CMOs: 3 ways to avoid big data mistakes

As a CMO, you know Big Data is increasing market share and bottom-line profitability for all types of businesses...only if you do it right. As a graduate student in the Northwestern Medill Integrated Marketing Communication program with an interest in data analytics, I have found 2 article highlighting important concepts about using Big Data successfully. 

Information week’s article Big Data Success Remains Elusive: Study reveals a cruel survey result that only 27% of the organizations described their big data projects as "successful". This survey is conducted by Capgemini Consulting involving 226 company respondents across regions and multiple industries. According to this article, big data failures are primarily the result of: 1)Inconsistency between big data analytics and business objectives. 2)Attempts to use their existing data management systems to process big data stream. 3)Scattered silos of data resulting in a lack of unified view of data. This article also suggests key success factors for big data approach, that is “a well-defined organizational structure”, “a systematic implementation plan”.

sources:  http://www.coredigitalworks.com/

Shanker Ramamurthy, Global Managing Partner of IBM, holds a similar opinion in his article Speed To Insight: Key To Big Data Success: Big data analytics should become ubiquitous across different departments in the business organization, including HR, sales, marketing, and etc. Another important factor he put forward is “speed” from data to decision-making. The case of Wellpoint http://www.antheminc.com/ is used to illustrate the importance of speed. This health benefit company implemented a system that quickly correlates clinical research, patient data, and clinical practice guidelines to shorten the pre-approval process so nurses are given best options for each patient in a matter of seconds. By doing this, WellPoint is reducing costs improving service, as well as catering appropriate treatment for each patient.

Based on these two articles and my industry studies as a graduate student in the Northwestern Medill IMC program, here are three actions I would recommend

to companies that want to succeed in big data approach.

l     Share Big Data Organizationally: Big Data Analytics impacts across divisions and requires integration of multi-sources. So create analytics teams to gather and use data uniformly throughout your organization

l        Bring into decision-making: Don’t isolate Big Data Analytics from you business process. Make it the engine to drive your business decisions and actions

l     Accelerate the speed: Shorten the time from data to insights . Be receptive to changes as business market is becoming real-time basis. Take timely actions accordingly!

In today’s business environment, becoming Big Data-centric is a shortcut to become competitive. While, as every other front-edged technology, big-data is like a vitamin tablet that take time to digest. In current stage, business organizations are still attempting this technology while separate it from its business process. I believe real benefits will be realized when big data analytics will be into its decision-making process as well as into operation across different departments in a timely manner.

Jill is a current master student in Northwestern University, studying marketing analytics. Before that, she graduated from Tsinghua University, experienced in management consulting and strategic marketing planning. She is dedicated in delivering actionable strategies and in-depth insights through data-driven methods. Feel free to comment and repost. Jill can be connected through Twitter and Linkedin. 

CMOs: 3 Tips to Increase your Market Share using Amazon

As a CMO, you're always trying to find the smartest way to increase market awareness of your brands. As a graduate student in the Northwestern Medill IMC program, I have been researching Amazon and its power to really impact your market and have found two articles which really show its potential.

Skip McGrath, an accomplished seller, lists 20 steps for new sellers on Amazon. His tips start with the basics of setting up your account as a new seller all the way down to tips for using the keyword tool. You can check out Skip McGrath's website here.

 

Image via Wired.com

Armando Roggio, an editor at PracticalEcommerce, gives us 5 tips for increasing sales on Amazon by 50%. While this percentage might seem unattainable, what have you got to lose? Tips range from competing on price to automating your listings to save time. Check out the 5 tips here and browse around the other PracticalEcommerce articles, there's a lot to learn!


1. Register as a PRO and prosper! Setting a professional seller account is a no brainer. You're not representing a single person, you're likely representing a company. This is what all buyers will see so it should be your company name or something similar to it. What not as many people are familiar with is Amazon's Brand Registry program. Once you do this it gives only you (or your company) the power to edit details on a product's page. This will be come extremely important if there are many sellers selling on the same listing. 

2. Eyes on the competition. Spend some time getting lost on Amazon.com. Are your competitors on Amazon? See what they're selling and what they're pricing their products at. Are they bundling items? Are they listing items at MSRP or at a discount? Also, check to see if any of your products are currently being sold on Amazon, if they are, this will save time later on. But check to see who these sellers are, are they your distributors?

