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Category: Digital Marketing

  • Why Marketers must look beyond Buyer Personas and use Data-Driven Insights to Identify their True Audience

    Why Marketers must look beyond Buyer Personas and use Data-Driven Insights to Identify their True Audience

    It’s a half-full, half-empty scenario. You could be seriously undermining the potential audiences outside your buyer personas by boxing your online marketing strategy around a fixated customer demographics.

    Let us explain the above statement with an example. Consider the case of a fitness wear brand whose target audience is women in their 20s and 30s. However, an in-depth look at web analytics for the brand’s e-commerce website reveals that they attract significant traffic from other women who lie outside this age group.

    By leveraging this data, the brand can convert these outliers (casual visitors beyond their target demographics) into paying customers. The brand can alter their marketing strategies or increase product categories to appeal to women of all ages, thereby boosting sales and revenues through these insights.

    On the other hand, if the brand doesn’t focus on web analytics, it’s likely to lose out on crucial conversion opportunities – as they would not have looked beyond their standard buyer personas.

    Brands should avoid getting trapped by a Limited Tunnel Vision of their Audience

    As this example illustrates, it is crucial for businesses to look beyond typical customer personas and consider the demographics of all current site visitors. Having a clear picture of the entire web audience helps businesses convert casual onlookers into paying customers.

    Once they accurately understand and segregate traffic categories, businesses can better channelize their marketing efforts, allocating the right budgets for various marketing campaigns, thereby enjoying higher conversions.

    How to perfect Web Audience Intelligence?

    To get an accurate picture of the current web audience, marketers must monitor both web analytics profiles and social advertising platforms. Here are a few guidelines on how marketers can learn about their true audience on different platforms:

    • Google Analytics

    By using various segmentation features and lists on Google Analytics, brands can get a clear picture of customer conversions based on age and gender. Additionally, it’s also possible to find out how age and gender are related to other user behaviour metrics like time spent per session, bounce rates and pages per visit.

    This gives a clear picture of who is visiting the site, as well as who is converting, thereby helping brands get better insights into their web audience.

    • PPC Ads

    PPC ad analytics help brands understand searcher intent, thereby moving visitors from down the funnel into upper levels. With that said, marketers have a hard time trying to understand why, despite high click-through-rates, the conversion rates remain low.

    By using audience demographics (like age, gender, household income, etc.) from Google AdWords/Bing Ads, marketers can compare how different factors contribute to CTR, CPC, Cost per conversion and other key metrics.

    Let’s take the above example of the fitness wear brand. If they find that they get plenty of ad clicks from women aged 40 and above, but poor conversion rates, then the brand can understand that they have to restrict ad clicks from certain demographics or alter the content to suit this demographic. If they take the second approach, they can come up with new product sizes and styles to appeal to this audience category and get them to convert into paying customers.

    • Facebook Ads

    Marketers can compare data like the age and gender of the followers obtained from Facebook Insights with the data from Google Analytics to find out if there is any difference between the general followers on FB and the visitors on the site.

    • LinkedIn Ads 

    LinkedIn doesn’t offer ad insights based on age and gender. Instead, it shows audience segmentation based on levels. Using the insights offered, marketers can find out if their ad clicks on the platform are coming from senior-level employees or entry-level employees.

    • Twitter Ads

    Twitter doesn’t offer detailed insights into followers, like Facebook. However, the platform provides gender and marital status insights. Marketers can use this data to compare it with insights from other platforms.

    The Key Takeaway

    While it’s healthy for brands to develop buyer personas to channelize their marketing efforts, it’s crucial not to miss out on sales opportunities beyond the pre-defined personas.

    By using data derived from all the platforms mentioned above, brands can gain a clearer understanding of website visitors, converters and how it varies from pre-defined buyer persona, thereby strategizing their marketing efforts to appeal to their entire web audience.

  • Personalization is changing the face of marketing. Are you there?

    Personalization is changing the face of marketing. Are you there?

    Using data-driven insights to provide the target audience with personalized ads is not a new idea. It has been around for a few years now. Yet, 84% of consumers feel that the number of irrelevant marketing messages they see every day keeps on increasing, especially on mobile.

