Marketing Decision-Makers Value Expertise & Service Offerings When Hiring an SEO Company: Survey by Clutch
Businesses Want Tangible Results When They Invest in an SEO Company, According to a New Survey by Clutch and Ignite Visibility
More than one-fourth (28%) of marketing decision-makers identify expertise as the leading benefit of partnering with an SEO company. The finding comes in a new survey from Clutch, a B2B ratings and reviews company, in collaboration with Ignite Visibility.
An SEO company’s expertise guarantees that if your business runs into an unexpected issue with its SEO efforts, there will be an industry insider on hand for guidance.
Krishnan Coughran
“By virtue of their access to clients, tools, and human resources, an SEO agency can dedicate resources and time to learning the latest trends and techniques,” said Krishnan Coughran, president of Ignite Visibility. “This deeper knowledge translates to a more comprehensive SEO strategy for clients.”
More than one-third (34%) of businesses partner with digital marketing agencies that provide SEO services, compared to nearly one-fourth (24%) that partner with SEO consultants and just over one-fifth (21%) that partner with SEO-exclusive agencies.
Marketing decision-makers rely on referrals to find and determine the best SEO companies for their businesses. Over half (52%) of marketing decision-makers find an SEO partner through a referral, and 49% take referrals into consideration when choosing to hire an SEO company.
An SEO company’s service offerings are the leading factor businesses consider when hiring an SEO company.
Prioritizing an SEO company’s service offerings, such as keyword optimization or content creation, indicates that businesses value the measurable deliverables of their SEO efforts over intangible factors such as referrals and price.
SEO Companies Preferred for Off-Site Services
New SEO survey reveals that 60% of businesses partner with an SEO company for help with off-site SEO services.
Businesses tend to secure SEO companies for help with off-site SEO services more than on-site services.
They typically partner with an SEO agency or consultant for on-site services and a digital marketing agency for off-site services, the study found.
Most Partnerships Last Less Than Two Years, Cost Thousands Per Month
Data shows the top 4 reasons why businesses hire SEO companies
It’s not unusual for SEO partnerships to end earlier than planned. The survey found that 20% of businesses expect to partner with an SEO company for at least 5 years but less than 10% make it that long. Most businesses partner with an SEO company for two years or less. About 61% typically spend less than $5,000 per month.
Clutch and Ignite Visibility’s 2018 SEO Services Survey analyzed findings from 303 marketing decision-makers in the US.
Teradata Accelerates Its Customers' Analytics In The Cloud
From Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, to Teradata Cloud or On-Premises, Teradata Provides the Fastest Path to Secure, Scalable, Cloud Analytics
Teradata, the leading cloud-based data, and analytics company announced that it continues to accelerate the movement of significant customer analytic workloads to the cloud. Enterprise-class organizations such as Ticketmaster, Arcos Dorados, Vizient, Silverton Casino and Monsanto are now using Teradata technology to run millions of queries per day in production-level, advanced analytic systems in the cloud. With an innovative product portfolio and licensing structures designed to de-risk buying decisions, Teradata gives its customers the most reliable, secure and proven path to the cloud at the speed and in the deployment environment that is right for them.
Tim Henry
“According to the recent survey, ‘The State of Analytics in the Cloud,’ a clear majority of organizations (83 percent) believe the cloud is the best place to run analytics, but most are concerned with performance, security and other inhibitors. Helping customers overcome the barriers to enterprise analytics in the cloud is central to our approach and is supported by our multiple deployment options and portable subscription pricing. Arguably the most significant factor for a modern organization looking to maximize its competitive advantage is in what they can accomplish with powerful and sophisticated advanced analytics. We provide this capability with the Teradata Analytics Platform and it’s clear that no other company can deliver a path to secure, high-performing, always-on analytics in the cloud at scale like Teradata can,” said Tim Henry, Senior Vice President, Strategic Offering Management, Teradata.
Teradata to bring the benefits of cloud consumption – scalable, self-service, consumption-based – to analytics for the world’s most visionary companies, including:
Ticketmaster
Ticketmaster is the global market leader in live event ticketing that drives 500 million ticket transactions per year. Through exclusive partnerships with thousands of venues, artists, sports leagues, and arts and theater tours, Ticketmaster delivers unparalleled access to the most iconic live events to millions of fans worldwide.
Shawn Moon
“From finance and accounting to product and marketing, every department within Ticketmaster depends on data to make better decisions and drive better experiences for live entertainment fans and our clients. Teradata IntelliCloud has allowed us to manage costs, avoid a costly capital expenditure, and focus more on value-add tasks rather than system maintenance and management,” said Shawn Moon, Director, Database Solutions, Ticketmaster Entertainment.
Arcos Dorados
Latin American-based Arcos Dorados owns, operates and franchises McDonald’s Corp. in South and Central America, and in the Caribbean. In an effort to drive better decision-making across the business, Arcos Dorados used Teradata to move to the cloud – upgrading its technological platform while reducing costs and seeing significant gains in scalability and agility.
Patricio Crowley
“One of the biggest benefits in moving to Teradata IntelliCloud has been enabling our IT team to stop worrying about the data platform and its underlying infrastructure, and instead refocus on higher-value tasks that drive better and more innovative business decisions,” said Patricio Crowley, Manager Corporate IT Applications & Technology, Arcos Dorados.
Vizient
Vizient is the largest member-driven healthcare performance improvement company in the United States, connecting its member hospitals with the knowledge, solutions, and expertise that helps them achieve their goals for delivering efficient patient care and quality outcomes. Working with Teradata allowed the company to seamlessly move to the cloud and avoid a large capital expense while gaining world-class customer service.
Andy Deshong
“We need to ensure our data is reliable, available and maintainable, and that our platform supports these demands. This becomes even more important as our company moves further into predictive analytics and machine learning. With Teradata IntelliCloud, we know we can scale our database footprint as, and when, we need it. The support we have received from Teradata has been incredible, and the service team is 100-percent dedicated to our success,” said Andy DeShong, Senior Vice President, Applications Development, Vizient.
Silverton Casino Hotel in Las Vegas is a contemporary luxury lodge-themed resort that requires access to its data and analytics 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The company leveraged Teradata’s cloud expertise to expand its business insights and improve uptime, ensuring that users had access to critical data nearly 100 percent of the time.
Kirk Golding
“We chose Teradata because of the company’s strong experience and track record in the hospitality industry and we are delighted that our move to the cloud was not only cost-effective, it has already resulted in extract, transform, load (ETL) task performance improvements of 30 percent,” said Kirk Golding, Senior Vice President, IT Special Projects, Silverton Casino.
Monsanto
Monsanto is a global, modern agriculture company that develops solutions to help farmers around the world grow crops while using energy, water and land more efficiently. Its strategy is to move more applications to the cloud, including the transfer of certain production analytics to Teradata IntelliCloud for AWS, which maintained the analytic scalability and elasticity the business has relied on in the past.
Troy Crites
“The cloud offers so many advantages – shorter build times, complete administration in terms of backups and upgrades, a broader range of software options, and the ability to scale the platform to meet unpredictable workloads – and we really saw those benefits come to life following our successful experience with Teradata IntelliCloud,” said Troy Crites, Database Platform Architect, Monsanto.
