REIMAGINE - download.microsoft.comdownload.microsoft.com/.../Reimagine-CRM.pdf · Users can send messages between countries, and even if you don’t have cell phone service in another

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"Trust is the glue of life." -Stephen Covey


DEEP DIVEExplore these informational and educational articles written to provide applicable knowledge to help improve your marketing.

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8 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

Customer Relationship Management in the Age of the Customer.

12 uFAQ: THE UN-FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Answers to the questions you’ve always had but never wanted to ask.

16 INTERVIEW: JEFF MARCOUXJeff Marcoux, CMO Lead of Microsoft Worldwide Enterprise Marketing, shares his thoughts on marketing and customer relationships.

20 VERSUS: SOCIAL VS SEARCH SHOWDOWN

As social media sites and search engines fight for customers, we compare them to show you how to get the greatest return from each.

22 EMERGING IDEAS Explore how 3D printing, Bitcoins, and smart materials are shaking up industries.

54 CUSTOM TAILOREDCustom tailor a campaign. Target the right people with the right message at the right place at the right time.

74 THE SCIENCE OF CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS

See how insights from the science world can help you build better relationships with your customers.

82 FAILURE TO LAUNCHAvoid these CRM implementation and system failures. Learn how to come in on time and on budget.

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BYTES

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Bytes offer a quick glance at some new data, insights, and ideas.

Briefs provide an overview of important and emerging marketing topics.

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Want to learn more? Visit Microsoft.com/Marketingand download the complete white paper on Customer Relationship Management in the Age of the Customer.

The age of the customerWe’ve moved from the Age of Information to the Age of the Customer. Consumers have more options than ever before, with information on each choice available at their fingertips. It has become paramount for brands to ensure that customer experience – the single greatest predictor of whether

customers will return or turn to a competitor – is a deliberate strategy for every business organization. And while all businesses will say they put customers first, it’s those who are proactive in improving customer experiences that will find much greater success. In 2012, Watermark Consulting looked at the five-

year performance of companies who were ranked as leaders or laggards in customer experience. The leaders’ returns were 128% higher than that of the laggards, and 27% higher than the S&P 500. Delivering leading customer experiences allows organizations to dramatically outperform the market.

Disruptive technologiesThe Age of the Customer is enabled by technologies that provide customers with more choices and capabilities than they have ever had before. These technologies are changing the way customers interact with brands and consequently, the way brands interact with customers. They are

RELATIONSHIPMANAGEMENT

ustomer relationship management (CRM) is a business strategy for optimizing marketing, sales, and customer service activities to attract new and retain existing customers. As access to information, social media, and mobility have created a new breed

of customers, companies must evolve their CRM strategies, techniques, and technologies to achieve a new panoramic view of their customers. Through this evolution, it is possible to improve interactions with customers in ways that maximize top line revenue and bottom line profitability.

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Customer Relationship Management in the Age of the Customer is causing businesses to evolve their customer experiences.

Average ROI from using Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Forrester Research, 2011)

243%


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also extremely interconnected, a new challenge for brands looking to deliver a unified and consistent story across multiple channels.

Social networkingSocial networks have empowered consumers by giving them a voice in a way they’ve never had before. These platforms are always on, and the speed of feedback has raised customer expectations when engaging with brands on social networks. Furthermore, they provide a quantifiable social proof that can add or detract value from a brand. Social media and content management tools can help brands manage the speed, volume, and collaboration needed for meaningful engagement on social networks, but first, it is important that these social efforts are aligned with the larger brand strategy and story that’s occurring across all customer touch points.

MobilityMobile devices are rapidly changing how and where customers access information about brands and products, bringing a new level of immediacy and ubiquity to brand interactions. When developing mobile experiences, it is important to consider both how the information is being displayed on a smaller screen as well as the user intent and context within which they are using their devices. This may

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even mean that the mobile experience is only an accessory to the experiences happening around it and not “the experience” within itself. Mobility offers new opportunities beyond mobile websites and apps. Organizations that keep this in mind and use the opportunity to refocus and revitalize the customer experience will reap the greatest benefits.

What today’s customer wantsToday’s armed-with-information customer seeks three things from their experience. First is personalization. Customers increasingly determine how they want to be marketed to, sold to, and served. Secondly, they want a seamless experience regardless of time, location, or device. Lastly, they want a unique engagement that delivers an exceptional experience and a great sense of empowerment and convenience. In summary, putting the customer at the heart of the business means delivering customer experiences that are personal, seamless, and differentiated.

Create a single view of the customerWhile creating a panoramic, single view of a customer isn’t a new concept, it has previously been focused on analytics. CRM now operationalizes that single view through technology solutions that collect data and use predictive techniques to determine which offers to make to which customers and segments. These tools help brands align digital and offline marketing; create demand through personalized, automated, and timely communications that are built upon real time data; and provide deeper insights by organizing data across and beyond the customer journey.

Adapting to the new journeyA customer-centric approach is a crucial starting point for organizations seeking growth in their marketing-related business strategies. The importance of this process in facilitating CRM cannot be overstated. Do not make the mistake of believing that your own customer development lifecycles reflect the way all customers perceive the purchasing process, which typically follows a cycle of engagement, transaction, fulfillment, and service. When thoughtfully implemented with a focus on optimizing customer experiences, CRM can help organizations increase productivity, provide superior service, and implement effective marketing communications.

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What is transmedia story-telling?Transmedia storytelling is a concept whose roots can be traced back to the 1970s, but it has surged into the main-stream in the last few years. Transmedia storytelling is a technique where a story is told across time using mul-tiple platforms or formats. It requires unique content for different channels. This con-tent is linked like a puzzle and synchronized to create a sin-gular, unified experience.

Unlike more traditional cross-platform media expe-riences which may replicate content or have content that exists on one platform inde-pendent of the others, trans-media stories are a sum of their different parts and all parts are required, often in sequence, to complete the experience.

Transmedia storytelling is a fully participatory experience where the audience becomes a stakeholder in the process. It is also very aligned with how we naturally share and spread stories in our person-al lives. For these reasons, brands have started to ex-plore this technique for shar-ing brand stories.

What is WhatsApp?In one of the most talked about major tech acquisitions in a while, Facebook recently purchased WhatsApp for $19 billion. But what is WhatsApp? In short, it is a mobile appli-cation and messaging service that sends text messages, im-

ages, video, and audio mes-sages between cell phone us-ers. It has become popular for a few reasons. First, compared to most carrier SMS plans, it is inexpensive. The app is free to use for the first year and then $.99 a year after that. Second, it is cross-platform. It doesn’t matter if you’re on a Windows Phone, iPhone, or Android. Third, it works inter-nationally for no extra cost. Users can send messages between countries, and even if you don’t have cell phone service in another country, as long as you’re connected to WiFi, you can still send mes-sages through WhatsApp.

The application currently has around 450 million active us-ers worldwide. The global au-dience size is one of the rea-sons Facebook is said to have made the acquisition. The app currently doesn’t include advertising, Facebook’s main revenue model, and they claim it will remain that way. Time will tell what Facebook’s plan is for the application and whether or not it will pay off.

What is CAN-SPAM?CAN-SPAM, short for the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act of 2003, sets the rules for commercial emails, including penalties for violations. The laws apply to all commercial emails, not just bulk email. Each violation is subject to penalties of up to $16,000. Fortunately, the rules are relatively straight-forward. Here’s a brief sum-

mary of the seven main re-quirements:

1) Don’t use false or mislead-ing header information, in-cluding who the email is from.

2) Don’t use deceptive subject lines.

3) Clearly identify the mes-sage as an advertisement.

4) Include your physical ad-dress in the message.

5) Include clear and simple in-structions on how to opt-out of receiving future messages.

6) Honor all opt-out requests promptly, within 10 business days of receiving the request.

7) Monitor what others are doing on your behalf. You are still legally responsible, even if you hire another company to handle your email for you.

Learn more about CAN-SPAM at business.ftc.gov.

Transmedia storytelling is a fully participatory experience.

What is a CMS (content management system)?Simply put, a website is made up of three elements: 1) a folder that holds files, like images and videos, 2) a database that holds content, such as text, user names, and

UNFREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

uFAQAnswers to the questions

you’ve always wanted to ask.


Is it OK to delete user posts from your Facebook Page?namically rendered to differ-ent browser sizes. Depending on the size of the browser, the website will alter the layout and the content for the best visual experience per each size.

What are GRPs and how are they calculated?GRPs, or gross rating points, measure ad reach and frequen-cy. GRPs are generally used for broadcast media, like television and radio, versus digital media, which is more commonly mea-sured via impressions.

Yes. Absolutely. Your Face-book Page is owned media. It’s your real estate to tell your brand’s story, and you should put your best face forward. This should start with having a social media strategy that outlines your approach. Part of this strategy should in-clude how to deal with neg-ative posts and comments. Be

% Audience Reachx # Frequency

GRP

So, a campaign that reaches 25% of the audience with a fre-quency of 10 would have a GRP of 250. For digital advertisers looking to compare GRPs and impressions, this can be done through the following:

GRP = 100 x Impressions/Audi-ence Size

Impressions = Audience Size x GRP/100

specific about each possible circumstance. Receiving neg-ative comments can be up-setting and emotional, and having a plan will allow you to react more thoughtfully should someone post nega-tively on your Page.

For purely hateful comments, it is usually best to delete them. These users are typical-ly just looking for a reaction, and it’s best to not reward this behavior. If they are re-peat offenders, you can block

Create a plan outlining how you will deal with negative posts and comments.


Some negative comments can be turned into a positive if they give you the opportunity to post a productive reply.

Make it clear how you want to use Facebook

and what types of content you’d like

your users to post.

passwords, and 3) website code that tells the browser how to format all of these files and content so it is rendered appropriately on screen. A CMS is a program that acts as a central interface for edit-ing, adding to, and organizing items within these three parts.

While websites built on a CMS can be extremely customiz-able, a CMS will generally in-clude several page templates

that content is then added to. This is great for blogs, news, and shopping sites that may include a large number of pages in the same format. Popular examples of CMS in-clude WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla.

What is a responsive web-site?With the emergence of smart-phones and tablets, respon-sive websites have become

quite popular. A responsive website will render differently in size and scale, depending on whether it is being viewed on a laptop, tablet, or mobile device. With non-responsive websites, viewing content on mobile is difficult due to the device’s smaller size. Prior to the development of respon-sive websites, many brands chose to build a completely separate WAP site for mobile browsing. This solution ad-dressed the problem, but was very costly.

Responsive websites helped resolve these challenges with an efficient solution to build-ing a single website that dy-

them from your Page. Some negative comments can be turned into a positive if they give you the opportunity to post a productive reply. You can also create rules for how to handle posts that include things like inappropriate lan-guage or content, links to other content, or comments about other brands.

Be careful to not unintention-ally turn your Facebook feed into a forum for people to complain about your products just to get feedback. Don’t re-ward behavior that you don’t want to attract. Giving free products to a person who complained on your Page may attract a lot of unwanted com-plainers.

Lastly, it’s good to set expec-tations. Make it clear how you want to use Facebook and what types of content you’d like your users to post, which may even include a note in the description that you will de-lete negative comments.


What do you do at Microsoft?I have a really fun job. I am responsible for the story behind what Microsoft can do for marketers. I get to take the latest research from our consumer insights team, look at what all of our product teams are working on and figure out what that means for marketing teams. I also get to work on and create amazing content that appeals to marketers. I really have an amazing job where I get to interact with the brightest marketing minds in the industry and here at Microsoft every day.

What brought you to Microsoft?I came to Microsoft from the startup world. I spent several years helping to start a marketing consulting practice where I got my first taste of Microsoft Dynamics CRM and really felt the need for a marketing planning tool. I was then recruited to a startup that

J E F F M A RCO U X

VersusWhich is more likely to be around in 15 years:

Instagram or Pinterest

More likely to drive success:

SEO or paid search

Better at driving leads:

Email marketing or paid search

Which will happen first:

Amazon drone delivery or man walks on Mars

Greatest opportunity:

Augmented reality or geofencing

Better long-term investment:

Facebook or Twitter

More iconic campaign:

Dove Beauty or Got Milk?

Use most for entertainment content:

TV, computer, or mobile

was a Microsoft ISV in the marketing automation space where it became apparent that when businesses implement a marketing automation solution they forget about developing a content strategy to feed their automation engine. The startup I was working at got acquired and I noticed that Microsoft was doing some exciting things in the marketing space so I decided to join the Dynamics Marketing team.

Can you give us an overview of Microsoft’s solutions? Any upcoming innovations/releases you can share?The digital world is one of radical overabundance – overabundant data, overabundant ads, and overabundant apps. All of this data, all of these platforms, empower marketers by making it easier than ever to reach the consumer with their brand message.

INTE

RVIEW

Name: Jeff Marcoux

City: Seattle, WA

Company: Microsoft

Title: CMO Lead

Worldwide Enterprise Marketing

Education: Leadership MBA

University of Washington

Masters Certificate in Technology Entrepreneurship

University of Washington

Congressional Recognition of Leadership in

Internet Marketing

Certified Internet Marketer


But at the same time, there’s more data than we know how to use, and the consumer is being overrun by ads. As a result, ads are becoming less and less effective per capita. The result is a vicious cycle. The consumer tunes out most ads, platforms respond by throwing more ads at them; the consumer ignores the new ads, and so platforms develop even more disruptive pop-ups or pre-roll video.

And at the same time, marketers have such an overwhelming amount of data, from such a large number of sources, that it’s difficult to get the most value from their data set.

As a result, marketing becomes harder than it should be, and less potent. The small problems and inefficiencies that constrain how marketers work with data, and each other, converge with ad platforms that prioritize volume and quantity to produce poor consumer ad experiences. That’s why we’re here. Microsoft has developed a single, holistic vision designed to make our clients’ marketing campaigns more effective and easier to implement. From analytics to operations, from advertising

platform to experience, we have the most comprehensive set of solutions available, and they come together around one simple idea: make your marketing work.

What differentiates a normal customer experience from an amazing customer experience?Really, it is the little things. A normal customer experience is what you expect to get from a brand - a product that works, and does what you expect it to. An amazing experience comes from when a company surprises and delights you. Simple things like an Uber having a phone charger for you to use, your car repair shop remembering your name, offering a loaner car, and fixing something easy for free that they just saw. Now that is a car shop I’d go back to for life. In the software world, it is as easy as having a customer success team that makes sure customers are getting value out of what they purchased and showing them new ways to use/get value out of what they already have. Remember, it doesn’t take a lot to stand apart from the pack. Small things, often make all the difference.

What other brands/companies do you admire for creating a great experience for their customers? What are they doing so well?I think Nordstrom, REI, and Zappos are the ones that really stand out to me and they all have one thing in common: They have a culture of customer centricity. A TRUE culture where it is lived and breathed every day. Many companies have ‘values’ that are customer centric but they do not live them out or empower their employees to execute against them. The three companies mentioned enable employees to make situations right when something goes wrong, and advise customers on what is truly best for them vs just making a sale, truly keeping the customer at the center.

How do you define customer relationship management? I define CRM as a system that enables you to track your prospects and customers across the buying and customer journey. They enable you to know when someone is ready for a sales call, time for a follow up call, and what pieces of marketing content or emails they have received. They are very valuable at providing social insights and a 360 degree view of your customer. But they are not only for pre-sales and sales. They should also be used to ensure you are surprising and delighting your customers,

“We live in a world where we expect customer service to be crap. Treat customers one level above crap, and you’ve got

yourself a fan. Treat customers above and beyond one level up, and you’ve got yourself a lifetime loyalist.”

