For retailers, creating a retail holiday is an opportunity to inject growth into the brand, connect with customers during otherwise stagnant seasons and make an entire array of interactions shoppable. Furthermore, it creates an additional platform for new products and an incentive for new audiences who otherwise wouldn’t explore the site.

Here’s a few tips to getting the most out of your retail holiday.

Synergize with existing loyalty programs

Whether it be exclusive rewards or deals, most retailers have a robust loyalty program already in place. These participants are already familiar with the brand, and are likely to be among the first shoppers once the deals start rolling. But, while the savings will appeal to a wider audience and help create new long-term customers, it’s important to not forget the brand advocates who are already invested in these loyalty programs. How can you build upon the foundational value of the holiday, and use it as an opportunity to delight your most ardent supporters?

A strong way to differentiate for these shoppers is to take advantage of exclusive content that extends beyond the end of the sale. For example, consider random drawings for rewards cards or for retailers that offer points programs, doubling or tripling the points collected during the length of the holiday. The holiday can also be a recruitment tool for new members, with unique benefits offered to those who sign up in that limited window.

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Ensure message consistency 

In today’s marketplace, the customer journey takes place across a multitude of channels and platforms. Social media, customer reviews and especially mobile – there are countless touchpoints that inform the final purchase, and that’s on a normal shopping day. On retail holidays, this is dialed up significantly. Research found that 68 percent of Prime Day shoppers also explored outside of Amazon for further research.

Across all of these interactions, retailers need informational consistency. When does the holiday start? What deals apply to which products? Do return policies change for products purchased during this time? All of these are important questions that will asked within each channel, and incoherence between them will only lead to shopper frustration—and cart abandonment. With a central hub for product data and other key pieces of information, retailers can ensure a single message.

Get your service team ready

While poor experience is already likely to drive shoppers to competitors, the stakes during retail holidays are exponentially higher. This is a major opportunity to put your best foot forward and create life-long customers, so delivering anything short of exceptionalism will make a lasting impression. No brand is immune – Amazon famously stumbled in 2018, when the site crashed as soon as Prime Day began.

In the lead up to the holiday, take a hard look at your customer service infrastructure, from the website infrastructure to the amount of contact center agents available. When in doubt, scaling up in preparation for traffic surges and increased customer inquiries is worth the short-term investment.

Celebrate all year

At a surface level, retail holidays are a powerful way to increase shopper engagement and appeal to new audiences. The real strength, however, is tapping the information and data gleaned to create deeply personalized interactions and experiences throughout the entire year. Paired with artificial intelligence, this information helps form tailored experiences for each customer through real-time self-optimizing stores. It creates value for customers outside of savings and gives your brand fuel for initiatives in the future. These events are an opportunity to delight shoppers, certainly, but being truly customer-centric means showing up for them again and again, no matter what day of the year it is.

Chris Hauca is general manager at SAP Commerce Cloud.

The post Retail Ho Ho Holidays: 3 Tips for Improving Sales appeared first on Chief Marketer.

More and more marketers are adding artificial intelligence (AI) to their toolbox of late, and with good reason. AI promises significant automation of workflows and intellectual processes, and to a great extent, it delivers on that promise. However, it’s crucial that marketers not lose sight of the fact that AI is not magical or omnipotent.

The algorithms behind AI are beholden to the integrity—or lack thereof—in the measurements and datasets used to train them. If a model is trained to predict future states of the market, the data it is built with must be representative of that market. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. As a result, algorithms risk becoming as biased as their constituent data sets. Left unaddressed, such errors and inconsistencies can cascade through an entire marketing strategy and severely hobble its performance. Among the numerous potential pitfalls to monitor, AI bias often remains the most undetectable, and therefore, dangerous. The best way to mitigate this bias is by maintaining the right level of human interaction throughout the marketing chain while applying healthy scrutiny to data sources.

The Danger of Relying on Internal Data

Bias issues increase exponentially when marketers rely primarily on their own data to train their algorithms. This is increasingly common across many industries (due at least in part to growing privacy restrictions) and is particularly evident in the movie industry.

Organizations that assume their own data is somehow representative of the market as a whole are making a big mistake. Their AI algorithms are heavily biased toward what they have done in the past. Ironically, young companies are at the greatest disadvantage, as they have the smallest data pools, despite the best of data-driven intentions.

The hard truth is, algorithms are unable to imagine a future that is different from the past. Nowhere is that more clearly evident than in box-office prediction models. While there is technically no limit to their variety, there are three approaches that are often taken when developing such forecasting algorithms. For each, accuracy depends on the quality of the data made available to them.

Historical Box Office Models

Marketers don’t have access to paid engagement data or tracking data (surveys measuring awareness and intent) prior to eight weeks out from the film’s release. As a result, early-phase box office models rely largely on historical databases such as IMDB and Box Office Mojo. The algorithm’s understanding of the film’s prospective viewers is based entirely on how similar releases have fared in the past. It matches metadata points like cast, director, rating and synopsis to historical analogs, crunches the numbers, and projects how well the new release will do. Not surprisingly, sequels and franchise installments tend to get glowing projections.

