jason hartline
January 7, 2016
Making Big Data Key To Omni-Channel Marketing Success
Making Big Data Key To Omni-Channel Marketing Success
Marketing has come a long way in the last 10-or-so years. What used to be an untrackable batch and blast method to reach consumers has been completely transformed, and where businesses once had little to no insight, buyer behavior can now be analyzed through several available data points and digital channels.
This new age of omni-channel marketing took center stage at this year’s annual Teradata Partners Conference, where Teradata Vice President of Strategy Innovation, Sean Shoffstall, took big data and marketing pros for a deeper dive. With mobile devices, social media and other popular customer channels, marketers are being inundated with data – but as such, they’re also being presented with endless possibilities.
The Omni-Channel Landscape
As marketers continue to get acquainted with the different technologies and platforms at their disposal, they’re presented with a new set of challenges that haven’t existed in the past. With so many tools available, it’s important for marketing professionals to make sure they’re using the data provided by each effectively, while also protecting this data and ensuring that it is being used in a way that is ultimately helpful and beneficial to the consumer. It’s important for marketers to:
- Make integration decisions based on available data;
- Coordinate paid and owned marketing channels;
- Understand and optimize marketing performance.
This last piece is crucial to the overall marketing puzzle. With an influx of data from new technologies, marketing practitioners have the opportunity to determine the right message to send out to the right audience, and scrap messages that may not be performing well. Some marketers become so focused on one platform, channel or conversion metric, that they often miss this bigger picture. Data should be pulled from everywhere and incorporated into every component of a marketing strategy for a seamless omni-channel customer experience.
Data’s Role
Having a clear picture of all the data and channels can help marketers reach their holy grail: Individualized insights. In 2015, customer are communicating with brands at any time and from anywhere, making it complicated to achieve true one-on-one engagement. The plus side to this is that marketers now have enough data to obtain an accurate representation of the what, where and when – all it takes is some analysis to incorporate this data into overall marketing efforts.
Real-Time Availability
One of the more challenging concepts of marketing today is the need for rapid, real-time engagement. Marketing data should be collected, analyzed, and used to create dynamic customer profiles and determine which messages are resonating and which aren’t in near real-time, so that engagement can be tailored for optimized results.
Content Curation
Another interesting challenge associated with modern, omni-channel marketing is sending the right message out through the appropriate channel and curating content that makes sense for each particular segment of the audience, or for the audience of one. Millennials for example, might opt to engage with brands on Instagram while an older audience may prefer email communication or, the still completely useful snail mail approach.
The ever-changing omni-channel marketing landscape doesn’t need to be a challenge, and big data is making it more navigable than ever. By making note of these changes and taking advantage of the unique opportunities the data presents, marketers can craft targeted messages, deliver them to highly segmented audiences through their preferred channels, and make a lasting impact on the audience’s perception of the brand and – more importantly – on the company’s bottom line.
TeradataVoice
Teradata Perspectives, TERADATA
Forbes/Business
January 6, 2016
How to Crop Your Friends into... Porn?
Ok. First off this photo is freaking hilarious.
My friend Emilee decided to make a quick weekend trip to visit us in Dallas, so, of course, this really did need to happen.
Prior to Emilee's arrival, we quickly labelled the upcoming weekend #EmileeDoesDallas, and Jason took it one step further with recreating the Debbie Does Dallas movie poster with Em's face.
It's always fun using photoshop skills outside of work, especially when you get to pick on those around you.
Here are a couple tips from Jason on how you, too, can crop your friends into any and all porn covers.
-The easiest way to map a new face on a photo and match the skin tone is to blur the original where no defined facial features remain and paste the new face at a lower opacity.
-On the new face, use the burn tool on eyes, nose, lips, and teeth to add further definition.
January 5, 2016
Skills Social Media Managers Will Need in 2016
A new year shouldn’t only mean a look back at what you accomplished; you also need to look forward to what you hope to achieve. As businesses break down their social media plans for 2016, they’re inevitably going to take a hard look at the social media leaders within the company.
As social media professionals (existing, or hopeful), we need to know more about where social media is heading in 2016 than anyone else in our businesses. We need to be able to offer insight on new trends, provide plans on how our brands can capitalize on them, and then actually be able to execute. There are certain skills that social media managers need in order to make that happen. The thing is, since social media is always evolving, our skills need to be evolving at the same rate.
Below we look at the skills social media managers will need in 2016 based on where the industry is heading.
By Evan Le Page - Hootsuite
7 Online Marketing Methods That Have Stood The Test Of Time
Many online marketing trends are just that — trends.
They rise, they fade, they die. It’s one of the most frustrating things about marketing. You spend all this money and invest all this time in something, and then — poof! — it’s gone. You feel like you’ve wasted time and effort.
In the grand scheme of things, digital marketing is still a new industry. It wasn’t until 1990 or so that marketers first started dabbling in that new thing called the Internet, and discovering ways to amplify their brand’s presence.