-Peter Shankman


taking care of them in the post-sales time. These systems can enable you to do the little things that make an amazing customer experience: send a birthday or anniversary card, know when someone might need a little extra help, identify your high value customers to ensure they are in LOVE with your product or service. What’s the tipping point for needing a CRM system? When is an Excel spreadsheet no longer sufficient?I think that every company should have a CRM system of some sort beyond a spreadsheet. A spreadsheet cannot give you notices of important things and is a very linear view of your customers. At best, it sets you up to provide a standard experience. With spreadsheets it is very easy

to miss things like renewals, invoices, marketing content that has been sent, etc. There is something nice about having your calendar automatically remind you about what you need to do each day to exceed your customers’ expectations.

Where do you see CRM going in the future?I see CRM becoming a true engagement engine for all things customer or prospect related. It can predictively advise businesses on when and what a customer or prospects needs: marketing, sales call, demo or sample, preemptive service, etc. I believe that they will monitor social and product usage to allow businesses to see how their consumers are using products and features and if they are happy or not.

Your CRM system will get to a point where it tells you exactly what you need to do each day to surprise and delight your customers without you having to do much thinking beyond being customer focused.

What are the biggest obstacles to bringing this vision to fruition? Data is the biggest obstacle. What data sources do you need, how do you hook them up to predictive engines that can tell you what you do need to do each day to exceed your customers’ expectations. To reach this future you have to bring together sales, service, social, marketing, and many other data sets along with the right data scientists to create a system, algorithms, and an always learning CRM. The



technology all exists today, but someone has to bring them all together with an incredible user experience and interface.

Is there a recent or emerging technology that you think could change the future of CRM? Social media, mobile? I think that predictive analytics will have huge impacts on the future of CRM and all technologies. Imagine a system that has the ability to identify what a customer or prospect needs next, on an individual level- marketing material, call, demo, birthday card, etc. Predictive CRM would be able to look at your specific business, learn what types of deals you’re most likely to close and why, and quickly identify what steps lead to success and ultimately creating amazing fans vs simply customers.

What is the biggest misstep you see businesses make with regards to customer relationships? Why do you think this is? I think they treat it as a static system of record that is only used for reporting. This is the easiest way to use CRM and turns it into a sales pipeline and case-tracking management tool vs a customer RELATIONSHIP manager. Once a business treats their CRM in this way, the adoption drops significantly because the system has

become a watchdog tool vs something that helps people create amazing customer experiences.

Out of all of the changes in the marketing world over the past 20 years, what do you consider to be the most significant and why?I think the development of the smartphone is the biggest change in the marketing world over the past 20 years. 9 out of 10 mobile searches lead to action and over 50% lead to purchase (SearchEngineLand). This has created a paradigm shift in the marketing landscape that marketers need to recognize- from creating apps, to push notifications, to geospatial offers. Mobile has been a game changer for marketers across the board.

What do you see as the next major evolution in marketing?The next ‘big’ thing in marketing is going to be taking personal content to the next level. What I mean is that marketing will become truly individualized where marketing will fill a ‘hopper’ with marketing collateral and based on who I am (demographics, digital body language, previous buying history, and network) I will receive exactly the right piece of content I need to move my purchase forward.

What tools are in your personal marketing arsenal? To build my personal brand and network I use the following: LinkedIn, Lead Rocket, Heroic.ly, Twitter, Blogging, and Facebook. I have also used tools like Dynamics Marketing, CoreMotives and Marketo for marketing automation.

What marketing tools/strategies do you see as being undervalued or overvalued? Why?I think marketing planning tools are undervalued in the marketplace. Just like a marathon or summiting a mountain, planning and preparing are critical to success. You need to have a plan in place, know what’s necessary to win, and have an execution plan to ensure success.

What do you believe is the greatest challenge marketers face today?I think the biggest thing facing marketers today is how to measure ROMI. It is very difficult to measure a campaign from awareness to lead to conversion and accurately distribute revenue to all marketing touch points for each customer. Attaining this gives you the ability to optimize your campaigns and marketing mix while equipping marketing to have a seat at the corporate table.

With such a cluttered landscape, what can brands/marketers do to be truly different?Customers are now over 57% of the way through their buying decision before they ever reach out to a company. It is because of this that marketing has become more important than ever and standing out is even more so. There are two key things marketers can do to be different:

1) Make your marketing truly personal with dynamic websites and content that customize exactly to your prospects. 2) Create compelling and diverse content that will impact customers in that 57%.

What’s the best piece of advice you’d give to a new marketer?Create marketing content that adds value to people’s lives. You are what you publish.

What’s the best piece of advice you’d give to a fellow veteran marketer?I would share the guidance from Peter Shankman that I have taken to heart: ‘We live in a world where we expect customer service to be crap. Treat customers one level above crap, and you’ve got yourself a fan (not saying that’s a good place to settle). Treat customers above and beyond one level up, and you’ve got yourself a lifetime loyalist.’ --


VERSUSSEARCH VS SOCIAL

Search and social dominate web use, collectively accounting for nearly half of all time users spend online. As they become increasingly interlocked, understanding the differences between search and social can help ensure the most efficient allocation of resources.

SEARCHWhen exploring a purchase or product, search is frequently used to gain more information. This information helps drive the decision.

SOCIALSocial is a great place for ideating and discovering new things that peers are using. It can be used to build a relationship between brands and customers.

37MINUTES PER DAY AMERICANS SPEND ON SOCIAL MEDIA

AWARENESS & INTEREST

SOCIAL VALIDATIONRESEARCH PURCHASE

SEARCHOnce a decision has been made, users may seek out deals and cost comparisons. Beyond this point, they will move forward with a purchase.

SOCIALArmed with information, users will seek social validation of their purchase. This may validate a decision or drive selection between remaining options.

By the numbers

Mobile Share

Minutes Per Visit By Source

The growth of mobile has changed both search and social. Roughly 20% of searches are performed on mobile, including 45% of local searches (eMarketer, 2013; BIA/Kelsey, 2012). More than half of social media time is spent on mobile (Business Insider, 2014).

EXPLORING DIFFERENT USESSEARCHDirect ResponseDespite the growth of using social for direct response, search still dominates this space. While social tries to identify interests and deliver content, search has the advantage of being able to target handraisers for very specific things. According to a Webmarketing 123 survey, 77% of marketers felt search (SEO & PPC) had the biggest impact on lead generation.

One-wayOne of the most fundamental differences between search and social is the direction of the interaction. Search engines are a one-way street where brands push information to users that ask for it. While this may seem like a limitation for search, it also provides brands the opportunity to deliver their story the way they want it to be told without the clutter of the social-sphere. It allows brands to steer users.

FactsAn Econsultancy report showed that 61% of consumers use search engines to research products before making a purchase. When seeking specific information, consumers still turn to search engines to pin-point the exact information they’re looking for. In turn, search engines can provide brands with greater insight into what matters to consumers.

SOCIALAwarenessThe diffusion of information through social networks can make them great tools to drive brand awareness. This spread of information comes with an implied brand endorsement from peers who share or like a brand. Unlike search, which requires some initial search intent, social can introduce new products and ideas to users that they were previously unaware of.

Two-wayUnlike search, social provides the opportunity for a two-way engagement between a brand and its customers. This is one of the most powerful elements of social. It allows brands to provide timely and personalized information, respond to feedback (both positive and negative), develop a one-to-one relationship with individuals, and share peer-to-peer recommendations.

OpinionsThe information users seek from social is much more qualitative than the information they seek from search. Instead of facts, they are look for opinions and recommendations from their community. This frequently means validating a decision they have already made or looking for red flags that may turn them off of a particular purchase.

search social

20%

40%

60%

direct search social

0

1

2

3

4

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USERS WHO VISIT NEWS SITES DIRECTLY SPEND

LONGER ON SITE THAN USERS WHO 3.7X


100+96+71+46+36+30+25+24 1. google 2. youtube 3. facebook 6. twitter 10. yelp 13. pinterest 19. bing 20. linkedin

204,965,536196,866,416

144,807,824

95,173,36074,168,752

60,982,97251,462,960 49,757,720

WHO HAS THE MOST MONTHLY VISITORS?

(Quantcast, 2014)

20%

60%

ARRIVE FROM FACEBOOK OR SEARCH (Pew Research Center, 2013).

01:42 01:41

04:36


Bitcoin, the booming virtual currency, generally refers to three things: the currency (usually written with a lower-case “bitcoin”), the technology, and the network.

Bitcoins are a currency just like Dollars, Euros, and Yen, but with two very distinct differences. First, bitcoins have no physical form - they are entirely digital. Imagine if all hard cash were eliminated and currency could only be exchanged through digital transactions, the way we cur-rently conduct credit card purchases. Second, unlike other world currencies, there is a fixed amount of bitcoins - 21 million - and that amount can never be exceeded by the creation of new bitcoins.

Like all other currency, bitcoins have value because people have decided to accept them as payment for goods and services. If everyone stopped accepting quarters as cur-rency, all of the quarters you have in your pocket would be deemed worthless. The only reason they have value is because they’ve been assigned value. Bitcoin’s value is no different; however, because it’s a new currency, its value is much more volatile.

The Bitcoin technology is simply an open-source software launched in 2009 that enables a peer-to-peer payment sys-tem. When a transaction occurs, it must be confirmed with-in the Bitcoin network. To confirm a transaction, network users (more accurately, their computers) must solve a com-plex mathematical calculation, a process known as mining. Mining is not only necessary to confirm the transaction, but it also increases security. For their efforts, the miner is paid a transaction fee and given newly created bitcoins.

Several noteworthy businesses, like Reddit, OkCupid, and PayPal, now accept bitcoins, and it is rumored that several other major retailers will start soon. Whether or not Bit-coin lasts, its effect will be felt for a long time.

Bitcoin

EMERGING IDEAS

3D printing is one of the most exciting new technologies emerging in the market. Through an additive layering process, it allows users to print virtually any 3D digital rendering in actual 3D.

The applications for 3D printing are expansive, from more customized medical devices to printers on Navy ships that can print replacement parts for repairs. The implications for 3D printing technology in the product and marketing world are very exciting as well. Not only will it enable rapid-prototyping, but as it becomes faster and less expensive, it could enable new, more personalized experiences for consumers. Disney recently used this technology to allow users to buy Storm Trooper action figures of themselves. 3D printing will make it much easier to develop and try out new packaging options, as well as produce short-run items, such as custom products for trade shows.

13D Printing

22

Smart materials are about to change the world more than we can imagine. New smart materials continue to emerge, from materials that can repair themselves to materials that alter their shape based on changing light, temperature, or electrical charges. As these materials become less expensive and more readily available, brands will be eager to apply these technologies to new and existing products to create things we never thought possible.

One of those materials is a bio “smart tag” developed for products having a limited shelf life, such as food and medicine. These gel-like tags can be made as small as a kernel of corn and can be produced to react by changing color to specific chemicals and microbial growths.

The opportunities for this technology are broad. For starters, it could be applied to various food and medicine packaging to alert consumers of when their food has spoiled. It is likely to be ground-breaking in testing for bacteria like e. coli and salmonella.

While this technology is still extremely new, there are exciting opportunities that present themselves. For example, this technology could give customers a clear, objective signal that they need to replace their products - like replacing a toothbrush head or ordering fresh milk - in a way that doesn’t feel like they’re being ‘marketed’ to.

2

3

Smart Materials

23


REIMAGINE MARKETING REIMAGINE MARKETING


bytes


MEASURING MARKETING ROI44+1+20+1+19+1+10+1+2+1+R

A 2013 Lenskold

Group study showed that two-thirds

of companies use no tracking or

single attribution to measure the performance

of their marketing.

The B2B marketing automation technology industry is set to have another record year, with a 60% growth rate in 2014, according to Raab Associates.

As companies expand into new markets, many will look to hire a local marketing team. The following data from oDesk shows marketing salaries around the world.

PROJECTED REVENUES FOR B2B MARKETING AUTOMATION IN 2014

AVERAGE MARKETING SALARIES IN US DOLLARS

IN 2014, MARKETERS WILL INVEST

$135 BILLION INTO NEW DIGITAL M A R K E T I N G COLLATERAL. (WEBDAM, 2014)

$1.2 BILL

ION

SINGLE ATTRIBUTION45%

MULTI-CHANNEL ATTRIBUTION21% MARKET MIX

MODELING3%

NO TRACKING20% TEST & CONTROL

GROUPS11%

$16

Average

$31

United States

$22

Russia

$15

UK

$10

India

$9

Pakistan

$9

Phillipines

Average salary per hour in US Dollars ($)

average

FINANCE PEOPLE STRATEGY CREATIVE MEDIA ANALYTICS

SPENDING CHANGES FOR 2014

A recent study by SiriusDecisions asked CMOs where they would allocate a 10% increase in budget. Over a third of CMOs said they would put the money towards demand generation. As more companies increase investment in demand generation, they are turning to CRM technologies to coordinate efforts between marketing and sales.

IF YOU WERE GIVEN 10% MORE BUDGET, WHERE WOULD YOU SPEND IT?

Facebook dominates social media advertising,

receiving over half of allocated dollars. Twitter

and YouTube are a distant second (GO-Gulf, 2013).

BREAKDOWN OF SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING

BUDGET ALLOCATION

20%

10%

30%

0%

CHANNEL SOCIAL ENABLEMENT MKT OPS CONTENT BRAND DEMAND CREATION

OTHER

40%3+4+6+10+12+13+17+35

(Winterberry Group, 2014)

3.2%$68.5B

TV

14%$50.6B

DIGITAL AD SPEND

0.0%$2B

EMAIL

0.0%$15.1B

MAGAZINES

(8.6%)$17.1B

NEWSPAPER

12.4%$22.6B

SEARCH

17.1%$20.6B

DISPLAY

20.8%$2.9B

SOCIAL TECH

1.9%$124.6B

OVERALL MEDIA

57+13+13+2+15+FOther15%

2%

13%

13%

57%


T MINUS SIXTY MINUTES

According to PayScale, the median salary for a Marketing Director in the US is $76,764. This is comprised of salary, bonus, profit sharing, and commissions.

AVERAGE MARKETING DIRECTOR SALARY

As a marketing director, where you live greatly

affects your earnings. San Francisco topped the list

with a median salary of $115,512, followed by

Seattle, Boston, and New York, all of which averaged six figures. (PayScale, 2014)

MARKETING DIRECTORS IN SAN FRANCISCO,

SEATTLE, AND BOSTON EARN TOP SALARIES

$0k $150k$50k $100k

Salary ($39.5k-$135k)

Bonus ($26-$29k)

Profit Sharing ($978-$17.4k)

Commission ($0-$20.5k)

Total ($38k-$153k) 75+65+91+82+72+65+68+83+86+90+66+69+100+3

AtlantaAustin

BostonChicago

DallasDenver

HoustonLos AngelesMinneapolis

New YorkPhoenix

San DiegoSan Francisco

Seattle

$87,005$75,562$104,702$94,620$83,700$75,110$78,613$95,891$98,812$103,772$76,716$80,090$115,512$106,982

SALARY BY CITY

:60

THE AVERAGE TIME SPENT READING DAILY BY AGES 15 TO 19(BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, 2014)

MIN

UTES

The immediacy of social media is shifting customer expectations. A 2013 American Express Open Forum study showed that 25% of consumers who complain on social media expect a response within one hour.

5


REED, 2014

A 2012 Newsweek study reported that nearly a third of people admitted to lying on their resumes. Men seem to lie more, an average of 6 times per day compared to 3 times per day for women. But then again, how can we trust someone to tell the truth about lying?

