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From technology trends to changing business models to evolving consumer behaviors, there’s a lot to consider in order for today’s marketers to really have a handle on what’s important about what’s next.
Old digital tactics and mastering individual channels are being overcome by the need to create a common brand experience across the digital experience on and offline. Customers expect to access and consume information across platforms, apps and devices and in order for brands to “be the best answer” wherever buyers are looking, they’ll need to figure out what’s next and where to focus.
To capture some of what’s important for digital marketing in 2015, I reached out to some of the marketers I’ve worked with and come to know over the years. It’s an inspiring collection of marketing brain power and experience represented by brands like Cisco, IBM, Dell, Google, Intel, Marketo and LinkedIn as well as industry thought leaders like David Meerman Scott, Ann Handley, Jay Baer, Ekaterina Walter, Mark Schaefer, Ardath Albee, Brian Clark and many more – 21 in all....
This story isn’t about someone like you, it’s about you. Your unique habits, preferences and expectations.
...You are now a “Market of One” (breaking free from the “Market of Many”). Technology has given you free agent status to the brands that want your business and more importantly, your loyalty.
Why does this matter? Because a remarkable, nearly-invisible technology rests at the intersection of billions of people around the world and their every waking moment… Flash technology....
...In one minute, email users send 204 million messages, Amazon makes about $83,000 in online sales and Apple users download 48,000 apps. On the social front, Facebook users share 2.46 million pieces of content, 277,000 tweets are tweeted and Tinder users swipe left or right 416,667 times.
We've never seen a small town quite like that.
The folks at Domo have created an infographic detailing a chunk of the incredible amount of data the Internet generates each minute....
If you are over the age of 35, you probably remember when the most innovative thing you could do on the web was interact in an AOL chat room. And you thought you were so cool doing it, too.
...Do you want to create an engaging and interactive digital experiences for users on your website? Say it with me. THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT!
In a recent article by Pratik Dholakiya on Search Engine Watch, he says,“As humans, we remember and care about experiences far more than things, or content. We will always remember and treasure a vacation more than, say, a movie (unless it’s “Star Wars”). The marketers of the future need to create interactions. Users experience them, and so they become memorable.”
We are just at the beginning of this digital marketing revolution. Every time you think it can’t get better, the web and what we can do with it as marketers changes. Something big is about to happen.
The days of clumping customers together based on zip code, age and income are falling by the wayside, thanks to the power of big data integration. Instead, chief marketing officers are getting personal. Business leaders are using personal data to better understand -- and serve -- customers. IT leaders, too, need to be aware of the shift taking place with big data in marketing if they want to keep up with trends.
At Big Data TechCon 2014 in Cambridge, Mass.,MainStream Analytics Executive Vice President Robert Dayton discussed how big data integration, the cloud, and consumer engagement are prompting business leaders to focus more on technology investments if they want to succeed...
What to do when social media is not working. Reevaluate your social media tactics with these tips to find and engage with your audience on social media.
Sometimes the hype of social media outstrips common sense. This is one of those times.
There seems to be a growing amount of buzz and attention about creating a “social enterprise.” This is a good thing. Complicated, but good.
But somehow in this same conversation there is this expectation that the CEO, CMO, and other executives should blog and tweet. This was the topic of a lively debate with some friends at SXSW recently and it was heated enough that I thought that perhaps this is an issue for some readers too....
Need help optimizing your landing pages? Don't forget to check out these helpful resources.
Regardless, you should know that you don't always have to take on huge campaigns to move the needle -- sometimes little changes can make a big difference, especially on your landing pages. That's the closest point to conversion, after all.
But even focusing on landing pages alone to increase lead gen can feel daunting. Do you start by testing the headline? The button copy? Or just completely overhaul the page design?
Wherever you decide to start all depends on your team and company goals -- but having landing page optimization resources in your back pocket never hurt. To arm you with the information, data, and examples you need to make better decisions, we pulled together our eight best landing page optimization resouces in one post....