Helping Enterprises Analyze Anything, Anywhere
Teradata empowers its customers to analyze anything, deploy anywhere and move anytime because the same Teradata software runs in each deployment option. Teradata’s offerings for powerful hands-on, do-it-yourself analytics in both AWS and Azure enable customers to quickly spin up new environments whenever needed for quick proofs of concept and exploration with hourly consumption and no long-term commitment. Users can choose the features they need while independently scaling compute and storage for maximum flexibility while also querying data lakes and other data repositories.
For those who prefer an automated and optimized managed environment, Teradata IntelliCloud is the company’s as-a-service offering for analytics at scale, providing the most performant and secure analytics platform in the cloud that enables organizations to get up and running quickly while scaling as they evolve. With IntelliCloud, Teradata’s innovative, software-driven cloud service technologies manage the infrastructure, guarantee system availability, and offer the lowest cost per query regardless of deployment choice so that customers can save time, focus on delivering actionable insights, and get the most value.
Teradata is improving the already-popular IntelliCloud service with expanded deployment options and a growing international footprint. Originally available with support for select U.S.-based AWS regions and Teradata data centers, IntelliCloud is now also offered for an expanding set of AWS and Azure regions internationally, including:
AWS: Americas (United States and Canada), Europe (Ireland, London and Frankfurt) and soon Asia Pacific (Sydney and Tokyo)
Azure: Americas (United States and Canada) and soon Europe (Ireland, Netherlands, United Kingdom) and Asia Pacific (Australia)
Teradata Cloud: United States (U.S. East and U.S. West data centers)
Hyland Features Intelligent Capture And Automation At Collaborate 18 Technology Conference
Leading Content Services Provider Presents Hyland, the Value of Intelligent Capture for AP and AR End Users
Hyland, a leading provider of content services software solutions, will present how to maximize an investment in enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions with intelligent capture and automation at Collaborate 18 in Las Vegas. At the conference, Oracle power users will learn about the latest solutions and strategies that empower better business and receive a personalized experience through real-world education and networking opportunities.
Hyland’s content services expert, Kevin Ryan, will present ‘Better Together: Maximizing the ROI of Your ERP with Intelligent Capture and Automation,’ on Wednesday, April 25 at 8:30 a.m. (PDT) in room Lagoon K. The session will teach Oracle users the value of intelligent capture to automate the collection, extraction, and verification of data from any document, including PO-based invoices, and achieve touchless processing. Additionally, the presentation will highlight how to:
Better manage unstructured information that supports transactions within the ERP
Control processes that feed and retrieve information from the ERP
Track and report information and data in a process
Unify processes and information
Reduce operational costs
Increase visibility and make a more informed decision
“Content services platforms, like OnBase, help address limitations within line-of-business applications – including ERPs – with end-to-end functionality to capture, manage, access, integrate, measure and store information. Using one comprehensive technology platform organizations will centralize related content, automate manual processes and consolidate disconnected data,” added Ryan.
Hyland is a leader in providing software solutions for managing content, processes, and cases for organizations across the globe. For over 25 years, Hyland has enabled more than 19,000 organizations to digitalize their workplaces and fundamentally transform their operations. Named one of Fortune’s Best Companies to Work For since 2014, Hyland is widely known as both a great company to work for and a great company to do business with.
Spiceworks Hires James Pinckney As Senior Vice President Of Revenue
New SVP of Revenue Will Lead the Sales and Delivery Organization and Optimize Operations to Continue Accelerating Growth
Spiceworks announced James Pinckney has joined the company as Senior Vice President of Revenue. In his role, James will lead the Spiceworks sales and delivery organization, optimize operations to continue accelerating growth, and focus on helping technology brands increase revenue by more efficiently reaching technology buyers globally.
J Scott Di Valerio
“James’ passion for technology and extensive experience growing and managing billion-dollar organizations will help us capitalize on the growth opportunities in front of us. James is a proven leader with an exceptional ability to create and implement effective sales strategies, develop leaders, and improve processes that drive business results. He’s been in our customers’ shoes, and we couldn’t be more pleased to have his expertise on the team,” said J Scott Di Valerio, Chief Operating & Financial Officer, Spiceworks.
James has more than 25 years of experience in management, business strategy and planning, sales, and operations at small-to-medium sized businesses as well as Fortune 500 companies. His past roles include chief strategy, sales, and services officer at Outerwall, vice president of the SMB and consumer business at Lenovo, and executive positions at Microsoft, including vice president of worldwide field sales and general manager of emerging markets and business planning for the OEM division. James has also served in executive positions at The Sabre Group and Hitachi.
“Spiceworks – its technology, people, and insights – is unique in the B2B technology arena. The company has successfully built a highly engaged audience of millions of technology buyers, a customer base representing the ‘who’s who’ of technology brands, and a technology platform that drives business results for both. I’m thrilled to be joining the team and am incredibly excited to help this company continue to reshape the IT industry,” said, Pinckney.
Tech Essence Appoints Mary Keane-Dawson as Chairperson of the Board
Mary Keane-Dawson Is One of the Most Well-Known Figures in the UK Digital Media Scene and an Experienced Business Leader
Tech Essence, the marketing platform revolutionizing partner marketing, announced the appointment of Mary Keane-Dawson, Co-Founder and CEO, TRUTH, as Chairperson of the board. Keane-Dawson has been an advisor to the company since its launch in 2013. The appointment reflects the growth of Tech Essence and its position as a serious contender to established players such as Performance Horizon, Cake and LolaGrove.
Tech Essence is a SaaS-based marketing technology platform that enables marketing professionals to make informed decisions about measuring and optimizing multi-channel marketing campaigns. The company’s flagship product, Marketing Town, is the next generation of campaign management, tracking and analytics technology, allowing marketing professionals track and monitor traffic, and measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns in real-time. Within the platform, advertisers and publishers can track conversions, and, more importantly, determine performance levels and return on investment (ROI) from each affiliate activity, based on post-conversion metrics. In this new area of data regulations, the greater the transparency, visibility and trust, the more opportunities for marketing and sales.
Keane-Dawson says “Tech Essence has been designed to meet the needs of modern-day marketers; the team has done an amazing job winning a host of awards that recognize not only the capability of the technology but the outstanding leadership of Ken Leren, CEO and Co-Founder. I’m delighted to have joined the company at this exciting stage and have no doubts that the company will continue to go from strength to strength and take a market-leading position in the next 2 years.”
Keane-Dawson is one of the most well-known figures in the UK digital media scene and an experienced business leader. Having held senior roles with a diverse range of media companies including Redwood Publishing, SPAFAX (part of WPP), Steak (part of Dentsu), Reform, Collective London and Trade Doubler’s incubator The Zoo Project, and more recently as MD of Neo@Ogilvy. She is also a Global Ambassador for BIMA and Tech London Advocates.
