Traditional consumer segmentation is at the heart of marketing practice, yet it simply does not work that well because it is rarely very actionable. Here’s how that can change. Continue reading »

We are about to embark on a new era of social media, where marketers can now monitor and measure the influence of consumers and fans directly on their business performance. Continue reading »

Integrated and coordinated efforts to increase customer service, when accompanied by increases in advertising & marketing, will generate a greater impact than when activating these programs separately and independently. Continue reading »

I believe that our industry needs an independent, flexible, non-political and not purely financially driven channel to explore cutting edge innovation. I see these efforts as aligned with the goals and strategic objectives of other organizations and trade associations, often even collaborative with them, but we are still free to chart our own course and see what happens. Continue reading »

The opportunity of big data is also its challenge. We are drowning in data, and tweets, posts and video are not the structured data that fits well into relational databases for traditional querying. As a result, big data simply requires a new way of thinking about how to store and analyze data to accommodate these new realities and turn insights into actionable decisions. Continue reading »

Everyone with any sense of what is going on in the field of marketing right now knows that there is almost a mad frenzy about social media, the likes of which we have seldom seen. In fact, this frenzy has become so strong that it has spawned almost a gazillion self-proclaimed experts and gurus. It almost feels like the American Wild West, with the itinerant snake-oil salesman coming to town to sell us a bottle of his miracle cures. Continue reading »