Look how far we’ve come.
The question we need to ask now is this: Are there any marketing techniques that have stood the test of time? The answer is yes.
Therefore, it behooves us as marketers to analyze those time-tested techniques and use them wisely.
Why?
Because the techniques that have endured to the present will probably endure in the future as well. We should invest our resources and our energy in marketing that gets results.
In this article, I will survey seven of the time-tested, revenue-building techniques that are worth carrying into the future.
1. Content Marketing
Content marketing is the current method of choice for most marketers. According to the Content Marketing Institute, 88% of B2Bs and 76% of B2C organizations are using content marketing.
Content marketing was thriving far before the Internet, and even before any of us were alive. John Deere’s magazine, The Furrow, was a classic form of content marketing, launched in 1895. Its subscribers were — or became — customers of Deere equipment and fostered future generations of customers.
Michelin is known as both an information provider and a tire manufacturer. Their information comes in the form of the Red Guide, Michelin star ratings, and Michelin maps. This technique has mushroomed into a vast business, but it started out as a content marketing strategy. Look how successful it’s been!
Like other forms of marketing, content creation doesn’t provide the instant results that you might wish for. Hang in there, though. Content marketing has been successful in the past, and will give you results for years to come.
2. SEO
One of the most worn-out cliches in marketing is this: “SEO is dead.”
Marketers have been making this claim since 1997. If you’re doing the math, SEO has allegedly been in the throes of death for 18 years.
In reality, SEO isn’t going away. There will always be search. That’s what humans do. There will always be engines, even if they are run by smart algorithms and artificial intelligence. There will always be optimization.
Therefore, there will always be search engine optimization even if it looks more mature than its younger self.
3. The Value Proposition
Many old-school marketing methodologies have their online equivalents. The value proposition, also referred to as the unique selling proposition (USP), is one example.
A solid value proposition is the unique value add that your company promises and delivers to its customers. When we tested value propositions in two of my online businesses, we boosted our conversion rate by more than 10%.
Value propositions are as old as marketing itself. In fact, you could say that value propositions are at the heart of marketing.
Unsheathe this old marketing weapon, and watch your marketing improve.
4. Email Marketing
Email marketing is the forgotten stepchild of online marketing. When social media got all sexy, many marketers simply forgot about the ancient art of email marketing.
The data backs up email as a mighty marketing force. Email marketing is responsible for 16% of customers acquired, compared with the less than 1% acquisition rate from Facebook. Search marketing still remains the top-ranked marketing method, but email holds a steady second place. You can keep using that antiquated communication method for as long as it survives.
5. Social Proof
What does a hot dog stand have in common with Amazon.com?
Answer: Social proof.
Social proof, also known as “informational social influence,” means that people follow the actions and behaviors of those around them.
If the hot dog stand has a long line of happy, hungry customers, then you think, “That stand must serve great hot dogs.” You can’t know for certain until you taste the food, but you assume it’s the case because of the sheer number of people lining up to get one.
How does this apply to Amazon.com? Successful ecommerce retailers know that they need to back up their products with social reinforcement. If people are liking, rating, commenting, or reviewing products, it gives social proof to those products.
Social proof has been a form of online marketing for a long time, but never before has it been so powerful, streamlined, and primed for success.
6. Persuasive Copy
The words we use — copy, content, webinars, blog articles, infographics, web pages — are potent conduits of persuasion.
One enduring online marketing method is using powerful and persuasive copy to get people to take action.
Students of persuasive writing may have read Thomas Paine and his 1776 treatise, Common Sense. That’s persuasive writing. Persuasion goes even farther back in time — to Aristotle and his school of rhetoric.
Persuasive writing and speaking is as old as humankind itself, and it still works today.
Using persuasive copy on your website and marketing assets will score conversions.
7. Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Taken literally, word-of-mouth marketing is one person using his or her voice to tell another person about a product, service, or business.
n its modern iteration, word-of-mouth marketing is people promoting products, services, or businesses on social networks by sharing experiences, rating products, and writing reviews. It was with us during the early days of forum-based Internet usage, and it remains with us still.
Word-of-mouth marketing, along with its cousins evangelism marketing and influencer marketing, are still powerful ways to reach your customers.
Conclusion
Unless we experience a global cataclysm, digital marketing will be around for the long haul. Because of its volatile nature, however, we need to play it smart. We need to engage in marketing techniques that really work instead of just snatching at the occasional flash-in-the-pan.
If we pour our efforts and dollars into reliable methods, we’ll eventually come out on top.
What are some marketing techniques that you think will endure?
-Written By Neil Patel for Forbes/ Entrepreneurs
If relevance, context, and effective delivery aren’t the topic of regular conversations in your marketing department, 2016 is going to be a frustrating year for you.
