For the last few years, “mobile first!” has become the mantra among savvy digital marketers. But a mobile first approach seems to be more of an ideology than it is a standard in digital design. Recent research shows that marketers still invest in mobile as an afterthought or as a bolt on to more mainstream digital programs. For some reason, executives still need more convincing to properly fund and support mobile initiatives that span the entire customer journey not just…
How to Know if You Care About Your Customers Enough
Guest post by Jay Baer (@jaybaer), author of the new book, Hug Your Haters: How to Embrace Complaints and Keep Your Customers, Let‘s face it: choosing whether or not you hug your haters isn‘t about you knowing how to do so, it‘s about whether doing so aligns with the values of your business. The great paradox Every company says that customer satisfaction is their most important objective, yet their actions demonstrate otherwise. It‘s a paradox, but I find companies that…
The Truth About Creating Customer Experiences
Bryan Kramer is just one of those people with whom you instantly bond. For those who don’t know him, he shot onto the social, digital, content marketing scene with fun and fervor. He’s highly regarded as a strategist, speaker and author. He’s also someone I think of as a good friend. Recently, I had the honor, and enjoyment, of shooting an episode of H2HChat (Human to Human) with Bryan and his super smart co-host Suzi McCarthy. The conversation was both…
How to Create Content that Connects with Your Customers
Guest post by Jessica Ann (@itsjessicann), CEO and Creative Director of Jessica Ann Media, and author of Humanize Your Brand: How to Create Content that Connects with Your Customers. We’re living in a post-advertising age. Instead of lamenting the past, or focusing on “the good ole’ days” of traditional marketing, we’re now being called to get more real. Everyone (and their mom) is affected by how we’re consuming the fast-paced media of today. And in turn, the content that we create…
26 Disruptive Tech Trends for 2016 – 2018
Each year at this time, I read all of the predictions for the new year plus the “top X” lists wrapping out the previous year. Add to that the first week of chaos that is CES and all of the new tech debuting in Las Vegas. And each year, I’m left wanting more substance as I plan my research. So, in 2015, I officially threw my hat into the mix with my inaugural look at “25 Disruptive Technology Trends in 2015 –…
If You’re not an Experience, You’re not a Brand. Period.
The headline was inspired by my new friend Manuel Diaz, president of Emakina.fr. It’s a wise observation that he shared with me while talking about the future of brand and experience in Geneva recently. Luckily, Manuel’s team was on hand to document the experience for an episode of Marche Ou Crève and I wanted to share it with you here. It was the kind of conversation you have in a café in Europe over a glass of champagne…and although this was…
The P2P Business Advantage: People to People, Peer to Peer
Guest post by Leo Bottary (@leobottary), coauthor of The Power of Peers There are two fundamental truisms in business and in life: 1)Who we surround ourselves with matters; and, 2) We can help each other in ways that can’t be realized anywhere else. No book, business course, coach or consultant will give you what you can get from a group of peers who share your skill and commitment to excellence. A 2013 study conducted by the Center for Leadership Development…
The Twitter Diaries: Wall St. vs. Main St. and Why an Algorithm isn’t the Problem
Twitter is automating (part of) its timeline via an algorithm. Cue the panic! Signal the backlash. Twitter’s new timeline is making investor buy and sell, inciting a media storm and ironically thousands of Tweets questioning the future of social media’s loveable yet difficult-to-categorize social/broadcast network. This has culminated into a ominous theme #RIPTwitter with many citing that the “end is near.” What Twitter is Introducing Twitter introduced an upgrade to its beloved (and oft misunderstood) timeline that is rolling out to all users…
The Embrace: Creating Experiences that Nurture Attention into Engagement
Attention is a currency. We spend it. We earn it. And, sometimes we waste it. Experience is something special. It’s all the rage at the moment, yet, we often talk about it as is if it’s a thing. But, as we know, deep down, the best things in life aren’t things, they’re experiences. One of things that makes it so hard to make experience a strategic and actionable part of our work is that the word “experience” means so many…
The Internet of Things Connects the Future of Business
The Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the most incredible feats of modern technology. With the right vision and architecture, IoT will bring to life new possibilities and experiences. It’s also one of the most confusing and ambiguous. To make sense of it all and specifically understand how IoT applies to business, I assembled a short list of examples of companies successfully employing this new web in interesting applications. Why is IoT so mystifying? First, it’s the name. The…