SXSW wasn’t just about one or two pieces of new tech, what it actually felt like was a glimpse into the not-so-distant future. Trends you might of heard if you could not attend...
There is a major gap between what consumers expect and what retailers are providing them, according to a new study released today, with 94 percent of retail decision-makers surveyed saying that their companies are facing significant barriers to omni-channel commerce.“Customer Desires Vs. Retailer Capabilities: Minding the Omni-Channel Commerce Gap,” from Accenture and hybris software, an SAP company, peels back the onion to reveal that the difference between the omni-channel ideal and what retailers are currently able to achieve for customers is vast...
The bumpy road to becoming a digital business is one where big data, social, marketing automation, mobile, cloud computing and the App economy all come together to help companies bring new products, innovations and services to the market and get closer to their targeted customers base.
The C-Suite historically has been guilty of not paying serious attention to digital as a central part of their business. The fact is, many customers, products, and competitors are fundamentally digital. Here are some shocking stats: while 74% of business executives say their company has a digital strategy, only 16% believe that their company has the skills and capabilities to execute on that strategy....
As an SME you probably don’t have the budget of a major corporation; however, there are plenty of free and low cost marketing methods that will help you compete against them. In today’s digital world, social networking, website rankings and content marketing can have a more profound effect on your business than television or radio; and if you manage your online marketing methods effectively, there’s no reason why your business won’t shine....
Much has been written about Facebook’s acquisition of the rapidly growing WhatsApp for $19 billion. What does this say about the future of social media?
... Even now as its competitors grow and its younger users flee to more private and streamlined sites, Facebook’s long shadow can be seen throughout the social sphere; while it may no longer be on the cutting edge of development, it certainly knows how to recognize companies that are and integrate them into its platform.
So, in context with this WhatsApp purchase, what can Facebook’s acquisition history, both of talent and of products, tell us about the future of social media? To begin an in-depth analysis, we highly recommend giving this acquisition timeline tool a look, as it effectively compares the history of acquisitions across the top tech firms. Below, we’ll analyze Facebook’s various acquisitions, with the caveat that many of these phases overlap even as they trend forward...
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With the rise of the Information Age and humans’ reliance on technology, the field of marketing has transformed and expanded vastly. The internet has doubled the channels through which brands can market to customers. Companies that used to exclusively use outbound marketing like newspapers, magazines, television and radio to market their brands now use new and modern inbound marketing avenues like search engines, social networks, mobile and social media.
What does this mean for marketing? This means that companies should look to start transitioning, using more inbound marketing to capitalize on changing consumer patterns. Shoppers believe they are more informed than sales associates because people use technology while shopping to research brands....
It’s funny, I spent over $25,000+ to major at UC Berkeley in one of the top undergraduate business programs in the world and I don’t use any of the knowledge I learned there in my career.
That includes product management at Facebook, marketing for Mint.com and marketing at AppSumo.com. Over the years, I’ve learned how to organize an effective marketing campaign.
For the month of February I will showcase different marketing methods to help you grow your own business.
Today, I want to help you set the foundation. Instead of talking theory, I want to take you step by step through my own thought process for marketing OkDork....
2013 was a year of exploration for brands on social media. From testing Vines to launching Instagram ads, many companies were dabbling in social media efforts across the Web just to see how customers would react. Now, in 2014, brands are geting serious. They’re using the wealth of data as well as the human connection that social media can provide to develop deeper relationships with customers.
Here are seven ways brands are using social media to increase customer loyalty this year....
Successful content marketing requires a fundamental shift in thinking about how you communicate with consumers—and how your brand serves them.
...Now, we have entered the age of transparency, brought on almost singlehandedly by social media. The message is no longer controlled by brands; consumers now share the conversation. When the brand message is inconsistent with the consumer experience, the disparity is quickly and publicly exposed.
Some brands choose to expend their energy trying to guard the doors and maintain control of the conversation. (Your PR firms and lawyers thank you for your patronage.) However, it is a losing battle; the control has already shifted....
Explore four major findings from research reports tracking social network trends in social media marketing and the content that works best on each.