Businesses need to keep a clear focus on the needs and expectations of their customers—a group that’s diverse and fragmented, with high expectations and little patience for anyone who can’t keep up. To stay competitive you need to be visible, and that’s no easy feat.
Which marketing trends should you be prepared to follow? Here’s a look at the 10 marketing trends that will drive conversations and conversions in 2016.
1. Embrace the Customer Experience Model.
It’s been a slow grind for some, but marketing departments are moving from a silo of advertising and non-interactive communication toward becoming a natural part of the sales cycle and an extension of customer service. Marketers, using integrated tools, can engage with customers online, track the buyer’s journey, measure sentiment and loyalty, and match behavior with outreach tailored to meet their audience’s needs and interests. But for customers already bombarded with information, a great customer experience is becoming baseline. The year 2016 will see brand ambassadors given a higher priority, more effective customer engagement—using tactics highlighted below—and tighter collaboration with sales and support to directly affect conversion rates.
2. Will Ad Blockers Change the Game?
Consumers are sick of in-your-face marketing. As marketers and builders engage in a healthy debate about the presence of ad blockers, the truth is that if advertising isn’t relevant it’s annoying—and consumers have little patience for anything annoying. How can a good brand get noticed? Watch for companies to continue to create advertisements that seamlessly blend with—rather than interrupt—the browsing experience, as well as to use those customer-centric insights to drive content and social engagement.
3. Dream and Market in 3D.
Virtual reality literally drops people inside their favorite TV show, provides an on-the-ground preview of their next vacation, or puts them behind the wheel of their next car. Customer experience is priority number one and—although it’s still evolving—3D technology is poised to move from novelty to mainstream. It will start most heavily in the gaming industry, but as the technology to create and consume becomes more accessible, smart marketers will look for ways to bring their products to virtual life.
4. Marketers Will (Finally) Recognize Social Media as a Channel, Not a Strategy.
Social media isn’t marketing, and it doesn’t work as a “strategy” on its own—something that seems to have finally sunk into the collective marketing consciousness. Social media is one platform of many, a tactic that does a great job of supporting broad campaigns but flounders by itself. This distinction will shape marketing strategies and budgetary considerations in 2016.
5. Omnichannel Will be Retail’s Best Friend.
Tweet for Pizza! Dominos has one of the catchiest omnichannel campaigns right now, but brands across the board will quickly learn that an integrated customer experience is essential—one that creates one smooth interaction, rather than multiple micro events. From addressing the causes behind abandoned shopping carts to creating an easy transition between online and bricks-and-mortar locations, omnichannel will improve the bottom line for both retailers and B2B.
6. Big Data IS for Marketers.
Big data, which includes social and unstructured data, is a goldmine for marketers. Until recently, many marketers shied away from big data because they lacked the skills—or the big budget resources—to translate it into something meaningful. Now, tools are coming to the marketplace that make mining and managing data easier than ever. 2016 will be a banner year for incorporating big data and perhaps more importantly, analytics into marketing decisions.
7. Mobile, Mobile, Mobile.
Marketers who’ve been lazy about pursuing mobile are about to miss the train altogether; the number of people who do their browsing on devices passed desktop users a while ago. For retailers, mobile is basic; for others, it soon will be. At a minimum, this means a mobile-optimized and responsive website, and may include custom apps and mobile-targeted campaigns. The frontrunners have already moved on to other things; mobile can’t be put off for another year.
8. Video Use Explodes While Live Streaming Finds a Purpose.
If you want to engage with millennials, video is a must-have marketing tactic; they prefer to find entertainment and education on YouTube over conventional channels like television. Snapchat, YouTube, gifs, Vine, and more are being consumed at a rapid rate. Streaming video takes this to the next level, and platforms like Periscope and Blab have put interactive live video into the hands of anyone with a smartphone. The next year will see video continue to shine and streaming move to the forefront of marketing, with innovative new campaigns that allow consumers to be the stars.
9. No Rest for Content.
It may sounds like a broken record, but content is still king—even more so given the deterioration of interruptive tactics. But context is a stronger factor than ever. With no decline in sight for the importance of good content, the next year will see greater focus on bringing influencers on board for more organic marketing. Storytelling will also play a key role in drawing consumers in and keeping them engaged. Natural, relevant content in the right channels will drive content campaigns.
10. Data (Read: Results) Will Be an Overarching Theme.
It isn’t enough to think you should do it; feel good marketing is over. CEOs, CMOs, and every other influencer in the C-suite will look to marketers for data before, during, and after campaigns to validate return on their marketing investments.
The last year has brought a lot of change, but these trends also prove that the driving factors aren’t new, they’ve just grown up. Focusing on the customer, delivering value, and making decisions based on data as well as good ideas are the same currents that have carried successful marketers for decades. What’s new is the creativity and innovation needed to deliver that value to your customers when and where they need it.
Daniel Newman , Forbes.
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