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Back to Basics: Best Bets for a Robust Year End

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When B2B marketing decision-makers were asked to name their most effective B2B marketing best practices, it was discovered that those who followed best practices recommended by their industry peers produced revenue and profit results for their organizations that showcased them and the companies for whom they work as leaders. By contrast, B2B marketers who did not consistently adhere to those highly recommended best practices finished the study period as laggards, who did not achieve desirable revenue and profit targets. B2B marketers who apparently had little faith in the power of those highly recommended marketing best practices produced lackluster revenue and profit results for their companies. B2B marketers whose organizations emerged as revenue and profit leaders not only produced higher revenue and profit growth but also achieved better client retention and growth of the company’s client roster.

Forrester, the global research and advisory company headquartered next door to Boston in Cambridge, MA, revealed in a 2025 marketing survey a sharp divide between B2B leaders and laggards based on responses from 1,060 marketing decision-makers. Forrester researchers compared a cohort of leading marketers, who consistently applied recommended marketing best practices, which ranged from cross-functional in-house collaborations to client-based personalized marketing strategies. Forrester researchers also identified a cohort of lagging marketers, who fell short where leading marketers and their companies excelled. The business outcomes were clear—leading marketers, who closely followed recognized marketing best practices, rewarded their organizations with significantly stronger revenue and profit metrics, plus a robust client list that was augmented by improved client retention.

As marketers and all business leaders and owners struggle to adapt to seismic changes that have rocked the global economy for 20+ years, and especially since the 2020-2022 pandemic era, the necessity of future-proofing their business entities has become obvious. The Forrester survey indicates that applying well-known marketing best practices requires is an essential component of a resilient business entity. Additional marketing best practices that nurture high-growth companies include the use of AI-powered tech solutions that among other key functions can be used to design personalized marketing campaigns and tactics and also facilitate alignment between marketing, sales and operations.

Maximize marketing

Marketing teams will do well to reacquaint themselves with marketing fundamentals to navigate this era of lengthened B2B sales cycles, economic instability marked by cautious spending habits, lay-offs at leading multinationals (e.g. Amazon and Starbucks) and rising B2B buyer expectations. Develop marketing campaigns that emphasize the unique sales proposition of your service or product. Provide opportunities for buyer engagement that answer questions, educate, build community and inspire brand loyalty. Furthermore, synchronize strategic and operational alignment with your sales and marketing activities—not an easy task since prospects are quite comfortable conducting digital research of your services or products (and also your competitors’) before seeking info from your team. The change in power dynamics has caused a disruption in the usual alignment between marketing and sales functions—and for 61% of B2B prospects, that’s how they like it, according to a 2024 survey conducted by Gartner Research.

  • Develop a buyer’s journey that provides appealing responses to the typical prospect’s initial curiosity and questions about your products and services by building a marketing/ sales funnel that anticipates needs. The number of touchpoints in a B2B buyer’s journey that results in a sale varies according to industry; as you build your company’s sales/marketing funnel, information generated by AI-powered client research is your best way to learn the information that prospects desire most, end-to-end.
  • Use AI-powered customer relations management to identify client groups that have a preference for certain of your services and/or products and use the intel to devise marketing campaigns and strategies to purposed to increase your market share.
  • Keep it simple by creating marketing messages that focus on user outcomes; include AI-identified personalization data at every client touchpoint to enhance the customer experience and encourage purchases.

Productivity over market expansion

Discovering a niche market that’s worth a gamble—that is, worth the resources you’d invest to develop it—is no doubt high on the wish-list of nearly all Freelance consultants and business owners. However, Forrester survey marketing leaders did not necessarily think the “grass is greener” and chose not to chase what might be a mirage.

Marketing leaders kept their feet firmly planted on the ground and instead maximized resources and advantages already in hand to deliver their revenue and profit targets. A big plus was that leaders worked for companies that invested in AI-powered tools and applied that resource to strategies they could expect to maximize productivity and drive business growth. Marketing leaders incorporated client insights, never lost sight of brand promises and used those benchmarks to strengthen their marketing messages. Those messages described and emphasized product and service solution outcomes, and went beyond merely listing product or service features, to help prospects envision precisely how the products or services would achieve important objectives (and make purchasing committee members look good).

This strategy can be depended on to encourage buyer engagement and trust, which boosts the likelihood of a purchase and, post-purchase, promotes client retention that grows revenue, profit and client lists. In fact, Forrester data showed that revenue generated by leading companies consisted mostly of existing, rather than new, clients. Market penetration means how well your product or service sells; increasing sales within the existing marketplace is much easier for Freelancers and small business owners than either creating new services or products or entering new markets.

  • Agile business strategies are a competitive advantage that help you adapt to changing business circumstances and maintain, or even grow, your client base, revenue and profit
  • Accurately identify your strongest competitors to learn how to more advantageously position your service or product in the marketplace—confirm your best customers and also refine your messages to obtain more selling opportunities and close gaps that inhibit sales
  • Muti-channel marketing optimizes communication with prospects. Create a presence on platforms that clients and prospects visit and trust to maximize engagement activities, broadcast marketing messages, build brand loyalty and create more purchasing opportunities
  • Collect and utilize first-party data to enhance personalization, engagement, loyalty and sales

AI-powered tech tools to enhance efficiency and outcomes

Employing AI-powered marketing automation can provide numerous operational efficiencies that enable deep-dive research that supports insightful data-driven decision-making that delivers the results you need. AI-powered software is the ticket to obtaining client insights that are timely and trustworthy.

