Marketing Measurement and ROI Analysis – Connecting Aspirations with Realities

One of the clearest themes in recent research on the challenges marketers face in their roles is the great chasm that exists between aspiration and reality for marketers when it comes to marketing measurement and the analysis of marketing return on investment (ROI). So what are marketers’ aspirations; where is the disconnect; what are their challenges; and what are potential strategies for overcoming these challenges? Adam Needles examines this issue, presenting some in-progress findings from his own research and compares/contrasts this with recent research findings and advice by others who study the topic.

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A Survey of Marketers Priorities and Experiences with Marketing Technology

An invitation from Adam Needles to participate in an original benchmark survey of marketers that is focused on garnering insights into marketing technology priorities and experiences

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The Inbound Marketing / Marketing Content Management Crowd – A Fourth Camp?

What is inbound marketing, how is it tied to marketing content management and what does this all mean for marketers? Moreover, is this a real ecosystem of solutions, or is it merely a Hubspot phenomenon? Adam Needles tackles these questions in a new post.

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A CMO’s Dual Imperatives – Driving Organizational and Technological Change

Adam Needles discusses the dual imperative for CMOs to succeed by driving both organizational and technological change — highlighting specific recommendations for CMOs to follow.

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Q and A … Eloqua’s Steve Woods on ‘Digital Body Language’

In this Q and A with Propelling Brands, Eloqua CTO Steve Woods talks about his new book, Digital Body Language — Deciphering Customer Intentions in an Online World, which presents a new way for marketers to think about their roles and how they engage with customers in the Internet age. In this book, Woods shows “… that, by embracing the concept of digital body langauge, marketers can re-engage with sales colleagues on a more strategic level and increase their value to the enterprise.”

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Top 20 Integrated Marketing Management Platforms 2 of 3: Assessing Marketing Needs + Evaluating Vendors

This is the second in a three-part series of posts on integrated marketing management platforms. In this post, Adam Needles presents high-level thoughts for marketers on approaches to analyzing their needs and to selecting a platform that is the right ‘fit’ for their organization.

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Marketing Technology and Marketers … An Invitation to Participate in a New Book

I am in the process of writing a book – tentatively titled Connected Marketing – that is for marketers, that covers the topic of marketing technology and that is meant to help marketers deploy and use technology in a substantially-different way than they do today. What are your thoughts on the direction I’m taking? What else should I be considering, researching or thinking about to maximize the value of this book to marketers? This piece presents my initial outline and invites feedback.

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Top 20 Integrated Marketing Management Platforms 1 of 3: Marketers’ Needs + Technology Landscape

Adam Needles defines the integrated marketing management platform segment both from the standpoint of marketers’ needs and from the technology landscape of vendors. This is the first in a three-part series of posts on integrated marketing management platforms. The next post will present insights for marketers into analyzing their needs and selecting a platform that is the right ‘fit’ for their organization. The final post will present snapshots of the top 20 vendors I’m watching and that I believe are representative, forward-thinking leaders in this segment.

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Q and A … IBM’s Sandy Carter on ‘Marketing 2.0’

In this Q and A with Propelling Brands, IBM executive Sandy Carter talks about her new book, The New Language of Marketing 2.O: How to Use ANGELS to Energize Your Market, which delivers a ‘tool box’ for marketers — presenting a normative framework, together with numerous case examples from companies in a variety of B2B and B2C industries, to help marketers think through integrating social media into their existing marketing programs.

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Marketing Personalization 3.0 – ‘Co-creation’

The future evolution of marketing personalization and the shift towards co-creation will not happen overnight; however, it is un-arguably happening. Normative frameworks, customer needs and technology are converging to make this possible. Marketing Personalization 3.0, through co-creation, offers the ability to improve customer-brand engagement, increase marketing ROI and fundamentally upgrade the profitability of many businesses. Adam Needles helps marketers remain aware of this evolution, look for opportunities to integrate co-creation into their marketing and be prepared to embrace technologies, such as semantic analysis and social graphs, that will help them better connect with their customers efficiently and effectively.

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Top 20 Cross-channel Marketing Execution Platforms?

Adam Needles presents initial thoughts on a working list of leading cross-channel marketing execution management platforms. This piece is focused on (1) better identifying the state of this technology segment, (2) building out the list and (3) presenting insights into their strengths and weaknesses.

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Building a Sustainable Internet Marketing Presence

How do we build a sustainable Internet marketing presence? Adam Needles looks at the core challenge of Internet marketing. Are we investing in campaigns that are little more than one-way ads/brochures online with diminishing returns, or are we investing in a long-term marketing presence that will establish a foundation for growth, that will really stir the passion of our customers and that will, as a consequence, be self perpetuating over a longer period of time? This is an issue that impacts not only the strength and life of our brands but also the ROI from our marketing investments.

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