Marketing and Technology in 2016

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Marketing Technology in 2016:Q&A with Futurists, Stan Phelps and Shep Hyken

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Introduction

We reached out to key industry experts, called Futurists, to get their take on the future of marketing. This eBook gets to the heart at what influencers predict for the future of marketing and technology.

About the Futurists

Shep Hyken sees a future where the most subtle of customer preferences are understood, building more meaningful and valuable brand connections.

Shep is a customer service and experience expert, business speaker, and New York Times best-selling author. He is the CAO (Chief Amazement Officer) of Shepard Presentations, where he focuses on helping companies deliver amazing customer service experiences.

Follow Shep on Twitter @Hyken or connect with him on LinkedIn.

Stan Phelps sees a future where predictive and cognitive analytics transform the customer journey and experience.

Stan is a best-selling author, speaker and consultant. He believes that marketing must focus on meaningful differentiation in order to win the hearts of both employees and customers. He is a contributor to Forbes, and his insights have been featured on leading sites such as Customer Think, MENG Blend, Switch & Shift and Business 2 Community.

Follow Stan on Twitter @9INCHmarketing or connect with him on LinkedIn.

2 | Marketing Technology in 2016: Q&A with Futurists, Stan Phelps and Shep Hyken | #NewWaytoEngage

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What kind of adjustments do marketing teams need to make to work with emerging technology?

The first adjustment is understanding that it’s not about the technology. It’s about the customer. Successful teams take an outside-in approach. They look beyond just the tool and look toward solving problems for customers first and foremost. The second adjustment relates to being cross functional. Marketing teams need to break down silos within their company to work with emerging technology. The third and last adjustment involves adapting an agile approach. Marketers need to be bold when dealing with new technologies. They need to create an environment that encourages experimentation and learning along the way.

Technology can be a powerful tool, provided it adds to the customer’s experience. And, a good CX can be your best marketing. Customers want simplicity. Anything that is complicated, hard to understand or difficult to use cause the risk of the customer defecting to another solution (as in another company). In addition, certain marketing technology solutions can give you data that can create a better CX. In today’s competitive world, data that gives you the opportunity to personalize the customer’s experience may be the best data to collect.

Stan Phelps

Shep Hyken







How can marketers harness technologies to create an awesome customer experience?

First and foremost, focus on the customer. Technology was designed by people to be used by people. For a simple example, even if the customer does business with the company’s website, never talking to an employee, the website has to be designed in such a way that it is intuitive and simple to understand and use. A person or team designed the website, to be used by a customer. The bottom line is that there must be a balance between the technology that you want and your customer’s experience. The coolest, latest and greatest technology will mean nothing if the customer’s experience isn’t great. The customer will abort and move on.

Shep Hyken

Awesome customer experiences are personalized. According to IBM, 76% of today’s customers expect companies to know them as individuals*. They expect companies to translate that understanding into a customized experience. Marketers can use technology to turn big data into little data. Putting the personal back into business by knowing their customers. Awesome customer experiences are also responsive. 81% of today’s customers demand improved response time from the companies they interact with*. Great companies allow customers to have greater control over their experience. They find ways to reduce friction along the way. Technology can be a huge help in improving responsiveness and customer effort.

Stan Phelps


* Accessibility Analytics: A Hidden Gem Behind Great Customer Experience





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How do marketers stay ahead of what’s next?

Marketers can stay ahead using a blended 70/20/10 approach to technology. Focus 70% on your core, 20% on the cutting edge, and 10% on the bleeding edge. Marketer can also stay ahead through continuous innovation. They do this by leveraging an ongoing process called 3D: discovery / design / deploy. The first step is discovery. Discovering what’s important to your customers and discovering how you want to position yourself in the marketplace. After discovery comes design. Taking those insights and determining the technology and process to bring that differentiation to life. Once you’ve tested and validated the design elements, you then you need to focus on delivery. The people and process to bring it successfully to market and then starting the discovery process again.

Stan Phelps

First, the marketer must know what they need. There is a difference between what someone wants and what someone actually needs. Define what you need to achieve your goals, and then find the solution providers that can help you get there. Dial yourself into the technology providers that support your industry. Attend trade shows and conferences. Find out what other companies, who are similar to yours but not competitive, are doing. You may find a solution that is so new that there isn’t much data or experience to go off of. If it looks like it will achieve your goals, consider a partnership with the technology to become an early adopter.

Shep Hyken







The first things to consider are: What will the outcome of the technology be? Does it cross over into other existing technologies the company already has? And, will this new technology cannibalize something that is already in place? Executives want value for the money they invest. If there is a new technology, does it cost or pay? In other words, will the investment, in both time and human capital, generate a return? Executives like numbers. They like to know that the technology is tied to a KPI as well as revenue. Make the case and you’ll sell the technology.

Shep Hyken

What are the best practices to get buy-in for a new technology investment?

Executive buy-in for a new technology investment rests on three things: 1. Will it drive sales, 2. Will it reduce expenses and 3. Will it make them look good. Another key to executive buy-in is CLV. Will the new technology investment help drive customer lifetime value?

Stan Phelps







The top trend is the simple fact that marketing is now an insights to actions function. Technology, data, and analytics can help you scale your business, driving those insights and allowing to act in real-time.

What is the top trend you see in the future of marketing and technology?

Stan Phelps

Shep Hyken

The future is now. Data predictive analytics is here, and is a way to track all types of customer trends. It could be, what product is in demand, how consumers like to consume it, frequency of purchase, and much, much more. Data can be sliced and diced to include age, geographical location, financial level and much more. You can even track customer buying patterns tied to the weather, which is why in 2015 IBM bought The Weather Company*. The key is knowing what data to use. Not all data is good data. Too much data is confusing. Then once you have the data, what do you do with it? The best companies know what data is for them, and most importantly, they do something with it.


* The 2016 Marketing Forecast is “Cloudy”





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