  • AI-powered predictive analysis gives reliable feedback re: client behavior, helping you to devise personalized and effective marketing strategies and campaigns
  • Marketing campaign personalization is maximized and might include, e.g., dynamic email marketing that auto-adjusts in response to real-time client engagement metrics
  • Client segmentation supported by AI marketing allows you to consider an array of client characteristics—demographics, purchase history, industry, or content preferences, for example—to better understand purchase patterns and motivations
  • Chatbots, virtual assistants and/or autonomous AI agents that manage end-to-end client interactions, including problem resolution, order processing and appointment scheduling, can be made available to ensure that your company reliably provides 24/7 customer service that enhances the customer experience and boosts your brand reputation
  • Integrate AI marketing automation with customer relations management to synchronize marketing, sales and customer service functions

Maintain a client-centric focus

You’ve heard this before and apologies for repeating myself! It’s just that basic marketing best practices have demonstrated conclusively that they reliably produce the results B2B marketers need. The vast majority of best practices marketing strategies and tactics, while reconfigured to resonate with current technology and client priorities, concerns and habits, have not been made obsolete. Inbound marketing, outbound marketing, content marketing, guerilla marketing and social media marketing remain effective today, although integrating them with current advanced technology and maintaining a focus that keeps client goals, priorities and pain points at top of mind will yield the best outcomes.

  • Invite client feedback by inviting or initiating personal conversations, consistent and relevant social media posts created to encourage replies and/or creating a short survey that’s sent to clients you’ve worked with over the past four or five years, to learn what they perceive as your company’s strengths and weaknesses. It is instructive to obtain insight into how client needs and expectations evolve over time, so that you can use the info to improve your product-market fit, or also hear their thoughts on what competitors offer, or get the heads-up on shifting concerns or priorities
  • Identify your typical prospect’s most important goals, business drivers and pain points that trigger a need for your category of business solutions
  • Develop a client buyer persona, a profile that represents your ideal buyer. If you have more than one significant target client group, you are encouraged to develop a buyer persona for each. A detailed buyer persona helps you to objectively envision how to personalize your strategies and campaigns by developing timely, relevant and engaging content for each client segment.
  • Provide excellent end-to-end customer service, from onboading to after-sale support

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: © Omar/Salaam Times. Afghan women weave a carpet in Injil District, Herat Province, Afghanistan on September 28, 2022.

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First-Person Data: Collect and Protect

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Compliance takes a leading role in marketing strategy

The accelerating use of Generative AI that’s occurring in business entities large and small has sparked privacy concerns in data management and IT security teams, marketing C-Suites and the offices of corporate governance/compliance attorneys. Whether the leadership at your organization calls itself progressive or conservative, it’s absolutely necessary to develop data implementation and risk management protocols, and create a crisis management public relations strategy while you’re at it, when integrating artificial intelligence backed software tools into your business operations.

Protecting client relationships and brand reputation has persuaded many organizations to bake compliance regulations into their marketing strategies, in particular those supported by GenAI. International Data Corporation (IDC), a global market intelligence and data provider for the IT, telecommunications and consumer technology markets headquartered near Boston, MA, cautions that stringent data compliance protocols are no longer merely optional, but are necessary, to avoid financial and reputational harm.

We’re all personally impacted by the increasingly pervasive use of AI and you are well aware that data privacy is high-priority to your client (and you). Regular reports of cyberattacks and data breaches intensify concern. While the the expansion of AI-powered software systems result in a more efficient, responsive and personalized experience that clients value and now expect, it’s usage simultaneously makes clients wonder about the security of their data. Research by Publishers Clearing House found that 86% of Americans are more concerned about their privacy and data security than the state of the US economy. However, 62% either don’t know or are misinformed about how their data is being used.

Sigh. There is an upside, however. Advanced risk monitoring tools, automated reporting and responsible AI frameworks can act as gatekeepers and companies achieve regulatory requirements. Businesses that integrate transparency and ethical AI practices into their governance policies and procedures can reduce the possibility of data breaches and other AI-related risks and simultaneously enhance client trust and strengthen the company’s brand reputation.

There is also legislation designed to reassure consumers that protecting their personal data is serious business and is, in some municipalities, the law. Protective measures meant to safeguard the processing of personal data is demonstrated by the change of privacy features at Google, the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), whose purpose is to protect the privacy and personal data of individuals in the European Union and European Common Market and the adoption of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

What is first-party data?

First-party data is information your company has collected directly from clients and prospects, site visitors, or social media followers. First-party data comes directly to you and the more touchpoints you provide, the more opportunities you will have to collect this information. It is an extremely valuable type of data for businesses. In comparison, second-party data is shared by a trusted source, while third-party data is data aggregated from other sources, which can include social media platforms and public records.

