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How to Deliver Consistent Onmichannel Customer Experiences

I recently read somewhere that you know when a concept or practice or a technology application is new when you can’t find one unanimous way to spell it. For example, not that long ago, we would see EcommerceeCommerce, and e-commerce all used with near-equal frequency.

Today, omnichannel (or omni-channel or omni channel) has become a hot buzzword in business, marketing, and technology circles. The concept first gained attention in the retail sector, as retailers sought to link offline, in-store shopping activities and online shopping. During the past twelve months, many marketing pundits have expanded the concept and now use it to describe an approach to marketing that applies to many types of enterprises.

The term omni derives from the Latin word omnis, which means “all” or “universal.” As used today, omnichannel marketing usually means providing consistent, personalized, and contextually appropriate messages and customer experiences on all relevant communication channels and devices.

Some experts contend that true omnichannel marketing requires companies to capture customer interactions in all channels and then make the interaction data useable by allcommunication channels and platforms on a near real-time basis. For example, when a customer or prospect visits a website, the website needs to be “aware” that the customer/prospect just interacted with the brand on the company’s Facebook page.

The ultimate objective of omnichannel marketing is to tell a continuous story and provide a seamless experience that plays out whenever and wherever a customer interacts with a brand.

Few, if any, companies have achieved this level of omnichannel integration, but ominchannel marketing is clearly becoming an important priority for many enterprises.

 

 

What is the CMO’s number one issue today

Scott V. Olrich has been President of Marketing and Platform at Responsys, Inc. since May 5, 2013. Mr. Olrich is responsible for Responsys’ go-to-market and sales strategies and leads the strategic direction for all of Responsys marketing products and services. He shares his view on the CMO’s number one issue today.

How DAM Can Enable and Support Customer Experience Management

This month, ADAM is offering a series of webinars exploring how digital asset management solutions enable and support major strategic marketing objectives.

The future role of the CMO

Jonathan Gordon, expert principal at McKinsey & Company, reflects on the future role of the CMO.

The Role of DAM in a Marketing Technology System

There has been a significant amount of discussion in recent weeks about the future characteristics of digital asset management software and the future structure of the DAM software industry. In October,  CMSWire published several articles discussing whether there is still a need for dedicated, “full-featured” digital asset management solutions, and the October CMSWire DAM Tweet Jam included a discussion of whether DAM is becoming (or should become) more specialized. Last month, Ralph Windsor addressed the topic of DAM specialization in a feature article for DAM News.

As you might expect, there’s no shortage of opinions on these topics.

  • Some industry experts contend that DAM software has become “bloated” with features that most users don’t need.
  • Others say that most DAM solutions are too “generic” and don’t provide the specialized functionality that many users require.

Debates regarding the future of DAM are certainly interesting to those of us who are directly involved in producing DAM software. For obvious reasons, we’re also deeply interested in how the DAM software industry will evolve from a competitive perspective. But these are not the only issues that are important to many current and potential DAM users.

One of the greatest challenges facing marketing leaders in large enterprises is to select and implement a marketing technology system that will enable and support the delivery of exceptional customer experiences. DAM software is a critical component of an enterprise-class marketing technology system, but it is only one piece of the puzzle. Therefore, astute marketing leaders will not evaluate DAM software as an isolated, stand-alone application. Of course, the functionality of the DAM software is important, but the ease with which the DAM software can be integrated with other marketing applications is equally important.

On Thursday, December 5th, ADAM will host a webinar – Building Blocks to create your Integrated Marketing Solution – that will address these important issues. During this webinar, Bart Omlo, CEO of HintTech, will explore how to build an integrated marketing technology system and describe the role that DAM software plays in that system.

You can register for this important webinar here.

 

Why Dutch insurance company Centraal Beheer Achmea uses Paragon

Organizing your marketing operations is complex and time consuming. Especially for strong brands for whom consistence in cross marketing channels is essential. Paragon helps to streamline  marketing processes, so they can be simplified and costs and time can be reduced while quality goes up.

One of their customers is the Dutch insurance company Centraal Beheer Achmea. They asked Paragon to help align their marketing and sales. Jorrit Drieënhuizen, account manager at Centraal Beheer Achmea, tells you why.

 

Is Branded Online Video More Efficient Than TV for Marketing?