The issue is that, historically, Hollywood has been biased toward white, male films and not very representative of minorities. That built-in bias prevents early-phase algorithms from recognizing the tremendous value in unprecedented films such as “Get Out,” Jordan Peele’s directorial debut, which , which turned out to be the 10^th-most-profitable film of 2017.

More broadly, if studios are relying on these algorithms to greenlight films—before even getting into the marketing and distribution—AI becomes a blocker to new and different kinds of content being produced. Producers can say their decisions to greenlight sequels and franchises are data-based, and they are, but the data is biased by historical box office performance.

Paid Media Engagement Models

As a film’s release date becomes visible on the horizon, marketers begin serving media on various paid digital platforms, typically beginning with a trailer drop and a few unique spots. User engagement with said media then begins to generate measurable data, which accrues to indicate absolute brand health as well as relative interest levels between different audiences. A media engagement-driven algorithm uses an understanding of how paid engagement patterns correlated with box office performance for past films, and it identifies similar patterns in the upcoming release. Bias is an issue here because different audiences engage with platforms in different ways.

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If your algorithm uses a metric biased toward one audience to predict the box office, you will be blind to signals from other audiences that might engage in different ways. It will provide false signals. Similarly, certain ages, genders, or ethnicities that don’t use (or overuse) social media won’t be taken into account, despite the fact that they may be hand-raising elsewhere. The model will often over-predict for movies that skew toward younger demographics and underpredict ones that skew older.

Survey Tracking Models

As a film’s release draws near, analysts can gain access to industry-standard survey panel reports that track audience awareness and intent. This tracking information offers data scientists a rich data set with which to train algorithms for predicting box office success.

Once again, bias can be a stumbling block. If the composition of the panel or the survey being used values certain demographics over others, it may reach faulty conclusions. The sample for surveys is not always representative of the general market audience, even in the best circumstances. For instance, the very fact that surveys are often delivered online means that the sample is skewed toward people with spare time to fill out surveys, or those in search of compensation for their time and opinions.

Similarly, algorithms must make judgments about the relevant value of different measured attributes, i.e., aided awareness, interest, etc., which may not hold true equally across all audiences. For example, if word-of-mouth promotion disproportionately drives audience turnout for certain audiences, their lifetime value (LTV) may not be taken into account by the model.

Human Involvement is Always Needed

Marketers can reduce their vulnerability to AI bias somewhat by relying on as many different, complementary models as possible. Combining multiple inputs results in much richer insights. In addition, it’s important for companies to be conscious of where they are sourcing their data from, selecting against misrepresentative or inapplicable data sets.

The single most important thing marketing organizations can do to mitigate the negative impact of AI bias is to constantly maintain human involvement. That may sound self-evident, but it’s lacking in a surprisingly large number of cases. The output of the model is not the end-all and be-all, and it should not serve as the foundation on which deterministic decision-making processes are built. AI is first and foremost artificial, and its value begins and ends with the input of both human creativity and critique.

Alex Nunnelly is senior director of analytics at Panoramic.

The post Don’t Let AI Bias Derail Your Marketing Efforts appeared first on Chief Marketer.

More companies are considering an account based marketing (ABM) approach, and for good reason. A 

When ABM is driven by strong data, and it absolutely should be, the rewards can be huge. According to the “2018 ABM Benchmark Study” by ITSMA and the ABM Leadership Alliance, 45 percent of business leaders are seeing double the return on ABM compared to other efforts. However, it requires testing, learning and pivoting your approach. That steady stream of leads coming from demand gen efforts can keep business moving along while you hone your ABM approach.

To be successful with ABM, you have to practice patience. It’s about quality, not quantity. Your success will depend on a strong strategy. Here are six things to think about:

1. Become a data clean freak.

Targeting a smaller audience — putting more eggs in one basket, so to speak — means selecting accounts based on accurate data. According to an online survey by Forrester, 92 percent of respondents say better data and research are the secret to big wins in ABM.

You can’t expect to find customers with a promising lifetime value and an ideal customer profile without accurate data. Plus, putting in the time to research and evaluate data with a fine-tooth comb will also improve your demand gen campaigns. Suddenly, all of your outbound marketing will have the potential to be more personalized.

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2. Find the common threads.

Review your largest accounts and existing relationships to determine common characteristics. Then, use this information to outline your key account list. Consider using profiling and modeling tools to track down other prospects that are similar to your best customers. This could include a common set of characteristics like size, location and funding availability.

Once you examine account history for hints on hot button issues, information needs and winning customer service strategies, you can better segment your audience for account-based and demand-generation efforts. You can align your messages and offers so they speak loudly and clearly as you try to reach new customers.