In 2017, £1.5 billion was spent on performance marketing in the UK alone, according to the IAB and PwC’s Online Performance Marketing study. Ken Leren, CEO and Founder, Tech Essence says “With GDPR looming we anticipate a sharp increase as companies are forced to shift budgets away from third-party data-driven advertising and will invest in more robust, people-based marketing channels, like partner marketing. As the digital marketing industry evolves we will continue to add functionality to the platform that enables marketers to run the most efficient, effective performance marketing campaigns.”
Keane-Dawson will advise strategically, working with Leren and Ricki Jones, Chief Commercial Officer, Tech Essence to ensure that the company continues to grow and expands into Europe.
Built.Io Named A Challenger In The Gartner Magic Quadrant For Enterprise Integration Platform As A Service
Built.io Flow Advances from Niche to Challenger Based on Ability to Execute and Completeness of Vision
Built.io, a technology provider with digital solutions that enable organizations to quickly create, connect and scale applications across mobile, web and IoT, announced its position as a Challenger in Gartner’s 2018 Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS), up from a Niche Player in the iPaaS Magic Quadrant in 2017.
Built.io Flow, the company’s iPaaS offering, focuses on quick and easy enablement of integration workflows, enables customers to connect mobile apps, cloud services, social networking and devices and things via pre-built integration templates and model-driven design. With Built.io Flow and its mobile back-end cloud service offering Built.io Backend, customers are able to create and integrate microservices used in mobile applications and IoT deployments.
“We launched Built.io Flow less than three years ago with the goal of connecting individuals, businesses, and ecosystems where and when it matters. Being named as a Challenger by Gartner further validates that our mission is succeeding as we enable our customers to create a more innovative, digital and integrated workflow for their businesses,” said Nishant Patel, Founder & CEO, Built.io.
In addition to offering a leading enterprise iPaaS, Built.io Flow, the company is preparing to launch Built.io Flow Embed, a fully white-labeled embedded integration engine. Built.io Flow was recognized by Gartner for its client growth, customer experience & satisfaction (it scored highly in overall satisfaction, value, delivery, and execution) and for its IoT and mobile focus, leading enterprises into the Digital Economy.
Built.io – a 2017 and 2018 Gartner Magic Quadrant Vendor and 2016 Gartner Cool Vendor – provides the leading cloud integration platform to power the enterprise transformation and the new digital economy. Powered by its three products: Built.io Flow, the award-winning integration Platform-as-a-Service (iPaaS), unifies disparate IT systems and connects anything with a digital heartbeat and an API to unlock your data and accelerate innovation. Built.io Flow Embed takes the power of iPaaS and embeds it into any application, empowering end users to connect data anywhere. Built.io Backend, the leading enterprise mobile Backend-as-a-Service (MBaaS), advances mobile and IoT application development. Combined, Built.io is the platform leading enterprise into the digital economy.
Time For Better Browsing UX: Google's Chrome 66 Puts A Vigil On Autoplays
The New Feature in Chrome 66 Blocks Autoplays on Sites Automatically
For long, browsing experiences turned bitter with unwanted auto-plays on site or page visits. Internet enthusiasts can now breathe a sigh of ‘autoplay relief’. The latest Chrome browser by Google – Chrome 66, is the reason for the relief. Chrome 66 brings a much-appreciated feature in which it shuts autoplay videos on sites as it automatically blocks them. The idea surfaced in January and is now a reality.
Chrome 66 has additional features apart from this as well. It resolves many challenges of security issues and bugs. It offers users the option to export passwords as saved files or to a password manager. Chrome, with a 66% market share as of March, is the top-ranked browser in the world.
There’s no shadow of a doubt that autoplay videos create unnecessary online noise. Worse, it consumes user resources like power and data. Google has been dedicated to overcoming this and introduced changed autoplay policies last month.
François Beaufort, Evangelist, Google Chrome, wrote in an official blog post on 29 March, “As you may have noticed, web browsers are moving towards stricter autoplay policies in order to improve the user experience, minimize incentives to install ad blockers and reduce data consumption on expensive and/or constrained networks. These changes are intended to give greater control of playback to users and to benefit publishers with legitimate use cases.”
Apart from the rest of the changes, the updated Chrome policies enable users to mute auto-plays with an option to tap ‘play’ if they intend to play a video. If a user has a history of playing videos or audio on a particular site, auto-plays may be enabled for such sites. This is based on the Media Engagement Index of Google.
The Aim is to Enhance UX
The January-released Chrome 64 saw Google providing users the option to mute auto-plays on certain sites. Those capabilities now stand extended with Chrome 66.
Recently, Google has actively blocked some of the other exasperating site behavior which has increasingly forced users to implement ad blocking. Adblockers, however, is a threat to the ROI models of many adtech companies.
Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, VP, Chrome, wrote in a blog post in February, “It’s important that we work to maintain a balance — and if left unchecked, disruptive ads have the potential to derail the entire system. We’ve already seen more and more people express their discontent with annoying ads by installing ad blockers, but blocking all ads can hurt sites or advertisers who aren’t doing anything disruptive.”
Roy-Chowdhury ascertained that with a focus on deracinating ‘disruptive ad experiences’, Google can assist to maintain a healthy web ecosystem and enhance the existing browsing UX.
Atlas Protocol – New Blockchain Advertising Project by xGoogler Blockchain Alliance
Former Google Engineers Cheng Li and Duran Liu Announced the Launch of Blockchain Advertising Project, Atlas Protocol, a Decentralized Digital Marketing Protocol Built on the Nebulas Public Blockchain
Last week New York City saw the launch of Atlas Protocol, a new blockchain advertising project by xGoogler Blockchain Alliance (GBA). A first application-layer protocol developed by Nebulas, Atlas Protocol, leverages the open source blockchain platform’s decentralized PageRank algorithm.
The Vision
Duran Liu
Duran Liu, the founder of Atlas Protocol, introduced his vision for the blockchain-based digital marketing ecosystem at the launch. Atlas Protocol will be addressing major issues in the field of online marketing, with the introduction of its decentralized digital advertising ecosystem. These include forbidding digital advertising fraud and protecting the privacy of user data.
The intricacies of the usage of consumer data by private internet companies have reached a paramount level, since the past few months. In October 2017, Facebook, Google and Twitter were addressed by the US Senate questioning the authenticity of their practices. In March this year, the CEOs of these companies were summoned for another hearing by the Congress. This time the hearing was related to disinformation on social networks, data privacy, and micro-targeting. Recently, the Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg provided a testimony about this same, earlier this month.
Atlas Protocol gives the user complete data ownership courtesy its decentralized system. Atlas Protocol is executed on the blockchain network and is developed to be completely transparent to advertisers, publishers and users. This comes in as a huge relief, contrary to the “black box” set up which is dominated by colossal digital giants.
The Tech Framework
Cheng Li, Chief of Tech, Atlas Protocol, reflects on the overview of the technical structure. Atlas Protocol will leverage on the NR (Nebulas Rank) algorithm. This algorithm measures the effect of contracts, addresses and decentralized applications (DApps) in the digital marketing ecosystem. Apart from that, Cheng also explains the dynamic mechanics of Atlas Protocol and how it circulates to exchange value between publishers, advertisers and users.
Atlas Protocol is one of the branches of GBA. GBA is a community of former Google employees and pushes forward a podium for the world’s most innovative thinkers to come forward and share their creative ideas in the blockchain space.