    So, what’s going wrong? CMOs and other marketers have access to more data and better technology, but why are consumers still feeling that they are bombarded with irrelevant messages?

    The answer lies in targeted personalization. Here, in this guide, we walk you through the basics of some precise personalization tips on how to nail it right.

    Striking the Right Balance between Personalization and Intrusion

    Yes, it’s a fine line. Though there have been plenty of concerns raised about privacy; consumer studies reveal that the audiences welcome personalized ads as long as it’s transparent and done correctly.

    A study by Adobe found that 78% of consumers like personalized ads, while another study by Epsilon reveals that 80% of consumers are likely to make a purchase when a brand offers them a personalized experience.

    As one can understand from these studies, personalization works big time. But, what’s the right way to go about it, without intruding on the privacy of the consumer?

    Start with a Personalization Roadmap

    All CMOs desire to achieve personalization. But, what they fail at is defining how to get it done. This is where a personalization roadmap comes into the picture.

    What is it? A personalization roadmap is a clearly-defined marketing plan for the entire marketing team to follow.

    What does it do?

    • Identifies personalization goals
    • Evaluates current capabilities
    • Define personalization strategies
    • Identifies and segments the audience
    • Prioritization of personalization

    Now, that we’ve discussed the roadmap, let’s take inspiration from a few market leaders who have nailed personalization perfectly.

    3 Brilliant Examples of how Brands were able to Leverage Personalization to Achieve their Goals

    1. Netflix

    Netflix is synonymous with personalization, and the company spends millions of dollars on continuously upgrading its algorithm to provide users with the best CX. But, it doesn’t end there. Recently, the streaming giant revealed that their app personalizes the artwork seen by consumers. The artwork for shows, movies are personalized based on previous user actions.

    By matching the right artwork with the right audience, Netflix can show viewers the content they are likely to watch. In the words of a Netflix spokesperson, “we don’t have one product. But, we have over 100 million products matched to our subscribers based on their personal preferences.”

    The key takeaway: Consistently refine your approach to personalization and try to get the best use of customer data.

    1. Coca-Cola

    The “share-a-coke” campaign is one of the best examples of personalized marketing. The idea behind the campaign was to get people to purchase personalized coca-cola bottles and share the image on social networks using #shareacoke.

    As a result of the campaign, Coca-cola was able to see an increase in its sales for the first time in a decade.

    The key takeaway: What’s brilliant about this campaign was that it appealed to the current trends of social media sharing. Matching personalization with current trends a sure-fire strategy to success.

    1. Easy Jet

    Everyone loves a bit of nostalgia, and Easy Jet nailed this with its 20th-anniversary campaign. To commemorate the special event, Easy Jet sent out a personalized email to all its customers. The email had the entire travel history of the customer with the airline like – the first time they travelled with the airline, where they are likely to go next and so on.

    The email open rates for this campaign were 100% higher than regular newsletters, and the company saw an increase in CTRs by 25%.

    The key takeaway: Combining storytelling with personalized data builds customer connections and engagements rates, thereby increasing brand loyalty.

    What’s holding back brands from Achieving Precise and Targeted Personalization?

    There are plenty of reasons for this. Contrary to common belief, it’s not a lack of data that prevents brands from achieving highly-effective personalized campaigns. Rather, it’s a lack of budget and overconfidence.

    In a study by Avanade/Sitecore, 73% of CMOs surveyed stated that there is a lack of collaboration between the marketing dept and IT dept, which makes it difficult to secure funding. The study also found that CMOs failed in testing personalized ads, which, in turn, reduces efficiency and ROI.

    Personalization is not a one-time process. It’s Continuous.

    Less than 40% of marketers make use of even basic data like purchase history, referral source, browsing history to provide their audience with targeted, relevant, and highly-precise ads. That’s a whole lot of opportunities wasted.