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TRUTH

CLIENT VS AGENCY

VERSUS

JOB SATISFACTION

NEW JOB

JOB SECURITY

89.1% 89.0%SECURE/VERY SECURE

SEARCHING FOR NEW JOB

UNSATISFIED/VERY UNSATISFIED

100+W28 100+W1228.1% 11.5%

4.7%

22.2%

X X X X XX X X X X

The Spanish-speaking population is rapidly

growing in the US. States in the West

and Southwest have the highest density of individuals who only

speak Spanish. The North and Northeast have the lowest. (US

Census Bureau, 2012)

SPEAKING SPANISH IN

AMERICA

100+90+69+67+64+58+49+0+4+3+3+3+2+2+2

CaliforniaTexas

New MexicoArizonaNevadaFlorida

New York

South DakotaNorth Dakota

HawaiiMontana

West VirginiaVermont

Maine

13.70%12.31%9.39%9.16%8.76%7.89%6.66%

0.57%0.47%0.44%0.40%0.34%0.24%0.2%

PERCENT SPANISH ONLY

X X X X XX X X X XX X X X X

XXXXX

X


While people may claim that they do, what people really hate is bad, irrelevant, and invasive advertising. Consider this:

DO PEOPLE HATE ADVERTISING?

People like good content. Ads are content. If an ad is good content, people will like it.

Cloud revenue is expected to account for 49% of the $23.9 billion in revenue projected for CRM software in 2014. In 2013, they represented 40%, and are expected to exceed 50% in 2015. (Gartner, 2013)

According to a 2013 Yahoo survey, 78% of CMOs think that custom content is the future of marketing. Roughly 86% of B2C marketers already use content marketing.

AN INCREASE IN CLOUDS MAKING IT RAIN FOR CRM

BY 2015, 25% OF LARGE GLOBAL ORGANIZATIONS WILL HAVE CHIEF DATA OFFICERS. (GARTNER, 2014)

THE FUTURE OF MARKETING

78+22+R78%

82%% of consumers enjoy reading relevant content from brandsPeople like good content. Ads are content. If it’s good content, people will like it.

There are over 6.1 million TV commercials uploaded to YouTubeThe most viewed, an MSN ad from 2000, has 209M views. People will watch ads that they enjoy.

45% of consumers find TV commercials amusing.According to MRI, in 2013, 45% of American adults said that they found TV advertising amusing.

82%6M45%

49%

DATA OFFICER


Facebook gives users the tools to maintain a greater

number of friendships, 462 on average. While the scope and

quality may differ from what was defined by Dunbar, the

fact remains that technology is changing how we connect.

Dunbar’s Number is a theoretical limit to the number of social relationships one can maintain. The number is proposed to be between 100 and 250, with the commonly used average of 150 relationships per person.

DUNBAR’S NUMBER

The first step in generating leads is to offer users something of high value in exchange for their information, such as a sweepstakes or ebook.

To direct users to redeem an offer, provide them with a clear call to action, such as a button reading, “Click Here To Download.”

The offer landing page should include a lead capture form and information relevant to the offer. Having unnecessary info will hurt conversion rates.

The lead gen form should capture any necessary lead information. Think long-term when establishing fields. More fields will mean lower conversion rates.

THE BLUEPRINT OF LEAD GENERATION

LEAD GEN

150FACEBOOK FRIENDS462

LinkedIn users average 342 connections. While technology enables a larger professional network, it is important to consider how maintaining larger numbers of relationships affects the relationships themselves.

LINKEDIN CONNECTIONS 342

dunbar’s number

the OFFER

the FORM

the LANDING PAGE

the CALL-TO-ACTION


MOST VIEWED ADS ON YOUTUBE

MSN UKChanging Room, 2000Views: 209,006,959 Euro Rscg Wnek Gosper

MOST USED FONTS IN LOGO DESIGN

A 2014 study by Tasty Placement looked at logos of the top 100 brands. They found that sans fonts

are more than twice as common than all other fonts combined in logo design. Twenty-one percent of

the logo fonts were Helvetica, a sans font.

BudweiserPuppy Love, 2014Views: 50,306,067 Anomaly

Turkish AirlinesKobe vs Messi, 2012Views: 107,487,512 Alametifarika

VolkswagenThe Force, 2011Views: 59,787,260 Deutsch

CHECK OUT THE NEW TWITTER PAGE LAYOUT

Twitter is changing their layout. The

new pages feature wide profile

headers, larger profile pics, and

highlighted tweets. Check out more

details on the Creative Brief.

ILLUSTRATOR, PHOTOSHOP,

AND INDESIGN TOP THE LIST

OF MOST IMPORTANT

TOOLS.27+28+33+35+38+41+64+68+71Adobe Illustrator

Adobe PhotoshopAdobe InDesign

Adobe AfterEffectAdobe Dreamweaver

Adobe LightroomAdobe Flash

Autodesk 3ds MaxAutodesk Maya

| 9.4| 9.1| 8.5| 5.4| 5.1| 4.6| 4.4| 3.7| 3.6

10

Designers were asked to rate

the importance of various tools.

Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and

InDesign topped the list of tools.

(Smartpress, 2012)63+12+11+8SANS FONTS

SLAB FONTS

SCRIPT FONTS

SERIF FONTS

63%

12%11%

8%


IMPROVE FACEBOOK

ENGAGEMENTFACEBOOK POSTS WITH PHOTOS GET 53% MORE LIKES, 104% MORE COMMENTS, AND 84% MORE CLICKS THAN TEXT POSTS. (KISSMETRICS, 2013)

POST PHOTOS

POSTS WITH LESS THAN 250 CHARACTERS HAD 60% HIGHER ENGAGEMENT THAN LONGER FACEBOOK POSTS.(TRACK SOCIAL, 2012)

POSTS WITH EMOTICONS

HAD 33% MORE COMMENTS, WERE

SHARED 33% MORE OFTEN, AND LIKED 57% MORE OFTEN.

(AMEX OPEN FORUM, 2013)

POSTS INCLUDING “SHARE” RECEIVED

MORE SHARES. USING “LIKE” AND

“COMMENT” DROVE THEIR RESPECTIVE METRICS AS WELL.

(HUBSPOT, 2012)

SIMPLE POSTS

USE EMOTICONS CALL-TO-ACTION

:-)

68+32+TUX FAILSixty-eight percent of users leave a website due to a poorly designed user experience.(Homestead, 2013)

68%AVERAGE ANNUAL SALARY OF A GRAPHIC DESIGNER. (BLS, 2013)

$44,150


More than half of marketers listed social as the largest driver of relationships and engagement in their media mix.

An increasing number of Facebook users are voluntarily taking breaks from the site. Here’s why:

WHAT DRIVES THE MOST RELATIONSHIPS?

FACEBOOK FATIGUE

FACEBOOK USERS WHO HAVE VOLUNTARILY TAKEN A BREAK FROM THE SITE. (PEW, 2013)61%100+48+48+43+38+38+38+33+29+19+10+10+10+5+5 REASON FOR

FACEBOOK BREAKS

Too busy

Not interested

Waste of time

Too much drama

Using too much

Infrequent user

Went on vacation

Got bored with it

No reason

Privacy concerns

No computer

Prefer other

Health issues

Religious reasons

Didn’t share

21%

10%10%

9%8%

8%8%

7%6%

4%2%

2%2%

1%1% 79+2179%

OF MARKETERS HAVE INTEGRATED

SOCIAL MEDIA INTO THEIR TRADITIONAL

MARKETING ACTIVITIES

WEBSOCIAL EMAIL

12%

54%

25%


A 2014 Copyblogger survey showed there is a large knowledge gap with native advertising. Native advertising is an online marketing strategy in which content is provided in the context of the existing user experience. The intent is to make the advertising less intrusive and more integrated. Native advertising tactics include advertorials, branded content, Promoted Tweets, Sponsored Stories, and product integrations.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT NATIVE ADVERTISING IS?

PERCENT OF MARKETERS WHO HAVE FOUND NEW

CUSTOMERS VIA LINKEDIN.

43+57+R43%

PERCENT OF MARKETERS WHO HAVE FOUND NEW

CUSTOMERS VIA FACEBOOK.

52+48+R52%

HUBSPOT, 2013

49%24%

24%3%

No, not at all

Somewhat

Hardly familiar

Very knowledgable

67+38+37+19+16+15+13+12+11+11email online direct

mailPR twitter social event fieldtrade

showphone

67% 38% 15% 13% 12% 11% 11%19%37% 16%

WHICH MARKETING TACTICS HAVE THE BEST ROI FOR

YOUR COMPANY?

DMA, 2012


USES FOR PREDICTIVE ANALYSIS

85% OF IT AND BUSINESS LEADERS AT LARGE ORGANIZATIONS BELIEVE THAT BIG DATA CAN HELP BUSINESSES MAKE MORE INFORMED DATA-DRIVEN DECISIONS (IDG RESEARCH SERVICES, 2013)

big data is a challenge

driving operational efficiencies is the biggest benefit of big data

big data helps in better meeting consumer demand

TRADITIONALRESEARCH

Data mining is the next evolution of market research. Three-out-of-four researchers believe that mining existing data will take over as the main form of research, versus traditional approaches. (NJIT, 2013)

DATAMININGVE

RSU

S

SALES DATA SURVEYS FOCUS GROUPS

REGRESSION ANALYSIS CHOICE MODELING RULE INDUCTION

MEMORY-BASED REASONING CLUSTERING NETWORK ANALYSIS

NEURAL NETWORKS DECISION TREES UPLIFT MODELING

QUALITY ASSURANCE

RISK ASSESSMENT

OPTIMIZATION

SALES

MARKETING 85

85%

58+42+G73+27+G50+50+G

58

73

50WIPRO, 2012


Data quality is key to making informed data-driven decisions. A study by IBM suggested that one-in-three business leaders don’t trust the information they’re given to make decisions. And as many as 27% were unsure of how much of their data was accurate. At best, bad data is useless. Quite often, bad data can be incredibly

QUALITY IS KEY

THE FOUR CHALLENGES OF BIG DATA

With all of its benefits, big data does not come without its challenges. As mobility and tracking increase, there is an increase in the amount of data being stored. This means larger facilities to store data and more powerful computers to process these growing volumes. The increased speed of data demands faster systems to aggregate and process

it, especially for real-time systems. A large variety in data types and sources requires more sophisticated systems and analytics that can both translate data and make it uniform. All of these variables create a challenge around data accuracy. Even the best servers, processors, and analysts in the world can be easily neutralized by poor data quality. (Gartner, IBM)

VOLUMEamount of data

VELOCITYspeed of data

VARIETYforms of data

VERACITYaccuracy of data

damaging, leading to bad, misinformed decisions. Decisions like these cost the US economy an estimated $3.1 trillion annually. Collecting good clean data starts in the planning process. Make sure you’re clear on what data is being collected, how, and what it means. Be aware of collection biases and user biases, and control for extraneous variables.

$3.1ESTIMATED

ANNUAL COST ON THE US ECONOMY

OF POOR DATA QUALITY

TRILLION


briefs


What is the value of your software?

Legal note: Tax law is complicated, frequently changing, and can vary state by state. The material contained within Microsoft Reimagine are for informational purposes only and is not meant to be a substitute for professional advice. Please consult a tax professional for advice on software taxation and/or valuation.

hether you’re building software to sell, building

for internal use, or purchasing software, understanding software valuation is important.

Software is generally classified as an intangible asset (IAS 38R). In instances where the software is necessary

to operate hardware, such as with an operating system, the software is generally considered to be part of the cost of the hardware.

The definition of computer software includes: • Operating systems• Utilities• Business applications• Word processors• Spreadsheets• Computer games• Electronic databases• Mobile apps• Enterprise software

W Computer Software

Software Evaluation Criteria1 Usability for all users2 Flexibility for today and tomorrow3 Adapt to existing enterprise infrastructure4 Ease of implementation and management 5 Reliability and accuracy of software6 Responsiveness and stability of vendor7 Total cost of ownership and ROI

nounwritten programs or procedures or rules and associated documentation pertaining to the operation of a computer system and that are stored in read/write memory. (Dictionary.com, 2014)

Cloud vs On-PremiseA service or software? Cloud technologies are forcing tax lawmakers to rewrite the rulebooks.

The growth of cloud-based software, frequently called Software as a Service (SaaS) has presented some interesting challenges for accountants. Unlike traditional software, which was purchased, delivered, and implemented on a user’s computer, SaaS users don’t purchase the cloud-based software and the software may run in a different state from which the user is in. Or perhaps even in a completely different country.

At the state level, there has yet to be a consensus on how to account for sales and use taxes on cloud-based software transactions. Many states have scrambled to address the questions that have emerged.

The answers to these questions have implications

for both the providers and the end users, especially pertaining to revenue and cost recognition. When traditional software is sold, most of the revenue can be recognized at the time of the sale. If software is deemed a service, the revenue must be recognized ratably over the contract term.

When taxed as a service, cloud-based software companies must account for two different types of costs incurred. First, the costs to build and maintain the software, and second, any direct costs attributed to specific customers.

As the cloud software market grows, keep an eye out for the evolution of this interesting accounting discussion.

3 Approaches To Software Valuation01 MARKET APPROACHThe Market Approach values the software based on what it would sell for in an active market. This is frequently based on the selling price of similar items, making adjustments for differences.

02 INCOME APPROACHThe Income Approach values the software based on projected income produced. It is calculated through dividing the projected net operating income from the software by the capitalization rate.

03 COST APPROACHThe Cost Approach values the software based on what it would cost to rebuild or replace the software. This method must account for employee time and expenses, as well as overhead expenses.



ustomer Lifetime Value, or CLV, is defined

as the present value of the future cash flows attributed to the customer during his/her entire relationship with the company (Pearson Education, 2010). In essence, it quantifies how much “value” - or profit - a customer will bring into your business during their lifespan as a customer.

While the actual CLV calculations aren’t difficult, the challenge comes from identifying the accurate input values, such as yearly gross contributions per customer or customer lifespan. Although difficult, by using historic data, industry data, or just

Csimple intuition if it’s all you have to work with, establishing these metrics is doable.

It should be said that CLV is not a static number. CLV should be looked at and adjusted as more information becomes available. In fact, the accuracy of your metrics may be less important that having a consistent methodology and rationale at the start. Once you have a model in place for calculating CLV you can update it as more data becomes available to you. With more data points, it will become more accurate over time.

CLV is an important metric because it can help you identify more profitable ROI opportunities and help

CALCULATING CUSTOMER LIFETIME VALUEAs we pursue strong and long lasting relationships with our customers, it is important to understand the value of these relationships. Calculating Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is both simple and incredibly complex. The following breaks down the math and thought process behind calculating CLV.

you establish reasonable customer acquisition and retention costs. Modeling different scenarios may help you determine if spending more to acquire a certain type of customer is worth the return, or whether it’s more profitable to spend money to gain new customers versus retain existing ones.

The cost of losing a customer may be more than lost revenue. Loyal customers bring with them referrals, word-of-mouth, social proof, and perhaps positive online reviews.

There is more than one way to calculate CLV. Other model types include RFM models, probability models, econometric models, persistence models, computer science models, and diffusion/growth models.

Having a 360-degree customer view is crucial towards understanding the full contributions and costs from customers. (See the Analytics Brief for more).

Use both historical and predictive data when calculating inputs. Historical data gives you a base for your values while predictive data enables you to use logic and knowledge of future plans - like increased marketing spend - to project changes.


Metrics like satisfaction and loyalty may affect behaviors and lifespans. Highly satisfied customers usually spend more than dissatisfied ones.

SATISFACTIONElite and regular users may have different behaviors and lifespans. For example, an elite tech user will likely buy more tech gear.