The Important Members of the Atlas Project are:
Duran Liu (Founder): Head of Nebulas Labs, former Senior Software Engineer at Google HQ where he leads multiple machine learning efforts. Also, a Former Senior Software Engineer at FreeWheel where he played a pivotal role in initiating the first-generation of mobile video advertising products.
Cheng Li (Co-founder, CTO): Former Senior Software Engineer at Google NYC where he worked on Google Play quality and helped launched the Play Books audiobook service on Google Assistant. Additional to that, former Director of Engineering at FreeWheel NYC, wielding many years of experiences in building advertising systems for the Internet.
Haoshuang Ji (Engineering Lead): Former Staff Engineer at video AI and analytics platform Conviva. Worked at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), where he was part of the team of scientists who discovered the Higgs boson (aka God Particle), culminating in a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2013.
Rose Ren (Marketing & PR Director): Former Marketing Lead of Bodhi prediction market Blockchain project and former Investment Manager at Cryptocurrency fund Continue Capital.
In the interim, Dolphin Web Browser has over 20 million users and has collaborated with Atlas Project to build the advertising decentralized ecosystem. Gifto, the virtual gifting protocol, supported by Uplive, a popular live streaming platform, is also working with Atlas Protocol for monetization and user growth.
To Deliver Hyper-Personalized Experiences At Scale, Mobile Is The Go-To Space For Marketers.
Customer Experience (CX) is the top priority for brand marketers in the digital age. While IoT, social, video, omnichannel messaging, automation, and data continue to showcase their importance in a modern CMO’s stack, CX could be the differentiator to add that sophisticated touch to omnichannel marketing campaigns.
To deliver hyper-personalized experiences at scale, mobile is the go-to space for marketers. Mobile offers the ultimate option for 1:1 interactions and engagement through brand apps. You can then call upon the necessary Martech stack to deliver a mobile CX that runs on relevancy and meaningfulness. It adds a lot of gravitas to your engagement with customers.
Why Press For More Control In Mobile CX?
22% of client-side marketers believe that at present, the most exciting opportunity in marketing is ‘optimization of CX’ (Econsultancy)
In 2017, an average of 3 hours and 15 minutes in the US were spent on mobile per day
Almost 75% of US adults use smartphones (eMarketer)
To stand out of the clutter and marketing noise, brands need to ask, “Where’s my customer?”
The app and smartphone revolution make it a no-brainer to get the answer right — ‘mobile’. The exponential rise of B2Cs like Airbnb and Uber has a case in point for B2Bs. They transformed the CX on a space where customers live. Hence, mobile CX. CMOs and their teams need to quickly admit and acknowledge mobile as a lifestyle not a platform or channel. Today, delivering the right CX is quite a disruptor.
You shouldn’t be surprised if you soon hear a designation titled – Chief Experience Officer. Chief Customer Officers are already in place, and together with marketing teams, they’re mapping tasks to ensure that at each touchpoint and point of sale (or rather, ‘moments of truth’), CX gets optimized. All such efforts are great, but such miens may not yield much if there’s no strategy to deliver an optimized mobile CX.
Where most marketers falter:
Treating mobile like just another distribution and ad channel
Same strategy for mobile as for print, TV, OOH, and desktop
Dealing with mobile as a tech innovation wave or a private interface
Creating a mobile-first element, then pushing customers to other channels
All of the above pitfalls lead to poor mobile CX. Mobile is where we live – shop, read, transact, play, communicate, and do a hell lot more. There’s an app for everything – Strava to Trello!
Respect the Customer Journeys; Let them be in the Driving Seat
Remember, that you don’t own customer journeys. Your customers own them. Nobody likes to be told that it’s either this way or no way. Funnels, ABM strategies, KAM, and the likes are good, but for an optimized mobile CX, ‘push’ strategies are now a passé.
There’s no definite course to customer journeys. There’s acceleration, deceleration, detours, U-turns, and more. It’s like a backpacking traveler who wants to be in control but not in a hurry to rush and decide what’s next. This means that the best start to mobile CX is by putting your customers well and truly in the driving seat.
Indeed you need to also ensure that customer journeys head towards a direction where you want them to. But, if you think closely, in a space like mobile, this can be very seamless. You empower your customers to decide and choose. They choose what they desire. And, we all desire value. For instance, it can be as basic as updates. When you force an update installation, you leave the mobile user with no choice. It can then lead to uninstalls very soon. Instead, when a user adds a product to cart or is about to transact, this is where a value proposition for the update is timely. It could range from cashback offers to freebies on store visits or enhanced usability features like ‘live chat’ support.
Thus, even before people become your customers officially, value creation ought to start from your end. Good ‘pull’ strategies are about providing value which makes a difference or resolves a pain-point. That value transpires to CX. Mobile CX is all about addition of functionalities and removal of frictions.
We shut down TVs, radios, keep newspapers aside, and turn a blind eye to an OOH when we’ve other things on our plate. But how many people do you know who shut down their mobiles? In fact, we get unsettled if there’s no network or when it says ‘battery low’. In addition to being always online, another factor that sets mobile apart is that it’s capable of hosting end-to-end customer journeys. Be it discovery, purchase, or loyalty programs, it’s all in the palm.
One sector to have made the most of ‘mobile is never offline’ is retail and ecommerce. Or at least they were the B2C pioneers, and B2Bs soon followed suits. Target, Whole Foods, and Starbucks deliver cutting-edge in-store mobile CX by integrating behavior, mobile transactions, and loyalty programs.
Other sectors are now taking note. Events offer tremendous ground for mobile experiences. Most will agree that Dreamforce is an event where mobile CX gets a notch higher every year. Gamification is also touching new highs with app advancements and serves as a great mobile engagement hook. With facets like reward systems, game dynamics can be integrated with mobile apps to enhance both mobile UX and CX. Plecto, GetBadges, Kahoot!, and others are doing that. Interactive content is another cool hook and SnapApp, Playbuzz, Toluna, and others have taken that to mobiles.
Foster and Prosper in the Mobile App Ecosystem: CX Rules!
Customers consider apps to be the primary digital interface with their favorite brands (Gartner)
90% of time spent on mobile is on brand apps (Smart Insights)
85% of customers prefer mobile apps to mobile websites as they are easier to browse, faster, and more convenient (Print in the Mix)
The extent of delight and surprise that mobile apps can provide is like no other. Everybody loves information that is packed with entertainment. Apps can do that. They streamline the entire conversion process for you as well with in-app purchases. Room for creativity and innovation is big here since through apps, you can offer immersive interactions via taps, swipes or shakes. Mobile CX starts with engagement and ends with your value-add proposition.
Don’t miss the mobile CX bus. And, once you’re on it, don’t forget that all of this planning and strategizing could count for naught if you’re missing the tech stack. Your tech stack is what brings your app to life. Marketing teams and API engineers or developers need to be in tune like an orchestra for an app to deliver the desired mobile CX.
Prior to Joining Ogury, Elie Kanaan Served as EVP of Marketing for Criteo and VP of Marketing for VMare
Ogury, the world’s leading mobile data company, announces the appointment of Elie Kanaan as Chief Marketing Officer. Kanaan will lead Ogury‘s marketing and communications initiatives across the globe.