3. Get marketing and sales on the same page.

Traditional demand gen marketing is more like a relay race. The marketing team initiates campaigns to generate leads that are then handed off to sales for conversion. But with ABM, the relationship between marketing and sales is more like a choreographed dance.

For the plan to be successful, both teams must be in sync. The strategy is agreed upon beforehand, messaging is ongoing and focused, content and offers are account-specific, and follow-up is immediate. The information that’s gathered from interactions with clients is given back to marketing to inform the next campaign, and the results from each campaign are given back to sales to help determine the best contacts.

If it all pans out, your sales and marketing teams will learn how to bob and weave together effectively. It should improve your campaign performance overall.

4. Don’t forget to set expectations.

Because marketing and sales work in tandem when using an account-based approach, it’s even more important that all departments participate in lead definition, goal-setting, and process flow. Think about your key performance indicators as a team. It seems fundamental, but this is a critical piece of the strategy that’s often overlooked.

Know how many accounts you’re targeting, what dollar spend you need to convert, and what you think your conversion rate might be so you can back into a plan. It will be tough at first. It can take time for companies to determine what success looks like for ABM. Traditional metrics, like the number of leads generated, for example, aren’t as important. KPIs change, and it’s hard to know upfront how many opportunities will be generated or how much pipeline is needed to fill the funnel.

Still, revenue goals are revenue goals. Put something on paper to set expectations. It’s okay if you have to change as you go; just keep benchmarking and goal-setting as you start to learn what works and what doesn’t.

5. Use your intel to create personalized experiences.

Because ABM pares your audience significantly, your content and message must be customized to the account you’re targeting. The highly personalized user experience is what makes account-based marketing effective, but it can benefit your demand gen efforts as well.

This is all about understanding your accounts. Firmographic and demographic data can provide insights. You need to know what clients are selling, who is buying, and what their sales cycles are. You should also know what their business goals are and how your offer supports them personally. The cold, hard intel can help you create an offer that’s so tailored to the prospect that it’s hard to pass up.

6. Don’t wait until the end to evaluate results.

Most studies show that within a year, you’ll realize an incremental increase in your return on investment in ABM, but don’t wait until the year is up to measure successes and failures. Constantly evaluate which accounts are engaging and which aren’t. If you’re not getting a response from one account, move on and choose a new focus. Just like your demand-generation campaigns, optimize, iterate, learn, change and say goodbye to non-responders.

Account-based marketing isn’t a complicated concept, but it does represent a shift in thinking. The synchronization of sales and marketing, the planning, and the dedicated resources needed to create a highly customized user experience require thought and investment. But the rewards are worth the effort, and you can always tap into demand gen efforts when you need them. Combining strategies gives you more tools to work with.

Kristina James is director of marketing at MDR, a division of Dun & Bradstreet.

The post Six Tips for Using ABM to Complement Your Demand Gen Strategy appeared first on Chief Marketer.

Understanding customer needs and desires across their journey and ensuring organizations can respond accordingly has never been more important. According to Gartner, 81% of marketers say they expect to be competing mostly or completely on the basis of customer experience in by 2020.

Brands who get the customer experience equation right reap greater loyalty and increased revenues. However, those that fail risk customer defection, as two in three consumers say they’ll happily jump ship to brands that provide the best experience or service.

How do companies go about creating inspired customer experiences? They pay attention so they can anticipate and accommodate customer needs. Consider these best practices from brands focused “what’s next” in customer experience, keeping their brands relevant and simplifying and modernizing interactions with customers to maximize convenience.

Commerce Bank: To serve its increasingly tech-savvy customers expecting more personalized banking experiences, Commerce Bank has endeavored to add new offerings that are of value to its customer base and offer added convenience.

Seizing on an opportunity to address a huge need, Commerce Bank started offering hospital financing a few years ago, allowing consumers to apply for a zero-interest loan to finance medical bills. The program has been phenomenally popular.

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Plus, the bank is in the process of launching a new omni-channel offering, providing value-added service via one of the most ubiquitous touch points within the banking landscape, the ATM machine. The innovative Video Teller Talk offering gives customers the opportunity to connect with a live agent right at the ATM, adding ease and convenience.

Mercury Insurance: In the highly regulated insurance sector, customer experience is what sets brands apart. Over the past few years, Mercury Insurance has revamped its contact center and back office operations, undergoing sweeping change to support improved operational efficiency and customer experience, combining three disparate call centers into one large virtual center.

With great power to change, comes great responsibility. Mercury has undertaken this technology transformation with an equal emphasis on change management to give its employees the support needed to get behind the initiative.

Mercury’s perspective has been if you embark on a transformation of this nature without the proper change management discipline in place, you had better have the time and money set aside to do it all over again. Wise words from an organization that understands technology alone doesn’t power change—people, planning and the proper mindset do.

Citizens Energy Group: While many businesses talk customer-centricity, Citizens Energy Group walks it, shutting down the company for one full day so that everyone in the organization can participate in Customer Experience Training.

