One App to Rule Them All (A Horror Story)

Let’s lay out some mobile app facts and see where they lead us:

1. Most people only use a few apps.

According to comScore’s 2016 US Mobile App Report, 49% of smartphone users downloaded no new apps in the last month. The data points to most people just using the same apps over and over again. Which apps? You can probably guess most of the top 25:

2. Bots are skyrocketing in popularity.

A recent report from Citigroup Inc. shows that the “bot economy” is growing faster than the app economy ever did. The general user barely even understands what bots are, or what they can really do, but they are booming. In 6 months of operating, we’re seeing significantly more bots than we did apps at their 6-month mark.

In a nutshell, bots are simple AI that usually plug into messaging app/platforms to help the user with tasks or transactions. Did you know you can hail an Uber via Facebook Messenger? That’s because of the Uber bot that plugs into the app.

Granted, bots need apps to thrive so it’s a bit skewed to compare growth rates, but the numbers indicate that bots might be the next big horizon of tech growth, especially if app growth has stagnated (as hinted at in our first point above). And users are getting more and more comfortable with these bots. Again, take Facebook Messenger. In it, you can:

• get an Uber


• send/receive money


• play games


• draw pictures


• edit photos


• buy real flowers


• get the news


• and much more.

With functionality like this, why would you need to download any app other than Messenger? Well, that’s exactly the point.

3. Tech giants are trying to lock users into their apps.

Google, Apple, Facebook. These are the three tech giants that are leading the charge in siloing app users. Check out the top 25 apps again: the big three account for nearly half of those (especially near the top), and if you count Amazon, that’s the majority of the top 25 apps that, again, most people spend most of their time in.

TechCrunch identified this race to create the all-in-one app, and though they focus their article on the OS war between Apple and Google, we think it goes beyond that classic battle. It’s really down to the app. More time spent in Google Now versus Facebook Messenger versus Apple Music means billions in revenue for the winner, and it’s not a stretch to imagine that there will actually be a winner. It’s already happening in China with WeChat, where a regular user returns to it 10+ times over the course of a day, to do anything from messaging to payments to getting a taxi.

The scary future of all-in-one apps.

These three pieces of news point to a frightening future where mega-apps do everything, and only a few niche apps will exist to cater to niche groups. As app developers, this makes us squirm. But as users, this makes us worry about being locked-in to a single app from a single company. Sure, the market might be evolving to where bots will replace apps as the new frontier in individualistic tech, but remember, there are really only two choices for mobile OS (sorry Windows), and apps already have to funnel into these two silos. Now bots that silo into apps? How far does this rabbit hole descend?

This app-pocalypse won’t happen overnight, and there are plenty of companies with a vested interest in not letting 3 tech giants build a mega-app. But the warning signs are there. It will be interesting to see what happens if users unwittingly slip into all-in-one app complacency.

What do you think about all-in-one apps? Sound off in the comments below!

Source: B2C

How Much Good Can Information Do?

How much is transparency worth? Or, to ask a better question: How much is access to information worth? According to a recent report from McKinsey & Company, open data—that is, information that the government or private-sector organizations chooses to make public—has the potential to create $3 trillion of value in just seven areas of the global economy.

More importantly, unlocking the ever-growing pile of data sitting on government and private-sector servers and releasing it to a curious public increases the odds of finding solutions to serious social and economic problems.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Technology Engagement Center (C_TEC) recently hosted a panel discussion during its TecNation 2016 event that focused on how open data stands to make the world a better place, whether by finding smarter ways to tackle crime or better preparing for natural disasters. During the session, five organizations spoke about their different approaches to using data to do good. Here’s a look at their efforts:

Splunk4Good

San Francisco-based Splunk is a big data platform focused on making machine-readable data—that is, data formatted so that computers can immediately ingest and analyze it—accessible to its 12,000 global customers. Meanwhile, the company’s five-year-old community and non-profit focused initiative, Splunk4Good, seeks to tap into open data’s potential to power social change.