Brands and publishers are an important crossroads. Their users’ privacy and value expectations have never been higher, while they suffer from a significant knowledge gap between these users and their journey. Consequently, they are struggling to inform their mobile strategies with effective choices and execute them simply and efficiently.
Elie Kanaan
“My mission with the entire Ogury team is to convince brands and publishers that Ogury’s consented data and marketing solutions are exactly what they need to address the privacy and value expectations of the demanding mobile users and therefore drive revenues and stay competitive in a complex and tough market. The time to take actions is now!. I’m thrilled to join a team of highly intelligent people, obsessed with technology innovation and value delivered to clients and partners” said Kanaan.
Jean Canzoneri, Co-founder & CEO of Ogury said, “Elie and his team will play a strategic role in fueling our hyper-growth and enabling us to gain our rightful recognition as one of the hottest mobile data and marketing company on the planet. It is an exciting time for Ogury, the development of our global leadership team and more innovative products means that we will continue to exceed the expectations of brands, publishers, and users time after time. I am delighted to have a seasoned leader and a market category designer like Elie be part of Ogury’s leadership”
As former EVP Marketing for Criteo, VP of Marketing EMEA for VMware, and having previously held positions at SAP, Mercury & Oracle, Kanaan brings over 25 years of experience in marketing and technology to his role at Ogury.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator Insights Integrates with Clari's Opportunity-To-Close Platform
The Latest Clari + LinkedIn Sales Navigator Integration Would Help Sales Reps Focus on the Right Deals, and Giving Them Time Back to Sell
In their recent announcement, Clari has announced that they have partnered with LinkedIn Sales Solutions. This partnership adds integration of Clari’s AI-based Opportunity-to-Close platform with LinkedIn Sales Navigator, providing direct access to account and contact profiles reps are engaging with. Through this integration*, sales reps would now receive timely insights to directly penetrate and sell into their key accounts on Clari platform. At Clari, reps can update their deals, manage their pipeline and call their number.
Currently, the leading sales execution and forecasting platform help the sales reps to boost productivity against target accounts by offering them real-time visibility into where the team is spending their time. This ensures activity is geared towards the right accounts and opportunities.
For any given account, Clari now presents information from the Company Page on LinkedIn. It allows the sales rep to quickly get to know the account and identify any relevant connections by showing —
– Recommended Leads: Key individuals at the company that the rep should reach out to.
– Connections: All current connections at the company that might help get into the account.
– News: Company news and recent employee LinkedIn posts to provide intel and context to every sales interaction.
Using Clari + LinkedIn Sales Navigator Integration, reps and managers track sales activity against target accounts and manage deals, they can easily get contextual and relevant information about the account that can shape their prospecting and penetration strategy and drive better results.
Prestigious Award Honors Motionloft’s Technological Innovation in Digitized Data
The Edison Awards, a 31-year-old organization honoring innovation and excellence, announced that San Francisco-based Motionloft was voted Gold Winner in digitized data for its innovative ViMo platform.
Category finalists for the prestigious Edison Awards were judged by more than 3,000 leading business executives including past award winners, academics, and leaders in the fields of product development, design, engineering, science, and medicine.
Frank Bonafilia
“Our judges recognized Motionloft’s ViMo as a true innovator out of the many products in its category,” said Frank Bonafilia, Executive Director, Edison Awards, named for the famous Thomas Alva Edison whose innovative achievements changed the world.
“Thinking large is key to sparking new ideas. Winning the top level Gold Edison Award is a great honor and establishes us as a leader in Data Analytics with real-time, accurate pedestrian and traffic counts. Our technology has added a proven economic value to clients in the Smart City, Retail, and Commercial Property Industries that include global brands such as Credo Beauty, AT&T, T-Mobile, City of Las Vegas, New York, and San Francisco,” said Joyce Reitman, CEO, Motionloft.
Motionloft’s proprietary platform ViMo takes the physical movement of people and vehicles and turns it into digitized analytics. By presenting the data to the user in real-time, ViMo makes it actionable so that companies can make confident decisions and develop new opportunities based on sound data. Features such as a pedestrian, vehicle and bicycle data, heatmap, path tracking and increased data capture range make ViMo a powerful super sensor with unparalleled capabilities in a single platform.
McFadyen Digital And Kahuna Announce Strategic Partnership To Empower Online Marketplace Operators With Intelligent Buyer And Seller Engagement Capabilities
Strategic Partnership Between Kahuna and McFayden Digital Was Formed to Offer Marketplace Operators a More Intelligent Way to Connect Their Buyers and Sellers
McFadyen Digital, a leading global digital commerce agency, and Kahuna, the first customer engagement platform for digital marketplaces, announced a new strategic partnership. The partnership will combine Kahuna’s innovative cloud-based buyer marketing, seller optimization, and liquidity capabilities with McFadyen Digital’s deep E-commerce and online marketplace expertise.
Together McFadyen and Kahuna are creating a fast-track accelerator program for incorporating the Kahuna platform into the Mirakl online marketplaces that McFadyen implements for their clients operating Magento or Oracle-based eCommerce properties. The goal of this program is to work with leading product and service marketplaces as well as global retailers, grocers, and manufacturers looking to incorporate an online marketplace business model. This program will have access to McFadyen’s global delivery resources and subject matter experts, in addition to Kahuna’s marketplace engagement thought leaders and technical resources.
Tom Gaydos, CMO & Digital Marketing Practice Lead, McFadyen Digital commented, “Our belief is that Online Marketplaces are the E-commerce model of the future. Driving a successful marketplace means that our clients need to recruit new sellers, attract new customers, and proactively match the two together to drive transactions. Typical digital engagement platforms are not purpose-built for the marketplace model, where Kahuna is. The intelligence, engagement capabilities, and flexibility of the Kahuna platform perfectly complement the platforms from our other best-of-breed technology partners.”
“This partnership with McFadyen is exciting for Kahuna. Marketplaces must capitalize on very specific nuances to be successful and this requires an unwavering commitment by providers who want to partner with them. Both Kahuna and McFadyen are deeply committed to this category and understand that our marketplace customers need to provide remarkable marketplace experiences to dominate their markets. McFadyen has been a steady E-commerce consulting partner to leading brands, and we look forward to breaking new ground together in helping marketplace customers all over the world build authentic, resilient buyer and seller relationships,” added Sameer Patel, CEO, Kahuna.
Both McFadyen and Kahuna can deliver on this accelerated marketplace engagement solution immediately and are looking forward to how this new partnership will benefit their mutual customers.
FriendlyData Launches Fetch - A New Augmented Intelligence Data Platform
Fetch Allows You to Ask Questions About Organization’s Data in Plain English and Returns the Results in a Suitable Format
FriendlyData recently announced the launch of Fetch – a Natural Language Search Interface for enterprise data. Fetch enables non-technical team members to access data quickly and easily, using their own language, without the need for expensive developers or database professionals.
Fetch allows you to ask questions about organization’s data in plain English and returns the results in a suitable format back to you (charts, tables or direct answer).
