Sick of staring at a blank computer screen praying for content marketing or writing inspiration? Then follow these 3 easy steps to content idea generation to tap into the creative and analytical process. Includes tools and tips.
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In today's world, there is a permanent advantage to becoming known in your field. Those who are known get the customers, the better jobs, and the invitations to exclusive opportunities. But can anybody become known?
In this path-finding book, author Mark Schaefer provides a step-by-step plan followed by the most successful people in diverse careers like banking, education, real estate, construction, fashion, and more.
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Did you know content marketing optimization is more than just search? It's appealing to your 5 key audiences. The ultimate content marketing optimization guide not only defines but also shows you how to optimize your content marketing. Includes 50+ tactics.
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Today’s post originally ran on Wireless Week.
Against the technical backdrop of increasing expectations for always-on internet and mobile services, many carriers are struggling on the frontend with customer experience. All the interactions — in-store, chatbot, email, phone, text, website, app, messenger service, Facebook — must be unified and personalized. Nearly seven out of 10 carriers believe this will be the single most important factor in customer loyalty, according to the CMO Council and the Open Roads Community.
Carriers have traditionally grown through acquisition, so they run on legacy systems focused on a particular set of products. They might have a system for a customer’s cell service account, another one for their internet account, and yet another for their TV service. These de-facto silos also mean there could be three “versions” of the same customer in three different systems.
It gets even more complicated when customer interaction systems are siloed by sales channel in addition to product line. Existing and potential customers might receive different offers for the same products across different channels. In-store customer service reps might not have access to all of the products a customer has with the company. Customers don’t understand why they receive two bills from the same company.
Customers get confused and frustrated from dealing with all these inconsistent experiences.
It is not just customers who get frustrated.
One of the largest cable and TV companies in Europe was centralizing IT operations in the European market to leverage quad-plays. Their multiple business support systems (BSS) and operation support systems (OSS) were in various states of upgrade and age. This presented a considerable challenge because a lot of the backend BSS systems were impossible to replace, but were never designed to provide a digital customer experience.
Many carriers find themselves in the same position.
The CMO Council Report found that just 9 percent of telco marketers felt their organizations were highly advanced and rapidly evolving to be more data-driven, customer-responsive and digitally adaptive. Another 47 percent admitted that while they were evolving, far more effort was required.
Only 4 percent indicated their organizations were delivering consistent customer experiences that were personalized and contextually relevant across all traditional and digital channels.
Telco marketers are severely hamstrung by backend and siloed systems.
It is technically very difficult to modify any portion, let alone tie them together to enable quad-play bundles. As a result, new campaigns might take months to get to customers. At the European cable and TV company, the typical time to market for a new campaign running across separate businesses and products within those businesses was three to six months. Not very agile.
Not only do legacy systems slow marketing down considerably, but they may also make it impossible to create new offers beyond those in the business support system (BSS). For example, how can marketing bundle a free Netflix account with a certain mobile data plan when the underlying business support system doesn’t even know the Netflix account exists?
Without a single view of the customer’s interactions with your organization, personalization is clunky at best, and impossible at worst. How do you get all those disparate systems to talk to each other without expensive, custom and increasingly risky integrations?
Leading carriers have found a way.
They close the gap between customer expectation and restrictive legacy system capabilities by incorporating what Gartner refers to as “API-based e-commerce software” which helps to facilitate consistent, personalized customer experiences across product lines and touchpoints.
Modern, API-based commerce technology “understands” the complex business rules in multiple BSS’s and injects transactional capabilities into all customer experiences. Carriers can now take advantage of legacy systems and power consistent pricing, product and promotional experiences across any touchpoint including in-store.
One of the top three carriers in the United States knew customers were tired of complicated plans, data limits, global roaming fees and lockdown contracts. They introduced a single, unlimited plan for everyone. Their market share skyrocketed.
But even this company struggled to close the gap between customer expectations and their actual customer experience. They recognized that the different touchpoint experiences they had either acquired or built over the years focused on the wrong problem. They did not need a complete solution for each touchpoint; they needed a way to tie existing backend systems to any frontend.
They found the secret weapon: by taking advantage of API-based e-commerce technology, they were able to orchestrate the business logic housed in multiple legacy systems and apply that to any frontend device or experience.
The legacy systems still do their job.
Are your legacy systems struggling to deliver the experiences your customers expect? Contact us to find out how our agile, API-first commerce platform can give you the ability to get ahead of customer demands, while continuing to take advantage of investments you’ve made in your legacy platforms. Learn about Elastic Path Commerce.
The post How E-Commerce Can Become Carriers’ ‘Secret Weapon’ to Unified Customer Experiences appeared first on Get Elastic Ecommerce Blog.