One of Splunk4Good’s recent projects, the Impact Cloud, was a collaboration among many different Silicon Valley companies to develop a shared informational framework for disaster and humanitarian response. Mobilizing people and resources during a times of crisis can be difficult and inefficient, but the Impact Cloud digitizes as much of that work as possible, so that stakeholders can all be the same page and working to towards the same goal. This includes making otherwise dense open datasets more easy to use, from weather data to urban planning records.

“This is really just the tip of the iceberg,” Splunk4Good Director Corey Marshall explained on stage. “Splunk is perfect for these kinds of situations where you need to have connectivity between different systems. What we do really well is interface with disparate data sources to provide correlations, visibility and analytics at scale.”

Bayes Impact

Bayes Impact, a non-profit data science organization based in San Francisco, uses data and technology to solve pressing socioeconomic issues. They call their work “digital social services.” Backed by both the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Y Combinator, the non-profit is tackling criminal justice reform, fraud detection among micro-lending platforms, and enhanced research into the causes and cures for Parkinson’s disease.

“I had been working with the City of New York implementing civic solutions and recognized that the chasm between the technology that industry and tech companies are using and what’s available to civic organizations is huge,” Bayes Impact founder Andrew Jiang told Tech Crunch.

One of the organization’s recent flagship projects targeted suicide prevention suicide among veterans, who are 50 percent more likely to take their own lives than the average U.S. citizen. Using openly available government data sets, the organization created models that more accurately predict suicide rates among veterans and shared them with the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs to use in directing more targeted and proactive care to those who may be at risk.

The White House Opportunity Project

The Opportunity Project is focused on equipping families and communities with the digital tools and data they need to access critical resources such as jobs, schools, housing and transportation. The initiative works with companies such as Redfin, Zillow, GreatSchools, and PolicyLink to consolidate and share information about resources available in Baltimore, Detroit, Kansas City, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington D.C.

Whether it’s LinkedIn working with the Department of Labor to help find jobs for people living in communities plagued by chronic unemployment, or Redfin using federal data to categorize and list affordable homes near those job opportunities, data science serves as the connection between the private and public sector.

“Data science is a team sport,” Aden G. Van Noppen, a senior policy advisor at the Opportunity Project, said on the panel. “Companies really want to step up and engage, but working with non-government talent is still underutilized.”

Thomson Reuters Special Services


Perhaps the most impressive thing about Thomson Reuters Special Services is the breadth of data within the organization’s reach, from criminal court and arrest records to global business data and corporate filings. TRSS utilizes public federal data and a variety of partnerships with platforms like Splunk to provide its clients with access to billions of public and proprietary records, as well as analysis. The company works with multiple government and corporate clients to analyze threats on a variety of fronts, from cybersecurity to government counterintelligence.

The company also uses their wealth of open-source and public databases, to supplement law enforcement research. The company has previously helped protect U.S. interests in everything from incidents of human trafficking to the transport of illegal goods across international borders.

“What I do for a living is use data to figure out how bad people do bad things, and then disrupt their supply chain,” TRSS Chief of Innovation TRSS Jason Thomas said, referring to the service’s work on law enforcement investigations.

Kabbage

Founded in 2009, Kabbage is an Atlanta-based financial services and data technology platform that uses big data and open data to automate and streamline lending processes that can be cumbersome and time-consuming for businesses.

The platform allows businesses to borrow up to $100,000 for up to six months—but it relies on more than a credit report to make its lending decisions. Kabbage pulls information from online sales, social networks, accounting information, and many other private and public sources of information that could affect the creditworthiness of any given business, but would not show up in a credit score.

“We believe we get to know a small business better by being connected to their data sources electronically than any loan officer can do by sitting down at a desk with the borrower,” co-founder Rob Frohwein told Forbes. In addition to security and convenience, Kabbage prides itself on being transparent about the costs of its loans. The company has lent $1.6 billion to 60,000 small and medium-sized businesses globally, in many different industries.