Marketers recognize that personalization is the cornerstone of a pleasing and potentially memorable customer experience and that collecting, implementing and storing client data —first-party data—is integral to personalization. Marketers enter first-party data into customer relations management (CRM) systems to enhance personalization, use CRM predictive analytics to get insight into client behaviors and preferences, recognize client segments and then target marketing campaigns accordingly. Sources of first-party data include:

  • Client demographic info
  • Client buying history
  • Leadgen campaigns
  • Client or prospect interactions with your website or app
  • Surveys and other online feedback that clients may participate in
  • Client, prospect or other visitors user-generated content or social media conversation transcripts
  • Blog, email and newsletter subscribers
  • Program registration lists, e.g. webinar, workshop, or meeting sign-ups

Why do you want first-party data?

First-party data helps you to paint a picture of your client and develop a reliable buyer persona. It is enormously useful because it delivers accurate client and prospect information—user info from all the touchpoints—that enables you to target the right buyers for your services or products. You’ll also be able to make better informed decisions when figuring out what personalization looks like to your clients.

First-party data enables marketers to build a customer experience that reflects user purchase history, if applicable, or other known preferences and behaviors that enrich and enhance the customer experience. Personalization is like the bartender who knows your drink or the waiter who shows you to your favorite table. Now you’ll have an accurate blueprint to follow when figuring out how to nurture a brand community of long-term clients who are happy to buy your products or services, make personal referrals and generate good word-of-mouth on social media.

Transcribe first-party data into your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform to create a database of everyone who’s visited your website and social media platforms. But before you start using your first-party data, think about what you want to achieve, to ensure that you’ll maximize its many benefits. You may want to do one or more of the following:

  • Building brand awareness 
  • Expanding leadgen activities
  • Encouraging repeat business and discouraging client churn 
  • Re-engaging lapsed clients and non-converting prospects
  • Growing your thought leadership content audience—blog, newsletter, podcast, webinars, speaking engagements

When you get enough first-person data to have confidence in the size of your sample, begin to implement your strategy—segment your audience and use your first-party data insights to maximize conversions on your website by optimizing user experience, targeted marketing messages, the buyer personas to understand your customers and create customized emails or (email) newsletters that will be relevant to the primary sectors (e.g., hospitals, schools, for-profit, not-for-profit, small business, global enterprise).

As well, Freelance consulting specialists and other B2B entities can follow the highly aligned and targeted account-based marketing format to produce relevant and personalized content to your market segments across the digital channels you occupy— posting tailored content in a various formats (e.g. blogs, videos, e-books, case studies) that resonate with those audience segments.

The ability to personalize marketing outreach activities cannot be overestimated—96% of shoppers say they’re “likely to purchase when brands send personalized messages.” Meanwhile, a 2025 consumer trends report generated by Businesswire found that “three out of four surveyed shoppers have already abandoned brands they once loved in favor of those offering more personalized experiences, while 81% say they routinely ignore marketing messages that don’t feel relevant”. When you throw in the harsh realities that client acquisition costs are increasing, client lifetime value is decreasing and the competitive landscape is intensifying, making the most of first-party client data becomes imperative. But the catch-22 is that possession of client personal data, which often includes contact info and credit card numbers, is a risky proposition.

Collect data, protect data

The widespread restrictions on third-party cookies by leading web browsers presents real challenges to the collection of first-party data, even when enabled by data collection by sites you control (e.g., your website). With Google putting the brakes on third-party cookies, plus Edge, Firefox and Safari shutting off cookies, first-party data is more valuable than ever.

How can businesses safely collect this essential marketing/ sales resource and simultaneously navigate obstacles around data security and client privacy expectations? The implementation of advanced security measures to protect against fraud and data breaches is a must-do. Ensuring compliance throughout the transition is also crucial, especially with evolving data privacy regulations.

In addition to conducting regular security audits to ensure data is secure, businesses should go beyond standard encryption practices and adopt advanced security measures such as tokenization for sensitive data fields, which minimizes the risk of exposing real data should a breach occur. It is recommended that companies should leverage automated tools for continuous security monitoring and compliance checks that can provide real-time alerts on suspicious activities that help to preempt potential security incidents. 

Maintain client trust

In Freelance consulting, trust and expertise are foundational. Clients entrust their sensitive data, strategic plans and proprietary work flow processes to you and expect their information to be kept private and secure. That is an ingredient in your recipe to win confidence, build strong, lasting relationships and establish and maintain your image as a reliable partner. You, Freelance friend, must institute all reasonable measures to protect client sensitive information, but as you know, the growing cybersecurity security threats can make that task feel like an ongoing battle. Here are effective defensive, low or no-cost, tactics you can take:

  • Read up on cybersecurity best practices that have SMBs and Freelance consultants in mind on the Small Business Association SCORE website.
  • Multi-Factor Authentication adds a layer of security by requiring users to verify their identity with both a password and a confirmation phone call or email.
  • Secure file permissions ensure that only authorized individuals can create, edit, or share sensitive documents. Encrypt sensitive documents and store them in the cloud to add another layer of security by instituting more stringently controlled access.
  • Hard-copy documents that contain sensitive information should be stored securely in a locked cabinet or safe when not in use.  
  • When possible, conduct meetings during which confidential topics will be discussed in person rather than on videoconference calls.
  • Devise an incident response/crisis communication PR strategy that provides explicit instructions, defines responsibilities and details your data recovery strategy in the event of a security incident. Your organization must respond quickly and in a calm and professional manner that demonstrates your control over matters and ability to resolve the incident and inform and reassure clients as you do.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: AI-generated image courtesy of StockCake

