Alison Lohse says, “Your marketing attribution solution should have positive ROI and start paying for itself within 90 days of implementation. This goal is both strategic and tactical. At a high level, you want to justify the cost of the system as soon as possible so that there is no question about value. From the marketing practitioner to the CMO, it needs to be clear early on what the platform is doing, and why it’s doing it; marketers also need to demonstrate that the system is working and has everything required to keep working. Tactically, it’s important to harness the honeymoon... [...]

Anna Shirley says, “I’m sure many of us working in PPC (or across the wider digital spectrum) have been asked at least a handful of times in recent months, “Should we be worried about automation?” I’ve heard it from clients, and even prospective job candidates. And I can see why the question is commonly asked; it is a very interesting subject with a lot of possible responses, ranging from, “Yes, we’re all doomed. Let’s head to the hills!” to “No way, machines could never do what I do!” In this article, I want to look at some of the main arguments against fearing the... [...]

Kevin O’Reilly says, “While much has been said about complementary media strategies, the secret to making it truly work is cross-channel attribution. And to make cross-channel attribution successful, marketers must think about two things: 1) the technology used to make it happen; and 2) the role of business-critical elements (media, marketing and so on) and how they work together. First, let’s look at multi-touch attribution (MTA) and marketing mix modeling (MMM) and what they can tell marketers. MTA vs. MMM: What about both? Recently, there’s been a lot of noise around cross-channel... [...]

Barry Levine says, “In the past year or so, a new marketing channel has emerged around bots and intelligent agents. This includes voice-based intelligent agents like Google Home’s Assistant or Amazon’s Alexa, and chatbots that interact largely through text conversations. Marketers are beginning to plan their conversational strategies and logic for this channel. But another channel — maybe it should be considered a sub-channel — is about to emerge. It’s when the bot or agent, fulfilling the needs of the human user, is interacting with another bot or agent instead of searching the... [...]

Matt Silk says, “Last December, Starbucks announced “My Starbucks Barista,” a virtual barista for its mobile app that enables customers to place orders via voice command or messaging interface. This led me to consider the current perception of artificial intelligence and where it stands in relation to the current reality of the technology. Are chatbots the real deal or yet another victim of hyped technology? If you ask me, chatbots are still in the hype phase within the public eye and don’t deserve a fraction of the attention they currently receive. While this may sound harsh, it’s... [...]

Matt McGee says, “WordPress has released version 4.7.3 of its uber-popular content management system, and “strongly encourages” users to update right away to take advantage of the six security fixes it includes. The company says previous versions are impacted by these security issues: Cross-site scripting (XSS) via media file metadata. Control characters can trick redirect URL validation. Unintended files can be deleted by administrators using the plugin deletion functionality. Cross-site scripting (XSS) via video URL in YouTube embeds. Cross-site scripting (XSS) via taxonomy term names. Cross-site... [...]

Scott Vaughan says, “Generating, acquiring, serving and delighting customers has become the ultimate team effort for B2B organizations. This effort doesn’t start or stop with generating a lead or inquiry, nor after acquiring a customer. Renewal, cross-sell and ongoing satisfaction are just as critical to a business’s top and bottom line. The data, intelligence, processes and technologies required must be synchronized to move at the speed of our customers and the markets we serve. This integrated effort must be always-on. In most organizations, the enabling function is driven by two distinct... [...]

Barry Levine says, “Chatbots and their bigger cousins, intelligent agents, are busily becoming your personal interface with brands and information. But, to date, they’ve only barely personalized their interactions with you. And when they someday have full access to the information about you, the nature of their text and voice conversations could dramatically change. The current generation has largely occupied siloed messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, Kik and Slack, PullString co-founder and CEO Oren Jacob told me. His company offers a flexible chatbot platform. “They only have access... [...]

Barry Levine says, “Even if you don’t have one, you might have heard about Customer Data Platforms (CDPs). It’s a “marketer-managed system that creates a persistent, unified customer database that is accessible to other systems,” according to an institute set up to promote and research them. And you may be looking at that Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system you have, or thinking about the Data Management Platform (DMP) you use, and asking yourself, “They each have a lot of data about my customers, prospects and targets. Aren’t they essentially the same?” Glad you... [...]

Tomer Naveh says, “Artificial intelligence — once the rarefied domain of big-name, ambitious projects like Google’s self-driving car or IBM’s Watson — is now finding its way into everyday business. In advertising and marketing specifically, brands might not be completely overhauling their existing ad tech and martech stacks to make room for AI just yet, but many are getting a feel for it by experimenting with single-touch AI solutions that focus on isolated tasks, like recommendations, ad buying and optimization. The coming wave of AI in marketing will be defined by the automation... [...]