According to a recent study it was found that the most-visited websites in the US have on an average of  75 technologies in their marketing clouds, delivering anything to a user and only 13% of their IT people say they are "very effective" at managing those technologies. Read more at: http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2015/26934/three-threats-lurking-in-your-marketing-cloud-and-how-to-bust-them

According to a new study by Teradata 2015 Global Data-Driven Marketing, it was revealed that companies and marketers are developing business value from data, integrated marketing platforms, and customer-centric data-driven marketing strategies. The study also found that more accurate decisions are key benefits of using data, 38 percent of the marketers said that their biggest challenge is improving customer acquisition and retention and 90 percent of marketers said that making marketing individualized is a priority. Read more at: http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/digital-marketing-news/90-percent-of-marketers-say-individualised-marketing-is-the-future/1486

Marketing is nowadays moving away from untargeted push-messaging to building customer relationships. Identity is important in one-to-one marketing. We must understand how organizations can create customer identity. Russell Loarridge in his article writes about the key challenges that today’s marketers face in building customer identity: http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/digital-marketing-features/marketing-s-new-imperative-customer-identity-management/1446

Software as a Service (SaaS) and subscription cloud-based software are becoming popular nowadays. But, small businesses should ask these following questions before selecting any cloud based software: which ones are the best for business? what is the cost? and are they better than the solutions you have now? Logan Roberts (Strategy Manager at Entech, an IT Consulting and Managed Services Provider), writes in the article link about cloud software a small business should consider: http://www.business2community.com/tech-gadgets/4-cloud-options-small-businesses-consider-01130318

According to a new research it was found that 26% of marketers have never heard of marketing automation, and a further 49% are only partly familiar. 60% revealed that implementation of an automated technology had a positive impact on their marketing communications. Read more at: http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/digital-marketing-news/more-than-a-quarter-of-marketers-unaware-of-marketing-automation/1451

Brands are investing more in social media. As per Forrester research, marketers will spend €4.3bn on social media by 2019, up from €2.6bn, and a compound annual growth rate of 10.5%. Further, it was found that 82% of the spending will be on social mobile advertising from 2014 to 2019. The study also says that Facebook dominates European consumers’ social habits, with 60% online people are in the top seven European countries visiting Facebook monthly and 14% visiting Twitter. Read more at:  http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/social-media-marketing/from-social-media-to-social-commerce/1427

This era is the era of personalization. But, consumers have become impatient nowadays.  Recent research from Janrain revealed that 58% of consumers unsubscribe after three mistargeted emails and 17% unsubscribe after one mistargeted email. 95% of consumers react negatively to mistargeting – with 55% deleting emails and 53% unsubscribing; while 40% categorize the emails as junk/spam. Brands now need to win consumer trust. Personalization should be a standard component of the marketing toolset. To know more, follow: http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/digital-marketing-lead-generation/personalisation-welcome-to-the-last-chance-saloon/1420

According to a recent report from Infusionsoft, it was found that 62% of small businesses surveyed cite word-of-mouth/customer referrals as a top 3 tactic in marketing strategy, 34% of people considered email as a top 3 tactic, 25% considered networking, 23% considered social media, 14% considered search engine and 13% considered content marketing. Read more at: : http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2015/26859/the-most-effective-marketing-strategies-for-small-businesses

 According to eMarketer, programmatic video ad sales in EU-5 reached €226m in 2014 and is expected to rise 63.5% this year to reach €369m by the end of 2015.  Tod Sacerdoti (CEO and founder of BrightRoll) writes in his article link about some important signs that indicate why 2015 is set to be an important year for video advertising: http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/digital-marketing-advertising/three-major-signs-that-2015-will-be-a-breakthrough-year-for-video-advertising/1434

The latest trend in e-commerce industry is the use of usage-based billing. Digital service businesses should be looking to integrate at least one method of usage-based billing in their business model in order to tap into new revenue streams and maintain customer satisfaction in this competitive environment. James Gagliardi (Vice President of Product and Innovation at Digital River) writes in his article link about two models businesses should consider – subscription and freemium:  http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/e-commerce-digital-marketing/the-recurring-revenue-revolution/1413