USER TYPEDemographic and geographic data may alter the CLV. For example, users in the North will use more cold weather products.

DEMO DATABREAKING IT DOWN EVEN FURTHER

GC = Yearly Gross Contribution Per CustomerM = Yearly Retention Costs Per Customer

n = Average Number Of Years A Customer Is Retainedr = Yearly Retention Rated = Yearly Discount Rate

CLV = GC *Σn

i=0- M *Σ

n

i=1(1 + d)ir i

(1 + d)i-0.5r i-1

the formula

PRESENT VALUELIFESPANCOSTSREVENUE

SIMPLIFIED, this formula calculates the total projected revenue (average annual revenue * years of customer lifespan) minus the total projected costs (average annual cost * years of customer lifespan) and multiplies them by a yearly discount rate to convert future dollars to their present values.

Using historic data you can project the average yearly gross contributions per customer. Simply multiply the average revenue per visit by the average number of visits in a year. Be sure to account for seasonality, growth, and future profit margin changes.

Again, through the use of historic data you can project your yearly retention costs per customer. This generally includes the variable costs of delivering a product. It may also include marketing expenses and a prorated portion of overhead costs.

Customer lifespan can be calculated using your retention rate. A simple annual retention rate calculation is to take your total number of customers from last year and divide it by the remaining customers this year. Lifespan can be calculated using CL=1/(1-RR).

Due to inflation and interest rates, the concept of the time value of money states that a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow. Thus, when calculating CLV, it is important to value future revenue and costs in terms of their net present value.


The Power of ChoiceThe emergence of cloud technology has introduced a new software deployment method. But is it right for you business? Here is a breakdown of the options to help you choose.

ON-PREMISE CLOUD PRIVATE CLOUDSoftware is installed on a local server that is owned

by the client.

PROS• Security of locally

stored data• No subscription fees

CONS • Hardware requires

updates and maintenance

• Slow implementation

Software is located on a remote server and

accessed via the Internet.

PROS• Reduced upfront costs• Flexibility to scale• Less maintenance• Easier mobility

CONS • Subscription fees• Reduced data control

Software is located on a dedicated server (local or remote) and accessed via

the Internet.

PROS• Greater security• Easy mobility

CONS • More expensive• May still require

hardware updates and maintenance

PROS PROS PROS

CONS CONS

CONS

COST

S

SECURITY

MO

BILI

TY

FLEXIBILITY


29% 58% 7%

PUBLICCLOUD ONLY

HYBRIDCLOUD

PRIVATECLOUD ONLY

94% OF BUSINESSES ARE USING CLOUDS

RightScale, 2014

16+35+31+18CLOUD ADOPTION BY COMPANY SIZE

ENTERPRISE1000+

SMB<100020+29+25+26watcher

beginnerexplorer

focused

16%- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

35% 31% 18%

20% 29% 25% 26%

The total cost of ownership is largely dependent upon the software. On-premise solutions generally have larger upfront costs than cloud-based solutions, but they will not require a subscription

fee. On-premise solutions require IT staff to manage both the software and hardware on which it runs.

Because they are more isolated, on-premise solutions are generally considered more secure. Certain industries even

have legal requirements that drive companies to keep software on-premise. That being said, security on many cloud-based

solutions is really strong, as their success often depends on it.

Due to complicated security protocols, most on-premise software requires users to be on-premise to access them. With software that lives in the cloud, these authorizations are taken care of

effortlessly making mobility much simpler.

Because the software is purchased and implemented upfront, modifying on-premise solutions can be very complicated.

Cloud-based solutions offer amazing amounts of flexibility, such as adding or removing features with the click of a button or

dynamically increasing server capacity to meet seasonal demands.


creativepersonalizing SIMPLE STEPS TO BEGIN CREATING PERSONALIZED CREATIVE FOR YOUR AUDIENCE

Too often marketers start the creative and messaging process with asking, “What do

we want our customers to know about us?” instead of, “What do our customers need from

us?” The focus is on what is being said and not on what message is being received. Here are some simple steps you can use to create

more personalized messaging using your customers as the design point for your plans.

DEFINE

define your segments

define your creative

define your triggers

GenderAge

Buying StageActivity

OccupationLocation

Behavioral

Cookie DataSelf-DefinedPage View

ClickPurchase

Action SequenceInquiry

ConceptCopy

PhotographyGenderColor

Call-To-ActionLanding Page

Audience segments should be based on differentiated

behavioral drivers. “Does this segment need something

different than other segments to help make a decision?”

Triggers are the parameters by which individuals are placed into

specific segments. These may be assigned manually, through cookie data, or through actions,

such as visiting a page or making a purchase.

With your audience segmented, now you can create

personalized experiences for each segment. The level of

personalization can range from using gender targeted creative

to customized support.

www

triggers

SEGMENT D

SEGMENT ASEGMENT BSEGMENT C

SEGMENT E

ads

www


HEADER PHOTO The profile header

photo is now located at the top of the page

and stretches across the entire screen at

1500x500 px.

BREAKING DOWN THE NEW TWITTER LAYOUT

1500x500

400x400PROFILE PICTUREThe profile picture is

now located in the upper left. It is larger,

400x400 px.

TRENDSTrends and Who To

Follow have been moved from the left

to the right side.

PROFILEProfile info, including

name, handle, bio, and pictures, are now

all on the left under the profile picture.

BEST TWEETSYour most popular

posts, based on retweets, favorites,

and replies, will appear larger.

PINNED TWEETSYou can now pin one of your tweets to the

top of your profile page. Click the “More” menu and select “Pin.”

47REIMAGINE MARKETING


FANS & FOLLOWERS

• When you distribute content, it is being seen by people who are highly interested.

• Your audience will be more targeted, making it easier to develop targeted content.

• Smaller, more targeted audience makes it easier to build relationships with individuals.

• Likely higher ratio of Likes, Shares, and Retweets per follower.

What’s more important:

WHY QUALITY? WHY QUANTITY?

• Look at net numbers. While the ratio of quality fans vs total fans may be lower, having more total fans likely means more quality fans as well.

• More diversity. Some of these “mid- to low-quality fans” may turn into your biggest supporters.

• Quantity of followers gives you social proof, which makes people more likely to buy your products.

AD IMPRESSIONS

• High quality ad placements help ensure your ads will be seen.

• Ads are more likely to be aligned with relevant and targeted content.

• Reduced risk of delivery issues, like being served next to inappropriate content.

• Higher click-through-rates and conversion rates.

• Reduces likelihood of frequency spamming.


• Better back end metrics. High volume buys generally have lower CPMs. While these buys may get lower click-through-rates and conversion rates, the lower cost of the ads frequently results in more total clicks, lower cost-per-click, and lower cost-per-acquisition.

• High frequency is important for building awareness, interest, and favorability.

QUALITY or QUANTITY?


The answer: It depends. Many media “gurus” would like us to believe that the debate is over: quality is more important than quantity. Quality followers, quality impressions, quality content, and quality leads. While there is certainly an argument to be made for the value of quality, truly savvy marketers understand the value and importance of quantity. We’ve broken down several key benefits of each to explain.

CONTENT & POSTS

• Content pieces provide opportunity for deeper engagement. Their quality should reflect the high quality of this interaction.

• Likely higher ratio of Likes, Shares, and Retweets per reader.

• Fewer pieces means less content to manage and produce.

• The people who are likely to read in-depth content are already interested customers.


• Focusing on quantity doesn’t mean quality has to be poor. It might just not be as in-depth.

• Most people aren’t reading your full white paper anyways. Focus on more “lite” content pieces.

• While you may get lower engagement rates, net metrics across all of your pieces will be higher.

• New and relevant content helps SEO.

LEADS

• Storing and managing a high volume of leads is costly and time consuming.

• High-quality leads lets you spend more time focusing on those most likely to become customers.

• Allows for more personalized engagements.

• Reduces time selling to individuals who are never going to buy.

• Less time and effort to close sales.


• While close rates may be lower, net number of sales can be higher.

• High-quality leads likely captured within the larger quantity of leads. Not mutually exclusive.

• High quality leads may buy regardless. Casting a wider net lets you talk to those who might not be customers otherwise.

• Lower cost-per-lead can result in lower cost-per-acquisition.

50 51REIMAGINE MARKETING REIMAGINE MARKETING50

360

Technology has enabled businesses to capture customer data from an expanding number of touch points. When threaded together, the result is a more complete view of customers as they move through the purchase cycle. Gaining this 360-degree view of customers helps businesses deliver more personalized marketing, sales, and support to their customers.

SOCIAL MEDIA Learn: User likes and dislikes. Apply: Marketers can show popular features. Product teams can fix issues.

Gaining a 360-degree view of customers helps businesses deliver more personalized marketing, sales, and support

CRM SYSTEMSLearn: Cross-team information. Apply: Sales teams can follow-up on support calls with solutions.

EMAIL Learn: Content clicked on. Apply: Use this information as a proxy to gauge where users are in the purchase cycle.

TRANSACTIONS Learn: Purchase patterns. Apply: Leverage purchase cycle for other similar customers. Determine future purchase timelines.

VIEW OF YOUR CUSTOMERS


51

MarketingWith a 360-degree view of customers, marketers can identify demo and geo data, products of interest, where in the purchase cycle customers are, and what their purchase triggers are. Added up, this enables marketers to deliver more targeted and personalized ads.

SalesWith a 360-degree view of customers, sales teams can identify purchase and usage timelines, purchase triggers, and challenges that will enable reps to follow-up with customers at the right time and offer appropriate targeted solutions.

ServiceWith a 360-view of customers, support teams can predict and proactively address support issues, provide customized support experiences to customers, flag recurring problems for product teams, and provide user feedback to both marketing and sales.

CUSTOMER SUPPORT Learn: Recurring issues. Apply: Predict which other customers may have similar issues and proactively provide solutions.

ADVERTISING Learn: Messaging clicked. Apply: Determines intent and triggers that can be used by sales or future advertising messaging.

WEB ACTIVITY Learn: Website user flow. Apply: Provides insights into barriers to purchasing that can be leveraged by sales and marketing.

CONTENT Learn: User interests. Apply: Marketing can deliver more targeted messaging. Sales can engage via new content.


deep dive


CUSTOM TAILORED THE SCIENCE OF RELATIONSHIPS FAILURE TO LAUNCH

CUSTOMTailored

by Microsoft

Customize your marketing by targeting the right person with the right message at the right place at the right time.

Above the clut-ter of bad adver t i s ing

– invasive pop-ups, confusing commer-cials, irrelevant bill-boards, and annoy-ing emails – stands a class of strategic marketers who de-fine advertising suc-cess beyond just im-pressions or GRPs.

They view advertis-ing as a tool to help people make smart-er purchase deci-sions and to create happy, loyal clients. These engagements come from creating personalized experi-ences through every brand touch point. The reality is that no two consum-

ers are exactly alike – each has differ-ent needs, differ-ent motivations, and are at different stages in the buy-ing process – and their individuality should be reflected in their conversation with brands. Tacti-cally speaking, this means talking to the

right people with the right message at the right place and at the right time. Marketers who are able to achieve this can separate them-selves from the clut-ter and build stron-ger, more personal, and more profitable relationships with customers.


THE RIGHT PEOPLE

Audience selectionThe first step in creating more per-sonalized brand engagements is es-tablishing who you need to be person-alizing for (a.k.a., audience selec-tion). This process typically involves some form of re-search. For exist-ing brands, your current customer base will provide a great amount of insight into who

your highest op-portunity custom-ers are and which adjacent audience groups might pro-vide growth op-portunities. For companies launch-ing new products, competitive audi-ence analysis can be a great way to learn about pro-spective custom-ers. This can range from purchasing syndicated data to combing your competitors’ social media pages.

Be sure to consider all parties involved in the decision pro-cess. For example, with their “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” cam-paign, Old Spice found great success in targeting women for a men’s product. They did this with the knowledge that in many households women were the ac-tual purchasers of these products for their spouses. Simi-larly, children often have a large impact

on the brands their parents purchase. It is also important to think not only about who your customers are today but who your future custom-ers will be. Such is frequently the strat-egy for targeting big ticket items, like cars, to college stu-dents who may not have the capital to make large purchas-es while in school but will soon have a level of purchas-ing power that they have not had before.


SegmentationThere are three im-portant factors to consider when es-tablishing audience segments. Your seg-ments should be differentiated, targ-etable, and address-able. Let’s dig into what each of these mean.

First, your segments must be differenti-ated. Being differen-tiated does not sim-ply mean that your audience segments have tangible dif-ferences, like male versus female, but it means that they have identifiably dif-ferent purchase be-haviors and motiva-tions. Ask yourself, “Does this segment need something different than other segments to make a purchase decision?” This question is im-portant because if two different audi-ence groups have the same purchase process, segment-ing them may be an unnecessary expense. It’s only when we can isolate differences in the

variables that affect purchase decisions that we can deliver a meaningful person-alized experience. This differentiation also means that in-dividuals do not simultaneously ex-ist in multiple seg-ments.

Second, you have to be able to tar-get them. While an expanding array of data has allowed ad-vertisers to become incredibly specific with their targeting, there are some in-stances where this may not be possi-ble. This can often be the case with very niche audienc-es, such as targeting hair care products to individuals with red hair who live in Col-orado, or segments where there simply may be no data, like a boat compa-ny wanting to run a campaign targeting individuals who had boats growing up.

Lastly, these seg-ments must be ad-dressable, meaning you need to have

the ability to ad-dress these differ-ences through a personalized experi-ence. Certain differ-ences, like creating gender-matched creative, are easy to execute, but some variables may be beyond your con-trol. For example, a sunscreen compa-ny may know that users in the North prefer smaller bot-tles of higher SPF sunscreen while customers in the South prefer low-er SPF sunscreen but want larger and cheaper quantities. If the company does not currently have different package size options, this segmentation isn’t valuable because they do not current-ly have the ability to address it. Brands may also find that as they develop more segments, the costs of media, creative, and asset develop-ment may inhibit their ability to indi-vidually address all of their desired seg-ments. Segments should be large

Differentiated Identifyably different pur-chase behaviors and moti-vations. Does this segment need something different than other segments to make a purchase decision?

Targetable The ability to target and iso-late each segment through appropriate media channels.

Addressable The capacity to create a personalized experience for each segment.

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enough that the performance gained from segmenting is greater than the ad-ditional costs.

Lead scoringWhile some compa-nies take a narrow definition of lead scoring – a single number to deter-mine “sales readi-ness” – for our pur-poses, we’ll take a broader view. Once you’ve established your segments there are two ques-tions that need to be addressed: what are the criteria to place someone into each segment and what happens once they’re assigned to a segment? The sec-ond question will be answered in the next sections which discuss messaging, placement, and tim-ing. The first ques-tion, regarding how users are placed, is where lead scoring comes in.

Lead scoring assess-es a set number of variables – some-times referred to as

“indicators of inter-est” - and assigns a score, or grade, based on those criteria. It’s worth noting that there is not a standard-ized scoring system and that a lead may have different sets of scores that de-termine their place-ment. The result is a multi-dimension-al matrix with a cell for each segment that includes scor-ing criteria and fol-low-up measures. Depending on the level of sophistica-tion, these criteria and subsequent follow-up proce-dures may even be dynamic. For ex-ample, the criteria for a user to enter a buying stage may vary depending on whether they are a new lead or whether they are an existing lead moving down the purchase funnel to the next segment.