Alex Nenadavets
FriendlyData has addressed a huge need in the world of enterprise data by helping non-technical people access critical data in a secure, intuitive way,” said Alex Nenadavets, Lead Strategic Intelligence Analyst at Wargaming, adding, “Individuals and teams that rely on timely, trustworthy data now have an amazing new tool at their disposal.”
The following features of Fetch ensure intuitive and efficient access to enterprise data:
Data Visualization: brings data to life, offering a better and faster way to identify patterns, trends and correlation in the data sets – the most intuitive way to uncover actionable insights.
User-friendly Search: smart autosuggestions, “did you mean…” algorithm and a spellchecker, based on machine learning algorithms — all these make data search more effective. In addition, users can mark the suggestions using a feedback system to improve the autosuggestions process.
Metadata: by using metadata, FriendlyData will suggest the correct query to a user and take all the guesswork out of the process of building queries. It helps reduce errors by automatically building the right query in just a few clicks. It also can drastically improve the accuracy of FriendlyData’s parsing algorithm.
Multi-table Search: the enhanced support of a multi-table data structure allows users to query multiple tables and perform analysis, using data from all necessary tables.
Multi-Language Support: with the upgraded text localization support, users can query their database in different languages. This allows more people within an organization to have easy and instant access to enterprise data, which is essential for multinational businesses.
Exporting Data: With FriendlyData you can export your results (reports, diagrams, tables etc) in the CSV/XLS formats.
On-premise deployment provides more control and is suitable for strict security policies.You can rest assured that sensitive and high profile data will never leave your private network.
Extended Support and Service Level Agreements ensure smooth integration of Natural Language Interface with your database, providing your company with an easy and powerful data discovery.
Michael Rumiancau
Explaining the need for Fetch, Michael Rumiancau, Chief Executive Officer, FriendlyData, said, “At FriendlyData we have reimagined the world of enterprise data, and we are working hard to fundamentally change the way people interact with their internal data. So Fetch makes data accessible to all, saving organizations time and money and making their teams smarter by bringing data to them in a secure, easy to use way.”
Havas Edge Leads the Way to the Future of Media Automation
Utilizing PremiumMedia360, Havas Edge Now Offers an Easy to Establish 2-Way Data Relationship with Its Television Media Partners
Havas Edge announced the launch of a major addition to its media infrastructure for more seamless data communication with its TV vendors and third-party data partners. By implementing cutting edge software by media data hub company PremiumMedia360 (“PM360”), Havas Edge can now automate 2-way data flow for all transactional, planning and targeting data.
Walker Burl
“We are excited about this progressive step in automation. Now, instead of spending time obtaining and managing data, we are able to automate this process and have actionable results faster than ever before,” says Walker Burl, Director of Short Form Media Operations at Havas Edge. “We are now processing over 250k television media transactions a month through PM360’s cloud-based platform, and can make media decisions faster than someone who is using a semi-automated or manual system.”
Over the next 90 days Havas Edge will be asking media partners to move forward with delivering their data through PM360, adds Burl, “Fortunately, the PM360 platform handles all the data mapping and has an easy to establish API connection that will save time and transaction costs for both media partners and Havas Edge.”
John Bowser
“The PremiumMedia360 Smart Data Hub is ready today to connect to any TV media company that wants to work with Havas Edge in this next generation data flow,” adds John Bowser, CEO of PremiumMedia360. “The platform offers an always-on, 2-way data relationship to all participants. Set-up can take as little as 30 minutes and there is no software program for media companies or 3rd party suppliers to learn or install, and all reformatting of data is completed en route in an encrypted environment before reaching the intended recipient.”
Companies Are Bullish On Cloud Analytics, But Need To Speed Up The Pace: Teradata Survey
Seventy Percent Agree That Analytics Are Moving to the Cloud Slower Than Other Business Applications; Security and Low-Performing Technology Are the Biggest Barriers
A majority of the largest companies in the world (83 percent) agree that the cloud is the best place to run analytics, according to a new survey by Vanson Bourne on behalf of Teradata, the leading cloud-based data, and analytics company. In the next five years, by the year 2023, most organizations want to run all of their analytics in the cloud. But, an overwhelming 91 percent say that analytics should be moving to the public cloud at a faster rate.
Where’s the disconnect?
According to the survey, some of the biggest barriers to moving analytics
to the cloud are security (50 percent), immature and low-performing
available technology (49 percent), regulatory compliance (35 percent)
and lack of trust (32 percent).
Other concerns center on technology integration and talent: 30 percent are struggling to connect legacy systems with cloud applications, while 29 percent of respondents cited lack of in-house skill as a barrier.
The survey, titled “The State of Analytics in the Cloud,” polled senior technology leaders at 700 large, global organizations, with average global annual revenue of $9.73 billion (19 percent with revenue ranging to $50 billion).
Martyn Etherington
“The results are clear: the market is marching toward cloud analytics, but so many of today’s cloud-only analytic engines lack the power or speed to handle enterprise-scale analytic workloads. In fact, the performance gap for analytics at scale in the cloud gets even larger for the biggest companies. According to the survey, 63 percent of companies with revenues more than $10 billion, views immature and low-performing available technology as a major barrier, compared to 41 percent of companies with revenues of $250-500 million. Given this concern, it’s easy to see why Teradata stands out for its sophisticated cloud analytic environments capable of handling hundreds of terabytes and thousands of users running millions of queries per day,” said Martyn Etherington, Chief Marketing Officer, Teradata.
The survey found that large organizations are maturing when it comes to their use of analytics, with one out of three using complex deep learning and machine learning to power artificial intelligence (AI). These companies are also experienced in using the cloud with one-third currently adopting public cloud across the whole organization. Unfortunately, the combination – moving to and using analytics in the cloud – is happening at a slower rate than other business applications and workloads.
Data Details
The respondents use BI, data discovery, and data mining, and are moving quickly into advanced analytics such as AI powered by machine learning and deep learning, regardless of the type of deployment.
One out of three respondents is using complex deep learning and machine learning to power AI today. That number jumps to 68 percent of respondents when including the companies that plan to adopt AI technologies in the next 12 months.
Nearly half are doing data visualization and data mining today, and that number increases to around three-quarters of respondents when including the companies that will adopt these technologies in the next 12 months.
Customer-facing analytics is the leading priority in terms of use cases, with 81 percent of companies already or planning to use analytics for customer service in the next year. Also, companies are already using or planning to use, within the next 12 months, analytics for marketing (77 percent) and sales (76 percent) use cases.
When it comes to deployment, the organizations surveyed are bullish on the cloud but concerned about the slow pace of analytics adoption in the cloud.
They’re already moving to the cloud in other areas, with 35 percent currently adopting public cloud across the whole organization and 39 percent currently adopting public cloud in some areas of the organization.
Organizations are enjoying their experience with public cloud and 92 percent feel they are somewhat or very successful with their use of the public cloud.
83 percent agree that public cloud is the best place to run analytics. But 70 percent strongly agree or somewhat agree that analytics are moving to the cloud at a slower rate than other business applications and workloads, and 91 percent say that analytics should be moving to the public cloud faster.