Citizens Energy Group is a broad-based utility service company, providing natural gas, thermal energy, water, and wastewater services to about 800,000 people and thousands of businesses in the Indianapolis area. It’s the only utility in the country that is a public charitable trust, so customer service takes on a whole new level. The company does extensive customer journey mapping, and educates every employee on what its customers say and how they feel about their experiences with all aspects of the utility — even what an ideal journey looks like for its customers. Finally, the customer experience training focuses on “Eight Best Practices to Improve Customer Satisfaction.”

It’s a great example of making customer service everyone’s business—and ensuring every employee understands what it’s like to walk in the shoes of its customers.

VyStar Credit Union:  From a consumer’s perspective, trust is one of the most vital attributes for customer loyalty. In a post-GDPR era, consumers are more educated than ever on their rights and the responsibilities of the brands they do business with regarding the protection of their information and interests.

Every brand must protect its customers against fraud, and this is now a top contact center priority as fraudsters are targeting contact centers as a vulnerable entry point for identity theft.

VyStar Credit Union, the 16th largest credit union in the United States with more than 660,000 members, is taking a leading position in the fight against fraudulent calls in the contact center. Their innovative fraud detection technology simplifies, modernizes and automates member authentication, and enhances security while improving the overall member experience, a true win-win for VyStar members.

Ryan Hollenbeck is svp of global marketing for Verint Systems.

The post Four Brands Getting Customer Experience Right appeared first on Chief Marketer.

Sports fans have a wealth of choices competing for their attention. Sports marketers face the same decisions when choosing which events to activate with and how. When a brand selects when and where to align with sports’ biggest events, they must understand how to value the results accurately.

Sponsorship packages for these events are pan-digital, intending to display logos or “@” mentions across many assets, online and off. When brands extend sponsorship into social media, the metrics can get fuzzy.

Here are three ways to get more from social media campaigns tied into sports or any event sponsorship.

Rethink Sports Sponsorship Value From Social Media

Narrowing the focus towards an estimated value per social post allows us to identify which events and sponsors see the best return on investments, considering both the placement budget and resources to create content. Placing value on individual posts is a more meaningful view of performance across events than comparing top-line numbers like overall value, the engagement rate of social content, or the total number of posts.

Budweiser’s sponsorship of the USWNT “Woman of the Match” was the most valuable sponsorship asset by any brand associated with the Women’s World Cup, according to analysis from MVPindex. Each match a player was selected and featured in posts on Twitter and Instagram. The “Woman of the Match” campaign returned the most bang for the buck, with each social media post valued at $15,000, despite earning little additional media value for its sponsored posts of the USWNT “Woman of the Match.”

Budweiser’s branded content’s value per post around the Women’s World Cup was 630% more than Visa, the top-overall company by earned brand value. Seventy-nine percent of the value for Budweiser was driven by the Instagram posts, which generated 93 percent of the campaign’s engagement.

Four sponsors earned over $100K of social brand value during MLB’s All-Star Weekend, including league partners MasterCard, Sirius XM, Chevrolet, and T-Mobile. It was Sirius XM, as the title sponsor of the Futures Game, that derived the most value per post as an MLB All-Star Weekend sponsor. Futures Game social media posts from the MLB tagging Sirius XM are valued at nearly $23K per post in brand value. All but one post measured for social value for SiriusXM came from Twitter—that’s 15 out of 16—for an estimated total value of $390K.

Align Social Campaigns to Desired Audience Actions

Using the MLB as an example, social engagement for the MLB Futures Game was one-third that of branded content for all of All-Star weekend, at 0.049 percent engagement rate per post compared to 0.149 percent. Given that the MLB and MLB All-Star Game social media playbooks are optimized for Twitter to support the amount of real-time, in-the-moment content and highlights, a low engagement rate is unsurprising—except possibly to those who have to see it on campaign reports.

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When designing social media campaigns, marketers must identify the desired actions by audiences who see branded content in social media. Marketers seeking engagement and engagement rates as key performance metrics should avoid a Twitter-first content strategy in favor of Instagram. Those who value impressions and reach may prefer an event that is covered primarily on Twitter, where audiences better tolerate by-the-minute updates.

MLS executed a balance of impressions and engagement rate by using a multi-channel approach during the MLS All-Star Game. Target, the All-Star Skills Challenge presenting sponsor, was credited with value derived from 13K social posts by the MLS. MVPindex analytis shows that while the MLS primarily drove impressions on Twitter (99.7 percent of the 4B impressions served), it was Instagram that garnered 81 percent of engagements for Target.

Leverage Branded Content Beyond the Field of Play

Three years removed from his final game, Alex Rodriguez remains the top-ranked social media influencer in Baseball, according to MVPindex. A-Rod demonstrated his staying star power by teaming up with MasterCard for a video campaign that extended onto his Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts. Activating with Rodriguez resulted in an additional 20.5K engagements for MasterCard at a higher-than-average 0.278 percent engagement rate, from an estimated 1.6M impressions. MasterCard was the only brand to activate with A-Rod during the All-Star game.