Scoring criteriaYour lead scoring criteria will help you determine into which segment

leads should be placed. This infor-mation may come directly from the lead, perhaps via a form where a job title or company size is submitted, or it may come from proxies, like using website activity to determine buying stage. In the latter case, multiple vari-ables might be used and weighted in determining one’s score. For example, you may look at time on-site, pages visited, and specif-ic on-site actions to estimate buy-ing stage. You may choose to weight the act of watching an overview video as a more significant indicator of buying stage than time on-site, which could be used as an indicator of interest.

There is no one cor-rect way to handle lead scoring and segmentation, but having a methodol-ogy that is consis-tent and rational is a great place to start.

As you acquire more leads and more data, you should tweak your scoring to provide more ac-curate placement of new and exist-ing leads. Don’t let creating a perfect model inhibit you from jumping in. If you’re waiting for the perfect model, you’ll be waiting a long time. It simply isn’t that black and white.

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Into the cycle

How will users get placed into a segment and what will happen to them once they’re there?

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Into the cycleOnce a user is placed into a segment you can begin to deliver a more customized experience. This may include promoting different product of-ferings based on their company size, having a sales rep call them if they are deemed to be past a certain point in the buying process, or using city specific images in ads based on where a user lives. This may also mean providing more frequent fol-low-up to custom-ers who you predict will need additional post-purchase sup-port.

Each segment should represent a unique marketing cycle that will be delivered to its members. Ideally, this cycle should be de-signed to lead people down the funnel to-wards making a pur-chase (or another

defined action, such as becoming a loy-al user). Just like the parameters that de-fine which segment users are placed into, there should be a set of parameters that determines when an individual has moved down the purchase funnel to the next segment. This may be when someone clicks on three consecu-tive email links, when someone signs up for a demo, or when someone has been in a stage for more than one month. Your cri-teria might also out-line when to move people back stages. In the case where a user previously seemed ready to buy but has not visited the site or opened any market-ing emails in the last two months, it may make sense to shift them from a “ready to buy” segment to a “still exploring” seg-ment.



THE RIGHT MESSAGE

Customized mes-sagingBased on your seg-mentation, you can deliver segment- specific creative to provide a more customized experi-ence for your audi-ence. This may be as complex as cre-ating completely different campaigns that are targeted to different seg-ments or as simple as changing the call-to-action on an online banner. Oth-er adaptations may include copy ad-justments; manip-ulating the style of your ads; changing the photography to feature different activities, people, or locations; chang-ing the color palate; changing the prod-ucts or offers being displayed; and even having individual-ized web experi-ences that feature different content to support all of the above. Discov-er which messaging variables will best help each segment

on their journey and deliver that ex-perience.

Creative TestingWhen establishing messaging for your segments, it is often helpful to test dif-ferent options. An effective method for this is through live multivariate test-ing. This involves putting several dif-ferent creative ver-sions into market and seeing which performs the best. In order to ensure the efficacy of your testing, be aware of a few common mis-steps.

First, make sure you’re accurately interpreting your data. Click volume is frequently used as a success met-ric for creative per-formance, but this may be misleading. A particular ad may receive a high vol-ume of clicks but if there is disconti-nuity between the ad and the landing environment, there may be a really high bounce rate. A sec-

ond ad that gets fewer clicks may drive more purchas-es. In this case it would be beneficial to identify the vari-able that is driving clicks on the first ad and apply it to the second ad.

Second, try to avoid extraneous vari-ables. A common mistake with mul-tivariate creative testing is that ad-vertisers don’t iso-late users, meaning that any given user may see multiple versions of cre-ative. As a result, it becomes difficult to identify whether the performance is a result of the cre-ative or of a par-ticular ad sequence (i.e., if a user sees Version 1 first, are they more likely to click on Version 2).

There is a similar is-sue when advertis-ers run multiple cre-ative versions that contain multiple variances, like head-line, color, and call-to-action. The result is what is known as mult icol l inear i ty. Simply put, it be-comes impossible to determine which of the variables is driving the results. In the aforemen-tioned situation, the appropriate solu-tion would be to run each possible vari-able combination, a technique known as factorial design. If there were 3 head-lines, 3 colors, and 3 calls-to-actions, this would result in 27 ad versions. Using this method of run-ning each variable (such as headlines) evenly against all others, the result-ing performance of each variable can be independently assessed. Deeper analysis may also help you identify different variable combinations that perform particularly well.

Start small by identifying two or three segments that will have a large impact.

CREATIVE VARIABLES ad concept, copy, style,

photography, gender, colors, call-to-action, landing page,

products, offers, location

COLOR

Red

Blue

Orange

CTA CTA 1 CTA 2 CTA 3 CTA 1 CTA 2 CTA 3 CTA 1 CTA 2 CTA 3

HEADLINE 1 HEADLINE 2 HEADLINE 3

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H1 H1 H1

H1 H1

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CLICKS ACTIONS53,66347,43754,012

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CTA1CTA2CTA3

46,32750,99160,794

14,86414,01218,121

53,24448,44956,419

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Limitations and challengesBased on your seg-mentation, your ability to isolate and target your seg-ments may create some limitations in your capacity to cus-tomize creative. De-livering different ad campaigns, creative, and messaging to the same user can create a confusing brand experience. Digital media pro-vides strong target-ing capabilities, but broadcast or print

media are more lim-ited in their ability to isolate audiences. You should try to re-duce the fragment-ed experience that may occur if there is a high likelihood that you will have a lot of crossover between segments and ad versions.

One tactic is to build your campaigns like a tree. The trunk is a branding cam-paign providing a base that can exist across all segments.

The branches act as individualized cam-paigns, products, or segment extensions that sprout and reach out from that base. The leaves, which fall off and regrow, are the cus-tomized elements that change cyclical-ly, such as offers.

THE RIGHT PLACE

Finding your audi-enceWith your audience and creative seg-

mented, the next challenge is getting the right creative in front of the right people. Currently, TV, radio, print, and outdoor have the greatest limitations in terms of audience targeting, largely relying on content targeting. This is not necessarily a bad thing, just some-thing to be aware of. As these media become more digi-tized, the opportu-nity to dynamically serve ads based on

user data will in-crease their ability to pinpoint specific individuals.

Digital media – in-cluding online, email, and mobile – has the ability to not only be very precise in its targeting, and it also gives adver-tisers the ability to specify who they do not want to see an ad. This may be important if you’re running different campaign creative targeted to different segments and don’t want any crossover.

Media selectionWhen choosing what media to run, it’s important to consider not only the targeting capa-bilities but also how your audience is us-ing the media in re-lation to your prod-uct and creative. Media are classified as passive or active (although there is a spectrum). With passive media – such as TV, radio, and outdoor – partici-pants are passively

involved in consum-ing the media. They sit on the couch while the TV plays in front of them. With active media – such as magazines and most digital – par-ticipants are actively involved in consum-ing the media. They are turning pages, scrolling, and click-ing links.

This is not to sug-gest that one me-dia type is better than another. In fact, most research suggests that touch points across differ-ent multi-sensory media is the most effective approach, so when planning, you should consid-er the purpose, user context, and usage of each medium as it pertains to your advertising.

Targeting param-etersDifferent media have different tar-geting capabilities. For TV, targeting is largely content based. Advertisers seeking to target fe-

males within a par-ticular age range will do so through buying ads during programming that indexes high for that audience, but the ad will also be seen by anyone else watching that show who is not within that target audi-ence. Advertisers can geo-target mar-kets with TV as well. The same rules gen-erally apply to oth-er broadcast media, like radio; however, radio is much more geo-based due to the limitations in ra-dio broadcasting.

Out-of-home me-dia – including bill-boards and transit ads – target based on location. Out-of-home publishers have data that esti-mates the amount of views an ad will receive based on a given location and sometimes can even estimate other pa-rameters, such as how many of those viewers are men. Lo-cation can often also be a good proxy for

targeting variables like household in-come or people with certain hobbies (i.e., boating).

Digital media pro-vides the most tar-geting capabilities by far, including pa-rameters like demo-graphics, location, content, psycho-graphics, behavior, job title, purchase intent, and retarget-ing. While mobile devices are lagging behind computers in their use of data to target users, they are quickly catching up.

THE RIGHT TIME

Appropriate mo-mentsAs targeting has evolved and be-come more precise, it still has its draw-backs. One major drawback is that timing is often ig-nored. Before the mass-adoption of cookies and a mil-lion different target-ing parameters, ad-vertising was largely



content targeted (and much of it still is). While this may not be as precise as cookie-based tar-geting, it provides the benefit of having adver-tising that is adjacent to relevant content. This means that when your ad is viewed, it is viewed by someone who is thinking about a related topic. Much of today’s advertising identifies an impression, identifies the user, and delivers the appropriate creative, independent of experience. A young mother might be the perfect target for diaper ads, but if she’s enjoying her few minutes of personal time by catching up on some news in the evening, baby products might be the last thing she wants to think about. Now that we can identify users all over the web, we need to make sure that we’re reaching them during appropri-ate moments.

Customer lifecycleBeyond targeting appropriate moments, under-standing the customer lifecycle is a key timing issue. If you understand your pre- and post-pur-chase timelines, identifying where a customer is in the lifecycle can be incredibly powerful in helping to provide the right information at the right time. One of the best ways to get this in-formation is to look back at data from customers who have already purchased products. Several examples of companies employing this method-ology have made headlines, including a father who was livid at Target for mailing maternity ads to his daughter only discover that Target had identified that she was pregnant before he did.

The right frequencyFor many marketers, the topic of optimal ad fre-quency is a bit of a black hole. While most rec-ognize the importance, not many understand how to establish or apply a value. Optimal ad frequency will vary depending on the medium, media mix, brand history, product category, and competition.

Brands need to be conscious of how frequently they’re serving ads to a particular individual, es-pecially with highly customized messaging. There are many stories of brands spamming individu-als with retargeted product ads, which becomes a turnoff after a point. Be sure to frequency cap your delivery both per day and per campaign. Delivering high volumes of ads to an individu-al who has not responded to any previous ones will hurt both performance and ROI. These ads would be more effective being used to expand your reach to new prospective customers.

Evolving customer demandsCustomers are more empowered than ever be-fore and expect faster and faster responses from businesses. Having a strong understanding of the customer lifecycle, both pre- and post-pur-chase, can go a long way in helping to meet these demands. For example, being aware of frequent post-purchase support issues, companies can deliver timed support to customers. Or if a cus-tomer does call for support, based on their pur-chase timeline the support team can predict and

proactively direct the call to a team member who specializes in the predicted issue.

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER

Once you’ve identified your segments, have decided how users are placed into each segment, and determined what the follow-up for each segment is, you’re on your way to more strategic marketing plan-ning - targeting the right person with the right message at the right place at the right time. Each of these targeting tactics is important, but they are useless if not used together. Having segments is meaningless without a way to address them individually. Customized creative is useless without the ability to target the media. And all of these efforts will be futile if you’re not in front of your customers at the right moments.

Start smallCreating a campaign that is simultaneously customized yet integrated can be an intim-idating challenge. And doing it well is hard. But you don’t need to start at the end. If you are just beginning to collect leads, having multiple segments may be over-kill. Start small by identifying two or three segments that will be highly impactful and build from there.

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Use email to help determine which buying stage your

leads are in. Provide different stories targeted different

buying stages. Using links as proxies - called indicators-

of-interest - you can segment users based on

which content, or clusters of content, they’re clicking on.



The caveat to start-ing small is that you should have a vision for where you want to grow to. If you plan to build up to multiple segments, it’s helpful to iden-tify those criteria and start gather-ing that data at the beginning, even if you’re not going to use it initially. While you can certainly add new parame-ters down the line, it’s more difficult if you’ve got a large number of leads with no data.

The balanceThe art and science of data collection is a delicate balance. While adding data fields is likely to pro-vide more accurate data than using prox-ies, be aware that the more data fields you request from peo-ple, the lower your completion rate will be. Conversely, us-ing less data fields may give you more leads, but using ac-tion triggers as prox-ies presents its own challenges. Unfor-

tunately, there is no magical formula to balance form fields and data points. Over time, new data can help inform these decisions and help make your al-gorithms stronger.

Building upon itselfHaving a plan is im-portant, but once you’ve established a plan, be flexible and let your pro-gram build upon it-self. As good as the best third-party data is, actual usage data from your custom-ers will be your best source of accurate information. Use this data to go back and revise existing as-sumptions and algo-rithms. If you’re col-lecting lead data, set lead volume param-eters for introduc-ing new segmenta-tions. For example, if you are currently segmenting by gen-der but not age, you may determine that once each segment reaches 200,000 leads, you will add in the additional seg-mentation.

Bad assumptionsAs is the case with all analytics, be care-ful of making bad or biased assump-tions. Being deep-ly ingrained in our brand and products, we often overesti-mate how interest-ed others are. In the behavioral sciences, clinicians look for “behavioral clusters” to identify different feelings. For exam-ple, a common sign of lying is touching ones nose or ear. That does not mean that every time someone touches their face they are lying. They might simply have an itch. But when a face touch is clus-tered with diverted eyes, a restless leg, and crossed arms, the probability that you’re hearing a lie increases. The more reference points you get to support an assumption, the more likely it is that your assumption is correct. Of course, you need to quanti-fy where to draw the line between possi-ble and probable.

PrivacyAs data collection grows, so do con-sumer concerns. There is a line across which help-ful customization turns into creepy stalking. Unfortu-nately, this line is different for every-one, so brands must use caution in how they’re leveraging data and personal-izing. It is common practice to enable customers to opt-out of behaviorally targeted advertis-ing. Brands should also be sensitive to the frequency with which they are hit-ting customers. An excessively high number of high-ly targeted ads can make a customer feel uncomfortable. Brands should set their campaigns with the ability to stop delivering ads to a customer once they have moved into a new segment (i.e., once a custom-er has purchased a product, stop serv-ing them ads to buy that product).

To sum it all upEffective segmenta-tion and targeting can turn a guessing game of advertis-

ing into a smooth strategic operation. It will improve per-formance by giv-ing you insight into

what’s working and what isn’t. This visi-bility will allow you to provide a more personalized cus-

tomer experience that will help deliver happier customers and stronger rela-tionships. --


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How does the mind work? For thousands of years, this question has been at the center of conversations in philosophy, religion, psychology,

sociology, biology, and neuroscience. While there is no shortage of hypotheses, there are relatively few concrete answers. But over the last 20 years, advances in brain imaging technology have provided us with an unprecedented look into how the brain works, mechanically anyway.

Using the results of decades of behavioral research by psychologists, scientists are gaining a clearer picture of how the mind works, what motivates us, and the rationale behind our seemingly irrational behaviors. As marketers, we can leverage this information to help our customers make better decisions and build stronger relationships with them.

Behavioral economics and neuroeconomics

In 2002, the field of economics was shaken up when the Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to Daniel Kahneman, a psychologist. This practice of merging economics and the behavioral sciences has become known as behavioral economics. While this area of study has been around at least since the mid-1900’s, Kahneman’s achievement added a needed level of

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legitimacy to the field. But what exactly is behavioral econ?

Behavioral and neuroeconomics are both inter- or trans-disciplinary fields, uniting economics with the behavioral sciences and neurosciences, respectively. They developed as a method for explaining some of the inconsistencies seen in traditional economic theories. Economic principles would suggest that given two options of different values, people will pick the more valuable option. However, multiple studies have shown people don’t always do this. Why not? Eric Johnson’s research out of Columbia University is a great way to illustrate this. He offered participants the option of taking $50 today or $52 in 2 weeks. Based on pure economics and the interest that could be earned on $50 over 2 weeks, taking the $52 in 2 weeks would be much more profitable. But in general, participants chose the $50 today. Interestingly, when he changed the time frames to $50 in 2 weeks or $52 in 4 weeks, removing the immediacy from the equation, participants generally choose $52 in 4 weeks. What we’re seeing here is known as time inconsistency and a present bias in the way people make decisions. Economics is an important field; however, it has one fatal weakness. Economic principles are based on the flawed assumption that people act rationally. As a result, there are

a lot of inconsistencies between economic theory and real world behaviors. Behavioral economics tries to find patterns and explanations for these economic inconsistencies. Neuroeconomics takes this a step further and tries to uncover the underlying neural-processes behind these patterns in an attempt to understand why we, as humans, do the things we do, even when they appear irrational.

