We live in a world of big data, where endless amounts of information can be stored in the cloud at an ever-decreasing cost per byte of storage. While this may sound great to data-driven marketers, the blessing of cheap storage and increasingly simple application programming interface (API) connections between data sources can quickly enough turn into a curse of too much information and not enough time to sort through it all.
Read MoreWhile there are a lot of great sources of information for the absolute latest and greatest insights on Google’s latest algorithms, there are a few concepts that aren’t changing anytime soon and thus can make this a more evergreen look at search engine optimization. I refer to this as “timeless SEO” because they are concepts that are not going anywhere soon, and fundamentals of a strong search engine marketing strategy.
Read MoreThe value of optimizing your customer experience is clear to most brands and marketers. Increasing loyalty, reducing customer service costs and increasing revenue growth from retained customers are three big reasons, in addition to many others.
Read MoreIt is important for marketers to know and understand how search affects consumers and how they learn about your products, research before purchasing, and behave before and during their intent to acquire or buy your goods or services. This article is based on a chapter from my ebook Ever Seeking: a History and Future of Search.
Read MoreIt is important for marketers to know and understand how search affects consumers and how they learn about your products, research before purchasing, and behave before and during their intent to acquire or buy your goods or services. This article is based on a chapter from my ebook Ever Seeking: a History and Future of Search.
Read MoreA key aspect of optimizing your customer experience is creating a consumer-centric mindset both in your organization and throughout the buying process. Doing this well requires listening to the way consumers are talking about your brand and its products or services, as well as their needs and requirements, commonly referred to as the voice of the customer, or VOC.
Read MoreWe are moments away from the answer to any question we might have. Who starred in that movie? Where should I eat for dinner? How soon can I get a product delivered to my house? With over 6,586,013,574 searches a day worldwide[i] and growing steadily as it expands across channels and methods such as voice-activate, search has become the way we find information or remember key facts.
Read MoreMeasuring the customer experience is definitely not as simple as measuring the results of a single tactic such as a website, email marketing campaign or in-store sales. The big challenge with measuring customer experience is that it needs to take into account all of your touch points. The opportunity is worth it, though, as it can show you how small improvements in specific points in the journey can make a huge difference.
Read MoreIs it too soon to make a prediction for 2020? We generally only think about the year immediately ahead, but while I was making my 2019 predictions for marketers, I realized that the next year was becoming clearer and clearer. 2020 will be the year of identity.
Read MoreIt’s once again the end of one year and the beginning of another. And with it, a chance to reflect on the previous 12 months as well as an opportunity to look forward into the next. Inevitably, this leads to recaps, predictions, and many other ways to make sense of time passing.
Read MoreCustomer experience doesn’t just affect a single marketing channel or department within a company. Thus, unlike many other types of measurement and analytics efforts, building a customer experience measurement plan takes the efforts of many different parts of an organization. I should know; my agency works with clients to create custom customer experience measurement strategies and plans. This process can be divided into five steps.
Read MoreI spend a lot of time explaining fairly technical people to people with a wide variety of technical knowledge. That’s just part of my job, and it’s quite interesting. It teaches me a lot about the subject matter to be able to explain it to people with varying levels of understanding. Inevitably, however, some of my descriptions are going to devolve into the usage of what many refer to as “buzzwords,” so here is my defense of them.
Read MoreI am quoted in this article by ScaleFast regarding my expertise in personalization:
No matter which approach you go with, digital strategist Greg Kihlstrom recommends maintaining realistic expectations, testing your efforts and optimizing along the way. “While you may want every touchpoint in your customer experience to have some method of personalization, the only way to truly understand the effectiveness of what you are doing is to make sure there is a good test for each,” Kihlstrom says.
Read MoreThink of search as a means to solve problems. Your search marketing approach needs to be focused on people that are seeking an answer, a fix, or something that can help them address a challenge they currently have. Advertising and other methods can be used to plant the “seeds” of interest in a product or service, but search is all about getting results (no pun intended) quickly.
Read MoreLoyalty programs are effective at retaining customers by preventing them from turning to the competition. These programs can also maximize the lifetime value of a customer by offering incentives to spend more and buy more often.
Read MoreShifts in consumer behavior and technology have shaped both our relationship with brands, and the way that those brands seek to have relationships with their customers. Branding has followed and will continue to follow the trends and behaviors of the rest of society over time, and we are now on the cusp of a new era of the brand-consumer relationship, which I’m currently tackling in my follow-up to The Agile Brand.
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