To learn more about C_TEC and the TecNation 2016 event, visit the new C_TEC Homepage.

Source: B2C

Seasonal Businesses and ORMM: How to Keep Online Reviews Coming Year Round

Your clients have a problem. It’s their off season. The time when business slows down and customers stop calling. Landscapers, ice cream parlors, summer camps, ski resorts — seasonal businesses go through this every year.

The problem isn’t really the off season though, is it? It’s the next season. It can be tough to get things going again, to get customers back into a routine. Sometimes clients find they’ve lost customers in the off season – customers go in a different direction, handle things in-house, etc.

These unexpected changes create fear.

It’s common for businesses to start their season with a twinge of uncertainty and fear. “What will this season be like? Business was slow last year.” Established businesses are so confident things will go well, they’re surprised when they don’t.

Then panic sets in.

What if your clients were able to create the kind of demand they needed to start their season confidently? What if they were able to prime their customers, starting their season with a list of customers who are ready-to-buy?

Reviews make that happen.

But these reviews need a specific ingredient in order to maximize impact. Research shows 90 percent of customers say their buying decisions are influenced by online reviews. But a small minority, 1.5 percent in some industries, actually create reviews.

There’s another problem.

Customers forget.

Customers in the research process forget about the providers they find, which usually means these customers are lost opportunities.

The right ingredient keeps customers focused.

Customers need consistency and reminders to keep your business top of mind. A great review pushes them over the edge – “I need to buy this” they tell themselves. Until they forget, which usually means you’ve lost them forever.

Consistency is your secret ingredient.

Let’s pretend for a moment that you’re running a ski resort. For most people a ski resort is a group activity. Most people don’t go skiing alone unless they’re an enthusiast.

But going with a group takes planning and work. Schedules have to be aligned, logistics have to be worked out. People do this with friends all the time, but the stakes are higher.

It’s more important that people choose the right place. Objections take priority. Groups are more likely to rule out resort locations that can’t address the objections that are raised.

But that’s what great reviews do.

It’s not enough to simply answer the objections yourself. It’s better if a customer does it for you… with a five star review. Positive reviews addressing specific aspects of your business will help defuse objections.

A consistent stream of positive reviews primes customers, preparing them for next season. When ski season rolls around customers are conditioned and ready to buy.

But that’s part of the problem, how on earth do you keep reviews coming in year round? It’s tough enough for businesses that operate all year.

It’s simple if you take things one step at a time.

The first step is accepting the ugly truth.

Customers don’t want to give reviews. Most clients approach the problem directly. “Enjoyed our service? Write us a review.” Customers are accustomed to receiving requests to write reviews.

What’s the problem with this approach? There’s nothing in it for them. The reviews that clients get with this approach are weak. They lack power which means they won’t accomplish what they’re supposed to.

Defuse objections and reduce risk.

Then, there’s the review itself. Most customers aren’t sure what to say or how to say it. This means they’re more likely to give a review that’s nothing more than fluff. Or they leave a 5 star review ignoring anything that explains their experience. These obstacles make reviews an uphill battle for customers, making year round reviews an unlikely scenario.

Fix these problems and you’ll get the high quality reviews you need. But how do you get off season reviews in the first place? It’s simple, you ask for them.

Tactic 1: Reach out to negative reviewers

If you’re in business, you’re bound to have a few negative reviews. Customers aren’t always happy with the work we do; sometimes we make mistakes. Sometimes things don’t go the way we plan.

So you do your best to make things right. You find out what happened and you make things right. But what then?

It’s common for businesses to treat those customers as a lost cause. “I screwed up, they’re gone forever.” But what if these customers weren’t gone forever? What if there was a chance you could win them back and win new customers over in the process?

Here’s how you do it.

1. Create a list of negative reviews. You’re looking for any customers who had a legitimate problem or concern and left a negative review. Serious or previously engaged customers are ideal.


2. Segment your list. Go through each review eliminating trolls, ragers, sadists and abusive customers. Avoid these customers unless you have a clear plan of action.


