martech insights

Looking beyond the disruption the COVID-19 pandemic has sown within the marketing industry, it has also fueled an unprecedented wave of experimentation and adoption of new technology among brands and agencies. Strategies and solutions that were being tentatively explored at the beginning of 2020, in hopes of uncovering new efficiencies and opportunities, are now being catapulted to the forefront of 2021 planning. Without a doubt, the next 12 months will have a dramatic effect on the brand landscape of the future, as the…

Data is arguably one of the biggest “make or break” factors for any organization seeking to optimize the digital experiences they’re providing to customers and prospects. But, to truly move the needle on improving website engagements and conversions, it takes more than simply collecting and analyzing data.The data must provide highly actionable insights to digital teams that leaves no stone unturned. However, there is concern amongst customer experience professionals that the analytics systems providing the crucial data…

It’s a new world out there for marketers. Consumer behaviors are now forever changed, and with that has come the rapid adoption of new technology. Our usage of video, Facetime, Zoom, Slack, and Microsoft Teams has skyrocketed, and our collective comfort consuming digital entertainment, shopping online, ordering food, and services with our phones will permanently increase our adoption of these conveniences. The internet has also ushered in a new level of transparency, and COVID-19 forced even the most curmudgeon of us to…

As we enter the final month of 2020, I wanted to share with you some 2021 CX predictions. Here's what to anticipate in the world of CX in 2021. My predictions are: Embeddable CX for the Smartphone-Era Consumer With both employees and consumers remote, mobile device usage and app downloads have soared. Whether it is through a phone call, text message, or an app, consumers are predominately connecting with brands today through their smartphones. However, they are still met with fragmented, and unintelligent…

The top priority of sales leaders is to enable their teams to be successful which often includes helping close deals. While the goal still remains true in 2020, the process of closing deals looks a bit different this year. From new budgeting challenges to parties being brought into the sales process that sales teams may not have interacted as regularly, the standards and status quo of previous years doesn’t quite ring true. Here’s how to move forward and engage your new buyers for 2021. Expect to Engage the C-suite…

Earlier this year I was scheduled to speak at SaaStr with two of the most dynamic SDR leaders in Silicon Valley, Lauren Wadsworth (Segment) and Alex Griffin (Reflektive), as part of a panel on “How to Motivate and Inspire your SDRs.” Unfortunately, the conference was canceled due to COVID-19, but the topic is one that continues to feel even more relevant now as we navigate our new remote reality. As you think about improving your SDR program in 2021, there are three areas of focus for improved performance, engagement, and…

Amid the economic uncertainty wrought by the coronavirus pandemic marketers must use all available tools to make budgets stretch further. Failure to grasp the complex dynamics between ad spend and consumer response could spell trouble for any business. Econometrics is the answer to this conundrum. It is the language of attribution, the statistical underpinning of marketing mix modeling. It is also the most scientific and reliable way to discover which levers of the marketing machine can be pulled to achieve a desired…

Did you know that performance advertisers sacrifice quality in exchange for better mid to lower funnel results? At the beginning of the pandemic, brands reduced advertising spend drastically. In May, 52% of marketers at large multinational companies said they would hold back on ad spend for up to six months or more as the pandemic rolled on. Even though e-commerce saw a huge spike, brands curtailed spend in digital advertising regardless. Additionally, both brand and performance advertising saw equal levels of reduced…

Metrics may show the return-on-investment or performance of each ad, but when it comes to overall marketing success, finding the right channel and its capability to deliver against desired campaign outcomes should be factored in as well.

Facebook and Google have dominated the advertising ecosystem for many reasons in recent years, one of which has been beneficial to marketers: they make it extremely easy to run campaigns. From ad buying to targeting and campaign measurement, they give marketers everything they need all in one place. But this simplicity comes at a price. Facebook and Google only account for 34% of time spent online, meaning campaigns on these platforms only reach a fraction of your audience. What makes this realization hard to grapple with…

"Yes, there are dogs barking in the background and parents balancing virtual home schooling and works calls. However, I’ve witnessed that when you have a great culture, people do what it takes to get stuff done." Hi Craig, please tell us about your journey into tech and how you arrived at SugarCRM?  I’ve spent my whole career steeped in customer, financial and sales automation software. I joined Sugar nearly two years ago, having first relocated to the U.S. from Melbourne Australia back in 2017. It was in my two…

Both the scale and scope of COVID-19 are beyond anything we’ve seen in near history. It’s uniting, in that the entire globe was tasked to navigate this challenge together, but more than anything it’s been devastating. It has had a profound effect on the way we do business, interact and live our daily lives - the outcome being that the global economy has taken a bit of a nosedive. Unfortunately for marketers, there is no playbook they can turn to for answers. I was in the industry during 9/11 and the 2009 economic collapse,…