    At Logicserve Digital, we have been helping companies transform the way they engage with their customers. We do this with our marketing partner Adobe. They help us to personalized experiences at scale, powered by AI. For more details please get in touch at sales@logicserve.com

  • Embrace or Lose Out: AI for Small Businesses is going to be the Next Paradigm Shift

    Embrace or Lose Out: AI for Small Businesses is going to be the Next Paradigm Shift

    AI unlocks hitherto unavailable opportunities to small businesses. It’s high time, small business owners join the AI revolution and race ahead.

    For the last few years, industry leaders like Netflix, Amazon, Starbucks, and several others have been using AI and machine to take quantum leaps forward. They are exploring the potentials of these brand-new technologies to elevate customer experience, boost sales, and increase their bottom line.

    On the other hand, the vast majority of small businesses are still stuck in the pre-digital era. A large number of small business owners falsely assume that implementing a live chat tool is enough to provide their customers with the best possible brand experience.

    AI-driven Businesses will win Big Time

    Irrespective of the size and nature of the business, AI is an invaluable tool for all businesses. The biggest benefit of AI is that it can crawl through massive tons of data at speeds that are not humanly possible. AI and machine learning algorithms sift through volumes of customer data to provide businesses with accurate and precise insights that empower smarter decisions.

    Small businesses that don’t have a well-planned AI strategy are likely to lose out to their competition. According to a report by Forrester, insights-driven businesses will capture $1.2 trillion in sales from businesses that don’t have such strategies.

    AI for All, and Not Just Fortune 500 Companies

    Just a couple of years back, only the big companies with massive R&D teams could afford to invest in AI and machine learning tools. The situation has completely reversed now. Today, thanks to lightning-fast advances in AI and machine learning technology, AI tools are available to all at affordable prices. The best part – integrating AI-enabled tools in business operations is easier than ever before.

    Here are the top three reasons why small businesses must integrate AI-enabled tools in their business operations:

    #1: Provide Customers with an Elevated Brand Experience

    Studies predict that by next year, nearly 85% of all customer-brand interactions will happen without human interference. Intelligent chatbots, virtual assistants, visual search, smart mirrors are some of the top ways in which companies are using AI to win the loyalty of their customers.

    #2: Reduce Operational Costs

    In the long-term, AI helps small businesses cut down their operational expenses. While the initial cost of implementing AI may be steep, the overall long-term benefits far outweigh the initial infrastructural and training expenditures.

    To give you an example, AI matches the right offers to the right customers, thereby boosting the efficiency of ad campaigns, reducing the overall cost of ad campaigns, and increasing ROI. This is just one of the many ways that AI will cut down operational costs.

    #3: Reduce Time and Effort

    This is the biggest benefit of AI. AI-enabled tools can complete tasks at a fraction of the time taken for humans.

    In some cases, AI will complete tasks that are impossible for humans. Additionally, when it comes to the accuracy of the results, AI never misses the mark. Thus, small businesses can automate routine and laborious tasks, thereby saving time and effort.

    Embrace or Lose Out

    In the next couple of years, the speed at which AI will expand will be faster than ever before. From large conglomerates to small independently run businesses, AI will impact all. Early adopters of this technology are likely to be the biggest beneficiaries. If your business has not yet jumped aboard the AI revolution, it’s high time you get started.

  • Is Technology More Important than Your Marketing Strategy?

    Is Technology More Important than Your Marketing Strategy?

    One of the biggest problems with businesses today is that they are more focused on technology and trends that they lose sight of the core objectives. It makes no sense to apply the latest technology and trends, just for the sake of using it, especially when it does not align to the underlying core strategies.

    An excellent example to illustrate this point is the inability of VR technology to catch up. A few years back, a large number of businesses adopted VR in their marketing techniques, as it was the “in” technology at that time. However, this didn’t provide ROI or help businesses meet their marketing objectives, especially when the VR technology was not aligned with the products or services.

    Marketers have to first and foremost develop their strategy and then choose technologies and tools that align with their objectives, and not the other way around.

    First, let’s clear up the air,

    Marketing Strategies Vs. Marketing Tactics – What’s the Difference?

    There’s enormous confusion – among entrepreneurs, startups and corporates about marketing strategies and tactics.

    Most items associated with marketing like – social media, PPC campaigns, SEO, email, websites – are the details or tactics in marketing speak. These are tools that help companies reach their marketing goals. But, they are NOT the underlying marketing strategy.