3. Pick your products! Not every product you carry is going to be a good fit for Amazon's Marketplace. It is often recommended that you don't waste your time selling anything that's less than $10 due to Amazon's fees. Also, it's important to remember Amazon's customers are mostly consumers. So if you're someone who primarily sells in B2B, you need to think if any of your potential customers will actually be looking for your product on Amazon. You also may want to stay away from complicated items that require a lot of customer hand holding. 

It’s time to take the leap and start selling on Amazon. So register a professional account, track the competition, and select your products to sell. These tips are just the tip of the iceberg. Amazon's Seller Central can be overwhelming and complicated at times but there’s so much potential from an increase in sales to an increase in exposure and an increase in new customers. Just go for it!

About the Author: Allison S. Fine has over 5 years of experience in business to business marketing. She specializes in digital marketing and Amazon Marketplace strategies. In 2014 she increased her company’s Amazon sales by 150% compared to the previous year. Allison has consulted with a number of companies on their Amazon strategies. She currently is the Marketing & Ecommerce Director at Neil Enterprises, Inc. and has a masters degree in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University. She is not affiliated or sponsored by Amazon or any Amazon marketplace companies mentioned. Allison is available for consulting and speaking engagements, please contact her via Twitter or LinkedIn for more information.

Why PwC's Purchase of Booz&Co. Might Mean More To You Than You Think

Across the various businesses involved in the financial services industry, it is critical to stay up-to-date with the most recent information in the marketplace. As a future consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton and an undergraduate student in Medill at Northwestern University, I believe new and seasoned professionals need to make a greater effort to understand the past, current, and future ramifications of PricewaterhouseCoopers latest acquisition of the consulting powerhouse Booz&Co (now Strategy&). I have found several articles on the acquisition that will be of interest to experts in this field.

When news first broke of PwC’s purchase of corporate consultancy Booz&Co in October, an article titled "PwC gobbles up Booz & Co as Big 4 rebuild in consulting" hit keenly on the immediate effects of this important event (reuters). Large audit firms have been moving to re-acquire lucrative consulting businesses as of late, now more than 10 years after regulators in the U.S. attempted to tear apart the two sectors. With audit revenues flattening in developed markets, the U.S. Big Four have been investing more in consulting, where business is growing after the recessionary slump. Booz&Co’s absorption marks a notable shift for firms, which backed away from consulting after Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act following the Enron debacle of 2002. Critics are worried that auditors will once again become too cozy with corporate clients and fail to vet their financial statements thoroughly, the same conflict of interest that required the government to step in a more than a decade ago; however, it is now illegal for audit clients to receive non audit services, so the previous fear of firms getting too close to clients should quell a decent amount of these concerns. While this corporate marriage was met with scandal in the past, the strategic origins of this liaison always have and continue to foster substantial revenue opportunity—but only if all parties proceed with caution. Three years ago, the article "Auditors and Consulting: Claims Of No Conflict Strain Credibility" constructed an industry savvy, in-depth glance into the logic behind the Big Four’s focus on growth into their global consulting businesses, as well as information regarding Sarbanes-Oxley and forecasting the rebirth of a trend we see so clearly through PwC’s latest market move (retheauditors).

Based on current research and my experience at Northwestern University, here are three actionable recommendations you should implement immediately:

Know the facts – above is a brief overview of a multi-faceted, critical point in the history of the financial services industry. Make sure you have a strong understanding of the past to ensure the same mistakes are not repeated in the future.

Don’t straddle the fence –if you happen to find yourself working for or with a firm that has both auditing and consulting arms and you’re unsure whether you are involved in any ethical misconduct, walk away. When it comes to queries in business ethics, it is always better to be safe than sorry.

Understand specific sector ramifications – what this acquisition means for me as a future employee of Booz Allen Hamilton carries very different implications than what it means for the CEO of Deloitte or an entry level auditor at PwC. Explore this information within the right context for you.

There will be plenty of buzz around this acquisition and it’s evolution. Make sure you and your firm are proactively in the forefront of knowledge concerning this trend, not reactively retorting from the sidelines.

Jasmine Jones is currently pursing a Bachelors of Science in Communication Studies and a certificate in Integrated Marketing Communications at Medill, Northwestern University. She has previously worked for Target and Aldi Inc, and her experiences have granted her a deep understanding and passion for working in and across various sectors of business. She would love to continue the conversation on Twitter @JasmineL_Jones.

