TV is the giant megaphone- Isaac Weber (VP of strategy at MarketShare) of their marketing budget in these mediums of advertising. But according to a latest study by MarketShare a market analytics company,” TV advertisements has remained the most effective medium of advertisements.” According to the study, the premium digital video delivered higher average returns than short-form video content from non-premium publishers. TV is the only medium which maintains its effectiveness over five years while other media are declined by more than 10%. TV marketers can optimize their spending by leveraging data sources. To know more about the study, follow this link: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/why-tv-still-most-effective-advertising-medium-165247

Data, guided by technology, always provides precision to a marketer’s intuition. While technologists favour conservative decision-making on the basis of comparative testing, marketers prefer taking risks and walking the extra mile. Now-a-days, as a company's profitability depends on its digital marketing capability, to a large extent, customer data and analytics, mostly decides a company’s success rate. On the other hand, technologists also facilitate in isolating the redundant tools and programmes in the system, thereby cleaning the system and reducing unnecessary expenditure. The right marketing technology makes the decision-making process less complicated thus proving once more, the importance of the relationship between marketing and technology.
Read more at: http://www.cio.com/article/2933479/marketing/how-to-strike-a-balance-between-marketing-and-tech.html

Sigmaway uses data analytics technologies to deliver business insights from your marketing data. Contact us at contact@gosigmaway.com for a demo.

In Gary Hamel's book, The Future of Management, “Self Management” was described innovative efforts to enable employees to define their own jobs and shape their work at companies

Self Management is not a new concept in management, but not a widely used concept. It has been there since long. Many big companies like Taco Bell, Google, Whole Foods Market, W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc., etc have applied this concept and yielded great results like:

• Increase in productivity
• Motivation of employees

“Making Innovation Everyone’s Job” has been the motto of this concept. This concept has now again come into picture with Zappos, trying to apply it in its organization culture. Resistance is there, but will Zappos get the same results like Taco Bell did or will it not be able to sustain this concept in its organization for long- this only time will tell.

But, after being brought into spotlight again, this concept surely reminds managers a different way of managing things, that was thought to be lost in oblivion.

To know more about this concept and its benefits, please read the following article by Professor James Heskett at HBS Working Knowledge:

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/7531.html

Self-learning machines need data to learn. So one possible way to get the data that is being generated from all the devices being used across the world is IoT-Internet of Things. Devices communicate with each other and are interconnected through various networks. This could help advance many fields especially medical field. But a standard protocol has to be developed for devices to communicate with each other. It was proposed that the protocol should take care of safety of humans, security of IT infrastructure.

To read more, follow: http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/analysis/2410409/big-data-and-iot-powered-self-learning-machines-wont-take-over-the-world

In a saturated market, even the powerful brands have a hard time achieving growth targets. Big companies can do so by entering into new categories, which would increase the brand strength across markets. An established brand name would endorse itself in the new market. A classic example is National Geographic Society's shift from magazines to television channels, expeditions, and retail stores that sells books, clothes, and travel gear. The first step to go about brand extension is to look out for the categories that can be entered into, the target markets. The next step is to define how well your brand would fit into those markets, which would require assessing a new market like a start-up would. The third step is to design a prototype and test it against failures. Finally, prepare your response to the competitor's reactions; make sure the organization in ready to go. Successful brand innovation would harness the potential of the brand, all the while serving consumers better and bigger. Read more at :http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/marketing_sales/incumbents_as_attackers_brand-driven_innovation

The success of the startup is not dependent on the idea, but it depends on getting the customers. As a startup, getting customers is one of the biggest challenges. 
Jeff Foster (Co-Founder and CEO of Tomoson), discussed about few tips to get your first 1000 customers. Some of them are:
• Setup a waiting list
• Use personal network
• Target online publications
• Get bloggers on your side
• Build suspense
• Work with early adopters
• Create high quality content
• Offer a free product option
• Incentivize customers to sell your product
• Online advertising
Read more at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/247049

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/

Reinvention is a popular way to reinvent an existing product. This can be done by extending the product line, creating a new product that is designed, executing and messaging to appeal to the new user segment. Reinvention helps in surviving in this dynamic world and helps in tracking new market segment.