Frenemy Influencer Marketing helps you tap into the power of your peers to provide a win-win approach. Includes definition, benefits and challenges, where to find frenemy influencers, and 5 actionable strategies you can use now!
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Heidi Cohen Interviews Julia McCoy about her new book: Practical Content Strategy & Marketing
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An in-depth analysis of the 4 pillars of digital marketing. Includes definitions, data, charts and tips to help you improve your company's marketing plans.
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Worried about how Facebook changes effect your marketing? Then diversify your digital media channels to reduce risk and maximize results. Includes digital media channel analysis and actionable tips.
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Today, at the NRF show in New York, Adobe announced a new set of services to enable experience-driven commerce. Elastic Path and Adobe, together, have been creating exciting new opportunities for retailers seeking to up their game.
Elastic Path has always been focused on experience-driven commerce. The products we engineer allow companies to embed commerce in any conceivable current or future customer experience. As far back as 2012, we pioneered an enterprise-grade commerce solution that integrates directly with Adobe. We focused on two critical capabilities for retailers: business agility and customer intimacy.
Being able to pivot rapidly in highly competitive markets like retail is crucial to survival. Imagine it is noon on the day you are launching a hot new product and your offer includes the new product plus an accessory. At 12:01 p.m. you notice a competitor is making the same offer. Would you be able to respond by 12:15 p.m.? And could you offer that response across all touchpoints—including in-store?
If it takes days to change systems to create a new offer or make a simple price change, a competitor with more agile systems will undoubtedly scoop your deal. Adobe’s content and marketing products integrated with Elastic Path Commerce provide retailers with a solution that can move quickly to respond to shifting market conditions and seize on opportunity.
Experience-driven commerce is about customer experience, relationships and personalization. Retailers that benefit most from Elastic Path and Adobe are organizations looking to redefine customer engagement. They no longer view customer interactions as transactions.
They aren’t looking just for “add to cart” functionality, price lists, tax calculation, catalogues and payment processing. They are looking to improve the overall customer experience — adopting technologies like machine learning, augmented reality and the Internet of Things which will change the way people live, not just how they shop.
They are trying to conceive new ways of doing business that anticipate individual needs and remove bottlenecks to make their lives easier. They aspire to monetize customer experiences that move effortless across any number of different touchpoints to create value at the perfect time in that customer’s life.
Elastic Path allows retailers to create consistent experiences across any customer touchpoint. Experience designers only need to know how to work with Adobe and Elastic Path to build any experience and embed commerce. Any changes are automatically conveyed to all touchpoints. Any strategies like personalized offers and dynamic pricing are easily set in place.
Experience-driven commerce moves at the speed of shoppers through any touchpoint, blending digital with bricks and mortar commerce.
One Luxury Destination is a great example of experience-driven retail commerce leveraging Adobe and Elastic Path. To attract fashionistas from around the world to the famed Via Montenapoleone in Mila, top design houses including Giorgio Armani, Larusmiani, Prada and Gucci teamed up with luxury hotels to create a shopping experience that extends beyond the Via.
Prior to their trip, shoppers can tour Via Montenapoleone on OneLuxuryDestination.com. When they arrive at fashion central, they enjoy personal shoppers, private dressing rooms, and a 24-hour personalized online concierge to book tickets, restaurants and more.
Guests communicate with their personal shoppers and concierge, through the mobile app M Luxury and have the option to create exclusive, shopping events in the sumptuous VIP Lounge. On the Via, VIPs use M Luxury to access augmented in-store and outdoor experiences as they browse the district.
The app serves personalized content, offers and notifications of nearby events as shoppers explore the district and they can buy at any point during their stay—as well as long after their visit.
The combination of physical and digital elements establishes connections with customers before, during and after their visit, creating a personalized shopping experience that redefines the meaning of luxury.
Not all retail experiences will be as deluxe as One Luxury, but they can all benefit from the same strategies and underlying technologies. Experience-driven commerce begins with seamlessly integrated commerce and content tools. Elastic Path works with Adobe to help organizations engage with customers during any stage of their shopping journey – with no silos, no conflicts, and no limits.
Become an experience-driven organization, pivot quickly and ensure every customer moment is shoppable. Learn about Elastic Path Commerce for Adobe.
Elastic Path will be at NRF and it would be great to meet with you. Want to connect in NYC? Contact us at info@elasticpath.com
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Heidi Cohen Interviews Gini Dietrich The Communicator’s Playbook : a Step-by-Step Process for Implementing an Integrated PESO Model Program.
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Not sure what to blog about? Here's an explanation of blog post idea generation with examples, tips and tools to make your content stand out.