 

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2026 Tech Trends Whisper in Your Ear

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Freelance professional are not only happily engrossed in performing paid client work; you must simultaneously perform labor that is unpaid—not yet— searching for more work. Ambitious Freelancers are networking to maintain visibility and participating in activities that showcase your professional chops, such as appearing on webinars and podcasts and publishing a blog or newsletter. Your core business development strategy is to convince prospects of your ability to consistently produce the deliverables they need when planning to hire a Freelance worker in your professional category. But in addition to carrying out your revenue producing strategies, the often unspoken role of a Freelance professional is that of small business owner.

As you work both hard and smart to develop and maintain a thriving client roster that generates your preferred number of billable hours and bottom-line revenue, you can never lose sight of the responsibility for managing and optimizing all aspects of business operations. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that staying abreast of major developments in the constantly evolving B2B technology sector is a significant portion of your business management obligations. Dozens of technology tools have been brought to market over the past three or four years and it is certain that one or more potential is capable of creating operational efficiencies in the back-office operations that support your accounting, contract management, lead generation, email marketing, or client onboarding, for example. Time and/or money could be saved, clients will become more satisfied with the after-sales support and other customer service functions you will seamlessly deliver. Even if you are by nature a late adopter, let 2026 be the year that you introduce at least one innovate and undeniably practical technology tools to make a positive impact on your business operations.

Responsible decision-making can only take place when trustworthy information is available; you can keep up with emerging technologies by simply paying attention. Speed read articles and watch videos to learn about new tech products so that you can assess their potential relevance for your organization. You may already be familiar with the sites TechCrunch and Wired and may also find them informative.

While researching, keep this question in mind—does it appear that incorporating this technology will enable you to expand your business success by capitalizing on the outcomes and results it is expected to produce? You already know that most newly released tech products are outside the scope of your needs and budget but as a new year approaches, consider that late adopters often find that they’re leaving money on the table by ignoring technology advancements. Your perspective must always be big-picture and long-term.

Finally, to fully access the intended usefulness of your new technology tool, it must be integrated into your workflow. If you have an employee, develop a strategy to encourage buy-in of the tech tool’s purpose and benefits, so that this new resource will become part of your company culture—how things are done now. Be strategic as you evaluate tech-enabled upgrades you might like to introduce. Below are areas where recently released technology tools could enhance your business operations.

Use emerging tech for leadgen and marketing

The days of cold calling have all but faded away. The gold standard of B2B lead generation in 2026 and beyond is powered by AI-driven tools that enable targeted personalization and feature text, audio and video marketing content, product demos, case studies or testimonials and even live streaming that allows prospects to interact with your company in real time. AI has transformed B2B leadgen to enable marketing campaign activities to deeply engage prospects, a capability that results in higher sales conversion rates.

AI-powered leadgen tools enhance your marketing funnel by analyzing prospect behavior and interaction data to identify to identify and nurture top-quality leads—while complying with current privacy regulations and best practices. By addressing prospects’ specific needs and challenges, you will be able to design marketing campaigns that truly resonate and deliver. As marketplace competition intensifies and customer demands become more exacting, Freelancers in the B2B sector may discover promising benefits in tech innovations.

Account-based marketing has revolutionized the way B2B leadgen by identifying a more narrow swath of high-value prospective client leads rather than reaching out to a less dicrete audience. ABM delivers customized information to key decision-makers, which often leads to better sales conversion rates and smarter use of your resources. ABM uses a precise, data-driven strategy and takes a deep dive into target lead profiles, cross-department priorities and key insights. ABM tactics include:

  • Personalized Outreach: Creating tailored marketing campaigns for individual accounts based on the industry, whose messages will acknowledge client pain points, business goals and other priorities.
  • Custom Content: Developing case studies and presentations that address the challenges of target accounts. Providing relevant educational content, which is one of the most effective ways to attract and nurture B2B leads. Instead of pushing a sales message, content marketing educates by providing useful insights, industry best practices and potential solutions that facilitate informed decisions that yield good results. By addressing typical pain points and offering effective solutions, Freelancers can build trust and position themselves as a partner and go-to resource.
  • AI-powered opportunity identification: Growth leaders in B2B sales are using AI to find new niche, potentially lucrative markets.
  • Value-based AI-enabled pricing: B2B companies are using tech innovations to more comprehensively define value, as they gravitate toward dynamic models that can automate pricing models that are personalized to attract discrete customer segments.
  • Customer Relations Management: Automation software tools will help you analyze customer data, industry trends and competitor behavior to identify accounts that have the most sales potential for you.
  • Search Engine Optimization: SEO is a foundational lead generation strategy that helps B2B companies attract high-quality leads by improving their visibility in search results. When potential customers search for industry solutions, thought leadership content, or service providers, for example, a robust SEO strategy can ensure that your business appears at the right time. By consistently optimizing for search engines and user experience, your Freelance entity can attract a steady flow of organic leads who are actively seeking solutions, thus making SEO one of the most cost-effective B2B leadgen strategies. By optimizing website content, technical website structure and backlink profiles, your business can drive organic traffic and generate leads that convert to paying customers. SEO tactics for B2B lead generation include Keyword Optimization, that is, targeting high-intent search terms that align with buyer needs and search behavior and On-Page and Technical SEO, that is, improving page speed, site structure and mobile usability to enhance search performance.

