The more often I travel to different companies as part of my normal 9 to 5 responsibilities, the more amazed that I am that most businesses do not understand who their customers are.  When I ask the questions “who is your customer”, most people give answers that reflect their own biases or anecdotal knowledge about [...]

According to a new report by Booz & Co., the next wave in marketing will be customer-preference driven targeted marketing, also known as “profiling”:
In a world overrun with marketing messages, the next wave of marketing technology will cut through the clutter, building automated marketing campaigns that address customers’ wants and needs individually. The result: greater [...]

This is part 4 of the series “Targeting The Customer“, a 5-part series on using marketing automation to target customers and improve marketing effectiveness.
In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, we discussed the role and methods of profiling customers and prospects.  In part 3, we discussed how to utilize profile data to send [...]

This is part 3 of the series “Targeting The Customer“, a 5-part series on using marketing automation to target customers and improve marketing effectiveness.
In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, we discussed the role and methods of profiling customers and prospects.  Yet obtaining valuable data about the interests and habits of a customer [...]

This is part 2 of the series “Targeting The Customer“, a 5-part series on using marketing automation to target customers and improve marketing effectiveness.
In the first post of this series, we discussed the importance of profiling and it’s purpose in gathering information regarding customer behavior and preference, and utilizing that data to target the customer [...]

This is part 1 of the series “Targeting The Customer“, a 5-part series on using marketing automation to target customers and improve marketing effectiveness.

Sending off blind email blasts without regard to the end recipient is like a sales rep using the same sales pitch for a product, regardless of the customer’s specific needs.  While email [...]

As I’ve stated previously, Marketing Automation has become the forgotten child of CRM.  It’s features are underdeveloped, it is always an “afterthought” in CRM implementations, and has often been relegated to simple email marketing off of the CRM’s sales leads or contact management databases.  As important as email marketing is, in most CRM systems its [...]