 

In an earlier post, I discussed the growing importance of video content in the marketing mix for many large enterprises. Research by numerous firms clearly demonstrates that the use and consumption of video content is exploding. For example, ComScore recently reported that nearly 1.3 billion people worldwide watch an average of 162 online videos each per month. And recent research by Accenture revealed that 25% of consumers watch video content on a PC or laptop every day, and other 22% do so at least 3 times per week.

A new (June 2013) worldwide survey by Be On, the AOL global branded content business, shows that enterprise marketers are becoming more confident about the effectiveness of video content, and, as a result, they are increasing their investments in online video.

The Be On study was based on a survey of more than 770 marketing experts from leading brands, media, and creative agencies in the United Kingdom, Europe, and North America. Survey participants were asked about their experiences of using branded online video when planning online advertising campaigns.

Here are some of the major findings of the Be On study.

  • Although television is still considered to be a key driver of brand awareness, 78% of respondents in Europe and 58% globally said they could achieve greater engagement and scale with online video.
  • Seventy-three percent of respondents said that online video spending had increased over the last 12 months. Respondents also indicated that the majority of the increased spending on video content is coming from budgets previously reserved for TV and display advertising.
  • The key reasons for increasing online video spending in the future are better audience targeting (mentioned by 73% of respondents) and measurement (cited by 67% of respondents).
  • Eighty-four percent of survey respondents believe the Internet is becoming a rich brand medium that provides engaging, interactive opportunities to connect with consumers.

The findings of the Be On study demonstrate that enterprise marketers are becoming more reliant on video content to create engagement with prospects and customers. As I indicated in my earlier post, enterprises need an effective and efficient way to manage, localize, and publish videos in order to maximize the potential of video content.

ADAM has recently released ADAM Videos, a new application studio for the ADAM Platform that is specifically designed to meet the rapidly growing needs of corporate video management. ADAM Videos enables enterprises to manage video content with the same flexibility and control that the ADAM Platform provides for other types of digital content assets.

You can learn more about ADAM Videos here.

20 Marketing statistics that wil drive 2014

The year 2013 is slowly coming to an end. Christmas and New Year are just around the corner. Time to look back, but we won’t do that. We look forward. What to expect in 2014 in marketing?

The people from WebDAM  created this infographic with the latest predictions and newest trends.

Big Data Marketing

Fred van Westerop, districtmanager Northern Europe at Teradata, talks about Big Data Marketing.

 

IBM Survey Identifies Key Attributes of Leading Marketers

 

IBM recently published the findings from its 2013 Global Survey of Marketers. You can view a presentation of the findings here. The 2013 survey included more than 500 marketing professionals worldwide from more than 15 industries.

As you might expect, the top marketing challenges identified by survey respondents were:

  • Acquiring new customers (42%)
    • Retaining existing customers and improving loyalty and satisfaction (35%)
    • Creating consistent, relevant and positive customer experiences across channels (34%)
    • Understanding social media and using social channels effectively (34%)

In analyzing the survey results, IBM identified a group of “Leading Marketers” based on their ownership of the customer experience across channels and their use of marketing technologies. As a group, the Leading Marketers delivered superior financial performance than “all other marketers” on three financial measures.

  • 3-yr Gross Profit Growth – Leading Marketers 1.8x higher
  • 3-yr Net Income Growth – Leading Marketers 3.4x higher
  • 3-yr Stock Price Growth – Leading Marketers 2.4x higher

IBM identified numerous differences between Leading Marketers and all other marketers, and the table below shows just some of the major differences revealed by the survey responses.

BLog Post 78 - Table 1

I would suggest that one of the most important differences between Leading Marketers and other firms is that Leading Marketers take a broader view of marketing responsibilities. For example, the IBM survey asked participants to rate the effectiveness of their marketing organization in performing across all 4P’s of the marketing mix. The table below shows the percentages of Leading Marketers and all other marketers who rated themselves as highly effective across the 4P’s. Notice that the least difference between Leading Marketers and all other marketers is in the area of promotion.

Blog Post 78 - Table 2

In an earlier post, I argued that marketers must focus on all components of the marketing mix if they want to reclaim their strategic role in the C-suite. The results of the IBM survey demonstrate the importance of taking a more holistic view of marketing’s role in the enterprise.

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