3. Create an irresistible offer to entice customers;. If you’re running a ski resort you could reach out to unhappy customers with a free 10 day pass good for 10 people.


4. Pitch unhappy customers. Approach each of the customers who meet your criteria. Make it clear that you’re looking to make things right.


5. Make their experience memorable doing what it takes to fix the problems they mentioned in their review. Roll out the red carpet, ensure staff is on their best behavior. Do what you can to restore the relationship.

Here’s the most important part of this strategy. Ignore this step and everything falls apart.

You’ll want to do this as your season comes to a close.

This means it’s important to time things well. Think about the time it typically takes you to get a review from customers; if it takes 30 to 90 days, you’ll need to plan things out well in advance. 5 to 10 days obviously requires less planning.

Be sure to factor in travel times, planning and logistics as customers will need time to plan things out.

Tactic 2: Relive happy memories with customers

The vast majority of your happy customers haven’t given you a review. They haven’t shared their views, opinion or experience with you. If you’re looking for positive reviews you can reach out to each of your happy customers and ask them to share.

But customers hate writing reviews, remember?

Why would customers write a review for you? It’s simple, you’re going to use the review to give them something they want. So what do customers want in exchange for a review?

• Creating an image. Making conversation, improving status or building prestige; becoming a hero or influencer, perception sculpting, etc.


• Regulating emotions. Venting, attracting support, revenge, making sense of things, reducing cognitive dissonance, etc.


• Getting information. Seeking advice, requesting a referral, looking for help with a specific problem, etc.


• Bonding with others. Reinforcing shared viewpoints and beliefs. Counteracting loneliness and isolation.

Use these angles to frame your request and customers are more likely to share.

What if they don’t know what to say? What if they write a terrible review? You can decrease your odds of disaster by guiding customers with questions.

1. What would have prevented you from buying?


2. What did you find as a result of buying this?


3. What did you like most about our product (or service)?


4. What would be three other benefits to this product (or service)?


5. Would you recommend this to someone else? Why?

These questions give customers a clear track to follow. When customers answer these questions they can’t help but share a believable, credible review that defuses objections.

So when do you ask happy customers for a review?

The obvious answer is asking after the sale and ideally face to face. But most customers aren’t as quick to share, are they? So, you ask happy customers again as the next season approaches, using their motivations as an incentive. Begin asking for reviews before your season starts. Ask the right way and response rates go way up.

Hi Anne,

I’m reaching out to our top 3% customers (you’re one of them :)). I had six questions I wanted to ask. Should only take 4 or 5 minutes.

Would it be alright if we talked on the phone? I’m free tomorrow at noon.

Andrew

Then, when customers agree to the call, get their permission to record it. Transcribe the call, then email it to them along with a link to the review site you’d like them to post it to.

Ask them to copy and paste their feedback into the form and viola! You have a review. Need to handle a large volume of calls? Send customers to a dedicated voicemail inbox, and ask them to share their thoughts. Follow the same steps as before.

Use these tactics to keep reviews coming in year round.

Off season reviews aren’t important

Customers aren’t interested in landscaping during the winter. Ski resorts aren’t attracting customers in the summer. Reviews aren’t as important in the off season, right?

Customer interest dips when the off season starts. Which is exactly why that’s the best time to deal with negative reviews. If customers are paying attention, you win. If they’re not paying attention, you win.

As the off season drags on, their interest begins to grow, they begin to think about the start of their season. They begin thinking about the work that needs to be done. Which is the perfect time to share lots of good news with customers.

The off season doesn’t have to be a problem

The offseason is a time when business slows down and customers stop calling. It’s something thousands of businesses go through every year.

The off season doesn’t have to be a problem. Next season shouldn’t start with a dry spell. It’s tough for others to get things going again, to get customers back into the swing of things.

Your ORMM strategy goes hand-in-hand with your advertising. Both work together to attract and retain customers. Established businesses are confident things will go well, and they do – because they have a plan. Some clients lose customers consistently in the off season, not you.