Use emerging tech to improve the customer experience

Customer experience can be defined as the impression that customers and prospects have of your brand—the company, its products and services and, by extension, you—as they move through your company’s buyer’s journey. Each touchpoint on the journey is an opportunity to create a confidence-building impression that contributes to a satisfying and memorable customer experience. The presentation of an excellent customer experience has for some customers become non-negotiable and in fact, a customer experience that’s perceived as exceptional for some customers outweighs the importance of pricing. B2B customers are responding more like B2C shoppers and adopting many more consumer-like behaviors, e.g., seeking more robust buying experiences.

Include operating with a thoughtful strategy, delivering effective value propositions, optimizing for a wide variety of channels, and sustaining growth. But to stay on the front foot, B2B sales organizations can leverage technology to find the right markets while discovering, retaining, and delighting customers across all channels. Today’s leaders understand the value of embracing innovation and using cutting-edge technology to execute strategies. McKinsey’s latest B2B Pulse Survey reveals a widespread willingness to adopt advanced digital solutions,  yet only 20 % of respondents say they have consistently implemented technologies that fuel outsize growth. 

An exceptionally positive customer experience is a powerful differentiator that can drive revenue and brand loyalty. According to a 2025 Zendesk CX Trends Report, 60% of customers have purchased a service or product from one brand rather than another based on the customer experience they expect to encounter. A 2017 World Economic Forum report predicts that your customers will obtain “more choices and control than ever before” over the next decade thanks to technological advances.

To distinguish your company from competitors in the crowd, Freelancers would be wise to explore and evaluate tech innovations as a way to optimize your operations and appeal to the evolving demands of your clients and prospects. An exceptional customer experience will prioritize:

  • Personalization–Tailor services and communications to respond to individual customer preferences and purchase history
  • Efficiency–streamlined, fast and accurate delivery of service
  • Consistency–Provide a predictable and comforting level of product performance and service
  • Empathy–Show customers that you feel genuine concern for their needs and perspective by actively listening and recommending solutions that your services or products can provide
  • Communication–Provide customers with accurate and timely information
  • Feedback–Provide methods for customers to comment or request assistance and demonstrate that you value their input

Use the new technology to make available a customer experience platform for your company so that you can account for all client and prospect interactions with your company, from the first viewings of your website to advancing through your buyer’s journey to become a qualified lead, to making a purchase and becoming a full-fledged customer and culminating with post-sale support activities. Click here to view options.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: © Gamutstockimagespvtltd

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AI 2024: Freelancers and SMB Think Marketing

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So much of operating a successful business centers on marketing. Generating revenue is about customers: bringing them in and keeping who you have, all the while doing what you can to outmaneuver competitors and work around business climate challenges. To slip through the obstacle course and achieve those objectives, you must think and execute strategically and that includes making use of resources available to you. Among the most powerful and most discussed resources can be found in the many groundbreaking technological developments that have so radically reshaped our lives over the past hundred years.

Some of these useful and exciting tools are capable of delivering significant advantages to your organization—quick access to relevant data, the analysis and interpretation of that data and automation of routine functions such as email marketing and social media posting among them—all can be yours with just a few taps on your keypad. Your task is to stay abreast of the fast pace of emerging technologies and recognize the tools that will give you operational efficiencies you need most at a price you can afford.

The tool that’s got everybody talking is, tah dah, Artificial Intelligence. Open AI/Microsoft (Chat GPT), Google AI, Nvidia AI and Amazon (AWS machine learning) are among the leaders in the race to dominate AI technology. It’s imperative to start your learning curve and figure out the right way to use AI in your business. Maybe you’ve already started and have a chat bot on your website? That’s a great tool to enhance customer service and there are more marketing functions that AI can successfully support.

More than a trend

AI’s gift to marketing rests on its data-driven insights that help you personalize the customer experiences your company provides. Freelancers and small business owners are able to affordably access AI generated data that is actionable, meaning you can convert whatever insights you’ve gleaned into marketing strategies that can be expected to move the needle and set your organization apart in a highly competitive marketplace.

Personalization builds relationships

Marketing thought leaders have already pointed out that the future of effective marketing is personalization. Creating a memorably satisfying customer experience has replaced the hard sell. Now, the task is to lead customers to develop a connection with your business and give them reasons to continue doing business with you. Promoting connection through the inclusion of personalized marketing tactics is how to build relationships now, as you discourage churn and encourage repeat business.