How we process information

While we’d like to think that we consciously control of all our thoughts and decisions, the truth is that most of our decision are made reactively and come from a subconscious level. While this may seem like a bad practice, it is actually an evolutionary trait that helps us conserve energy and keeps our attention available for larger dangers.


There are two ways that our brains process information, classified as System 1 and System 2. System 1 – commonly referred to as fast thinking – is automatic and unconscious. It’s involved in tasks like facial recognition and typing (assuming you’re decent at typing). If you’ve ever arrived at work with no recollection of the drive, you can thank System 1. System 2 is our slow thinking. It involves deeper, more conscious thought and is critical in tasks like solving complex math problems or puzzles.

It’s easy to see these two systems at work. Answer the following question: How many animals of each kind did Moses take on the ark?

Did you come up with two? If

so, good job! You answered this like most people. Unfortunately, you’re wrong. Moses took no animals on the ark, Noah did. Our System 1 brain tries to find the quickest and simplest answer possible, and because of the biblical relationship between Moses and Noah, no red flags are raised.

System 1 is incredibly powerful, and optical illusions are another great way to demonstrate their power over System 2. In the image above, all of these horizontal lines are parallel. Even knowing this, it is incredibly difficult to perceive the lines as parallel.

As marketers, we need to consider this. If accuracy is distorted by perception, what do we need to change so that

our messages are perceived accurately? We place a large emphasis on the message yet not enough on how that message is being received, especially when the receiver is an individual who has much less experience and interest in our products than ourselves.

We’re going to explore these topics in more detail today to provide a lens into how our minds and our customers’ minds work. There’s a great quote by historian Edward Gibbons that says, “The wind and the waves are always with the ablest navigators,” meaning that if you understand how the wind and the waves work, you can navigate through any waters. Although this will only be a glimpse into the world of behavioral and neuroeconomics, we hope to leave you with a few tips that you can implement immediately, as well as with some understanding of the wind and waves of the behavioral sciences. Through this, we hope to inspire you to re-examine your customers under a new light.

SYSTEM 1Fast thinking,

automatic, and unconscious

SYSTEM 2Slow thinking,

conscious, and complex


Awareness and attention

In a fun yet powerful editorial, a contemporary Greek archaeologist (author unknown) wrote a piece from the perspective of an archaeologist from the distant future who has dug up our society and was decoding what it all meant. He talks about how it was a society where obesity must have been a sign of high social status, signaling how everyone strived to be heavy. He noted a society that built large fertility monuments around the country and how we must have worshiped golden arches because they were displayed high in every town and on all major roadways.

The article was written with a humorous tone but was also a cautionary tale of the assumptions modern archaeologists make. This

article also touches upon something tied very closely to human behavior and the way we process information. Even before we’re born, our brains are hardwired to find patterns, and we do this aggressively and often unconsciously to the point where it becomes very easy for us to find patterns where none exist.

The Evolutionary Link

Every day we’re exposed to patterns in the physical world that have been crucial for our survival. We understand that heavy things fall to the ground. We understand what happens when something is thrown. We also learn really young what our parents look like angry and to avoid them at all costs. In the business world, patterns may affect investment choices, our willingness to take on risk, and how we choose between two items. The roots of these

patterns can be found in our System 1 and System 2 thought processes.

Reality vs. Perception

The Parthenon is an amazing building. The ancient Greeks, back in the 400s BCE, realized that if they built this building to spec it would look disproportionate. It would appear curved, the columns would appear to be bowed and of different sizes because of the way the light shone around them. So they built a curved structure and made columns different sizes so that when it was done, it would appear to be in perfect proportion. As marketers, we need to consider this. If accuracy is distorted by perception, what do we need to change so that we’re perceived accurately? We must put more attention on how a message will be received, especially by


someone who has a whole lot less experience and interest than ourselves.

When speaking to customers, whether via advertising, emails, reports, or face-to-face, it is incredibly important that we create materials that can be interpreted by System 1. The first step here is to simplify. But let’s really consider what this means.

Simplify

A 2013 stat from Kissmetrics that said Facebook posts with less than 80 characters had 66% higher engagement. And while this may be the case, this statistic is slightly misleading. While brevity is often a result of simplicity, they are not the same thing. While the concept of simplicity may not be a novel one, few people do this well. As this stat would suggest, the concept of simplicity has been misunderstood. Simplicity does not mean brief or minimalist. It does not mean faster or shortcuts. In fact, when building the Parthenon, it took much greater complexity to create a more simplified visual experience. Simplicity, with regards to communication, marketing, and product development, means obvious and effortless to understand and use. In a great quote, Timothy Prestero said that “There is no such thing as a dumb user. There are only dumb products.”

He suggests that we “Make it hard to use wrong. You want to make the right way to use it, the easiest way to use it.” When translated to marketing and communications, simplicity is deceptively difficult. It’s not easy. Perhaps that’s why shortcuts, like replacing simple with small or short, are taken. But its importance is critical.

Information Overload

Another way that simplicity and attention are killed is through information overload. There are dozens of case studies showing how great concepts were destroyed because marketers put their own agendas in front of consumers in a way that was really counterproductive. They say, “Here’s what I want people to know about my product,” and then they shove every detail about it onto a page. And then legal adds 6 lines of copy. We’ve all seen it.

When information is too complex our System 1 processing shuts off, and unless it’s extremely interesting to us, our System 2 processing will likely never engage. This is not to suggest that an ad needs to be distilled to one idea and one idea only. There is a lot of great advertising that shows off multiple features. But the purpose of a single ad is not to tell consumers everything about a product in one instant. Consider walking into a camera

IF ACCURACY IS DISTORTED BY

PERCEPTION, WHAT DO WE NEED TO

CHANGE SO THAT WE’RE PERCEIVED

ACCURATELY?

A LITTLE SCIENCE HUMOR

Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin are sitting under a tree when an apple falls on Newton’s head, to which he exclaims, “This is gravity. This is why the apple fell.” Darwin corrects him and says, “Actually, apples used to fall in all directions; however, only the ones that fell to the Earth were able to reproduce and survive.”


store and immediately having a sales rep rattle off information about apertures and shutter speeds before you figured out what type of camera you wanted.

You need to establish your goal – is it attention, awareness, interest, or desire? While you may want your customer to know all these things about your product, remember that the more that you cram in there, the less that’s going to be read. By trying to tell them ten things, you lose the opportunity to tell them even one or two.

The Power of Patterns

As we appeal to our System 1 brain, we come back to the importance of patterns. Patterns can draw attention in two ways: pattern recognition and pattern disruption. We’ll start with pattern recognition.

As you look at the people to the right, some of the individuals should start to stand out. Your brain is recognizing the consistency between a series of these images and trying to identify a pattern between them. (For example, the man in the orange shirt and green pants is standing in every 4th position (with one exception. Can you spot it?). More subtle, everyone wearing light blue is also wearing sunglasses and people with hats also have text on their shirts. Can you find

the others?). The more of the pattern you see, the more it will stand out to you, and you will eventually develop a preference for it. In psychology, this is called the Mere-exposure effect, or the familiarity principle. This is one of the simplest pieces of marketing advice from psychology. Create branded materials, including your advertising, so that even without your logo or product, it is immediately recognizable. When someone sees a TV spot, a package, a print ad, your website, and then your store, it should already be familiar.

One of the places we have seen people start to take advantage of this concept is with trending topics on Twitter. In this instance, software is being used to help consumers identify these patterns. It allows brands to organize their content for consumers. #WednesdayWorkout. #tipoftheday. This is a great way to build a hierarchy. Setting expectations is great for increasing customer engagement.

However, we don’t see many brands leveraging existing patterns or trends. Brands create hashtags with the hope that they’ll trend. Why don’t they create posts using hashtags that are already trending? Research has shown that these increases both exposure and clicks. It’s a very simple thing to do, yet very few brands seem to taking advantage.

Pattern Disruption

The flip side of pattern recognition is pattern disruption. If you live on a busy street, you’ll likely find that you now barely notice the street noise that once kept you up at night. When stimuli is unchanging, we stop noticing it so we can focus on other things. This is call habituation. But even though we may not be consciously aware of this stimuli, our sensory system is still in tuned to the patterns around us. When an existing pattern is disrupted, it triggers our brains to pay attention. Biologically speaking,


this is a huge asset to human evolution and survival. If you see a normally friendly animal start charging at you, it’s going to spark a reaction that, “Something is different here. Perhaps I should pay attention.”

As we look at these objects, several of them seem to stand out very quickly. They are different from the others. Visually speaking, people tend to notice differences in color, contrast, orientation, size, and motion. As subtle of a difference as they may seem, these vertical lines and these diagonal lines are processed and stored in two different parts of your brain. We also respond to noise volume or pitch changes, timbre changes - for example if you were hearing crowd noise and then suddenly heard a baby cry – pressure changes and even scent or balance changes. If you’ve ever experienced an earthquake, you can probably attest to this.

Redefining Disruption

Disruption seems to be a popular theme these days in advertising, and it seems to increasingly be defined as “to disrupt or disturb.” If you want someone to notice you, there are a few ways to go about doing this. You can walk up to them and punch them in the face. They’ll definitely notice you. They may not like you, but you’ll have accomplished your goal. Maybe you’ll try to stand

out by wearing a red dress, or perhaps you’ll be the one guy at a bike race riding a unicycle. As more marketing has become “in your face,” consumers are becoming habituated to it, which causes advertisers to find even more invasive ways to get their attention. Ads that would have caused a riot in the 1950s are now easy to ignore.

What people do continue to notice are ads that disrupt existing patterns or our paradigms of the world as we view it. We’re drawn to them because we know what they’re supposed to be, but when they don’t quite fit our expected pattern, this causes a large disruption in our minds. We’re questioning what we believed to be true and now we’re frantically try to identify a new pattern. While these examples may not be the most “in-your-face” ads, they are the type of ads that we, as humans, generally pay the most attention to as we try to understand their patterns.

How memories are made

Boston is notorious for having confusing streets that seem to follow no direction or pattern. The local lore offers one explanation. It is believed that this goes back to some of the earliest settlers when cows used to roam the area, walking back and forth. Depending on the location, topography,

1) The brain has two primary ways of

processing information, System 1 and System 2.

2) We should appeal to System 1.

3) In order to do so, we must simplify.

4) The brain is programmed to identify

patterns.

5) We can use pattern recognition or pattern disruption to increase

awareness and attention.

RECAP


and obstacles, certain walking paths and cow paths became established. These paths become covered with cobblestones and eventually paved over. This process, in a sense, is just how memories are formed in the brain.

Our brains are made up of 100,000 miles of nerve fibers, called white matter, with each neuron of the brain having about 10,000 synapses where nerves connect and transport information between them. To give you a sense of just how complex the brain is, new research by Jeff Lichtman at Harvard is allowing scientists to build 3D maps of the brains

of mice. So far, the largest piece that they’ve been able to recreate from a mouse is about the size of a grain of salt. Part of the reason why they have only been able to recreate this much is because this “grain of salt” is so complex that it took 100 terabytes of data, or roughly 25,000 HD movies, to map.

When we receive a stimuli, whether visual, auditory, or other, a signal is sent through these nerve fibers in the brain. This is the neurological equivalent of sending a cow down a dirt road. If we send one cow down a new path only one time, it’s unlikely that the path will become permanent. If you want to make

a permanent path, you could try a few things. First, you might send a stampede of cows. While it might not be permanent, it would definitely create a more solid path than a single cow. Within the brain, we can see that the intensity of exposure has a large impact on the encoding of memories. The higher intensity, the likelier we are to remember an event. We see this a lot with traumas. But probably the best way to establish permanence is to have a consistent stream of foot traffic down a given path. The path will get patted down faster than it can regrow. Repeated exposure over time is the most successful approach for successfully creating memories.


Optimal frequency

This issue of repeated exposure, awareness, and memory brings up a common question: “What frequency should we be using in our advertising?” (And perhaps its sister question, “How much content do we need to produce for our content marketing and social media?”). Frequency affects a lot of things, including reach, ad spend, and resources needed. Now the answer, of course, is a big “it depends.” It depends on the impact, history, exposure type, context…even competition and messaging tiers. But in trying to decode this question, one of the things we look at is the Forgetting Curve, which was developed by psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus to model how people forget information. What we see is that over time, information is forgotten but with repeated exposures, with information re-input over time, our memory decay rate, or the rate at which we forget, reduces. Several studies have shown that within 3-6 days we forget about 90% of new information. Some researchers believe that this happens even faster, after about 24 hours. But in general, what appears to be accurate is that there is a significant increase in memory decay rates when exposure gaps exceed 3 days, meaning that to increase your chance of being remembered and to stay top of mind, brands need to be in front of their consumers at least once every three days.

Multisensory Stimuli

One of the biggest variables regarding memory is sensory input. Cognitive psychologist Richard Mayer is the leader in this field, and what his research shows is two-fold. First, not all sensory inputs are created equal and second, multisensory environments are best for creating memories.

We have many different senses, more than the five we’re used to hearing about: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. Some say as many as 20 or so, including balance, temperature, acceleration, and time. Of our senses, vision is by far the most powerful when testing variables like recall and recognition. When we create multisensory stimuli, the impact is even greater. This was originally considered a contradictory finding. Researchers originally thought that increasing the amount of information individuals were receiving would cause a sort of overload, but the opposite happened. It’s like having a herd of cows walking in unison. Because these systems process information in different areas of the brain, they acted in a complimentary manner and did not conflict with each other. This concept is an interesting one to consider, because when overlapping sensory input were involved, performance was not as strong. To illustrate the

difference, students performed better when they saw pictures while hearing oral narration versus seeing pictures with text on the page, which caused a duplication in visual efforts. We don’t read words on a page, per se. Our brain actually processes individual letters and words as little pictures, not unlike as if we were looking at a photograph.

These insights have been put into practice by education software companies like Rosetta Stone, and they provide an important insight for marketing and communications. Adding multisensory inputs makes exposure more impactful, especially when one of those elements is visual. This research strongly validates the impact of media like television as well as some digital formats that can be visual, auditory, and even interactive, while others, such as radio, don’t fare as well under this lens, as memory with auditory input was one of the worst performers.

STUDENTS PERFORMED BETTER WHEN THEY SAW PICTURES WITH ORAL NARRATION

VERSUS WHEN THEY SAW PICTURES WITH

TEXT ON PAGE, WHICH CAUSED A DUPLICATION

IN VISUAL EFFORTS.

Anyone who’s ever read about social psychology or body language knows that mirroring a person’s body language is a great way to build rapport, comfort, and trust. A lot of this has to do with familiarity. But as a thought starter, this is a principle that can be applied to other forms of communication. For example, people structure emails in a way that they believe is easy to understand. Some people use short lines, long

Mirroring paragraphs, bullets. We can mirror these communication styles in our correspondence. It can help build comfort and trust, as well as help put your information in a format that they’ve selected as easy to understand.