You’re ready for the upcoming season, you’ve followed your plan. Your customers are primed, ready and eager-to-buy.

Source: B2C

More Than Automating Emails For Marketing Automation

If there was a Marketing Automation soiree, I’d be the host. As a marketing automation consultant and a marketing technologist at heart, I work with technology all day, every day. Although marketing automation platforms (MAP) are not new as of 2016, most of us have been a part of a team or company that does not utilize MAPs to their fullest potential. The platforms today can enable just about any marketing task, including automation.

A web search on marketing automation shows phrases such as “market on multiple channels online,” “automate repetitive tasks,” “increase operational efficiency” and “grow revenue” for some of the functionality and even “associated marketing automation capabilities.” Those terms cover many different aspects of marketing and clearly, marketing automation is more than just automating email sends.

What should marketers think about in terms of the next-level benefits of marketing automation? It’s more than automation, but how much more?

Do More With Less [resources]:
Some teams have 20 plus people working in marketing automation, while others have two people who do absolutely amazing work and get nominated for awards. The beauty of a marketing automation platform is that you’re able to do more with less resources (although an extra headcount never hurts). Each platform is ever-evolving, releasing new functionality and features to address the needs of marketers to better serve our buyers. If you train the right people on your team to master basic marketing automation functionality, you can support almost any Demand Generation Strategy, no matter the size of your team.

Automate Processes:

It doesn’t have “automation” in the name for nothing. To some, it’s a double-edged sword (you can easily automate the wrong things as well as the right things) but there are many programs that can be crafted, turned on, and maintained via the automated capabilities of marketing automation that are hugely beneficial. Think of database standardization, lead scoring, progressive profiling, actions triggered from form submits, multi-touch programs; these are some basic examples of things that can be easily be automated, maintained and optimized for peak performance via marketing automation.

Marketing Driven Revenue:

All marketers want to prove ROI and tie their programs to revenue. However, most marketing automation platforms deliver canned reports that need at least a little customization to really illustrate marketing ROI. Before attempting reporting on ROI, ensure that your MAP is enabled to fully support your Demand Generation Strategy goals and objectives.

This means spending time with marketing, sales and technology teams defining processes, aligning the people, process, technology, content and data around the buyer’s needs. When that is in place, reporting becomes an output of MAP and can help illustrate the effectiveness or deficiencies in your programs. With the reports and data, marketers can identify which areas or channels may need optimization or need to be removed, and shows the marketing contribution to revenue across all marketing and sales initiatives.

Targeting:
Right place right time is often the catch phrase for marketing automation. Once you have your strategy established, and your buyer personas identified, you can technically set up your MAP to identify who is engaging with your organization, where they are in their buyer journey, and what type of information to deliver to them next to guide them down the correct path. Progressive profiling is one way to add sophistication to your targeting and help deliver a more relevant experience for your buyer. The more you can learn about your buyer, the better you can help them because the last thing anyone wants to receive information that isn’t relevant.

Modern marketing is an art and a science and it has a lot of moving parts. With the right strategy in place, marketers can use a marketing automation platform to drive perpetual demand for an organization. Marketing automation is a powerful tool, but automation isn’t its only advantage. It’s much more than that when fully integrated to support a solid Demand Generation Strategy.

Source: B2C

The Compelling Business Value Proposition for Social Video! [Podcast]

On this episode Brian & Dan discuss the future of video and really what matters when it comes to businesses looking at video, how do they link video to business goals and ultimately solve business problems.

Brian and Dan have hosted #Cloudtalk video chat show for almost 3 years starting on Google Hangouts, moving to blab and now leveraging Bluejeans.Net live streaming it to Facebook at www.Facebook.com/SMACtalkLive so they’ve witnessed this social video evolution first hand.

Brian and Dan go in detail about the following topics as well:

• How and where your audience consumes content should dictate your content strategy


• Where live video fits into video marketing and video for businesses.


• Why brands should understand Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook Organic Video, Twitter Video and Periscope Live video all of which Brian labels as social video platforms.