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For a few years, personalization has been B2C commerce’s favorite catch phrase: know your customer, personalize the offers and prices, sell at the right time and keep communicating until you build a relationship and not just a sale.
But what about personalization for B2B (business to business) sales? In 2016 Gartner predicted that B2B companies that incorporate personalization into digital commerce will increase revenues by 15%. But do B2C techniques work for this audience?
Consumer marketing attempts to personalize for one person, and often uses emotions to connect and convince.
However, B2B marketing and sales often must address a board room of decision makers, any one of whom may block or veto a sale. Their approval is driven by logic and trust. That’s why it’s critical to provide the information businesses need from the get-go, anticipate their questions and initial reservations, and build trust—at the speed they choose, through their medium of choice.
B2B has evolved way past just a simple order entry portal where customers already know what they want.
As early as 2015, Forrester saw manufacturers, distributers and wholesalers migrating their business to the web. In a sample survey of B2B buyers, they found that 74% of buyers research online and prefer to buy online through a “self-serve” website, rather than deal with a sales representative.1
In their 2016 Digital Commerce Hype Cycle, Gartner predicted that by 2018, companies that “consumerize” their B2B commerce will gain market share and see revenue increase up to 25%.
It’s critical for B2B companies to create immersive, contextual commerce experiences—as personal as a sales rep, but with much wider reach.
We predict the following three ways B2B companies will pursue personalization during 2018 and beyond.
Customers expect to interact with B2B brands across many touchpoints including web, mobile, in-app, social, as well as in person. B2B marketers must be prepared to meet their customers via any touchpoint.
Even more than in B2C, B2B customer interactions must be choreographed under a single, strong, trustworthy brand experience.
Yet, according to Forrester, only 23% of B2B marketers feel they have customer-centric systems that allow multi-touchpoint commerce. Companies are still organized to prioritize one touchpoint (usually the website) or create channels for single product lines, rather than architecting systems for multi-touchpoint, conversational commerce.
B2B companies that adopt multi-channel commerce will benefit from being able to engage with customers from one touchpoint to another with more knowledge about what customers are looking for and how. This allows marketing to create targeted content that may help decision making. It can also allow marketing to cross-sell and upsell opportunities that generate higher average order values and more repeat purchases.
Following individuals across many touchpoints allows companies to improve their personalization efforts. While most of the focus has been on uses in B2C, B2B companies can use artificial intelligence to sift through customer data to create an “aggregate customer” from among individuals at the same company. They can then predict both individual and aggregate intent, as well as identify industry trends and target companies “ready” for purchase. This allows marketing to put together content targeted to individuals and special offers and bundles that make sense for the company as a whole.
Artificial intelligence will also power personalized pricing in B2B settings. According to Gartner, 40% of B2B digital commerce sites will use price optimization algorithms to create custom price lists for each customer. This goes a step beyond dynamic pricing where companies change prices based on supply and demand. Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy and eBay automatically update prices several times a day based on margins, supply and demand, as well as conversion rates and customer history. B2B companies will adopt these same pricing methods over time.
Enterprise-class companies are no longer looking to add more servers to ensure they can sell many different products at varying prices to customers through any touchpoint. Scaling that way is extremely complex and expensive, often leading to failure. To build consistent customer experiences across multiple touchpoints, larger companies with high revenues and unique business models won’t be looking toward single-stack SaaS commerce platforms either.
They require enterprise-grade, best-of-breed commerce solutions that reflect their business model and can change rapidly in the face of competitive challenges.
A carefully thought out solution takes advantage of complementary technologies including customer experience, commerce, big data analytics, marketing campaign management, and personalization engines to name a few. The key is to ensure the parts can all easily work together with a single master commerce system to monetize customer experiences that go well beyond “add to cart” and discount coupons.
B2B will rely more heavily on multi-channel experiences, best-of-breed solutions and artificial intelligence to anticipate and serve business customers. Their investments in these technologies will pay off. Frost & Sullivan predicts B2B commerce sales will reach $6.6 trillion by 2020, overtaking the B2C commerce sales forecast of $3.2 trillion. The B2B market in the US alone is projected to hit $1.2 trillion in sales.
Personalization— and advanced commerce capabilities—will be critical for any company that wants a piece of that pie.
From everyone at Get Elastic, we wish you all a happy and prosperous new year.
1 pointB, Three Takeaways from the 2015 Internet Retailer Conference and Expo
Follow Get Elastic to receive useful commerce industry information that can build your competitive advantage. To find out more about cloud-based ecommerce technologies, visit elasticpath.com
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Annual content planning is the answer to filling your content marketing editorial calendar. Use a mix of the 5 types of annual content including annual, seasonal (or quarterly), monthly, holiday and conference/event content. Includes tips and examples.
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