New technologies, AI and otherwise, enable you to precisely personalize your company’s marketing strategies and tactics. The data that AI et al. delivers enables you to deepen your understanding of the customer persona by amassing demographic info that, among other insights, gives you actionable data about their buying habits and preferred experiences that you can use to make them feel valued. You can use recently developed technological tools, including AI, to create a more trusting and mutually beneficial relationship between your company and customers that ultimately leads them to give your marketing content more responses and followers that result in more sales, donations and growth for your organization.

Personalize and optimize AI prompts to personalize and optimize marketing content

The good news about AI technology is that it enables users to create both text and visual content. The downside, if you want to call it that, is you must “tell” your AI tool the result you want; to make it happen, you must learn to write instructions known as prompts. AI prompts can be divided into two categories: text prompting and image prompting. The prompt is how users communicate with the chosen AI tool—think key words and long-tail phrases. With prompts, you “tell” the AI what you want and how you want it to be done. You must describe what you want to see as a result.  

In text prompting, you’re “talking” to a natural language processor like ChatGPT. If your prompt is a general query, e.g., “how do you bake bread?”, you’ll be given a generic answer. But if your prompt is a more specific query or statement, e.g., “explain in simple terms how to bake whole wheat bread”, then you’ll likely end up with an acceptable recipe. When your goal is to create an image, you’ll use image prompting words to describe that image. The AI image generator is a text-to-image tool that was designed to make it easier for digital marketers and content creators to create images online. The text-to-image models you’ll use will include DALL-E2, Google’s Deep Dream Generator, Jasper.ai, or Stable Diffusion.

Incidentally, know that while AI tools are designed to process language, they have a different way of understanding than your average human. When using a natural language text prompting tool, you may receive outcomes that are incorrect or downright nonsensical, so it may take several tries, using different phrases to develop the prompt, to arrive at the outcome that you want. 

A cheat sheet of prompts written by someone else most likely will not produce optimal results. Your own words, perfected through a process of trial and error, in the end will breed success. Before you get started with AI prompts, here are a few things to keep in mind:

  1. There’s no magic prompt. The Internet is flooded with AI prompts, but it might take some trial and error before you figure out which type is most effective for your particular use case. 
  2. Clarify your desired outcome. A good rule of thumb: the response will generally be as broad or specific as its prompt. In some cases, it might actually be preferable to skimp on the details—like if you’re brainstorming blog post topics and want more varied and diverse answers. Something more complex, like a sales playbook or chatbot script, will almost always require more details.
  3. Garbage in, garbage out. The quality of the output depends entirely on the input. AI enables teams to move a lot faster, but it’s still important to take the time to flesh out your prompts. Otherwise, you could find yourself drowning in responses that are unclear, inaccurate, irrelevant or just wildly off-base.  

Marketing copy text prompts

Ramp up your creativity with prompts like “craft a brief, captivating story of a summer trip” or “compose a social post introducing a new skincare product for winters.” The suggestions that you get for these prompts can inspire imaginative content. Another strategy is to tailor your content based on audience preferences — from short-form copy to artwork, music and videos. This can help generate more tailored, engaging content for social media posts or emails. 

Informational text prompts

Hone in on the most relevant metrics and other info that’s buried in big data by using prompts like “provide a brief overview of Adidas’ top-performing footwear collection.” This is perfect for informed decision-making and finding out what’s still trending. 

Reasoning text prompts  

These prompts go beyond facts. They help AI provide thoughtful conclusions about a subject, adding depth and insight to your content. This includes prompts like “what is the impact of sustainable practices on corporate profitability?” Such lines of questioning can go a long way in helping you with industry knowledge and competitive analysis questions. 

List text prompts

Compile lists effortlessly by using prompts like “create a list of engaging podcast topics in the realm of artificial intelligence.” They’re ideal for generating concise, bulleted options, be it for email subject lines or blog titles. These prompts help structure your thoughts in a more systematic way. 

Instructional text prompts  

Guide your content creation with prompts like “detail the process of setting up a home automation system from scratch.” Utilize them to provide step-by-step guidance, which is incredibly useful for creating how-to guides or informative content. 

Interactive text prompts  

Interactive prompts initiate conversations. This includes prompts like “imagine you’re a travel guide giving recommendations for a solo trip to an exotic destination.” They create engaging scenarios, which are ideal for training sessions or interactive content. 

Keyword text prompts  

Keyword prompts pinpoint words or phrases. They are used for tasks like drawing insights from data or aiding in image and video creation. Take the example of this prompt: “Generate creative ideas for nutritious meal options that are easy to prepare at home. Focus on incorporating fresh ingredients and simple cooking techniques.” This keyword prompt guides the AI by specifying terms like “nutritious,” “easy-to-make,” “fresh ingredients” and “simple cooking techniques,” providing a clear direction for content generation related to healthy and easy-to-make meals. 

Image prompts

Use a phrase to describe what you’re looking for. A few specific details about the object or character, including a description of the character or object that will be in the foreground or background and the setting you’d like to see in your preferred image design.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

 

 

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Recipe for Great Content

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For several years now, the marketing gurus have been telling us that Content Marketing delievers results. Everything that you do to promote your business and your brand is useful, but Content marketing has emerged as an especially powerful strategy. But for the best Content marketing ROI, your content must address what matters to your audience–their pain points and priorities—and deliver what they value. Take care to produce content that brings these benefits to your intended audience:

  • Value: after reading or viewing your content, the Alternatively, your content may have helped them solve a problem.
  • Relevant: your content needs to relate to your audience’s life situation. Perhaps it helps them in their career, solves a relationship issue or serves to entertain them during a break. All three scenarios are perfect examples of content relevant to the person consuming it.
  • Consistent: publishing an award-winning newsletter of blog post post once and then never again does not constitute high-quality content marketing. Consistency  requires regular content of similarly high quality.