• What is Up-cycling of content?


• Why perfection and control are the enemy of all video strategies


• What role a video strategy will play in embracing: Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and the future of technology.

Additional links discussed on this episode:

• Checkout Daniels latest videos on his facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/danielnewman27/


• Brian quotes the Cisco whitepaper for stats about the future of video and more: http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/solutions/collateral/service-provider/visual-networking-index-vni/complete-white-paper-c11-481360.pdf


• Brian also mentioned Buffer and he was a guest on Buffer’s new podcast which you can listen to here: https://soundcloud.com/the-science-of-social-media/sets/the-science-of-social-media-1

Watch this episode on Facebook Live replay as all episodes are recorded live on the SMACtalk Live Facebook Page:

—

What is SMACtalk Live:

For an audience looking for a business centric multi­media experience on the topics of Social, Mobile, Analytics, and Cloud, they will have to look no further than to S.M.A.C.talk LIVE.

Founded in 2014 as a weekly podcast, S.M.A.C.talk was featured as an iTunes “Top 10 New & Noteworthy” for Technology and Social Media. With hard hitting conversations on not only the technology but how it relates to business and the future of work, listeners can count on this podcast for a straightforward analysis that makes the future of technology more accessible and a whole lot more fun.

Find out more about SMACtalk Live: http://www.SMACtalk.Live

Source: B2C

Saying “I Do” to Employee Engagement – It’s a Long-Term Commitment That Starts With Recruiting

Employee engagement is a workplace concept that refers to how committed employees are to their organization’s goals and values, and how motivated they are to contribute to the organization’s success. Research has shown that highly engaged employees:

• Are more customer focused, more creative at work, and take less sick leave


• Care about the future of their organization and put in greater effort to help it meet its goals and objectives


• Feel proud of the organization they work for, are inspired to do their best, and motivated to deliver


• Are much less likely to leave the organization.

Perhaps it’s not surprising then, that companies whose employees express a high level of engagement are more profitable, have greater revenue figures, and have higher levels of customer satisfaction. A company that values its employees and invests in them right from the beginning is laying the foundation for high levels of engagement. Here are some ways your organization can begin building employee engagement during the recruiting cycle.

Meet Them Where They’re At

Social media has quickly become a powerful recruiting tool. In fact, a recent Aberdeen Group survey reported that 68 percent of “best in class” recruiters think social media is “crucial” to their recruitment strategies. Your company’s LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter accounts can help you spread the word about new job opportunities. They also help put a human touch on your organization, providing a way to introduce and showcase elements of your corporate culture and mission.

Respect Their Time

Strive to be an employer that respects candidates’ time and efforts by streamlining the application process. Post open positions to your company’s website and/or an online job board like Monster.com® and Careerbuilder.com®. Make it simple for them to apply to more than one position at a time. And, send an acknowledgement email letting them know that their resume was received. An applicant tracking and recruiting solution can automate and streamline these tasks, integrating them fully into your workflow.

Conduct Effective Interviews

An interview is the first impression for both employer and candidate. It’s not only a chance for you to assess the candidate; it’s also the candidate’s chance to observe your corporate culture. As many as 42 percent of companies now employee video conferencing (solutions like Spark Hire) in the interview process. This is a great way to give both parties that vital first impression without either of you incurring the expense of an in-person interview.

Make Your Proposal

Once you’ve identified your next hire, make the proposal a good one. Prepare and send an offer letter along with onboarding forms. Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) help speed and automate this part of the process, letting your candidate know you value them and respect their decision-making process. And of course, the applicants that were not selected deserve the same level of respect, so be certain you send them an email or letter as notification.

Prevent Information Overload

On your new employees’ first day on the job, don’t inundate them with paperwork. Much of the necessary information was gathered during the recruiting cycle, and if you’re using an ATS, that data can transfer seamlessly to your payroll and HRMS applications, eliminating the need for duplicate data entry.