Jay Baer's new eBook shows the backgrounds and education of 27 social media pros, showing us trends and patterns that we can learn from.
Jay Baer of Convince & Convert is here to help answer that question. The expert has recently published an eBook called Social Pros All-Stars (sponsored by TapInfluence), and it’s a collection of the career and educational backgrounds of some of social media’s most successful players, all of whom have appeared on Baer’s Social Pros podcast, where they discuss tips, trends, best practices, and other keys for success.
In a fun and engaging baseball card-like format, Baer illustrates what a lot of us were already thinking: most social media pros have similar backgrounds. But what exactly those backgrounds are may surprise you. Here are three ways to use the fascinating data Baer has compiled...
Retail technology is rapidly evolving to create a more convenient, fun and immersive in-store and online experience. Here are ten trends to look out for in 2014.
Though there’s no doubt we’re still a nation that needs to be careful with its cash, the dark clouds of recent austerity are starting to float away to reveal a more optimistic, more promising future.
We’re not out of the woods yet, for sure, and the vast majority of people still feel we’re in a recession, but market confidence is starting to return and the masses are beginning, albeit cautiously, to dip into their wallets again.
This change in consumer attitude is also being complimented by the raft of new technology designed to make the shopping experience more accessible, convenient and fun. Peaks and troughs and trends are prevalent in practically every element of society – and retail is absolutely no different....
...If you are employed in social media marketing, it is time for a healthy dose of reality followed by some serious soul searching and career planning. Some of you are lucky enough to work in the rare companies that create advocates with great products, service and mission and thus are equipped to leverage social media for marketing gain; most work at companies that have inflated their opportunities in the medium and are floundering with their social media marketing and content strategies.
Here's the way a large number of social media professionals today go about justifying their programs, along with some recent data that may (and should) scare the hell out of you if you work in social media marketing...
Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) asked some 150 CEOs about the trends they expected to be prevalent in the coming years as part of their 17th Annual CEO survey and found most bets were on technology. Some 86% of CEOs cited tech advances as the dominant global trend. But marketers beware! When it came to how well prepared their organizations are to capitalize on these transformative trends, only 36% of the CEOs surveyed considered that their corporate marketing capabilities were up to speed and ready to embrace change.
According to the report, more than half of the CEOs responding were planning to change their customer growth and retention strategies to address the situation. The next few years are likely to see a new kind of interaction with customers as organizations acknowledge how technological advances are changing their relationships with consumers.
The emphasis will no longer be on the single transaction—instead, the focus is shifting to a more sustainable “always on” relationship with customers. It’s what we’ve been preaching for longer than I can remember and it’s nice to see, even in a small study, that this mindset is catching on....
As opportunities for dynamic dialogue between business and consumer have multiplied exponentially, organizations are pushing to find ways to engage and elevate their associative value. Brands that get it right go beyond appealing to material needs; they transcend the superficial back-and-forth to engage with audiences not just around what people seek in a material sense, but on a deeper and more personal level....
Until last week, Jill Rowley was leading an effort to train about 23,000 Oracle salespeople in "social selling."
... Rowley believes that social selling is "transforming the sleazy, slimy, slicked-back hairdo image of sales" into one where salespeople are there to help companies solve their IT problems.
It's the next big thing in the enterprise tech world because IT professionals lean heavily on social networks to research tech products and to work with vendors, research finds.
It's also really important to selling cloud-computing services. Traditional software contracts tend to be focused on closing a sale and then getting out. The opposite is needed for the cloud: Software-as-a-service is a long-term partnership thing, so sales incentives need to be structured around making customers happy so they stick around and keep paying for the service....
Small and medium business owners are always on the lookout for great resources to help them grow, but they don’t always have time to research, read, and sort the wheat from the chaff. So I’ve done the preliminary work for you.Here are 25 helpful small business resources covering everything from naming your new business to creating content for your marketing strategy, to increasing sales.In no particular order, here’s a list of SMB resources you’re going to want to bookmark....
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Sage advice from the real social marketing sages.