According to KC Claveria (Marketer from Vancouver, B.C.), if social media used rightly, can help you in maintaining better relationships with customers. According to the Mckinsey & Company report, “email conversion rates are 40times higher as compared to Facebook and Twitter combined.” This shows that for generating leads, email marketing is very important. Email marketing is better than other marketing channels because:
• With email, you’re reaching an audience that already knows you.
• There’s too much noise on social.
• People are more likely to see (and click on) your email.
• You get to say more on email.
Read more at http://www.business2community.com/email-marketing/why-email-marketing-beats-social-media-in-lead-generation-and-what-you-can-do-about-it-01246702#5FUji2OQheQ8LXzA.99

According to the Eyal Hilzenrat (Vice president of products and partnerships at YouAppi), mobile marketing is the future of marketing and installing the app is the beginning of this journey. And to the performance of your mobile marketing, use the Engagement metrics, Revenue metrics and Interest Metrics. KPI to mobile marketing are:
• Number of times the mobile app was accessed during the first 24 hours / first week (after installation)
• Permission granted to the app
• Time spent in-app
• Number of screens/pages accessed during in-app visit
• Number of subscriptions / registration
• Purchases
• Number of items placed in a shopping cart
• Number of articles read
• Number of pages visited
• Social Shares
• Retention rates
• Brand awareness
Read more at: http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/top-12-key-performance-indicators-for-maximizing-mobile-app-revenue/621659

Predictive marketing has taken hold of enterprises today. Marketers are now making use of predictive analytics and this has given birth to predictive marketing. Predictive marketing is the application of algorithms and machine learning tools to Big Data in order to help marketers direct their efforts in the most profitable direction. Using predictive analytics tools, marketers can gauge future sales and thus formulate appropriate marketing strategies to help boost sales. Predictive analytics can be used for segmenting customers, deciphering the pattern in their behavior and thus offering them the appropriate deals. Marketing and sales are the areas where predictive analytics is most used. Read more at: http://www.cio.com/article/2934274/why-marketers-are-betting-big-on-predictive-analytics.html

Mobile is a much more personal, interactive, engaged platform than desktop, and should be used as such. - By Ari Brandt (CEO and co-founder of MediaBrix). In this competitive era, if a company won’t recognize the opportunity first, a chance of losing the games increases. And mobile phone is one of the biggest opportunities to maintain a close relationship with your customers. But most of the ad companies are failing to recognize the demands, challenges and opportunities of mobile phones. Rule to crack the opportunity of mobile phones:
• Leave old ad methods behind.
• Take advantage of unique mobile capabilities.
• Put the customers first.
• Leverage new measures of campaign success.
Read more at: http://mashable.com/2015/06/11/mobile-marketing-innovation/

Social media, due to its immense popularity, is being used for branding. It is paving a way for small businesses to compete with their bigger counterparts. Social media has led to consumer empowerment thus allowing them to interact with one another, ignoring the established channels of marketing. Adopting a mobile strategy is critical for marketers, and almost every individual in today's world possesses a mobile phone. Social media can both strengthen a brand or lead to its demise. Companies should be able to quickly adopt new strategies in response to consumer preferences to be successful. Read more at: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7953-social-media-branding.html

B2B firms can learn from the long journey of B2C firms with mobile apps and learn how to maximize customer engagement and revenues."-Uma Ganesh (CEO, Global Talent Track) Mobiles forced large B2C companies to make mobile marketing and apps as the integral part of their marketing strategy. Apps have already exceeded the web when it comes to consumer time spent. But in case of B2B firms, decision makers use traditional means rather than mobiles across all touch points, including apps, websites, landing pages, email and social media. In building an app, a company need to invest money. In order to make the app work for marketing, it is important to plan that will lead to convenience and customer delight. To know more, follow this link: http://www.financialexpress.com/article/industry/tech/success-with-mobile-apps-in-b2b-marketing/81549/

With so much technology advancement in real estate business, finding the right digital marketing strategy for your real estate business is creating disruption not only for brokers, but also for agents. 91% of realtors use social media in their business and 45% of realtors want more technology from their brokers. To build an effective digital strategy, broker needs to provide right software and training to their agents. Matthew Barba (CEO and co-founder of Placester) in his article "6 strategies to kick your broker marketing into high gear" discussed about 6 strategies to help brokers in marketing. They are:

• Take the lead and help your broker in deciding the right technology and provide solutions to their problems.
• Educate yourself and your brokers.
• Use the right tool for your job.
• Work as a team with your agent.
• Recruit wisely.
Read more at: http://www.inman.com/2015/06/04/6-strategies-to-kick-your-broker-marketing-into-high-gear/