Use that first day instead to make the new employee feel welcome with an office tour, introductions to key personnel, and a welcome gift bag filled with product samples and company swag.

Striving for high levels of employee engagement simply makes smart business sense. Think of employee engagement as a long-term, evolving relationship between your organization and your employees – one that begins long before the employee starts to work. By building employee engagement strategies into your recruiting methods, you are demonstrating that yours is a company that invests in its most valuable assets.

For more valuable information about employee engagement and improving the talent acquisition process, check out my company’s best practices guide:

Best Practices Guide – 4 Key Steps to Successful Talent Acquisition

Source: B2C

Holiday Inn’s Ortiz Answers 4 Questions For Marketing Innovators

Raul Ortiz is marketing director for the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza brands in the Americas. He has oversight for the teams that develop the annual marketing plans for the brands, execute integrated marketing programs behind one big brand campaign idea, and develop long-range, demand-generating, brand-building capabilities.


Ortiz recently participated in the “4 Questions for Marketing Innovators” series.

1. What is one marketing topic that is most important to you as an innovator?

Building and developing advertising that adds value to consumers’ lives. Most brand and product leaders have put the consumer at the heart of their innovation strategy. Usually this is done by focusing on improving some aspect of their target’s life. Unfortunately, we are not always as disciplined when it comes to advertising, and we far too often put our needs and wants ahead of those of our audience.

2. Why is this so important?

Technology has allowed consumers to be bombarded with more advertising than ever before. When you add this to the fact that there are a plethora of brands asking consumers to buy this or that, overcoming consumer apathy toward advertising is one of the biggest challenges to marketing ROI. In order to break through to consumers and drive purchase behavior, we need to be smarter about developing creative that connects with consumers’ minds and their hearts. Technology has narrowed competitive product advantages so significantly in the past couple of decades. While striving to build continually improving product experiences, we also need to have holistic advertising that is relatable and improves the lives of our viewers/readers after experiencing it.

3. How will the customer experience be improved by this?

This disciplined approach to advertising would help consumers in numerous ways. Call me idealistic, but I aspire to help create a world where commercial breaks are a source of intrigue versus a source for groans. I want to be in a world where digital advertising anticipates the needs of our guests and connects them proactively not just with a product but, ultimately, to answers to questions they have at a life level.

If we are able to meet these ideals, we are giving consumers something no product or solution can replace, and that is time. The less time they spend fretting over where they’re going on vacation or where they’ll stay for their next big business trip, the more time they have for doing things that drive the most enjoyment or productivity in their lives.

4. How will this improve the effectiveness of marketing?

The more we respect the time of our audiences and consumers, the more they will reward us with trial and brand loyalty. The more trial and loyalty we drive with every dollar we spend, our brands will be rewarded with improved ROI. In order for advertising to have an effect, consumers have to engage with it. As I mentioned before, consumers are flooded with advertising, which means we need to give them a reason to engage with our social posts, content marketing, or 30-second ads.

I think that our campaign for the Holiday Inn brand, “Journey to Extraordinary,” provides a great case study on the impact that heart- and mind-opening advertising can have on a business. The campaign started in 2014 as a traditional campaign, called “Change Your View,” that had the goal of informing consumers about the significant investment our franchisees have made to improve our hotels and our service. We were effective with this approach, but our creative lead at Ogilvy & Mather, Jason Aspes, challenged us to tweak our approach and have our real guests tell consumers about their Holiday Inn travel experiences and share how the brand is helping them to make travel more memorable, more productive, and ultimately more enjoyable. The change to move the campaign from the perspective of the brand to that of our guests has worked out brilliantly for the business. We have been able to build the equity attributes we are targeting and drive unaided awareness and consideration in consecutive years. We have also seen big decreases in cost per conversion in both our TV and digital buys.

Bonus: Favorite activity outside of work?

Just one? I really love coaching my son’s soccer team, but I probably most enjoy exploring the awesome restaurant scene in Atlanta with my wife and friends.

Originally published on CMO.com

Source: B2C