Welcome back, readers! This week, we’ll hear why one author thinks centralized data is the key to CMOs building your successful marketing roadmap, will spill one of the secrets to Amazon’s $427 billion success, will share the response you should aim for in every nurturing campaign and will unveil the two areas marketers named as their top priorities for 2018.
Got a news item or tip we you want to share? Let us know. In the meantime, let’s get to the news:
CMOs: Centralized data will build the base of your marketing roadmap
Research firm Gartner reports that only one-third of CMOs say that measuring marketing return on investment is a strategic priority, while just around half of CMOs surveyed admit that they’re confident their marketing technology is correctly deployed. With numbers like these, says Leah Pope in MarTech Advisor, it’s easy to see why there’s a huge gap between the dream of data-driven marketing and the reality. But according to Pope, centralizing your marketing data will align your strategy with your goals, as it will serve as the foundation of your 3-5 year strategic marketing roadmap, reduce your reporting time by 80-90% and more.
Want to be like Amazon? Split test your way to success
A $427 billion powerhouse of a business, the secret to Amazon’s success hasn’t been in unveiling a snazzy new website design or a completely revamped navigation structure all at once—it’s been by using its combining its marketing automation tools with agile marketing concepts, perform ongoing split tests on individual site elements, then making site tweaks based on the “winners” of those tests. The highest performing top bar color, button wording and even Prime logo design were all ultimately implemented across the site for all users, without interrupting the browsing or shopping experience for users. But that’s not all you can learn from Amazon; read on.
Nurture like you’re the lead
Marketing automation lets marketing teams reach out to prospects like never before, personalizing messages and creating targeted offers designed to enlighten and entice. But if at any moment you forget to think about how you’d like to be the target of your own marketing efforts warns Lisa Dreher in Forbes, all that automated nurturing is for nought. One fix is to aim for a reaction of “This info is exactly what I need and I can use it today” from prospects reading your nurture stream content; if the content you’re creating won’t garner that response, it isn’t worth hitting send.
Content and customer experience management top priorities
What’s the number one strategic priority for companies in 2018? According to the eConsultancy Digital Trends 2018 report (published in association with Adobe), it’s content and customer experience—with 45% of marketers surveyed placing a big emphasis on “getting it right” with customers at every possible touchpoint. Being able to effectively measure how they’re doing comes in second on the priority list, with 32% of marketers citing analytics as their second priority. Be sure to check out the rest of the survey results and see how your answers compare to those of top-performing companies.
###
Grow your Marketo skills, ask questions and meet the Perkuto team at Marketing Nation Summit April 29 – May 2, 2018. Register as a Perkuto referral and save $300 when you use promo code Perkuto300.
