Today's modern marketer has to seek out every opportunity to learn new ways to engage consumers. In this case, Agile isn’t meant to be a synonym for nimble, but it may include project management elements that let modern marketing organizations act in a way that is more consistent with how businesses have changed in the 21st Century.
Sound the death knell...
There is some truth in all of these statements. But, none of these statements reflects the true state of marketing.
This week, I delivered a keynote at the Hewlett Packard (HP) Innovation Center in San Diego, California. The title of my presentation was “Data, Disruption and Decisions. Reinventing the way people, machines and insights work together.” One of the main topics of the presentation was “A New Digital Marketing Channel. Direct Mail.” Direct mail, new? Digital? Isn’t direct mail a 20th century analog channel?
Modern marketing is nothing like the practice of marketing just a few years ago. It’s more data-driven, focused and relevant. Digital marketers have had the ability to use variable data in email, landing pages and websites for years. It was a little harder for direct mail to have same level of relevancy and focus. Toner-based solutions (laser printers) also enable variable data printing. But direct mail produced on toner-based systems is slow, expensive and has limited formats.
Customer experience (CX) has risen to a new level of importance in the insurance industry. Sure, customers still value price — but it’s not the only consideration. They also want a brand that builds trust and shows they care about their customers.
In fact, a recent study by Accenture found that 46% of insurance respondents are "Quality Seekers.” These customers value superior service, automated transactions and personalization. That means you should invest in service-based communications — think about sending location-based alerts about severe weather or crime in the customer’s area. It also means you need to give your customers the technology they expect in 2020, like digital claim filing, user-friendly mobile apps and other useful resources.
Take a look at this infographic to see why customer experience matters to the insurance industry — now more than ever.
Most utility companies are focused on improving their customer experience, enhancing their brand reputation and establishing themselves as thought leaders. Researchscape reports that the majority of consumers expect their utility to provide them with personalized advice. Educational content can be a useful technique to engage customers on a myriad of topics.
Artificial Intelligence, or AI, has been in use since the late 1990s. Although always a fascinating topic, it never amounted to much more than discussion. Today, we are in the midst of the AI boom. So why now? The short answer is the exponential growth of cheap, fast, scalable and interconnected computing and storage in the cloud. The horsepower and data to efficiently run AI algorithms is now with reach of everyone.
AI has been embedded across almost every product category in marketing technology. Most big data platforms, such as IBM Watson, are simple general-purpose technologies being harnessed in the service of marketing. It’s much more interesting to look at products like Equals 3 which leverages Watson behind the scenes to deliver marketing research, customer segmentation and media planning services. Products like these can help marketers create multichannel campaigns specifically tailored to their target audience by using data collection. Knowing what exactly artificial intelligence can offer is important. Here is a list of ten tools that AI can offer digital marketers to help automate and improve their marketing strategies.
Customer loyalty can be fickle, as only 28% of customers loyal to brands, according to research from Accenture. As a result, marketers are left anxiously fretting over customers’ actions or inactions.
Today’s average customer has high expectations of businesses. People are no longer loyal to brands simply because they have a history with certain products or services. Customers remain loyal despite the many other brands clamoring for their attention because a company has created strategies that build long-term relationships, promptly respond to customers’ needs and desires and also generate multi-touchpoint engagement measures with content marketing.
Customer loyalty is nurtured by increased positive engagement with a brand.
Email marketing automation has become a competitive necessity for many organizations. While still not in use among all categories, marketers that have adapted email marketing automation report great success. This blog post will explain email marketing automation, describe its benefits and explore some ways that email marketing automation can be used to improve marketing response and conversion in different kinds of organizations.
Modern insurance marketing strategies can encompass a wide variety of choices in terms of channels, tactics and technologies. When you’re looking to create just the right mix under tight budget constraints, it’s easy to get overwhelmed.
And to be fair, the insurance industry itself has experienced big shifts over the past decade, including many significant macroeconomic, social and regulatory changes.
With the growing number of messages people receive today — online and offline — the importance of delivering a message that resonates with the user has never been more important. Creating a personalized message that creates a connection is critical, and with the increasing amount of data available to marketers, personalization options have only expanded. Personalization needs to be incorporated into all marketing, shopping and service experiences. In many of his presentations on personalization, J&C's CEO Ron Jacobs has referenced the 4 R’s of personalization from Accenture and discussed how they are key ingredients in connecting with prospects and customers. This blog explores these 4 key components of personalization and how you can use them to better connect with your customers.
