30-second summary: There’s no doubt that brands will be judged for a long period on the basis of their sensitivity and approach towards the COVID-19 situation 21% of marketers pulled creatives to prevent looking insensitive Social media ads saw the biggest set back while print and TV ads followed Top three marketing technologies that are winning attention are Content & Experience, Data, and Advertising TapClicks predicts increasing partnerships between telehealth businesses and Insurance companies As 2020 continues to surprise the world, more surprises are something business heads aren’t looking forward to. In order to help you stay a step ahead, we bring to you a quick wrap up of key movements and trends from across the marketing industry. Marketers prepared to pivot strategy to fit the changing environment A recent survey by Sixieme Son and DiSanti Hicks found that 68% of marketers have pulled advertising campaigns due to COVID-19. The …

30-second summary: In our recent Marketing Innovation Forum, ClickZ focused on ecommerce transformation and what retailers can learn from the challenges of 2020. The two-panel session looks at the impact that COVID has had on ecommerce and the current state of ecommerce transformation. Panelists discuss trends in ecommerce including the rapid shift consumers have made to purchasing all categories of goods online, the need for agility and speed in today’s ever-changing retail environment, and the importance of building community around your brand, among other things. We end with a list of key trends and recommendations from our luminaries. The entire event, Marketing Innovation Forum: Ecommerce Transformation, is available on demand from ClickZ. In our recent Marketing Innovation Forum , ClickZ focused on ecommerce transformation, an extremely topical subject given the rapid shift to online shopping in 2020. The two-panel session looks at COVID’s impact on ecommerce and the current state …

30-second summary: Board members, C-level, and Director+ level executives from retail and ecommerce, technology, media and publishing, and other businesses participated in our ClickZ and Search Engine Watch: Benchmark survey 2020 29.3% marketing leaders thought their current marketing technology stack is average in terms of achieving their marketing goals 46.3% said their marketing budgets are staying the same, while 28.4% said their marketing budgets are increasing Marketing leaders are planning to increase their marketing technology spends The top six technology marketers want to evaluate and invest in were – Search and social advertising, ecommerce marketing tools, experience building and management Lots more to discover in a quick snapshot We picked the brains of Director+ level executives to bring you juicy data insights on martech spending budgets, the technology they are keen on buying with a further detailed drill-down of each segment. More observations from the industry’s biggest acquisitions in the …

30-second summary: Ensuring that your business has the right digital tools can facilitate growth by enabling marketing and sales teams to improve brand engagement, better analyze data, more easily create content, and improve CX. Demand generation is facilitated by the right tools which can help marketing teams scale activities such as content management, lead nurturing, social media optimization, ABM, and more. There is no such thing as an average martech stack. Customization of tools is key to figuring out what works for you to achieve business growth. Chiefmartec’s Stackie awards include nearly 50 illustrations of martech stacks from a vareity of businesses which demonstrate how varied martech stacks can be. Incorporating tools that enhance and facilitate customer experience is an important (even critical) ingredient to using digital transformation for demand gen. Using technology to enhance business processes is nothing new. The very first business computer — The Lyons Electronic Office …

30-second summary: Content marketing has the key to a lot of opportunities, NetLine Corporation analysed their first-party data sources and the outcomes strongly support this statement 76% of marketers saw webinars as a good source to drive more leads Ebooks, whitepapers, and guides topped the content demand list, but there’s a twist Who’s most likely to demand more content? C-Suite executives vs Senior VPs The magic time window to reach a CEO was… read on to find out “Content & Experience” technology peaked marketers’ purchase interest in March, April, and May Only 8% of respondents across industries said their AI-relevant data are accessible by systems across the organization AI spotlight: Growth rate, front-runners, and content marketing Recent times have increasingly added emphasis on “adding value” and “being at the right place at the right time”. Today’s article shows exactly how these can be achieved through content marketing, a great marketing …

30-second summary: COVID-19 has caused a seismic shift in digital operations and consumer behavior, leading to an acceleration in digital transformation. commerce penetration grew from 16% to 27% over an eight-week period this year, for example, fundamentally changing the way retailers sell goods. As martech players emerge to address increased shifts to digital, companies are caught in the middle of an explosion of complexity, trying to figure out how best to leverage new technology with little time to plan. The digital skills gap has widened with the increased rate of digital transformations. Businesses are scrambling to find talent that has experience across ad tech, martech and data.. Sales and marketing alignment has become even more important as teams balance decreasting marketing budgets and increase in pressure to deliver more sales with less to keep the business alive. The cost of complexity is high when companies purchase technologies they don’t use, …

Businesses have always enjoyed a comfortable position when it comes to planning and preparation. Sadly, this isn’t the case anymore. Due to the competitive digital landscape , business owners need to chalk out entire outlines, strategies, and implementation within weeks – or even days. So if you can’t keep up with this accelerated pace, somebody else will. The best way to stay ahead in the competition? Having a carefully drafted digital strategy . Think of the whole thing as the guiding light. Without it, companies will be stuck with their old-fashioned efforts and won’t be able to take advantage of moving online. Plus, a result-driven approach serves as the basis of digital strategy, which can be very beneficial for your company. If you think that the ongoing pandemic has changed things, you‘re wrong. On the contrary, experts at DMEXCO predict that 70% of executives expect the pace of digital strategy …

30-second summary: Healthcare and educational institutes win consumer trust while media and government struggle March saw push notifications reach their highest direct open rates and 32% of website visits were through these mobile app push notifications Mobile remains the best way to engage people with push notifications DemandLab’s recent ‘Martech stack optimization survey’ reveals that 53% of marketing leaders have no plan in place for their martech stacks Deals have shown a positive graph, Australia and Germany are opening up their economies due to some relief from the COVID-19 hit Conviva study segments streaming behavior across regions and devices – TV, PC, live streaming, and video on demand Standard ads vs COVID-19 based ads, what performed better? More on what CMOs’ immediate budget actions should be Information is power and mental health is key. In light of current events, we took the onus to save you the effort and have …

30-second summary: As per the CMO Survey Report 2020 by Deloitte, the implementation of AI and machine learning is likely to grow in three years to 3.5. As per an article by McKinsey & Company, organizations introducing technology to sales can find ways that deliver double-digit gains in return-on-investment. Automation is possible in 30% of sales activities. The most recent AI survey by Bain and Company analyzed that organizations that make use of AI were 4.2 times more likely to have access to standard tools and technologies than the others. A study co-sponsored by EY in 2020 revealed that 85% of participants have already implemented AI within their organizations and expect to use AI for new use cases in the coming years. According to a survey by Accenture, around 83% of more than 6,000 businesses accepted that technology is a crucial part of the human experience. As per a recent …

Posted by MiriamEllis The Internet can be a great connector, but sometimes, it acts as a barrier. Your local business receives a negative review, and the slate-colored words on the bland white screen can seem so cold, remote. You respond, but the whole interaction feels stilted, formal, devoid of face-to-face human feelings, like this: At least when a complaint occurs via phone, the tone of a customer’s voice tells you a bit more and you can strive to respond with an appropriate vocal pitch, further questions, soothing, helping, maybe resolving. Still, if you’re working off a formal script, the human connection can be missed: Image credit: News Oresund , Elvert Barnes It’s a win when a customer complains in person to your staff, but only if those employees have been empowered to use their own initiative to solve problems. Employees who’ve been tasked with face-to-face interactions but lack permission to …