  

The Shopper Customer Journey in E-commerce

               Hey E-commerce Manager, are you thinking about how to acquire more customers, or how to boost loyalty to your brand? Good questions, but first, you should ask: Do I understand who is my customer? what is his/her customer journey? These are key questions because in the online environment the old marketing "push" strategy is not going to work as you expect anymore. As an Integrated Marketing Communication grad student at Northwestern University, I have learned that the first step in good marketing starts with a good understanding about consumer behavior. And yes, you should use data to support your insights.

               

                In 2009, McKinsey developed the above model about the journey that customers follow these days. Because of the rising of internet and social media, customers have more control (and power) of the information. They relay more in friends and family opinions more than brand messages. So "Push" marketing is not going to work. Brands should start thinking about how to promote conversations and give relevant content to potential customers in the first part of their journey (Active Evaluation). Take in consideration that customers can have different paths to seek information during this first part of the journey. You should consider what is the category that you are selling and the cultural context (country, region) where your product is sold. Google Think Insights has a fun tool where you can play moving the two variables I just mentioned.

                At the moment of purchase, the core idea is to make the purchase process easier. Depending on the category, you can promote cross-selling of products (shopper marketers know that very well because in brick and mortar stores  40% of the shopper decisions are still taking place in the store). After that moment of truth, You can track your customers to understand if they repeat the purchase because that defines the beginning of loyalty. If they repurchase in your site, that means that you are one step closer to develop customer loyalty. If they do not, they are going to start their journey all over again.

So what to do now? here is your call to action

1. Collect, analyze and understand in which part of the journey your customers are located. You can use the data that you have been gathering in your CRM, Google Analytics, Omniture, etc, etc. Quality is more important than quantity.
2.   Segment your customers, and align your resources where "your customers spend their time."
3.   Test, learn and improve. That is the beauty to be in E-commerce.

Remember that you also are in this journey about understanding your customers, which should be your first step into this travel.

 "There is a new reality for marketing: that consumers are continuously evaluating brands, and our brands need to be present and accounted for at every stage of consideration." Dany Bosomworth

Sources:

Customer Journey

http://www.smartinsights.com/marketplace-analysis/customer-analysis/customers-purchase-journey/

Google Data

http://www.google.com/think/tools/customer-journey-to-online-purchase.html

Alvaro Gutierrez is a MSc. Candidate in Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University with an emphasis on e-commerce and marketing analytics. He previously worked as a Category Manager consultant for Nielsen Chile. Follow him @mktgdata

Take advantage of the shopping cart abandonment during these holidays

            Do you know that 88 percent of your shoppers are going to abandon the online shopping cart in your site during these holidays? Do not despair; there is a way to take advantage about this consumer behavior. As an integrated marketing communication graduate student at Northwestern University, I have learned that the most important concept in marketing is to understand consumer behavior to plan your marketing strategies.

            Check this out this amazing info graphic about abandonment issues. It is highly probable that customers quit their shopping experience because they want to research online to find better prices. Today, shoppers are well informed, and it is easy for them to compare your product to other retailers'. In this scenario, everything in its online customer experience matters and should be subject to careful analysis (yes, using data.)

            But you can improve their customer experience through personalization, so it is possible to take advantage of this situation. Improving their experience, you can develop loyalty to your site. Repeat shoppers represent 8 percent of site visitors, but they account for 41 percent of all online sales. There is no necessity to spend tons of money on fancy recommendation agents; with good customer service, you can improve their experience. Finally do not forget the abandonment cart. One out of four people will abandon his or her cart, but they do that to save their products for later consideration. So, a gentle reminder at the end will produce more sales.

So, it is time for action:

1. Provide options to save the contents of the cart
2. Display customer support information
3. Offer free (or reduced) shipping

            All these actions will increase the chances that your customers will click the "pay" button. But remember, the main issue here is to understand why your customers are leaving the cart. By only understanding their consumer behavior, you will be able to find ways to improve your e-commerce techniques.

Sources:

Kissmetrics. Abandonment Issues.  Retrieved from http://blog.kissmetrics.com/shopping-cart-abandonment/?wide=1

Amanda Myers, Improve your customer experience through personalization. Retrieved from http://www.bigcommerce.com/ecommerce-blog/improve-customer-experience-personalization/

Alvaro Gutierrez is a MSc. Candidate in Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University with an emphasis on e-commerce and marketing analytics. He previously worked as a Category Manager consultant for Nielsen Chile. Follow him @mktgda