Heidi Shey says, “Each year at the end of summer, several members of Forrester’s Security & Risk research team look back at publicly reported breach events and data privacy violations of the previous 12 months to spot trends and identify cases to feature where we feel there are lessons learned for S&R pros. In 2016, this was a joint effort alongside my colleague Fatemeh Khatibloo from Forrester’s Customer Insights research team. Leading up to Data Privacy Day, I’d like to share some lessons learned from one of the five key trends we saw in our 2016 analysis. The intersection... [...]

Lori Goldberg says, “In 2016, 73% of advertisers’ total display budgets were spent on programmatic. With those numbers expected to rise, advertisers need to pay particular attention. While the nature of programmatic itself is to streamline and create efficiencies inside the buying process, marketers need to keep the most important piece of this strategy front and center: the consumer. Without an eye for the nuance, or a thorough understanding of a few key components of programmatic buying, advertisers run the risk of making pitfalls that create negative experiences while wasting ad... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, ” Back in October 2016, I wrote about how you can use a Python script to determine whether a page has been indexed by Google in the SERPs. As it turns out, Google’s webmaster trends analyst Gary Illyes wasn’t too happy with the technique that was being utilized by the script, so I cannot endorse this method. Shortly after, Sean Malseed and his team at Greenlane SEO built a similar tool based in Google Sheets (among other awesome tools like InfiniteSuggest), and Googler John Mueller expressed reservations”. How to check which URLs have been indexed without upsetting... [...]

Ian McKee says, “Welcome to 2017, the year where rapid change defines marketing.   Are your people ready to embrace real change and build on current momentum? If so, you will see a real digital transformation this year – all the better for the company, your teams and your customers. If you are placing all your hopes for digital transformation into a ‘lab’, you are missing a huge opportunity to keep up with customers and their ever-evolving digital lifestyles and workplaces. Instead, invest in making adapting to change part of your culture. Every marketer needs to challenge... [...]

Rich Kahn says, “The holidays are an extremely profitable time of the year for businesses of all sizes. After all, they can account for 20-40 percent of a business’ yearly sales. But what about after the holidays? Budgets are tighter, consumers are exhausted and it can be hard to make the idea of shopping again appealing at all. Don’t let your marketing efforts go stale in the post-holiday shopping season. Your consumers are tired, but they’re still keeping an eye out for the next appealing product or service. Here’s what you can do to keep your business’s holiday success going. Keep... [...]

Kevan Lee says, “Understanding how to leverage Facebook Ads is becoming a staple part of almost every social media strategy. And if you want to get your posts seen on Facebook, it’s becoming more and more likely that you’ll have to pay for reach with Facebook Ads. Paid advertising on Facebook seems to be one of the most immediate ways to impact the reach of your content. Though it’s not without its questions. How well does it work? What kind of engagement do you get? And what can you expect for your hard-earned money? In this post, we’ll share with you everything you need to know... [...]

Stephanie Miller says, “Welcome to 2017, the year where rapid change defines marketing. Are your people ready to embrace real change and build on current momentum? If so, you will see a real digital transformation this year – all the better for the company, your teams and your customers. If you are placing all your hopes for digital transformation into a ‘lab’, you are missing a huge opportunity to keep up with customers and their ever-evolving digital lifestyles and workplaces. Instead, invest in making adapting to change part of your culture. Every marketer needs to... [...]

Courtney Eckerle says, “Challenged to measure ROI on every program and hit a certain number of leads per month, some marketers make potential customers fill out forms to get access to gated content. Instead of forcing form fills, Chris Keller, Vice President of Marketing, Health Catalyst, and his team set their content free in order to increase shareability and lead quality while more than doubling leads during a three-quarter period. “We’re trying to be the non-marketing marketing group,” Chris said. “We’ve taken a controversial approach to educating the market.” For Health Catalyst,... [...]

Martin Gill says, “One of the best parts about being a Research Director here at Forrester, rather than an Analyst, is I get to be involved in a wider range of research topics than before. I’ve always been interested in mobile, but I’ve never really covered it as a subject. We have an embarrassment of way more qualified analysts like Julie Ask, Mike Facemire, Jenny Wise, and Thomas Husson to name a few. Their knowledge on the subject far outstrips mine. So it’s been a fun journey over the last six months working with Ted Schadler as he’s espoused one simple, powerful, unequivocal... [...]

Russell Glass says, “I’ve been a marketer and entrepreneur for more than 20 years, and each year seems to bring a new whirlwind of change. In 2016, social media grew even more powerful, dictating the news and shaping our public discourse. Chatbots and artificial intelligence started to gain traction and are opening entirely new avenues for brands to reach customers. And the shift to mobile continued to gain steam, with everything from ordering dinner to booking a vacation now done on smartphones and tablets. Marketers are racing to keep up, and 2017 is about to bring more changes. Here... [...]