    Marketing strategy is the destination, while marketing tactics are the tools.

    A business cannot rely only on tools to achieve their goals. All businesses have to start by defining their destination, and then decide on the right tools to reach the destination.

    Businesses often make the mistake of focusing on tactics without investing in the right strategy. Marketers need to outline their organizational goals and then detail the steps to reach these goals by using the right tools and tactics.

    Marketing Strategy – The Cornerstone for Marketing Success

    Long gone are the days, when marketing success was a static measure. Today, to achieve marketing success, businesses have to focus on improving customer experiences (CX). All companies – big and small – have to focus on each aspect of customer engagement to ensure that their marketing tactics are successful.

    Marketing requires a strategic approach. Businesses have to focus on what they want to achieve and not how. That comes later.

    Marketing Strategies is NOT a One-Time Process: It’s Continually Evolving

    Marketers have to remember that marketing strategy is not a one-time process. It’s a fluid undertaking. The strategy has to be revised and evolved to keep up with the changing needs of the customer.

    Businesses have to start by asking the question – who is our customer, and what do they do? Start by mapping customer journeys based on their profiles. Businesses have to work on finding more about their customers – what they eat, where they shop, the stores they visit (physically and digitally), the apps they use, the interactions they have with competitors. All this information helps in building a solid marketing strategy.

    Apart from marketing strategy, businesses also have to focus on marketing operations – the procedure of targeting and retargeting potential customers. Marketing ops is an essential part of all marketing plans and helps to boost the effectiveness of the marketing strategy.

    The Bottom Line – Marketing Strategy and Ops are the First Steps of all Marketing Campaigns

    Figuring out the tools and technology before strategy and operations is a futile exercise and don’t give the best marketing results. Marketing strategy and operations are the foundations of any marketing team, on which the rest of the marketing mission is built on.

  • Chatbots and Online Chat Services: Are they the Future of Communicating with Brands?

    Chatbots and Online Chat Services: Are they the Future of Communicating with Brands?

    According to a recent survey the new-age customers are getting more & more comfortable conversing with chatbots.

    It’s the era of conversational marketing, and it becomes mandatory for businesses of all sizes to provide customers with the best customer experience possible. Brands that fail to optimize their customer service find that their customers are abandoning them.

    The 2019 State of Conversational Marketing report published by Drift and SurveyMonkey shows that there is a major shift in consumer expectations when it comes to the way they communicate with brands.

    What is Conversational Marketing?

    As the term implies, it’s a feedback-oriented marketing approach to boost engagement rates, build customer loyalty, increase the customer base and ultimately, increase profits. It’s based on the idea that you have to listen to your customer’s needs to provide them with tailored service. It involves one-to-one communication with existing customers and potential customers.

    Conversational marketing has grown thanks to the increasing influence of social media channels and automated chatbots rapidly. More and more companies are leveraging the benefits of conversational marketing to reach to their customers.

    The recent survey by Drift and SurveyMonkey reveals that one of the top priorities of online customers is the ability to quickly reach out to the brand, to solve customer issues.

    Why Do Marketers and Brands need to Embrace Conversational Marketing?

    Brands that are hesitant to include chatbots and 24 x 7 online chat services will find themselves failing to meet the demands of today’s customers. The survey mentioned above revealed that nearly 1 in 2 customers (44%) expected a response from the customer service team within five seconds for face-to-face interactions. When it comes to chatbots, 42% of respondents indicated that they expected a response in five seconds.

    With that said, the report reveals that though the number of automated chatbots and online chat windows has increased significantly, these communication channels are still not consumer’s top picks. The report shows that email (65%) and phone calls (55%) are still the top two communication channels used by customers to connect with brands.

    1 in 3 respondents reported that they had used an online chat service over the last twelve months to communicate with a brand. As more and more chat services open up and chatbot technology advances, the number of people who use chatbots to communicate with brands is expected to grow this year.

    One of the major customer service issues reported by respondents was the lack of pertinent information on websites. Customers were frustrated as they couldn’t find the right answers quickly on the website of brands.