At the MLS All-Star Game, it was the opponent, Atletico Madrid who demonstrated its ability off the field as a social media powerhouse. In 29 posts across Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, Madrid drove over half-a-million engagements and estimated brand value of $1.63M for 11 different brands. Even Major League Soccer saw the impact, with exposure from 14M impressions to Atletico Madrid’s global fan base.

Yet it was a team visit to EA Sports HQ in Orlando that created the most value for any brand through Atletico Madrid’s social media. From six posts on Instagram and Facebook, EA Sports earned nearly one-third of all brand value ($500M) generated by Madrid during MLS All-Star. Away from the field, events, players, and teams can take part in these moments that drive additional value and opportunity for audiences to engage. Marketers must look outside of the core event to create these experiences and the stories that go along with them.

When marketers demand more from their sports sponsorship and partnership investments and have clear outcomes and specific metrics in mind, everyone wins. Partners understand what and how to report. Audiences benefit from more engaging, thoughtful storytelling. Sponsors evaluate performance on desired outcomes rather than arbitrary metrics.

Brian Foley is CRO of MVPindex.

The post Evaluating Sports Sponsorship Impact: 3 Tips appeared first on Chief Marketer.

Everyone loves good stories, especially people who want to get a message out.

Being mobile first and full screen are why stories are the darling of marketing, advertising, and PR in social mediakj. Stories capture attention. Stories get remembered. Stories build trust and fuel word of mouth.

Fortunately, stories work whether they’re told around a fire or from the phone in your hand—and stories ads are an especially effective way to attract and hold attention.

What Stories Are and Why They Work

Facebook describes its stories format as “a full-screen creative format that enables people to view and share everyday moments via photos and videos that disappear (unless saved) within 24 hours.”

That’s a great working definition of stories. But it doesn’t fully explain why they’re such a big deal: Stories are also the first true mobile-first content format. They are, as Kay Hsu, global director Instagram Creative Shop writes, “fun, vertical, immersive and totally modern.”

The ephemeral aspect of stories also makes them more effective. Stories’ short lifespan triggers a sense of urgency to see them, for one thing. That short lifespan also gives stories creators less pressure to be perfect. That, in turn, allows creators—and the stories they create—to be more authentic.

Authenticity, of course, engenders trust. Just witness how well user generated content builds trust (and makes for great ad creative). If you want sales and conversions, trust is the secret sauce.

A (Very) Brief History of Stories

Stories launched on Instagram in 2016, but they’ve been adopted quickly. As of this past January, 500 million people use Instagram Stories and 300 million use Facebook Stories every day. Stories are also available on Messenger and WhatsApp (where they’re called “Status”).

If you’re not familiar with stories (or you’re not an Instagram or Facebook native), check out “Stories School,” the Facebook Business page about stories for advertisers, and the Facebook Blueprint tutorials on stories. Facebook has put together a nice interactive presentation that shows what all the buttons and options in stories do, both on Insta and Facebook. It’s almost as good as having a teenager explain it to you.

Of course, stories aren’t just for Millennials and Gen z. They aren’t just for content creators, influencers, and celebrities, either. Stories are business friendly.

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The Rise of Stories Ads

There are plenty of stats that prove how effective stories ads are.  A third of the most-viewed stories are from businesses. More than 1 in 3 Instagrammers say they become more interested in a brand or product after seeing it via Instagram Stories. And, more than 2 million advertisers use stories ads every month.

Stories ads also give you plenty of goals to work with. They support brand awareness, reach, video views, conversions, app installs, lead generation, and traffic objectives. More details about the specs for stories ads on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and What’s App can be found on Facebook’s stories ads resource page.

Being able to optimize for conversion events is one of the key things that makes stories ads work. This is especially true now, because the Facebook/Instagram ad platform algorithm has matured enough to automatically find conversion events for advertisers based on the goals they select.

Of course, every advertiser has access to that same algorithm. To stay ahead of your competition, consider creative your secret weapon. Here’s seven ideas to make your stories more effective.

1. Be relevant, brand-appropriate, and easy to understand.

Those three things matter for every type of ad, and stories are no different. In a study commissioned by Facebook IQ, top-performing Instagram Stories ads were found to be consistently more relevant than lower-performing stories ads.

According to Facebook, the top-performing Instagram stories ads “also grabbed attention, were easy to understand and fit the advertised brand.”

2. Keep it brief and get your branding in early.

This advice parallels a lot of what video advertisers already know: Short content that catches attention and uses branding early performs better.

Facebook’s IQ study supports this, too: “Among ads in stories that contained multiple scenes, on average, scenes from top-performing ads were shorter than those from lower-performing ads.

3. Speed matters.

As Kay Hsu explains, “People are consuming stories content much faster than any other mobile format.^” To adapt to that, she recommends advertisers use speed itself as a creative element in their ad creative.