In this competitive world, relying on one or two marketing channel is not a right decision. If you want to have a competitive advantage, use omni-channel marketing. Omni-channel marketing is about teamwork and using various marketing channels towards a single goal and delivering customer satisfaction. Key to omni-channel marketing success is analytics. Analytics and predictive modelling helps in gathering data, segmentation and provide relevant information. Companies can use internal data assets with external market intelligence to drive a decision. Tying customer's digital information with strong database helps in delivering personalized messages to customers.  Analytics provides metrics which helps in comparing channel performance. Helps in combining 1st party and 3rd party data. Read more at: http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/19/129314.html

U.S. is seen as trendsetter in terms of digital marketing. Though, it’s not the only country in this space, but still people look up to it, to know what’s coming next. In his article at The Guardian, Luke Carrell, Strategy Director at We Are Social, has shared few digital marketing trends that are doing the rounds in US. They are:

• Personal branding for (mostly) good
• Social thinking
• Push into consciousness
• Innovating from within
• Branded content

Albeit, not exclusive to US, these trends shows us the future of digital marketing globally.

To understand them in detail, please visit the following link:

http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/2015/jun/01/trends-us-digital-marketing-landscape

In this fast changing world, entrepreneurs need to keep up with the trends to make their companies stand out. To keep their business afloat and growing, they need to know about all fields related to their business, including marketing.

Digital marketing is the trend these days. So, to help entrepreneurs update their knowledge on this front, Neil Patel, Cofounder of Crazy Egg, Hello Bar and KISSmetrics, in his article at The Forbes, has shared six must know points on digital marketing. They are:

• It’s more than PPC ads.
• It costs money.
• Content is king.
• SEO is not dead.
• Mobile optimization is de rigueur.
• Conversion optimization will give you the biggest impact in the shortest amount of time.

To know more about these digital marketing key points, please visit the following link:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/neilpatel/2015/05/04/6-things-that-every-entrepreneur-must-know-about-digital-marketing/

According to Marge Breya (CMO and Executive Vice President of Worldwide Marketing and Informatica Education), “data is the fuel powering business processes, machines, sensors and customized user experiences.” Using data in marketing gives you a competitive advantage. Some basic steps for making data driven marketing team: firstly, identify a person who has knowledge about data analytics within and outside the organization. Secondly, to create a data driven culture, find a leader. Thirdly, a leader needs to create an environment where their marketing team feels safe in becoming data literate. And to solve the problem of “how to make a data literate team,” use education, exposure and practice. Read more at: http://www.computerworld.com/article/2928800/big-data/how-to-create-a-data-driven-marketing-team.html

A business plan is a written description of a business's future, a document that tells us what to do, how to do and also tells us where we stand.

And a marketing plan lays out the marketing strategies of the business. If efficiently executed, it brings benefits to the business. Megan Totka, Chief Editor, ChamberofCommerce.com, in her article at business2community.com, has shared five ways to lay the foundation for a solid marketing plan for a small business. They are:

1. Define your objectives.
2. Create a customer profile.
3. Figure out what triggers consumers to buy.
4. Establish a timeline.
5. Identify where customers find details about your products and/or services.

To understand them in detail, please visit the following link:

http://www.business2community.com/small-business/5-steps-to-a-small-business-marketing-plan-01236176

“Small Changes, Big Impacts” – that’s what hacks are according Kirsten Newbold-Knipp, Research Director at Gartner for Marketing Leaders.

In her article at Forbes, Kirsten has listed 10 digital marketing hacks, that you can implement immediately and see dynamic changes in your marketing activities like:

• Cost Savings
• Time Savings 
• Demonstrable ROI

Some of these digital marketing hacks that were voted the best at Gartner Digital Marketing Conference are:

• Be Your Customer
• Implement Interview Projects
• Fail Fests – Embrace Innovation & Failure
• Steal Ideas from Other Industries or Disciplines

To know more, please visit the following link and make few choices for your organization:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gartnergroup/2015/05/27/ten-digital-marketing-hacks/

Paul Mandeville, Chief Product Officer, QuickPivot, in his article at cmswire.com has given 3 C’s of modern retail marketing. They are:

• Context
• Content
• Customer Experience

Combining these three with big data, can do wonders for retailers. All they need to do is to clean up their organization’s database and find a common thread between these three C’s of retail marketing.

