Digital gives us opportunities to see our customers and to be more responsive to their wants. – Bernadette Jiwa That’s the promise, but it isn’t always the practice. We get excited about digital technologies like chatbots, the Internet of Things, marketing automation, artificial intelligence or virtual reality, but often miss the most important business opportunity. […]
Relationships are for people, not brands
June 29, 2016 by 1 Comment
The notion of a brand relationship has always been a flawed metaphor. The idea that repeated encounters between a brand and a customer would eventually take on the characteristics of a relationship between people diminishes the humanity of real relationships. Can anybody truly have a relationship with a tube of toothpaste or a sack of […]
Building your brand on moments of helpfulness
June 23, 2016 by 1 Comment
There is a difference between branding and being a brand. Branding focuses on the grand gesture. The big ad campaign with major media impressions. The breakthrough product innovation. The viral marketing event. Those things capture top-of-mind awareness for a short period of time. But in today’s noisy marketplace that awareness is quickly displaced by the […]
A suspect is not a prospect
June 8, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Prospects are people who are able, ready and willing to buy. Suspects are merely eligible to do so. – Lester Wunderman Far too much time and money is wasted on marketing to suspects. Misusing data and technology enables marketers to waste time and money at scale. Prospecting with email is one example. Recently I got an […]