    You can overcome this issue by providing customer service representatives (via phone, online chat) with access to real-time customer data, so that they can resolve customer requests quickly, boosting the overall customer experience. Identifying and implementing the right tools to execute this will enhance the efficiency of your customer interactions.

    Other Key Findings of the Survey

    • 14% of respondents indicated that they prefer using a chatbot rather than submitting their request/complaint via a webform.
    • Customers were frustrated when brands didn’t provide 24 x 7 customer service. Today’s customers demand information quickly and easily from brands.
    • Finally, the survey revealed that customers prefer communicating with a live person, irrespective of the channel. They believed that live customer service representatives offer a better customer experience when compared to chatbots.

    Key Takeaways

    Adopting the right communication channel is one of the key decisions you’ll have to make to boost your brand image. And, as customer preferences shift to quick, one-on-one communications, it’s time to include chatbots and online chat services to the mix of customer service channels you provide.

  • The Art of Balancing between Data Privacy and Personalisation to Win the Trust & Loyalty of Gen Z

    The Art of Balancing between Data Privacy and Personalisation to Win the Trust & Loyalty of Gen Z

    Gen Z (also known as digital natives, includes people born between the years 96 and 2015) is like no generation before them. Unlike the previous generation, who live a significant part of their lives without the internet, the new Gen-Z are born in a digital world. They have not known a world without the internet. While the earlier generations struggled to adapt to the internet, Gen-Zers embraced it with ease.

    With Gen Z all set to become the biggest set of customers by 2020, the marketers of today find themselves at a peculiar crossroad.

    Gen Z customers look for more and more personalised offers. According to a worldwide study conducted by the WP Engine and The Center for Generational Kinetics, 49% of Gen-Zers are willing to provide more of their personal data with brands, if they can get a more personalised digital experience. Nearly, 1 in 2 Gen-Zers responded that they would stop visiting a particular website if it didn’t offer them personalised content.

    They are no longer content with generic ads that offer them nothing specific. They are looking for brands that treat as a unique individual and not as a faceless customer to be sold to.

    On the other hand, Gen-Zers are getting more and more wary of brands that use their personal data for ways that it was not intended to. The result, we see plenty of regulations that restrict how businesses can use data.

    It’s highly imperative for digital marketers of today, to learn how to balance nimbly between – personalisation and privacy, without crossing over and earning the wrath of the next generation of customers.

    So, how can marketers address the Privacy Paradox, without missing out on Personalisation and Customisation?

    Here is a seven-step guide that all marketers must follow:

    1. Understand the Rules

    Start by understanding the rules and regulations like the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) put forth by the EU and other privacy principles.

    2. Rethink the Relationship between Privacy and Personalisation

    Aim to build a symbiotic relationship that is a win-win for all. Make sure that you define the requirements before you access and use individual data. This helps you build a contextualised and trusted customer experience.

    3. Never Lose Focus on your Customers

    Remember that you are using data to enable and to annoy your customers. Use data to enhance and elevate the experience. Always stay in context.

    4. Enlist the help of Compliance, PR advisors and Legal experts

    When in doubt, always seek help. Instead of, trying to balance privacy and personalisation all on your own, get the help of experts in the area.

    5. Educate Others

    Emerge as a thought leader in the area. Use generic personalisation tactics with individual-level data.

    6. Collaborate with Others

    Share your data analysis results with others to expand your personal data collection. However, make sure to seek customer approval before doing so. Be honest and transparent with your customers. Tell them the various ways in which their data would be used.

    7. Finally, use only the Data that you Need

    Avoid losing the trust of customers by using only specific individual-level data that you need to provide your customers with enhanced user experience.

    Learn the Art of Balancing

    When handled correctly, you can build a cycle, where customers share even more data with your voluntarily, paving the way for the development of enhanced personalised services and further innovation.

  • Improving Conversion Rate Optimization is not just a bunch of Tricks: It’s Requires a Refined Approach

    Improving Conversion Rate Optimization is not just a bunch of Tricks: It’s Requires a Refined Approach

    If there is one term that all businesses and marketers know the significance of in the success of the business, then it’s undoubtedly this – Conversion Rate Optimization or CRO. Let’s start on the same page, by defining it once again here.

