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“I know these unprecedented times are crazy, but we should hop on a call!” The global pandemic wiped out the pre-Covid world of a typical seller. Coffee dates, office drop-bys, after-work drinks, national conferences – every typical face to face interaction with prospective clients vanished, leaving many sellers wondering how to do their jobs. On the surface, Zoom meetings and e-gift cards seem to do the trick, but establishing and maintaining connections exclusively via online channels has proven very difficult. So…

IAB Europe predicted that 2020 would be the year adtech turned the corner on regulator perceptions of digital advertising, delivering on the GDPR’s promise to provide transparency and control to users about the processing of their personal data.  But little did we know what 2020 would have in store. From a global pandemic, to the third-party cookie demise, our worlds have placed us in uncharted territories. But, with all disruption, comes opportunity. Over the past few years, numerous privacy regulations have come into…

It is quite likely that you’ve spent a lot of time online glued to a device over the past year, and that is perfectly understandable. Many of us have turned to technology to cope with the isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, leading us to explore new forms of media as a result. Connected television (TV), which enables smart TVs and other devices to stream digital content, is one media format that has accordingly exploded in popularity. CTV’s captive audience is continuing to grow exponentially as the changes brought…

Today’s marketing pros know better than anyone that compelling consumer experiences are increasingly multi-channel. It’s not just about sending an offer via email or text; marketing spans every point of engagement, including offline experiences in a retail store or other physical location. This is what Forrester is referring to when they discuss the importance of Moments-based Marketing. The holistic approach is a good thing for brands and consumers alike — if it’s done right. In reality, the data that marketers rely so…

So often I hear from marketing leaders who say that they have more leads than ever before, and yet they continue to struggle with actually converting those leads into pipeline and revenue. This is all the more-so given customer behavior changes due to the pandemic. For example, at Qumulo we would have previously qualified the majority of our leads automatically because customer interactions typically came from trade shows or in-person events. Follow-up and lead nurture after those interactions were the natural progression…

Despite the rapid growth of social media and technologies, email remains one of the most effective marketing channels. According to a research conducted by the Direct Marketing Association and Demand Metric, email has a median ROI of 122% which is four times higher than other marketing formats such as paid search advertising or social media. The Power Of Email What makes an email such a powerful tool in the hands of marketers and sales reps? Email is one of the few marketing channels that do not depend on a third…

Have sales left you feeling overwhelmed and burned out? It used to seem so simple. Now there are hundreds of millions of potential clients, along with millions of competitors vying for their attention. The world of sales is moving faster than anyone can keep track of, leaving only one thing for certain: If you’re using the same methods and tools you were using a few years ago, you’re going to be left behind. If you’ve spent any time with us at Reply, you’ll know we’re big fans of automation. We’re constantly looking…

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The rise of inauthentic social media stars has made it increasingly more challenging for brands to run effective influencer campaigns in recent years. As more and more people aim to make a living via product promotion, and fake users like CGI-created personalities appear on popular platforms, it’s more difficult and tedious than ever to sift through the noise. It’s a better time than ever to integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI) into Influencer Marketing. The business value of AI is well-documented — Gartner estimates…

As chatbots become increasingly more developed, and the demand for instant online customer service continues to rise, the debate about whether we should be using chatbots in business is creating divided opinions. The truth is, there is a strong case for both sides. There is no doubt chatbots can be beneficial to both businesses and their consumers, but they can also be a nuisance for customers who have a more serious problem and just want human assistance. Improving Online Experience In the on-demand world we now live in,…

With 2019 kicking into full gear, what better time to reflect on the past year and some of the biggest trends that were front-and-center in the advertising world? While the industry saw many changes take place, there were some that I found to be especially noteworthy. It’ll be important for advertisers to pay attention to them as they continue to shape the industry in 2019 and beyond. Here’s a closer look at those three areas: Brand Safety Concerns Reached a New Peak From YouTube to Facebook, advertisers have become…

When it comes to really engaging customers, personalization and customization are the current buzzwords. But how can you personalize marketing content if you have tens of thousands of customers and contacts? Automation. Today’s marketing automation tools may help you reach masses, but you can do so in such a way that the message still feels personal. Here are some strategies for leveraging automation for your marketing campaigns. 1. Be More Responsive on Social Media It can be overwhelming to manage multiple social…

53% of mobile site visitors leave a page that takes longer than three seconds to load (according to Google). According to a 2017 Akamai study, even a 100-millisecond delay in website load time can hurt conversion rates by 7 percent. For a business, an extra second of mobile loading time can mean the difference between a great quarter and trouble. That’s why Google introduced a little something you’ve probably heard of, way back in 2016: Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). Read More: Google AMP for Gmail: A Marketer’s View…

Professional Service Organizations (PSOs) revolve around people. They’re always on the lookout for new tools to help employees perform at their best, more efficient processes to simplify work, and ways to enhance profitability so a business is viable and all can prosper. Service-based companies live amid flux and flow, and quick adaptation is table stakes. Marketing agencies have always required particular agility, and with digital ushering in dramatic changes, new technologies and strategies seem to arise daily, and…

When it was first introduced, GDPR was considered by many in the publishing, media and advertising to be a regulatory revolution. Almost nine months on, and it has certainly changed the face of how brands access, handle and store their consumers’ data. While companies rushed to achieve compliance with GDPR, the true extent of the regulation remains to be seen; with regulators just beginning to hand out major fines in the post-GDPR era. So, as we all wait with bated breath for more regulatory enforcement, how are brands and…

In the mobile app world, marketers spend just a fraction of their budgets on re-targeting. Over the next year, that spend will increase, especially for large brands that have already acquired large user bases. There is another change on the horizon. Today, mobile app marketers set aside different budgets for user acquisition and re-targeting campaigns and approach them as entirely separate initiatives. But whether you are investing in User Acquisition (UA) or re-targeting, there is only one benchmark that really matters:…

For decades, television has thrived on the basis of the following bargain: free content in exchange for watching advertisements. Today, though, the rise of subscription services like Netflix and Amazon Prime has made many question the viability of ad-supported services in the streaming media ecosystem. Yet ad-supported video is starting to gain audience share in the streaming world, as Freewheel reported in its Q2 2018 Video Monetization Report, and it should be no surprise. In fact, the ad-supported model is appealing to…

Recently someone asked me what makes a good marketer. I thought for a while and replied, "A good marketer is someone who can efficiently use every channel and back it up by measuring the channel's effectiveness." I have been handling B2B marketing for a long time now, long enough to witness the evolution of Marketing Automation from just Email Automation to automation of the entire process right from lead captures to nurturing, tracking, qualification, & analysis — with the more recent infusion of AI technologies like…

I remember when the thought of Augmented Reality seemed like a pipe dream — something we thought could only be found at the end of a rainbow or in an episode of The Jetsons. Now, it has become not only a reality but also a necessity for brands looking to create a more personalized and interactive shopping experience. Perhaps the most amazing opportunity AR presents is that it allows us to evaluate products as if they were right in front of us. Gone are the days of wondering… Will this dining room set fit in the corner…

Customers in the financial services industry want personalized experiences. They, in fact, expect and demand them from their service providers. They prefer to stay loyal to a company as long as they receive this special treatment. As a result, personalization has become the number one priority for marketers in the industry today. They are waking up to the realization that delivering personalized experiences highly depend on understanding customer data.marke Very few companies have the means to understand this data and use…