Chatbots are now key to increasing engagement rates and motivating users to buy
Whether you’ve realized it or not, it’s very likely that you have spoken or corresponded with a bot at least once in your life. In fact, chances are you’ve had long and insightful conversations with a bot, some of which you couldn’t possibly have had with a member of the human race. Chatbots are on the rise, and it seems that in 2017 they’re becoming more effective, more engaging, and easier to use than ever before.
The rise of bots could be plainly attributed to an increasing usage of messenger apps and is built on the premise of instant messaging. Predictions show that by 2019, more than one-quarter of the world’s population will be using…
Chart of the Day: McKinsey Analysis rates machine learning marketing applications highly
I thought this was an interesting chart and article from McKinsey on 'What’s now and next in analytics, AI, and automation'.
McKinsey outline the range of opportunities for applying artificial intelligence in their article. They say:
'For companies, successful adoption of these evolving technologies will significantly enhance performance. Some of the gains will come from labor substitution, but automation also has the potential to enhance productivity, raise throughput, improve predictions, outcomes, accuracy, and optimization, as well expand the discovery of new solutions in massively complex areas such as synthetic biology and material science'.
At Smart Insights, we've been looking beyond the hype to look at specific practical applications for applying AI in marketing. Our recommendation is that the best marketing applications are in machine learning where predictive analytics is applied to learn from historic data to deliver more relevant personalization, both on site, using email…
Audit your marketing technology stack with the 6Cs to refine its capabilities and prove its return on investment
Do you know the stackies? They're an informal contest arranged by Scott Brinker, creator of the marketing technology vendor landscape where different companies visualise their marketing stacks in different ways. Here are the latest martech stack entries. They're presented in vastly, different ways from this superbly visual example...
to this more structured approach of the 5Cs of Martech - which looks like the inspiration for the new 6Cs of Martech featured at the end of this article.
You can audit your marketing stack against any of these ‘stackie’ entries. The structure of some of the examples like the second one prompted us to think whether there was a simple, practical way of visualising or…
How to build the right marketing technology stack for your business
It's now a lot more common to talk about choosing 'martech stacks' and rightly so, given the impact that technology, data and insight can have on marketing today. The popularity of the concept of a martech stack has grown out of the categorisation of marketing technology based on Scott Brinker’s Martech landscape and others such as our Digital Tools wheel.
Businesses have always considered their portfolio of business IT applications for operations such as finance, logistics and marketing, but traditionally, they have been controlled by IT teams who have managed a limited number of ‘enterprise resource planning’ systems such as SAP. With the growth in cloud based SaaS, it has become far easier for individual departments and, in particular, marketing, who need to manage many digital marketing channels like search and social media marketing, to deploy their own solutions.
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Demand remains strong for digital marketers though the supply of candidates will be tight
The proliferation of digital tools, social media, and mobile have created a world of two-way communication with buyers that’s here to stay. To keep up, companies are seeking out marketers with digital expertise at an increasing rate, according to a recent study from McKinley Marketing Partners.
The study, which surveyed over 300 marketers, reveals a healthy job market for the marketing industry overall, 19 percent growth over last year. Additionally, 44 percent of those surveyed plan to hire more marketers this year compared to only 28 percent last year.
Digital marketing continues to dominate with a projected 56 percent of hires requiring some degree of digital experience. Interestingly, 48 percent of requests for marketing talent received by McKinley Marketing Partners in 2016 required digital skills, and that figure is already on the rise this year. Creative services (35 percent)…
Are Spotify and Valve models to be followed or impossible to replicate?
We live in an age of Digital Disruption. The biggest transport provider (Uber) owns no cars, the biggest accommodation provider (Airbnb) owns no rooms, the biggest content provider (Facebook) creates no content. These new businesses have brought with them radically different models of organisational structure which was part of the reason they were able to do better than anyone before in their respective industries. Many of what were once new and exciting little start-ups, involving young folks tinkering in their garages are now massive businesses with more conventional corporate structures. Google and Apple are now two of the Worlds largest companies, and have all of the usual trappings of corporate hierarchy, like Presidents, CEOs, and managers of all different types.
But there are some companies which have retained their start-up culture and really do have radically different structures, which most marketers would…
Martech tools aren't just for marketers, sales needs them too
The much-talked about disconnect between sales and marketing departments (and likewise professionals) needs to be put to bed. If you pardon the (intentional!) pun: they always have been, and always will be perfect bed companions. Let’s boil this down: the purpose of your marketing department has always been to drive sales, and connect with and engage customers with your brand.
As such, sales and marketing have always been closely linked. Nevertheless, in many businesses, they are remaining distinctly separate, often operating in silos. This approach is in direct opposition to the way modern business works. Instead, marketing and sales should come together to help join the dots between the target audience and the brand itself.
Modern technology is an integral tool in not just connecting those dots between the brand and prospects or customers, but also between the two departments. Silo-based business models…
Using machine learning and predictive intelligence in the B2B Buyer journey
AI (Artificial Intelligence) has become a business buzzword this past year, even featuring in the mainstream media. AI includes any kind of computer program which actively seeks to mimic a human capability, such as understanding speech, recognizing images or responding to questions. When it comes to using AI in the sales cycle, there are two technologies which are particularly useful, and it’s worth drilling down and understanding them rather than focusing on the nebulous term ‘AI’. These are Machine Learning and Predictive Intelligence.
These two technologies can work in tandem to provide your sales team with a way to target the hottest and most qualified leads, and thus save time and bring in more revenue.
The graphic below shows the range of different artificial intelligence, machine learning, and propensity modeling techniques which can be applied and different stages of the customer lifecycle.
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Chart of the Day: Digital Advertising, Content Marketing and Social Media are the most sought after skills in 2017
Research by McKinley Marketing Partners highlights the wide range of skills digital marketing teams need in 2017, varying from SEO and project management to Email and Analytics. There are a few front runners for being the most in demand skills for businesses in the USA.
Digital advertising and content creation, curation and strategy are highest in demand. Social media, email and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) were close behind, highlighting the importance of an overall digital media strategy that makes the most of the content bring produced. SEO, Advertising & Social would not be very effective and very boring without a steady stream of high-quality engaging content.
Interestingly Project Management is at rock bottom as the least sought-after skill but without a well-structured project plan to support the marketing strategy you will quickly find that the final product of all your hard…
Up your slack game with these time-saving tools
What better way to boost marketing and sales productivity than using a productivity tool? Slack now has over 4 million users, and many marketing and sales tools have used that opportunity to reach more users by building integrations.
The good news for marketers and sales personnel is that you can now get more work done without having to leave your Slack channels. This article summarises what you can do with these 10 great Slack integrations.
GrowthBot
I’m beginning with GrowthBot because it is a severely underestimated chat based marketing tool that can help you with content ideas, keyword research and monitoring your competition.
Once you have integrated the tool, you simply have to say “Hello” to have it suggest a dozen or so questions that you can then use as queries. Some interesting questions are “What…