4. Show product demos.

Instagram Stories ads that show the advertised product in use perform better. This makes sense, especially when you consider how short effective stories tend to be. That super-short time frame means you don’t have time to explain what a product does. You have to show it in action.

5. Amplify your message with sound.

Facebook’s IQ study found that 80% of stories with voice-over or music converted better than ads without sound. Again, if you do video marketing, you’ll know the value of sound. But unlike business videos, where having a blast of sound in a silent office can kill response rates, people expect sound with stories.

6. Use stickers carefully.

Instagram stickers can do a lot of cool things, like adding polls. And they can work for advertisers, too. In one of Facebook’s studies, “83% of videos using stickers to help express key messages about the brand or product performed better for conversion objectives.”

But they don’t always work: “In another study using static creatives, there is a 87% chance of creatives without stickers delivering better conversion results than with stickers.^” Bottom line? If stickers work with your message, use them. If they don’t, don’t use them.

7. Experiment.

Stories are an evolving creative format. So, try out all the possible tools and creative elements you’ve got—everything from speed to colors, filters, copy, motion, and more. But always think mobile-first. Stories are mobile-native content. Put your laptop away while you’re reviewing stories ads.

Whether you’ve already launched numerous stories campaigns or are just getting started, take a look at what other creators are doing. Spend plenty of time viewing stories and stories ads in their native habitat.

Steal ideas from your competitors, from teenagers, from anyone who is doing something creative. Experiment freely. Everyone is still figuring out what works here, but we can agree that being boring and playing it safe is one strategy that’s likely to fail.

Brian Bowman is CEO of ConsumerAquisition.com.

The post 7 Way to Make Facebook and Instagram Stories More Effective appeared first on Chief Marketer.

However, the greatest struggle with implementing AI is how. It is critical for marketers to educate themselves on properly merging this technology into their marketing strategy. Here are steps to take when integrating AI into the marketing mix for optimal results.

1- Understand AI marketing.  

Before businesses can implement AI as a marketing solution, they need to understand how it makes work faster, easier and smarter. Simply, AI is a collection of machines that respond to stimulation in ways similar to how a human would, making decisions that normally require a human level of expertise. Specifically for marketers, AI gives them the ability to understand vast amounts of data to inform their creative and strategic decision making.

2- Determine expectations. 

Once you understand how it works, it’s time to determine your expectations for AI. At this step, it’s important to think beyond the buzzword and hone in on where your marketing strategy may be struggling. This will help you identify what areas will most benefit from AI while visualizing its performance.

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For example, if you want to improve creative performance for digital ads, research AI solutions that will help your team identify top-performing creative to maximize results. Alternatively, if you want to learn more about customers, look for a solution that will analyze customer data while also providing behavioral insights.

3- Weigh the risks…

When determining whether or not to implement AI in a marketing strategy, it’s also important to understand the risks, such as added costs and the learning curve that comes with understanding how the data works. Another big risk is potentially spreading fear amongst employees. For instance, with the wide-spread misconception that AI and machines replace human jobs, some may feel threatened by AI and oppose its implementation.

Contrary to this popular belief, 77 percent of companies expect no change in their workforce when AI is implemented, and 17 percent expect the workforce to grow as a direct result of AI. Educating employees on the positive impact of AI ahead of implementation will mitigate any unwanted apprehension.

4- … And the opportunities.

Along with these risks come many lucrative opportunities. With AI, businesses will have a better understanding of customers and reach them at a higher magnitude while generating a larger ROI.

Take Bump Boxes, for instance. By leveraging AI for their digital advertising, the subscription-based online retailer increased purchases by 50 percent over a two-month period. And, the increased automation gave the company more time to focus on creative and strategy work that would further benefit the business.

5- Research solution providers. 

What should you consider when looking at vendors?

Platform descriptions: AI solutions that provide true, efficient AI will describe how it works, so you know it’s not just a bunch of people in an office pretending to be AI.

The fine print: Learn the details of where its data is coming from, how much data is available and how frequently the AI is able to analyze it. True AI should be able to do this daily so it can give you the most relevant marketing recommendations based on what data is indicating at a given point in time.

Case studies: Look at their customer verticals, the goals, metrics and customer testimonials, and see how they might apply to your own business.

Do a pilot test: AI doesn’t fit everyone, so before you commit to a solution do a test drive first.

6- Update and evaluate. 

Since AI is becoming the new norm for marketers, accounting for its benefits should become a standard in your marketing strategy. After implementing your AI solution, do an in-depth analysis of its usage and success metrics every quarter. Then, re-evaluate whether or not goals were met and how to adjust your strategy for the upcoming quarter. This is also a great time to review any new features your solution provider has released and determine how they can be leveraged in your upcoming strategy.

AI is critical for marketers. But creating a solid strategy for selecting, implementing and maintaining the AI solution is critical, too, which is why 43 percent of AI adopters say their largest hurdle in implementation is a lack of clear strategy. Following these steps will help you think strategically about how to best leverage AI in your marketing mix.