    CRO is the systematic and planned process of increasing the number of visitors you get on your website to do a specific task like – subscribing to your email newsletter, purchase a product on a sales page, adding products to the shopping cart, etc.

    Why is Conversion Rate Optimization no longer about Tactics?

    A few years ago, when CRO was still in its nascent stage, there were plenty of marketing gurus who did a few tweaks on their websites, and subsequently proved that CRO rates were better. This strategy no longer works. Wondering why?

    A few years ago, plenty of sites lacked basic usability fundamentals. The content size was too small, buttons were improperly placed, and the font style and colouring were all haphazard. In simple terms, most sites didn’t focus much on usability. At that time, marketers and website designers could make a few basic UX fixes (like choosing the right colour theme, style, positioning of buttons, etc.) and see improved CRO rates.

    Today, however, we have come a long way since those early days of website design. A vast majority of the websites today are mobile-responsive, focus on usability, and are optimized from a user experience perspective. This means you cannot rely on popular conversion rate optimization techniques and tricks that focus on usability and aesthetics to see a significant jump in your CRO rates. You need to redefine your CRO strategy to see big wins.

    Look at Conversion Rate Optimization as an Operating System

    Here, the word Operating System does not refer to its technical origin. Instead, it represents a set of predefined rules that define how decisions are made. Marketers must stop seeing CRO as a set of tricks. Instead, they must look at it as building infrastructure. Instead of focusing on CRO after developing the website, it must play a crucial role right from the start.

    Make use of the SHIP acronym to get your Conversion Rate Optimization strategy right. Let’s take a closer look at what each element in the acronym means:

    S – Scrutinize

    In this stage, you need to conduct an in-depth conversion and usability research that includes: identifying visitor paths and experiences, visitor intent, context of visit, the starting point of the experience and the finishing point, brand awareness of the visitor, level of the visitor in the sales funnel, persona development, and quantitative as well as qualitative research.

     

    This stage sets you up for the changes that you will do in the next stages.

    H – Hypothesize

    In this stage, you need to focus on these three steps:

    1. Because of the data/feedback
    2. We expect that this change will cause this impact
    3. We plan to measure the impact using this data metric

    You will have multiple hypotheses and multiple test ideas.

    I – Implement and P – Propagate

    Once you have completed the above two stages, it’s time to implement the tests you have designed. Depending on the results of the tests, you must decide whether you want to propagate or drop the idea.

    Implementing the SHIP strategy for your CRO is not easy. It takes time, requires resources and the right team. But, once you implement it, you can watch your CRO rates increase significantly. You will stop focusing on tricks that aim for low-hanging fruits, and refine your CRO strategy to focus on long-term growth and sustainable results.

  • The Analytics Industry is going through an acquisition spree: What does it mean for Marketers?

    The Analytics Industry is going through an acquisition spree: What does it mean for Marketers?

    Data Analytics, Big Data, Predictive Analysis, Machine Learning, AI are some of the buzzwords that are being discussed by marketers all over the world in 2019. Companies around the globe – big and small – are realizing the importance of data, and investing in it more than ever before. There are plenty of offline data waiting to be transformed into the digital world, thereby providing marketers with key insights.

    Data analysis plays a huge role across multiple industries – health, banking, retail, e-commerce, media, education, industry, manufacturing, marketing, and many more.

    But, the surprising trend here is that despite the stupendous growth of data analytics, the number of companies in the field of data analysis is rapidly shrinking. The global analysis market is poised to reach a staggering 106 billion USD from 2019 to 2023. Despite this huge increase in market growth, industry insiders have noted a surprising trend – the decrease in several companies in the analytics market.

    The Reason – With growth comes consolidation. The bigger players in the field are acquiring smaller firms and start-ups, to expand their service offerings and to provide additional value to their clients.

    Here are a few examples that substantiate this trend – Cision, a global cloud-based communications and PR firm, has recently acquired several smaller firms like Visible Technologies, Vocus, Viralheat, and TrendKite. Salesforce purchased Datorama in a deal worth reportedly $800 million. Most recently, the company purchased Tableau for a whopping $15.7 billion, its biggest deal ever.

