With all eyes on marketing's ROI, identifying the "best" current and prospective customers — the ones who will generate the highest return in terms of profits for your brand — becomes even more critical to success. Of course, the explosion of digital and social media certainly hasn't made it any easier to answer what was already a pretty challenging question: how to tell the "best" from the rest?
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The Risks of Using Spreadsheets for Statistical Analysis
Are spreadsheets more hindrance than help in data analysis? Download a free whitepaper to learn more.
Mastering the Art of Social Selling: IBM Finds Leads in Social Media 
B2B brands understand the clear benefits of going social but knowing you should be integrating social media with lead generation activities and effectively doing so are two different things. IBM is one B2B organization which understands this well and set about putting into play a strategy that supported and drove lead gen.
David Aaker on branding: The Curse of Success
Success doesn't always breed success—at least not when it comes to transformational innovation. The only way for a company to achieve real growth, with rare exceptions, is to create offerings that are so innovative that they contain "must haves" that define new subcategories. The alternative—to build existing businesses with incremental innovations—in general does not create any sustainable sales growth. Look at any product category and the answer is the same.
Don't Fall for Vanity Metrics: How to Measure Your True Social ROI
Measuring marketing spending used to be pretty easy, at least in theory: You’d run a big ad campaign and then see if your sales rose. If they did, great. If not, then you wasted your money. But social media has muddied the waters. A campaign may not do much for sales, but it might add a million Facebook fans or garner an impressive number of retweets. Does that mean you spent your money effectively?
From Coconuts to Calling Cards: Driving Customer Experience by Taking the Loyalty Leap
What defines customer experience today? It's a question that every brand is asking itself today. Thanks to the wide variety of technology available today, marketers can easily collect customer data. However, leveraging data in ways that can help brands design better customer experiences requires them to take the loyalty leap. In his new book, The Loyalty Leap: Turning Customer Information into Customer Intimacy, author Bryan Pearson, President and CEO of LoyaltyOne Inc., shares his insights on how brands can derive customer loyalty through enterprise organization, customer communications and data management. (To learn more, register for the AMA's free webcast, Are You Ready to Make the Loyalty Leap, April 16 at 12 p.m. CST.)
Social Media Feeds Hunger for 'The Hunger Games'
Social media helped Lions Gate Entertainment hit the box-office bull's-eye with the opening of The Hunger Games, the pop culture hit based on the best-selling novel by Suzanne Collins. Raking in a record $155 million in North America on the film's opening weekend, fans were already well aware of Panem, The Capitol and its 12 Districts thanks to an integrated social media campaign including Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr.
Online Privacy Pro Weighs in on New Federal Guidelines
Behavioral targeting and consumers' online privacy have been industry buzzwords for years, but marketers, consumers and the federal government have yet to reach consensus on the issues.
It's a tricky situation: Data collection ultimately can benefit consumers by allowing marketers to serve up more relevant messages online, rather than bombarding consumers with unwanted or inappropriate ads, but consumers are wary of having their browsing behaviors reflected in the ads that they see as they move from site to site.
It's Time to Focus: A Closer Look at In-Person Focus Groups
With new digital opportunities to interact with consumers emerging on a regular basis, traditional means of acquiring market data can get called into question, prompting researchers to regroup. But remember: New doesn't always replace old.
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"What's required is a kind of social media sherpa, who can find you the audience you seek, who can reach to them on the platforms where they are already congregating, and who can help promote in tasteful ways that fit the sensitivities of the networks where your audiences are found."
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Email Marketing Boot Camp
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From Globalization to Emerging Markets
The Politics of Selling
Introducing...
Watch the episode today!
Generic Advertising - An approach to preparing advertising messages that concentrates on the customer benefits that apply to all brands in a product category, as opposed to benefits that are unique to specific brands.
Some employers are asking employees for their Facebook passwords. Would you hand it over?
87% No way. My passwords are private.
3% Yes. If it means I'd get or keep my job.
3% Yes. But I'd ask how it will be used.
7% Maybe. Depends on circumstances.
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"The winner this week is a simple testament to the power that is unleashed when two great brands come together. I'm talking about Tommy Hilfiger's role on American Idol.
Talk about a great way for a brand that has terrific visibility but is struggling ratings-wise (American Idol) to harness another great brand that can use some access to a new demographic.
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