Context matters

Now there is one other way to help ensure a permanent path, and that’s to build something next to a similar or complimentary existing establishment. When we can add context and meaning to things, they become much more memorable. Much of this relates to our ease of processing information and pattern identification. When we test two subject groups with the same list of words, one randomly ordered and one in a logical, hierarchical structure, the test group with

the logically structured words typically remembers about 40% more. What becomes important here is applying new information that builds on top of old information. People need to understand the general concept before they can understand the details. There a great quote by John Bransford that says, “Experts ‘knowledge is not simply a list of facts and formulas that are relevant to their domain; instead, their knowledge is organized around core concepts, or ‘big ideas’ that guide their thinking about their domain.”

A great deal of research shows that in a social setting, people are much more likely to remember someone’s name if they get it later in the conversation, as opposed to up front, once they’ve established a framework for who that person is. We need to ease into things, especially when they’re new and unfamiliar. Build a foundation of knowledge first, then provide details.

Types of memories

Memories can be classified as declarative and non-declarative. Declarative memories are


things that can be consciously recalled, like facts. Non-declarative memories are unconscious memories, such as how to ride a bike. Within declarative memory, we have semantic memories, such as recalling statistics, state capitals. Episodic memories tie back to an experience or event, such as telling someone about your day. Think of this as reliving past events. While there’s certainly an abundance of semantic knowledge in our brain, marketers want to provide and evoke episodic memories. Experiential memories. Emotionally charged

memories. Because at the end of the day, this is what products and services really are. They are experiences.

Choices and decisions

We’re going to conclude by talking about decision making. What drives our decisions is an incredibly complex topic, because it deals so heavily with the complexities of human behavior.

Case studies from developing parts of the world have delivered some interesting insights on choices. In many of these regions, consumers are shifting from having a very limited number of options to having a plethora of options. Generally, options and free choice are a fundamental part of a free market system. Choice is important. Choice is good. But in these developing regions, this shift to having a large number of options ends up causing great distress for many. People are quickly overwhelmed. In an interview with a subject in rural India, an older gentleman became irate explaining how he couldn’t understand the logic behind needing five different types of bubblegum.

People in the developing world are not used to seeing five types of gum. But for those of us in developed parts of the world, we’re used to seeing

1) Several variables affect memories, such as

repetition, impact, context, and sensory input.

2) Spaced repetition is the best way to form

memories.

3) Brands should be in front of their consumers at

least once every 3 days.

4) Using multisensory inputs help memory,

especially when including visual stimuli.

5) Provide context and meaning to information before providing details.

RECAPTYPES OF MEMORIESDECLARATIVE NON-DECLARATIVE

Memories that can be consciously recalled, such as facts and statistics.

Memories that can’t be consciously recalled, such as how to ride a bike.

SEMANTIC EPISODICFactual information that is independent of experience, such as state capitals, vocabulary, and object names.

Observational information from a specific event, including the memory of boarding a plane or attending a party.


five types of peppermint gum among 30 other options. And it doesn’t faze us. To start, we probably already have a “go-to gum.” We don’t need to research nutritional facts and flavor profiles every time we buy gum. Secondly, we’ve developed a system for dealing with these types of simple decisions.

The neuroscience of decision making

There are two key brain parts involved in making decisions. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex is that friend who’s always drunk and trying to get you to go to Vegas. This area of the brain is tied to emotions, and this is where information is organized and decisions are made. The dorsomedial

prefrontal cortex is more along the lines of that friend that’s always telling you to take better care of yourself. When you see a cookie, you get a devil on one shoulder saying, “This is going to taste great!” while on the other shoulder, the angel is saying, “Yes, but that cookie is high in calories and sugar.” When researchers take healthy and unhealthy eaters and present them with junk food, they see much greater activity in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex of those individuals who are healthy eaters. It’s part of the science of why “cheat days” work for many dieters. While they’re indulging in eating sweets, by structuring it they are still activating this “responsible” part of the brain in doing so.


Satisficing

What we ultimately learn from this is that many of our decisions are made much more unconsciously than perhaps we’d like to admit. We do not try to maximize our outcomes, but we try to minimize energy expenditure, and when decisions become too overwhelming, we try to avoid them. General consumers do what’s referred to as “satisficing.” In essence, they go with the easiest option that has the highest chance of not being bad. Or causing them the least distress. We use heuristics, patterns, and rules of thumb to help make quick decisions. We value comfort, reduced risk, ease of use, and social perceptions over getting the best possible outcome. You can buy very high quality TVs today for very little money, but brands like Samsung and Sony continue to do well, because even if they’re not the best value for the dollar, they’re most likely not going to break. There are also social implications with choices. People do not want to have to defend their decision to purchase an off-brand product. People try to reduce this social unease and stress, which is what makes popular items so appealing. Nobody questions your decision if you buy Nike shoes. If a friend buys a new Toyota and for some reason it breaks down,

you’ll feel horrible for them. If a friend buys a 1992 Daewoo and it breaks down, you may try to be empathetic, but will probably feel like they had it coming. We don’t want to find ourselves on the wrong side of a bad decision, so we stick to safe options.

This desire to minimize effort in decision making is not isolated to trivial decisions either. In fact, we see something even more fascinating when choices become more significant: we avoid making them. A study was done in Europe a few years back and it found that the biggest predictor in whether or not someone would elect to be an organ donor was whether the options were to opt-in or opt-out. Regardless of the option, people generally didn’t select either one. It is generally assumed that a default option is what other people choose and therefore it is an easier and lower risk choice. In a now famous study out of Princeton and the University of Toronto, researchers studied treatment decisions for patients. Doctors, after trying all available medicines to alleviate pain, referred patients with hip pain to an orthopedist. After making the referral, they were told that they hadn’t tried a simple option, Ibuprofen, and they were told that they could call the patient back to try this treatment if they wanted. Most of the doctors did. In a

second group, doctors were told that there were actually two medications that they hadn’t tried yet, Ibuprofen and Piroxicam. Based on economic theory, since the odds of a non-surgical treatment had gone up, we’d expect that these doctors would be more likely to recall these patients and recommend the medication, but they were actually about 1/3 less likely to do so. As decisions become more complicated, we become more likely to choose default options. This is an amazing notion to think about if you have a high consideration purchase. Sheer complexity may be preventing someone from making a decision. How can marketers remove this barrier? Focus more attention on reducing the transactional costs involved in making these decisions.

Maximizing

One group of users is the exception to this satisficing rule: elite users. These users will try to maximize their experience. If we take fashion as an example, people of higher socioeconomic groups do much more active research on fashion, via magazines and the Internet, and they seek clothes and brands that separate them from everyone else. In contrast, middle-income individuals tend get fashion advice from peers

CONSUMERS GENERALLY PURCHASE THE EASIEST OPTION THAT HAS THE HIGHEST CHANCE OF NOT BEING BAD

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SATISFICING

EXPLAINEDAlternatives are evaluated until a minimum acceptable threshold is met.

MINDSETWhat has the lowest chance of being bad?

USED BYGeneral consumers, non-elites, low-risk decisions

MAXIMIZING

EXPLAINEDAlternatives are evaluated to determine the best possible outcome.

MINDSETWhat is the best possible option?

USED BYElite users, high-risk decisions


and have a higher tendency to rely on more passive media, like television. They generally choose fashion that will help them fit in. Low-risk. We see this with other industries. Technology has its early adopters, who are active researchers, compared to the general tech consumer. We see it with music. Try going into a record store (if you can find one) and ask the staff to recommend some good new

music. Chances are you will have never heard a single one of these artists. They are the tech geeks of the music world, actively searching out the next big thing. And these music elites probably scoff at pop music.

Our own worst enemies

There are two issues that arise out of this information. The first is that marketers seldom treat two groups - elites and

general consumers - as separate. Instead, they have been molded into product adoption models. Early adopters. But the truth is that not all products follow this lifecycle. Nor do they need to. Many products that elite users love will never become mass marketable. On the flip-side, one of the most brilliant things about the Wii was that at the time when Sony and Microsoft were completing heavily for elite gamers, Nintendo went


after everybody else. The Wii didn’t have to be adopted by elite gamers before it was ready for mainstream. Now, although Sony is still focusing primarily on elite gamers, the Xbox has become a much more ubiquitous machine.

The second complication arises when marketers or product developers fall on this spectrum. This is especially prevalent when they are the

target audience. Just like the music store manager, people who are in an elite consumer category are generally a very small percent of users and make decisions based on very different criteria than general consumers. If a software engineer who went to school for engineering and spends 40-50 hours a week designing and building software builds a product the way he would like it, no general consumer is

going to know how to use it.

One of the areas this has hit hardest is with creative work. Creative work keeps being inflated to a state of oneupmanship, where we try to make creative that is more abstract, cleverer, and wackier than before. Phenomenal artists heed the calling of Picasso to make art in a way that has never been experienced before. Which

N1 199.2

Nadella

Br3 200.5

Brummel

Ca11 199.1

Capossela

E19 200.8

Elop

Gu37 199.7

Guthrie

H55 200.2

Hood

Lu87 200.8

Lu

My4 199.7

Myerson

P12 201.2

Penn

Ru20 198.8

Rudder

Sh38 199.6

Shum

Sm56 199.3

Smith

T88 200.2

Tatarinov

Tr21 200.5

Turner

Th39 201.2

Thompson

Bl57 198.0

Ballmer

Db89 200.5

Dublon

Kw22 200.9

Klawe

Mq40 198.1

Marquardt

Mf72 201.4

Morfit

Ns104 200.3

Noski

Pk23 200.3

Panke

En41 199.2

Enterprise

Dy73 199.3

Dynamics

Cr105 200.3

CRM

Er24 200.5

ERP

Ax42 199.8

AX

Gp74 199.3

GP

Nv106 200.2

NAV

Sl25 200.1

SL

So43 201.4

Social

Ly75 201.0

Lync

Pj107 198.4

Project

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Visio

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Yammer

Pb76 201.3

Power BI

F108 200.5

Forefront

Mp27 200.0

MapPoint

Cs45 200.3

CAL Suite

Ip77 200.3

InfoPath

Sv109 198.9

Server

Sq28 198.9

SQL

Az46 201.0

Azure

Vs78 199.5

Visual Studio

Sc110 200.0

System Center

Ad29 200.6

adCenter

Ec47 199.3

Exchange

Sp79 200.1

SharePoint

X111 200.1

Xbox

Hl30 200.1

Halo

O48 201.3

One

Kn80 201.0

Kinect

Sd112 200.2

Studios

B31 200.9

Bing

St50 200.9

Store

Sk81 201.1

Skype

Cd113 232.04

Cloud

M32 200.9

Maps

Cv51 201.2

Cover

C82 201.4

Cortana

Mo114 232.04

Mobility

Mn33 199.5

MSN

Ar52 201.2

Arc

Lm83 201.1

Lumina

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Reimagine

S34 201.2

Surface

Wd53 201.2

Wedge

Od84 200.7

OneDrive

I116 232.04

Innovation

Md35 199.5

MS-DOS

Pr54 201.2

Pro

Nk85 201.4

Nokia

R117 232.04

Redmond

Ex36 198.5

Excel

Pp55 199.0

PowerPoint

Ol86 199.7

Outlook

On118 200.3

OneNote

Wn5 198.5

Windows

Vi13 200.7

Vista

Rt6 201.2

RT

Xp14 200.1

XP

Se7 200.9

Seven

In15 201.1

Intune

Ei8 20.12

Eight

Ph16 200.0

Phone

Ac9 199.2

Access

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Publisher

Of10 198.9

Office

W18 198.3

Word

G2 197.5

Gates

Leaders

Board of Directors

Products

Windows

Xbox

Office

Enterprise

Concepts

Atomic NumbersBlack = solidRed = CEO

Blue = HardwareGray = Dynamics

At 0oC 1 bar

Atomic Weight

Chemical Symbol

Name

Ms0 197.5

Microsoft

Inte

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Prod

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PERIODIC TABLEMICROSOFT


for art, is a beautiful thing. But there’s a reason why Katy Perry outsells Esperanza Spalding. They’re both great artists, but Katy Perry makes music that is very accessible to the most people.

Experiences

We’ve talked about attention. We’ve examined how simplicity, patterns, and familiarity can draw attention and build preference, and we’ve talked about memories and how repetition and information hierarchies make things easier to understand and remember. Now that we’ve addressed these items independently, we can now examine how attention, memory, and decision making are all deeply intertwined in the overall human experience.

As we’ve discussed, memories can be classified in a number of different ways: declarative and non-declarative; semantic and episodic. While there’s an abundance of semantic knowledge in our brains, as marketers, we want to focus on providing and evoking episodic memories. Experiential memories. Emotionally charged memories. Nobody gets excited because they know how to spell a word, yet they may still remember winning the spelling bee in 3rd grade. What we notice and what we remember are the things that provide

context that help define our experiences.

In a popular experiment, wine bottles were randomly assigned a price. Participants were then asked which wine they preferred. Participants generally chose the wine with the highest perceived value. The perception defined the experience. Can you taste the difference between red and white wine? What about if you were blindfolded? Congratulations, pretty much any wine drinker can. But consider this. In tests with experienced wine tasters, when white wine was colored to look like red wine using a flavorless dye, these veteran wine tasters described the wine taste using red wine characteristics. To them, it tasted like red wine. We need to stop selling products as numbers and facts and start selling them for what they are, experiences.

I think most, if not all, people here would agree that our messaging should be focused on a product’s benefits and not its features. “Don’t sell the tool, sell the time savings.” But think about this: Why aren’t we establishing the benefits first, what people want, and then adapting our products around those benefits? We manifest benefits that we think people might want - after the fact - so it fits with our features. Why shouldn’t simplicity trump all features that make a product

not simple? If you go to McDonald’s around 5pm, you’ll see something amazing. At a leading establishment in an industry that’s defined by quick service, you’ll see an empty restaurant and a drive-thru line around the building. What’s the experience people are buying? It would be much quicker to run inside and order. But perhaps comfort is more important than speed.

Dual representation

What is one thing that separates humans from all other species? Is it our ability to reason, use tools, or language? In fact, these are all things that animals can do quite well. What separates us is much more fundamental. It’s a principle called dual-representation. Dual-representation is our ability to assign multiple meanings to a symbol. While this may not seem that remarkable, it’s what allows dots on a page to create music, squiggly lines to create words, and sounds to create sentences. This is at the root of what makes us human.

So in conclusion, we’ll leave you with this. Meanings only exist because we’ve defined them. We, each of us, have the ability to create meaning. But meanings only become meaningful when they can be shared and understood by those around us. If we can succeed at this, we can redefine the world.--


FAILURE TO LAUNCH

Learn about nine common pitfalls of CRM software implementation, tips on how to avoid them, and strategies for a successful launch.


in the form of software, that can help businesses better manage their relationships. More relationships. Higher quality relationships. With greater cohesion across business units. And when done correctly, the impact is undeniable. A 2011 study by Forrester found that the average ROI from Dynamics CRM is 243%. (Pardon the shameless plug).

Yet despite strong successes, one does not have to look

PLANNINGWith poor planning and design, failure can

begin before implementation has even started.

THREE TYPES OF CRITICAL FAILURES

far to find CRM implementation horror stories. Research from Forrester (2009) found that CRM implementations had a failure rate upwards of 47% and that 50% of respondents stated that CRM projects failed to meet expectations. So as an industry, we’re left with two options: deny these statistics and continue to inflate expectations (which many have actually done), or try to better understand what is driving this failure rate and educate ourselves on ways to avoid these pitfalls. We’ll choose the latter.