The guidelines above can help you develop a content marketing strategy that your current and potential customers will be drawn to. This is one of the most important aspects of Content Marketing—it’s all about your audience.

Furthermore, as you consider the platforms and delivery formats for your content, start by considering your audience. If social media will be used (and it most likely will be used), pay attention to the platforms that your target audience follows and trusts. Successful content provides value. In sum, you can better fulfill customer needs by understanding what they want from your business.

Updating existing content should be part of your content marketing strategy if your business has already started content marketing. Plus, updating existing content will benefit other aspects of your digital marketing strategy, including search engine optimization.

Keep your content engaging and easy to understand. If your Content Marketing Strategy includes longer blog posts, whitepapers or eBooks, they must be well presented and easy to read. Content that is hard to digest because it is challenging to understand rarely goes viral. Short sentences almost always beat long-winded explanations. If you offer video content, think about your presentation style and the technology used to record your content.

Content marketing is a great way to connect with current customer base and reach new ones. As with every form of digital marketing, a strategic approach is the most likely to succeed. Content marketing means being consistent, relevant to your audience, delivering value, most of all.

Evergage’s 2019 Trends in Personalization Survey Report found that 88 % of marketers felt personalization helped them deliver superior customer experiences, while 59 % felt it increased loyalty, and another 50 % saw a measurable ROI from personalization efforts.

Personalization doesn’t just mean dropping a customer’s name into an email. It means making your brand story come alive through relatable content and storytelling that connects on an emotional level, personalized to the customer’s current relationship with your brand.

In case you hadn’t noticed, customer-generated content carries great credibility and is a powerful for creating meaningful and influential content. Testimonials that feature your devoted customers can be used on your website. Positive online reviews are also very helpful, but the detailed and personalized stories presented in testimonials are known to surpass good reviews.

Your customers are sophisticated enough to realize that the goal of your marketing is to increase sales and leads; that knowledge can cause some to question the trustworthiness and authenticity of what you present. That potential for doubt is why successful Content Marketing Strategies include user-generated content to communicate first-person, relatable, credible experiences with your products and services.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: New Orleans, LA by way of New Bedford, MA chef Lagasse showcased his talents during Grand Cayman’s January 2018 Cayman Cookout, a premier culinary event.

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Keepin Up with Expectations

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The question “What do my customers want?” is maybe even more confounding than the 3000 year old Riddle of the Sphinx. Guessing incorrectly in either case brings the same fate—death (of the business, if not the owner). I suppose we can lay it all at the feet of digital innovation, which has raised the bar on customer expectations. Customers now expect the same level of end-to-end prompt, seamless performance and service from the small and mid-size companies that they still (thankfully!) patronize as they receive from well-funded and staffed multinational corporations. The little people must now work smarter, be evermore creative and resourceful and OMG hustle if we want to be viable.

According to a 2018 Salesforce CX Report, where 6,700 B2B and B2C buyers answered survey questions on technology, trust and the customer experience, 80 % of responders feel that the buying experience a company provides is as important as the products and services it provides. The report also found that if customers are dissatisfied, they’re ready to jump ship—75 % agree that it’s easier than ever to take their business elsewhere. So just because your customers are cozying up to you now doesn’t mean that they won’t look over your shoulder to see who else is in the room. https://c1.sfdcstatic.com/content/dam/web/en_us/www/assets/pdf/datasheets/trends-in-integrated-customer-experience-salesforce-research.pdf

The State of the Connected Customer, a 2019 Salesforce survey of 8,000 B2B and B2C buyers, found that customers will switch brands for what they perceive as a better customer experience. The survey concludes that customers expect good-to-great experiences from companies they know or would like to try out. The report also shows that trust and company values are important building blocks of customer relationships. https://www.salesforce.com/content/dam/web/en_us/www/documents/infographics/2019-state-of-the-connected-customer-infographic.pdf

At the same time, customer expectations are continually shifting as a result of their ongoing interactions with the world around them. For business owners and leaders, this means that in order to get a handle on creating the most desirable customer experience it is necessary to reexamine / reevaluate the customer experience at our organizations, this time from the customer’s perspective.

By way of understatement, customer expectations are not always predictable. How a customer judges their experience will not always align with what business owners and leaders have assumed about the experience their company provides. According to a 2017 report compiled by the uber consulting firm Accenture, 73% of B2B buyers want the customer experience to resemble that of a B2C company. https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/PDF-60/Accenture-Strategy-B2B-Customer-Experience-PoV.pdf#zoom=50

We also know that the personal touch is highly valued. In 2015, The Harvard Business Review reported that companies that successfully master the art of personalization for their customers can reduce customer acquisition costs by as much as 50 %, increase revenue by as much as 15 % and increase the effectiveness of marketing dollars spent by up to 30 %. https://hbr.org/2015/11/how-marketers-can-personalize-at-scale

The fact is that the customer experience is impacted by customer expectations and those expectations play a significant role in how our customers perceive and judge our organization. Customers today expect the companies with which they do business to know their preferences and they want those preferences reflected in every interaction, whether online or face-2-face. 