The barriers to moving analytics to the cloud across organizations include: Security (50 percent), insufficient performance/too immature (49 percent), regulation (35 percent), lack of trust (32 percent), connecting legacy systems with cloud applications (30 percent), lack of in-house skills (29 percent), greater prioritization of other applications (24 percent), insufficient business priority (23 percent) and standardized SLAs that don’t fit our business (14 percent).
63 percent of companies with revenues over $10 billion views, immature and low-performing available technology as a barrier, compared to 41 percent of companies with revenues of $250-500 million.
You42 a Social Entertainment Platform That Allows Users to Create, Share and Consume a Wide Range of Content
You42, the premium social entertainment platform that allows users to exchange and monetize their content through the use of the U42 ERC-20 compliant token, announced that it will be holding its public presale on July 2, 2018, ahead of a public crowdsale (otherwise known as an ICO). The public presale comes hot off the heels of a successful private presale that raised $21.1 million, this sales event gives users a chance to get in early and help shape the platform from its launch which will go live on the conclusion of the public ICO.
You42 is a social entertainment platform where users can create, share, and consume a wide range of content, from videos to music and games to individual elements such as out-takes and stems. By becoming content creators and curators, users can promote their work through the You42 Token and across the You42 social spaces and messaging platform.
Between this sale, the private presale, and the ICO, You42 hopes to raise a total of USD $50 million. This will be used to fund content and user acquisition alongside attracting a large and financially-invested pool of users.
You42’s New Vision for Social Media & Entertainment
You42 was founded to counter the influence of large entertainment firms while giving consumers and creators new opportunities to engage with one another. The You42 platform lets them do this by:
Creating Content– Creators can use the platform to release new games, music, artwork, articles and other content. From there they can monetize their work using the U42 Token.
Rewarding Fans– Creators can use the platform to reward loyal fans with special discounts, early access to exclusive content, and direct communication through live chat, videos and messages. Fans get a new level of engagement, while creators have the tools needed to build their fanbase.
Cultivating Convenience– You42 offers consumers the option of accessing all their favorite content from the same platform. This sets the stage for a more convenient experience, as users won’t have to switch between platforms for different types of entertainment.
By releasing its own token, You42 hopes to tie every user’s financial interest to that of the entire platform. The more people want to use the platform, content creators will be spurred to establish themselves on You42 early and invite their fans to follow them.
You42 is issuing a fixed total of 525 million Tokens, which will be traded at a rate of 1 ETH to 808 Tokens (current market rate). When the public presale begins on (07/02/18), consumers will be able to buy these tokens in earnest, gaining access to the platform while helping it reach $50million initial funding goal.
Artesian Solutions Appoints Max Firth to its Board of Directors
Max Firth Has Vast Expertise in Delivering Data Solutions for Businesses Spanning All Segments from Leading Banks, Telcos, and Utilities to SME’s
Leading AI-powered business intelligence service, Artesian Solutions, announces the appointment of Max Firth as a Non-Executive Director, as it moves to strengthen its offering in the risk and compliance market.
Max joins Artesian’s board from Experian. A veteran of risk and compliance and highly sought-after industry thought leader, Max has held senior positions at Experian and PH Group for over 20 years, most recently as Managing Director of Business Information Services at Experian. During this time he maintained ownership of $100+ Million P&L and was instrumental in leading the business from decline to growth via a global programme of diversification and business transformation initiatives.
Max Firth has vast expertise in delivering data solutions for businesses spanning all segments from leading banks, telcos and utilities to SME’s, with a deep understanding of compliance and regulatory requirements in customer-centric environments.
At the time of this announcement, Andrew Yates, CEO of Artesian said, “I am delighted that Max is joining the Artesian Board. His significant and senior expertise will stand us in good stead as we extend our capabilities into the domain of risk and compliance to drive enhanced value for our customers in the regulated industry space. I look forward to working with Max as we progress to the next stage of our evolution, and feel confident that his expertise will be crucial in enhancing our position and growing our presence in the competitive business intelligence market.”
Artesian continually scans millions of online sources for data on markets, organizations, individuals, and topics, and uses sophisticated algorithms to filter and transform that information into commercially valuable insights.
Max Firth said, “Artesian has established itself as a true innovator in the delivery of data and insight, moving into the risk and compliance space is a logical next step. Artesian continually disrupts the market by taking a visionary approach, investing in R&D programmes that accelerate the use of AI technologies in commercial environments, adapting and responding quickly to opportunities – this sets them apart and creates a further competitive advantage. I am excited to have the opportunity to help the team accelerate momentum and achieve their strategic growth objectives.”
Currently, Artesian is a powerful AI-driven service that equips client facing teams with the resources they need to succeed in a modern commercial environment. Artesian provides the data, real-time insight and context needed to find customers, create meaningful engagements, sell more and create long-lasting business relationships. With the use of AI technology layered on top of company information, data and news, Artesian helps you uncover opportunities, build relationships and accelerate deals.
With Artesian, marketers can track their customers, prospects, competitors, and partners; spot and capitalize on business opportunities, and manage risks in the pipeline. Moreover, Artesian helps drive customer alignment, credibility, competitiveness and client satisfaction.
Bryan Wiener Appointed as comScore Chief Executive Officer
comScore Also Named Media Industry Veteran Rob Norman to Its Board of Directors, and Brent Rosenthal as Non-Executive Chairman
Bryan Wiener, comScore CEO
Leading ad-measurement and analytics company, comScore has announced the appointment of Bryan Wiener as the Chief Executive Officer. A current member of the comScore Board of Directors, Bryan Wiener brings more than 25 years of leadership experience in the media and technology industry to his new role as comScore Chief Executive Officer. Most recently, Bryan had served as the Executive Chairman at 360i, a 1,000+ employee advertising agency known for its ability to help brands capitalize on change through innovation and a data-driven approach to marketing.
With Bryan Wiener’s appointment as comScore Chief Executive Officer, Bill Livek, comScore’s current Executive Vice Chairman and President, will transition to the new role of Vice Chairman of the Board and Special Advisor to the CEO. Bryan and Bill Livek will assume their new positions on 30 May 2018. The comScore CEO position has been unoccupied since former CEO and co-founder of the company, Gian Fulgoni, retired in November 2017.
At the time of this announcement, Bill Livek, said, “Bryan is a universally-respected change agent in the business world, known for specializing in growing companies into market leaders, and I am thrilled to welcome him to the comScore executive team. Over the past six months, I’ve gotten to know Bryan well and believe deeply in his vision for comScore, as well as in his ability to inspire our existing workforce and secure new talent to support the evolving needs of the company.”
The new comScore CEO, said, “I’m energized by the opportunity to join comScore during this pivotal moment for our business and our industry,” said Wiener. “In a world where people are increasingly consuming media across platforms, the need for a trusted, objective and consistent currency to measure audience and advertising ROI only grows. comScore is uniquely positioned to provide this new model, as it has the scalable data, technology, and history of innovation to power the industry’s future.”
In addition to the CEO appointment, comScore is announcing changes to its board of directors, effective immediately. a renowned advisor to media and marketing companies and former Chief Digital Officer of WPP’s GroupM has been named to comScore’s board of directors. Current board member Brent Rosenthalhas been named the non-executive chair.”