The retailers need to realize the power of these C’s for capturing their customers’ hearts. To know more, please visit the following link:

http://cmswire.com/digital-marketing/the-3-cs-of-modern-retail-marketing/

Thanks to enhanced campaigns, the role of paid search has been changing. Paid search helps to expand company's footprint on a search engine result pages and increases visibility as consumers often cast their eye towards the largest visual element when we go through a website. With new technology and devices like laptops, tablets and smartphones marketers must plan ads in a way that it reaches the consumers in the search context that the they prefer. Users set ads to appear according to three general events:  

• The time of day when the customer conducts a search       
• The device type on which the consumer is accessing the search     
• The location in which the ad is served 

The benefit is streamlining campaign so that ads that used to require separate campaigns, can now be handled in a single campaign. Marketers can increase campaign bids during the times of day when customers are more likely to search for a product. Enhanced campaigns has not only benefitted marketers but also the customer as their convenience is taken into account. Read more at: 

http://www.cmswire.com/cms/analytics/maximizing-your-enhanced-marketing-campaigns-029244.php 

According to a 2014 study, “88 percent of executives have begun a digital transformation at their company, but only 25 percent say they have completely mapped out the digital customer experience. A big part of the problem is that senior executives don’t know where to start.”

The impact of digital revolution has been huge. But, what all companies want is to embrace this impact and emerge as leaders of their field. They want to easily adapt to these changes like HMV did when the digital era of music challenged its business.

Joerg Niessing, INSEAD Affiliate Professor of Marketing, in his article at knowledge.insead.edu, has listed out three important principles that companies should keep in mind while mapping out digital customer experience. They are:

• Customer Orientation
• Customer Segmentation
• Integrated Branding at every Consumer Touchpoint

Although digitalization has changed the way we live and work. But, the golden rule of marketing still works nevertheless i.e. Be Customer Centric. Keep this mind along with the above mentioned principles; you may get a solution to this changing marketing scenario.

To know more, please visit the following link:

http://knowledge.insead.edu/blog/insead-blog/what-brands-need-to-survive-in-a-digital-world-4050

“Marketers don't like analysis -- they prefer an epiphany."

- Elaine Murphy

Contrary to this view, analytics isn’t that bad for marketers. Rather, if used effectively, it can bring them some realization. So, the question that now arises is that how can marketers use analytics effectively to their advantage? To answer this question, Jonha Revesencio, Brand Marketer, Storyteller and Global Speaker, has listed down various useful analytics tools in her article at huffingtonpost.com. They are:

• Clicktale
• CrazyEgg
• Jotform
• Simply Measured
• Compete
• Google Analytics

To understand how these tools will help you market better, please visit the following link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonha-revesencio/6-effective-analytics-too_b_7421078.html?ir=India&adsSiteOverride=in

According to a recent study, 50% of the consumers believe that their brands are clueless about how to reach them and only one in three customers believe that their brand understands them. According to Bill Carmody (CEO of Trepoint), the best way to understand the customer is by emotional intelligence. Emotional Intelligence refers to the ability to perceive, control and evaluate emotions. It is about being real, authentic and intuitive and also helps to develop digital marketing campaigns. Here are some tactics to implement emotional intelligence in digital marketing campaign:
• Understand your audience by using social listening tools such as Topsy, Hootsuite and Social Mention.
• Add value to customers rather than simply pushing your agenda. Adding value includes finding ways to enhance and improve the customer’s experience.
• Try to attract customers by thinking beyond benefits and features.
• Think ways to surprise or delight your audience rather than creeping them. This can be done by using predictive analysis.
• Respect when retargeting.
Read more at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/246390

“Thought Leadership is innovative thinking within a specific area of knowledge which helps shape the evolution of that field.”

For content marketers, thought leadership is about setting an example in their industry through original content that informs and delights. According to Dorie Clark, “Thought leadership is necessary because it gives people a clear reason to choose you over the competition.”

Nate Birt, Deputy Managing Editor at Top Producer Magazine, in his article at entrepreneur.com, has described five fundamental ways in which content marketers can command thought leadership. They are:

1. Create deep content on mission-critical subjects.

2. Invite users to exclusive beta testing of a new service.

3. Engage with real-time video using Periscope.

4. Start a cross-platform hashtag campaign.

5. Write news releases.

Using these ideas can help a brand to be at the top in its customer’s mind. To know more, please visit the following link:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/246056

iGen or  Generation Z is the generation who has been born in digitalization age with smart phones in the hands. iGen is independent, stubborn, pragmatic and always in a rush. Marketers are facing problem in understanding their interest, hobbies and attitude. Gen Z wants to know everything about a product before buying. They trust friends, strangers over advertisements, blogs or information on the net. In an article by Joan Schneider (CEO of Schneider Associates), shares some tips on how to market iGeneration:

·         Personalize Everything.

·         Connect with them through social media.

·         Be strategic with advertisement.

·         Excite I Generation with content.

·         Use mobile to reach I Generation.

Marketers also need to be social, transparent and personal with this generation. To know more about this generation read an article “How to market to the Generation I” by Joan Schneider at: https://hbr.org/2015/05/how-to-market-to-the-igeneration