R.J. Talyor is the CEO and founder at Pattern89.

The post Integrating AI in Your Marketing Strategy: Six Steps appeared first on Chief Marketer.

With the school year now in full swing, marketers should take a long look at some all too often unsung heroes—teachers. In the U.S. 6.7 million consumers are teachers, a group that spends $1.5 billion annually. The lion’s share of teachers (94 percent) purchase school supplies, which is worth considering if you are working for big retailers like Staples, Office Depot, or Walmart, or smaller specialty ecommerce sites targeting educators.

There are 14 million LinkedIn members who identify as educators for K-12, college and post-graduate programs.

Top 10 Topics Engaging Teachers

The top topics on LinkedIn for educators show that they are serious about improving both their professional skills (training, Montessori) and being fairly compensated (unions).

1. United Federation of Teachers
2. American Federation of Teachers
3. Teacher Training
4. Montessori Education
5. Diane Ravitch
6. Teach for America
7. Principals (School)
8. Teachers and School Employees
9. Pedagogy
10. Home Schooling

This list shows opportunities for marketers promoting services such as continuing education, to reach teachers exploring ways to further their own learning with online courses. Retail marketers who sell school supplies should make sure their messages recognize the mindset of their target audience, incorporating both the right keywords and imagery to connect with these professionals.

Top 10 Articles Engaging Teachers

In the second quarter of 2019, the top 10 articles for educators on LinkedIn showed that teachers were interested in new ways of teaching. One, for instance, offered insight on how to teach children to think critically. And being human is at the center of being a teacher, so it’s not shocking to see that nearly half of the top 10 stories explored empathy and emotion.

This diverse collection of articles not only shows a breadth of content but also highlights that the teaching profession, which doesn’t have as many job changes as other fields, highly values the importance of professional advancement.

1. Universities Should Ban PowerPoint — It Makes Students Stupid and Professors Boring By Paul Ralph, Business Insider
2. Critical Thinking is a 21st-Century Essential — Here’s How to Help Kids Learn It By Mary Halton, TED
3. Should Emotions be Taught in Schools? By Grace Rubenstein, TED
4. Attention Students: Put Your Laptops Away By James Doubek, NPR
5. Teen Writes Children’s Book to Encourage Other Girls to Code By Taylor Pittman, HuffPost
6. This School Replaced Detention with Meditation. The Results are Stunning By James Gaines, Upworthy
7. RSA Shorts — The Power of Empathy By research professor Brene Brown
8. How to Practice Emotional First Aid By psychologist Guy Winch
9. Books to Help You Answer Big Questions about Yourself By Thu-Huong Ha, TED
10. Man Graduates from NYU School Where He Worked as Janitor By Alexandria Hein, New York Post

Perhaps because they are so busy, teachers are eager to consume videos: Two appeared in the top 10 for the second quarter.  If you want to reach educators, consider video as part of your social strategy. And appeal to their professionalism and empathy—two core pillars to their work lives.

Jennifer Brett leads North American Insights for LinkedIn Marketing Solutions.

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The post Social Insights: What Marketers Need to Know About Teachers appeared first on Chief Marketer.

Consider what CX leaders have in common. First, their culture revolves—implicitly and explicitly—around customer experience. Jeff Bezos is quoted as saying that Amazon’s success is due to an “obsessive compulsive focus on the customer.” Second, they are all data-driven businesses. Analytical capabilities are helping brands accurately parse the multiple factors driving what customers say satisfies them and the design of actual interactions that creates economic value.

Done right, predictive analytics can enhance customers’ lives, increase brand engagement and deepen loyalty by delivering interactions that are tuned to and even anticipate customers’ desires. Of course, this requires reliable data. Ensuring data quality via automated input controls helps to verify and correct data quality issues before it leads to rework or worse, inaccurate analysis and predictive results.

But, reliable data doesn’t mean all data. Feeding superfluous data into a predictive analytics toolset risks clogging essential processes. The key is understanding and automating the appropriate data sets that are potentially useful for predictive analytics, while disregarding the rest.

Usability and transparency are also key when it comes to data and analytics. Brands suffer from one of two extremes: Either insights are so impenetrable that only data scientists can decipher them, or interpretations are so superficial that they provide no value to stakeholders. User interfaces that are purpose-built for audiences.

Here’s 5 tips for using data to create superlative customer experiences.

1- Start with the end goal in mind.

Have a clear, measurable business goal: improve customer acquisition, test marketing mix, manage customer defections or improve average order value of SKUs. Don’t get fixated on the “what,” but rather the “how” and “why.”

Ensure you’ve developed and secured agreement on KPIs and interpretations that are aligned between various business functions (marketing, service, operations, etc.) to illustrate the value of predictive analytics to business results.

2- Map the right data sources

Most importantly, map your analytics to specific stages of the customer journey. It’s about getting to know your customers and developing specific initiatives to put that knowledge into action.