    Why all these Acquisitions?

    Today, digital marketers are pushing forward to include big-data in their tasks. They have better control over their data and improved access thanks to cloud-based solutions. All forms of marketing – social, content, email, PR, and others rely heavily on user data, and marketers are looking for robust data analysis solutions, that leverage market intelligence and analytics. For a long time, available data analytics solutions were built for specific usage – say to be used by the IT dept or marketing dept but not both.

    With the increased adaptation of data analytics, marketers and other users require enhanced solutions that offer flexibility and usability. There is a vast demand for niche services, and it takes plenty of time for big players in the field to build these services from scratch.

    Hence, bigger players purchase smaller analytics companies that serve specific niches. Acquisition works out safer for the bigger players than organic expansion since they can provide customers with the required services, in minimal time.

    What happens to the smaller acquired firms?

    The acquisitions that are happening in data analytics isn’t about shutting down the competition. Rather, it’s about boosting capabilities, helping bigger players emerge as a one-stop shop for marketing analytics. There are several possible outcomes. The acquired companies can continue to remain autonomous and do business as usual. For example, consider the acquisition of the traffic app Waze, by Google. Waze managed to retain its brand and autonomy, even after the acquisition.

    Another way forward is that parent company folds the services of the acquired company into its portfolio. An example of this is the purchase of Bizible by Marketo, where Marketo uses Bizible’s analytics data to provide an enhanced version of its CRM.

    The last outcome is that the acquired company will get shut down completely. However, this has been rare in the analytics industry until now.

    What does this mean for Marketers?

    It’s time for marketers to consolidate your data analysis needs. Start reviewing the services offered by the bigger players and find out if your needs are met. Else, you need to start planning to shift to other providers.

  • 5 Steps to SEM Success in the Era of Machine Learning

    5 Steps to SEM Success in the Era of Machine Learning

    It’s no secret that AI and machine learning have made it challenging for SEM marketers to create new advertising strategies that work. In a recent conference at the SMX Advanced seminar held in Seattle, the keynote speaker, Nicolas Darveau – Garneau, Google’s Chief Search Evangelist listed the ways to optimize SEM campaigns in the era of machine learning and AI.

    Here, are the five steps outlined by Darveau – Garneau to help marketers outsmart the machine learning and other smart tools.

    1. Combined Measuring

    Instead of looking at customer interactions and data in separate platforms and modes, marketers have to combine data from across channels to get the bigger picture. Standalone data has to be integrated holistically, to get a clear idea of the customer profile and position in the funnel.

    Darveau – Garneau recommends marketers to measure ROI on each campaign and pool it together across ROI in all Google tools. This will help marketers to spot opportunities quickly and make the best use of it, across campaigns.

    2. Fix the Right Goals

    In his address, Darveau – Garneau illustrated this point using an analogy he picked from car insurance companies. He stated that though different car insurance companies sell similar products, each company has hugely varying goals. For instance, company A may focus on capturing the maximum number of leads, while company B might focus on selling the maximum number of policies. While company C may be focused on selling only premium policies.

    It’s essential that businesses identify their unique goals, using their market value and niche audience. Once you have identified the unique goal of your business, you can use machine learning tools, to help you target ideal customers who match your specific goals.

    3. Track the Right Metrics

    Darveau – Garneau stated that metrics vary depending on the goals being targeted. Hence, it’s essential for all businesses to know the right metrics they should be targeting to evaluate the performance of a specific campaign.

    For instance, the objective of your campaign may be boosting brand awareness, while the objective of your competitor may be increasing conversions. You cannot use the same metric to measure the efficiency of both these campaigns. Identify the right metric and then feed it to your machine learning tools to get the complete picture of the campaign.

    4. Focus on Long-term Goals

    Darveau – Garneau states that brands that focus only on short-term goals are missing out on key opportunities. When you focus on short-term goals, you aim only for acquisition. Marketers must focus on other key elements like – loyalty building, loyalty optimization, customer retention, brand value if they want to remain successful in the long run.

