English Blog of The Strategy Web - Digital Transformation

CMOs: Feeling unprepared for digital challenges ahead? 4 in 10 say YES…!

16. May 2013/in Blog English, Featured Stories, Web Marketing/by The Strategy Web

Sometimes surveys bring out the final truth about the status in which chief marketing officers (CMOs) find themselves in. One of the latest reports by Accenture, titled “Turbulence for the CMO: Charting a Path to the Samless Customer Experience” was done with 405 senior marketers from 10 countries. It makes clear that almost 4 in 10 CMOs think they don’t have the right set up to manage their business challenges in front of them. They are missing the right tools, resources and people.

The annual survey shows a decline in 5% in preparedness compared to 2011. Especially, the digital transformation is lacking behind. Compared to 2011 10% find it challenging to improve their workforce’s responsiveness to digital shifts. Furthermore, CMOs also stated that they find it difficult to keep up the efficiency of marketing operations (8% increase!).

CMO Digital Orientation Accenture 2013

Some deeper findings indicate what CMOs main interest in the business will be. The most interesting observation in the results is that digital orientation has the biggest gap between importance and performance among the five marketing capabilities.

The top priority for them is profitable growth (87%) and operational efficiency (85%). The good point for agencies and consultants is that CMOs have this as a bigger objective that cutting their marketing budgets (58%). From a long-term perspective, consumer expectations for specific experiences have the biggest impact on marketing strategy (65%).

And I am sure, you will detect some more interesting findings in their infographic.

CMO Challenges Accenture2013

Study: More than half of consumers globally trust driverless cars

15. May 2013/in Blog English, Connected Car, Featured Stories/by The Strategy Web

It is one of those iRobot myths coming true probably sooner than we are thinking: Driverless cars. Today, Cisco launched some study results which stated that 57% of respondents got no issues in trusting driverless cars to take over driving control for them. However, not all countries are alike…

The study shows that emerging markets are far more open than others. In Brazil (95%), India (86%) and China (70%) of responding drivers would leave control to technology; Japan (28%) and Germany (37%) coming in at the end of the field. Furthermore, 46% of respondents said they would let their kids in driverless cars.

Apart from that 74% of respondents have no problems if cars were tracking their driving habits as long as they could save on insurance and maintenance cost. For a better driving experience 65% of drivers would also be open to share driving habits, height, weight and entertainment preferences with the car manufacturers, 60% even biometrics data. A clear sign that the driving experience can be improved by the manufacturers, and that clients are longing for it.

The most interesting fact of the study was for me that buyers are becoming more open to leave the car dealer out of the purchase process. It clearly shows that the Mad Men sales process is gone. It gets replaced by interactive kiosks at the car dealer’s place people would want, as long as there is someone you can ask when you got problems with the machines. Even better, 55% would even go through the purchasing process via video chats and digital virtual sessions. Obviously again not in countries like Germany and Japan which are not very open to virtual purchasing processes.

Spot On!
The Cisco study makes clear that the difference in connected car is in the service, not in having Cisco’s latest router. In the end, the next generation of cars should lie in seamless car driving experience that supports car services that help drivers find the right restaurant for their hunger, the appropriate pitstop for their needs, or the next service station before you realize you need it when driving your car.

Study: How Companies Structure Social Media Teams (Infographic)

14. May 2013/in Blog English, Featured Stories, Social Media/by The Strategy Web

In a recent Ragan/NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions survey, PR Daily wanted to know from over 2,700 communication specialists in which way how their businesses use social media. Now, Go-Gulf.com took some of the data and created an infographic that ilustrates the main findings. Interestingly enough, and that is also what we are experiencing these days in our workshops and consultancy business, many of the compnaies have not found a proper way how to generate leads through social media although the capabilities on measuring data seems to be there.   