Kumar Srivastava (Senior Director of Product Management) in his article at entrepreneur.com, talked about questions asked before starting a replacement cycle because entrepreneurs need to understand in detail what has changed in the user’s world. Questions are:
• Has the user base changed or evolved?
• Has the purchase and onboarding decision process changed?
• Has the interaction mechanism or value chain changed?
• Have the experience expectations changed or evolved?
• Have the support and training expectations changed?
Read more at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/246539

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/

A famous marketing automation provider claims that the new analytics abilities of the company are helping consumers in retrieving marketing data and transferring it for 'deeper analytics' to business intelligence (BI) systems. The features include accessibility of configured datasets and integrations. Traditional marketing automation systems didn't give marketers enough flexibility and accessibility to their specific, desired data, also requiring them to use a specific BI platform only. Present automation systems not only give access to the specific, required data but it can also be analyzed using any tool ranging from excel to different other BI tools. Read more at:

http://www.cmswire.com/marketing-automation/act-on-debuts-data-studio-capabilities/

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/

Digital intervention is influencing all sorts of businesses now-a-days. It is important to stay updated, in order to survive the competition. A well-known sneaker company has entered the business of digital sports in order to survive the digital disruption, happening all around. Other companies include a famous coffee maker brand, who has embraced digital transformation by launching an online platform to capture consumers' ideas, experiences and preferences. Instead of focusing too much on cost reduction, it's time to focus on innovative technology, which is also risky. For digital upgradation, it is important to understand the online topography, to recover the required data, which is analyzed using data analytics, which then gives results, used for understanding customer sentiment. Read more at:

http://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/7232-are-you-becoming-a-digital-dinosaur

According to the MillwardBrown's AdReaction 2014 report, “multiscreen consumers usually prefer micro-video, interactive TV ads, and TV ads promoting mobile apps, Facebook pages, and brand websites.”  Multiscreen marketing is a storytelling strategy that brands employ to reach audiences across multiple platforms. It should be a part of an overarching strategy. And you have to incorporate a creative mix of hashtags, follow-up social engagement and user content re-purposing across multiple screens. Some tips are:

•        Use cross-screen analytics to know where your audiences live and work.

•        Choose the most efficient media to achieve your reach and frequency objectives.

To know more tips and information about multiscreen strategy, follow this link: http://www.marketingprofs.com/opinions/2015/27762/four-quick-tips-for-a-winning-multiscreen-strategy

According to the NetProspex report based on the analysis of 223million records in the database of B2B companies, most of the their marketing and selling database lacks in providing key information about prospects and customers. According to the report, 84% of the records don’t have revenue information. 82% of the records were missing with employee information. 72% of the B2B companies didn’t include website domain. 54% of the records did not include a phone number of customers and many were inaccurate. To know more about NetProspex report, please follow this link: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2015/27711/the-state-of-b2b-marketing-data

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

In market research, it is observed, quite frequently that when the research is undertaken by paid bodies, they have a tendency to skew the data, for the company's favor, which may not be healthy for the company in the long run. Hence more and more companies are turning to, undergraduate or graduate marketing students who are unpaid and usually furnish unbiased information, as their main interest lies in gaining knowledge about the industry, learning about research analysis and developing presentation skills. Companies are preferring the fresh outlook of students, guided by proper mentors. Read more at:

http://www.cmswire.com/customer-experience/is-college-the-key-to-better-market-research/

In this information era, marketing is all about information and content marketing is an important part of marketing strategy because it provides a foundation for leveraging other marketing channels. For example: social media marketing is one of the best ways to reach leads, but what will happen if you don't have a content to post in a social media account? According to Sarah Goliger (Inbound Marketer at HubSpot), content marketing is a long-term strategy. Tips to manage content marketing:

• Plan ahead
• Write evergreen content
• Promote evergreen content
• Leverage older content for new conversions

To know more about content marketing and its importance, please follow this link: http://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/how-campaign-based-content-will-kill-your-marketing-strategy-01238559

An idea can also be marketable just like any product or service and if executable properly, then can also be as valuable. Skilled people who sells idea often are called earn buy-in, which helps in increasing funds. A good salesperson specifies about the product they are selling to solve customer's pains. Likewise, by knowing an idea well enough, one should establish a stronger bond between what they are selling and what audience needs through conversation. To know more read the article at: http://www.cmswire.com/cms/social-business/the-art-of-selling-an-idea-029138.php