3 Ways to Foster Customer Loyalty and Create Brand Fanatics

“Your website isn’t the center of your universe. Your Facebook page isn’t the center of your universe. Your mobile app isn’t the center of your universe. The customer is the center of your universe.” – Bruce Ernst When it comes to building brand loyalty, there’s not one formula that works. Every brand has a different …

Suppression Explained: Off-Target Messages Erode ROAS and Goodwill

Sometimes, less is more — especially in digital marketing. Ask Marc Pritchard. Procter & Gamble’s CMO made international headlines in 2017 when he slashed $200 million from the CPG goliath’s digital ad budget, returning to the spotlight when the gambit boosted reach by 10 percent. “We were annoying the hell out of people,” Pritchard admitted, …

Direct-to-Consumer Brands Are Redefining Marketing

Note: a version of this article previously appeared in The Drum. Direct-to-consumer brands have disrupted nearly every industry. Names like Warby Parker, Uber, Allbirds, Stitch Fix, and HelloFresh are inescapable, with plenty more coming into the collective American consumer consciousness on a regular basis. These brands are also the subject of intense interest — even …

Forget Customer Convenience, Amazon Go Is About Customer Data

Note: a version of this article originally appeared in Retail Dive. It’s far from certain whether Amazon Go represents the future of shopping, but it certainly feels like shopping in the future. The checkout-free convenience store’s new location in downtown Chicago — the first to open outside of Seattle — is every bit as high-tech …

How the GDPR Will Revolutionize Retail Marketing

Note: a version of this article originally appeared in Internet Retailer. We’re now several months removed from the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) dropping across the European Union — and the Y2K-esque panic accompanying its debut turned out to be more bark than bite. Sure, the first few weeks saw an initial burst of consumer …

119 Billion Reasons Why Brands Must Control Their Customer Data

Note: a version of this article originally appeared in MarTech Today. In late July, Facebook woke up to the largest one-day loss by any company in the history of the U.S. stock market, dropping $119 billion (roughly one-fifth of its market value) after posting slower-than-expected user growth in its Q2 earnings report. For those who …

Without Identity, Retailer Ad Retargeting Misses the Mark

Note: a version of this post originally appeared in Marketing Land. “Are we there yet?” As any parent who has endured a summer road trip with young, easily bored children can attest, there is no question more annoying. Especially after hearing it repeated ten times… within the first half hour. Sound familiar? If you’re a …

Webinar: The Age of Individualization

Increasingly, retailers are focusing on individualization to meet and exceed the expectations of the always-on, omnichannel consumer.  But individualization’s true innovators are using identity resolution technologies as the foundation of their customer engagement strategies, including paid media. This webinar will deliver actionable steps to progress your retail brand’s marketing efforts from segmentation to individualization. Learn …

Smart marketing still hinges on humanity, not technology

Note: A version of this post originally appeared in MartechToday. Remember what life was like before we had smartphones? We scrolled through inches of white pages without a thought, carried impossible-to-fold maps wherever we traveled and never left home without pocket change. Now it seems as if we think everything would work better if it were …

Swift Shifts in Marketing Spend Cannot Stem the Amazonian Tide

Note: A version of this post originally appeared in Marketing Land. After decades of trying to fill a brand’s proverbial leaky bucket — continually flooding it with acquisition dollars instead of plugging the holes with retention spend — marketers are finally turning the tide. According to a recent Gartner survey of CMOs, marketing leaders are now …