    5. Spend more for Acquiring the Best Customers

    It’s not just about increasing leads but pulling in high-quality leads, which adds to the customer lifecycle value. Darveau – Garneau suggests that brands use machine learning to pinpoint the ideal audience. He further stated that the extra time, resources and effort you put in to generate high-quality leads is totally worth it.

    The Takeaway:

    There’s no way that marketers can reverse or stop the progress of machine learning. It’s here to stay. Instead of fighting against it, SEM marketers should learn how to harness their capabilities for their advantage. And, they must learn it quick, if they wish to thrive and taste success in the automated digital landscape of the near future.

  • Moving up the Digital Arch with Integrated Digital Marketing focused on Customer-Centricity

    Moving up the Digital Arch with Integrated Digital Marketing focused on Customer-Centricity

    The new-age connected consumers are faced with a choice explosion. What does this mean for digital marketers? To give more choices to the consumer or improve the consumer’s choosing experience?

    As a brand, if you are looking to win the big share of the customer-base pie, it’s essential that you take an integrated digital marketing approach one that encompasses technology, creativity, data and analytics in digital advertising to create successful customer experiences.

    Here’s why you can no longer afford to ignore Customer Experience Management:

    Here are a few reasons why your brand is losing out on ROI as well as credibility by having a lackluster single-channel digital marketing strategy:

    • The Evolution of the Modern Consumer

    With increasing internet penetration in India, online buyers are rapidly increasing. m-Commerce is growing at an exponential pace especially the m-wallets transactions. They are aware of the marketing and advertising efforts of brands, and they no longer trust traditional advertising – especially from big corporations and celebrities. However, they trust brands that are organic, authentic, and honest.

    This means, your content, SEO, and other marketing efforts have to work together to create authoritative, authentic, and engaging content.

    • Customers trust other Customers

    Do you know whom your customers trust the best? Other users of your product. The growth of influencer marketing can be attributed to this.

    You need to work on digital marketing efforts that lead to the generation of customer reviews, social shares, and other user-generated content to build brand credibility and trust. Organic shares of your brand’s content increase engagement because your potential customers see other users interacting with your brand and are likely to follow suit.

    • Multi-device Multi-channel Lifestyles

    This is increasingly true for customers across generations. Your brand needs to develop a multi-channel, integrated marketing approach if you want to reach out to customers who effortlessly straddle more than one channel across multiple devices.

    According to data revealed by SalesForce, it was found that an average customer goes through 6 to 8 touchpoints, before they make a purchasing decision. This makes it crucial that your brand develops a unified, integrated digital marketing approach that focuses on customer experience. It’s time that your brand shifts its focus from CRM to CXM.

    Customer-Centricity – Easier Said than Done

    Though brands have been trying to shift to a customer-centric approach for nearly two decades now, the CMO states that only 14% of marketers believe that customer-centricity is what sets them apart.

    Why do most businesses fail to figure out customer-centricity? This is because the volume, variety, and velocity of customer data are challenging for businesses to handle. While some companies don’t have the tools and technology to divide customers into segments, others lack in targeting customers with the right personalized communications.

    Another huge barrier is lack of customer-centric culture at businesses. Most companies remain focused on sales, products, or services. The customer-centricity approach is only restricted to certain operations like marketing.

    Businesses can move to a customer-centric approach with data-driven marketing. To provide your customers with the best experience, you need to gain access to customer insights. Enterprises realize that customer-centric strategies, along with an integrated digital marketing approach are the best way forward.

    By gathering and analyzing customer data and tailoring your marketing efforts to focus on customer experience, you can surge ahead outpacing your competitors and build a brand that stands tall among your target audience.

    Logicserve Digital is a new-age digital marketing and digital consulting company with offices spanning across India. They have enabled leading brands to navigate through the new-world digital marketing challenges by driving communications across multichannel platforms and devices. Their in-depth knowledge, expertise and innovative ideas have helped brands to leap forward in digital ecosphere. With the right mix of data and optimum use of technology, Logicserve has created success stories for brands across varied sectors.

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