Find the main findings as follows…
86% companies just look at main data metrics like fans and followers.
80%+ companies only have 3 people maximum managing social media.
65% companies see time as the main challenge using social media.
40% companies wish to increase sales: main goal of social media efforts.
31% companies are capable to track the customer journey from social media to sales.

A New Don: How the sales profession has evolved from the Mad Men era

13. May 2013/in Blog English, Featured Stories, Social Media/by The Strategy Web

As a fan of the series “Mad Men” TV series, I have to share this comparison of the sales profession development with you. When we compare the decades from 1950-2010, we realizte that there were some significant differences. From Don and his friends’ wild office parties and massive whisky as well as martini consumption to a straight organized reality where sales automation has taken over and social media rules the communication between people.

Although, we still here at the universities and in seminars from the advertising Gods like Leo Burnett and David Ogilvy, Don Draper’s world has seen a radical shift in sales profession. But in which direction…? The guys from Leads360 have created an infographic that defines the main trends we saw lately…
– 1960: In-person pitch.
– 1970: Door-to-door vacuum pitch.
– 1980: Not really specified in any direction…
– 1990: In the beginning email messaging, later customer relationship management (CRM)
– 2000: Social integration (Social Media)
– 2010: Intelligent sales automation

“Over the last 50 years, many of these fundamental sales strategies have remained incredibly valuable,” states the infographic. Maybe you find the reasons why when reading through it.

Today, we are talking of Facebook as the barbeque with “friends and fans” and of Twitter as the chatter at the toilet. Well, it seems that we haven’t moved away from socializing. Maybe we just need to add some drinks next to our screens…

Questioning banner efficiency? Native ads perform better than banner ads, says eye-tracking study

10. May 2013/in Blog English, Featured Stories, Web Marketing/by The Strategy Web

A recent eye-tracking study called “Benchmarking the Effectiveness of Native Ads” states that the visual attraction of native ads (52%) is more frequent than with traditional banner ads. The study which used eye-tracking tools was conducted by Sharethrough and the IPG Media Lab with the aim to identify the impact of banner ads of top brand on the web.

The main findings of the study were..
– 71% of respondents described native ads -based on the fact they had previously had a purchase intent- as “personally identify with”; this number stands against only 50% for banner ads
– 32% of respondents argued that a native ad “is an ad I would share with a friend or family member”. However, only 19% would do so with a banner ads
– 25% of respondents looked more on in-feed native ad placements than on banner ads
– Native ads achieve a 18% increase in purchase intent versus banner ads that get a 9% upside for brand affinity.

Spot On!
The interesting point about this study or me was that native ads and editorial content move closer to another. Almost the same percentage of respondents said they looked at native ads (26%) next to editorial content (24%). However, they potentially spend more time viewing the content still compared to native ads.

Is this another proof for the fact that content marketing is increasingly becoming important and moving in the spotlight of companies and brands? Maybe the infographic helps you find an answer to this question…

Target-group men: 10 Stats for better marketing

2. May 2013/in Blog English, Featured Stories, Web Marketing/by The Strategy Web

Obviously, there is a difference when targeting men and women. Their purchase behaviour differs in many ways. Who is searching more for coupons, bargains or the latest gadets? According to a report by Microsoft, marketers should have an eye on the right mix between banner advertising, search engine optimization (SEO) or pay-per-click (PPC) tactics in order to address and find men at the right time with the right content in the right context.

Many men, especially young dads (between 25 to 40 years), are influenced by the impact of social networks, according to the report by Performics which we reported quite a while ago. Interestingly enough, 58% of them use four or more sources for their purchase decision. Utilizing social media with story-telling about products and services will make the appropriate impact on men, will give them insights on how companies and brands against their competitors.

Check the infographic published by Brian Honigman and have the 10 stats in mind for the next marketing campaign or tactics when addressing the male audience when your business wants to influence the purchase behavior of men.

PS: If you are interested to see the difference to women, you might have a look at the latest Blogher study here…

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