Nowadays marketing is data-driven marketing and the more data you have, it is better for the company. Big Data helps companies ranging from small companies to huge multi-national enterprises. Every organization should take advantage of big data and the value it brings. It helps in analyzing campaign revenue, survey responses, tracking social mentions and assessing buying behavior and is also essential to unlock insight into emerging trends to design future campaigns. Tracking conversations via social media enable businesses to find out when a topic is starting to trend and what their customers are talking about. Social analytics will therefore open the door to responsive product optimization. Read more at: http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/digital-marketing-data/don-t-be-afraid-of-data-marketing-use-data-analytics-to-measure-progress-and-inform-strategy/1433

In 2015, mobile device will be the key driver for commercial and marketing activity. According to a recent study it was found that only 13% of the world population will be connected with a smartphone or tablet and mobile messaging will play a vital role. Ramsey Masri (CEO of OtherLevels), writes in his article link about tactics and strategies that mobile marketers should consider in 2015: http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/mobile-digital-marketing/moving-the-mobile-marketing-needle-in-2015/1421

Customers are choosing when and how to interact, turning customer relationship management (CRM) and data analysis as the most important thing. So, retailers now need to know about how to engage customers.  Customers have short attention spans and to overcome this, retailers have to offer a more personalized experience. CRM has been used to build a profile of a customer and thus can identify their likes and dislikes, past purchases and interests which in turn will help them to interact with customers in a better way. Personalizing the online experience and product offering is the key to make customers feel valued and listened to by the brand, thereby ensuring that they are likely to revisit in future. Read more about this in the following article link: http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/customer-experience/how-can-retailers-get-more-personal-with-their-customers/1411

Nowadays there are a new class of Business-to-Business (B2B) buyers- empowered business end-user. In a recent research conducted by Forrester Consulting, it was found that over the next three years they’re set to increase the volume and amount of purchasing they undertake by online research and purchase the goods and services they want. These ‘user buyers’ prefer to use digital channels to seek out which suppliers can provide the services and products they need. Matthew Diss from Intershop, writes in his article link about some recommendations B2B sellers should keep in mind when looking for this growing market opportunity: : http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/articles/going-rogue-is-in-vogue-the-rise-of-the-empowered-b2b-buyer/1409

Last year, i.e. in 2014, everyone saw developments in the world of retail and in-store technology - both online and offline and thus it leads to the launch of the omni - channel era of retail in which connectivity and mobile devices are transforming shopping experience. Retailers are now focusing on omni-channel as the norm when it comes to offering to customers. Read more at: http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/digital-marketing-features/the-future-of-retail-is-omni-channel-what-to-expect-in-2015/1406

In a recent research it was revealed that more than half of senior decision makers feel that their investment in digital marketing is not sufficient, with 87% of respondents planning to increase their investments in mobile marketing. Marketers are also looking to adopt new technologies in order to fight for market space. Read more at: http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/digital-marketing-news/greater-investment-in-mobile-marketing-a-top-priority-for-retailers-and-brands-in-2015/1426]

2015 will see shifts in the ad tech landscape as brands, publishers and agencies realize the full potential of real-time advertising. It is predicted that programmatic ad spend is set to top $33 billion globally by 2017. In the US, it is worth more than $10bn and is expected to more than double to $20.41bn in 2016. Graham Wylie (Senior Director, EMEA & APAC Marketing at Appnexus) writes in his article link writes about the key trends that will dominate the ad-tech space in 2015: http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/digital-marketing-advertising/the-5-trends-set-to-shape-ad-tech-and-programmatic-in-2015/1399

Choosing the right CRM System is very important, especially for small businesses. When one selects a CRM system, it is important to decide what features are needed, which ones would be nice to have and which ones are not needed. CRM systems need to be realistic and easy to use. Vendor stability is important while choosing a CRM system of any size. CRM systems should help a company to grow, get you closer to your customers and increase the bottom line. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/rightsize-your-crm-65250

Simon Whitehouse (senior director, EMEA Sales at MarkMonitor), writes in his article about the importance of brand protection to safeguard brand health and marketing performance in digital channels. Read more at: : http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/articles/the-top-5-brand-protection-strategies-for-2015/1395

Email marketing is one of the elements of today’s marketing mix.  Consumer brands are accepting email marketing as a means of engaging with customers and re-targeting them. Email marketing has become an important part of the online purchasing experience. In a recent research it was found that the travel & leisure industry is recognizing the value of email marketing and regular, useful and personalized email communications has a positive impact on the recipient. So, companies who have a strong online customer experience and mobile optimization will encourage a customer to make a purchase. Read more at:  : http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/articles/marketing-automation-for-the-digital-nation/1388