Gallifant.com

Dispatches from the corporate frontlines: technology, business, and my personal musings.

The Next Frontier in Digital Marketing: Customer Optimization

by Caleb Gallifant

So you’ve heard of big data, the internet of things (IoT) and other technological advances that are allowing businesses to know more than ever about their customers, but what does this mean for marketing as we know it? Well, if marketing is the effective promotion of a product, brand or service toward a profitable end, digital marketing, then, is a shift in the medium utilized to promote that product, brand or service. And if we combine the shift in medium and the shift in knowledge of our customers, then we’re in the midst of a much larger shift than you may realize. Thus, while we continue to grasp and leverage web-based innovations, social tools and mobile technology for marketing purposes, we cannot neglect the opportunity to maximize our marketing efforts through customer optimization. Funnel Envy’s infographic below  provides helpful insight on how we can do just that:

How to Generate Value from Digital Marketing
Source: How to Generate Value from Digital Marketing

Your Winning Digital Strategy

by Caleb Gallifant

Moto 360 WatchWe’ve been told that 2014 will be the year of wearable technology or the year of the Internet of Things (IoT). Regardless of whose Kool-Aid you’re drinking, there is no denying that digital is the oxygen of our day. McKinsey & Company’s recent report on digital disruption is important, therefore, to develop a winning digital strategy that will appropriately harness the latest online and mobile technology. McKinsey notes that we must first understand six digital shifts:

1. Device Shift

2. Communications Shift

3. Content Shift

4. Social Shift

5. Video Shift

6. Retail Shift

Understanding these shifts sets the backdrop for effective digital planning. For example, a failure to understand the role of mobile and tablets in personal computing will leave your plan shallow and deficient. So how do we formulate a winning plan? McKinsey offers 5 considerations:

  1. Stay close to users by investing in customer insight. Customer behavior is rapidly changing, demanding strong market intelligence and customer insight functions.
  2. Build a competitive edge with deep analytic skills. As segments get smaller and more distinct, the need to use data to optimize product development and marketing will only grow.
  3. Make business models more robust to reflect consumer diversity. Focus and breadth are both needed.
  4. Ensure investments are clearly aligned with consumer shifts. Executives need to clearly communicate the “what” and the “why” of strategy and operations and tie this to current opportunities.
  5. Reward superb execution skills. A potential downside of big data and analytics is that the analysis goes on too long and the market opportunity evaporates or is seized by a competitor.

Read the full article here.

Image: Moto 360 Watch with Android – Credit Motorola

Great Marketing According to Gary Vaynerchuck

by Caleb Gallifant

Gary V Great Marketing Quote

12 Email Marketing Best Practices

by Caleb Gallifant

I’m wrapping up my HubSpot Academy Inbound Marketing Certification today. I’ve tried to post quotes and articles that I’ve found useful along the way through my Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn accounts. One summary I found useful (and worth posting) was a summary of 12 best practices for email marketing during Alan Perlman’s class:

  1. Identify a specific goal.
  2. Segment your list
  3. Personalize when possible
  4. Create consistency between “from name” & “from email” address
  5. Use actionable language
  6. Create Clear & Compelling subject lines and email copy
  7. Write mostly in the second person
  8. Focus on benefits (not features)
  9. Be brief
  10. Have a concise signature and footer
  11. Test your email
  12. Analyze your email

The certification is well-worth your time. Be sure to check Perlman’s “Sending the Right Email to the Right Lead” class out.