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For example, during the buying phase, understanding how and when customers will purchase can help with targeting. Predictive techniques such as propensity models help marketers predict the likelihood that a customer will respond to a specific offer or message and convert. Expand wallet share with cross-sell and affinity models or understand future buying behavior through propensity models.

Or, during the post-purchase phase, use predictive analytics to uncover patterns of usage behavior and further drive customer engagement. For example, a retail site may tell you the status of your recent order the moment you land on the home page. Churn models such as uplift modeling and survival analysis can provide early warning signs of defection. Preempt customer churn with corrective actions, such as special offers or free upgrades.

3- Don’t skimp on data preparation and acquisition

Gather as much as possible, whether it’s historical data from CRM systems, real-time data from digital interactions, or streaming data from sensors. A robust data pipeline will help evaluate and enhance the performance of predictive models over time.

4- Don’t make data privacy an afterthought

There’s something spooky about a brand “knowing” something about a consumer’s innermost motivations and preferences. Yet consumers expect relevant, well-timed personalization. Surround your marketing with thoughtful data stewardship efforts (such as governance, security, protection) and transparent communications with consumers on how their data is being used.

5- Embrace the power of AI

New AI-powered technologies such as machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing and deep learning are uncovering new patterns, subtle correlations, and empower more real-time decision making in organizations.

Embrace AI as the next step on the journey to providing the best possible customer experience.

Wilson Raj is director of customer intelligence at SAS.

The post Transforming Customer Experience with Data: 5 Tips appeared first on Chief Marketer.

Here are five tips on how to make your PR strategy more effective:

1. Think beyond traditional techniques

PR has come a long way from the old days of sending out press releases—now you need to be thinking digitally, socially and out of the box. There are so many channels to utilize, including microsites, podcasts, social media, using influencers, blogging and countless others.

For maximum impact, apply an integrated approach across all these channels, and be sure to include SEO in your strategy. The best way to achieve impressive keyword rankings and feature prominently in Google searches is for relevant third parties to link to your website, so give them a reason to link to you.

2. Research always wins

Although research comes at a cost, it often pays off in sources for stories. If you’re promoting your product or solution, it is vital to act as a thought leader in your industry and conducting research is a fantastic way to do this.

The statistics that research produces are a solid foundation for all sorts of B2B and B2C PR efforts. You can use them for anything from forming the basis of a press release to informing new thought leadership articles and blogs.

Beyond using the insights directly in media releases, the data can also spark ideas for more creative PR approaches. If you’re struggling to find the budget for research, a cost-effective alternative is to use requests under the Freedom of Information Act to get data for free.

3. Don’t underestimate the power of events

One of the highest ROI uses for your PR budget is running a media event for multiple journalists, like a roundtable or press conference. There’s no better way to ensure that the relevant journalists hear about your latest news. Hearing it first-hand increases your chances of coverage significantly.

Of course, you need to make sure you have something worth sharing. The announcement of a new product or a significant change in the company’s strategy or vision are usually event-worthy developments—unless you’re a start-up.

It’s difficult for journalists to get time out of the office, so try to keep your event concise. An optional networking or drinks reception followed by a presentation and lunch usually works best for roundtable type events. If you’re taking the press on a trip, day trips or one-night overnight stays tend to be the most popular formats.

Remember that journalists are only human, so will need a break—be sure to include at least one coffee break. It helps people stay focused on what your spokespeople are saying and allows you to speak with journalists in a less formal setting.

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4. Make sure your spokespeople are media trained

Your spokespeople might be super intelligent, incredibly on the ball, and even all-knowing but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they will know how to talk to the press. Investing in media training for key spokespeople makes your PR efforts go further. It ensures that your spokesperson makes the most of the journalist’s time and conveys your key messages clearly.

Media training can also prevent potential crises. For instance, reinforcing that nothing is off the record when speaking to the press can prevent costly slip-ups. Media training also prepares your spokespeople to face tough questions and tricky situations. A little media training can be the difference between a flustered spokesperson and a composed one who is on-message no matter what.

5. Build effective relationships with journalists

Being transparent and building mutual understanding with journalists also pays dividends. Take the time to learn about them, their focus, and their previous writing. In turn, make sure that they understand what your company can offer them, what you can speak authoritatively on, and how else you can be of help to them.

Offer to take key journalists out for lunch and get to know them as people. Take the opportunity to ask them what challenges they face in their role and find out what they enjoy writing about. That way, if you’re trying to get a story out there, your name will stand out among the deluge of emails they’re dealing with that day, and you’re one step closer to getting published.

Get started now

Integrating PR as a fundamental part of your business plan can have a massive impact on your bottom line. However, it’s a long-term investment, and the sooner you start, the sooner you’ll see results. These five points should set you in the right direction to make your PR strategy more productive and increase your ROI.

Heather Baker is CEO at TopLine Comms and TopLine Film.

The post 5 Ways to Make Your PR More Effective appeared first on Chief Marketer.