are struggling to act on their customer data to deliver the type of experience customers expect. Digital engagement platforms are designed to fill the gap between insight and action–and capitalize on every opportunity to upsell, cross-sell, and delight customers during the moments […]
Advancing your personalization strategy takes a shift in mindset and process to that of customer first. Yet, in most marketing organizations, there is not yet an in-depth skillset around developing a customer first strategy. And, marketing continues to be brand/product first, trigger, event or promo focused, and channels remain in silos. How can marketing leaders […]
The concept of personalization is commonplace in marketing organizations. But, personalization techniques are evolving rapidly from a tactical to a strategic approach based on making things easier for an individual customer. Leading brands have evolved their personalization strategies to meet individual customer’s demands for intimacy. If you are not following suit your customers will notice […]
In today’s Engagement Economy, it is imperative for brands to take their personalization efforts to the next level or risk alienating customers with “old school” personalization strategies that continue to prioritize volume rather than value. But implementing advanced personalization at scale requires transformational change which can be risky. And risk demands a well thought out […]
Last week at the CRMC I facilitated a workshop on the future of personalization. Joining me were my colleagues Adam Roberts and Andrea Shaikin, Former Director of Marketing, Loyalty and Innovation – STAPLES Canada. The intent of the workshop was to give attendees the capabilities to up their customer personalization game. The workshop started by […]