What business leaders can do

First, recognize and define what the ideal customer experience in your organization looks like and take steps to ensure that the standard is consistently met. Remember to assume the viewpoint of the customer and guard against internal bias. Second, stay abreast of market research that reports on your industry to discover trends and evaluate what your organization can afford to do and what it can’t afford to not do, in response. Third, guarantee that all customer-facing staff understands the value of delivering a first-rate customer experience and empower staff to support the delivery of that first-rate customer experience. Training is often necessary to show organization leaders how to create an empowered culture for employees and teach customer-facing staff how to graciously and effectively meet (reasonable) customer expectations.

Creating a superior customer experience at your organization requires significant planning and flawless execution. Be aware that every facet of your organization has a contribution to make as you respond to your customer’s evolving expectations. As you prepare your organization to study and improve the customer experience provided, consider how customers and prospects might view your company’s website content and functionality, sales distribution methods, payment systems, content marketing, social media, sales distribution, business hours and other factors that directly or indirectly impact the buying and customer experience at your organization.

Happy New Year and thanks for reading,

Kim

Photograph: © Richard Termine for The New York Times. Samantha Barks (center) in the Broadway musical Pretty Woman (2018).

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Exit Loyalty, Enter Relevance: The New 5 P’s of Marketing

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Which quality best supports and encourages B2B buying decisions? In the 21st century, that quality is relevance.  According to a recent survey by Kantar Retail Consulting, whose North American division is based in Boston, MA, 71% of B2B and B2C customers feel that loyalty-incentive marketing promotional programs do not cause them to feel more loyal toward a company.  It has become evident that regardless of your industry, customers are doing business with you based on the perceived relevance of your products and services to their needs and priorities.  Attempting to buy loyalty with discounts, rebates, rewards, or swag bags is not as effective as it used to be.

A 2017 study by the global consulting firm Accenture found that U.S. businesses lose $1 Trillion a year in annual revenue to competitors because their (former) customers no longer consider them to be relevant.  The study results appear to indicate that to succeed, businesses must be perceived as fulfilling customers’ immediate needs as they occur. Personalization is helpful, but it is best applied in support of relevance.  The authors recommend that companies structure the customer experience  to deliver as does a butler or concierge.

So how do business leaders navigate the paradigm shift? Joshua Bellin, Robert Wollan and John Zeally of Accenture recommend that organization leaders move on from the former gold standard of marketing, the 4 Ps—Product, Place, Price, Promotion.  No disrespect to the 4 Ps, they served companies well for decades, but customer behavior and expectations have changed over the past 10 years or so.  The 4 Ps are unfortunately rather narrow and product-focused for our times.  Today, it’s about delivering customized solutions, especially for B2B customers.

Furthermore, a close reading of purchasing data indicates that the usual product-focused market segment labels, e.g., discount, luxury, or environmentally conscious consumers can no longer consistently predict purchasing choices.  The needs of all consumers, regardless of socioeconomic status and sociopolitical ideology, vary according to their immediate priorities and context.  In response, Zeally et al. suggest that companies expand their marketing guideposts to include these updated 5 Ps:

Purpose:           Customers feel that the company shares and advances their values.

Partnership:    Customers feel the company relates to them and works well with them.

Pride:                 Customers feel good about using the company’s products and  services.

Protection:        Doing business with the company makes customers feel confident.

Personalized:  Customers feel that their experiences with the company are always  tailored to their goals, priorities and needs.

The “what have you done for me lately?” mindset has replaced loyalty, to a large degree. Perhaps it’s a sign of the entitled and narcissistic culture in which we in the U.S. live.  Customer preferences are in constant flux. Short-term strategies and goals are often the norm.

Some companies are able to thrive in this environment, perhaps most notably the global retailer Zara, founded in Galicia, Spain. “Fast Fashion” is the guiding force.  In the 1980s, the company invested heavily in design, manufacturing and distribution systems capable of reacting to market trends very quickly.  As a result, Zara is on top of nearly every trend in women’s, children’s and men’s fashion and customers eat it up.  As of March 2018, there are 2,251 Zara boutiques in 96 countries.

Smaller companies and Freelancers cannot come close to being able to match the power of Zara, but it is possible to leverage relationships and personalization to encourage your current and prospective customers to share what is important to them and discuss how you can meet their needs today and in the future.  You probably already know that all too many of your customers will move on and do business with another company that seems to offer a better mousetrap without even discussing their needs with you first.  It is discouraging, I know.

The best defense is to be found in the 5 Ps.  Start with Personalization and move to Purpose, so that you can make it known that your company can advance the customer’s goals.  Segue next to Protection and use the trust that you develop to encourage prospects to feel confident about doing business with you.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Photograph: Lurch (Ted Cassidy), the Addams family butler, in an episode of The Addams Family  (1964 – 1966, ABC-TV)