Rob said, “This is an incredible time to be at the nexus of media innovation and I am excited to join comScore’s board of directors to provide guidance at this important moment. I’ve known Bryan for more than a decade and believe his vision and proven leadership style are exactly what is needed to cement comScore as the unequivocal leader in Cross-Platform Measurement.”
Brent said, “I thank the Board for this incredible opportunity and I look forward to working closely with Bryan and our strong Board to capitalize on comScore’s unique market position. Additionally, I want to thank Bill Livek for his years of executive leadership and know that he will continue to have an enormous impact on comScore in his new role.”
Bryan Weiner Has Recognized Industry Experience
Bryan is a 25-year advertising industry veteran who specializes in successfully growing companies in highly-disruptive environments. At 360i, he pioneered a new kind of agency designed to help brands capitalize on change, leveraging deep expertise in data, technology, and innovation to drive measurable impact across all media platforms.
As CEO of 360i, Bryan scaled the company from fewer than 40 to more than 1,000 employees worldwide, and partnered with some of the largest and most iconic brands in the world including Coca-Cola, Nestle, Mondelēz, Capital One, NBCUniversal and Pernod-Ricard at a critical moment when marketers were grappling to effectively reach their customers. In 2010, 360i’s position as a leader in the new media landscape led the company to be acquired by global advertising holding company Dentsu Inc. After almost a decade as CEO, Bryan Wiener became executive chairman of 360i in 2014.
From 2014 through 2015, Mr. Wiener concurrently served as chairman of Expion, a Social Content Marketing software company that was successfully acquired by Sysomos. Mr. Wiener also previously held a series of senior management positions at public companies including serving as president of global services at the early VoIP software company Net2Phone, where he led a two-year, $75 million EBITDA turn-around. Prior to Net2Phone, Mr. Wiener served as general manager at TheGlobe.com, one the first-ever social media companies.
Bryan Wiener currently serves on the Agency Advisory Board for the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, where he was inducted into the world-renowned media and communications school’s Hall of Fame. Mr. Wiener has been named a “Media Maven” by Advertising Age and to the “Mediaweek 50 List” (now part of Adweek).
Rob Norman served as the Chief Digital Officer of WPP’s GroupM prior to his retirement at the end of 2017 after 33 years in the media industry. GroupM is the world’s largest media investment group.
During his career, Mr. Norman was regarded as a trusted thought leader and commentator on the disruptive forces in media, advertising, and commerce; much of this was captured in GroupM’s “Interaction” report, which he authored from 2007 to 2017 and shared with his 350,000 followers as a LinkedIn Influencer. In his role at GroupM, Mr. Norman advised advertisers in every category from CPG to financial services and telecommunications. He works extensively in both developed and fast growth markets and has maintained close relationships as both customer and advisor with Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Amazon, SNAP, NBC Universal, News Corp and many others.
Rob Norman was a founding member of the Facebook and Twitter client councils. Currently, he sits on the board of BBC Global News Limited and is a governor of the Center for the Digital Future at USC’sAnnenberg School.
Brent D. Rosenthal is the founder of Mountain Hawk Capital Partners, LLC, an investment fund focused on small and micro-cap equities in the technology media telecom (TMT) and food industries. Mr. Rosenthal also serves on the boards of directors of SITO Mobile and RiceBran Technologies.
Previously, Mr. Rosenthal was a partner in affiliates of W.R. Huff Asset Management, where he played a key role in the firm’s TMT and food investment activities from 2002 to 2016. Mr. Rosenthal served on the board of directors of Rentrak from 2008 to 2016 and as non-executive chairman from 2011 to 2016. Rentrak merged with comScore in 2016.
Mr. Rosenthal has also served as an advisor to, and observer of, the board of directors of Virgin Media and as a consultant to the company, providing turnaround and crisis-management services, as well as operational and financial analysis and recommendations. Additionally, Mr. Rosenthal was an advisor to the executive management of Time Warner Cable.
Currently, comScore offers its cross-platform measurement platform to measure audiences, brands and consumer behavior everywhere.
Whenever a new advertising avenue opens—on Snapchat, on Instagram and, most recently, as an expanded opportunity on Amazon—it is tempting to roll the dice, spend a reasonable amount of money and see what pans out from a group of test campaigns.
While risk-averse, this is not the best strategy. It reflects a line of thinking rooted in FOMO (Fear Of Missing out): I need to be on every new tech, if I don’t try, then I’ll miss something. But this isn’t necessarily true. Missing something is more dependent on what you’re selling. When it comes to knowing if the time is right to jump on Amazon’s new ad play, here are three ways to tell if your business is a good fit.
Are You Selling Amazon-compatible Products?
Whether books, household goods or gifts, Amazon purchases tend to be lower-ticket items. The path to purchase, especially for Prime members, is to go into the site, search for something, perhaps comparison shop between a few highly-rated similar items on Amazon, and click the buy button.
In other words, Amazon is essentially a closed loop for affordable items. Once shoppers are on the website, they rarely have a reason to leave. If your business is selling products in the low- to mid-range, the types of things usually sold on Amazon, you’ll want to take advantage of Amazon ads so that your item can be part of the comparison shopping process. If your item isn’t listed as a suggested purchase or comparable purchase, are there consequences? Does your competition win the sale? If the answer is yes, by all means, use Amazon Ads.
There’s a reason most of us do not buy mattresses or motorcycles on Amazon. Not only do such items fall outside of the retail giant’s fast-delivery model, but high-priced purchases take more deliberation. It is one reason Home Depot has been called “Amazon proof”: consumers need to see, touch and compare expensive products before rationalizing which one is worth the high price tag.
According to the 2016 Synchrony Financial Major Purchase Study, 90 percent of consumers compare prices and promotions before spending more than $500 on an item, and 82 percent said they wait until they believe they are getting the best deal. But how does this need to “experience” big-ticket items translate online?
It often starts on Google, with a search for the said big-ticket item. Take a mattress as an example. The consumer might search “mattresses,” click on your ad selling organic cotton mattresses and examine details about each product. Assuming you have tagged your ad accordingly, a Facebook ad will show up for the consumer next, inviting them to finish the buying process. The cycle will continue until that decisive click is made.
If you specialize in things that sit higher on the price scale, think first about Google and Facebook for your ad spends as Amazon might not do you that much good.
Do your buyers educate themselves on your product via mobile shopping sites, Instagram or consumer review publications? Do they share what they’ve learned on Twitter, Reddit or product forums? At what points in the path to purchaseAmazon should your product appear to consumers, and on which devices? Answer such questions and you will have perhaps the most critical piece of your decision making pie: a customer journey.
If your product appears regularly and seamlessly in a consumer’s daily browsing regimen, you will be “priming” them for a purchase. First, they notice your ad and don’t click, then as their interest is sustained, they’ll click and eventually, they buy.
Let your customer journey dictate which mediums you advertise on, and you’ll find your marketing ROI increase exponentially. Depending on product and customer, you’ll be able to customize each ad interaction for results—and the question of whether to use Amazon, Google or Facebook will be answered for you.