While there are many variables that can lead to CRM implementation failure, we’ve done our best to

distill these factors down to their root causes. These causes fall into three main buckets. First is poor planning - poor timing, not defining objectives, and not planning for growth and change, Second is poor process - trying to do too much, too soon, no documentation, lack of cohesion between different business units, and bad data, which is often a result of poor process and non-use. Lastly, poor people management - poor user adoption, lack of training and resources, and over-reliance on the software.

The good news is that all of these common causes of failure are


Failure to launchIt’s no secret. Relationships take a lot of work. Perhaps this is the reason that the promise of CRM software, technology that can make managing relationships easier, is so exiting for so many. However, it’s possible

that perhaps this promise is also CRM’s biggest downfall.

Since its inception, the promise of CRM software has become inflated to a point of unrealistic expectations. A magical, effortless solution

to managing relationships. In reality, the facts haven’t changed: relationships take a lot of work. In actuality, the promise of CRM is not to outsource relationship management to a computer, but rather to provide tools,

PROCESSBreakdown in process during implementation can lead to issues that can be fatal to success.

PEOPLEEven with appropriate setup, a program can fail if the individuals involved aren’t well supported.


POOR TIMING

bad timing for organization u lack of staff bandwidth u lack of funds to execute correctly u unnecessary

implementation u trying to use CRM to solve unrelated problems u not

ready for a full-scale CRM solution u lack of education on CRM

BAD DATA

poor data quality u inaccurate data fields u outdated and duplicated entries u unreliable metrics and

insights u inconsistent taxonomies across different business groups u too much data makes data difficult

to understand

INSUFFICIENT TRAINING

failure to provide quality training to employees u no documentation of process u over-prescribing the process for individuals u failure to provide tools that integrate with

existing processes u lack of available experts for immediate support

NO OBJECTIVES

not defining clear objectives before starting u no established KPIs u

lack of vision on how it will be used internally u no definition of what

success will look like u no definition of failure u no goals for use across

different departments

LACK OF COHESION

failure to align across business units u lack of support from

upper management u different departments are working towards conflicting goals u one teams lack of use prohibits other teams from using u not thinking big picture

POOR USER ADOPTION

poor management adoption trickles down to employees u failure to

create a CRM culture u value not displayed to employees u lack of

socialization throughout company u failure to get input from end users u

too difficult to use

NO PLAN

poor planning u no documentation u unrealistic rollout timeline u

underestimating resources required u lack of process for change and growth u failure to phase plan u plan interferes with existing daily

practices u no flexibility

TOO MUCH, TOO SOON

trying to accomplish too much at launch u doesn’t phase launch u over-customization at launch u

completing steps B and C before step A u not waiting for validation before scaling u putting timeline

ahead of quality work

OVER-RELIANCE

believing CRM is the same thing as managing a personal relationship u relying on software as a complete

replacement for personal interaction u expecting perfection with zero manual oversight u treating as a

technology only solution

addressable. Most of these are not CRM specific and can be helpful insights when launching any new solution, software, or otherwise; however, they should all be considered when determining your readiness for a CRM solution, what vendor to use, and the specifics of your implementation plan.

We hope this information can be both informative and useful for businesses who are considering a CRM solution, those already in the process of launching a solution, and for those who want to get more out of their CRM software.

“It’s fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.”-Bill Gates


thenine

PLANNING PROCESS PEOPLE


NO OBJECTIVESKNOW YOUR DESIRED DESTINATION

BEFORE YOU HIT THE THROTTLE.

Businesses who fail to set clear goals and objectives will inevitably fail. If you don’t define what success looks like, how will you know if you’ve accomplished it? While many businesses may believe they’ve established objectives with regards to a CRM implementation, too often these objectives are too vague. As a result, it

“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my

destination.”-Jimmy Dean

twoCRM success can fall victim to poor timing. This can mean one of a number of things. The first relates to necessity. Businesses may provide CRM as a solution to an unrelated problem. This is not the right time for CRM. One such circumstance is a business who is having staff issues. While providing more tools may improve staff performance and morale, if the wrong team is in place before a CRM implementation, the wrong team will still be in place after.

Businesses may also fail to consider the timeline and resources needed to successfully execute CRS in relation to their business cycles. A smooth kick off can be derailed quickly if it begins to interfere with existing daily practices. Employees who might have bandwidth during a kickoff may not have bandwidth in subsequent months if workloads vary with seasonality.

POOR TIMING

“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.”

-Albert Einstein

Lastly, while companies should think both short- and long-term about their needs, some companies may put their aspirations before their needs. Large CRM implementations can quickly be rendered useless if a company has no real use for it. Many of today’s solutions are very easy to scale, so start small before you commit to a large scale solution.


one

becomes virtually impossible to know when you’re on the right path and when you’ve steered off course. To drive success, create clear and tangible goals.

Even well-defined goals can lead to failure if they are not broken down into milestones. On a 10,000 mile journey, it’s much easier to course-correct after 200 miles than to fly for 9,000 miles and realize that you’ve been off course the entire time. And while these goals should be strategic and agreed upon before a program is initiated, it’s also important to revisit these objectives frequently and remain flexible. New information may highlight paths that you were previously unaware of.


PLAN BASED ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT NOTHING WILL GO TO PLAN. THIS WAY YOU WILL NEVER BE CAUGHT OFF-GUARD.

Even businesses who develop a strong A-to-B roadmap can watch their implementations spiral out of control when they are faced with an unexpected change. Some common challenges include turnover of key employees, budget cuts, or faster than anticipated growth. During the planning process, businesses should not only consider their optimal path to success but also what that path would look like given a variety of likely and unlikely circumstances. Beyond developing plans for these possible scenarios, it is beneficial to have a plan for the unplanned. In other words, if a situation arises that jeopardizes the current trajectory, and there is no contingency plan in place, how

NO PLAN

will a revised plan be made in an efficient and strategic manner? This may involve identifying categories - such as personnel, technology, or finance changes - and determining who needs to be involved in the decision making given a particular issue.

A common CRM implementation failure stems from underestimating implementation timelines. Truth be told, there is no defined end-point with regards to an implementation. CRM solutions will continue to require support as your business and CRM needs evolve. Create a plan that establishes when a launch is complete, what a maintenance plan is, and how you will plan for future growth and changes.

“Everyone has a plan ‘till they get punched in the mouth.”-Mike Tyson


three


LACK OF COHESIONA major benefit of CRM software is that it allows businesses to centralize and leverage information across different business units, including marketing, sales, support, and product groups. When one of these teams decides not to leverage their CRM tools, it will diminish the quality of the data but will not necessarily be detrimental to a program. Major problems do arise when different business groups fail to align around a common set of goals and practices. When this occurs, the data becomes non-transferable between business groups and teams end up working with completely different information. Data quality quickly becomes compromised and the benefit of a

single customer view is completely lost. And beyond the lost value, the massive amounts of duplicated entries with inconsistent taxonomies can become a nightmare for IT.

Cohesion needs to start at the most senior level of management. When management is not in agreement on a common direction, they will inevitably send teams on different trajectories. Individual teams will essentially start using their own, isolated version of the software. This lack of integration greatly reduces the value of the software, which leads to poor usage, poor data, and poor performance. Without cohesion, the house of cards will eventually crumble.

five


Bad data is probably the greatest risk to the long-term success of CRM. The longer a CRM solution is active, the more data that will be collected. As longevity and scale both increase, so does the likelihood of accruing bad data. Once the volume of bad data reaches a tipping point, users will deem all of the data unreliable and stop using it. Just as there are many variables affecting human perception there is no singular value for an acceptable data accuracy rate. Several different studies have suggested the error rate tipping point is somewhere between 4-20%. One of the reasons poor data quality is so detrimental is because it is cyclical. The less accurate the data in your CRM system, the less people will use it, and the less that people use your CRM, the less accurate your data will become.

Bad data issues fall into several categories: incorrect data, duplicate data, incomplete data, or outdated data. Incorrect data has obvious issues, including the making of poor decisions based on this invalid information. Duplicate data is often a result of a lack of cohesion between teams or team members. Once an entry is duplicated, it is likely that neither of the two entires will remain accurate or updated for long. One of the biggest benefits of CRM is the ability to have a 360-degree view of a customer. If different teams are using different entries, neither will be able to gain a complete view of that customer.

BAD DATA

four


six


TOOMUCHTOO SOON

As CRM software have evolved, their capabilities have grown immensely. In addition to contact management solutions, many CRM software now include multiple audience segmentation capabilities, marketing automation tools, social media integration, and mobile extensions. And these are just a few examples on a very long list.

While these options are enticing, companies get into trouble by including too much customization at launch. When initiating a new CRM solution, particularly for businesses who are transitioning from an old system, the first objective should be to not disrupt existing daily practices. Before

adding additional capabilities, make sure that the software seamlessly accomplishes all of the things that the old system could do, and help people make the transition. Only after this baseline has been established should businesses layer on additional capabilities.

Beyond the implementation challenges associated with over- customization, it denies employees the opportunity to learn a product’s core capabilities before expanding it with add-ons. A commonly heard phrase is, “The new system is fine, but I’m just so much more familiar with the old system.” Learning a new system is enough work. When layered with needing to learn a bunch of additional features, the task can be overwhelming. Avoid this implementation misstep by taking a phased launch approach.

“The new system is fine, but I’m just so much more

familiar with the old system.”


POOR USER ADOPTIONPerhaps the largest objection to implementing CRM systems is the notion that people will not use it. Unfortunately, many companies seem to will this into happening. The result is a failed implementation and unhappy management who proved themselves right.


The importance of training employees on new software cannot be understated. Even the best CRM implementation can be rendered useless if no one knows how to use it, and unfortunately, this is the root of why many CRM implementations fail.

Training failures can take on several forms, the first of which is simply a failure to educate employees on how to use the new tools. Businesses also fail by not documenting their processes. While hands-on training can be extremely beneficial, proper documentation provides an important resource for employees to reference as they begin to implement new programs on their own.

It is very useful to have internal experts, whether formally or

INSUFFICIENT TRAINING

informally designated. These are individuals who are particularly knowledgeable on the software and process, and can act as a resource for others should simple questions arise. Users may give up on trying to learn a new system if they perceive getting help to be too daunting or embarrassing, so having this role filled by a fellow employee makes the task of asking for help much easier. When planning, consider who may fill this role and what the impact on their bandwidth may be.

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” -Benjamin Franklin

seven

eight

Poor user adoption is a major cause of CRM failure. Limited usage results in poor data quality, which begets even less usage. There are several common causes for poor user adoption.

The first cause has little to do with the users and more to do with management. Often, with CRM implementations, the software is viewed as a tool to help the staff. As management is not involved in the day-to-day operations, they have very little interaction with the software. While they certainly want it to be used, their perceived indifference to usage quickly trickles down through the organization. For CRM to be truly successful, it must become a part of a company culture that starts from the top. New management

dashboards that provide a comprehensive view of activity have given managers a higher stake in the game, but without a commitment from the people at the top, the chances for the employees below to commit is low.

Many companies fail to gain traction with CRM because they fail to socialize it throughout the company. The companies must show employees the immediate value of using the tools. The value of CRM solutions increase as more information is provided to the system, thus the more teams that are able to contribute data, the better. In order for users to leverage these tools, they first must be made aware of their capabilities. Then they must be trained.

Some companies struggle to get employees to use their CRM systems because they are believed to be too complicated to use. The perception is that the cost of use is lower than the potential benefit. To combat this, companies must make usage as simple as possible. This may range from additional training to providing tools that help integrate the CRM system with other software that the employees already use.

Lastly, companies can also fail when they neglect to involve employees in the process. Getting input from end users can unlock opportunities to improve the implementation, uncover reasons for poor adoption, and incentivize use by giving the employees a stake in the final implementation.


THE PROMISE OF CRM IS NOT TO OUTSOURCE RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT TO A COMPUTER.

A common cause of CRM implementation failure starts with misguided expectations, such as expectations that it will replace a sales or marketing team. That it will free up resources. That it, in and of itself, will build stronger relationships with customers.

Unfortunately, these expectations will lead to disappointment. The promise of CRM is not to outsource relationship management to a computer, but rather to provide tools, in the form of software, that can help businesses better manage their relationships. More relationships. Higher quality relationships. With greater cohesion across business units. CRM and managing relationships are not synonyms. CRM is not a technology only solution; it is system that is enabled by software. Managing these relationships still requires a lot of work.

The expectations for CRM should be reflected in the evolving roles of employees. Marketing teams who once focused heavily on getting ads out the door will now focus on

OVER-RELIANCE

more strategic tasks, like defining audience segments, creating customized user experiences, and providing quality leads to sales with information on their interests and purchase triggers. Customer support teams will align much more closely with product development teams, providing real time product feedback. CRM can provide customers with a more personalized experience, but it is only able to do so through the people that enable this personalization.

The most unfortunate part of these CRM failure rate statistics is that with some better guidance and planning, many of these failures could have been huge success stories. While hindsight is 20/20, we hope that using insights from past failures can help provide guidance that will drive future success. Wherever you are with regards to CRM - just learning or a seasoned veteran - we hope that this exploration has been both informative and useful to you on your journey.


“There are no shortcuts in life - only those we imagine.”-Frank Leahy

nine


#reimagine

110 111REIMAGINE MARKETING REIMAGINE MARKETING-ALBERT EINSTEIN

Anyone who has

never made a

mistake has never tried

anything new.”


8 CRM in the Age of the Customer

54 Failure To Launch

40 What is your software worth?

82 Custom Tailored

Customer Relationship Management in the Age of the Customer is causing business to

evolve their customer experiences. CRM helps to unify experiences across the

customer journey, from engagement to transaction, through fulfillment

and service.

Once a new CRM software has been acquired, the implementation process begins. Avoid common

implementation pitfalls - such as failing to set expectations, poor planning, and low adoption - to get the most out of your CRM.

Target the right person with the right message at the right place at the right time. Develop customer segments

that are differentiated, targetable, and addressable. With defined segments, leverage targeted media to deliver customized messages to these unique audience groups.

Software is typically considered an intangible asset; however, depending on the type of software, its relationship to the hardware,

and its delivery method - cloud-based or on-premise - software may be classified in one of several different ways.

MEETING MINUTES

20 Social vs search showdown

42 The Science of Relationships

47 Get a breakdown of the new Twitter layout

More and more, social media and search seem to be competing for ad dollars, with promises of highly-targeted, low-cost ads. Exploring their strengths shows that they are more complementary than competitive, with social aiding in awareness, interest, and social validation and search in research and purchasing.

Don’t have time to read everything. Here are the meeting notes with the highlights.

There are lots of great insights marketers can learn from science, like to create simple

messaging that is easy and obvious to understand; provide a hierarchy of information, offering general concepts before providing detailed

information; and set expectations in advance.

Twitter recently introduced an updated

page, making major changes to both the

layout and design. The new page features a

full-width header image, moved the profile

picture to the upper left, highlights popular tweets, and now allows

users to pin tweets to the top of their page.

© 2014 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This document is provided “as-is.” Information and views expressed in this document, including URL and other Internet Web site references, may change without notice. You bear the risk of using it. Some examples are for illustration only and are fictitious. No real association is intended or inferred. This document does not provide you with any legal rights to any intellectual property in any Microsoft product. You may copy and use this document for your internal, reference purposes.

Privacy Statement: http://www.microsoft.com/privacystatement/en-us/core/default.aspxTrademarks: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/legal/intellectualproperty/Trademarks/EN-US.aspx

114 REIMAGINE MARKETING

CUS-TOMER RELA-TION-SHIPS

Documents

REIMAGINE - download.microsoft.comdownload.microsoft.com/.../Reimagine-CRM.pdf · Users can send messages between countries, and even if you don’t have cell phone service in another